 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
PRAISE FOR
THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY
JEFF-RECOMMENDED
"TOP TEN PLAYS OF 2009 ... New Leaf’s new adaptation of G.K. Chesterton’s 1908 satire about a man who finds himself tapped by Scotland Yard to infiltrate a council of anarchists was blessed by playwright Bilal Dardai’s deft touch and the shrewd, apparently endless inventiveness of director Jessica Hutchinson and the company’s resident designers. New Leaf has often found innovative ways of looking at its unique space; here the troupe did it several times in the same night. Add an ensemble equally adroit with the urbane and the farcical, and this theater experience is one we’d like to revisit every day of the week."
- Kris Vire
TimeOut Chicago
"RECOMMENDED ... a whip-smart adaptation ... Jessica Hutchinson's inventive staging and an agile ensemble find the right balance between the ridiculous masquerades of the anarchists (one in full Cyrano regalia) and the chilling realization that, once unmasked by the world, none of us knows what our next step should be."
- Kerry Reid
Chicago Reader
PRAISE FOR
TOUCH
JEFF NON-EQUITY AWARDS 2009
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN - JARED B. MOORE
NOMINATION (SOUND DESIGN) - NICK KEENAN
"one of the North Side's most trustworthy, modest and aesthetically pleasing theater collectives ... Granata handles [his role] with dignity and restraint, and proves a solid anchor for this accomplished, quiet quartet of performances ... New Leaf's artists yet again demonstrate their facility with actors, lights and sound."
- Christopher Piatt
Time Out Chicago
"New Leaf Theatre rises to Press-Coffman's challenge by doing its own smart subversions in its richly emotional and moving staging ... Don't be surprised if they move you to tears."
- Scott C. Morgan
Windy City Times
PRAISE FOR
SIX YEARS
"THEY WUZ ROBBED [of a Jeff nomination because] Frigid, sexless disillusionment reminds us too much of the Bush years. Looks like Marsha Harman and Sean Patrick Fawcett, the miserable married couple in Jessica Hutchinson's lovely little production of Six Years at New Leaf Theatre, picked the wrong season to portray aching ennui so accurately."
- Christopher Piatt
TimeOut Chicago
"CRITIC'S PICK ... beautifully acted ... FOUR STARS ... Hutchinson's small-but-searing production is fittingly claustrophobic; ... Fawcett and Harman throb with tender resentment and quiet desperation."
- Zac Thompson
TimeOut Chicago
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
New Leaf's new business plan
At the end of the decade, New Leaf launched an ambitious (and sustainable) new financial model for independent and hyper-local theatres of our size. We believe in the value and power of high-quality theatre and creative work that strengthens and exercises the bonds within a community. Towards that vision, we've created a new way to partner with our patrons, donors and audience so that our creative work and cultivated talent provides a more direct, vital benefit with that community - and continues to sustainably generate renewing theatre.
READ ALL ABOUT THE NEW PLAN AND HOW YOU CAN BE A PART OF IT.
|
by Sam Shepard
directed by Kyra Lewandowski
Under one splintering roof in the desolation of the California desert, four lone wolves try to pull themselves up by bootstraps that keep breaking, seeking to escape the prisons they've constructed in Sam Shepard's blistering exploration of disease, poverty, and selfishness. Curse of the Starving Class marks Artist-in-Residence Kyra Lewandowski's directorial debut, as she helms this presentation of a script recently revised in honor of the play's 30th anniversary.
APRIL 15 - MAY 22
READ MORE ABOUT CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS
Find out more about Curse of The Starving Class on our blog, and join the discussion about our all-season question: "How do the stories we tell rewrite what we become?". Check out the latest updates from rehearsal and stories and insights from the company, cast, crew, and audience.
|
Treehouse Readings
2/20/10 1pm - GILGAMESH
by Yusef Komunyakaa
directed by Sean Kelly
In February, we explore the questions: what is a man? What is an animal? What is a God? Gilgamesh, one of the world's oldest stories, finds a new audience through Yusef Komunyakaa's disarmingly simple poetry. Gilgamesh battles monsters, the gods, pride and time as he journeys to the end of the world to gain counsel from the old man who lives there. A terrific cast of six actors, a musician, dancer, and a painter excite the muscularity of the text and celebrate this important story of human power, weakness and mortality.
3/20/10 1pm - LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING
adapted by Georgette Kelly
based on the novel by Jeanette Winterson
directed by Jessica Hutchinson
A world-premiere adaptation of Jeanette Winterson's beloved novel. "Winterson turns the tale of an orphaned young girl and a blind old man into a fable about love and the power of storytelling. Silver, abandoned after the death of her mother in the Scottish town of Salts—a "rock-bitten, sand-edged shell of a town"—is taken in by Pew, a yarn-spinning lighthouse keeper as old as a unicorn." In the darkness of the lighthouse, he tells never-ending stories about the tortured life of a nineteenth-century clergyman, formerly a minister in Salts, and gradually, it seems, Silver contributes stories of her own. Atmospheric and elusive, Winterson's high-modernist excursion is an inspired meditation on myth and language." - The New Yorker
The Treehouse Readings series is New Leaf's opportunity to open its theatrical home to explore new and classic plays in a friendly, open format with our friends and audience. Check out a new reading on the third Saturday of every month at 1 pm.
Hear previous Treehouse readings, including Aaron Weissman's Brutal Selfish Rattlesnake, and learn more about the series by subscribing to our podcast by clicking here.
Thursday - Top Ten Plays of 2009
TimeOut Chicago: "... New Leaf’s new adaptation of G.K. Chesterton’s 1908 satire about a man who finds himself tapped by Scotland Yard to infiltrate a council of anarchists was blessed by playwright Bilal Dardai’s deft touch and the shrewd, apparently endless inventiveness of director Jessica Hutchinson and the company’s resident designers. New Leaf has often found innovative ways of looking at its unique space; here the troupe did it several times in the same night. Add an ensemble equally adroit with the urbane and the farcical, and this theater experience is one we’d like to revisit every day of the week."
Nick Keenan - New City's 50 performers for Chicago Theatre
New Leaf company member Nick Keenan was featured in New City's list of 50 people that perform for Chicago Theatre. "Nick Keenan's the kind of guy you can't wait to see a few years down the road. You know he is going to be doing something stellar because he is already one of the most exciting artists in town. The young designer's resume has blown up to include many of Chicago's major theaters, and he is is a thinker to boot."
New Leaf featured in Time Out
Time Out Chicago theater critic Kris Vire sat down with the New Leaf company recently and discussed New Leaf's relationship with its home, the Lincoln Park Cultural Center, and the immense effect that the space (and the cultural center's wonderful and eclectic staff and co-tenants) has had on New Leaf's aesthetic, infrastructure, and history. Check out the article here.
|
|
|
