Next Theatre to Open 2014 Season with LUCK OF THE IRISH, 1/16-2/23

Next Theatre Company has announced the Midwest premiere of Kirsten Greenidge's Luck of the Irish, January 16 - February 23, 2014, directed by Damon Kiely, at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street. Previews are Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014 at 2 p.m. Opening Night is Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014 at 7 p.m.

The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There are Saturday 4 p.m. performances February 1, 8, 15 and 22. Preview tickets are $25. Tickets are $30 - $45 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

When an upwardly mobile African-American couple (Mildred Lanford* and Andre Teamer) want to buy a home in an all-white neighborhood of 1950's Boston, they pay a struggling Irish family (Chris Rickett and Cora Vanderbroek*) to "ghost-buy" a house on their behalf. Fifty years later, the Irish family wants "their" house back. Moving across two eras, Luck of the Irish explores the controversial legacy of race and class issues and the long held secrets that tie two families and one house together.

Additional cast includes: Walter Brody, Margaret Kustermann, Lily Majekwu*, Mesiyah Rudezz Oduro, Lucy Sandy and Austin Tally.

The production team is made up of Jacqueline and Rick Penrod, set design; Jared Gooding, lighting design; Samantha Jones, costume design; Mikhail Fiksel, sound design/composer and Eileen Rozycki, props design.

*Indicates a member of Actors' Equity.

ABOUT Kirsten Greenidge, playwright: Kirsten Greenidge's work shines a strong light on the intersection of race and class in America, and she enjoys the challenge of placing underrepresented voices on stage. In May 2012, she received an Obie for her play Milk Like Sugar that was first commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse and TheaterMasters. Milk Like Sugar also received a TCG Edgerton grant as well as a San Diego Critics Award. A former NEA/TCG playwright in residence at Woolly Mammoth, previous work includes several Boston Theater Marathon pieces, Bossa Nova (Yale Rep, 2010 and also an Edgerton New Play Award recipient), Thanksgiving in Company One's Grimm (2010), Rust (The Magic Theater, 2007), 103 Within the Veil (Company One, 2005) and Sans Culottes in the Promised Land (Humana, 2004). Among numerous projects, Greenidge is currently adapting he Pulitzer Prize winning book Common Ground with director Melia Bensussen for Emerson Stage at Emerson College in Boston.

ABOUT DAMON KIELY, director: Damon Kiely has directed for Next Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, A Red Orchid Theatre, American Blues Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, and Route 66. The House Theatre of Chicago and the Theatre School produced his world premiere adaptation of Thieves Like Us. He served as the artistic director of American Theater Company (ATC) from 2002 to 2007. Directing credits at ATC include Oklahoma! (Nominated for six Jeff Awards including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Orpheus Descending, A View from the Bridge, Strictly Dishonorable, and The Hairy Ape. He also recently directed Weekend by Gore Vidal for TimeLine Theatre. He is a winner of the 2000-02 NEA/TCG Career Directing Program, the 2000 Drama League Fall Directing Program and the 1997 Princess Grace Award.

SUNDAY TALKBACKS: Every 2 p.m. Sunday matinee during the season is followed by a discussion with the artistic staff and artists involved in the production, as well as special guests familiar with the topic to be discussed.

Next Theatre Company produces socially provocative, artistically adventurous work. It is Next's vision to become a 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 140-seat space has been home to over a hundred productions, serving nearly a quarter of a million theatregoers and winning Jeff Awards in nearly every category. The theatre'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 theatre so exciting."

Next Theatre serves more than 10,000 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." Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the theatre and at the Evanston Civic Center.

Next Theatre Box Office hours are from 12 - 6 p.m. weekdays and two hours prior to curtain. All tickets are held at will-call until pick-up on the day of performance, unless the tickets have been purchased in person.

Next Theatre Company presents the Midwest premiere of Kirsten Greenidge's Luck of the Irish, January 16 - February 23, 2014, directed by Damon Kiely, at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street. Previews are Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014 at 2 p.m. Opening Night is Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014 at 7 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There are Saturday 4 p.m. performances February 1, 8, 15 and 22. Preview tickets are $25. Tickets are $30 - $45 with subscriber and student discounts available. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847-475-1875 x2.

To post a comment, you must register and login.