Writers' Theatre announces 2008/09 season

Writers' Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announced the company's 17th season, which includes two world premieres: the world premiere musical adaptation of Candida (as yet untitled) by George Bernard Shaw with music by Josh Schmidt, book by Austin Pendleton, lyrics by Jan Tranen and conceived and direction by Michael Halberstam; and Brett Neveu's Old Glory, directed by William Brown. The subscription season also includes Picnic by William Inge, directed by David Cromer; and Jean Genet's The Maids translated by Martin Crimp, directed by Jimmy McDermott. For the first time in Writers' Theatre history, three non-subscription shows will be produced, including an election season revival of Nixon's Nixon by Russell Lees, directed by Michael Halberstam, featuring the original cast of William Brown and Larry Yando; Michael Halberstam's one-man dramatic staged reading of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol; and a family production to be determined.
 
 
The 2008/09 Writers' Theatre Season is:
 
The revival of
Nixon's Nixon
By Russell Lees
Directed by Michael Halberstam
Featuring William Brown and Larry Yando
Performance Venue: 664 Vernon Avenue
 
Previews:  August 19 – 26, 2008
Regular Run:  August 30 – September 28, 2008
Press Openings: August 27 & 28, 2008 at 7:30 pm
 
Tickets are currently only available to 2008/09 season ticket holders and will be on sale to the public on June 20, 2008.
 
Just in time for the presidential elections, Writers' brings back its critically acclaimed, award-winning production of Nixon's Nixon. This box office record-breaking production returns to our most intimate theatre for a limited engagement. Artistic Director Michael Halberstam will once again direct William Brown and Larry Yando as they reprise their tour-de-force performances as Kissinger and Nixon in this thrilling, hilarious and brilliantly imagined story of what might have happened in the Lincoln sitting room the night before Nixon resigned.
 
Picnic
By William Inge
Directed by David Cromer
Featuring Marc Grapey
Performance Venue: 325 Tudor Court
 
Previews: September 16 – 23, 2008
Regular Run: September 26 – November 16, 2008
Press Opening: September 24, 2008 at 7:30 pm
 
This American classic is staged by Chicago's own David Cromer whose previous work for Writers' Theatre includes The Price and Booth and whose highly acclaimed production of The Adding Machine is enjoying a successful run in New York. When a charismatic young drifter arrives in a small Kansas town on the eve of a Labor Day picnic, the simmering repressions of its residents come rapidly to a boil. Frequently hilarious and profoundly moving, Inge's masterpiece chronicles the hopes and despairs that lie between the realization of adulthood and the eternal optimism of youth.
 
The Maids
By Jean Genet
Translated by Martin Crimp
Directed by Jimmy McDermott
Performance Venue: 664 Vernon Avenue
 
Previews: November 18 – December 2, 2008
Regular Run: December 6, 2008 – April 5, 2009
Press opening: December 3 & 4, 2008 at 7:30 pm
 
When the mistress is away, the maids will play. Two women in service to a younger socialite pass the moments of their day in playacting and fantasy. As the line between fantasy and reality begins to disintegrate, their games take a deadly turn. Jealousy, resentment, sexual tension and murder converge in this 1947 classic French thriller. Jimmy McDermott, one of the city's most exciting young directors, brings his trademark edginess to this seminally rebellious play.
 
A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Michael Halberstam
Featuring Michael Halberstam
Performance Venue: 325 Tudor Court
 
Regular Run: December 14 – 23, 2008
Press opening: December 13, 2008
 
Artistic Director Michael Halberstam gives another solo tour-de-force performance of the greatest ghost story ever written. Available for a limited engagement, our 13th annual reading of Ebenezer Scrooge's journey over the course of one magical Christmas Eve has become a holiday tradition.
 
The world premiere of
Old Glory
By Brett Neveu
Directed by William Brown
Performance Venue: 325 Tudor Court
 
Previews: February 3 – 11, 2009
Regular Run: February 14 – March 29, 2009
Press Opening: February 12, 2009 at 7:30 pm
 
William Brown, director of last season's triumphant As You Like It turns his attention from the old to the new. One of the country's hottest young playwrights, Brett Neveu, brings us the world premiere of Old Glory. This gripping drama in which a family confronts loss as a consequence of war is brought intensely to life through Neveu's direct yet poetic language. No government, no politics, just people.  Razor sharp wit and fiercely emotional confrontation combine as this viscerally powerful mystery unfolds.
 
A new musical adapted from Candida by George Bernard Shaw (to be titled)
Music by Joshua Schmidt
Lyrics by Jan Tranen
Adapted by Austin Pendleton
Conceived and Directed by Michael Halberstam
Performance Venue: 325 Tudor Court
 
Previews: May 19 – June 3, 2009
Regular Run: June 6 – July 19, 2009
Press Opening: June 4, 2009 at 7:30 pm
 
After his unanimously acclaimed New York debut, The Adding Machine, Writers' Theatre Associate Artist Josh Schmidt has become the most eagerly anticipated young musical theatre composer in the country. His second creation adapted from Candida by George Bernard Shaw in collaboration with artistic director Michael Halberstam, playwright Austin Pendleton and lyricist Jan Tranen, receives its world premiere in Glencoe.  A poet, a preacher and his wife enter into a delicious conflict when a fantastical suspicion turns an ordinary day topsy turvy.

Writers' Theatre performs in two performance spaces in Glencoe–its 50-seat venue at Books on Vernon, 664 Vernon Ave, and its 108-seat theatre at 325 Tudor Court in the Woman's Library Club.  Subscriptions and Memberships are available at the Box Office, 376 Park Avenue, Glencoe, 847-242-6000 and www.writerstheatre.org.
 
Family Programming
Following the success of this season's The Frog Prince, Writers' will continue its family programming with a play yet to be determined.  The family production will open March 14 and will run through April 19 with performances on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and Sundays at 11:00 a.m.
 
Ticket Information
Writers' Theatre season ticket packages provide a convenient theatergoing experience to accommodate busy lives. The Writers' Theatre Membership is $180 and provides ultimate flexibility. The Subscription is $200 and offers patrons a preset schedule with the guarantee of the same seat to their originally scheduled performances. Each Membership and Subscription includes one ticket to Picnic, The Maids, Old Glory and the new musical adaptation of Candida.