GLENCOE, ILL.: Writers Theatre has announced updates to its 2020-21 season, including adding additional digital programming. As part of changes in schedule, Writers Theatre will be replacing the previously announced production of Low Down Dirty Blues and moving the world premiere of Julia Doolittle’s Love & Contracts to the 2021-22 season.
“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, and this pivotal moment in our history is no exception,” said artistic director Michael Halberstam in a statement. “The realities of producing a season of theatre during a pandemic present unprecedented challenges, but our artists are demonstrating incredible ingenuity and resourcefulness. We are so excited to share our plans to deliver a hybrid season of digital productions, plus in-person plays once it is safe, to showcase our artistic community and bring our audiences an entertaining and provocative slate of programming.”
Replacing the previously announced Low Down Dirty Blues will be the world premiere musical revue Pearl’s Rollin’ With the Blues, created by Kimberly Dixon-Mays, Felicia P. Fields, and Ron OJ Parson, which celebrates the blues artists who paved the way for generations that followed.
Also added to the season will be the continuation of The Green Room, a virtual conversation series that launched earlier this year and streams live on select Wednesdays, featuring Writers Theatre artists interviewed by Halberstam, director of new work and dramaturgy Bobby Kennedy, associate artistic director Geoff Button, and director of education Kelsey Chigas.
The season will also include Something Wicked: Storytelling for Halloween (late October), a family-friendly series of spooky stories told by a lineup of Chicago actors and curated by Button.
For the holidays, Writers Theatre will offer Two Scrooges: A Christmas Carol, Two Ways, which will feature Halberstam’s one-man adaptation of the classic Dickens holiday story as well as the world premiere of Manual Cinema’s A Christmas Carol, Manual Cinema‘s reinvention of the holiday tale through puppetry and music. Halberstam’s solo performance is directed by Stanton Long.
In 2021, Writers Theatre is partnering with Black Lives Black Words International Project to present Ride Share, by Black Lives Black Words co-founder Reginald Edmund, about Marcus who becomes a ride-share driver after being laid off while on his honeymoon.
For over 25 years, Writer’s Theatre has worked to deliver quality interpretations of classics and new plays.
