Chautauqua Theater Company Celebrates 25th Anniversary Season
Chautauqua Theater Company Artistic Directors Vivienne Benesch and Ethan McSweeny are proud to announce the 2008 CTC season, celebrating the Company’s 25th anniversary summer as the resident professional theater on the grounds of the famed Chautauqua Institution.
The 2008 season promises to be a thrilling one, carrying audiences through lunacy, love and laughter. The summer opens with Arthur Miller’s iconic masterpiece, Death of a Salesman, followed by Craig Lucas’ deceptive and deeply moving comedy, Reckless, and concludes with Shakespeare’s beloved tale of fairies, flight and fancy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“We are celebrating our 25th anniversary with the most sensational summer CTC has yet produced,” says Ms. Benesch. “It is going to be a summer of great writers, great actors and great theater.”
“Salesman will feature the fourth year our stage has hosted the incomparable Stuart Margolin (of ‘Rockford Files’ fame),” adds McSweeny. “And it’s perfect to reunite him with Amy Van Nostrand as the two were such a memorable pairing in last season’s Ah, Wilderness! Reckless will see Vivienne acting in her first full production at CTC in over a decade, and, in a fitting celebration of what our company represents, it is a role that she first played as a Chautauqua Conservatory member at the beginning of her acclaimed career.”
The successful new play workshop series, CTC/NPW, will again be featured alongside our lineup of full productions. CTC/NPW introduces Chautauqua audiences to important new voices in the theater and to the staged reading as a thrilling theatrical event in its own right. In a uniquely Chautauquan twist, CTC/NPW selects plays that correspond with the Institution’s weekly morning lecture theme. The summer’s first new play offering, Variations on a Theme by Anna Ziegler, was chosen to complement the Week Three theme, “On Writing.” The second play, Sick by Zayd Dohrn, reflects Week Six’s theme, “Healing the Globe.”
The 2008 summer will also feature CTC’s first appearance on the Amphitheater stage, in collaboration with the renowned CSO on Tom Stoppard and André Previn’s rarely seen work for actors and orchestra, Every Good Boy Deserves Favor.
“July 24 will be CTC’s official birthday party,” adds Benesch, “celebrating our coming of age and taking our rightful place as the fourth pillar of the venerable performing arts on the grounds of the Institution.”
Rounding out the season will be the increasingly popular weekly Brown Bag lunchtime lecture series, three Monday behind-the-scenes tours of the sets, lights, costumes and special effects of each production, a special event reading of excerpts from Joyce Carol Oates’ dramatic works to complement her visit to the grounds, and the ever-popular Bratton Late Night Cabaret.
Patrons seeking further information about CTC programming are encouraged to visit our Web site, www.CTCompany.org. The site also provides useful links to information about other events at the Institution. Off-ground ticket buyers may, at no additional charge, enjoy the Chautauqua Institution grounds from noon until 8:00 p.m. with a matinee ticket or from 4:00 p.m. until midnight with an evening ticket.
CTC performs in the award-winning, historic Bratton Theater. Internationally known actors, directors, designers and writers join 18 emerging artists drawn from the nation’s top training programs to form a unique company that produces more than 50 events in 50 days.
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DEATH OF A SALESMAN
by Arthur Miller / directed by Ethan McSweeny
June 28 through July 6
Salesman Willy Loman is overdue for retirement, but he can't get off the road and he can't make a sale. Two-time Emmy award winner Stuart Margolin (All My Sons & The Cherry Orchard) reunites with Chautauqua favorite Amy Van Nostrand (Ah, Wilderness!) in Arthur Miller's iconic masterpiece exposing the dark side of the American dream.
RECKLESS
by Craig Lucas / directed by Matthew Arbour
July 19 through July 27
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring ... except for Rachel's husband, who’s got a contract out on her life! Artistic Director Vivienne Benesch returns to the Bratton stage for the first time in a decade as Rachel in this deeply moving comedy by one of our nation’s most celebrated contemporary writers.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
by William Shakespeare / directed by Alec Wild
August 9 through August 16
By day, four mismatched lovers flee into the forest to escape the harsh Athenian law that prohibits their union. In another glade, a rag-tag troupe of committed (if incompetent) amateurs struggles to prepare a play in honor of the Duke's impending nuptials. But mayhem, mischief and – most of all – fairy magic rule the moonlit forest on a midsummer night in Shakespeare's most beloved comedy.
CTC/NPW
Variations on a Theme by Anna Ziegler
July 10, 11 and 12
Following a young playwright through her blossoming career and waning relationship, Variations on a Theme is a lyrical meditation on love and loss—and a writer’s power to put them in perspective.
Sick by Zayd Dohrn
July 31, August 1 and 2
This dark comedy delves into a mother’s paranoia about the environment of the 21st century, the effect it has on her shut-in, home-schooled children, and her husband’s determination to prove it’s all in her head.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favor
July 24, 8 p.m. in the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater
by Tom Stoppard, music by André Previn, directed by Ethan McSweeny
with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, guest conducted by Timothy Muffitt
DAY-BY-DAY CALENDAR
Your Daily Guide to CTC Season 25
All performances in Bratton Theater, unless otherwise noted.
June 28 8:00 Death of a Salesman $27
June 29 2:15 Death of a Salesman $27
June 29 8:00 Death of a Salesman $27
July 1 8:00 Death of a Salesman $27
July 2 8:00 Death of a Salesman $27
July 3 4:00 Death of a Salesman $27
July 4 4:00 Death of a Salesman $27
July 5 2:15 Death of a Salesman $27
July 5 8:00 Death of a Salesman $27
July 6 2:15 Death of a Salesman $27
July 6 8:00 Death of a Salesman $27
July 10 8:00 CTC/NPW: Variations on a Theme $12
July 11 4:00 CTC/NPW: Variations on a Theme $12
July 12 2:15 CTC/NPW: Variations on a Theme $12
July 19 8:00 Reckless $27
July 20 2:15 Reckless $27
July 20 8:00 Reckless $27
July 22 8:00 Reckless $27
July 23 8:00 Reckless $27
July 24 4:00 Reckless $27
July 24 8:00 CTC In The Amp: Every Good Boy Deserves Favor
July 25 4:00 Reckless $27
July 26 2:15 Reckless $27
July 26 8:00 Reckless $27
July 27 2:15 Reckless $27
July 27 8:00 Reckless $27
July 31 8:00 CTC/NPW: Sick $12
August 1 4:00 CTC/NPW: Sick $12
August 2 2:15 CTC/NPW: Sick $12
August 9 8:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 10 2:15 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 10 8:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 12 8:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 13 2:15 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 13 8:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 14 4:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 15 4:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 16 2:15 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
August 16 8:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream $27
Mike Sullivan