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A Chicago Shakespeare Theater World's Stage Presentation

Ireland's Celebrated Druid Theatre Company's

The Cripple of Inishmaan

March 16–27, 2011, in CST's Courtyard Theater

With a Special Two-Night Engagement of
Give Me Your Hand March 20 and 27

Chicago—February 1, 2011—Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) showcases yet another of the world's renowned theater companies this spring for its World's Stage Series, bringing Chicago audiences two productions from Ireland's celebrated Druid Theatre Company. Druid's The Cripple of Inishmaan by award-winning playwright Martin McDonagh takes the stage of CST's Courtyard Theater, March 16–27, 2011, complemented by a special two-night engagement of Give Me Your Hand Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare on March 20 and 27. Tickets for The Cripple of Inishmaan in CST's Courtyard Theater are $46–$56. Tickets for Give Me Your Hand Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare are $25. Special discounts are available for groups of 10 or more, and all patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Druid Theatre Company's The Cripple of Inishmaan is directed by Druid Artistic Director Garry Hynes. She has staged many of McDonagh's plays to great success, including Druid's premiere of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, for which she became the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Direction (Play) in 1998. Druid's acclaimed The Cripple of Inishmaan toured Ireland and the UK in 2008 and subsequently received numerous New York accolades including an Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and two Lucille Lortel Awards. The savagely funny, brutally honest tale follows "Cripple" Billy Claven as he searches for life's meaning in the village of Inishmaan. While the town's eccentrics and ne'er-do-wells squabble over the latest bit of gossip, Billy vies for his shot at stardom in a Hollywood documentary on the neighboring island of Inishmore—and his return reveals shocking truths no one can deny.

Martin McDonagh, one of Ireland's most celebrated playwrights, is known for the dark, often wicked comedy within his works, and his plays have been widely received for their universal look at the dysfunction of "family" and its deviations. He is a frequent collaborator with Druid Theatre Company; The Beauty Queen of Leenane garnered McDonagh one of his four Tony Award nominations for Best Play, a tally that also includes The Lonesome West, another Druid premiere for which Hynes received a Tony Award nomination for direction. McDonagh is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play for The Pillowman, produced at London's National Theatre. He has found success writing for the silver screen as well—his screenplay for In Bruges garnered an Academy Award nomination, and he won the Oscar Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Six Shooter in 2006.

Druid Theatre Company returns to Chicago Shakespeare after a successful World's Stage presentation of Enda Walsh's The Walworth Farce in 2009. Founded in Galway in 1975 by Garry Hynes, Mick Lally and Marie Mullen, Druid became the first professional theatre company in Ireland based outside Dublin. Druid presents work at home in Galway as well as touring extensively in Ireland and throughout the world; in 2009 alone, the company presented hundreds of performances at venues across Australia, Canada, the UK and United States. The company's extensive 2011 tour of The Cripple of Inishmaan to CST and across the US is part of Imagine Ireland, a yearlong Irish arts series in the United States funded by the Irish government, through which hundreds of events will showcase the work of Ireland's rich artistic community.

The cast of The Cripple of Inishmaan includes Liam Carney as Babbybobby, Nancy E. Carroll as Mammy O'Dougal, Ingrid Craigie as Kate, Dermot Crowley as Johnnypateenmike, Clare Dunne as Slippy Helen, Laurence Kinlan as Bartley, Dearbhla Molloy as Eileen, Tadhg Murphy as Billy Claven, and Paul Vincent O'Connor as Doctor McSharry. Joining the creative team for Hynes' production are Set and Costume Designer Francis O'Connor, Lighting Designer Davy Cunningham, Sound Designer John Leonard and Composer Colin Towns.

Playing concurrently with Druid's production of The Cripple of Inishmaan, cast members Dearbhla Molloy and Dermot Crowley will appear in a special two-night engagement of Give Me Your Hand Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare on March 20 and 27. In this imaginative production, Molloy and Crowley take audiences on a virtual "stroll" through London's National Gallery—discovering afresh the museum's masterpieces through the poetic imagination of Irish writer Paul Durcan.

The Cripple of Inishmaan plays March 16–27, 2011, in Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater. Tickets are $46–$56. Give Me Your Hand plays Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare on March 20 and 27, 2011. Tickets are $25. Special discounts are available for groups of 10 or more, and all patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Coming soon to CST's World's Stage Series:

  • From Belarus: Belarus Free Theatre's Being Harold Pinter February 17–20, 2011, Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
  • From Scotland: National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch March 29–April 10, 2011, at Chicago's Broadway Armory

Title:

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Written by:

Martin McDonagh

Directed by:

Garry Hynes

Dates:

March 16–27, 2011

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

 

 

Weekdays

 

 

Tuesday

March 22

7:30 p.m.

Wednesday

March 16, 23

1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Thursday

March 17, 24

7:30 p.m.

Weekdays

 

 

Friday

March 18, 25

7:30 p.m.

Saturday

March 19, 26

3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Sunday

March 20, 27

3:00 p.m.

TICKET PRICES

Tue, Wed, Thu

$46

 

Fri, Sat, Sun

$56

Location:

Courtyard Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier
800 East Grand Avenue

Box Office:

www.chicagoshakes.com
312.595.5600

Group Sales:

312.595.5678 (groups of 10 or more)

Title:

Give Me Your Hand

Poetry by:

Paul Durcan

Performed by:

Dearbhla Molloy and Dermot Crowley

Dates:

March 20 & 27, 2011

CURTAIN TIME

7:30 p.m.;

TICKET PRICE

$25

Location:

Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier
800 East Grand Avenue

Box Office:

www.chicagoshakes.com
312.595.5600

Group Sales:

312.595.5678 (groups of 10 or more)

About the World's Stage Series

Chicago Shakespeare Theater's World's Stage Series gives Chicagoans the unique opportunity to experience different cultural and artistic traditions and some of the world's finest productions without leaving home. In curating the World's Stage, CST takes its cue from Shakespeare's high mark of quality and from the eclectic diversity of Europe's touring circuit, joining an international community of creative exchange. Since the inception of the Series in 2000, CST has hosted over 20 iconic troupes such as The Abbey Theatre (Dublin), Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (London), the Chekhov International Theatre Festival (Moscow) and La Comédie-Française (Paris). The works presented by these companies range from intimate one-man works like South African Omphile Molusi's Itsoseng to grand spectacles like the French troupe Ilotopie's Water Fools (Fous de Bassin), performed entirely atop the waters of Lake Michigan. Chicago Shakespeare Theater has contributed to this exciting international exchange by sending some of its best works abroad, including the Olivier Award-winning production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures (2003), Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, which marked CST's debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon (2006) and Funk It Up About Nothin', which garnered acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2008) and embarks on a tour of Australia in 2011.


About Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Recipient of the 2008 Regional Theatre Tony Award, Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) offers a broad spectrum of theatrical experiences year-round, engaging and entertaining audiences from all walks of life and from around the world. CST has garnered acclaim under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, including 55 Joseph Jefferson Awards and three Laurence Olivier Awards. The Theater has experienced record growth since moving to its current, state-of-the-art facility on Navy Pier in 1999, and will celebrate its 25th Anniversary next season.

The 38-play canon of William Shakespeare forms the core of CST's work and Subscription Series, complemented by other dramatic works—from traditional classical theater to new classics that resonate with Shakespeare's timeless insights into the human condition. Through a 48-week season encompassing more than 600 performances, Chicago Shakespeare leads the community as the largest employer of Chicago actors. CST also contributes to an international community of creative exchange through its World's Stage Series, which affords Chicago audiences prime opportunities to experience the cultural and artistic traditions of some of the world's iconic theater troupes as well as sending some of CST's best works abroad. Chicago Shakespeare is committed to making theater an expansive, ever-changing and lifelong relationship. For family audiences, CST Family presents abridged Shakespeare productions, timeless fables and fairy tales, interactive music concerts and world-premiere musical theater created with families in mind. CST's education outreach program, Team Shakespeare, has served over 1 million students and teachers throughout the Midwest, introducing the Bard's legacy to a new generation.

###

International programming at Chicago Shakespeare Theater is supported, in part, by the Julius Frankel Foundation.

American Airlines is the official airline of Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

ComEd is the official lighting design sponsor of Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Programming in the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare is made possible through generous support from Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

Land O'Frost is a proud sponsor of the 2010/11 Subscription Series at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Mainstage artistic productions in the Jentes Family Courtyard Theater are supported, in part, through a generous leadership grant from the McCormick Foundation.

The production of Black Watch at the Broadway Armory is made possible in partnership with the Chicago Park District.

Anna Marie Wilharm
Public Relations Assistant
awilharm@chicagoshakes.com
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
312.595.5633

Cathy Taylor
cathy@cathytaylorpr.com
Cathy Taylor Public Relations
773.564.9564

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
on Navy Pier
800 East Grand Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611

View the The Cripple of Inishmaan photos

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