The 28th season comprises four works, including the world premiere of War with the Newts, the Chicago debuts of J.T. Rogers' The Overwhelming, Lisa Kron in Well and the American premiere of The U.N. Inspector by David Farr.
"While Adding Machine continues off-Broadway, I'll be doing my best to follow that success with a project I started eight years ago, War With the Newts," Next artistic director Jason Loewith said in a statement. "And we've been working with David Farr and Jim Sherman on The UN Inspector for almost three years. Well and The Overwhelming are brand-new works directed by old friends that I just had to grab for our audience: they are courageous, daring plays that hit home… they take you on an emotional journey, yet still engage you in a dynamic cultural conversation."
The Next Theatre Company's 2008-2009 season follws:
The U.N. Inspector
By David Farr, with additional contributions by James Sherman
Directed by Jason Loewith
Sept.12–Oct. 12
In David Farr's adaptation of Gogol's The Government Inspector, "washed-up real estate salesman Michael Fitzgerald Murphy exploits his mistaken identity as the dreaded UN Inspector for all it's worth, revealing corruption, conspiracies and cover-ups at the highest levels of power."
The cast includes Joe Dempsey as Murphy, Susan Hart and Bill McGough as the President and First Lady, and Joseph Wycoff as a member of the cabinet. Well
By Lisa Kron
Directed by Damon Kiely
Nov.13–Dec. 14
"Tony Award nominee Lisa Kron puts herself onstage in this quirky and delicious memoir about her mother's fight for racial integration and healthy communities in Lansing, Michigan. But Kron's self-assured character is defeated – and deconstructed – in the retelling by her own mother, who occupies a La-Z-Boy at the edge of the stage. At first grudgingly, then energetically, Kron's mother Ann takes over the memoir, recalling and revealing the fiery sprit beneath her lifetime of illness. Ann buddies up with the rest of Lisa's cast, derailing her smart and savvy performance about social and physical health, and instead weaves a funny and touching story of her daughter’s growing up."
War with the Newts
By Jason Loewith and Justin D.M. Palmer, with puppets by Michael Montenegro
Based on the novel by Karel Capek
Directed by Jason Loewith
Feb. 5 – March 8, 2009
"Can one man stop an empire? In 1936, Czech-born Karel Capek wrote a spooky, fantastical novel about the discovery of an intelligent race of giant salamanders, which humanity enslaves for profit and nationalist advantage. While countries use them to redraw borders and alter the world's balance of power, the newts revolt, and begin flooding the planet to make more room for their super-race."
The Overwhelming
By J.T. Rogers
Directed by Kimberly Senior
April 16–May 17, 2009
"With his tenure at risk, Professor Jack Exley uproots his family from Illinois to Rwanda on the eve of the genocide to interview a mysterious doctor about his AIDS treatment program. When the doctor vanishes without a trace, the family finds itself lost in sea of changing stories and shifting alliances."
Subscriptions are currently on sale by phoning (847) 475-1875 or by visiting www.nexttheatre.org. Next Theatre is located within the Noyes Cultural Center at 927 Noyes Street in Chicago, IL.
