Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre Presents THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING, Opens 9/19

Director Fred Anzevino sees his first production of the season at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, "The Lady's Not for Burning," as the "most prolific musical piece of the theatre." Opening September 19 with previews September 17-18, it runs through October 31, culminating with a speciAl Halloween Party performance. It is produced in association with Michael James.

A romantic comedy written in verse by Christopher Fry and set in the Middle Ages, it resembles Shakespeare's pastoral comedies in form. The story is about a disillusioned soldier, who wants to be hanged until he is wooed from his desire for death by the happier, accused witch on her way to the stake who wants to live.

"You won't be hearing an orchestra or seeing lavish song and dance numbers that our audience is accustomed to watching at the No Exit Café," said Anzevino, whose director's position is funded by The Saints of Chicago, volunteers for the performing arts. "But Christopher Fry, the playwright, has created the most exquisitely complex verse-dialogue resulting in a spoken operetta."

"I have loved this play for many years. I'm drawn into the uncanny reflection of the human condition, asking those big questions: What is life? What is death? What is love?" explained Anzevino, who previously directed the play in 1999 in the early days of Theo Ubique.

Christopher Fry stated in an interview in 2001 at age 94 that the play is based on his memories of World War I veterans as tramps in Army "Great Coats" and their real horror of mankind. He wrote the play in 1948 following World War II and when the House Un-American Activities Committee was underway and uses this play in verse to explore serious social issues underneath the comic exterior.
"The social issues Fry explores are not much different than today. . .with the U.S. conducting two wars, an economy hurting the vast majority of people, what is reality and privacy as a result of the Internet and new technology and the universal questions of life, death and love," Anzevino said, who is scheduling talk-back sessions following the Thursday evening performances.

Anzevino cast several new faces on the Theo Ubique stage along with some who appeared in previous productions.

Playing the lead roles are Jenny Lamb as Jennet Jourdemayne, the witch, and Layne Manzer as Thomas Mendip, the soldier. Other roles are: Jeff (Preddie) Predmore as Mayor Hebble Tyson; Adam Kander as Richard, the mayor's copying clerk; Eric Martin as Humphrey Devize, the mayor's nephew; Sonja Field as Alizon Eliot, the future wife of Humphrey; David Weiss as Nicholas Devize, Humphrey's brother; Susan Fay as Margaret Devize, Humphrey's mother; Andrew J. Pond as Edward Tappercoom, and Drew Longo as The Chaplain and Matthew Skipps.

Performances are 7:30 p.m., Thursdays; 8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, and 7 p.m., Sundays at the No Exit Café, a cabaret setting in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Doors open, dinner is served and the shuttle van starts 1½ hours prior to curtain. Talk-back sessions will follow the performance on select Thursday evenings, including September 30 when Theo Ubique is the Theatre Thursday selection for the League of Chicago Theatres and in October as part of the company's participation in the national Free Night of Theatre sponsored by the Theatre Communications Group.

Tickets are $25, and a show/dinner package is $45. The speciAl Halloween Party performance starts at 5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 31 and the $70 ticket includes a cocktail period, dinner, costume contest, trick-or-treat bags and show. Tickets can be purchased online through the web site at www.theoubique.org or www.theo-u.org or by calling the ticket service at 800-595-4849. The information line is 773-347-1109.

Free parking is available at the parking lot on the northeast corner of Morse and Ravenswood with free transport on the Lifeline shuttle van to and from the No Exit, starting 1½ hours prior to curtain and immediately following the show. The No Exit Café is north of the Morse stop on the Red Line on the west side of the tracks. Special discounts are offered through Theo Ubique e-news announcements, which are available by signing up through the web site.

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