SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and More Set for Chicago Shakespeare's 30th Anniversary Season

On the heels of announcing the Theater's expansion with an innovative performance venue known as The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare and in the midst of a full calendar of programs around the yearlong Shakespeare 400 Chicago celebration, Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson share the line-up for the Theater's 2016-17 Season. The twenty productions range from works inspired by Shakespeare and world premieres to standout performances by artists from around the globe.

Artistic Director Barbara Gaines declared, "What better way to mark this momentous year -- Chicago Shakespeare's 30th Anniversary, the 100th Centennial Anniversary of our home, Navy Pier, and the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare's legacy -- than with a veritable explosion of work both on our stages and in cherished cultural institutions across the city. Shakespeare's influence and relevance continues to amaze and inspire us as we begin this next chapter of our story."

The season begins with the Theater's centerpiece contribution to Shakespeare 400 Chicago: Barbara Gaines' action-packed Shakespeare history saga, Tug of War. Picking up where Foreign Fire left off, Tug of War: Civil Strife, encompassing Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3 and Richard III, is underscored by stunning live music, surprising poignancy and humor. The focus shifts to the home front, as family divisions launch a country at war with itself -- and nobility and commoners alike pay the price.

Following Gaines' cycle of Shakespeare's history plays, Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin directs the inventive new "future history play" King Charles III by Mike Bartlett, which imagines the reign of Prince Charles after the death of England's present-day monarch Queen Elizabeth II. Invoking the pomp and prose of Shakespeare's greatest works, the play garnered the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Play. Griffin, who recently directed the Broadway sensation Honeymoon in Vegas, returns to the Chicago Shakespeare stage for his twenty-third production.

Beginning in February is William Shakespeare's clever satire on young love -- Love's Labor's Lost, brought to the stage in merry revelry by former Stratford Festival Artistic Director Marti Maraden. Shakespeare's witty wordplay comes to the forefront with a luscious eighteenth-century manor house setting. Maraden previously directed Othello (2008) and Much Ado About Nothing (2005) at Chicago Shakespeare, and now returns to Chicago to take on Shakespeare's beguiling comedy.

The wildly popular stage adaption of Shakespeare in Love -- based on the beloved Academy Award-winning film with screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall (Tony and Olivier Award winner for his work on Billy Elliot the Musical) -- takes the stage in April. This sweeping romantic comedy playfully imagines a young William Shakespeare's bout with writer's block and the inspirational love that sparked his creativity anew. The production is staged by multiple Jeff Award-winning director and choreographer Rachel Rockwell, who most recently collaborated with CST on the hit new musical Ride the Cyclone (2015).

These Chicago Shakespeare productions are joined by a wealth of international presentations that continue the Theater's Shakespeare 400 Chicago festivities throughout 2016. The summer is filled with productions across CST's stages-from the stunning Shakespeare's Globe production of The Merchant of Venice, starring Jonathan Pryce, to a pair of off-beat, one-man shows: Tim Crouch in I, Malvolio and David Carl in Gary Busey's One-Man Hamlet. The fall continues with companies from four continents: hailing from Belgium, Theater Zuidpool's live-concert version of Macbeth presented at Thalia Hall; Shanghai Peking Opera's The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan (based on Hamlet) presented in association with the Harris Theater for Music and Dance; The Company Theatre of Mumbai's Hindi translation of Twelfth Night-Piya Behrupiya; Songs of Lear from Poland's Song of the Goat; a new personal audio-walking theater work from Australia's one step at a time like this, unpathed waters, undreamed shores; Chilean playwright Eduardo Pavez Goye's collaboration with Mexico's Foro Shakespeare-Enamorarse de un incendio, inspired by the themes of Romeo and Juliet; and from the UK, Spymonkey's The Complete Deaths. Closing the year's festivities in December 2016 is the return of Cheek by Jowl with its new English-language production of The Winter's Tale.

Continuing the Theater's commitment to developing and commissioning new work, Barbara Gaines directs the world premiere of The Book of Joseph by Karen Hartman-the riveting, true story that unfolds when Richard Hollander discovers an unopened suitcase of letters written by a family he never knew during the Second World War. We come to know three generations-their hopes, fears and fates revealed-in a compelling journey of the human family and the primal need to understand those who came before. Hartman is an award-winning playwright and librettist, whose work includes Goliath, Donna Wants, Gum, Going Gone and Troy Women, among others that have been commissioned and staged by dozens of theaters across the nation.

Commissioned by Chicago Shakespeare and developed with CST Creative Producer Rick Boynton, the whimsical and musical Gravediggers' Hamlet -- written by Michael Mahler, Alan Schmuckler and Laura Schellhardt and featuring Chicago's own band of actor/musicians The Lincoln Squares -- explores the story of Denmark's prince from the perspective of five blue-collar gravediggers.

Shakespeare's work connects with audiences of all ages through the Theater's vibrant education and community outreach initiatives. Touring to 18 neighborhood parks across the city, Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks brings FREE performances of Shakespeare's music-infused romantic comedy Twelfth Night, adapted and directed by Kirsten Kelly, to 30,000 audience members during Summer 2016. In Spring 2017, the abridged production Short Shakespeare! Romeo and Juliet, directed by Marti Lyons, introduces Shakespeare's classic tragedy to family and student audiences at Chicago Shakespeare before embarking on a Midwest school tour as part of the Theater's commitment to reach 40,000 students and teachers annually.

Click here for the full line-up of Chicago Shakespeare's 30th Anniversary Season.

For information on purchasing tickets, visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com or call the CST Box Office at 312.595.5600. Chicago Shakespeare Theater offers a broad selection of affordable tickets providing opportunities for a wide-range of audiences to interact with the Theater. Patrons can purchase subscription packages with low-priced, preview series and discounted family subscriptions; accessibly-priced, family productions; discounts for groups and tickets for young professionals for as little as $20.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a global theatrical force, known for vibrant productions that reflect Shakespeare's genius for storytelling, language and empathy for the human condition. Throughout 2016, CST is spearheading the international arts and culture festival, Shakespeare 400 Chicago, a citywide celebration of the playwright's 400-year legacy. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, CST is dedicated to creating extraordinary production of classics, new works and family programming; to unlocking Shakespeare's work for educators and students; and to serving as Chicago's cultural ambassador through its World's Stage Series. CST serves as a partner in literacy to Chicago Public Schools, working alongside English teachers to help struggling readers connect with Shakespeare in the classroom, and bringing his text to life on stage for 40,000 students every year. And each summer, 30,000 families and audience members of all ages welcome the free Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour into their neighborhoods across the far north, west and south sides of the city. Reflecting the global city it calls home, CST is the leading producer of international work in Chicago, and has toured its plays abroad to Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada/North America and the Middle East.

Shakespeare 400 Chicago is a yearlong international arts festival in 2016 celebrating the vibrancy, relevance and reach of Shakespeare. As the world commemorates the four hundred years since Shakespeare's death in 1616, Shakespeare 400 Chicago will engage more than 500,000 Chicagoans and visitors to the City through 850 events. Spearheaded by Chicago Shakespeare Theater and with leading support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Pritzker Military Museum & Library and the Julius Frankel Foundation, this quadricentennial celebration is anticipated to be the world's largest and most comprehensive celebration of Shakespeare's enduring legacy. For more, visit www.shakespeare400chicago.com.

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