Writers Theatre Will Present Site-Specific Doubt Plus Isaac's Eye and The Diary of Anne Frank in 2014-15 Season | Playbill

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News Writers Theatre Will Present Site-Specific Doubt Plus Isaac's Eye and The Diary of Anne Frank in 2014-15 Season Writers Theatre will present a site-specific production of the Tony Award-winning play Doubt, staged in the Glencoe Union Church, as part of its 2014-15 season.

The Chicago-based theatre will also offer the midwest premiere of Lucas Hnath's play Isaac's Eye, based on the life of famed scientist Isaac Newton and staged with contemporary language. A production of The Diary Of Anne Frank, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman and directed by Kimberly Senior, will also be featured.

"This season presents a wonderful opportunity for us to return wholeheartedly to our bookstore roots and celebrate our foundations before we expand into our thrilling new theatre center," artistic director Michael Halberstam said in a statement. "Isaac's Eye allows us to engage with Lucas Hnath, one of the bravest and most exciting new voices to emerge in the past decade — upholding our dedication to our Literary Development Initiative. In The Diary of Anne Frank, we take a well-known classic and explore it with a fresh energy by confining it within the walls of our intensely intimate venue. It's a classic Writers Theatre dialogue between old and new. With Doubt, we embrace transition. By performing in a new space we will take thrilling advantage of a site-specific opportunity which will serve to add intensity to an already highly charged and significant piece of dramatic writing. In this, our transition season, we embrace our past, look forward to our future and celebrate, above all, the word and the artist."

The season-at-a-glance follows:

The Midwest Premiere of
Isaac's Eye
By Lucas Hnath
Directed by artistic director Michael Halberstam
Sept. 2–Dec. 7
Performed at Books on Vernon: 664 Vernon Ave, Glencoe

"Lucas Hnath's wildly creative new play... tells the story of a young Isaac Newton, who once inserted a long needle 'between my eye and the bone, as near to the backside of my eye as I could.' (This statement is true — it will be written on the wall!) Hnath playfully reimagines Newton's world with a contemporary conceit and language—stripped of accents and period dialect — as he introduces young Newton to the great Robert Hooke, the most famous and powerful scientist in Britain. The resulting battle of intellects and egos pulses with wit, humor and tension, as the playwright uncovers (and invents) the motivations that drove a young farm boy to become one of the greatest thinkers in human history."

The Diary Of Anne Frank
By Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman
Directed by Kimberly Senior
Feb. 24-May 31, 2015
Performed at Books on Vernon: 664 Vernon Ave, Glencoe

"As vital today as when it was first written, Anne Frank's extraordinary diary has become an essential part of how we remember one of the darkest periods of human history. Filled with its young author's luminous spirit — her 'boundless desire for all that is beautiful and good' — the diary also illuminates the coming of age of a complex, passionate young girl as she falls in love, grows into a woman and struggles to survive with her family amid the chaos of war and religious persecution." Doubt: A Parable
By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by William Brown
May 5-July 12
Performed at Glencoe Union Church: 263 Park Ave, Glencoe

"Set against the backdrop of a 1960s America in the midst of political and social change, a progressive young priest's conduct comes under question by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the school principal whose beliefs are deeply rooted in tradition. As the actions and motivations of each are scrutinized and suspicion mounts, the two are drawn into a battle of wills that threatens irrevocable consequences for all involved."

Call (847) 242-6000 or visit writerstheatre.org for more information.

 
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