Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika

TONY KUSHNER Plays include A Bright Room Called Day; Angels in America, Parts One and Two; Slavs!; Homebody/Kabul; Caroline, or Change, a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori; and The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide To Capitalism And Socialism With A Key To The  Scriptures. He wrote the libretto for the opera A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck, also with Ms. Tesori. He has adapted and translated Pierre Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage and Her Children; and the English-language libretto for the opera Brundibár by Hans Krasa.  He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols' film of Angels In America, and Steven Spielberg's Munich. His books include Brundibar, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; The Art of Maurice Sendak, 1980 to the Present; and Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon. Kushner is the recipient of a Pultizer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier Award, an Emmy Award and an Oscar nomination, among other honors.  In 2008, he was the first recipient of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award.  He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Mark Harris.

CHARLES NEWELL has been Artistic Director of Court Theatre since 1994, where he has directed over 30 productions. He made his Chicago directorial debut in 1993 with The Triumph of Love, which won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production. Directorial highlights at Court include An Iliad, Porgy and Bess, Three Tall Women, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Wild Duck, Caroline, Or Change, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Man of La Mancha, Uncle Vanya, Raisin, The Glass Menagerie, Travesties, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hamlet, and The Invention of Love.  Charlie has also directed at the Goodman Theatre (Rock ‘n’ Roll), the Guthrie Theater (Resident Director: The History Cycle, Cymbeline), Arena Stage, John Houseman’s The Acting Company (Staff Repertory Director), the California and Alabama Shakespeare Festivals, Juilliard, and New York University. He is the recipient of the 1992 TCG Alan Schneider Director Award. He has served on the Board of Theatre Communications Group, as well as on several panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Opera directing credits include Marc Blitzstein’s Regina at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Rigoletto at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Charlie is a multiple Joseph Jefferson Award (Chicago’s highest theatrical honor) nominee and recipient. Recently, his production of Caroline, Or Change at Court was the recipient of four Joseph Jefferson Awards, including Best Production–Musical and Best Director–Musical.

JOHN CULBERT recently designed Court Theatre’s productions of Invisible Man, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, The Illusion (for which he received a Joseph Jefferson award), The Year of Magical Thinking, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Caroline, or Change, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Romeo and Juliet, Timeline Theatre Company’s The Farnsworth Invention (he is a Timeline Associate Artist), Northlight Theatre’s Civil War Christmas, and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Regina. He also designed Lookingglass Theatre’s Argonautika, Goodman Theatre’s Rock ‘n’ Roll and Mirror of the Invisible World, and Long Wharf Theatre’s Hughie. He has designed productions for the Singapore Repertory Theatre, Opera National du Rhin, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, and the Shakespeare Theatre. He serves as the dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Nan has designed costumes for theatre, film, television, opera and dance.  At the Court Theatre, she has designed Glass Menagerie,  The Piano, Travels with My Aunt, Celimene and the Cardinal and The Misanthrope at the Court Theatre.  At Steppenwolf Theatre  she has designed costume for Clybourne Park, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, Top Dog Underdog, The Dresser, among many others  Other Chicago credits include  Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Goodman Theatre and Writers’ Theatre.  Regional credits include costume designs at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Hartford Stage Company, Dallas Theatre Center, the Alley in Houston, American Repertory Theatre Public Theatre, ACT Seattle, Manhattan Theatre Club, and The Kennedy Center She was the original costume designer for the American premier of Glengarry Glen Ross at the Goodman Theatre and she also did the original Broadway and tour productions of Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed the Plow.  Ms Cibula-Jenkins is a recipient of the Michael Merritt Award for Design and Collaboration, and she has also been a recipient of the Hollywood Dramalogue Critics Award and the Joseph Jefferson Award for Costume Design.  She is the head of the Costume Design program at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago.  

KEITH PARHAM is a company member of TUTA Theatre where recent credits include Baal, The Wedding, and Uncle Vanya. Other credits include Homebody/Kabul (National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia); Karen O’s Stop the Virgens (St. Ann’s Warehouse); A Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center Theatre); Three Sisters (Classic Stage Company); Adding Machine (Minetta Lane Theatre, Obie and Lortel Awards for Design); Mistakes Were Made and Red Light Winter (Barrow Street Theatre); The Edge of Our Bodies (Humana Festival); Carters Way, Sunset Limited, and Red Light Winter (Steppenwolf Theatre); Red, The Seagull, Mary, Ghostwritten, and Gas For Less (Goodman Theatre); and Million Dollar Quartet (Goodman Theatre and Apollo Theater). He has also designed for The Alley Theatre, Shakespeare on the Sound, The Milwaukee Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Northlight Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Opera Theatre, and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

JOSHUA HORVATH Court: The Invisible Man, Spunk, Porgy and Bess, The Illusion, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Wait Until Dark, Caroline, or Change, The First Breeze of Summer, Carousel, Titus Andronicus, Arcadia, Flyin' West, Raisin, Lettice and Lovage, Fences, Man of La Mancha, Endgame, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Fraulein Else, Guys and Dolls, and The Romance Cycle. Chicago credits: Goodman, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Northlight, Next, Lookingglass, About Face, The House Theatre of Chicago, Congo Square, Steep, Lifeline, Eclipse, Shattered Globe, Drury Lane Oakbrook, and TimeLine. Regional: Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Long Wharf, Centerstage, Hartford Stage, The Alliance, Milwaukee Rep, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Madison Rep, Illinois Shakespeare, Great River Shakespeare, Kansas City Rep, Center Theatre Group, and California Shakespeare. Mr. Horvath has garnered four Joseph Jefferson Awards along with eleven nominations, an LA Ovation Award, is an artistic associate of Lookingglass, a co-owner of Aria Music Designs, LLC, and teaches sound for theatre and film at Northwestern University. Current and upcoming shows: Little Shop of Horrors (Kansas City Rep), Eastland (Lookingglass), The Verona Project (The American Musical Theatre Project).

MIKE TUTAJ has been designing multimedia for theater in Chicago since 2002. This is his first production with Court Theatre.  Previous design credits include: History Boys, Fiorello!, The House with no Walls, Guantanamo, Tesla’s Letters (Jeff Nomination), Martin Furey’s Shot (Jeff Award), and This Happy Breed with TimeLine Theatre Company; Tomorrow Morning (Jeff Award) with Hillary A Williams LLC, Jon (Jeff Nomination) with Collaboraction; Macbeth and Romeo y Julieta with Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Hana’s Suitcase and The Red Kite Project with Chicago Children’s Theatre; Pangs of the Messiah and Our Enemies (Jeff Nomination) with Silk Road Theatre Project; Love Person, and I Sailed with Magellan (Jeff Nomination) with Victory Gardens; and Death of a Salesman and Columbinus (Jeff Nomination) with Raven Theatre.  Mike is an artistic associate with TimeLine Theatre Company, and a company member of Barrel of Monkeys Productions.

DREW DIR is in his third season as the resident dramaturg of Court Theatre and a lecturer of Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago. In the past, Drew has worked as a playwright, dramaturg, director, and puppeteer in Chicago and London. His writing has been called “daring” by the Chicago Tribune and “ballsy” by Time Out Chicago. His short play The Lurker Radio Hour was recently remounted at Chicago’s Sketchbook Reverb. He also creates and performs shadow puppetry for his company, Manual Cinema. Drew holds a master’s degree in Text and Performance Studies from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

WILLIAM COLLINS is in his seventh season at Court Theatre.  Past shows include: An Iliad, Three Tall Women, The Comedy of Errors, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Illusion, Thyestes, Arcadia, Uncle Vanya, Carousel, and most recently, Porgy and Bess.  William has also worked with Redmoon Theater (Sink. Sank. Sunk …, The Cabinet), Peninsula Players Theatre, About Face Theatre, The Neofuturists, Goodman Theatre, and Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre.

AMBER JOHNSON is very excited to be back at Court Theatre after working on Spunk, Comedy of Errors, and Three Tall Women. Other Chicago stage management credits include: A Girl with Sun in Her Eyes (Pine Box Theatre), The Colored Museum (Congo Square Theatre Company), The MLK Project (Writers’ Theatre), It’s a Wonderful Life: Live at the Biograph! (American Blues Theatre), Jersey Boys (Broadway in Chicago), Dreamlandia and La Posada Magica (Teatro Vista), I Do! I Do! and A View from the Bridge (American Theatre Company), Three Sisters (Strawdog Theatre Company), As Much As You Can and Clouds (Dog & Pony Theatre Company), and Orange Flower Water (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). Regional credits include: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Michigan Shakespeare Festival, and Antelope Valley Ballet. Amber graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a BFA in Theatre with Stage Management emphasis. As always, Boomer Sooner!

SUSANA PELAYO is happy to be returning to Court Theatre for her third year, where she was previously floor manager. She is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Court Theatre credits include Porgy and Bess, Orlando, Three Tall Women, Home, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, The Comedy of Errors, The Illusion, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.