Chicago Shakes Presents Richard II, Tempest and Sondheim in 2001-02 | Playbill

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News Chicago Shakes Presents Richard II, Tempest and Sondheim in 2001-02 Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, true to its name, will present three plays by the Bard in 2001-02, as well as a rare staging of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, true to its name, will present three plays by the Bard in 2001-02, as well as a rare staging of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.

The season at the company's Navy Pier theatre will commence with Richard II, Shakespeare's tale of an ineffectual king who achieves nobility only after he is deposed. Chicago Shakespeare regular Scott Parkinson plays his highness, under artistic director Barbara Gaines' direction. Dates are Sept. 7 to Nov. 11, with a Sept. 16 opening.

David H. Bell, who piloted the comedies The Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing at the theatre in 1998, returns to his strength with the Forest of Arden frolic, As You Like It. The run is from Jan. 8, 2002, to March 9, with an opening on Jan. 13. No cast has been announced.

Shakespeare's late fantastical play, The Tempest, concludes the mainstage season, March 29-June 2, 2002, with Gaines again at the helm. Opening is April 7.

On Chicago Shakespeare's Upstairs theatre, Gary Griffin will direct Pacific Overtures, one of Sondheim's lesser-known and more poetic musicals, about the opening of Japan to the Western world. Griffin has director six Sondheim musicals prior to this. The seven-week engagement runs Oct. 10-Dec. 2, with an opening on Oct. 17. The theatre is located on Navy Pier at 800 E. Grand Ave. in Chicago. For more information, call (312) 595-5600.

—By Robert Simonson

 
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