Writers Theatre Extends ISAAC'S EYE Through 12/21

Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce an extension of the Midwest Premiere of Isaac's Eye by Lucas Hnath, directed by Artistic Director Michael Halberstam. The show, which began performances on September 2, will now play through December 21, 2014, at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon Ave, Glencoe.

Plays about historical figures often play fast and loose with facts. In Isaac's Eye, however, an ingenious, meta-theatrical device separates truth from fiction, as each incontrovertible fact is chalked onto the very walls of the theatre. Such is the inspired atmosphere of Lucas Hnath's wildly creative new play, which tells the story of a young Isaac Newton, who once inserted a long needle "between my eye and the bone, as near to the backside of my eye as I could."

Hnath playfully reimagines Newton's world with a contemporary conceit and language-stripped of accents and period dialect-as he introduces young Newton to the great Robert Hooke, the most famous and powerful scientist in Britain. The resulting battle of intellects and egos pulses with wit, humor and tension as the playwright uncovers (and invents) the motivations that drove a young farm boy to become one of the greatest thinkers in human history.

The cast features LaShawn Banks as Actor/Dying Man, Marc Grapey as Robert Hooke (through December 14), Jürgen Hooper as Isaac Newton, Elizabeth Ledo as Catherine and Jeff Parker as Robert Hooke (December 16-21).

The design team includes: Collette Pollard (Scenic Designer), Jenny Mannis (Costume Designer), Keith Parham (Lighting Designer), Mikhail Fiksel (Sound Designer), D.J. Reed (Props Designer) and David Castellanos (Stage Manager).

Lucas Hnath (Playwright) has written the following plays: The Christians (Commissioned and Produced by The Humana Festival of New Plays), Red Speedo (Studio Theatre, DC), A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney (Soho Repertory Theatre), Death Tax (Humana Festival/Steinberg Award and Royal Court), Isaac's Eye (EST) and the short play NightNight (Humana Festival). He has been resident playwright at New Dramatists since 2011; he has enjoyed playwriting residencies with The Royal Court Theatre and 24Seven Lab. He is under commission with Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Royal Court Theatre. Lucas received both his BFA and MFA from NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing and is a lecturer in NYU's Expository Writing Program.

Michael Halberstam (Artistic Director and Director) is the co-founder of Writers Theatre. He has directed over thirty-five productions for the company, including Not About Heroes (starring Nicholas Pennell), Private Lives, Look Back In Anger, Candida, The Father, Crime and Punishment, Benefactors, Seagull, The Duchess of Malfi, Othello, The Savannah Disputation, the world premiere musical A Minister's Wife, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, She Loves Me, The Real Thing, Hamlet, Sweet Charity and Days Like Today. Halberstam has appeared in numerous Writers Theatre productions, including Richard II (title role), Loot and Misalliance. Previously, he spent two years at The Stratford Festival in Ontario and performed in Timon of Athens, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (title role), Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It. Halberstam's other Chicago acting credentials include productions with Wisdom Bridge, Court Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Elsewhere he directed The Gamester (Northlight Theatre), A Man For All Seasons (Peninsula Players Theatre), Hamlet (Illinois Shakespeare Festival), Candida (Jean Cocteau Repertory in New York), Ten Little Indians (Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace), a highly acclaimed revival of Crime and Punishment, which Writers Theatre produced off-Broadway at 59E59 Theatres in New York City, Enchanted April and State of the Union (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). In 2010 he directed A Minister's Wife at Lincoln Center Theater, and also directed the west coast premiere at San Jose Repertory Theatre in 2013. His forays into opera have included The Rape of Lucretia (Chicago Opera Theater), Francesca De Ramini featuring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Eschenbach and Le Freyshutz, a Berlioz adaptation of the Weber opera conducted by Christopher Eschenbach in its North American Premiere (Ravinia Festival). He spent two and a half years teaching Shakespeare at The Theatre School at DePaul University and has received awards for excellence in theater management and/or artistic achievement from The Chicago Drama League, The Arts & Business Council, Chicago Lawyers for the Creative Arts, and The Chicago Associates of the Stratford Festival. He also received the 2010 Zelda Fichandler Award, the 2013 Artistic Achievement Award from the League of Chicago Theatres, and was named the Chicago Tribune's 2013 "Chicagoan of the Year" for Theater. He currently serves on the executive board of the Arts Club of Chicago.

Curtain times are Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30pm; Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00pm; Saturdays at 4:00pm and 8:00 pm; Sundays at 2:00pm and 6:00pm. Select Wednesday matinees are at 2pm. Tickets are $35-$65 and are available at the Box Office, 321 Park Avenue, Glencoe; 847-242-6000 or online at www.writerstheatre.org.

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