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          string(1090) "<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13940" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/seasonofconcernchicago800x300.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="300" />

Recently, Season of Concern Chicago wrote to Court Theatre asking us to remind Chicagoland artists that its emergency medical assistance applies to all "serious medical issues, including those that may result from COVID-19 infection." The Biscotto-Miller Fund provides direct, short-term emergency financial assistance to Chicago-area actors, directors, designers, technicians and playwrights, regardless of whether or not they're a member of Actor's Equity Association or are Non-Equity.

The board and staff of Season of Concern Chicago also recommended artists follow the CDC's accepted guidelines concerning how best to avoid transmitting the virus, and familiarizing yourself with the symptoms and treatment options.

For more information about <a href="https://www.seasonofconcern.org/assistance">Season of Concern Chicago's efforts to help local artists in need</a>, visit their website.

&nbsp;"
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<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">We interviewed Aaron Mays, Court’s Community Programs Manager, to hear more about the recent work of our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/community-partner-initiatives/">Community Partners Initiative</a> to connect surrounding Chicago communities with the power of theatre.</span></i>

<b>For anyone who may not have heard about the Community Partners Initiative or wants to know more, how would you describe it? What kind of work does your department center around?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/community-partner-initiatives/">Community Partners Initiative</a> is an annual membership program for civic groups, nonprofits, and faith-based institutions. If an organization is a member, Court provides them discounted tickets in the form of vouchers. The goal is to open up opportunities to Chicagoland organizations so their members may have access to professional theatre. </span>

<b>How would you describe the relationship between Court and the surrounding Hyde Park community?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Court continues to grow in popularity in and around Hyde Park. When I onboard new members to the program, I often find people who have not been to Court, so I find it a great honor to introduce them to a theatre with more than 60 years of history on the South Side. </span>

<b>What opportunities are there for individuals and community institutions to involve themselves in programming at Court, in and beyond the auditorium?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Outside of our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/">mainstage productions</a>, individuals and groups can attend our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/spotlight-reading-series/">Spotlight Reading Series</a>. This program brings theatre into specific neighbors as opposed to inviting people to come to Hyde Park. With Spotlight, <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/ron-oj-parson/">Ron OJ Parson</a> curates five classic plays by writers of color, most of which are rarely produced today. Spotlight gathers audiences to listen to actors read a play with the script in hand. There’s very little rehearsal and no technical elements, so you focus on just the story and raw emotion.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">I consider the Spotlight Series, which started in 2016, one of our hallmarks for community engagement efforts and emblematic of Court’s mission to redefine classical theatre. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span>

<b>In May 2017, you remarked that you hoped “<a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/shining-light-hidden-gems-courts-spotlight-reading-series/">to engage more audiences through talkbacks and symposiums.</a>"</b><b> Fast forward a few years, how would you evaluate the effect of these programs with connecting Court and its audiences?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Spotlight has always generated great interest and high attendance. On average, about 70 to 80 people attend our free public readings. In our first year, we had nearly 400 people attend in total. As for CPI, the interest in the programs is growing. We generally take on between 20 to 25 groups to become members, with a wide range of constituents. </span>

<b>What hopes do you have for the future of these community outreach programs?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">My hope is that our programs continue to preserve the voices and spaces of both longstanding and new community members. The city’s demographics are changing, so the question moving forward will be how do we, as a theatre, keep pace with this shift while honoring the cultural legacy throughout the South Side. </span>

<strong><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/"><em>Learn more about Court's community engagement initiatives →</em></a></strong>"
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          string(9554) "[caption id="attachment_13901" align="alignnone" width="800"]<img class="wp-image-13901 size-full" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/awmc_800x300.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="300" /> Brea, a student at Walter H. Dyett school and third-place finalist, with Michael Aaron Pogue and her teacher, Ms Graham.[/caption]

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The August Wilson Monologue Competition is a free education program that offers high school students the chance to practice their storytelling and performing abilities while collaborating with teaching assistants on how to hone these skills. To audition, students prepare a 2 to 3 minute monologue from an <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/august-wilson/">August Wilson</a> play in his Century Cycle. Once chosen, they must compete against their fellow students in the Semi-Finals and Chicago Finals. The finalists get to go to New York to perform at the August Wilson Theatre and the winner receives a partial scholarship to UIC’s School of Theatre and Music. </span></i>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/education-initiative/artists-in-schools/">Court’s Education Initiative</a> serves the youth of South Side Chicago and our team of Teaching Artists have collaborated with students in past years as they work to be a part of this competition. Every season, only 60 semi-finalists are chosen out of all the contestants and this year, 31 out of the 60 chosen were part of Court’s program, working with our Teaching Artists to master their monologue skills! 6 students went on as finalists, with one student placing third overall!</span></i>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">We talked with Michael Aaron Pogue, one of our Lead Teaching Artists, to talk about this recent success.</span></i>

<b>How would you explain the August Wilson Monologue Competition to someone who has never heard of it and the tremendous significance of these recent accomplishments?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The competition is a national tournament wherein high schools students perform/compete with a monologue from any of the ten plays of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle (</span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2015-2016-season/gem-of-the-ocean/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gem of the Ocean</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Joe Turner’s Come and Gone</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2009-2010-season/ma-raineys-black-bottom/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2008-2009-season/the-piano-lesson/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Piano Lesson</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2013-2014-season/seven-guitars/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Seven Guitars</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2005-2006-season/fences/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fences</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2020-2021-season/two-trains-running/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Two Trains Running</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2012-2013-season/jitney/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jitney</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/king-hedley-ii/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">King Hedley II</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2018-2019-season/radio-golf/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Radio Golf</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">). These plays depict and examine the African American experience, chronicling a nation’s history in the twentieth century. With the combined efforts of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teachers and teaching artists, our students are given rehearsals to strengthen performances and potentially raise their chances of advancing to the National Finals held in New York City on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This year, we had 31 students from our program advance as semi-finalists (60 semi-finalists in total), 6 students advance as finalists, and 1 student place third at finals. We’re proud of these hard-working students. The local preliminaries have nearly a thousand students all over the Chicagoland area apply and compete. Getting from Prelims to Semis is a huge accomplishment because judges choose from nearly a thousand students and select 60 out of all the citywide contestants. Those coached by and affiliated with Court made up half of that gifted and talented population of individuals selected to move forward in the competition. </span>

<b>How would you describe Court’s role in connecting high school students to this opportunity to showcase their performing skills?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Court is profoundly influential in coaching students to hone their performative skills so they have the chance to participate in a nationwide competition. In our three-week August Wilson residency, CPS drama classes learn the dramaturgical context of the playwright, theatrical exercises, and basic performative skills to apply to their monologues. With the consistency and structure of our programs, students have access to a support system, composed of participating teacher artists and fellow participants, so they can work to improve their skills. The process encourages them to recognize their self-value and the value of such collaborative engagements. </span>

<b>In your opinion, what is the most exciting part about getting to see these students perform and progress to the Semi-Finals and Finals?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">When they finish performing their auditions, accomplishing their goals as a performer, they walk out of the room with boldness and a confidence they may not have had just a few months ago in the same academic year. Regardless of if they make it to the finals or not, those who put forth the effort undergo a significant change in their demeanor in front of our eyes. It’s gratifying on many levels. It gives them the belief and assurance that they are capable of persevering through life’s challenges.</span>

<b>What do the training practices with the Teaching Artists look like for the students participating in the competition?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We do a lot of repetition. New behaviors and habits are learned by doing them over and over again. We do vocal and physical warm-ups with them every time we meet. We do them so often the students begin to learn the routine and are fully capable of leading warm-ups themselves. We go over textual analysis in their monologues so they learn how to identify meaning to fully interpret the text and make interesting creative choices in their portrayals. </span>

<b>What do you think is the most personally rewarding part about this experience in your role as an Education Associate/Lead Teaching Artist?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">I receive the gift of witnessing a wide range of students, mostly African American, have an opportunity to perform one of the most influential playwrights in American history, one who wrote specifically for and to African Americans. The narrative gaze of August Wilson’s work is untethered by Euro/White normative depictions. Though there are generational gaps of knowledge between the material and the students’ contemporary realities, there is a cultural thread that is recognizable and resonates when fully subsumed in their preparedness. </span>

<b>What do you want people to know about the programs provided by Court Theatre’s Education Initiative? </b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We are endlessly working to find new ways to connect to our communities. It neither starts nor stops with August Wilson. We challenge ourselves to find new ways to break down existing pedagogies and traditional teaching methods of how to interpret classic texts for today’s audiences. </span>

<b>What do you want students interested in participating in these programs in the future to know about this resource?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Court’s involvement in the competition and many of our programs are continuing to draw prestigious recognition. We have a staff of well-versed practitioners in the field who can cultivate the next generation of industry leaders, whatever their chosen fields may be. </span>

<b>Lastly, what would you like to say to all the students who've participated?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Onward and beyond. No matter how far you go in the competition, your hard work and participation is a huge leap forward into your history yet to be written and lived. Like Aunt Ester who sermonizes an adrift Mr. Citizen about a spiritual place at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean built from the Middle Passage’s wake, “You want to go there...I can take you there if you want to go. That is the center of the world. In time, it will all come to light.”</span>"
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          string(4989) "<strong>Note: Below are previous announcements regarding Court's COVID-19 response. For the most up-to-date information, please see our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/public-health-update/">Public Health Update page</a>.</strong>
<h2>3/31/2020 Update about <em>The Gospel at Colonus </em>and<em> Violet</em></h2>
<div class="text-block block">
<p dir="ltr"><b>Announcing new performance dates for <i><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/up-next-the-gospel-at-colonus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Gospel at Colonus</a></i> and a change to our upcoming 2020/21 season. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr">With so many unknowns about how this pandemic will continue to impact public gatherings, it has been a difficult time for all of us. Even so, in every hard conversation, prioritizing our patrons, staff, and artists has helped to guide all artistic decision-making.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We have made the decision to move <i>The Gospel at Colonus</i>, originally slated for performances in May, into our 2020/21 Season. We will be postponing our production of <i>Violet</i>, with the intention of including it in a future Season. A key component of our ambitious Oedipus Trilogy, <i>The Gospel at Colonus</i> and the dynamic community engagement work surrounding it will provide vital opportunities to connect as we all work towards collective healing in the wake of this pandemic.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>The Gospel at Colonus</i> will now run November 5 through December 6, 2020. All ticket holders for both<em> Gospel </em>and <em>Violet</em> received an email with detailed information. If you have questions or concerns after you've reviewed this information, please call the Box Office at (773) 753-4472, <strong>Monday through Friday from 12noon to 5pm</strong>.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">We appreciate your understanding and look forward to seeing you at our theatre soon. It will truly be reason to celebrate. Be well!</p>

</div>
<h2><strong>March 12, 2020 Cancellations Notice</strong></h2>
As leadership at the University of Chicago continues to monitor the evolving status of COVID-19 in Chicagoland and across the globe, we at Court Theatre are at a critical moment in our six-decade history.

Theatre can’t just be seen; it must be felt. It can’t just be watched; it must be experienced. At a time of division, bifurcated attention, and growing anxiety, theatre’s power to create community out of both artists and strangers has a powerful role to play. And yet, that same communal power represents a double-edged sword for any organization striving to prioritize the health, security, and safety of all those who touch its work.

According to the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control, many of our patrons and long-term supporters are most at risk of developing serious complications from contracting this virus, a fact we take quite seriously.

As artistic leaders, these are the issues we grapple with this week in the face of extraordinary circumstances. And extraordinary circumstances sometimes call for extraordinary measures. This is why we have made the difficult decision to cancel the runs of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><i>The Lady from the Sea </i></a>at Court Theatre and <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/an-iliad-at-oi/"><i>An Iliad </i></a>at the Oriental Institute. We truly appreciate the talented artists who worked tirelessly to create a striking and beautiful production of <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> and are deeply saddened we cannot share their work with audiences. We are grateful for the opportunity to reschedule performances of <i>An Iliad </i>to sometime this summer.

Currently, we believe it’s prudent to postpone making a decision about our upcoming production of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2020-2021-season/the-gospel-at-colonus/"><i>The Gospel at Colonus</i></a>, slated to begin previews in May. We will continue to monitor how things develop and make a further announcement later, should it be necessary.

At a time when so many people around the world are focused on the day-to-day updates of friends, family, and the news, we, as an organization, must think farther ahead. This is why we are asking audience members and subscribers with tickets to our current productions to consider converting their purchase to a donation or crediting the value of their tickets towards a subscription to our 2020/21 Season. With so many unknowns about the lasting effects of this pandemic, these sorts of efforts will bolster Court Theatre and our potential to continue sharing classic stories with you in the future.

Theatre is nothing without its artists and audience. We are nothing without our artists and you.

Stay well,
Charles Newell, <em>Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director
</em>Angel Ysaguirre, <em>Executive Director</em>"
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          string(2483) "<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13874" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/gospel_800x300.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="300" />

This May, Court will be staging <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-gospel-at-colonus/"><em>The Gospel at Colonus</em></a>, a one-of- a-kind theatrical event that breathes new life into a classic myth with a score of powerful gospel music. <em>The Gospel at Colonus</em> will continue the story of Oedipus’ family as he travels in exile following the fateful events of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/oedipus-rex/"><em>Oedipus Rex</em></a>. The second installment of Court’s ambitious Oedipus Trilogy, <em>Gospel</em> stands alone as a compelling musical with a beautiful score.

Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, together with associate director <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/taron-patton/">TaRon Patton</a> and music director Mark J.P. Hood, will bring this soaring musical to life. Featuring several familiar faces from <em>Oedipus Rex</em>—including <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/aeriel-williams/">Aeriel Williams</a>, <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/kelvin-roston-jr/">Kelvin Roston, Jr.</a>, and <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/timothy-edward-kane/">Timothy Edward Kane</a>, among others—and a host of singers from Chicago’s gospel community, <em>Gospel</em> promises to be a redemptive celebration that reimagines the story of Oedipus in a thrilling way.

Newell, who first experienced the musical as an audience member at Brooklyn Academy of Music and subsequently as a directing intern at Arena Stage, had this to say about bringing the work to Chicago and Court Theatre:
<blockquote>I am thrilled to be embarking on <em>The Gospel at Colonus</em>, a work I’ve been passionate about bringing to the stage for most of my life. By connecting with a host of South Side voices as part of the artistic process, we welcome a new chapter in Court’s approach to the classic canon.</blockquote>
<strong>Performances begin November 5, 2020. Subscriptions including this production are available by using our <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCZDmQhu6D5LIOtMGmoisZv5L6szRsioc7nL_oTI4lOVGoiA/viewform">Box Office Contact form</a>. Single tickets will go on sale in August.</strong>

<em>Photo of Shari Addison by Joe Mazza.</em>"
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          string(7374) "<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13853" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ellidaschoice_800x300.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="300" />

<em>How is Ellida similar to other Ibsenian heroines? Read on to learn about the choice she's faced with in <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a> and how she navigates society's gendered confines.</em>

<span>In several of Ibsen’s works, women often play a central role as eventual escapees from stifling domestic lives, a choice that shocked audiences at the time as a scandalous course of action. Famously, the ending of Ibsen’s play </span><i><span>A Doll’s House </span></i><span>features a woman walking out on her narcissistic husband. This ending was rewritten for the production’s German premiere in the 19th century because it was deemed too controversial. In the modern age amidst a rise of empowering discourse and social movements, the decision to leave a toxic relationship is celebrated, as audiences praise individuals who refuse to let a suffocating relationship determine their destiny. Although the protagonist of </span><i><span>The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span>takes a slightly different route, she does share select traits with Nora Helmer, her counterpart in </span><i><span>A Doll’s House</span></i><span>: the desire to regain a measure of autonomy over her own life. For Ellida, doing so still entails marriage, but only when her spouse gives her the freedom to leave or stay, promising to respect her decision either way. The very act of deciding for herself is an empowering opportunity Ellida yearns for and the chance to finally exercise her own volition dominates her consciousness. However, she recognizes the monumental significance of this single decision as the full weight of exercising her free will settles down upon her. She knows she can never return or reverse her final verdict. This innate fear and wonder at the power of a single decision is a deeply human reaction, a dizzying dilemma that is readily identifiable among audiences who must grapple with the similar reality of choice. </span>

<img class="size-full wp-image-13856 alignright" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/chaon_ellida.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="500" />

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite the fear acquainted with choosing one reality and being forced to live with the constant “what if?” of the untread path, Ellida finally and emphatically declares her firm decision. The decision to stay with Wangel frees her from the allure of the alternate as the aspects that made the alternate (the Stranger) so alluring in the first place were adopted by the other choice (Wangel). Although her decision to stay may seem strange as she truly did seem discontent in her domestic situation on the island, it was ultimately still an empowering action for Ellida because it was her decision. She freed herself from the temptation of the Stranger. The Stranger was simply alluring because they presented a level of freedom she did not have in her current marriage. They made her claim responsibility and choose rather than continue floating along in an existence without individual choice and consequences. Once Wangel gives her the freedom to choose and promises to respect her no matter what path she takes, she realizes she would rather stay with Wangel because the primary thing that was so attractive about the Stranger is now an element in her marriage to the doctor.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><img class="size-full wp-image-13855 alignleft" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/chaon_ellida2.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="500" />Another aspect that makes her decision surprising is the initial characterization of Ellida. To the islanders, she appears idiosyncratic and eccentric, her deep fascination with the sea and daily swimming rituals marking her from the rest. She appears faintly detached and untamed, only somewhat grounded by emotional bursts of distress once the Stranger reappears in her life. Her connection to the sea acts as both a symbolic escape from a stifling life on land and a paradoxical reflection of her relationship with temptation. Being immersed in the world of the sea allows temporary escape from her reality. The sea can take her anywhere and she connects to the Stranger as she knows they understand that it can never be dominated yet still they follow its call. The sea is everything Ellida wants to have and be: it is freedom in temporary oblivion, the temptation of a new reality, and the ultimate symbol of never being tamed or trapped. Its danger and possibility “attract and terrify” as it serves as a complete alternative to her life on land, an outlet for escape. However, it also acts as a reminder of her situation as well. It symbolizes the limbo state of existence she floats in every day as someone who is never made to confront the consequences of her actions (until the Stranger returns) and who is stuck in place in a domestic situation because her husband constructs her reality with his choices, managing separate lives with her, his daughters, and his work so that she feels unimportant. With her new awareness of her value to others and the power to make her own decisions, Ellida does, in a way, escape from her unsatisfying domestic life by carving out a new reality for herself within an old framework. She stays, but the dynamics within her relationships are markedly changed. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ellida’s domestic situation and her ultimate choice to stay encapsulates an overarching struggle to define one’s own path and the necessity of balance and free will in any relationship. Whether it is Nora’s choice to leave or Ellida’s choice to stay, both women embark on a path of their own volition, determining what is best for them in each scenario. When Ellida is given the choice between two different lives and when she finally realizes her value, particularly when she realizes she is needed and wanted not only by her husband, but by her stepdaughters as well, she is able to make the decision she feels is right for her. She breaks a promise in the process, but finally seizes the opportunity to shape the course of her own life. The actions of both Ellida and Nora present two entirely different paths, yet both encapsulate the power an individual derives from being able to decide for themselves and seize control over their own life.</span>

<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">We recognize this is only one interpretation of Ibsen’s complex work. There are many to be formed from the text. This is just one we choose to share in anticipation of our production of </span></i><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. <strong>How will you react to Ellida's choice? <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">See the play for yourself →</a> </strong></span>

<em>Photos of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/chaon-cross/">Chaon Cross</a> as Ellida by Joe Mazza.</em>"
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<em>Director <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/drawn-to-the-sea/">Shana Cooper</a> is taking a unique approach to staging <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a> at Court Theatre. Read on to discover how different directors and actors have brought Ibsen to life on stage and film.</em>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With such prestige attached to his name, Ibsen’s famous works capture the creative interests of many directors and actors from all over the world as they yearn to tackle his plays in new productions. Performing Ibsen entails a variety of approaches to his texts as living documents capable of being re-contextualized in ways that accentuate their undeniable modernity. The themes explored often connect to struggles audiences everywhere can still identify with. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In an upcoming UK film production of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(set to release abroad in July 2020 as of now), screenwriter Birgit Myaard and director Leon Mitchell aim to develop their own re-imagination of the play by infusing it with a 21st century touch that exemplifies how Ibsen’s works continue to remain relevant in the modern day. Myaard has said that exploring Ibsen has been a method for her to reconnect with her ancestral roots in Norway due to his depictions of the country and his cultural significance there. The film will feature K-Syran, a Norwegian singer, and will be released with an original soundtrack that conveys a similar mysticism to that found in the play.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">On the stage, directors and actors continue to grapple with the mythos of Ibsen and his famous texts. In 2019, the cast of a staging of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">produced by the Norwegian Ibsen Company wanted to immerse themselves in the same surroundings Ibsen was exposed to when writing his play. Actors </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kåre </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conradi and Pia Tjelta rehearsed with their cast for their bilingual production of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the very abode Ibsen lived in at the time of creating it. They appealed to the Norwegian government for this opportunity and were able to bring along their team to rehearse in his former flat at Victoria Terrasse in Oslo. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">To reinforce the divide within the Wangel clan, director Marit Moum Aune chose to re-imagine the doctor and his two daughters as expats from England who were drawn to Norway due to Wangel’s relationship with Ellida, a move that would breed resentment on the girls’ part as they had to upend their lives for their father’s new bride. The Wangels speak strictly in English with one another while Ellida navigates two linguistic worlds, talking in Norwegian with her close friend Arnholm and the locals of her hometown (subtitles were projected onto a wall in the production). The cast immersed themselves in the landscape, visiting places Ibsen reportedly went to and working into the dusk hours to get into a similar headspace as the playwright may have been when creating his work.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In other Ibsen productions, teams have decided to accentuate the subtle humor laced throughout Ibsen’s work. From Jeremy Raison’s production of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ghosts </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">that exaggerates and satirizes a character's views on fidelity to Lee Breuer’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mabou Mines DollHouse </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(an adaption of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Doll’s House</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) that dabbles with physical comedy as visual representations of gender battles, some directors choose to apply a more jocular touch to Ibsen’s work, lending it a sense of renewed energy as they explore the nuance of the playwright’s social commentary. These different tactics in approaching Ibsen reflect the wide variety of reactions and interpretations his works elicit. The ability to reinterpret and re-imagine these plays is a contributing factor to the endurance of Ibsen’s plays in modern productions.</span>

<hr />

Previews to <em><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">The Lady from the Sea</a> </em>begin March 12. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more →</strong></a>

<em>Photo of Chaon Cross by Joe Mazza.</em>"
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          string(4297) "<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-13824" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/mermaidblog_800x300.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="300" />

<em>With critics praising <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a> as a "pre-Freudian folktale" (The Guardian), some Ibsen fans may be wondering how folklore plays a role in Ibsen's play. Read on to learn about the myths surrounding mermaids and selkies and how they influenced Ibsen's writing.</em>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The mysticism surrounding </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> originates largely from the palpable influence of folklore, not only on Ibsen’s creative process but also on modern readings of the play as folklore’s presence in popular culture colors interpretation. Ibsen reportedly drew influence from the natural beauty of his native Norway and was most certainly influenced by myths from his homeland. In modern reframings of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, audiences often interpret Ellida as a mermaid-esque figure due to her intense bond with the sea (and her direct characterization as a sea creature). </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Although this connection is undeniable, Ellida does share certain properties with mythical figures beyond the mermaid. In Scandinavian, Scottish, and Irish folklore, selkies are seal folk who, when wearing a sealskin coat, turn into seals and live their lives in the sea. When they shed the coat, they appear to be human and can go on land. Several legends feature selkie maidens trapped on land. In legends, a man lures the selkie to land, steals her coat, and then marries her so she can never return to the sea in her natural form. She spends her life in deep sorrow, her liveliness eclipsed as the joy of the water’s song is muted to her. In several tales, she often dies shortly thereafter as her constricting life on land is something her soul cannot bear. Yet, in a few other stories, she chooses to stay on land, forever locking away her selkie coat and staying for the family she has built.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The striking parallels between Ellida and these mythological figures are apparent not only in their shared love of the water but also how marriage inevitably traps them on land and forces them to confront their situation. Ellida was, in a sense, lured in by Wangel and became trapped in a marriage. Though he did not force marriage upon her, the arrangement was practical at the time so she did not have another socially acceptable reason to deny him. In their marriage, she feels trapped, her daily forays into the sea providing a much-needed outlet, just as the selkie looks longingly at a possible return to their underwater home. When Wangel gives Ellida the freedom to decide for herself, she begins to understand that she is actually valued by both him and her stepdaughters. In essence, she has her selkie coat back but, as it is returned to her and not threatened by force, she gains a measure of clarity in what she now values more. Choosing to stay is akin to when the selkie gives up the coat of her own volition and willingly mutes the tantalizing call of her past underwater home.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">These connections to folklore lend </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">a degree of enchanting mysticism as it explores more serious topics about social expectations and resulting identity struggles. They also reveal how deeply such tales are ingrained in cultural consciousness and their pertinence to literature and reapplying texts to our own cultural contexts. </span>

<hr />

Previews to Court's production of this mysterious Ibsen play begin March 12, 2020. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more about <em>The Lady from the Sea → </em></strong></a>

&nbsp;

<em>Photo of Chaon Cross by Joe Mazza</em>."
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          string(9760) "<em>Ruth Schor, an Ibsen scholar, focuses <span style="font-weight: 400;">on modern drama, theatre and cultural history with particular emphasis on Ibsen and the German-speaking avant-garde. She provides her own perspective on</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"> THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a><em>, providing context about the role of choice in this play and other works by the Norwegian playwright. </em></span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><img class=" wp-image-13796 alignright" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Eleonora_Duse_1890.jpg" alt="" width="335" height="482" />“My consolation in moments of spiritual anguish is </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,” the famous Italian actress Eleonora Duse writes to a friend at the beginning of the twentieth century, “she is beautiful and comforting - ever-changing, like the sea itself.”</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> With this assessment, Duse gets to the heart of the play's problem: is the protagonist, Ellida, free, and if so, what kind of freedom does she have? After a celebrated success playing in and producing Ibsen’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rosmersholm</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Duse embarks on another journey to seek an understanding of Ellida’s freedom. But the translation she has does not suffice and she crosses out the word “choice” and replaces it with the word “decision.” With this small edit, Duse was coming to grips with a central question that dominates discussions about </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to the present day. Is the freedom to decide true emancipation, or does it lead the woman, as wife, right back into the confinement of marriage? After all, the play has little of the dramatic resistance to domestic life that can be found in other Ibsen plays. This play's “happy ending” is a rarity. Preceded by </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rosmersholm</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and succeeded by none other than </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hedda Gabler</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has caused puzzlement over its appeasing tone since it was first performed. What makes this woman capable of converting the weight of her past into a source of transformation without escaping? </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Lou Andreas-Salomé, one of Ibsen’s contemporaries, published a book about Ibsen’s heroines from Nora to Hedda in 1892. She finds an explanation in Ellida and Dr. Wangel’s mutual ability to “consider the other’s needs” and attributes an equally healing quality to the re-connection between Ellida and Hilde, Wangel’s child from the previous marriage. If we take this explanation seriously, does Ellida’s story then suggest that reconciliation is the true goal, and in fact there was hope for some of Ibsen‘s previous heroines? In short, the play calls into question the actions of other heroines. Why did Hedda Gabler have to crush that same hope? Are we meant to reconsider Nora’s exit in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Doll’s House</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">? These are only some of the unresolved questions Andreas-Salomé leaves us with. </span>

[caption id="attachment_13797" align="alignleft" width="371"]<img class=" wp-image-13797" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/small-1.jpeg" alt="" width="371" height="534" /> Anna Bloch as Hilde in THE LADY FROM THE SEA.[/caption]

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite its more conventional plot, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">does join Ibsen’s other plays in its openness to ambiguity. Similar to </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Doll’s House, The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">presents its audience with an outcome that seems conclusive, and yet, leaves just enough inconclusive openings to fuel the imagination about what might come next. In </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">this question mark is brought to us by the next generation</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">through Bolette’s subplot, a marriage of convenience in exchange for an education. And most decisively, in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Master Builder</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a play Ibsen published four years after </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the same Hilde Wangel appears as a young temptress in her twenties who has escaped her father’s “cage” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> with no mention of a stepmother. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At this point, even Lou Andreas-Salomé needed to reconsider. A few months after her book came out in 1892, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Master Builder</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was published. She hastily writes a review admitting that the re-appearance of Hilde Wangel sheds new light on the ending of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. A century later, Susan Sontag takes the significance of Hilde Wangel’s return even further. Her adaptation for Robert Wilson’s famous production concludes with a sense of unease about the domestication of this sea creature. Ibsen, she claims, made Hilde Wangel reappear in the later play, when he developed second thoughts about </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Originally titled </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Mermaid</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Sontag says, the play draws on a folkloric theme about untamable sea creatures that do not belong on dry land. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Whichever interpretation one might be drawn to, it is evident that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea,</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and moreover Ibsen’s plays in general, continue to generate a sense of mystery and curiosity by remaining in constant conversation with each other. It is arguably one of Ibsen’s most distinct talents to ensure an audience never gets too comfortable. As he expressed it himself, his works can only be understood when read in their entirety </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">— </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">when read as part of an ongoing series. Ibsen perfectly timed this series by publishing a new play every two years just in time for the Christmas season. By the time he wrote </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the arrival of the plays had become a national sensation in his native Norway. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Living in Munich at the time, amidst a milieu of theatre-makers, cultural innovators and thinkers</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">many women amongst them</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ibsen’s plays fueled discussions at coffee houses and literary salons like few others. It is therefore the continuation of this Ibsenian journey to ask ourselves where this play could be taking us today, and how it makes us reconsider our own sense of freedom. Just as we become comfortable with this interpretative direction, Ibsen’s notes on </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> take us in yet another direction. Perhaps the play is a prelude to a different humanity entirely. He writes: “Has the path of human development taken the wrong direction? How did we come to belong on dry earth? Why not the air? Why not the ocean?”     </span>

<hr />

Court's production of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><em>The Lady from the Sea </em></a>runs from March 12 - April 12, 2020. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more and buy tickets →</strong></a>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Ruth Schor</strong> completed her PhD at the University of Oxford and subsequently worked as Associate Professor at the Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo. Her research focuses on modern drama, theatre and cultural history with particular emphasis on Ibsen and the German-speaking avant-garde. She is currently completing a monograph on the significance of Ibsen's work in creating an avant-garde culture in Munich and Berlin for which she received a Martin Buber Fellowship. Her chapter on the German Ibsen reception will shortly be published in the volume <em>Ibsen in Contex</em>t by Cambridge University Press. She is also a theatre practitioner and has worked with a number of international theatre companies. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span>"
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<em>Director <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/shana-cooper-2/">Shana Cooper</a> is known for her visceral takes on classic plays. Her work with frequent collaborator and choreographer <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/erika-chong-shuch/">Erika Chong Shuch</a> on Shakespeare’s plays utilizes movement to inject each production with a physical muscularity that matches their use of language. We chatted with Cooper to discuss what excites her about Ibsen’s <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a>.</em>

<strong>Court Theatre: <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> marks your first full-length production in Chicago. Can you talk to us a bit about what it means to be working here?</strong>

<strong>Shana Cooper:</strong> This is my first full-length production in Chicago, yes. I workshopped a staged reading of Paula Vogel’s play <em>Cressida on Top</em> at Goodman Theatre, but other than that I’ve yet to do a full play. Charlie [Court’s Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director] and I have been talking for years and this theatre has felt like a beacon to me. My background is primarily in Shakespeare and I’ve long known Court for its national reputation for innovative reimaginings of classic work.

<strong>CT: <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> is a classic play, but is written by Ibsen; not Shakespeare. What drew you to this particular play?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> This is a play that’s been with me for about ten years. I first directed a staged reading of it in 2009 at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and I haven’t been able to shake it since. It’s haunted me.

<strong>CT: What aspects have haunted you the most?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> The thing that’s really remained with me about it is the visceral way Ibsen captures the nature of struggling with who you are spiritually and discovering a different sense of self over the course of your life. That idea of self-discovery and exploration is much more terrifying and exhilarating than people are able to express it being, but Ibsen was clearly obsessed with our nature with free will.

<strong>CT: How are those ideas informing your approach to his work?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> One of my goals with Shakespeare is an interest in how to make these plays as muscular physically and emotionally as they are linguistically, and that’s one of my goals with this production, too. I have an extraordinary choreographer Erica Chung Shuch who’s a longtime collaborator with me. My hope is that as a company we can come up with a physicality to express these ineffable urges that the play deals with. My dream is that it’s a marriage of Ibsen’s brilliant dramaturgy, character, and language as well as a physical life that gets at the deeper yearnings buckling under the text that are hard to express. I hope it feels like we are expressing something new.

<strong>CT: What would you share with fans of Ibsen who’re unfamiliar with this piece but may have seen or read some of his other works, like <em>A Doll’s House</em> or <em>Hedda Gabler</em>?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> A major difference between <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> and <em>A Doll’s House</em> is that this is Ibsen’s first return to a more expressionistic landscape, and it’s one of his plays that’s actually set outdoors. There’s a fluid nature to reality and a mystery to the play that reflects our unconscious. It seems like it requires a theatrical production because of the fluid and sometimes nightmarish way that he’s expressing that volatility through the characters and the jagged relationship with the fjords.

You also get to see a writer wrestling with a new way of expressing himself, which makes it messier than some of his other works. It’s exciting to work on these kinds of plays because you get to see a great artist wrestling with how their artistic goals are changing, and so you get to see that revolutionary spirit in everyone working on the play, too.

<strong>CT: What do you hope that audiences take away from seeing <em>The Lady from the Sea</em>?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> My hope is that this play is an invitation to look at our own lives and life choices and identity and maybe view this idea of cracking open questions about our spirituality and our identity as a real possibility. The thing that’s brilliant about this play is that it’s quite true-to-life to me. The play is an invitation for us to reflect back on our lives in terms of how the small and large choices we make are at play with and against our free will.

I want to tell a story that young, modern women in particular can connect to and be thrilled by and learn from and have exciting conversations inspired by it. They’re on my mind.

<hr />

Performances of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><em>The Lady from the Sea</em></a> begin March 12, 2020. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more and save your seats →</strong></a>

&nbsp;

<em>Photo of Chaon Cross by Joe Mazza</em>."
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Recently, Season of Concern Chicago wrote to Court Theatre asking us to remind Chicagoland artists that its emergency medical assistance applies to all "serious medical issues, including those that may result from COVID-19 infection." The Biscotto-Miller Fund provides direct, short-term emergency financial assistance to Chicago-area actors, directors, designers, technicians and playwrights, regardless of whether or not they're a member of Actor's Equity Association or are Non-Equity.

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Recently, Season of Concern Chicago wrote to Court Theatre asking us to remind Chicagoland artists that its emergency medical assistance applies to all "serious medical issues, including those that may result from COVID-19 infection." The Biscotto-Miller Fund provides direct, short-term emergency financial assistance to Chicago-area actors, directors, designers, technicians and playwrights, regardless of whether or not they're a member of Actor's Equity Association or are Non-Equity.

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<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">We interviewed Aaron Mays, Court’s Community Programs Manager, to hear more about the recent work of our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/community-partner-initiatives/">Community Partners Initiative</a> to connect surrounding Chicago communities with the power of theatre.</span></i>

<b>For anyone who may not have heard about the Community Partners Initiative or wants to know more, how would you describe it? What kind of work does your department center around?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/community-partner-initiatives/">Community Partners Initiative</a> is an annual membership program for civic groups, nonprofits, and faith-based institutions. If an organization is a member, Court provides them discounted tickets in the form of vouchers. The goal is to open up opportunities to Chicagoland organizations so their members may have access to professional theatre. </span>

<b>How would you describe the relationship between Court and the surrounding Hyde Park community?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Court continues to grow in popularity in and around Hyde Park. When I onboard new members to the program, I often find people who have not been to Court, so I find it a great honor to introduce them to a theatre with more than 60 years of history on the South Side. </span>

<b>What opportunities are there for individuals and community institutions to involve themselves in programming at Court, in and beyond the auditorium?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Outside of our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/">mainstage productions</a>, individuals and groups can attend our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/spotlight-reading-series/">Spotlight Reading Series</a>. This program brings theatre into specific neighbors as opposed to inviting people to come to Hyde Park. With Spotlight, <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/ron-oj-parson/">Ron OJ Parson</a> curates five classic plays by writers of color, most of which are rarely produced today. Spotlight gathers audiences to listen to actors read a play with the script in hand. There’s very little rehearsal and no technical elements, so you focus on just the story and raw emotion.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">I consider the Spotlight Series, which started in 2016, one of our hallmarks for community engagement efforts and emblematic of Court’s mission to redefine classical theatre. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span>

<b>In May 2017, you remarked that you hoped “<a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/shining-light-hidden-gems-courts-spotlight-reading-series/">to engage more audiences through talkbacks and symposiums.</a>"</b><b> Fast forward a few years, how would you evaluate the effect of these programs with connecting Court and its audiences?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Spotlight has always generated great interest and high attendance. On average, about 70 to 80 people attend our free public readings. In our first year, we had nearly 400 people attend in total. As for CPI, the interest in the programs is growing. We generally take on between 20 to 25 groups to become members, with a wide range of constituents. </span>

<b>What hopes do you have for the future of these community outreach programs?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">My hope is that our programs continue to preserve the voices and spaces of both longstanding and new community members. The city’s demographics are changing, so the question moving forward will be how do we, as a theatre, keep pace with this shift while honoring the cultural legacy throughout the South Side. </span>

<strong><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/"><em>Learn more about Court's community engagement initiatives →</em></a></strong>"
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      string(9554) "[caption id="attachment_13901" align="alignnone" width="800"]<img class="wp-image-13901 size-full" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/awmc_800x300.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="300" /> Brea, a student at Walter H. Dyett school and third-place finalist, with Michael Aaron Pogue and her teacher, Ms Graham.[/caption]

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The August Wilson Monologue Competition is a free education program that offers high school students the chance to practice their storytelling and performing abilities while collaborating with teaching assistants on how to hone these skills. To audition, students prepare a 2 to 3 minute monologue from an <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/august-wilson/">August Wilson</a> play in his Century Cycle. Once chosen, they must compete against their fellow students in the Semi-Finals and Chicago Finals. The finalists get to go to New York to perform at the August Wilson Theatre and the winner receives a partial scholarship to UIC’s School of Theatre and Music. </span></i>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/community-engagement/education-initiative/artists-in-schools/">Court’s Education Initiative</a> serves the youth of South Side Chicago and our team of Teaching Artists have collaborated with students in past years as they work to be a part of this competition. Every season, only 60 semi-finalists are chosen out of all the contestants and this year, 31 out of the 60 chosen were part of Court’s program, working with our Teaching Artists to master their monologue skills! 6 students went on as finalists, with one student placing third overall!</span></i>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">We talked with Michael Aaron Pogue, one of our Lead Teaching Artists, to talk about this recent success.</span></i>

<b>How would you explain the August Wilson Monologue Competition to someone who has never heard of it and the tremendous significance of these recent accomplishments?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The competition is a national tournament wherein high schools students perform/compete with a monologue from any of the ten plays of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle (</span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2015-2016-season/gem-of-the-ocean/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gem of the Ocean</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Joe Turner’s Come and Gone</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2009-2010-season/ma-raineys-black-bottom/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2008-2009-season/the-piano-lesson/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Piano Lesson</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2013-2014-season/seven-guitars/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Seven Guitars</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2005-2006-season/fences/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fences</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2020-2021-season/two-trains-running/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Two Trains Running</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2012-2013-season/jitney/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jitney</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/king-hedley-ii/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">King Hedley II</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2018-2019-season/radio-golf/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Radio Golf</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">). These plays depict and examine the African American experience, chronicling a nation’s history in the twentieth century. With the combined efforts of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teachers and teaching artists, our students are given rehearsals to strengthen performances and potentially raise their chances of advancing to the National Finals held in New York City on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This year, we had 31 students from our program advance as semi-finalists (60 semi-finalists in total), 6 students advance as finalists, and 1 student place third at finals. We’re proud of these hard-working students. The local preliminaries have nearly a thousand students all over the Chicagoland area apply and compete. Getting from Prelims to Semis is a huge accomplishment because judges choose from nearly a thousand students and select 60 out of all the citywide contestants. Those coached by and affiliated with Court made up half of that gifted and talented population of individuals selected to move forward in the competition. </span>

<b>How would you describe Court’s role in connecting high school students to this opportunity to showcase their performing skills?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Court is profoundly influential in coaching students to hone their performative skills so they have the chance to participate in a nationwide competition. In our three-week August Wilson residency, CPS drama classes learn the dramaturgical context of the playwright, theatrical exercises, and basic performative skills to apply to their monologues. With the consistency and structure of our programs, students have access to a support system, composed of participating teacher artists and fellow participants, so they can work to improve their skills. The process encourages them to recognize their self-value and the value of such collaborative engagements. </span>

<b>In your opinion, what is the most exciting part about getting to see these students perform and progress to the Semi-Finals and Finals?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">When they finish performing their auditions, accomplishing their goals as a performer, they walk out of the room with boldness and a confidence they may not have had just a few months ago in the same academic year. Regardless of if they make it to the finals or not, those who put forth the effort undergo a significant change in their demeanor in front of our eyes. It’s gratifying on many levels. It gives them the belief and assurance that they are capable of persevering through life’s challenges.</span>

<b>What do the training practices with the Teaching Artists look like for the students participating in the competition?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We do a lot of repetition. New behaviors and habits are learned by doing them over and over again. We do vocal and physical warm-ups with them every time we meet. We do them so often the students begin to learn the routine and are fully capable of leading warm-ups themselves. We go over textual analysis in their monologues so they learn how to identify meaning to fully interpret the text and make interesting creative choices in their portrayals. </span>

<b>What do you think is the most personally rewarding part about this experience in your role as an Education Associate/Lead Teaching Artist?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">I receive the gift of witnessing a wide range of students, mostly African American, have an opportunity to perform one of the most influential playwrights in American history, one who wrote specifically for and to African Americans. The narrative gaze of August Wilson’s work is untethered by Euro/White normative depictions. Though there are generational gaps of knowledge between the material and the students’ contemporary realities, there is a cultural thread that is recognizable and resonates when fully subsumed in their preparedness. </span>

<b>What do you want people to know about the programs provided by Court Theatre’s Education Initiative? </b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We are endlessly working to find new ways to connect to our communities. It neither starts nor stops with August Wilson. We challenge ourselves to find new ways to break down existing pedagogies and traditional teaching methods of how to interpret classic texts for today’s audiences. </span>

<b>What do you want students interested in participating in these programs in the future to know about this resource?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Court’s involvement in the competition and many of our programs are continuing to draw prestigious recognition. We have a staff of well-versed practitioners in the field who can cultivate the next generation of industry leaders, whatever their chosen fields may be. </span>

<b>Lastly, what would you like to say to all the students who've participated?</b>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Onward and beyond. No matter how far you go in the competition, your hard work and participation is a huge leap forward into your history yet to be written and lived. Like Aunt Ester who sermonizes an adrift Mr. Citizen about a spiritual place at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean built from the Middle Passage’s wake, “You want to go there...I can take you there if you want to go. That is the center of the world. In time, it will all come to light.”</span>"
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      string(4989) "<strong>Note: Below are previous announcements regarding Court's COVID-19 response. For the most up-to-date information, please see our <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/public-health-update/">Public Health Update page</a>.</strong>
<h2>3/31/2020 Update about <em>The Gospel at Colonus </em>and<em> Violet</em></h2>
<div class="text-block block">
<p dir="ltr"><b>Announcing new performance dates for <i><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/up-next-the-gospel-at-colonus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Gospel at Colonus</a></i> and a change to our upcoming 2020/21 season. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr">With so many unknowns about how this pandemic will continue to impact public gatherings, it has been a difficult time for all of us. Even so, in every hard conversation, prioritizing our patrons, staff, and artists has helped to guide all artistic decision-making.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We have made the decision to move <i>The Gospel at Colonus</i>, originally slated for performances in May, into our 2020/21 Season. We will be postponing our production of <i>Violet</i>, with the intention of including it in a future Season. A key component of our ambitious Oedipus Trilogy, <i>The Gospel at Colonus</i> and the dynamic community engagement work surrounding it will provide vital opportunities to connect as we all work towards collective healing in the wake of this pandemic.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>The Gospel at Colonus</i> will now run November 5 through December 6, 2020. All ticket holders for both<em> Gospel </em>and <em>Violet</em> received an email with detailed information. If you have questions or concerns after you've reviewed this information, please call the Box Office at (773) 753-4472, <strong>Monday through Friday from 12noon to 5pm</strong>.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">We appreciate your understanding and look forward to seeing you at our theatre soon. It will truly be reason to celebrate. Be well!</p>

</div>
<h2><strong>March 12, 2020 Cancellations Notice</strong></h2>
As leadership at the University of Chicago continues to monitor the evolving status of COVID-19 in Chicagoland and across the globe, we at Court Theatre are at a critical moment in our six-decade history.

Theatre can’t just be seen; it must be felt. It can’t just be watched; it must be experienced. At a time of division, bifurcated attention, and growing anxiety, theatre’s power to create community out of both artists and strangers has a powerful role to play. And yet, that same communal power represents a double-edged sword for any organization striving to prioritize the health, security, and safety of all those who touch its work.

According to the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control, many of our patrons and long-term supporters are most at risk of developing serious complications from contracting this virus, a fact we take quite seriously.

As artistic leaders, these are the issues we grapple with this week in the face of extraordinary circumstances. And extraordinary circumstances sometimes call for extraordinary measures. This is why we have made the difficult decision to cancel the runs of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><i>The Lady from the Sea </i></a>at Court Theatre and <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/an-iliad-at-oi/"><i>An Iliad </i></a>at the Oriental Institute. We truly appreciate the talented artists who worked tirelessly to create a striking and beautiful production of <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> and are deeply saddened we cannot share their work with audiences. We are grateful for the opportunity to reschedule performances of <i>An Iliad </i>to sometime this summer.

Currently, we believe it’s prudent to postpone making a decision about our upcoming production of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2020-2021-season/the-gospel-at-colonus/"><i>The Gospel at Colonus</i></a>, slated to begin previews in May. We will continue to monitor how things develop and make a further announcement later, should it be necessary.

At a time when so many people around the world are focused on the day-to-day updates of friends, family, and the news, we, as an organization, must think farther ahead. This is why we are asking audience members and subscribers with tickets to our current productions to consider converting their purchase to a donation or crediting the value of their tickets towards a subscription to our 2020/21 Season. With so many unknowns about the lasting effects of this pandemic, these sorts of efforts will bolster Court Theatre and our potential to continue sharing classic stories with you in the future.

Theatre is nothing without its artists and audience. We are nothing without our artists and you.

Stay well,
Charles Newell, <em>Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director
</em>Angel Ysaguirre, <em>Executive Director</em>"
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This May, Court will be staging <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-gospel-at-colonus/"><em>The Gospel at Colonus</em></a>, a one-of- a-kind theatrical event that breathes new life into a classic myth with a score of powerful gospel music. <em>The Gospel at Colonus</em> will continue the story of Oedipus’ family as he travels in exile following the fateful events of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/oedipus-rex/"><em>Oedipus Rex</em></a>. The second installment of Court’s ambitious Oedipus Trilogy, <em>Gospel</em> stands alone as a compelling musical with a beautiful score.

Charles Newell, Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director, together with associate director <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/taron-patton/">TaRon Patton</a> and music director Mark J.P. Hood, will bring this soaring musical to life. Featuring several familiar faces from <em>Oedipus Rex</em>—including <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/aeriel-williams/">Aeriel Williams</a>, <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/kelvin-roston-jr/">Kelvin Roston, Jr.</a>, and <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/timothy-edward-kane/">Timothy Edward Kane</a>, among others—and a host of singers from Chicago’s gospel community, <em>Gospel</em> promises to be a redemptive celebration that reimagines the story of Oedipus in a thrilling way.

Newell, who first experienced the musical as an audience member at Brooklyn Academy of Music and subsequently as a directing intern at Arena Stage, had this to say about bringing the work to Chicago and Court Theatre:
<blockquote>I am thrilled to be embarking on <em>The Gospel at Colonus</em>, a work I’ve been passionate about bringing to the stage for most of my life. By connecting with a host of South Side voices as part of the artistic process, we welcome a new chapter in Court’s approach to the classic canon.</blockquote>
<strong>Performances begin November 5, 2020. Subscriptions including this production are available by using our <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCZDmQhu6D5LIOtMGmoisZv5L6szRsioc7nL_oTI4lOVGoiA/viewform">Box Office Contact form</a>. Single tickets will go on sale in August.</strong>

<em>Photo of Shari Addison by Joe Mazza.</em>"
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<em>How is Ellida similar to other Ibsenian heroines? Read on to learn about the choice she's faced with in <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a> and how she navigates society's gendered confines.</em>

<span>In several of Ibsen’s works, women often play a central role as eventual escapees from stifling domestic lives, a choice that shocked audiences at the time as a scandalous course of action. Famously, the ending of Ibsen’s play </span><i><span>A Doll’s House </span></i><span>features a woman walking out on her narcissistic husband. This ending was rewritten for the production’s German premiere in the 19th century because it was deemed too controversial. In the modern age amidst a rise of empowering discourse and social movements, the decision to leave a toxic relationship is celebrated, as audiences praise individuals who refuse to let a suffocating relationship determine their destiny. Although the protagonist of </span><i><span>The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span>takes a slightly different route, she does share select traits with Nora Helmer, her counterpart in </span><i><span>A Doll’s House</span></i><span>: the desire to regain a measure of autonomy over her own life. For Ellida, doing so still entails marriage, but only when her spouse gives her the freedom to leave or stay, promising to respect her decision either way. The very act of deciding for herself is an empowering opportunity Ellida yearns for and the chance to finally exercise her own volition dominates her consciousness. However, she recognizes the monumental significance of this single decision as the full weight of exercising her free will settles down upon her. She knows she can never return or reverse her final verdict. This innate fear and wonder at the power of a single decision is a deeply human reaction, a dizzying dilemma that is readily identifiable among audiences who must grapple with the similar reality of choice. </span>

<img class="size-full wp-image-13856 alignright" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/chaon_ellida.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="500" />

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite the fear acquainted with choosing one reality and being forced to live with the constant “what if?” of the untread path, Ellida finally and emphatically declares her firm decision. The decision to stay with Wangel frees her from the allure of the alternate as the aspects that made the alternate (the Stranger) so alluring in the first place were adopted by the other choice (Wangel). Although her decision to stay may seem strange as she truly did seem discontent in her domestic situation on the island, it was ultimately still an empowering action for Ellida because it was her decision. She freed herself from the temptation of the Stranger. The Stranger was simply alluring because they presented a level of freedom she did not have in her current marriage. They made her claim responsibility and choose rather than continue floating along in an existence without individual choice and consequences. Once Wangel gives her the freedom to choose and promises to respect her no matter what path she takes, she realizes she would rather stay with Wangel because the primary thing that was so attractive about the Stranger is now an element in her marriage to the doctor.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><img class="size-full wp-image-13855 alignleft" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/chaon_ellida2.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="500" />Another aspect that makes her decision surprising is the initial characterization of Ellida. To the islanders, she appears idiosyncratic and eccentric, her deep fascination with the sea and daily swimming rituals marking her from the rest. She appears faintly detached and untamed, only somewhat grounded by emotional bursts of distress once the Stranger reappears in her life. Her connection to the sea acts as both a symbolic escape from a stifling life on land and a paradoxical reflection of her relationship with temptation. Being immersed in the world of the sea allows temporary escape from her reality. The sea can take her anywhere and she connects to the Stranger as she knows they understand that it can never be dominated yet still they follow its call. The sea is everything Ellida wants to have and be: it is freedom in temporary oblivion, the temptation of a new reality, and the ultimate symbol of never being tamed or trapped. Its danger and possibility “attract and terrify” as it serves as a complete alternative to her life on land, an outlet for escape. However, it also acts as a reminder of her situation as well. It symbolizes the limbo state of existence she floats in every day as someone who is never made to confront the consequences of her actions (until the Stranger returns) and who is stuck in place in a domestic situation because her husband constructs her reality with his choices, managing separate lives with her, his daughters, and his work so that she feels unimportant. With her new awareness of her value to others and the power to make her own decisions, Ellida does, in a way, escape from her unsatisfying domestic life by carving out a new reality for herself within an old framework. She stays, but the dynamics within her relationships are markedly changed. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ellida’s domestic situation and her ultimate choice to stay encapsulates an overarching struggle to define one’s own path and the necessity of balance and free will in any relationship. Whether it is Nora’s choice to leave or Ellida’s choice to stay, both women embark on a path of their own volition, determining what is best for them in each scenario. When Ellida is given the choice between two different lives and when she finally realizes her value, particularly when she realizes she is needed and wanted not only by her husband, but by her stepdaughters as well, she is able to make the decision she feels is right for her. She breaks a promise in the process, but finally seizes the opportunity to shape the course of her own life. The actions of both Ellida and Nora present two entirely different paths, yet both encapsulate the power an individual derives from being able to decide for themselves and seize control over their own life.</span>

<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">We recognize this is only one interpretation of Ibsen’s complex work. There are many to be formed from the text. This is just one we choose to share in anticipation of our production of </span></i><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. <strong>How will you react to Ellida's choice? <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">See the play for yourself →</a> </strong></span>

<em>Photos of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/chaon-cross/">Chaon Cross</a> as Ellida by Joe Mazza.</em>"
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<em>Director <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/drawn-to-the-sea/">Shana Cooper</a> is taking a unique approach to staging <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a> at Court Theatre. Read on to discover how different directors and actors have brought Ibsen to life on stage and film.</em>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With such prestige attached to his name, Ibsen’s famous works capture the creative interests of many directors and actors from all over the world as they yearn to tackle his plays in new productions. Performing Ibsen entails a variety of approaches to his texts as living documents capable of being re-contextualized in ways that accentuate their undeniable modernity. The themes explored often connect to struggles audiences everywhere can still identify with. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In an upcoming UK film production of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(set to release abroad in July 2020 as of now), screenwriter Birgit Myaard and director Leon Mitchell aim to develop their own re-imagination of the play by infusing it with a 21st century touch that exemplifies how Ibsen’s works continue to remain relevant in the modern day. Myaard has said that exploring Ibsen has been a method for her to reconnect with her ancestral roots in Norway due to his depictions of the country and his cultural significance there. The film will feature K-Syran, a Norwegian singer, and will be released with an original soundtrack that conveys a similar mysticism to that found in the play.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">On the stage, directors and actors continue to grapple with the mythos of Ibsen and his famous texts. In 2019, the cast of a staging of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">produced by the Norwegian Ibsen Company wanted to immerse themselves in the same surroundings Ibsen was exposed to when writing his play. Actors </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kåre </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conradi and Pia Tjelta rehearsed with their cast for their bilingual production of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the very abode Ibsen lived in at the time of creating it. They appealed to the Norwegian government for this opportunity and were able to bring along their team to rehearse in his former flat at Victoria Terrasse in Oslo. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">To reinforce the divide within the Wangel clan, director Marit Moum Aune chose to re-imagine the doctor and his two daughters as expats from England who were drawn to Norway due to Wangel’s relationship with Ellida, a move that would breed resentment on the girls’ part as they had to upend their lives for their father’s new bride. The Wangels speak strictly in English with one another while Ellida navigates two linguistic worlds, talking in Norwegian with her close friend Arnholm and the locals of her hometown (subtitles were projected onto a wall in the production). The cast immersed themselves in the landscape, visiting places Ibsen reportedly went to and working into the dusk hours to get into a similar headspace as the playwright may have been when creating his work.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In other Ibsen productions, teams have decided to accentuate the subtle humor laced throughout Ibsen’s work. From Jeremy Raison’s production of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ghosts </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">that exaggerates and satirizes a character's views on fidelity to Lee Breuer’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mabou Mines DollHouse </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(an adaption of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Doll’s House</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) that dabbles with physical comedy as visual representations of gender battles, some directors choose to apply a more jocular touch to Ibsen’s work, lending it a sense of renewed energy as they explore the nuance of the playwright’s social commentary. These different tactics in approaching Ibsen reflect the wide variety of reactions and interpretations his works elicit. The ability to reinterpret and re-imagine these plays is a contributing factor to the endurance of Ibsen’s plays in modern productions.</span>

<hr />

Previews to <em><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">The Lady from the Sea</a> </em>begin March 12. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more →</strong></a>

<em>Photo of Chaon Cross by Joe Mazza.</em>"
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<em>With critics praising <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a> as a "pre-Freudian folktale" (The Guardian), some Ibsen fans may be wondering how folklore plays a role in Ibsen's play. Read on to learn about the myths surrounding mermaids and selkies and how they influenced Ibsen's writing.</em>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The mysticism surrounding </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> originates largely from the palpable influence of folklore, not only on Ibsen’s creative process but also on modern readings of the play as folklore’s presence in popular culture colors interpretation. Ibsen reportedly drew influence from the natural beauty of his native Norway and was most certainly influenced by myths from his homeland. In modern reframings of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, audiences often interpret Ellida as a mermaid-esque figure due to her intense bond with the sea (and her direct characterization as a sea creature). </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Although this connection is undeniable, Ellida does share certain properties with mythical figures beyond the mermaid. In Scandinavian, Scottish, and Irish folklore, selkies are seal folk who, when wearing a sealskin coat, turn into seals and live their lives in the sea. When they shed the coat, they appear to be human and can go on land. Several legends feature selkie maidens trapped on land. In legends, a man lures the selkie to land, steals her coat, and then marries her so she can never return to the sea in her natural form. She spends her life in deep sorrow, her liveliness eclipsed as the joy of the water’s song is muted to her. In several tales, she often dies shortly thereafter as her constricting life on land is something her soul cannot bear. Yet, in a few other stories, she chooses to stay on land, forever locking away her selkie coat and staying for the family she has built.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The striking parallels between Ellida and these mythological figures are apparent not only in their shared love of the water but also how marriage inevitably traps them on land and forces them to confront their situation. Ellida was, in a sense, lured in by Wangel and became trapped in a marriage. Though he did not force marriage upon her, the arrangement was practical at the time so she did not have another socially acceptable reason to deny him. In their marriage, she feels trapped, her daily forays into the sea providing a much-needed outlet, just as the selkie looks longingly at a possible return to their underwater home. When Wangel gives Ellida the freedom to decide for herself, she begins to understand that she is actually valued by both him and her stepdaughters. In essence, she has her selkie coat back but, as it is returned to her and not threatened by force, she gains a measure of clarity in what she now values more. Choosing to stay is akin to when the selkie gives up the coat of her own volition and willingly mutes the tantalizing call of her past underwater home.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">These connections to folklore lend </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lady </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">a degree of enchanting mysticism as it explores more serious topics about social expectations and resulting identity struggles. They also reveal how deeply such tales are ingrained in cultural consciousness and their pertinence to literature and reapplying texts to our own cultural contexts. </span>

<hr />

Previews to Court's production of this mysterious Ibsen play begin March 12, 2020. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more about <em>The Lady from the Sea → </em></strong></a>

&nbsp;

<em>Photo of Chaon Cross by Joe Mazza</em>."
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      string(9760) "<em>Ruth Schor, an Ibsen scholar, focuses <span style="font-weight: 400;">on modern drama, theatre and cultural history with particular emphasis on Ibsen and the German-speaking avant-garde. She provides her own perspective on</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"> THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a><em>, providing context about the role of choice in this play and other works by the Norwegian playwright. </em></span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><img class=" wp-image-13796 alignright" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Eleonora_Duse_1890.jpg" alt="" width="335" height="482" />“My consolation in moments of spiritual anguish is </span><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,” the famous Italian actress Eleonora Duse writes to a friend at the beginning of the twentieth century, “she is beautiful and comforting - ever-changing, like the sea itself.”</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> With this assessment, Duse gets to the heart of the play's problem: is the protagonist, Ellida, free, and if so, what kind of freedom does she have? After a celebrated success playing in and producing Ibsen’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rosmersholm</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Duse embarks on another journey to seek an understanding of Ellida’s freedom. But the translation she has does not suffice and she crosses out the word “choice” and replaces it with the word “decision.” With this small edit, Duse was coming to grips with a central question that dominates discussions about </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to the present day. Is the freedom to decide true emancipation, or does it lead the woman, as wife, right back into the confinement of marriage? After all, the play has little of the dramatic resistance to domestic life that can be found in other Ibsen plays. This play's “happy ending” is a rarity. Preceded by </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rosmersholm</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and succeeded by none other than </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hedda Gabler</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has caused puzzlement over its appeasing tone since it was first performed. What makes this woman capable of converting the weight of her past into a source of transformation without escaping? </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Lou Andreas-Salomé, one of Ibsen’s contemporaries, published a book about Ibsen’s heroines from Nora to Hedda in 1892. She finds an explanation in Ellida and Dr. Wangel’s mutual ability to “consider the other’s needs” and attributes an equally healing quality to the re-connection between Ellida and Hilde, Wangel’s child from the previous marriage. If we take this explanation seriously, does Ellida’s story then suggest that reconciliation is the true goal, and in fact there was hope for some of Ibsen‘s previous heroines? In short, the play calls into question the actions of other heroines. Why did Hedda Gabler have to crush that same hope? Are we meant to reconsider Nora’s exit in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Doll’s House</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">? These are only some of the unresolved questions Andreas-Salomé leaves us with. </span>

[caption id="attachment_13797" align="alignleft" width="371"]<img class=" wp-image-13797" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/small-1.jpeg" alt="" width="371" height="534" /> Anna Bloch as Hilde in THE LADY FROM THE SEA.[/caption]

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite its more conventional plot, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">does join Ibsen’s other plays in its openness to ambiguity. Similar to </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Doll’s House, The Lady from the Sea </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">presents its audience with an outcome that seems conclusive, and yet, leaves just enough inconclusive openings to fuel the imagination about what might come next. In </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">,</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">this question mark is brought to us by the next generation</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">through Bolette’s subplot, a marriage of convenience in exchange for an education. And most decisively, in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Master Builder</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a play Ibsen published four years after </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">the same Hilde Wangel appears as a young temptress in her twenties who has escaped her father’s “cage” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> with no mention of a stepmother. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">At this point, even Lou Andreas-Salomé needed to reconsider. A few months after her book came out in 1892, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Master Builder</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was published. She hastily writes a review admitting that the re-appearance of Hilde Wangel sheds new light on the ending of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. A century later, Susan Sontag takes the significance of Hilde Wangel’s return even further. Her adaptation for Robert Wilson’s famous production concludes with a sense of unease about the domestication of this sea creature. Ibsen, she claims, made Hilde Wangel reappear in the later play, when he developed second thoughts about </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea.</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Originally titled </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Mermaid</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Sontag says, the play draws on a folkloric theme about untamable sea creatures that do not belong on dry land. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Whichever interpretation one might be drawn to, it is evident that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea,</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and moreover Ibsen’s plays in general, continue to generate a sense of mystery and curiosity by remaining in constant conversation with each other. It is arguably one of Ibsen’s most distinct talents to ensure an audience never gets too comfortable. As he expressed it himself, his works can only be understood when read in their entirety </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">— </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">when read as part of an ongoing series. Ibsen perfectly timed this series by publishing a new play every two years just in time for the Christmas season. By the time he wrote </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the arrival of the plays had become a national sensation in his native Norway. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Living in Munich at the time, amidst a milieu of theatre-makers, cultural innovators and thinkers</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">many women amongst them</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ibsen’s plays fueled discussions at coffee houses and literary salons like few others. It is therefore the continuation of this Ibsenian journey to ask ourselves where this play could be taking us today, and how it makes us reconsider our own sense of freedom. Just as we become comfortable with this interpretative direction, Ibsen’s notes on </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Lady from the Sea</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> take us in yet another direction. Perhaps the play is a prelude to a different humanity entirely. He writes: “Has the path of human development taken the wrong direction? How did we come to belong on dry earth? Why not the air? Why not the ocean?”     </span>

<hr />

Court's production of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><em>The Lady from the Sea </em></a>runs from March 12 - April 12, 2020. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more and buy tickets →</strong></a>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Ruth Schor</strong> completed her PhD at the University of Oxford and subsequently worked as Associate Professor at the Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of Oslo. Her research focuses on modern drama, theatre and cultural history with particular emphasis on Ibsen and the German-speaking avant-garde. She is currently completing a monograph on the significance of Ibsen's work in creating an avant-garde culture in Munich and Berlin for which she received a Martin Buber Fellowship. Her chapter on the German Ibsen reception will shortly be published in the volume <em>Ibsen in Contex</em>t by Cambridge University Press. She is also a theatre practitioner and has worked with a number of international theatre companies. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span>"
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<em>Director <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/shana-cooper-2/">Shana Cooper</a> is known for her visceral takes on classic plays. Her work with frequent collaborator and choreographer <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/people/erika-chong-shuch/">Erika Chong Shuch</a> on Shakespeare’s plays utilizes movement to inject each production with a physical muscularity that matches their use of language. We chatted with Cooper to discuss what excites her about Ibsen’s <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/">THE LADY FROM THE SEA</a>.</em>

<strong>Court Theatre: <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> marks your first full-length production in Chicago. Can you talk to us a bit about what it means to be working here?</strong>

<strong>Shana Cooper:</strong> This is my first full-length production in Chicago, yes. I workshopped a staged reading of Paula Vogel’s play <em>Cressida on Top</em> at Goodman Theatre, but other than that I’ve yet to do a full play. Charlie [Court’s Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director] and I have been talking for years and this theatre has felt like a beacon to me. My background is primarily in Shakespeare and I’ve long known Court for its national reputation for innovative reimaginings of classic work.

<strong>CT: <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> is a classic play, but is written by Ibsen; not Shakespeare. What drew you to this particular play?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> This is a play that’s been with me for about ten years. I first directed a staged reading of it in 2009 at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and I haven’t been able to shake it since. It’s haunted me.

<strong>CT: What aspects have haunted you the most?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> The thing that’s really remained with me about it is the visceral way Ibsen captures the nature of struggling with who you are spiritually and discovering a different sense of self over the course of your life. That idea of self-discovery and exploration is much more terrifying and exhilarating than people are able to express it being, but Ibsen was clearly obsessed with our nature with free will.

<strong>CT: How are those ideas informing your approach to his work?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> One of my goals with Shakespeare is an interest in how to make these plays as muscular physically and emotionally as they are linguistically, and that’s one of my goals with this production, too. I have an extraordinary choreographer Erica Chung Shuch who’s a longtime collaborator with me. My hope is that as a company we can come up with a physicality to express these ineffable urges that the play deals with. My dream is that it’s a marriage of Ibsen’s brilliant dramaturgy, character, and language as well as a physical life that gets at the deeper yearnings buckling under the text that are hard to express. I hope it feels like we are expressing something new.

<strong>CT: What would you share with fans of Ibsen who’re unfamiliar with this piece but may have seen or read some of his other works, like <em>A Doll’s House</em> or <em>Hedda Gabler</em>?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> A major difference between <em>The Lady from the Sea</em> and <em>A Doll’s House</em> is that this is Ibsen’s first return to a more expressionistic landscape, and it’s one of his plays that’s actually set outdoors. There’s a fluid nature to reality and a mystery to the play that reflects our unconscious. It seems like it requires a theatrical production because of the fluid and sometimes nightmarish way that he’s expressing that volatility through the characters and the jagged relationship with the fjords.

You also get to see a writer wrestling with a new way of expressing himself, which makes it messier than some of his other works. It’s exciting to work on these kinds of plays because you get to see a great artist wrestling with how their artistic goals are changing, and so you get to see that revolutionary spirit in everyone working on the play, too.

<strong>CT: What do you hope that audiences take away from seeing <em>The Lady from the Sea</em>?</strong>

<strong>SC:</strong> My hope is that this play is an invitation to look at our own lives and life choices and identity and maybe view this idea of cracking open questions about our spirituality and our identity as a real possibility. The thing that’s brilliant about this play is that it’s quite true-to-life to me. The play is an invitation for us to reflect back on our lives in terms of how the small and large choices we make are at play with and against our free will.

I want to tell a story that young, modern women in particular can connect to and be thrilled by and learn from and have exciting conversations inspired by it. They’re on my mind.

<hr />

Performances of <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><em>The Lady from the Sea</em></a> begin March 12, 2020. <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/season-tickets/2019-2020-season/the-lady-from-the-sea/"><strong>Learn more and save your seats →</strong></a>

&nbsp;

<em>Photo of Chaon Cross by Joe Mazza</em>."
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  <h1>Blog</h1>
  
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/season-of-concern-chicago-covid-19/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/seasonofconcern_200x200.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/season-of-concern-chicago-covid-19/">Season of Concern Chicago Provides Assistance for Artists Affected by COVID-19</a></h3>
        <p></p>
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    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/connecting-with-the-community/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CPI_sq.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/connecting-with-the-community/">Connecting with the Community</a></h3>
        <p>We interviewed Aaron Mays, Court’s Community Programs Manager, to hear more about the recent work of our Community Partners Initiative to connect surrounding Chicago communities with the power of theatre.</p>
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    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/court-education-initiative-students-have-impressive-finish-at-august-wilson-monologue-competition/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/thumbnail_300x300.jpg" alt="" /></a>
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        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/court-education-initiative-students-have-impressive-finish-at-august-wilson-monologue-competition/">Court Education Initiative Students Have Impressive Finish at August Wilson Monologue Competition</a></h3>
        <p>Learn more about how Court's education efforts lead to this year's impressive finish in the August Wilson Monologue Competition.</p>
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    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/3-12-2020-covid-19-cancellation-announcement/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/3-12-2020-covid-19-cancellation-announcement/">Previous COVID-19 Announcements</a></h3>
        <p></p>
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      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/up-next-the-gospel-at-colonus/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/gospel_200x200.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/up-next-the-gospel-at-colonus/">This Fall: THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS</a></h3>
        <p>This Fall, Court will be staging THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, a one-of-a-kind theatrical event that breathes new life into a classic myth with a score of powerful gospel music.</p>
      </div>
    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/ellidas-choice/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ellidaschoice_sq.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/ellidas-choice/">Ellida&#8217;s Choice</a></h3>
        <p>How is Ellida similar to other Ibsenian heroines? Learn about the choice she's faced with in THE LADY FROM THE SEA and how she navigates society's gendered confines.</p>
      </div>
    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/ibsen-in-performance/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ibseninperformance_sq.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/ibsen-in-performance/">Ibsen in Performance</a></h3>
        <p>Discover how different directors and actors have brought Ibsen to life on stage and film.</p>
      </div>
    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/ibsen-folklore-and-myth/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/mermaidblog_sq.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/ibsen-folklore-and-myth/">Ibsen, Folklore, and Myth</a></h3>
        <p>Learn more about how folklore inspired THE LADY FROM THE SEA, one of Ibsen's most mercurial plays.</p>
      </div>
    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/her-choice/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/hilde_sq.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/her-choice/">Her Choice</a></h3>
        <p>Ibsen scholar Dr. Ruth Schor reflects on the role of choice in the playwright's canon.</p>
      </div>
    </article>
      <article class="blog-teaser">
      <a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/drawn-to-the-sea/"><img class="blog-teaser__img" src="https://www.courttheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/drawntosea_sq.jpg" alt="" /></a>
      <div class="blog-teaser__body">
        <h3 class="title"><a href="https://www.courttheatre.org/about/blog/drawn-to-the-sea/">Drawn to the Sea</a></h3>
        <p>Director Shana Cooper discusses the play that has “haunted her” for more than a decade.</p>
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