EMMA

A few years ago it seems there were film and television versions of Jane Austen's Emma everywhere. I saw every one. So I was really pleased when I discovered director and playwright Jon Jory's stylish adaptation of this beloved novel. Set not far from London in fictional 1816 Highbury, we meet Emma Woodhouse, self proclaimed matchmaker of friends and neighbors, as they pass a pleasant season of parties and courtship. Chicago director Catherine Wiedner will be directing. Catherine is a freelance director working out of Chicago and an Associate Professor of Classical Acting and Heightened Texts at De Paul University. The cast is led by Jessie Tidball, December graduate of the Johnny Carson School, as Emma, boldly trying to find the right match for her friend Harriet Smith, played by Emily Martinez, also a recent graduate. Emma's rather careful father, Mr. Woodhouse, will be played by St. Louis A.E.A. actor, Alan Knoll (Seen in NRT productions: Jeeves Intervenes and Heroes). Longtime friend of the family and mild critic of Emma's maneuverings, Mr. Knightly, will be played by Sean Schmiets (Doubt). Other residents who get caught in Emma's intrigues are her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Weston and their son Frank Churchill played by Dick Nielson, Sasha Dobson (God of Carnage), and Alexander Jeffrey (Becky's New Car), Mr. Elton and Mrs. Elton, played by Chicago A.E.A. actor Dan Rodden (39 Steps and Becky's New Car), and Kim Clark-Kaczmarek (Anatomy of Gray), and Jane Fairfax and her talkative Aunt, Miss Bates, played by Jaimie Pruden (Church Basement Ladies) and Chet Kincaid. Needless to say, Emma is not as adroit at matchmaking as she thought, she nearly fouls up several lives, including her own, on her journey to finding a new vocation.

EMMA opens: July 11 at 7:30 PM (including a post show reception)

Playing: July 12, 13, 20, August 1, and 9 at 7:30 PM

July 28 at 2PM

Howell Memorial Theatre

Reserved Seating 

MRS. MANNERLY

One of my former students was crazy about Jeffrey Hatcher's plays and got me started with this prolific contemporary playwright. Mrs. Mannerly is one of my favorites. The play is, at least somewhat, autobiographical taking place in 1967 Steubenville, Ohio, Hatcher's hometown and riffing on being a brainy ten-year old who doesn't thrive in sports, or much of anything until he finds Mrs. Mannerly's "Etiquette Class". In this comedy we meet Jeffrey, played by New York A.E.A actor, Mark McCarthy, and Helen Kirk, Mrs. Mannerly, played by A.E.A. actor, Juanita Pat Rice and her whole class of irreverent would be ladies and gentlemen, all played by McCarthy. Directed by Rob Urbinati, a freelance director and playwright based in New York City, and Director of New Play Development at Queens Theatre, we are transported into a temple of good manners, perfect posture, polite conversation, napkin folding, table setting, and ballroom dancing (most of which doesn't work out very well) where all these things become the sum of who Jeffery becomes. We last saw Rob's work in the award winning 39 Steps.

MRS. MANNERLY opens: July 18 at 7:30 PM (including a post show reception)

Plays: July 19, 26, 31, August 3 and 10 at 7:30 PM

August 4 at 2 PM

Studio Theatre

General Admission seating

MAKING GOD LAUGH

"If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans!" This quote attributed to Woody Allen is the engine that drives Sean Grennan's new comedy, Making God Laugh which I'm directing. When we first meet this nice suburban family, it's 1980, Father Bill (Alan Knoll), Mother Ruthie (Melissa Epp), and their three twenty-something children, Rick (Mark McCarthy), Tom (Dan Rodden), and Maddie (Becky Key Boesen), each knows exactly where they're headed. Bill and Ruthie have the golden years of an empty nest and eventually grandchildren to enjoy, Rick will make his million by the time he's forty, Tom will soon be a priest with his own parish, and Maddie, already moved to New York City, will have a successful career on the Broadway stage. Through the course of the play we drop in on the family at various holidays from 1980 to 2010. Over the years things change, but people don't...until they do. And yes, God laughs... but so will you!

MAKING GOD LAUGH opens: July 24 at 7:30 PM (including a post show reception)

Plays: July 25, 27, August 2, 7 and 8 at 7:30 PM

August 11 at 2 PM

Howell Memorial Theatre

Reserved Seating 

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