GLENCOE, ILL.: Writers Theatre has announced its 2016–17 season, featuring six shows including two world premieres.
“This is a momentous season for Writers Theatre in that it is not only our 25th anniversary season, it is our first full season in our new home,” said artistic director Michael Halberstam in a statement. “While our selection represents a classic Writers Theatre lineup, it also provides an enticing look to our future.”
The season will start with a world premiere adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caeser (Sept. 7–Oct. 23) by Michael Halberstam and Scott Parkinson. The text will immerse audiences in the struggle for global supremacy and raise important questions about the responsibilities of a citizenry when confronting radicalism and tyranny. Halberstam will direct.
Next will be Eugene Lee’s East Texas Hot Links (Oct. 19, 2016–Jan. 22, 2017), about a group of regulars at a diner in the summer of 1955 who band together to protect each other against Jim Crow laws. Ron OJ Parson will direct.
Following will be the world premiere of Pig Pen Theatre Co.’s The Hunter and the Bear (Dec. 7, 2016–Jan. 22, 2017), in collaboration with New York City’s Ars Nova and presented with a special arrangement with Manhattan Theatre Club. The show is about an imaginative young boy who disappears in the woods, and his father, who leads the town in a search. Pig Pen Theatre Co. and Stuart Carden will direct.
Next up will be Theresa Rebeck’s The Scene (Feb. 22–April 2, 2017), a comedy/drama about a young woman determined to make her mark on the New York scene. Kimberly Senior will direct.
The season will continue with The Mystery of Love and Sex (April 5–July 9, 2017) by Bathsheba Doran, about two friends who grew up together and must decide whether their friendship is something more. Marti Lyons will direct.
Following will be the musical Parade (May 24–July 9, 2017), with a book by Alfred Uhry, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, co-conceived by Harold Prince, about a Brooklyn-born Jewish man falsely accused of murder in 1913 Atlanta. Gary Griffin will direct.
Writers Theatre is known for bringing classic plays and contemporary dramas to its intimate performances spaces just outside of Chicago.
