|
Event
The Bloodhound Law
The Bloodhound Law, a world premiere play by award-winning playwright Kristine Thatcher, begins previews on Friday, April 17, 2015, and opens for the press on Tuesday, April 21. It is the fourth and final production of City Lit's thirty-fifth season, as well as the fifth and final annual installment of its Civil War Sesquicentennial Project. The play dramatizes the abolitionist struggle in Illinois before the war, from the murder of crusading journalist Elijah Lovejoy in downstate Alton to the work of the Underground Railroad in Chicago. It culminates with a confrontation between Senator Stephen Douglas and the Chicago Common Council over the injustice of the Douglas-sponsored Fugitive Slave Actthe "bloodhound law" of the play's titlewhich essentially legalized the kidnapping of African Americans. Throughout, Thatcher's play focuses on the lives of both black and white Illinoisans whose lives helped shape the outset of the nation's great and ongoing moral struggle. The Bloodhound Law, directed by Artistic Director Terry McCabe, will run through Sunday, May 24.
Elijah Lovejoy was editor of the anti-slavery Alton Observer when he was shot to death and his printing press was destroyed by a pro-slavery mob, for which no one was ever convicted. His murder, in 1837, was one of the galvanizing events that helped set the nation on the course to civil war. The Fugitive Slave Act, part of the Compromise of 1850, attempted to appease the South and thereby help solve the slavery crisis in America by essentially legalizing the kidnapping of African Americans. The Act, brokered through Congress by Senator Douglas eight years before he beat Abraham Lincoln to win his third term, ended Chicago's role as an important final destination for escaped slaves and made Canada the only safe haven on the continent.
Kristine Thatcher is the author of Emma's Child, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize as well as an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, the RESOLVE Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Cunningham Prize for Playwriting, and an After Dark Award for Outstanding New Work. She also wrote Among Friends, winner of the Scott McPherson Memorial Award, and Voice of Good Hope (Joseph Jefferson Nominee for New Work) about the late former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. She is an emerita member of the playwrights ensemble at Victory Gardens Theater. As an actress, she has worked at Goodman, Northlight, Chicago Shakespeare, and Writers Theatre, among many others; she was Jeff-nominated last season for her performance as The Librarian in First Folio's Underneath the Lintel, a play she directed at City Lit in 2008.
The cast for The Bloodhound Law is John Blick, Paul Chakrin, David Fink, Rob Glidden, Alex Glossman, David Guy, David Hamilton, Christopher Kidder-Mostrom, and Patrick Thornton. The design team is Liz Cooper, Dustin Pettegrew, and LaVisa Angela Williams.
The Bloodhound Law will play 21 performances. The full schedule follows:
APR 17 7:30 pm preview
18 7:30 pm preview
193:00 pm preview
247:30 pm
25 7:30 pm
26 3:00 pm
MAY 17:30 pm
2 7:30 pm
33:00 pm
87:30 pm
97:30 pm
103:00 pm
147:30 pm
157:30 pm
167:30 pm
173:00 pm
217:30 pm
227:30 pm
237:30 pm
243:00 pm closing
Ticket prices are $22.00 for previews and $29.00 after opening. A limited number of $25.00 general admission tickets ($18.00 for previews) is available for each performance through the City Lit website.
Discounts are available for telephone orders by seniors, students, members of the military, and groups of ten or more. Tickets can be reserved by going to www.citylit.org or by calling (773) 293-3682.
City Lit receives funding from the Alphawood Foundation, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and The Saints. Its outreach program is sponsored in part by A.R.T. League.
City Lit specializes in literate theatre, including stage adaptations of literary material. It is located in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church building at 1020 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, one block west of Sheridan Road and a block and a half east of the Bryn Mawr Red Line L stop.
The 84 Peterson bus, the 147 Lake Shore Express bus, and the 151 Sheridan bus all stop near City Lit. Valet parking is available for theatre customers at Francesca's Bryn Mawr restaurant across the street from City Lit, and, with validation from the Edgewater Beach Café, in the Edgewater Beach Apartments' underground parking lot one block east of the theatre. Free parking is available for theatre customers who dine at That Little Mexican Café one block west of the theatre.
|
|
 |
LocationCity Lit Theater (View)
1020 W Bryn Mawr
Chicago, IL 60660
United States
Categories
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
|
Contact
|
