Welcome

Dear Friends,

On behalf of our artists, staff and Board of Trustees, welcome to Great Lakes Theater’s 61st season!

Our mission, “to bring the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience,” guides our mainstage productions and our educational programming. We believe theater holds the capacity to illuminate truth and enduring values, celebrate and challenge human nature and actions, and provide our student audiences a glimpse of a broader world and the wellspring of learning made possible through the arts.

The second production in our 2022-23 season is the incomparable Romeo and Juliet, directed by Great Lakes Theater’s Associate Artistic Director, Sara Bruner. Ms. Bruner’s deft direction immerses audiences in the romance, passion and heartbreak of this enduring classic. The intimate Hanna Theatre is the perfect space to revel in this tragic love story as the actors expertly draw you into the action and emotion as they perform mere feet from the audience.

We are proud to announce that Romeo and Juliet is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. This program provides a generous grant in support of our work to make Shakespeare accessible to area school students through our Student Matinee Series and School Residency Program.

As we continue our 61st season, we offer our deepest gratitude to Arthur L. Thomas for his generous support of this production. TRG Multimedia also receives special thanks for their production media sponsorship of Romeo and Juliet. As you read your program and look around the theater tonight, you will see the names of many friends, partners, corporations and foundations whose support makes all of this possible. We encourage you to join these donors by becoming a member of the Great Lakes Theater family with your gift. We extend our sincere gratitude to all of our sponsors and Annual Fund donors/members, with continued appreciation to our partners of more than 40 years at Playhouse Square, and the tireless efforts of our Board of Trustees, dedicated administrative staff, gifted artists and the tremendous generosity of this community.

We hope to see you in our audience again soon.

Charles Fee Producing Artistic Director Bob Taylor Executive Director