Photo Flash: First Look at Shattered Globe's OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD

Following its hit production Other People's Money, Shattered Globe Theatre will continue its 2013-14 season with Timberlake Wertenbaker's six-time Tony Award-nominated and Olivier Award-winning drama OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD, directed by Roger Smart, playing now through February 22, 2014 at its new artistic home Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD features Shattered Globe Ensemble Members Christina Gorman, Eileen Niccolai, Steve Peebles, Drew Schad, Megan Skord-Campbell, Kevin Viol and Ben Werling, SGT Artistic Associate Abbey Smith and SGT Protégé Program graduates Mary Franke, Addison Heimann and Dillon Kelleher with guest artist Arch Harmon.

Timberlake Wertenbaker's adaptation of The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally is set in 1788 as the British Empire begins its penal colonization of Australia. The officers' concerns about the unruliness of the thieves, pickpockets, adulterers and prostitutes who constitute the colony lead to the casting and production of a restoration comedy designed to civilize and elevate their prisoners as a community. As the rehearsals proceed we see the convicts, particularly the women, seizing hold of their roles in ways that unsettle the order of rank and entrenched codes of patriarchal and sexual domination. OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD is an unstinting examination of the violence at the center of the carceral colonizing state. Yet it also invites the audience to consider the possibilities that theater itself offers for the recovery of voice, the assertion of character and the performance of freedom.

OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD premiered in 1988 at The Royal Court Theatre and later ran on Broadway, garnering much critical acclaim and many awards along the way. Andrzej Lukowski of Time Out London deemed it "an exceptional piece of writing," while Charles Spencer of The Telegraph lauded Wertenbaker's "moving celebration of the power of drama to change lives for the good," and found it to be "bursting with humanity, humour, heartache and passion." Nominee of six Tony Awards and winner of two Laurence Olivier Awards and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the play was remounted in London in 2013 to mark the 25th anniversary of its debut.

The production team for OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD includes: Roger Smart (scenic designer), Sarah Jo White (costume designer), Michael McNamara (lighting designer), Connor Murray (sound designer), Jeton Murtishi (composer), Vivian Knouse (props designer), Susan Gosdick (dialect coach), Jake Bigelow (asst. scenic designer), Judy Anderson (production manager), Amanda Rozmiarek (technical director), Kelsey Melvin (asst. director), Jeffrey Clark Stokes (stage manager), Taylor Cook (asst. stage manager) and Rosie Chevalier (producer).

Performances play Theater Wit, 1229 W Belmont, in Chicago. Previews: Thursday, January 9 at 8 pm, Friday, January 10 at 8 pm and Saturday, January 11 at 8 pm. Press performance/Opening: Sunday, January 12 at 3 pm. Regular run: Thursday, January 16 - Saturday, February 22, 2014. Curtain Times: Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets: Previews: $20. Regular Run: $30. Discounts: "Under 30" $20, students $12, seniors $25 and industry $15 on Thursdays. Tickets are at available at www.shatteredglobe.org, in person at the Theater Wit Box Office or by calling (773) 975-8150.

Photo Credit: Michael Brosilow

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