Peter Pan Opens The Theatre School Showcase and Chicago Playworks Subscription Series

The Theatre School, DePaul University, lauded as a "legendary training ground for actors" by the Chicago Tribune, announces its 1997-98 subscription season of productions at DePaul's Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive, Chicago, and the Victory Gardens Studio, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. For information and to purchase subscriptions, call the Theatre Box Office at (312) 922-1999.

The Theatre School Showcase presents six plays -- three at the Merle Reskin Theatre and three at the Victory Gardens Studio. Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences presents three plays at the Merle Reskin Theatre. The school offers four distinct subscription series: 1) six Showcase plays; 2) three Showcase plays at the Merle Reskin Theatre; 3) three Showcase plays at the Victory Gardens Studio; and/or 4) three Chicago Playworks plays. Subscription prices range from $15 - $48.

Founded as the Goodman School of Drama in 1925, The Theatre School is the premiere theatre conservatory in the Midwest and one of the best in the United States. Throughout its history, the school has provided Chicago audiences with first-rate affordable entertainment. Plays are directed and designed by the professional faculty of the school and performed and designed by students in the professional training program. The 1997-98 season is exciting and diverse -- beginning with a major production of Peter Pan that will feature stage flight and special effects and continuing with three world premieres among favorite classic and contemporary works.

The Theatre School Showcase

The Theatre School Showcase and Chicago Playworks seasons open with Peter Pan, the musical based on the play by James M. Barrie. Beloved by generations, the story of Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell and their adventures in Neverland is given new life by director Susan Leigh, who sets the action in Chicago, 1997. Audiences are sure to think happy, wonderful thoughts as they fly with their favorite characters to a land where no one ever grows up. Peter Pan features music by Mark Charlap, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, additional music by Jule Styne, additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and Flying by Foy. It runs October 24 - December 6, 1997, at the Merle Reskin Theatre.

The Theatre School Showcase season continues with the world premiere of The Sacred Art of Self-Decoration by Louise Rozett, a 1997 graduate of the school's M.F.A. Acting Program and participant in the Playwriting Program. The play centers on the complicated relationships between a university professor, Jake Lamont, and three women in his life: his pregnant wife, a colleague with whom he is intimate, and a graduate student. As his wife becomes more distressed about the future, the paths of the three women cross, leading them to question their relationships with Jake and to examine their responsibility to themselves and each other. This marks the first time the school has produced a play created in its Playwriting Program for the public. The Sacred Art of Self-Decoration is directed by James Ostholthoff and runs November 7 - 23, 1997 (previews 11/5 & 11/6) at the Victory Gardens Studio.

The third production of the Showcase season is the Chicago premiere of One Flea Spare by Naomi Wallace. Fleeing plague in the streets of 17th-century London, a poor sailor and a waif steal indoors and find themselves quarantined with the Master and Mistress of the house. As fears of the outside world turn inward to jealousy and suspicion, the gentry and underclass boarded in together wait for either freedom or death. One Flea Spare is directed by Barry Brunetti in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the school's Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing. It runs January 30 - February 15, 1998 (previews 1/28 & 1/29) at the Victory Gardens Studio.

The fourth production of the Showcase season is Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare. In this remarkable story, a charismatic trickster invades the New York home of a wealthy middle-aged couple and draws them into his elaborate con. The play won the 1990 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and critics called it "riotously funny ... a deeply satisfying satire that keeps the laughs rolling while holding up the mirror to unpleasant truths about contemporary American life." Six Degrees of Separation is directed by John Jenkins and runs March 6 - 15, 1998 (previews 3/3 - 3/5) at the Merle Reskin Theatre.

Next is the world premiere of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing (I Got the Blues), directed for the first time anywhere by Peter Hobert from the author's handwritten script. A Jewish working-class family in New York City faces the problems of the Great Depression and the daily dilemmas of three generations living in the same small apartment. This work, obtained exclusively by The Theatre School, predates the better-known version that galvanized the Group Theatre and rocketed Odets to acclaim, and promises to electrify Odets fans everywhere. Awake and Sing (I Got the Blues) runs April 17 - May 3, 1998 (previews 4/15 & 4/16) at the Victory Gardens Studio.

The 1997-98 Showcase season closes with Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid, directed by Goodman Theatre Associate Artistic Director Michael Maggio in his first year as a member of the full-time faculty of the school. In this comic masterpiece, the hypochondriac Argan is obsessed with the cure-alls of the day. To ensure his lifelong medical care, he schemes to wed his daughter Angelica to a physician. The clever maid Toinette and Angelica's true love quickly set about to foil his plan. The Imaginary Invalid runs May 15 - 24, 1998 (previews 5/12 - 5/14) at the Merle Reskin Theatre.

Subscription prices for The Theatre School Showcase are $15 - $48. Single ticket prices are $6 - $10. Group rates are available for 15 or more people. Post-show discussions and pre-show talks with the director are scheduled for each production. Free Teacher Guides are available for each production at the Merle Reskin Theatre. Subscribers will receive a quarterly newsletter, The Theatre School Scoop. Dinner Packages are offered with the Chicago Hilton and Towers Pavilion Restaurant: $17.50 for adults, $9.75 for children 12 and under. For information and to purchase subscriptions, call the Theatre Box Office at (312) 922-1999.

Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences

Founded as the Goodman Children's Theatre in 1925, Chicago Playworks is the city's oldest continuously operating children's theatre. For more than 70 years its productions have been the first theatre experience for generations of Chicago's young people. In 1980, Chicago Playworks was awarded the prestigious Sara Spencer Award by the Children's Theatre Association of America (now the American Association for Theatre and Education) for its long-term contribution to children's theatre in this country. Today more than 35,000 young people attend Chicago Playworks productions with their families or as part of school outings each year.

The Chicago Playworks season opens with Peter Pan (see above).

The season continues with Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, adapted by Pamela Sterling. The year is 1911, and 10-year-old Mary Lennox has moved to her uncle's estate and has gained a reputation for being quite contrary. As she searches for something to fill her days, a sweet robin shows her the key to a secret garden that changes her life. The Secret Garden is directed by Donald W. Ilko and runs January 13 - March 14, 1998, at the Merle Reskin Theatre.

The 1997-98 Chicago Playworks season closes with the world premiere of Natalie Babbitt's The Search for Delicious, adapted by Mark Frattaroli. The play tells the story of a Dictionary that nearly brought war to a kingdom, and the boy and the mermaid who tried to stop the battle. When the Prime Minister tries to write a dictionary and struggles to define "delicious," he sends 12-year-old Gaylen through the land on a quest to find the true meaning of this wonderful word. David L. Avcollie, Artistic Director of Chicago Playworks, directs. The Search for Delicious runs March 31 - May 23, 1998, at the Merle Reskin Theatre.

Subscription prices for Chicago Playworks are $15 - $18. Single tickets are $6 - $10. Group rates are available for 15 or more people. Free Teacher Guides are available for each production. Post-show Ice Cream Socials with the director and cast will be held on Sunday, November 2; Saturday, January 31; and Saturday, April 18. Tickets for the Ice Cream Socials are $2.50 and may be purchased through the Theatre Box Office. For information or to purchase subscriptions, call the Box Office at (312) 922-1999.

Further information about the school and its subscription season is available via the Internet on The Theatre School's World Wide Web site, located at http://theatreschool.depaul.edu.

The Theatre School, DePaul University, is a member of the Illinois Arts Alliance, Illinois Alliance for Arts Education, American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Illinois Theatre Association, ASSITEJ-USA (the US center for the 42-nation International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People) and the League of Chicago Theatres.