Northlight Theatre Opens THE WHIPPING MAN Tonight

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, continues its 2012-2013 season with Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man, directed by Kimberly Senior. The production will run at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, from January 18-February 24, 2013. The Press Opening is tonight, January 25, at 7:30 pm.

When Caleb, a wounded Confederate soldier returns to his family's home at the end of the Civil War, he finds it in ruins and abandoned by all but two former slaves. United by their Jewish faith, the three men celebrate a Seder while wrestling with a shared past they can't escape-and uncover a tangle of secrets that threatens their family and their faith.

Artistic Director BJ Jones comments, "There is historical precedence for the storylines in Mathew Lopez's compelling and surprising play The Whipping Man. The context of the fallen South at the end of the Civil War, the newly freed slaves, the returning Confederate soldier - son of a Jewish slave owner, makes for an exotic and combustive cocktail for a play, which is at once gripping and intellectually satisfying."

The cast features Derek Gaspar, Sean Parris, and Tim Edward Rhoze.

The design team includes Jack Magaw (set design), Rachel Laritz (costume design), Chris Binder (lighting design), Christopher Kriz (sound design), Eva Breneman (dialect coach) and Chris Rickett (violence design).