Tony Winner Jason Robert Brown Set for Northlight Theatre's 40th Anniversary Party Tonight

Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announces Northlight's 40th Anniversary Party featuring a performance by Tony Award winner, composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown. The event, which will also include a cocktail reception, raffle and auction, will be held at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, tonight, December 11, 2014 at 7:00pm. Tickets are $150, and are available at 847.673.6300 or northlight.org.

Northlight produced the world premiere of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years in 2001, which then played an award-winning run on Broadway and was revived off-Broadway in a record-breaking run in 2013. The musical was adapted into a film, which will play at the upcoming Chicago International Film Festival on October 15.

Northlight's 40th Anniversary Season celebrates the theater's rich history of developing and producing new work. During the 40th Anniversary Season, Northlight is producing two world premiere works (White Guy on the Bus and Shining Lives: A Musical), the second-ever productions of two plays (The Commons of Pensacola and Outside Mullingar) and a classic rarely produced in the US (The Mousetrap). In addition, Northlight has a number of new works in development through Interplay, a program that has sent 25 out of 29 scripts on to full professional productions throughout the country and developed Northlight's three best-selling plays: Better Late by Larry Gelbart and Craig Wright, The Outgoing Tide by Bruce Graham and Chapatti by Christian O'Reilly.

Northlight's 40th Anniversary Season is supported in part by BMO Harris Bank and ComEd, An Exelon Company.

Jason Robert Brown is an equally skilled composer, lyricist, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, director and performer. He is best known for his dazzling scores to several of the most renowned musicals of his generation, including the recently revived The Last Five Years, his debut song cycle Songs for a New World, and the seminal Parade, for which he won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score.

The Bridges of Madison County, a musical he adapted with Marsha Norman from the bestselling novel, ran this year on Broadway, for which he won two Tony Awards: Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations. Honeymoon In Vegas, based on Andrew Bergman's film, will open on Broadway early next year following a triumphant production at Paper Mill Playhouse last fall. A film version of his epochal Off-Broadway musical The Last Five Years will be released later this year, starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan and directed by Richard LaGravenese.

His major musicals as composer and lyricist include: 13, written with Robert Horn and Dan Elish (Broadway, 2008; West End in 2012, directed by Brown); The Last Five Years, which won 2001 Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Lyrics (also off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in 2013); Parade, written with Alfred Uhry and directed by Harold Prince (Lincoln Center Theatre , 1998), which won the Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Musical, and the Tony Award for Original Score; and Songs for a New World (Off-Broadway, 1995).

Jason will be serving as the musical supervisor and arranger for the new musical Prince of Broadway, a celebration of the career of Harold Prince. Other recent New York credits as conductor and arranger include Urban Cowboy the Musical on Broadway; Oliver Goldstick's play, Dinah Was, directed by David Petrarca at the Gramercy Theatre and on national tour; and William Finn's A New Brain, directed by Graciela Daniele at Lincoln Center Theater. Additional information is available at www.jasonrobertbrown.com.

Northlight Theatre aspires to promote change of perspective and encourage compassion by exploring the depth of our humanity across a bold spectrum of theatrical experiences, reflecting our community to the world and the world to our community.

Now in its 40th season, the organization has mounted nearly 200 productions, including over 40 world premieres. Northlight has earned 157 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and 28 Awards. As one of the area's premier theatre companies, Northlight is a regional magnet for critical and professional acclaim, as well as talent of the highest quality.

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