Blog - Page 39 of 41 - Court Theatre

Shining a Light on Hidden Gems: Court’s Spotlight Reading Series

The Spotlight Reading Series is the brainchild of Ron OJ Parson, Court’s Resident Artist. Ron believes that the classic canon should include writers of color, and wanted to bring classic but rarely seen plays to a younger audience, and to the community at large.

The Improbable Life of Mary Chase

Mary Chase lived a raucous, improbable life. Born Mary McDonough in Denver in 1906, she joked that her family’s home “was not quite on the wrong side of the tracks, but the noise of the trains reached it.”

Donors Make a Difference: Judy Chernick

Judy Chernick’s relationship with Court dates back to the days when the company performed in Hutchinson Court on the University of Chicago campus. A season ticket subscriber since the early 1970s, Judy has been a donor for just as long, finding the connection between being a supporter and an audience member a natural fit.

Director Devon de Mayo is here to make you laugh.

“I just believe in joy, and I think it’s imperative as theatre artists to bring it to the stage, to hear audiences laugh, and to feel a sense of community through that laughter,” she says.

Can a True Scientist Believe in God?

In The Hard Problem, Hilary is a young psychologist who struggles with questions of faith. She is mocked by fellow scientists for her beliefs, from her nightly prayers to her attempts to meld her scientific research with her faith.

Do You Identify with Hilary?

Considering the intellectual complexity of this play, The Hard Problem artistic team was extremely grateful to work with faculty members that bring a diverse range of expertise to the rehearsal process. We took a moment to ask these scholars about whether or not they identify with the play’s protagonist, Hilary.

Q&A: Tom Stoppard

A brief Q&A with playwright Tom Stoppard about consciousness, the financial crisis, and altruism.

Charles Newell on Directing Stoppard

Court staff member Shelby Krick sat down with The Hard Problem director Charles Newell to chat about his relationship to Stoppard's work.

The Hard Problem: Where Life and Art Intersect

For much of his life, Tom Stoppard knew relatively little about his family’s origins and the events of his early childhood. The established details of his biography began when he was eight years old, in 1946, the year he moved from India to England with his Czechoslovakian mother, Martha, a Catholic. Martha recently had married a British Army officer, Major Kenneth Stoppard. She brought two sons from a previous marriage to this new union, eager for her children to start life in a new country.

Donors Make A Difference: Chip Bamberger & Martha Van Haitsma

Chip Bamberger and Martha Van Haitsma, Producers’ Circle members and long-time subscribers, are firm believers in the transformative power of arts in education. In addition to their three decades as loyal subscribers, Chip and Martha are also generous patrons to Court. Their most recent gift will fund an innovative collaboration between Court and the Ancona School in Hyde Park/Kenwood.