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E xe cu t iv e D ir ec t or S T E PH EN J . A LB ER T

Dear Court Theatre family, In our program letters, we like to welcome you to Court Theatre and introduce the play you’re about to experience. Occasionally, we also have the opportunity to share with you major institutional news that affects not only our artists, but also our patrons. To that end, we are thrilled to report that Court’s long-term vision of creating a Center for Classic Theatre at the University of Chicago is taking shape. Recently, on a chilly Saturday morning in January, Court’s Board of Trustees met to review and approve an ambitious plan for the theatre’s future, and in doing so committed to a series of steps that over the next few years will allow our theatre to grow both artistically and structurally, ultimately resulting in Court assuming a unique leadership role in the landscape of American regional theatre.

Court’s Center for Classic Theatre is not a new building, but rather a new way to conceive of and share the art that we produce. As a theatre center at the heart of the University of Chicago, Court will no longer be in the business of simply mounting five shows per year.

Instead, we seek to collaborate with the University of Chicago as well as our South Side neighbors to curate large-scale theatrical undertakings that will inform and disseminate the work we produce.

For Court’s audience, this will mean more ambitious seasons of plays with larger casts, more world premieres of new translations and adaptations of classics, more nationally recognized artists and scholars, and more special events that encourage conversations about Court’s work.

By fully embracing our partnership with the University of Chicago, we also seek to redefine the scope of the intersection between art and scholarship. Center for Classic Theatre productions and University-wide initiatives—including classes, conferences, symposia, and faculty collaborations—will have broad impact on the University, local, and national communities.

This production of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando embodies the strong artistic foundation on which we plan to build over the next four years. We’re pleased to welcome acclaimed director Jessica Thebus to lead this adventurous adaptation of a classic text by nationally renowned playwright Sarah Ruhl. In order to better understand the inspiration behind the production, we invite you to participate in the special presentations, panels, and talkbacks listed in your program’s insert, as well as to visit Court’s website to peruse the Center for Classic Theatre Review, an online journal of interviews with Court’s artists and scholarly essays dedicated to Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. Finally, don’t miss our interview on page six with University of Chicago English professor and Virginia Woolf expert Lisa Ruddick, whose students were offered special behind-the-scenes access to the production.

We take pride in the quality of the work on our stage as well as the willingness of our audiences to view entertainment and intellectual engagement as one and the same. Without a doubt, it is an exciting time to be at Court Theatre.

Charles Newell, Artistic Director

Stephen J. Albert, Executive Director Court Theatre 1

nal Professio

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orlando

MAR 10 – APR 10, 2011

Virginia Woolf’s

ORLANDO adapted by

Sarah Ruhl

directed by

Jessica Thebus

Collette Pollard

Scenic Design

Linda Roethke

Costume Design

Jaymi Lee Smith

Lighting Design

Andre Pluess

Sound Design

Drew Dir

Production Dramaturg

Sara Gammage

Production Stage Manager

Jonathan Nook

Assistant Stage Manager

The Designers and Scenic Artists are members of United Scenic Artists, I.A.T.S.E. Local USA829, AFL-CIO, CLC. The actors and stage managers are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: Copyright © Gordon Taylor. Reproduced by permission c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White, Ltd. 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN. ORLANDO is produced by special arrangement with Bruce Ostler, BRET ADAMS, LTD., 448 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036. www.bretadamsltd.net.

Sponsored by

The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation Court Theatre 2

Professional Theatre at

CAST

Orlando........................................................................Amy J. Carle

Sasha..............................................................................Erica Elam

Chorus.....................................................................Thomas J. Cox

Adrian Danzig

Kevin Douglas

Lawrence Grimm

SETTING The Elizabethan Age to the Present.

There will be a 15-minute intermission.

Court Theatre performs in the intimate Abelson Auditorium, made possible through a gift from Hope and Lester Abelson.

The use of cameras, videotape recorders, or audio recorders by the audience during this performance is strictly prohibited. Please turn off all phones, pagers, and chiming watches.

Court Theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Productions are made possible, in part, by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; a City Arts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; and the Cultural Outreach Program of the City of Chicago. Court Theatre is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the American Theatre; the League of Resident Theatres; the Illinois Humanities Council; Arts Alliance Illinois; and the League of Chicago Theatres.

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PLAY NOTES

a note from playwright SARAH RUHL In 1927, Virginia Woolf wrote in a letter: “Yesterday morning I was in despair… I couldn’t screw a word from me; and at last dropped my head in my hands: dipped my pen in the ink, and wrote these words, as if automatically, on a clean sheet: Orlando: A Biography. No sooner had I done this than my body was flooded with rapture and my brain with ideas. I wrote rapidly… But listen; suppose Orlando turns out to be Vita.” Vita Sackville-West was, along with Leonard Woolf, one of Woolf’s great loves. Orlando became a fictional, fantastical, pseudobiographical conglomerate of the many lives of Vita SackvilleWest, who was also a poet, cross-dresser, aristocrat, and consummate gardener (her estate was given to her family by Queen Elizabeth, and was then taken away from Vita in her lifetime because of her gender). “All these ancestors and centuries of silver and gold have bred a perfect body,” Woolf said of Vita.

Woolf wrote the book more quickly than any of her others, “at the top of her speed,” and in higher spirits. She wrote to Vita, “It’s all about you and the lusts of your mind.” She was determined to break out of the rigid form of the novel saying, “I will never write a novel again,” and Orlando will be “truthful but fantastic.”

Orlando is then part novel, part fabulation, part biography, part theatrical escapade, part poetry, and full of complex private messages to Vita, leading Vita’s son to call it “the longest love-letter in the English language.”

This note originally appeared in the program for Classic Stage Company’s 2010 production of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. Reprinted with permission.

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PLAY NOTES

In Conversation with LISA RUDDICK

Virginia Woolf, gender politics, and the erotics of writing

Lisa Ruddick is Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. Her teaching focuses on modernist literature and psychoanalysis. Currently, she is working on a book on the professional discourse in the field of English. Prior to the start of rehearsal for Orlando, Resident Dramaturg Drew Dir talked with Professor Ruddick about Virginia Woolf, gender politics, and the erotics of writing.

DD: How does the novel Orlando fit into Virginia Woolf’s oeuvre? It’s such a different kind of novel than Mrs. Dalloway or To the Lighthouse.

LR: After the major effort of To the Lighthouse, Woolf wanted to treat herself to a lighter, more frivolous enterprise. She said that with this book “I never got down to my depths and made shapes square up, as I did in the Lighthouse.” So her own sense of the architecture of the text wasn’t so commanding as she worked on Orlando. You can see that the gifts that she’s displaying in Orlando are those of writing a gorgeous paragraph, or picking the exact word in a sentence, or creating humorous effects; but architecturally, it’s not a very impressive novel.

DD: Has this affected how Woolf scholars approach Orlando?

LR: In the era of feminist and gender studies, Orlando has attracted a lot more attention than it formerly did, because its treatment of the man-to-woman transformation is interesting to scholars working on the fluidity of gender. But if you were to read literary criticism from the 1960s or 1970s, it was most interested in the stream-of-consciousness technique of the novel—the experimentation of Woolf’s novels that places her in the same generation with Joyce and Faulkner. So Orlando has been a more popular topic for literary criticism since around 1980, when people became interested in the topic of androgyny in fiction—that was the first umbrella term for thinking about gender instability or gender migration in literature. Now you can find articles on Orlando that are about bisexuality, lesbian desire, transgender identities, and something that one critic calls multisexuality. When people want to think about how human gender is constituted, [they] have used Orlando as an occasion—in some ways, indirectly—to puzzle through certain fundamental questions about gender identity.

DD: A lot of these terms weren’t even in play when Woolf was writing Orlando.

LR: Yes, although Freud had by that time developed his idea that human beings have an innate bisexuality. But my honest view is that I think in Orlando Woolf wanted to have fun, that she just wanted to let her imagination play over these issues and ideas without having to design a theory that would then accord with some contemporary theory of gender identity. What do you think? continued Court Theatre 6

Virginia Woolf by Lady Ottoline Morrell, photograph,1926. Š National Portrait Gallery, London Court Theatre 7

PLAY NOTES DD: Well, it’s been a while since I read A Room of One’s Own, but I remember her discussion of androgyny, where she judges writers on a spectrum of masculinity to femininity. Woolf does have this notion of gender fluidity, but her categories of male and female are pretty stable.

LR: Right. And the scholar who wrote the article on multisexuality talks about Orlando as embodying a viva la différence theory, according to which there are male and female components in everybody; but those are pretty stable categories. That view of gender, incidentally, does not accord with what most contemporary literary critics think. The standard view now among scholars in the humanities is that the terms “male” and “female” do not name features that are embedded in our nature, except insofar as they are implanted by society.

DD: Woolf saw herself as engaging in the same kind of literary experiments as James Joyce, but she once distinguished herself by noting that Joyce had the freedom to write openly about his sexuality in a way that she, a woman, couldn’t. In your view, how does Woolf approach (or circumvent) sexuality in her novels?

LR: Well, it’s very indirect. It’s been noted that Orlando was published in the same year as Radclyffe Hall’s openly lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness, which then was judged obscene in a trial that Woolf herself attended. In the period of high modernism, authors fearing censorship or backlash developed highly encoded ways of talking about lesbian sexuality. You can see Woolf doing that sometimes.

For example, there’s a moment in Mrs. Dalloway where we’re getting insight into Clarissa Dalloway’s response to women, and there’s a highly poetic and metaphorical account of the feeling that Clarissa has when she—as we would say—has a crush on a woman. So the language is erotic and even orgasmic, culminating in an image of “a match burning in a crocus.” The critic Elizabeth Abel describes the match in a crocus as representing a clitoris—the reference is encoded and metaphorical. And then Woolf is indirectly sexual in her very syntax. When she was reading Proust while writing Mrs. Dalloway, she wrote in her diary that reading him put her in a kind of frenzy of desire to write herself. She said that the feeling his sentences gave her was almost “sexual.” If you look at the grammar of Proust’s sentences and what it has in common with the grammatical habits Woolf developed for Mrs. Dalloway, you see that both of them build up a lot of pressure in their sentences through unresolved syntax, so there’s a long arc of tension within the sentence that’s then resolved when the syntax is finally completed. That does create a quasi-sexual feeling of tension and release in the reader’s consciousness. It’s a way of doing erotic writing without particularly talking about sex.

You can read the extended interview with Lisa Ruddick online in the Center for Classic Theatre Review at www.CourtTheatre.org.

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PLAY NOTES

Virginia and Vita

by Resident Dramaturg Drew Dir

Virginia Woolf met Vita Sackville-West, the inspiration for Orlando, at a dinner party in 1922. Vita’s reputation preceded her: she was an aristocrat, a successful writer, and a notorious cross-dresser whose romantic escapades with one Violet Trefusis (the basis for the Russian princess Sasha in Orlando) were well known among the members of the Bloomsbury Group. At first, Virginia was unimpressed with Vita; she had, in her view, “all the supple ease of the aristocracy, but not the wit of the artist.”

Despite Virginia’s reservations, she invited Vita to publish a novel with the Hogarth Press; that professional relationship grew into a friendship, transforming into a love affair in 1925 after the two women spent a few nights alone together at Vita’s country home at Long Barn. There, she recorded in her diary an iconic description of Vita: “she shines…with a candle lit radiance, stalking on legs of beach trees, pink glowing, grape clustered, pearl hung. That is the secret of her glamour, I suppose.”

Virginia also noted her anxiety about the relationship: “What is the effect of all this on me? Very mixed.” It was her first consummated lesbian relationship, and her insecurity was bound up with her envy of Vita’s “maturity and full breastedness,” her charisma, and the fact that she was a mother—“her being in short (what I have never been) a real woman.” (At the time of their affair, both Virginia and Vita were married; Virginia to Leonard Woolf, with whom she founded the Hogarth Press, and Vita to Harold Nicolson, a writer and frequent ambassador to Tehran. Both men, while never expressing enthusiasm for their wives’ affair, never interfered with it, either.)

Much scholarship has been dedicated to surmising the sexual details of Virginia and Vita’s relationship; while their letters and diaries disguise much, they reveal a relationship that was intense but brief, sexual but frequently stymied, always deeply felt, and not without its jealousies. Vita had always been more sexually adventurous than Virginia, a fact that she occasionally lorded over Virginia in their moments of contention. Orlando was written shortly after one of these rough patches in their relationship, when Vita (ever the sexual conquistadora) entertained affairs with other women. The writing of Orlando was both Virginia’s dedication to Vita and her gentle act of revenge. She peppered the book with esoteric love-gifts to Vita, including little flatteries of her beauty: her stately legs, her “glamour,” “the Pink, the Pearl, the Perfection of her sex”—words and phrases that only Vita would recognize from their love letters. Even a bird that cries “Life! Life! Life!” chirps the English translation of the Latin, “Vita! Vita! Vita!”

Perhaps Virginia’s most thoughtful fiction was to restore to Vita her beloved family estate, Knole House. Though Vita was in line to inherit her ancestral mansion, the great house passed instead to Vita’s uncle because Vita could not legally inherit it continued Court Theatre 10

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Professio

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Photo of James T. Alfred by Michael Brosilow.

PLAY NOTES as a woman. Vita, who had loved Knole since she was a child, was heartbroken; returning the fictional version of Knole to Vita/Orlando, therefore, is one of the novel’s most profound acts of affection.

As biographer Hermione Lee surmises, Knole (a calendar house of 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances, and 7 courtyards) and its illustrious ancestry “was as much the inspiration for Orlando as Vita was herself”—and though Virginia personally found Knole House cold and daunting, she was nevertheless fascinated by its historical atmosphere, a fascination that also pervades the novel. (Knole’s great halls and bedchambers also inspired Collette Pollard’s scenic design).

Victoria Mary (‘Vita’) Sackville-West

by John Gay, photograph,1948. © National Portrait Gallery, London

Upon Orlando’s publication, Virginia delivered a handsome black leather-bound copy of the book to Vita, who counted herself “completely dazzled, bewitched, enchanted, under a spell.” She also declared: “you have invented a new form of Narcissism,—I confess,—I am in love with Orlando—this is a complication I had not foreseen.” In her private diary, Virginia was ambivalent about Orlando as a literary achievement. “The truth is I expect I began [Orlando] as a joke,” she wrote, “and went on with it seriously.” Casting off her usual modernist prose, she thought of Orlando as a “writer’s holiday”— undoubtedly mingled with the pleasure of “writing Vita.” Orlando became her most popular novel, exceeding in sales all her previous books. As the critic Arnold Bennett observed (somewhat resentfully) at the time, “you cannot keep your end up at a London dinner party in these weeks unless you have read Mrs. Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.”

In the years to come, the intensity of Virginia and Vita’s love affair faded, though their friendship remained constant; Virginia’s final letter to Vita was composed a week before Virginia’s suicide in 1941. A few days later, Vita published a poem in Virginia’s memory, describing her as “rich on contradictions, rich in love,” a poet who “caught her special prey with words of honey and lamp of wit.” Their deep love and friendship remains memorialized in their love letters to each other, including Virginia’s finest love letter, Orlando.

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PLAY NOTES

SAPPHISM in the 1920s

by Resident Dramaturg Drew Dir Until the late 1920s, lesbianism was an invisible practice in Great Britain. Unlike male homosexuality—criminalized in 1885 by the Labouchère Amendment as an act of “gross indecency”—British law did not address the legality of female homosexuality until well into the twentieth century. Public discussion of Sapphism was confined to medical and legal circles and the intellectual elite; scholar Laura Doan divides the British public in the 1920s into “those who knew, those who knew nothing, and those who wished they didn’t know.” The very word, “lesbian,” like “homosexual,” did not enter the wider lexicon until the later 1920s and 30s; female homosexuals were referred to, when referred to at all, as “Sapphists,” “sexual inverts,” “masculine women,” “homogenic,” or the “intermediate sex.” Certain patterns of behavior or dress that we now popularly associate with lesbianism were not yet codified in the culture; the fashion of the 1920s, which encouraged a masculine style for women’s clothing and appearance, further obfuscated signifiers of sexual orientation. The spirit of the age which allowed lesbians to “pass” unnoticed in society (even in cases where they lived alone together), enabled the invisibility of lesbian identity in Britain.

All this changed with the publication of Radclyffe Hall’s novel The Well of Loneliness in July 1928. The book was Hall’s semi-autobiographical story of Stephen Gordon, a lesbian struggling to find a place for herself in modern society. Hall drew on many of the prevailing psychological theories of her era, namely the assessment of the lesbian as a man trapped in a woman’s body—in Hall’s view, a figure to be pitied. The Well of Loneliness follows Stephen Gordon from her childhood, when she first notices that she is different from other girls, to her adulthood, where she attempts a number of doomed relationships with women. The novel makes a plea for the tolerance and understanding of women “beset” with the regrettable condition of homosexuality.

Following its publication, the Sunday Express published a scathing denunciation of the novel. “I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than Court Theatre 14

PLAY NOTES this novel,” wrote the reviewer, James Douglas. “Poison kills the body, but moral poison kills the soul.” He demanded the novel be banned “without delay,” and in a manner of weeks the British Department of Public Prosecutions had brought a case against The Well of Loneliness. In November 1928, the magistrate pronounced the book obscene, demanding that all copies be collected and destroyed.

The highly publicized trial had the same transformative effect on the public’s awareness of lesbianism that Oscar Wilde’s trials had for that of male homosexuality. Within a matter of months, most newspapers in Britain were full of information on female homosexuality that had never been published so widely for the general public. Leonard Woolf’s mother remarked that “until I read this book I did not know that such things went on at all. I do not think they do. I have never heard of such things.” Splashed in all the papers were striking photographs of Radclyffe Hall herself dressed in a tuxedo and wearing a monocle. While drawing on the fashion sensibility of her day, Hall’s visibility inspired other homosexual women and contributed to the burgeoning image of the lesbian in the public mind.

Both Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West detested the prosecution of the novel and were sympathetic to Hall, though Woolf referred to The Well of Loneliness in her diary as a “meritous dull book” that was “so pure, so sweet, so sentimental that none of us can read it.” (Both Virginia and Leonard appeared at the trial to testify as expert witnesses but were dismissed after the judge decided that he himself would decide whether or not the book was obscene.) When Orlando was published in October 1928, sales of Woolf’s novel may have been intensified by the public interest in Hall. Despite the fact, however, that Orlando is based on the Sapphic relationship between Virginia and Vita, the novel was never banned or brought to trial. Sapphism’s disguise in the cloak of fantasy and farce likely spared it from persecution. Hall’s novel, on the other hand, was written in the style of social realism, and, though (like Orlando) not sexually explicit, dealt seriously with the condition of homosexuality in English society.

Virgina and Vita, too, saw their Sapphism as different in kind from Radclyffe Hall’s.

Both Virginia and Vita’s homosexuality operated out of stable if eccentric heterosexual marriages. Vita’s sexual exploits, as well as those of her husband Harold Nicolson (also homosexual), cohabited harmoniously with the public face of their marriage; in the 1930s, Harold and Vita even recorded a radio broadcast about marriage for the BBC (all while Vita was having an affair with the female station manager). For her part, Vita Sackville-West viewed her homosexuality as neither tragic nor radical; on the contrary, she was politically conservative and accommodated her lifestyle within a strong sense of English tradition. As for Virginia, she refrained from ever labeling herself a Sapphist or a homosexual in any of her public or private writing, though she flirts elusively with the label in her diaries and letters. Their relationship existed in a period of the twentieth century when the markers of female homosexuality were relatively undefined; their relationship, in turn, thrived on that lack of definition.

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PROFILES AMY J. CARLE (Orlando) makes her Court Theatre debut.

Chicago credits: The Sins of Sor Juana, Rock ‘N’ Roll, and Desire Under the Elms (Goodman Theatre); Sex With Strangers and Hedda Gabler (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Peter Pan and Trust (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Refuge (Collaboraction Theater - Jeff nomination); SubUrbia, The Lights (Jeff nomination), Ecstasy, WAS, and The Planets (Roadworks Productions). Off Broadway: National tour of The Vagina Monologues.

Regional: Fully Committed and The Diary of Anne Frank (Madison Repertory Theatre); Morning Star (Kansas City Repertory Theatre). Television: Chicago Code (FOX), Law & Order (NBC), Guiding Light (CBS). Ms. Carle studies acting with Maryann Thebus.

THOMAS J. COX (Chorus) happily returns to Court Theatre, where he has appeared in Fräulein Else, Raisin, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Thom is a founding ensemble member of Lookingglass Theatre Company, where he has done over thirty productions since 1988, most recently as Hook in Peter Pan (a play). Other credits include Northlight Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, and House Theatre (among many). Directing: Lookingglass Theatre Company, Eclipse Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop. Film/Television: Since You’ve Been Gone (Miramax Films); Brotherhood (Showtime); Chi-Girl (TriShore Entertainment Inc).

Love to Chris and Joanie.

ADRIAN DANZIG (Chorus) is happy to be doing this amazing show as his first time on stage at Court Theatre.

He’s spent most of the last eleven years as Producing Artistic Director for 500 Clown and has performed 500 Clown Macbeth, 500 Clown Frankenstein, 500 Clown Christmas, and 500 Clown and The Elephant Deal abundantly. Other credits: The Baron in the Trees and Metamorphoses (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Big Love (Goodman Theatre), and Go, Dog. Go! (Chicago Children’s Theater).

KEVIN DOUGLAS (Chorus) is excited to be making his Court Theatre debut. He was most recently seen in Northlight Theatre’s production of A Civil War Christmas, and before that his fifth run of Lookingglass Alice (Lookingglass Theatre Company). He is an Artistic Associate of Lookingglass Theatre Company. Kevin has performed all over the city. His regional credits include: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Baltimore Centerstage, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Kevin is a proud member of MPAACT.

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PROFILES ERICA ELAM (Sasha) is thrilled to be making her Court Theatre debut. Theatre credits include Stage Kiss and The Trip to Bountiful (Goodman Theatre), Born Yesterday, Comic Potential, Panic, and Rumors (Peninsula Players), Philadelphia Story (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company), Inherit the Wind (Northlight Theatre), The People vs. Friar Laurence (The Second City/Chicago Shakespeare Theater), and Winesburg, Ohio (Steppenwolf Theatre Company/About Face Theatre). As a writer and improviser, she has performed at The Second City, iO, Annoyance, and ComedySportz. Erica is a graduate of The School at Steppenwolf.

LAWRENCE GRIMM (Chorus) makes his Court Theatre debut. Theatre: Late: A Cowboy Song (Piven Theatre Workshop), Abigail’s Party (A Red Orchid Theatre), The Brothers Karamazov, 1984, and The Naked King (Lookingglass Theatre Company), A Fair Country, Wolf Lullaby, and I Never Sang for my Father (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), various Sketchbooks and Apocalyptic Butterflies (Collaboraction Theater), The Glass Menagerie (Jeff Award for Supporting Actor) and Death of a Salesman (Raven Theatre). He is an ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre and a theater teacher at Chi-Arts.

JESSICA THEBUS (Director) is an Associate Artist with Steppenwolf Theatre, where she has directed Sex With Strangers, Intimate Apparel, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, No Place Like Home, When the Messenger is Hot (also at 59 E 59th in NYC), Sonia Flew, and Sex with Strangers (First Look Repertory of New Work). Additional credits: Harriet Jacobs (Kansas City Repertory Theatre), A Civil War Christmas (Huntington Theatre Company), Our Town and They All Fall Down (Lookingglass Theatre Company); The Clean House (Goodman Theatre); Jekyll and Hyde, Inherit the Wind, Red Herring (Northlight Theatre); Eurydice (Victory Gardens Theater); The Turn of the Screw (Writers’ Theater); and the world premiere of Welcome Home Jenny Sutter (The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts).

Upcoming productions: world premiere of Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl (Goodman Theatre). Favorite projects: Pulp (Jefferson Award nomination—Best Director, After Dark Award—Best Production), Winesburg, Ohio (Jeff nomination—Best Director, After Dark Award—Best Director), and Seven Moves (About Face Theatre); Chicago (outdoor spectacle at the Field Museum); Salao: The Worst Kind of Unlucky (Redmoon Theater, where she is a longtime collaborator); Late, Melancholy Play, Abingdon Square (Piven Theatre Workshop, where she is a longtime member of the teaching staff). Steppenwolf for Young Adults projects: Haymarket Eight, Whispering City, David Mamet’s The Water Engine (also at Theater on the Lake), and A Tale of Two Cities. Ms. Thebus has also directed at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Center Theater, Lifeline Theater, Collaboraction Theater, and Caravan Productions, as well as touring internationally with the Bread and Puppet Theater. Education: Doctorate in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. She has designed courses, taught at the University of Chicago, DePaul University, Columbia College, Court Theatre 17

PROFILES and Roosevelt University, and is currently a faculty member in the Directing Program at Northwestern and an artistic associate at The Corn Exchange in Dublin, Ireland.

COLLETTE POLLARD (Scenic Designer) returns to Court Theatre where she last worked on The Illusion. Recent design credits include Odradek at The House Theatre, Harriet Jacobs at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, To Kill a Mockingbird at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and A Streetcar Named Desire at Writers’ Theatre.

Collette earned her MFA from Northwestern University. She is adjunct faculty and teaches at Columbia College. Collette is honored to be this years’ recipient of the Michael Maggio Emerging Designer Award.

LINDA ROETHKE (Costume Designer) Court Theatre productions: Arcadia, The Romance Cycle, James Joyce’s The Dead, The Little Foxes, Hay Fever, An Ideal Husband (Jeff Award), Old Times, On the Verge. Other theatres: Julius Caesar, All’s Well That Ends Well (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Managing Maxine, The Underpants (The Alliance Theatre), Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Intimate Apparel, I Never Sang for My Father (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Stage Kiss, The Clean House (Goodman Theatre), Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Northlight Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Drury Lane, and American Players Theatre. Other credits: Professor of Theatre, Northwestern University.

JAYMI LEE SMITH (Lighting Designer) currently resides in LA but was a Chicago native for over a decade, where she worked at theaters such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Lookingglass Theatre Company, and Northlight Theatre. Other theaters throughout the country include South Coast Repertory, Alliance Theatre, Hartford Stage, Pasadena Playhouse, Utah Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Her work has also been seen in Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Italy, and China. She is currently a professor of lighting design at UC Irvine.

ANDRE PLUESS (Composer/Sound Designer) Broadway credits: Metamorphoses, I Am My Own Wife, 33 Variations, and The Clean House (Lincoln Center). Regional: Cymbeline (Shakespeare Theatre D.C.), Legacy of Light (Arena Stage), Ghostwritten (Goodman Theatre), Palomino (Center Theatre Group), Equivocation (Seattle Repertory Theatre), Merchant of Venice and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Marcus (American Conservatory Theatre), Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing (California Shakespeare Festival). Mr. Pluess is an Artistic Associate at Lookingglass Theatre Company and the California Shakespeare Festival, resident designer at Victory Gardens Theater, and teaches Sound Design at Northwestern University.

DREW DIR (Production Dramaturg) is in his second season as the resident dramaturg of Court Theatre and a lecturer of Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago. In the past, Drew has worked as a playwright, dramaturg, director, and puppeteer in Chicago and London. His writing has been called “daring”

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PROFILES by the Chicago Tribune and “ballsy” by Time Out Chicago. Currently, his short play The Lurker Radio Hour is being remounted at Chicago’s Sketchbook Reverb until March 27. He also creates and performs shadow puppetry for his company, Manual Cinema. Drew holds a master’s degree in Text and Performance Studies from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

SARA GAMMAGE (Production Stage Manager) is delighted to return to Court Theatre for her sixth season. Previous Court Theatre credits include Flyin’ West, What the Butler Saw, The First Breeze of Summer, Wait Until Dark, The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Illusion, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, and Home. Other Chicago credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Greenhouse Theater, Theatre at the Center, Marriot Theatre, Apple Tree Theatre, and Redmoon Theater.

She recently finished another season at Peninsula Players Theatre in Door Country, WI; credits there include A Little Night Music, Comic Potential, Wait Until Dark, Is He Dead?, Rumors, and The Lady’s Not for Burning. Sara is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.

JONATHAN NOOK (Assistant Stage Manager) is proud to be returning to Court Theatre. He has served as assistant stage manager here on productions of Sizwe Banzi is Dead, The Year of Magical Thinking, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and The Piano Lesson after two seasons of floor managing. Other stage management credits include: Radio Macbeth (Court Theatre/SITI Company) and The North Plan, Sex with Strangers, The 3rd and 4th Annual First Look Repertory of New Work, Superior Donuts, and Huck Finn (Steppenwolf Theatre). He has also worked with American Players Theatre and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

CHARLES NEWELL (Artistic Director) has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 35 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production.

Directorial highlights at Court include Three Tall Women; The Illusion; The Year of Magical Thinking; The Wild Duck; Caroline, Or Change; Titus Andronicus; Arcadia; Man of La Mancha; Uncle Vanya; Raisin; The Glass Menagerie; Travesties; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Hamlet; The Invention of Love; The Little Foxes; Nora; and The Misanthrope. Charlie has also directed at the Goodman Theatre (Rock ‘n’ Roll), the Guthrie Theater (Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting Company (Staff Repertory Director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard, and New York University. He is the recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award. He has served on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, as well as on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Opera directing credits include Marc Blitzstein’s Regina at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Charlie is a multiple Joseph Jefferson Award (Chicago’s highest theatrical honor) nominee and recipient. His production of Caroline, or Change at Court received 4 Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Production– Musical and Best Director–Musical.

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PROFILES STEPHEN J. ALBERT (Executive Director) is a founding Partner in Albert Hall & Associates, LLC, a leading arts consulting firm. Prior to forming the consulting practice, Albert was recognized as a leading arts manager. He has led some of America’s most prestigious theatres, including the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group, Alley Theatre, and Hartford Stage Company. Albert began his career with the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles where he worked in senior management positions for over a decade, rising to Managing Director. He went on to become Executive Director of Houston’s Alley Theatre where he led a turnaround that stabilized the organization, enabling the Alley to return to national standing and drove a capital campaign that secured the organization’s future. At Hartford Stage, his partnership with Mark Lamos resulted in some of the theatre’s most successful seasons and reinforced Hartford Stage’s position at the forefront of the regional theatre movement. During his tenure in Hartford, Mr. Albert led the initiative to create a 25,000 square foot, state-of-the-art production center, securing the donation of the facility and the funding for its renovation. Albert has served as both President and Vice President of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and as a board member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG). He has also written and produced a variety of productions for television, is an ACE award nominee, and has been an associate producer of numerous acclaimed Broadway productions. He is a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum, a graduate of the University of Southern California, and holds an MBA from the UCLA Graduate School of Management.

5550 South Greenwood Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60637 smartmuseum.uchicago.edu

THE TRAGIC MUSE Art and Emotion, 1700—1900

F e b r uA r y 1 0 t h r o u G h J u n e 5 , 2 0 1 1

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INFORMATION 5535 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (773) 753-4472 www.CourtTheatre.org Mission The mission of Court Theatre is to create innovative productions of classic plays that are thought provoking, character-driven, and thematically enduring. Through main stage productions, audience enrichment programs, and collaborations with the University of Chicago, we re-examine, re-envision, and renew classic texts that pose enduring and provocative questions that define the human experience.

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Vision Court Theatre’s vision is to create the Center for Classic Theatre at the University of Chicago.

Dedicated to the creation and curation of large-scale interdisciplinary theatrical experiences, the Center will: • Inspire, educate, and entertain audiences both on and off the stage.

• Attract and feature artists of extraordinary talent.

• Add new adaptations and translations of classic works to the canon.

• Collaborate directly with University of Chicago scholars and students.

• Connect Court Theatre to individuals throughout Chicagoland, and especially to our community on Chicago’s South Side.

As a professional theatre-in-residence at the University of Chicago, Court is uniquely positioned to be a leader in the successful marriage of artistic practice and academic inquiry; by integrating the making of art with the creation of knowledge, Court will mount ambitious theatrical events unlike any other theatre in the country. The Center for Classic Theatre represents the realization of this extraordinary potential and will propel Court Theatre to a position of national preeminence.

History Court Theatre was founded in 1955 as an amateur outdoor summer theatre at the University of Chicago. In 1971, classics professor Nicholas Rudall assumed the role of director and conceived Court’s tradition of translating and adapting classic texts for contemporary audiences; the theatre was then established as a professional company with Actors’ Equity Association in 1975. In 1981, Court built its current home, the intimate, 251-seat Abelson Auditorium, and in 1983 the theatre incorporated as an independent non-profit organization. Court’s operating budget in excess of $3.2M allows it to reach over 35,000 patrons annually through its main stage productions, as well as 400 South Side high school students each year with intensive in school and extracurricular programs, including an annual high school performance festival, and 3,200 Chicago-area teens through our deeply-discounted student matinee series.

Box Office Hours Mon - Sat: 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Performance days: 12:00 pm - curtain.

TTY service is available by calling through the Illinois Relay Center, 1-800-526-0844.

Group discounts may be arranged by calling (773) 834-3243. Students and senior citizens receive reduced rates. University of Chicago students may purchase tickets for $10 with a valid U of C ID. Latecomers cannot be seated until a suitable break in the performance. At that time, the House Manager will direct latecomers to seats at the rear of the house. Patrons may take their ticketed seats during intermission.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chair Virginia Gerst

Vice Chairs Barbara E. Franke Timothy G. Goodsell

Secretary Mary Anton

Treasurer Roland Baker

Trustees David Bevington Leigh Breslau James Chandler James E. Clark Martha Clinton Joan Coppleson Paula D’Angelo Joan Feitler Lorna C. Ferguson Karen Frank Mary Louise Gorno Philip Gossett Jan Grayson Jack Halpern Kevin Hochberg Tom Kallen Ann Marie Lipinski Michael Lowenthal Stephen R. Patton Jerrold Ruskin Karla Scherer Marilyn Fatt Vitale Leon I. Walker

Margaret Maxwell Zagel

Honorary Trustee Stanley Freehling

Ex-Officio Stephen J. Albert Charles Newell Larry Norman Nicholas Rudall

PRODUCTION STAFF

Floor Manager

Assistant Directors

Movement Consultant

Assistant Costume Designer

Scenic Artists

Assistant Technical Director

Carpenters

Assistant Master Electrician

Sound Engineers

Wig Design

Wardrobe Supervisor

Susana Pelayo Adam Goldstein, Laley Lippard Ann Boyd Jeremy Floyd Scott Gerwitz,* Julie Ruscitti* Rupert Priniski Jack Birdwell, Brian Claggett, Robyn Phipps, Adina Weinig Christine Ferriter Rory Murphy, Sarah Ramos Christina Carlson Samantha Holmes

*Denotes a member of the United Scenic Artists union (USA).

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STAFF

Artistic Director Charles Newell Executive Director Stephen J. Albert

Resident Artist

Casting Director and

Artists-in-the-Schools Director

Resident Dramaturg

Teaching Artists

Casting/Education Assistant

Kemper Casting Fellow

Director of Production Assistant Production Manager and Company Manager Technical Director Properties Manager Costume Shop Manager Master Electrician

Advancement Consultant Assistant Director of Development for Institutional Relations Development Manager Development Clerk Kemper Development Fellow Kemper Special Events Fellow

General Manager Business Manager Management Assistant Community Programs Assistant

Director of Marketing & Communications Associate Director of Marketing Marketing Associate Kemper Marketing Fellows Marketing Assistant Public Relations

Box Office Manager

Associate Box Office Manager

and Database Admininstrator

Assistant Box Office Manager

Box Office Assistants

House Manager

Concessionaires

Volunteer Ushers

Ron OJ Parson Cree Rankin Drew Dir Kamal Angelo Bolden, Tracey N. Bonner, Melanie Brezill, John Byrnes, Kam Hobbs, Ashley Honore, Tony Lawry, Mechelle Moe, Allison Rich Izzy Olive Erin Kelsey Marc Stubblefield Laura Dieli Ray Vlcek Lara Musard Erica Friesen Marc Chevalier Elaine Wackerly Jennifer Foughner Melissa Aburano-Meister Alma Elkaz, Nina Leung Jesse Roth Amanda Fink Heidi Thompson Saunders Zachary Davis Brea Hayes Allison Rich Adam Thurman Traci Brant Milan Pejnovich Alicia Graf, Adam Rosenthal Julien Hawthorne Cathy Taylor Public Relations, Inc. Diane Osolin Heather Dumdei Benjamin Brownson Jenna Blackburn, Kareem Mohammad, Kathleen Wolk Matthew Sitz Alex Colborn, Calen Cole, Bobby Morales, Jacob Tyrell Courtesy of The Saints Court Theatre 23

CLASSIC CIRCLE The following individuals and institutions have made major gifts to the Classic Circle, Court’s premier giving society, and we are deeply grateful for the generosity of these donors. The list reflects gifts received through February 1, 2011. If you have a correction or would prefer to remain anonymous, please call (773) 834-0941.

Leadership Circle ($100,000 and above) Barbara and Richard Franke* University of Chicago

Producer’s Circle ($50,000-$99,999) Hyde Park Bank+ Joyce Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Polk Bros. Foundation+ The Shubert Foundation

Distinguished Patrons ($25,000-$49,999) Alphawood Foundation+ The Chicago Community Trust Mr. and Mrs. Robert Feitler Mr. and Mrs. James S. Frank The Julius Frankel Foundation Virginia and Gary Gerst Mr. and Mrs. David J. Vitale+

Grand Patrons ($15,000-$24,999) Helen N. and Roland C. Baker The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation Cultural Outreach Program, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Martha and Bruce Clinton Grant Thornton LLP Kevin Hochberg and James McDaniel The James S. Kemper Foundation+ Stephen and Linda Patton Prince Charitable Trusts Karla Scherer Margaret Maxwell Zagel

Grand Benefactors ($10,000-$14,999) James E. Clark and Christina Labate Martha and Bruce Clinton Lorna Ferguson and Terry Clark Harper Court Arts Council Kirkland & Ellis LLP Sidley Austin LLP Larry E. Strickling and Sydney L. Hans Winston & Strawn LLP *Special gifts made to support the Barbara E. Franke Commissioning Program for New Classics. + Includes gifts designated for Court’s Student Education Program.

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CLASSIC CIRCLE The Royal Court ($5,000-$9,999)

Stephen and Terri Albert Mary Anton and Paul Barron Michael D. and Jolynn Blair Family Foundation+ Ann and Richard Carr Joyce Chelberg Paula and Oscar D’Angelo Mr. and Mrs. F. Conrad Fischer The Irving Harris Foundation Gayle H. Jensen Tom and Esta Kallen

The Crown Society ($2,500-$4,999) Stan and Elin Christianson City Arts IV, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Joan and Warwick Coppleson Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Cruise Shawn Donnelley Dr. and Mrs. Willard A. Fry Ms. Mary Louise Gorno Jack and Helen Halpern Janet and Bob Helman Mrs. Leonard J. Horwich Bill and Jan Jentes

Director’s Circle ($1,500-$2,499)

Mrs. Edwin A. Bergman Mr. Harve Ferrill Mr. and Mrs. Mark Filip Julie and Ronald Gould Richard and Mary L. Gray Ms. Kineret Jaffe Francesca Johns and Angelo Kokkino Ms. Nancy A. Lauter and Mr. Alfred L. McDougal Linda Herreid and Brian Meister Navigant Consulting

Classic Circle ($1,000-$1,499) Anonymous Jay R. Franke and Pamela Baker Judith Barnard and Michael Fain Jean and John Berghoff David and Peggy Bevington Russell and Suzy Campbell Mr. and Mrs. James K. Chandler Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Custer Nancy and Eugene DeSombre Daisy A. Driss Philip and Phyllis Eaton* Eileen and Richard Epstein Mrs. Zollie Frank Timothy G. Goodsell Mr. Jan Grayson Ms. Patricia Hunckler Mr. and Mrs. Martin J. Koldyke

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Karp, in honor of Karen Frank Ann Marie Lipinski and Steve Kagan Brooks and Howard Morgan Nuveen Investments Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Townsend Sarita I. Warshawsky+

Michael Lowenthal and Amy Osler Robert McDermott and Sarah Jaicks McDermott William and Kate Morrison James Noonan and Dana Levinson The Rhoades Foundation Jerrold Ruskin Mr. James Stone Allison and David Thomas Elaine and Richard Tinberg Anne and William Tobey Anne and John Tuohy

Kathleen Picken Michael Saidel Lynne F. and Ralph A. Schatz Joan and James Shapiro Mr. Matthew Steinmetz Mr. and Mrs. Donald Stewart Mr. and Mrs. James Tonsgard Elaine and Patrick Wackerly Joan E. Neal and David Weisbach

Anne Kutak Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Lasinski Mrs. and Mr. Karen Lewis Charlene and Gary MacDougal Mr. and Mrs. John W. McCarter, Jr. David Moes and Jani Lesko Ms. Eunice Valdivia-Preston and Mr. Barry F. Preston Mr. and Mrs. James M. Ratcliffe Thomas Rosenbaum and Katherine Faber David and Judith L. Sensibar Nikki and Fred Stein Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Tully Mr. and Mrs. R. Todd Vieregg Leon and Rian Walker Thomas and Barbara Weil Charles and Sallie Wolf Court Theatre 25

ANNUAL SUPPORT The following individuals and institutions have made gifts to Court Theatre, and we are deeply grateful for their generosity. This list reflects gifts received through February 1, 2011. If you have a correction or would prefer to remain anonymous, please call (773) 834-0941.

Patrons ($500-$999) Anonymous Brett and Carey August Sharon and Robert Barton Ms. Heather Bilandic Black Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Blair, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Block Ms. Cheryl Bonander Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Booth Phyllis Booth Douglas Bragan Leigh S. Breslau and Irene J. Sherr Ms. Penny Brown and Mr. Jeff Rappin, in honor of Virginia Gerst Arie & Ida Crown Memorial Adam M. Dubin Nancie and Bruce Dunn Kent S. Dymak and Theodore N. Foss Sylvia Fergus Mr. Bill Fraumann Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Freehling Joan M. Giardina

Howard and Jacqueline Gilbert Philip and Suzanne Gossett Mr. and Mrs. Joel Guillory Gene and Nancy Haller David and Betty Hess Judith Kaufman Barry Lesht and Kay Schichtel, in memory of Jack Shannon John and Jill Levi Phoebe R. and John D. Lewis Family Foundation Mr. and Mrs. William Mason Robert Moyer and Anita Nagler Bill Mulliken and Lorna Filippini-Mulliken Larry F. Norman Ms. Grayce Papp Edward M. Rafalski Ms. Martha Roth and Mr. Bryon Rosner Ms. Yolanda Saul Roche Schulfer Dr. Salvador J. Sedita and Ms. Pamela L. Owens Susan H. and Robert E. Shapiro

The Producers Circle, Court Theatre’s premier donor society, is comprised of generous patrons who contribute $2,500 or more annually to the theatre.

Members of the Producers Circle receive a host of benefits that offer extraordinary access to Court Theatre’s artists, creative team, and artistic process. Select benefits include:

For more information, visit www.CourtTheatre.org or contact Jenny Foughner at (773) 834-0940 or jfo@uchicago.edu.

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• Opening Night subscriptions • Private dinners with Court artists • Concierge service for theatre tickets around Chicago • Backstage tours • Group entertainment opportunities ... And so much more.

ANNUAL SUPPORT Mary and Charles Shea Tim Burroughs and Barbara Smith Bill and Orli Staley Dr. Francis H. Straus II Ardis Tabb

Contributors ($250-$499) Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. Paul F. Anderson Joan Archie Drs. Andrew J. and Iris K. Aronson Ms. Catherine Bannister Catharine Bell and Robert Weiglein Joan and Julian Berman Henry and Leigh Bienen Mr. and Mrs. David L. Blumberg Mary and Carl Boyer Brady and Geraldine Brownlee Bob and Peggy Cassey Mr. and Mrs. Howard Cohn Elizabeth Hartigan Connelly and Matthew Connelly Nelda Connors Barbara Flynn Currie

Otto and Elsbeth Thilenius The Ultmann Family, in loving memory of John Steve and Debbie Viktora Mr. and Mrs. David Wanger Ms. Lucia Wood

Mr. Kermit Daniel Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Darnall Frederick T. Dearborn Eloise DeYoung Lisa and Rod Dir Mr. and Mrs. Richard Feitler Edie and Ray Fessler B. Ellen Fisher Ms. Virginia Fitzgerald Paul Fong Dr. and Mrs. James L. Franklin Gerry and Stan Glass Ethel and Bill Gofen Mrs. Betty Guttman Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Hartfield Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Hirsch

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ANNUAL SUPPORT Douglas and Lola Hotchkis Carrie and Gary Huff Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Jaffe Ms. Melody Johnson Michael Jones Ms. Anne Van Wart and Mr. Michael Keable Neil and Diana King Ms. Merrillyn Kosier and Mr. James Kinoshita, in honor of Marilyn Vitale Nancy and Richard Kosobud Larry and Carole Krucoff Steven and Barbara Lewis Mr. Michael C. Litt Mr. and Mrs. Joe Madden Renee M. Menegaz and Prof. R. D. Bock Dorism and Glenn E. Merritt Dr. and Mrs. Ernest Mhoon Omar Miller Mr. and Mrs. Robert Moeller Mr. Clark Morris Northern Trust Matching Gift Program Ms. Sara Paretsky Irma Parker

Ms. Jane Grady and Mr. Alan J. Pulaski Bruce Rodman William and Eunice Rosen Ms. Ann M. Rothschild Sharon Salveter and Stephan Meyer Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Scott Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Shannon Ilene W. Shaw Joan and Lynn Small Mrs. Geraldine S. Smithwick Alvarez Elizabeth and Hugo Sonnenschein Dorie Sternberg George P. Surgeon Anne and John Tuohy, in honor of Virginia Gerst Edward and Edith Turkington Russell and Marlene Tuttle Dr. and Mrs. W. H. Van Houten Daina Variakojis and Ernest Frizke Mr. Albert Wanninger Nicholas Weingarten and Cynthia Winter Mrs. Iris Witkowsky

Gershwin Gala

with the University Symphony Orchestra

Saturday, April 23 • 8 pm Mandel Hall • 1131 E. 57th Street Music from Porgy and Bess, including the Catfish Row Suite and selected songs, performed

by Court Theatre artists — plus Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, Lullaby, Three Preludes, and more!

Donations requested: $10/$5 Students event hotline: 773.702.8069 music.uchicago.edu Persons who need assistance should call 773.702.8484 in advance.

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ANNUAL SUPPORT Associates ($150-$249) Anonymous Mr. and Mrs. Steven A. Adelman Ms. Roula Alakiotou and Mr. Alvin Burenstine Filomena and Robert Albee Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Anderson Mort Arnsdorf and Rosemary Crowley Ted and Barbara Asner Ms. Jacqueline Bergen Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Berry Ms. Kathleen Betterman James B. and Dorothy Bishop Mr. Nathanial Blackman Jim and Sandy Boves Mrs. Rose Broome Carol Jean and Bernard Brown John and Sally Carton Judy Chernick Dr. Adam Cifu Elizabeth Fama and John Cochrane Lydia G. Cochrane Mr. and Mrs. David Crabb Edna Crittenden Katherine and John Culbert Susanne and David Cyranoski Prof. and Mrs. Kenneth Dam Quinn and Robert Delaney Rose B. Dyrud Nancy Felton-Elkins and Larry Elkins Sidney and Sondra Berman Epstein Ms. Mary Fisher Mr. Dale Fitschen Mr. and Mrs. Julian Frazin, in honor of Virginia Gerst Dr. Sandra Garber Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Golden Mr. Ray Greenblatt Mr. and Mrs. Steven Gryll Harris Bank Mr. Alton Harris Carrie L. Hedges Richard and Marilyn Helmholz Beth and Howard Helsinger

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Dorthea Juul Robert Kapoun Mr. and Mrs. Richard Keller Bill and Blair Lawlor Charles and Fran Licht James and Katharine Mann Michelle Maton and Mike Schaeffer Mr. and Mrs. Frank D. Mayer, Jr. Stacey and Patrick McCusker David E. McNeel Sheila and Harvey Medvin, in honor of Joan Feitler Dean Miller and Martha Swift Frances Minor William and Kate Morrison, in honor of Joan Feitler Marianne Nathan and James Hugunin Mr. and Mrs. William J. O’Connor Irving and Vivian Paley Elizabeth M. Postell Jerry Proffit Mr. Michael Raftery Mr. Cree Rankin Louise Lee Reid Tina Reynolds Carol Rosofsky and Robert Lifton Nuna and Ennio Rossi Cecilia and Joel Roth Drs. Donald A. and Janet Rowley Alan and Allison Satyr Roberta and Howard Siegel Dr. and Mrs. Eric Spratford Franklin St. Lawrence Judith E. Stein Mr. and Mrs. Jerome F. Strauss, Jr. Casmir and Dorothy Szczepaniak Lynne A. Taylor and Timothy D. Smith Heidi Thompson Saunders and David Saunders Mr. and Mrs. John Twombly Mr. Ted Walch, in memory of Martha Newell Joseph Wolnski and Jane Christino Paul and Mary Yovovich Luigi Zingales

Visit the Court Theatre Blog

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SPECIAL GIFTS Endowment Support and Planned Gifts Court Theatre greatly acknowledges the generous individuals and institutions who have supported Court’s artistic excellence by contributing to our endowment or making a planned gift.

Hope and Lester Abelson Family The Michael and Lillian Braude Theatre Fund Joan S. and Stanley M. Freehling Fund for the Arts The Helen and Jack Halpern Fund The William Randolph Hearst Foundation Anne Kutak Marion Lloyd Court Theatre Fund Michael Lowenthal Carroll Mason Russell Fund The Martha Paine Newell Fund for Emerging Artists A new endowment established by Timothy, Patricia, and Charles Newell in honor of their mother, Martha “Matt” Newell, will allow Court Theatre to support the work of early-career theatre artists. One emerging artist per year, identified by Court’s artistic and production staff, will be invited to work on Court productions as a Matt Fellow.

Court Theatre is grateful to the following donors for their inaugural gifts to The Martha Paine Newell Fund for Emerging Artists.

Mrs. Edwin A. Bergman Mrs. Daisy Driss Mr. Daniel E. Efner Ms. Isabelle P. Middendorf Mr. and Mrs. F. Ward Paine Mr. Ted Walch For more information on how to leave a legacy of support for the arts by making a planned gift or contribution to Court Theatre’s endowment, please contact Melissa Aburano-Meister at (773) 834-0941 or maam@uchicago.edu.

Court Theatre Facility Support The University of Chicago Court Theatre High School Performance Festival Sponsor Hyde Park Bank

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SPECIAL GIFTS In-Kind Contributions The following companies and individuals support Court Theatre through the donation of goods or services:

Art + Science Salon Helen N. and Roland C. Baker David Bevington Bistro Campagne Bloomingdale’s The Boeing Company Elizabeth Brackett Leigh Breslau Julie Burros James Chandler Chant Charleston Tea Plantation Chicago Botanic Garden Chicago Shakespeare Theater Chicago Symphony Orchestra CJ’s Eatery James E. Clark C.M. Fasan Florist Loreta Corsetti Paula and Oscar D’Angelo Digital Imaging Resources Dan Dry Exhale Spa Joan Feitler Lorna Ferguson and Terry Clark Field Museum Jacqueline Firkins Sarah Fornace Four Seasons Chicago Four Seasons New York Fox & Obel Karen and James Frank The Gage Virginia Gerst Goodman Theatre Timothy Goodsell and Susan McGee Philip Gossett Grant Park Music Festival Harris Theatre

Helaine and Peter Heydemann Leslie Hindman Kevin Hochberg and James McDaniel KAP Graphics Steven Kaplan and Carol Rubin Tony Kushner Limelight Catering…food illuminated Lincoln Park Zoo Lookingglass Theatre Company Mary Mastricola and La Petite Folie David Moes Brooks and Howard Morgan Charles Newell and Kate Collins Northlight Theatre Old Town School of Folk Music Sara Paretsky Park 52 Doug Peck Piccolo Mondo Barrett Pitts Pizza Capri Ravinia Festival Regents Park, by Crescent Heights Robin Richman Rouge Steel The Saints Salon Blonde Kate Sheehy Sidley Austin LLP The Southern Spoleto Festival Steppenwolf Theatre Company Jessica Tampas Union League Club of Chicago The University of Chicago David and Marilyn Vitale Dennis Watkins Wishbone Restaurant Margaret Maxwell Zagel Court Theatre 31

DINING SPONSORS Receive 10% off at Court Theatre’s Hyde Park Dining Sponsors. Only one discount per ticket. Not valid with any other offers.

The Big Easy Cajun/Creole Cuisine 1660 E 55th St (773) 643-5500

Asian fusion 1509 E. 53rd St.* (773) 324-1999 *1 hour free parking behind Borders with validation

Casual Italian 1642 E. 56th St. (773) 643-1106

American Bistro 5201 S. Harper Ave. (773) 241-5200

Share the magic of Court Add a line or two of simple language to your will and keep Court performances running for generations to come.

For more information, please contact Heather McClean in the Office of Gift Planning at 773.834.2117 or giftplan@uchicago.edu.

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