2020-2021 Season
We’ve reimagined our 2020/21 Season, breaking the mold of past seasons and providing unparalleled depth and access in the absence of being able to physically gather this Fall.
From our Theatre & Thought Series, which connects audiences to expert insights from University of Chicago faculty about classic texts, to our Deep Dive events exploring Tom Stoppard’s newest play Leopoldstadt, and productions like Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, 1912), Othello, and August Wilson’s Two Trains Running, our updated season is thematically rich, intellectually rigorous, and deeply ambitious.
You can learn more about each of these thrilling offerings below. We hope the stories and programs we’ve chosen to share will offer the spiritual sustenance so many of us are seeking in this unprecedented time.
Court’s Theatre & Thought series connects audiences to expert insights from University of Chicago faculty about the historical context, thematic relevance, and artistic possibilities surrounding classic works. Each Theatre & Thought topic will feature a different play and include virtual meetings with University scholars to discuss the ideas underpinning these classic texts.
HISTORY • FAMILY • WAR • MEMORY
EXPLORING TOM STOPPARD'S NEW WORK
An in-depth examination of Tom Stoppard’s new, epic drama, Leopoldstadt. Leopoldstadt is a place, a state of mind, and a return. Stoppard’s newest play is as groundbreaking and sprawling as anything he has written. Combining the personal and philosophical, the play explores both history and Stoppard’s own Jewish heritage, discovered late in his life.
(Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry, 1912)
by Owen McCafferty
Directed by Vanessa Stalling
The sinking of the RMS Titanic has long been studied for its historical significance and unmistakable hubris. A survivors’ story fraught with intrigue, Owen McCafferty’s Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, 1912) tells the story using verbatim testimonies from witnesses of the wreck. What emerges is a startling portrait of class, chaos, and moral ambiguity.
by William Shakespeare
Adapted and Directed by Charles Newell
with Associate Director Gabrielle Randle-Bent
Othello, the great Venetian general, unknowingly seals his fate when he fails to select his standard-bearer, Iago, for a military promotion. When his wife, Desdemona, is implicated in an affair, Othello is faced with a series of irreversible events that spell catastrophe for him and his country.
By August Wilson
Directed by Ron OJ Parson
Amidst the Civil Rights Movement, Memphis Lee fights with the city to get a fair price for his restaurant which is slated for demolition. Meanwhile, the rest of the diner’s regulars search for work, love, and justice as their neighborhood continues to change and the rules are stacked against them.
Amidst the Civil Rights Movement, Memphis Lee fights with the city to get a fair price for his restaurant which is slated for demolition. Meanwhile, the rest of the diner’s regulars search for work, love, and justice as their neighborhood continues to change and the rules are stacked against them.