JEFFERSON PARK — The Gift Theatre's 2015 season will include the world premiere of two plays as well as an expanded version of David Rabe's "Good For Otto."
In March, the Jefferson Park theater will produce Gift Ensemble member William Nedved's "Body and Blood." Naperville native Mat Smart's "The Royal Society of Antarctica" will premiere in July and Rabe's "Good for Otto," directed by Michael Patrick Thornton, the Jefferson Park theater's artistic director, will be performed in September.
“The Gift’s 14th season is dedicated to the searchers: everyday people who are compelled to traverse the icy Antarctic continent, the bright heavens and the dark interior of the human mind for identity, family and peace,” Thornton said in a statement. “It is a season of existential tailspins, epic journeys and rebirths. Each play manages to be hilarious, heartfelt and absolutely enchanting."
Nedved, the author of "Body & Blood," co-founded the Gift Theatre at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. with Thornton in an effort to bring the joy of drama to “underserved, underrepresented and undernourished” communities.
The play, directed by Marti Lyons, tells the story of a man who finds his calling, which prompts his loved ones to have a spiritual crisis.
Sheldon Patinkin will direct "The Royal Society of Antarctica," a play about a woman who returns to her birthplace, a research station in Antarctica, to work and reconnect with her past.
Rabe's "Good For Otto," which was written in 1999 as a fundraiser for the Northwest Center for Mental Health in Connecticut, will have its first full-length production at the Gift Theatre. In 2014, an abridged version of the play was performed at the Gift Theatre.
For more information, go to thegifttheatre.org or call 773-283-7071.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
