Chicago Shakespeare Festival
April 29 – June 15, 2014
Director: Christopher Luscombe
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“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!” In a rousing finale to the 2014 season, Shakespeare’s powerful history play takes center stage in our magnificent Courtyard Theater for the very first time. Acclaimed British director Christopher Luscombe, whose work has been featured at the Royal Shakespeare Company, sheds new light on the Bard’s legendary coming-of-age story. Against all odds, a charismatic young monarch confronted by the ferocity of war proves his worth as a man—and king. Henry V is Shakespeare’s rallying cry, celebrating the power of language to summon battlefields from thin air and ignite our souls to action.
THE KILLER – Theater For A New Audience, Brooklyn, NC
By Eugène Ionesco
Newly Translated: Michael Feingold
Direction: Darko Tresnjak
Featuring Michael Shannon
May 17-June 29, 2014
[button url=”http://www.tfana.org/tickets” target=”blank”]Buy Tickets[/button]A searing and darkly funny parable about violence and resistance, Ionesco’s The Killer premiered in Paris in 1959 and has become a modern classic of the Theatre of the Absurd. Berenger, Ionesco’s cheerful, well-meaning everyman, discovers a “radiant city” near his dismal urban home, a perpetually sunny, impeccably clean place full of marvelous architecture and delicious food. The one hitch: a serial murderer has been brazenly killing people there for so long that the authorities have given up trying to catch him.
Oscar nominee (Revolutionary Road) Michael Shannon plays Berenger. Our production will bring out the humor and taut film noir aura of this work, underscoring the cinematic allure of the murders, the futile chase, the bungled investigation and the climactic confrontation with the criminal. The exquisitely simple approach will spotlight powerful, precise acting and spare, sculptural design.
Bard on the Beach
June 11 – September 20, 2014
Directed by Dean Paul Gibson
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Meddling fairies, star-crossed lovers and bumbling tradesmen delight in Shakespeare’s beloved comedy. Oberon, King of the Fairies, is upset with his Queen Titania and he commands Puck to produce a powerful nectar that causes love at first sight. The mischievous sprite arranges for Titania to fall for Bottom, a simple weaver (now transformed into an ass) while entangling the affections of four runaway lovers.
Bard’s silver anniversary season revisits the hugely popular 2006 production of Dream, with Dean Paul Gibson back to direct.
Bard on the Beach
June 12 – September 18, 2014
Directed by Meg Roe
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Prospero, a magician and exiled Duke, is stranded on an enchanted island with his daughter Miranda, the spirit Ariel and the slave Caliban. He conjures up a storm that shipwrecks his enemies on the island’s shores. As Prospero and Ariel weave a magical web, surprising alliances form, murder plots are hatched, and romance blossoms between Miranda and the son of Prospero’s deepest foe. Meg Roe, who directed Bard’s 2008 Tempest, returns to deliver a re-imagined version of that season’s hit production.
Bard on the Beach
July 4 – September 17, 2014
Directed by Anita Rochon
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Love, jealousy, betrayal, escape and redemption merge to drive a story about what it means to lose yourself completely – only to find yourself again. Featuring a host of memorable characters and one of Shakespeare’s most finely-etched female leads, the play combines a fairytale quality with a modern sensibility. This physical and fast-paced adaptation is directed by Anita Rochon.