Autobiography theatre in chicago october 2015

Mary Ann Thebus

At Writers Theatre: Marjorie Prime

Mary Ann Thebus has been active in Chicago area Stage, TV and Film Productions for over 30 years. She is primarily a Chicago actor and was most recently seen in Rest (Victory Gardens Theater) and Rapture, Blister, Burn (Goodman Theatre). Prior to her entry into the Chicago theatre world, she worked with International theatre companies in Turkey, Thailand and Iran. She is a frequent Jeff nominee, and was given the After Dark Award for her work in Painting Churches (Organic Theater Company). She conducts a Master class at The Artistic Home and coaches privately. She is an ensemble member of The Gift Theatre.

[Bio as of June }

CHICAGO: The Black Ensemble Theater has announced its season, titled “Stir Up the Pot.” It will feature five productions that all incorporate music in some way: The Trial of Moses Fleetwood Walker (a world premiere), Sounds So Sweet, A Tribute to the Incomparable Bill Withers, The Black White Play and Dynamite Divas: Gladys, Aretha, Roberta, Nina and Nancy.

“These productions will continue to speak to the Black Ensemble mission of eradicating racism, but they will add a different flavor to the outstanding offerings that come from the Black Ensemble Theater,” said Jackie Taylor, the theatre’s founder, in a statement. “Remember we’re not changing&#;we’re expanding!”

The Trial of Moses Fleetwood Walker (Feb. 7&#;March 15, written by Ervin Gardner and directed by Taylor), described as a &#;non-singing musical drama&#; about the first professional African-American baseball player, opens the season. The show follows the true story of Walker being accused of murdering a white man in a time when lynching was still common, and the aftermath of his case. The show received a reading this past April during the theatre’s Black Playwrights Festival.

Next up is Sounds So Sweet (April 11&#;May 17, written and directed by Rueben Echoles), which promises to serenade the audience with hits from Motown all the way up to En Vogue, in a battle of old-school girl groups versus the new school. The show first appeared as part of the Black Playwrights Festival in

A Tribute to the Incomparable Bill Withers (June 20&#;Aug. 16, written and directed by Daryl D. Brooks), yet another  Black Playwrights Festival grad, will take theatregoers back to the sounds and songs of the &#;60s. A bio-musical of the legendary singer and songwriter, who was born in a West Virginia coal-mining town in and went on to pen such Motown classics as “Lean on Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

The next show will

Call Number: ML .K A3

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The autobiography, in dialogue, of the composer and lyricist ofChicagoandCabaretas well as a wise and witty memoir of forty years of American musicals. Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb are the longest-running composer-lyricist team in Broadway history, having first joined forces in The creators of such groundbreaking musicals asChicago,Cabaret, andKiss of the Spider Woman, Kander and Ebb have helped to push American musical theater in a more daring direction, both musically and dramatically. Their impact on individual performers has been great as well, starting with the handpicked star of their first musical: an untested nineteen-year-old named Liza Minnelli (who writes of this experience in her introduction). Colored Lights covers the major shows of Kander and Ebb's partnership, fromFlora, The Red Menace(starring a then-unknown Liza) toThe Visit, due to open on Broadway in The pages and musicals in between reveal what has made theirs such a long-lived musical partnership--and one so valued by the artists they have worked with. In recounting the genesis and controversies ofCabaret, reflecting on the superstar mentality of such artist as Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand, and recalling their work with Bob Fosse onChicago(as well as their views on the blockbuster film), John Kander and Fred Ebb provide a history not only of their own lives but also of the American musical theater of the late twentieth century.

musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb

Chicago is a American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the Jazz Age, the musical is based on a play of the same title by Maurine Dallas Watkins about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal".

The world premiere of the musical was a Broadway tryout from April 8, , to May 3, , at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia. The original Broadway production opened on June 3, at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for performances, until August 27, Bob Fosse directed and choreographed the original production, and his style is strongly identified with the show. It debuted in the West End in , where it ran for performances. Chicago was revived on Broadway in , and a year later in the West End.

The Broadway production holds the record as the longest-running musical revival and the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. It is the second longest-running show ever to run on Broadway, behind only The Phantom of the Opera. Chicago surpassed Cats on November 23, , when it played its 7,th performance. The West End revival became the longest-running American musical in West End history. The ongoing revival of Chicago is the longest-running show currently on Broadway. Chicago has been staged in numerous productions around the world, and has toured extensively in the United States and United Kingdom. The film adaptation of the musical won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

History

The musical Chicago is based on a play of the same name by reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins, who was assigned to cover the trials of accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the Chicago Tribune. In the early s