Next Theatre Presents The Metal Children 4/7-10

Next Theatre Company is proud to present the Midwest Premiere of Adam Rapp's The Metal Children, directed by Joanie Shultz, April 7- May 8 at 927 Noyes Street in Evanston. Previews are April 7 - 10. Opening/press night is Wednesday, April 13 at 7 p.m. The regular performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Saturdays, April 23 and 30 and May 7 have an added 4 p.m. matinee. Tickets are $25 - $40 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

In The Metal Children, Rapp creates a timely, semi-autobiographical drama about a New York writer (Sean Cooper) and his explosive encounter with a small American town that he travels to in order to defend one of his young adult novels, which has been banned by the local school board. The story introduces not only the writer and his views but all sides of this controversial issue: the head of the school board (Bradley Mott), the religious right (Laura T. Fisher) and the writer's devout followers (Meg Thalken, Paul Fagen, Caroline Neff). The controversy ignites heated emotions over religious beliefs and censorship. The book-banning incident also forces the writer to reflect on his own work, the motivations that drive him and the gap between artist and product.

The cast also includes Marc Grapey, Nicole Ripley, and Caitlin Collins. The production staff includes Chelsea Warren, set design; Joanna Melville, costume design; Nick Keenan, sound design; JaRed Moore, lighting design and Nancy Staiger, production stage manager.

ABOUT Adam Rapp
Adam Rapp is a critically acclaimed playwright, theater director, novelist, screenwriter and film director. Rapp was born in Chicago and spent much of his youth spent in Joliet. His first published work was Missing the Piano, a young adult novel in 1994. It was well received and won multiple awards from the American Library Association. Since then he has written six other young adult novels (The Buffalo Tree, The Copper Elephant, Little Chicago, 33 Snowfish, Under the Wolf, Under the Dog and Punkzilla). One, The Buffalo Tree, created some controversy in 2005 when a Pennsylvania school board banned it from their curriculum.

In 2005 he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his play Red Light Winter. First produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Red Light Winter was awarded the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work. It subsequently had an Obie Award winning run with Rapp directing. Rapp's other plays include Netherbones, Ghosts in the Cottonwood, Trueblinka, Blackfrost, Night of the Whitefish, Finer Noble Gasses, Faster, Dreams of the Salthorse, Animals and Plants, Stone Cold Dead Serious, Train Story, Gompers, Members Only, Essential Self Defense, American Silgo, Blackbird, Bingo with The Indians, The Metal Children, Kindness and Classic Kitchen Timer. He is currently the resident playwright for Edge Theater Company in New York.

Since Red Light Winter Rapp has continued to direct many of his plays as well as some works by other authors. He directed his first feature film, Winter Passing, in 2005. He both directed and adapted his next film, Blackbird, from his earlier play of the same name. He also worked in television as a creative consultant for a season of The L Word.

ABOUT Joanie Schultz
After receiving her B.A. in theater directing from Columbia College, where Schultz studied with David Cromer, Sheldon Patinkin and Henry Godinez, among other artists, Schultz arrived on the Chicago theater scene as artistic director and co-founder of Flush Puppy Productions. She received her M.F.A. from Northwestern University in 2007, where she was mentored by Anna D. Shapiro, and also studied with great directors such as Frank Galati, Mary Zimmerman, Amy Morton and Jessica Thebus. Since 2007, Schultz has been busy in both theater and opera as a freelance director, assistant director and directing teacher. She has worked in Chicago, nationally and abroad. In the fall of 2007 she was awarded a directing fellowship with the Drama League in New York that allowed her to direct her off-Broadway debut. She was awarded The Goodman Theatre's Michael Maggio Directing Fellowship for 2009-10, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation's Denham Fellowship for 2009-10, and was a 2008 member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab. She is currently on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, and is an artistic associate with Steep Theatre.

ABOUT Next Theatre Company
Next Theatre Company produces socially provocative, artistically adventurous work. It is Next's vision to become a national destination for audiences and artists who share this vision that theatre can promote awareness and provoke change with more power than any other medium of expression.

Since its founding in 1981 by Harriet Spizziri and Brian Finn, the 167-seat space has been home to over a hundred productions, serving nearly a quarter of a million theatergoers and winning Jeff Awards in nearly every category. The theater's adventurous spirit and great conviction prompted Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune to announce that Next is "a resounding reaffirmation of what faith, dedication and talent can accomplish. It is what distinguished Chicago theatre in its Early Stages more than a quarter century ago, and it is what continues to make Chicago theater so exciting."

The Next serves over 15,000 patrons annually, including students, elderly, and everyone in between. The Next audience includes locAl Evanstonians as well as Chicago and North Shore residents, and they have come to expect artistic excellence in the pursuit of culturally progressive work.

The Next Theatre is located inside the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston, adjoining the Noyes street stop on the Evanston "el." Free parking is available in the lot adjacent to the theatre and the Evanston Civic Center.

Next Theatre Company presents The Metal Children at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston. Previews are April 7 - 10 and the opening/press Night is Wednesday, April 13 at 7 p.m. The regular performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Saturdays, April 23 and 30 and May 7 have an added 4 p.m. matinee. Tickets are $25 - $40 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

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