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Theater on the Lake sets 2010 summer season
We've heard bits and pieces of this already, but the Chicago Park District's Theater on the Lake has finally announced its full season of eight summer remounts. A number of TOC faves are on the lakeside bill, including two from our 2009 theater top ten (Strawdog's Red Noses and the Gift's The Ruby Sunrise). Rivendell makes a second consecutive TOTL appearance, while A Red Orchid's still-running Abigail's Party will make a quick return. In comedy offerings, the Second City is represented with a 50th anniversary revue, and Baby Wants Candy will improvise a week's worth of musicals. To learn how this particular sausage gets made, see my interview last year with Theater on the Lake's Hallie Gordon, then check out this summer's lineup, taken from the CPD's press release, below.
The Second City
The Second City’s 50th Anniversary Revue
June 16 – 20
This comedy revue from the theater that has built its reputation on launching new talent and creating topical comedy dips into the past as a bridge to the present. The revue includes snippets of scenes written by a plethora of comedy greats who once graced The Second City’s stage such as Alan Arkin, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. The revue also showcases how the current ensemble of future stars uses the innovations of their predecessors to create comedy that is wholly and inextricably of its time. The comedy speaks to current economic woes, political hopes and what it means to be a living in such extraordinary times.
Bohemian Theatre Ensemble
The Glorious Ones by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
Directed by Stephen M. Genovese
June 23 – 27
A jolly group of itinerant actors sing of themselves in The Glorious Ones, a new musical about actors who paved the streets of 16th-century Italy with sight gags and innuendo. They captured the public's adoration with bawdy comedy, before changing artistic fashion altered their lives. With buoyant music by Stephen Flaherty and an edgy book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime / Once on this Island fame), it encourages snickers in one scene, while players perform classic comic sketches, and sympathy in the next, when they sing of their hopes, fears, and heartaches.
A Red Orchid Theatre
Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh
Directed by Shade Murray
June 30 – July 4
Abigail is having a party and none of us are invited, but do not miss the cocktail party just down the block. Beverly and Lawrence are having the “grown-ups” over and this party promises hilarity and horror the likes of which you can not imagine. The petty competition is fierce as social relationships are laid bare exposing the obsessions, prejudices and dreams of the guests. This satirical suburban comedy of manners on the aspirations and tastes of Britain’s 1970s middle class rings uncomfortably true today.
Baby Wants Candy
Baby Wants Candy, The Completely Improvised Full-Band Musical
July 7 – 11
One of the best known, longest running and most popular improv shows in the world, Baby Wants Candy, brings its hugely popular original improvised musical to Theater on the Lake. The group enjoys shows in Chicago and off-Broadway, and tours internationally. The show is a roller coaster ride of spontaneously choreographed dance numbers, rhyming verses and witty jaw-dropping comedy. Each performance is its own opening and closing night, and by design, every show is completely unique; a once-in-a-lifetime premiere.
Strawdog Theatre Company
Red Noses by Peter Barnes
Directed by Matt Hawkins
July 14-18
The Black Plague has wiped out half of Europe. Terror and anguish devastate the population. Politics, the economy, and religion are in turmoil. And faithful Father Flote has received a mission from God: make ‘em laugh! This decidedly fresh spin on the Olivier Award-winning dark comedy features a 23-person cast, memorable music, and copious clowning. Do not miss this amazing show that was ranked by numerous publications on top ten theater lists of 2009.
Rivendell Theatre Company
Mary’s Wedding by Stephen Massicotte
Directed by Mark Ulrich
July 21 – 25
When Mary and Charlie unexpectedly find one another sheltering in a barn during a thunderstorm, a tentative first love is born. However, the year is 1914, and Mary and Charlie must surrender their love and their fate to the uncertainties of a world on the brink of war.
The Gift Theatre Company
The Ruby Sunrise by Rinne Groff
Directed by John Gawlik
July 28 – August 1
The Ruby Sunrise charts the course of television: from idealism and sparks of genius to promises fulfilled and compromises brokered. The story starts with a young girl named Ruby setting off from a farm in Indiana to turn her dream of the first all-electrical television system into a reality. It then jumps forward to a McCarthy-era New York TV studio where Ruby's heirs fight over how her story should be told. The Gift's production arrives after a critically acclaimed, sold out, extended run. Gift artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton from ABC's "Private Practice" and Brenda Barrie return with the entire original cast.
Caffeine Theatre
Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
Directed by Paul S. Holmquist
August 4 – 8
Caffeine Theatre brings back Dylan Thomas's dark and funny play about the dreams and waking lives of a fictional Welsh town that was originally broadcast as a radio play in 1954. This iconic favorite features 9 actors portraying the play's 47 characters, bringing to life inner longings bubbling beneath the surface of the town's daily life, endearing us to humanity's bawdy and magnificent possibilities. The play was deemed a "must see," "indisputable triumph," and "breathtaking" when produced last fall by the Department of Cultural Affairs at the Storefront Theater.
Each week's performance schedule is Wed–Sat 7:30pm; Sun 6:30pm. Season subscriptions ($110) go on sale May 4; single tickets ($17.50) on sale June 8. Call 312-742-7994 or visit chicagoparkdistrict.com.
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