Season Four

by María Irene Fornés

Directed by Coya Paz

Chicago Premiere

'Dedicated to Horacio, and to thousands of men, women and children who perished crossing the Florida straights [sic] on rickety rafts.'

In 1994 more than 35,000 Cubans tried to flee Cuba in what ever homemade rafts they could fashion. Culled from numerous interviews with survivors of the crossing, Manual for a Desperate Crossing was originally written as an opera libretto and it is adapted for the theatrical stage for the first time.

Manual for a Desperate Crossing was presented in English with Spanish.

Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre

by María Irene Fornés

Directed by Lavina Jadhwani

Chicago Premiere

Two friends fight to produce the first English performance of Hedda Gabbler. They must surmount obstacles including a rival production which includes the Prince of Wales' miscast girlfriend and a translator who does not know the original's Norwegian language. In the process they chart a course for a new future.

Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre

by María Irene Fornés

Directed by Margo Gray

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

An epic cycle of one-act plays.

"I fear for our future. I feel that we are becoming greedy and heartless. . . . When I first came to live in this country [in 1945] I was deeply moved by the spirit of compassion and concern for the underprivileged that I found here. Now I ask myself what has happened to this spirit. In these plays I ask that we give thought to what would happen to our civilization if we don't reverse the course we have taken." ~ María Irene Fornés

Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre
 

by María Irene Fornés

Music by Leon Odenz

Directed by Gina LoPiccolo
Music Direction by Micky York

Chicago Premiere

A musical about a young mother driven to madness as Sarita is torn between the man she wants to love and the man she lusts for.

Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre
 

by María Irene Fornés

Directed by Juan Castañeda

Chicago Premiere

Based on three decades of letters María Irene Fornés received from her brother in Havana, Letters from Cuba moves back and forth in time and place and spirit, linking a young dancer and her relatives in Cuba.

Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre

Written and Directed by Tony Adams

World Premiere
January 6 through February 6, 2011

A displaced people torn between warlords and the spiritual world receives a mysterious visitor in this powerful re-imagining of Genesis, the legend of Don Juan and Coyote Trickster tales.

At the Greenhouse Theatre Center

2257 N. Lincoln Ave.

by Nilo Cruz

Directed by Juan Castañeda

Chicago Premiere

August 20 through October 3, 2009

Upon his death, the great Spanish poet arrives in the "Lorca Room" in purgatory. With dramatic and sensual flamenco flair, Lorca in a Green Dress is a spellbinding exploration of the life and death of Federico García Lorca following his murder at the hands of Spanish fascists. Five different aspects of himself play a role in helping to accept the inevitable—the passage from life to death.

In rep with A Shroud for Lazarus.


Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre

• Nilo Cruz
• Artists
• Production Photos

In 2003, Nilo Cruz became the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama for Anna in the Tropics, which also won the Steinberg Award for Best New Play. Cruz has won several other awards and fellowships, including two NEA/TCG National Theatre Residency grants, a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award, and a Rockefeller Foundation grant. Cruz's plays have been produced at Victory Gardens, New York's Public Theatre, the New York Theatre Workshop, the Minneapolis Children's Theatre, the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Cruz has taught at the University of Iowa and Brown University.

Born in Cuba, Cruz's family immigrated to the "Little Havana" in Miami, Florida in 1970 on a Freedom Flight, and eventually naturalized to the United States. His interest in theater began with acting and directing in the early 1980s. He studied theater first at Miami-Dade Community College, later moving to New York City, where Cruz studied under fellow Cuban María Irene Fornes. Fornes recommended Cruz to Paula Vogel who was teaching at Brown University where he would later receive his M.F.A. in 1994.

Featuring: Kevin Carroll, Adam Dodds, Erica Hernandez, Terri Lopez, Miguel Nuñez, Carlos Rogelio Diaz,  Nilsa Reyna, Greg Wenz

Director: Juan Castañeda
Assistant Director: Jesus Contreras
Scenic Design: Tony Adams
Lighting Design: Ellen Moore
Costume Design: Adam Dodds
Dramaturg: Andréa Morales
Stage Manager: Noël Spence
Choreographer: Freddie Rocha

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by Rotimi Babatunde

Directed by Jenn Adams

World Premiere

August 20 through October 3, 2009

There has been a drought and only The Plantation has the resources to bring water down to its fields. Most of the small farmers in town have been compelled to work for the Plantation. The majority of townspeople opt for solace in the congregation of Papa, a local preacher. Ajala, the community rebel dogged by creditors and cursed by Papa, mysteriously dies. After the creditors depart, he rises up, and plans to use his "resurrection" to bring down Papa and The Plantation, but things do not go as planned.

In rep with Lorca in a Green Dress.

Performed at the Lincoln Square Theatre

• Rotimi Babatunde
• Artists
• Production Photos

Rotimi Babatunde is a Nigerian drama, short stories and fiction writer based in Abuja. He has received several fellowships including: The International Residency for Emerging playwrights, Royal Court Theatre, London, and a Residence Fellowship, The Macdowell Colony, New Hampshire U.S.A. He won the 1999 BBC’s Meridian Tragic Love Story Competition, 2nd Prize for the 22nd International Student Playscript Competition, London, and 3rd Prize for the North American Open Poetry Competition for Oxbow Lakes. Rotimi has many published works, among them: Death’s Last Dance in Little Drops and his most recent, Auto-da-fe.

Featuring: Clint Belton, Mary Jo Bolduc, Paige Collins, Will Davis, Arch Harmon, Arvin A. Jalandoon, Marquetta Jackson , Chuck MacFaun, Tinuade Oyelowo, Riso Straley, Eric Sherman-Christ, Meghann Tabor

Director: Jenn Adams
Scenic Design: Tony Adams
Lighting Design: Ellen Moore
Costume Design: Ellen Moore
Stage Manager: Hope Reynolds

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January 21 through February 27, 2010

This 2010 festival celebrated the work of Maria Irene Fornes, featuring four Chicago premieres and a Pulitzer finalist in rotating repertory. The plays featured span several decades of Irene's staggering body of work that has profoundly influenced the American Theatre.

Performances were at the Lincoln Square Theatre

Fall 2008

Lorca in a Green Dress by Nilo Cruz Directed by Juan Castañeda Chicago Premiere. In rep with A Shroud for Lazarus.	A Shroud for Lazarus by Rotimi Babatunde Directed by Jenn Adams World Premiere. In rep with Lorca in a Green Dress.

Winter 2010

The Alcyone Festival '10

A celebration of María Irene Fornés