Photo Flash: Northlight Theatre Presents AWAKE AND SING

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, continues its 35th Season with Awake and Sing!, Clifford Odets' Tony Award-winning play, directed by Amy Morton. The production runs January 21- February 28, 2010, at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie.

In a cramped Bronx tenement during the Great Depression, a working-class Jewish family copes with financial hardship even as they dream of a brighter future. Bessie Berger's fierce determination keeps her family afloat, whatever the cost. Gritty, passionate, funny and heartbreaking, Odets' 1935 masterpiece (and Tony Award winner for best revival in 2006) beautifully captures both the hopes and the struggles of an unforgettable American family.

"Awake and Sing! is an American classic, written in the depths of the Depression and offering hope and determination through every momentary ebb of the national psyche," comments BJ Jones. "It seemed the perfect time to revive this play, featuring Northlight's first Artistic Director Mike Nussbaum, and with Amy Morton offering a fresh directorial vision of gritty determination and familial sacrifice through the darkest of times. The shot of perseverance that Odets offers us is the theatrical vaccine we all need in these troubling times."

The production features Audrey Francis (Hennie Berger), Keith Gallagher (Ralph Berger),Tim Gittings (Schlosser), Cindy Gold (Bessie Berger), Peter Kevoian (Myron Berger), Loren Lazerine (Uncle Morty), Mike Nussbaum (Jacob), Demetrios Troy (Sam Feinschriber) and Jay Whittaker (Moe Axelrod).

The designers are John Musial (Set Design), Jacqueline Firkins (Costume Design), Keith Parham (Lighting Design) and Mikhail Fiksel (Sound Design). The stage manager is Rita Vreeland and the dramaturg is Meghan Beals McCarthy.

This production is sponsored in part by The Lehman Family American Experience Series and Harris Bank.

Amy Morton (Director) is a director, actor and member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. At Steppenwolf she has directed: American Buffalo, Dublin Carol (also at Trinity Rep Theatre), The Pillowman, The Dresser, Topdog/Underdog (which traveled to the Alley Theatre and the Dallas Theatre Center), Glengarry GLen Ross (which traveled to both the Dublin and Toronto Theatre Festivals), We All Went Down to Amsterdam, The Weir, Mizlansky/Zalinski, and Love, Lies, Bleeding (which traveled to the Kennedy Center). She directed Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the ALLIANCE THEATRE, and Our Country's Good at The Remains Theatre. Her most recent work as an actor was in the Steppenwolf production of August: Osage County in Chicago, London and on Broadway and, for which she received a Tony nomination. Her latest film appearance is in Jason Reitman's Up in the Air.

Audrey Francis (Hennie Berger), making her Northlight debut, recently appeared in Talking Pictures and The Actor at the Goodman Theatre. Other Chicago credits include: Another Part of the Forest, Othello (Writers' Theatre); Desire Under the Elms (The Hypocrites); Imagining Brad (Pine Box Theatre); Recent Tragic Events, The Violet Hour (Uma Productions); and a Jeff-nominated performance in The Credeaux Canvas (Circle Theatre). She has also worked at Victory Gardens, Noble Fool and Steppenwolf. Film and television credits include: Chicago Overcoat, Dustclouds, Donnie Brasco, Just Act Normal and ER. Audrey is the co-owner of Black Box Acting Studio, a new conservatory for actors.

Keith Gallagher (Ralph Berger) previously appeared at Nortlight in The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Chicago credits: Shining City (Goodman), Arcadia (Court), The Real Thing (Remy Bumppo), Tracks (TUTA Chicago - Viaduct and Chopin productions), and The Boxcar Children (Chicago Playworks). Regionally, he appeared in The Lieutenant of Inishmore with The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. He attended The Theatre School at DePaul University and is a nationally certified EMT.

Tim Gittings (Schlosser) previously appeared at Northlight as an understudy for two roles in The Miser. Chicago credits include work with The Goodman Theatre, Writers' Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Stage Left, and Circle Theatre. His regional credits include two seasons with American Players Theatre; five seasons with Door Shakespeare; and The Winter's Tale, A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, All My Sons, and Coriolanus at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Cindy Gold (Bessie Berger) previously appeared at Northlight in Pride and Prejudice and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Recent work includes Moises Kaufman's 33 Variations with About Face and Tectonic Theatre, Frank Galati and Stephen Flaherty's new musical Loving Repeating (Jeff Award) with About Face/MCA, Next Theatre's The Misanthrope, Victory Gardens' The Glamour House, and Desire Under the Elms co-produced by Court Theatre and Freedom Repertory in Philadelphia, PA. She has appeared with Madison Rep, Shakespeare Sedona, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Boston Shakespeare, Peninsula Players, and Mental Floss Improvisation, Miami. She is a dialect coaching and an Associate Professor of Theatre and Head of Acting at Northwestern University.

Peter Kevoian (Myron Berger) has appeared in The Christmas Schooner (TATC), Aladdin (Chicago Shakespeare), The Screwtape Letters (Mercury), Wicked (Broadway in Chicago), and Ragtime under the direction of Frank Galati (Jeff nomination - Best Actor in a Musical). He made his Broadway debut in the revival of Zorba with Anthony Quinn. Other credits include Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar (National Tour Revival), The Phantom of the Opera (original Broadway cast), Sunset Boulevard (original Canadian cast), and Cats and Les Miserables (Los Angeles company). TV credits include LA Law, All My Children, The Guardian, McMillan, Cheers, Matlock, Becker and E.R.

Loren Lazerine (Uncle Morty) returns to the Chicago stage after 14 years on the west coast. Los Angeles theatre credits: All My Sons (Geffen Playhouse), Adam's Rib (LA Theatre Works), Killer Joe (Lost Angels Theatre Company - Winner of five LA Ovation Awards), and Heart of a Dog (Lillian Theatre), among others. Loren was the first mainstage cabbie in Famous Door's long-running Hellcab, with runs at Organic Theatre, Ivanhoe Theatre, two LA productions, Edinburgh Theatre Festival, and a tour of Israel. Chicago credits: Julius Caesar (Next), Holy Ghosts (Shattered Globe), Glengarry GLen Ross (Steppenwolf) and Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (Big Game Theatre, directed by Anna D. Shapiro). Film: Fast and Furious 4, The Big Tease, Asylum, Boogie Nights. TV: Frasier, CSI, Pushing Daisies, Las Vegas, Gilmore Girls, among others. Upcoming: A Streetcar Named Desire at Writers' Theatre, directed by David Cromer.

Mike Nussbaum (Jacob) has appeared in or directed a long list of plays here at Northlight, including Better Late, Grace, Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie, Hearts, Visiting Mr. Green, Quartermaine's Terms, Don Juan in Hell, Someone to Watch Over Me, The Old Neighborhood, and The Belmont Avenue Social Club. He played Hamm in Beckett's Endgame and Donny in Mamet's American Buffalo at the American Theater Company, Shelley Levine in Mamet's Glengarry GLen Ross at The Steppenwolf, and in Macbeth and Richard II at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He has appeared with the Grant Park Symphony and Chorus as the Narrator of Leonard Bernstein's Kaddish, and with the Steppenwolf production of Glengarry GLen Ross at the Dublin Theatre Festival.

Demetrios Troy (Sam Feinschreiber), making his Northlight debut, holds a BA from DePaul University/Barat College and an MFA from the University of South Carolina. Credits include: Richard III, Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare); Julius Caesar (Utah Shakespearean Festival); Understudy for Aerial and Ferdinand in The Tempest (Steppenwolf); Edmund in King Lear, and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Riverside Shakespeare); and Tartuffe and King Lear (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). Upcoming credits include The Good Negro (Goodman Theatre).

Jay Whittaker (Moe Axelrod) makes his Northlight Theatre debut. In New York, Jay played Lloyd Wright in Frank's Home (Playwrights Horizons Theatre) and Richard Duke of Gloucester in Rose Rage (The Duke on 42nd St). Regionally, he played Kent in Edward II and Calipine in Tamburlaine the Great (The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington D.C.); Ian in Shining City (Huntington Theatre Company). Chicago credits include: The Wild Duck, The Glass Menagerie, Cyrano, Travesties, and The Romance Cycle (Court); Shining City and Frank's Home (Goodman); David Copperfield and Mother Courage and Her Children (Steppenwolf); A Number (Next); Ghetto (Famous Door Theatre Company); Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, Julius Caesar, Loves Labours Lost, The Tempest, Rose Rage and All's Well That Ends Well (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), as well as both parts of Henry IV, which were performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. TV credits: Prison Break, Early Edition. Film: Let's Go To Prison, Death of a President, Dustclouds.

Tickets for Awake and Sing!, $35-50, are available by phone, 847.673.6300, or online at northlight.org. Young Adult tickets (25 and Under) are $10 (one per person with valid ID).
The Box Office is located at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Boulevard, in Skokie. Box Office hours are Monday-Friday 10:00am-6:00pm, and Saturdays 12:00pm-5:00pm. On performance days, the box office hours are extended through showtime. The Box Office is closed on Sundays, except on performance days when it is open two hours prior to showtime.