Event
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
CITY LIT CELEBRATES LINCOLN'S 200TH BIRTHDAY:
ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS ONE-NIGHT CONCERT READING
For immediate release. For more information, contact Terry McCabe or Brian Pastor773/293-3682 info@citylit.org
City Lit Theater will present a concert reading of Robert Emmet Sherwood's 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Abe Lincoln in Illinois for one performance only on Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 7:30 PM, in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's birth exactly two hundred years earlier, artistic director Terry McCabe announced today. Tickets will cost $5.01, the Lincoln bill plus the Lincoln coin.
"Lincoln's bicentennial birthday couldn't come along at a better time. Times are tough, and the country feels like it's on the ropes," McCabe said. "The new president is Lincoln's heir in any number of ways, and he faces a set of challenges that are almost unprecedented. What better time to celebrate the greatest American?"
"Sherwood's play may not be biographically accurate in its specifics," he added, "but it is a beautiful parable of democracy. It follows Lincoln through his years in New Salem and Springfield as he gradually awakens to his destiny. It shows him mourning for the dead Ann Rutledge, getting lost in grief and reflection, rejecting at first a political career for his successful law practice, and finally going off to Washington to save the nation. It's the mythic Lincoln."
Robert Emmet Sherwood, an original member of the Algonquin Round Table, won four Pulitzer Prizes in two categories: three for drama (Idiot's Delight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, There Shall Be No Night) and one for history (Roosevelt and Hopkins: an Intimate History). He wrote numerous films, including collaborating on the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, and won an Academy Award for his screenplay The Best Years of Our Lives, directed by William Wyler. He worked as a speechwriter for President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War Two, and wrote FDR's famous description of America as "the arsenal of democracy." He was the namesake of his great-great uncle Robert Emmet, the Irish nationalist rebel leader who was convicted by the British of high treason, hanged, and then beheaded once dead, for leading the failed Rebellion of 1803.
City Lit's concert reading of Abe Lincoln in Illinois is directed by Beth Wolf. The cast includes Jerry Bloom, David Fink, Ehren Fournier, Nick Lake, Mike Novak, Brian Pastor, Mike Postillion, Laura Schwartz, Shawna Tucker and Tom Weber.
City Lit receives funding from the Alphawood Foundation, the Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs CityArts program, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Its outreach program is funded in part by A.R.T. League.
City Lit specializes in literate theatre, including stage adaptations of literary material.
City Lit Theater 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 within a few steps of City Lit. Valet parking is available for theatre customers for all performances. Discounted self-parking is available for theatre customers with validation from the Edgewater Beach Caf, located in the Edgewater Beach Apartments building one block east of the theatre.
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LocationCity Lit Theater
1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Chicago, IL 60660
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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