UIC Theatre Presents Brechtian ‘Full Circle’
UIC Theatre Presents Brechtian ‘Full Circle’
Chicago- and Los Angeles-based director/actor Dado will direct acting students at the University of Illinois at Chicago as they present Charles Mee’s “Full Circle,” based on Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle.”
Set in 1989 at the fall of the Berlin Wall, “Full Circle” updates Brecht’s parable and play-within-a-play, while raucously departing from it. The East German chancellor watches a play at the Berliner Ensemble, while out in the streets students protest, rich Americans scout investment opportunities, and two women begin their struggle to save an abandoned baby from both communism and capitalism.
Brecht’s 1944 play focused on a European valley abandoned during World War II. Two factions of farmers fight over the land — one planning to plant fruit trees, and another arguing that they have always raised goats there. The locals determine who will use the land to the best advantage of the community.
Both plays were based on an ancient Chinese play, “The Chalk Circle.”
Dado, who uses only one name, is a Jeff-nominated director, actor and arts educator. An ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre, she has directed there and at the Goodman Theatre, the Victory Gardens, Shattered Globe, and Los Angeles’ Rogue Machine. The Chicago Tribune wrote of her direction of Craig Wright’s “The Unseen” at A Red Orchid: “…this director clearly understands that the key to this drama is not the politically charged evocation of torture, but the focus on how people try to cope with life’s horrors, whatever their type and scale.”
Performances are April 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m.; April 8 and 15 at 2 p.m.; and April 11 at noon, at the UIC Theatre, 1044 W. Harrison St. Tickets are $16 for general admission and $11 for students. Parking is available for $8 – 10 at 1100 W. Harrison St. For information, please call the box office at (312) 996-2939.
[Note: Photos may be downloaded at http://newsphoto.lib.uic.edu/v/uictheatre/.]
