‘Rogues and Rebels’ Populate UIC Theatre’s New Season
‘Rogues and Rebels’ Populate UIC Theatre’s New Season
Professional directors lead student actors in European comedies and American parables at the University of Illinois at Chicago Theatre, where the season’s theme is “Rogues, Rebels and Renegades: A Geography Of Yearning.”
Tickets for all shows are $16, $14 for UIC faculty and staff, and $11 for UIC students. For information, call the UIC Theatre box office at (312) 996-2939.
“Cloud 9” by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Luigi Salerni, UIC professor of theatre
Oct. 5, 6, 11, 12, 13 at 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 7, 14 at 2 p.m.; Oct. 10 at noon
“You know what we did? I want to do it again. I think about it all the time.”
During a Victorian-era Christmas, Clive and his family of English ex-pats in Africa host an explorer and a widow seeking refuge from a hostile tribe. The visitors set off a rash of secret dalliances in the house, with partners varying in age, sexual orientation, and social position. In the second act, set in Thatcher-era London, the characters all reappear. They’ve aged only 25 years, and the actors have switched roles in more ways than one. This Obie-winning comedy has been called “a testament to self-acceptance.”
[Note: “Cloud 9” photos available at http://newsphoto.lib.uic.edu/v/uictheatre/]
“Dying for It” by Moira Buffini
Directed by Timothy Douglas, UIC adjunct lecturer in theatre and former artistic director, Remy Bumppo Theatre
Nov. 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 11, 18 at 2 p.m.; Nov. 14 at noon
“So anyway, this young man resolves to top himself, but he can’t decide on a cause.”
Josef Stalin banned the original version of this raucous satire and exiled its author, Nicolai Erdman, to Siberia. Its protagonist, the unemployed Semyon, is miserable and announces his impending suicide. Word gets out to a variety of zealots, each of whom urges him to die for a different cause. Their attention boosts Semyon’s self-esteem so much that he reconsiders his suicide, but he’s already set a date, and his supporters are planning a party.
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
Directed by Derrick Sanders, UIC assistant professor of theatre and former artistic director, Congo Square Theatre
Feb. 22, 23, 28, 2013, and March 1, 2 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 24 and March 3 at 2 p.m.; Feb. 27 at noon
“I want them blue so my mama love me, and I have friends, and they think I’m pretty.”
In 1941 Ohio, 11-year-old Pecola believes blue eyes and white skin would save her from her alcoholic father’s incest, her mother’s bitterness, and continual taunts that she is ugly. Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre commissioned this adaptation by Lydia Diamond of Toni Morrison’s first novel, in which Pecola’s story is narrated by her friend Claudia.
“The Time of Your Life” by William Saroyan
Directed by Yasen Peyankov, UIC director of theatre studies and ensemble member, Steppenwolf Theatre
April 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.; April 24 at noon; April 21, 28 at 2 p.m.
“In the time of your life, live — so that in that wondrous time, you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world…”
So an Eastern philosopher and Kit Carson walk into a bar … where they meet a beleaguered cop, a frustrated dancer, a prostitute, and a bunch of other San Francisco denizens. At Nick’s Pacific Street Saloon, the independently wealthy Joe indulges his whims and those of his acolyte Tom and anyone who has a dream. This Pulitzer-winning play evoked optimism at the end of the Great Depression, and still does so today.
UIC ranks among the nation’s leading research universities and is Chicago’s largest university with 27,500 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state’s major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.
