Chicago Playworks continues its 1998-99 season of plays for families and young audiences with COYOTE AND HIS BROTHERS (Tales of the Pima Indians), by Lin Wright and the original cast of the production, January 12 - March 6, 1999, at DePaul University’s Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive, Chicago. The play is based on Pima Indian Legends by Anna Moore Shaw and is directed by Peter Hobert with scenic design by Jessica Summers, costume design by Mary Ellen Park, lighting design by Jeremy Getz and sound design by Jeffrey Webb. For more information and to purchase tickets, call the Theatre Box Office at (312) 922-1999.

In Coyote and His Brothers, witness the spectacle and culture of a vibrant Southwestern Native American civilization. Set in the Arizona Sonoran Desert, the ancestral homeland of the Pima Indians (now called the Akimel O’olhams Indians), the play begins with their story of creation. People, plants and animals are all important to the beautiful and delicate balance of nature. The mischievous, vain and boastful Coyote — a trickster who is much too clever for his own good — upsets the delicate balance and lands in one predicament after another. As Mirage and Whirlwind plot to teach him a lesson, Coyote’s adventures make for a thought-provoking and entertaining theatrical experience for children of all ages.

Combining chants, dance, acrobatics, puppetry and colorful Native American costumes to portray these legends, Coyote and His Brothers captures the true spirit and nature of the Pima Indians for a new perspective of Native American culture.

Coyote and His Brothers is the second Chicago Playworks production of The Theatre School’s year-long celebration of DePaul University’s Centennial — a season of stories about America’s children. Young people in each of the plays this year remind us all how the dreams and imaginations of our youth have shaped our lives. The Theatre School faculty and staff dedicate the Centennial Playworks season to Dr. Bella Itkin, professor emeritus of the school and past artistic director of Chicago Playworks.

Performances of Coyote and His Brothers are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m., January 12 - March 6, 1999. PLEASE NOTE: There will be no performances on Tuesday, January 19; Tuesday, February 16; and Saturday, February 20.

INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES: Performances on Tuesday, February 2 at 10 a.m. and Saturday, February 6 at 2 p.m. will be intepreted in American Sign Language by Sign On Stage. Interpreted performances are supported by a grant from Dr. Richard Meister and the Executive Office of Academic Affairs at DePaul University. For information about interpreted performances, call the Theatre Box Office or TTY: (773) 325-7975.

Ticket prices are $6; $2 for children 18 months and younger. Group rates are available for 15 or more people. Seniors (over 60), Corporate Partners, DePaul employees and alumni, and college students receive a discount on regular prices. Performances take place at DePaul University’s Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive, Chicago. Discount parking is available with coupons from the Box Office.

DINNER OFFER: The Theatre School and the Hilton Chicago and Towers present a dinner offer at the Pavilion Restaurant, the Mediterranean café on the lobby level of the hotel. Dinners are $20.00 for adults and $11.00 for children age 12 and younger and may be purchased through the Theatre Box Office.

SPECIAL EVENT: An Ice Cream Social and post-show discussion with the cast follows the performance on Saturday, January 30, at the Hilton Chicago and Towers. Tickets to this event are $2.50 and are available through the Theatre Box Office.

Director Peter Hobert is a Visiting/Guest Instructor of Acting at The Theatre School. His directing credits include Our Town, Stage Directions, Awake and Sing!, The Diviners, The Innocents’ Crusade, subUrbia and Metropolitan Operas. In 1998, with the help of Theatre School Dean John

Ransford Watts, Mr. Hobert secured the rights for I Got the Blues, the original version of Clifford Odets’ masterpiece Awake and Sing!, and it premiered during the 1997-98 Theatre School Showcase Season at the Victory Gardens Studio Theater.

Further information about Coyote and His Brothers and The Theatre School is available via the Internet on The Theatre School’s Website, located at http://theatreschool.depaul.edu.

Founded as The Goodman Children’s Theatre in 1925, Chicago Playworks is the city’s oldest continuously operating children’s theatre and the recipient of the Illinois Theatre Association’s 1997 Children’s Theatre Award. Its productions have been the first theatre experience for generations of Chicagoans. More than 35,000 young people attend productions at the Merle Reskin Theatre each year. David L. Avcollie, Professor of Acting at The Theatre School, is Artistic Director of Chicago Playworks.

The Theatre School is a member of the Illinois Arts Alliance, Illinois Alliance for Arts Education, American Alliance for Theatre and Education, Illinois Theatre Association and the League of Chicago Theatres.