EARLY 20TH CENTURY CLASSICS ADDRESS THEMES CURRENT TODAY; HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE VOTES FOR WOMEN! BY ELIZABETH ROBINS, THE MUSIC AND DELIGHT OF MID-WINTER’S TALES, AND TWO WORKS BY GEORGE BERNARD SHAW: THE PHILANDERER AND THE DOCTOR’S DILEMMA
CHICAGO – April 9, 2009 – Following a successful presentation of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts at Selcuk University in Konya, Turkey for World Theatre Day 2009, ShawChicago Artistic Director Robert Scogin proudly announces the company’s 2009-2010 season. ShawChicago’s 16th season of concert readings will open with Votes for Women!, the politically driven play by Elizabeth Robins that examines early feminist views, October 17 – November 19; followed by ShawChicago’s annual holiday musical tradition, Mid-Winter’s Tales, December 18 – 21, a beguiling celebration of stories and songs. In 2010, the Company will present two works by George Bernard Shaw: his hilarious play about romance and commitment, The Philanderer, February 6 – March 1, 2010, and a Company revival of The Doctor’s Dilemma, a rich work that explores health care rights issues that are still at the forefront of debate today, April 17 – May 12.
The first three plays in ShawChicago’s 2009-2010 season will be presented at the Company’s resident theater, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Parkway, while the final work, The Doctor’s Dilemma, will be presented in the Studio Theater of the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph Street, in association with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.
“The plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries changed not only the style and content of early twentieth century theater, but the audience’s perception of theater itself,” noted Scogin. “The plays focus on social, economic and political problems that exist in all countries. Shaw’s Arms and the Man and Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts produced the same response in their ShawChicago Turkish presentations as they do in Chicago. The plays are universal in their content, and transcend national boundaries to show not how different we are, but how similar we are as human beings.”
The not-for-profit ShawChicago was first created in 1994 as a program of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs to present the plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries in concert readings at the Chicago Cultural Center. ShawChicago’s first production was The Doctor’s Dilemma, at the time presented in response to the controversy about health care during the first Clinton administration. The production deftly illustrated the fact that Shaw was always years ahead of his time in matters both political and human. Beginning with the 2000-2001 Season, ShawChicago established itself as an independent non-profit theater company and in January 2003, ShawChicago became the resident theater company at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts. In the fifteen years since its creation, ShawChicago has produced all of Shaw’s major plays except Saint Joan, and that masterpiece is on the schedule for the near future.
ShawChicago’s 2009-2010 Season
Votes For Women! by Elizabeth Robins, directed by Robert Scogin October 17 – November 9, 2009 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts
Written by the American actress Elizabeth Robins in 1906, Votes for Women! is an early feminist work that confronts how men sexually exploit women. The story’s heroines must not only open the eyes of their fellow female peers, but also must save men from their own dark nature. Votes for Women! is being presented in celebration of the 90th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S. Robins was noted for her feminist views and was a fan of playwright Henrik Ibsen, a fellow champion of women’s rights. Robins was very active in the Women’s Suffrage Movement in England and wrote this play to further the cause in England and America.
Mid-Winter’s Tales ’09 Works and music selected, adapted and directed by Belinda Bremner December 18 – 21, 2009 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts
This evening of theater and music, a celebration of the Winter Solstice, draws from stories and songs from a variety of different cultures and generations. This treasured holiday tradition will feature the best of ’08 and surprises for ’09.
The Philanderer by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robert Scogin February 6 – March 1, 2010 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts
In this play, Shaw introduces a man committed to remaining uncommitted. He is a philosophizing philanderer who believes that only conventional people marry, while advanced people form “charming friendships.” But when he meets a self-described “new woman” who belongs only to herself and is the property of no man, he finds he may have met his match, if not his mate. The Philanderer was written in 1893 and published as one of the three plays of Shaw’s Plays Unpleasant in 1898. This early Shaw work salutes the hilarious clash of sexism, vivisectionism and love at a time when Ibsen’s ideas were in vogue in London.
The Doctor’s Dilemma by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Robert Scogin April 17 – May 2, 2010 at the Chicago Cultural Center Studio Theater
The Doctor’s Dilemma is just what its title implies—the dilemma of who should receive medical care and at what cost. In this play a number of dilemmas crop up, including that of a doctor who has developed a new cure for tuberculosis, but has only enough of it for one patient. He then has to choose which patient he is going to give it to: a kindly poor medical colleague, or an extremely gifted but also very unpleasant young artist. The doctor struggles to separate his emotions from his academic judgment for the decision. ShawChicago revisits the play that served as the vehicle for its launch in 1974 as the problems of medical issues and ethics are still debated over today as much as they were when the play was originally written in 1906.
ShawChicago extends special thanks to its 2009-2010 season sponsors The Chicago Community Trust, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, City Arts II Grants, The Pauls Foundation, and The Ruth Page Center for the Arts.
Subscription Information Season subscription tickets will go on sale June 1st and can be purchased by calling 312-587-7390 and online at www.shawchicago.org. A 4-play subscription is $68, or $60 for seniors.
The Studio Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, at 77 E. Randolph Street, and its companion Storefront Theater comprise the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Theater, an anchor of the downtown theater district. Chicago DCA Theater offers downtown audiences an off-Loop theater experience with an exciting look at the vibrant emerging and developing theater companies that call Chicago home. For more information and tickets, please visit www.dcatheater.org or call 773-744-TIXS (8497).
About The AtTENtion Project ShawChicago is a program partner of The AtTENtion Project, a new pro bono program of The Silverman Group, Inc., a Chicago-centric publicity firm specializing in arts and leisure clientele. Recognizing that there are numerous worthwhile non-profit organizations operating without the benefit of publicity support—and in commemoration of its tenth anniversary in 2009—in March, 2009 The Silverman Group proudly launched its AtTENtion Project, whereby the firm provides expert publicity counsel at no charge to ten Chicago non-profit organizations for month-long projects.
