World Premiere Science-Themed Musical PEABODY Launches Young People's Theatre Of Chicago 2022-23 Season

The Young People's Theatre of Chicago's (YPT) inaugural 3-Play 2022-23 season launches with the highly anticipated world premiere production of the science-themed musical, Peabody - A Musical Comedy for Intrepid Young Scientists. With a book by Emmy Award-winning Glen Berger (PBS' Arthur; FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman) and music and lyrics by Grammy-nominated Morgan Taylor (Gustafer Yellowgold), Peabody runs Oct 29 - Nov 20 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.

For tickets or info, visit yptchi.org or call the box office at 773.404.7336.

Ask an obvious question, like "Why do apples fall from the apple trees?" and you just might change the course of history. Or in the case of 11-year-old Alyssa Peabody, ask the right innocent question and you could spark outright pandemonium at your middle school science fair! Peabody is a rollicking new musical comedy about scientific process, dueling science fair projects, and the value of collaboration.

Commissioned and developed by the Young People's Theater of Chicago, Peabody received a workshop reading at the Greenhouse Theater Center in 2021. Peabody joins John Glore's new adaptation of Dory Fantasmagory as one of two world premiere productions in YPT's 3-Play 2022-23 season. Together, these two new plays suggest an especially exciting future for YPT - one that foregrounds commissions and the development of challenging and engaging new work for children of all ages.

PEABODY - A Musical Comedy for Intrepid Young Scientists
Oct. 29 - Nov 20, 2022
Book by Glen Berger
Music and Lyrics by Morgan Taylor
Directed by Randy White
Musical Direction by Sam Shankman
Choreography by Tuesdai B. Perry
Set Design by Lauren Helpern
Costume Design by Ellen MacKay
Lighting Design by Benjamin Carne
Sound Design by Kurt Ottinger
Performance Schedule: Fridays at 7pm; Saturdays at 10am and 1pm; Sundays at 1pm (added 10am performances on final two Sundays)
Tickets: $25 / $19 (under 12)
Appropriate for ages 5+

The Greenhouse Theater Center
2257 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago

CREATIVE TEAM

Glen Berger (book) Glen's plays include Underneath the Lintel (Over 450 performances Off-Broadway, several Best Play awards, over 350 productions in U.S. and abroad), while his television credits include two Emmy Awards (twelve Emmy nominations) and more than 200 episodes for children's series, including Big and Small (BBC), Curious George (Universal), Peabody-award-winning Molly of Denali (PBS), and head-writer positions on Arthur (PBS), and Fetch with Ruff Ruffman (PBS). He was the co-bookwriter for Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark on Broadway (directed by Julie Taymor with music by Bono and Edge of U2), which ran for three years. His memoir Song Of Spider-Man-the harrowing tale of Turn Off the Dark's creation-was published by Simon & Schuster. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists.

Morgan Taylor (Music & Lyrics). Twice Grammy-nominated songwriter and cartoonist, Morgan Taylor was a hit equally with ever-hip parents and kids on the family circuit with his smart and catchy Gustafer Yellowgold multimedia project the NY Times calls "A cross between Dr. Seuss and Yellow Submarine." Morgan's live Gustafer Yellowgold Show has performed as the support act for Wilco and The Polyphonic Spree, performed family venues all across the U.S., as well as off-Broadway productions of Gustafer Yellowgold's Mellow Sensation and Gustafer Yellowgold's Infinity Sock in Manhattan's DR2 Theater. In addition to an eight volume DVD/CD catalogue of hand-drawn music videos Taylor has created a trilogy of musical audiobooks for Audible including 2018's #1 Children's Audible Original, "I'm From The Sun." Morgan moved from his hometown of Dayton, OH to NYC in 1999 and began a career as an audio engineer while touring, performing and recording in musical projects with members of Wilco, Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening) and co-writing with Lisa Loeb.

Randy White (Director) was founding artistic director of Cardinal Stage in Bloomington, IN. Under Randy's leadership, Cardinal grew into one of Indiana's largest arts organizations. A champion of children's theatre, Randy inaugurated Cardinal's successful "Cardinal for Kids" series, which played to over 100,000 kids in seven years.

In NYC, Randy developed and directed Theatreworks USA's Max and Ruby, a children's musical that played off-Broadway and toured nationally. He directed the 15-month off-Broadway run of Glen Berger's Underneath the Lintel, assisted on Disney's The Lion King, and was resident director at New Dramatists. Regionally, Randy has directed at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Portland Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, etc.

As a theatre educator, Randy has directed and/or taught at Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, University of Minnesota/Guthrie, University of Alberta, Fordham, and NYU Tisch.

In Chicago, Randy directed The Wizard of Oz at the Children's Theatre of Winnetka and Curious George and Knuffle Bunny at Northbrook Theatre. For the Greenhouse Theater, Randy directed Truman and The Birth of Israel and was nominated for an Equity Jeff award for his critically acclaimed production of Midsummer (A Play with Songs). He also directed YPT's inaugural production of Knuffle Bunny in the fall of 2021. Randy holds an MFA in directing from the University of Alberta in his native Canada.

CAST

Alyssa Peabody - Eileen Doan
Philip - Sam Linda
Ensemble - Jonathan Schwart
Ensemble - Sabrina Edwards
Ensemble - Jonathan Shaboo

To post a comment, you must register and login.