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Ar t ist i c D i re ct o r CHA R L E S N E W E L L
E xe cu t iv e D ir ec t or S T E PH EN J . A LB ER T
Dear Court Theatre family, The second offering of our season is the result of two artists—Lisa Peterson, a leading director, and Denis O’Hare, a highly respected actor—attempting to respond to the wars our country was waging (and continues to wage) in Iraq and Afghanistan. In their search for a theatrical account of modern war, the two discovered a new way to tell an ancient story. Homer’s Iliad is the first work of literature known to us in Western civilization, and it remains one of the most haunting. Though not a work of theater itself, it is a poem of significant human drama, such that artists from ancient Athens to Hollywood have drawn on Homer for their inspiration. Because the Iliad is a war story, it has always spoken meaningfully to societies like ours at war—spoken of war’s glories, but also its costs. Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, in their astonishing adaptation An Iliad, have captured the forceful immediacy of Homer’s story and made a stirring argument for the power of the classics. Court Theatre is grateful to both Peterson and O’Hare for permitting us to produce the Chicago premiere of An Iliad. O’Hare is from Chicago, and he and Peterson both readily agreed to the director-actor team of Charles Newell and Timothy Edward Kane to tell their story. Tim was the first and only choice for the actor to play the role of the Poet. After he and Artistic Director Charles Newell’s fulfilling collaboration on Titus Andronicus, and after Tim’s stunning performance in Tony Kushner’s The Illusion, the two pursued An Iliad as the next ambitious project to take on together. Court’s unique position as a professional theatre in residence at the University of Chicago adds yet another meaningful layer to this production. On a campus where Homer’s works are regularly studied and celebrated by faculty and students, where the Special Collections Research Center has recently acquired a major collection of rare Homeric translations, Court has received unprecedented support from the university community, including advisement by faculty members David Wray, Shadi Bartsch, and Glenn Most. What makes our distinctive season of theatre possible is the collaboration from the university community, generous patrons who understand the value in our work, and an audience who supports a theatre that draws from enduring classics for insight into our world. As our season continues, we are preparing two more memorable experiences for you: a world premiere of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, one of the great novels of the twentieth century, and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, perhaps the most important play of its generation. It is an exciting time to be leading your theatre and we are grateful for your support. Sincerely,
Charles Newell, Artistic Director
Stephen J. Albert, Executive Director Court Theatre 1