Northwestern University June 2012 Theatere/Dance Calendar

EVANSTON, Ill. --- As the 2011-12 academic year draws to a close and SummerStage 2012 programming begins, June is a busy month for stage- and dance-related events on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus.

The Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project and the American Music Theatre Project  (AMTP) will hold a weeklong songwriting intensive for emerging songwriters and writing teams, aged 18 to 30, from June 18 to 23. Now in its seventh year, the project will host the nation’s most promising songwriters of pop, folk, hip-hop, country, Latin and music theatre. Master Teachers Craig Carnelia, Andrew Lippa and Lari White will lead the six-day program of master classes and workshops that culminate June 22 in a Songwriters Showcase of new works and a June 23 star-studded Celebration Concert featuring Broadway star Ann Hampton Callaway. Both events are open to the public.

In partnership with the National Theatre in London, TIC’s National Theatre Live (NT Live) season will include two broadcasts (June 26 and July 24) of “Frankenstein,” a new play by Nick Dear based on the novel by Mary Shelley. The production stars English film, television, radio and theatre actors Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s “Sherlock”) and Jonny Lee Miller (“Trainspotting” and “Hackers”).

On June 28 and 29, Emmy Award-winning dance company Jump Rhythm Jazz Project will present two evening performances under the artistic direction of company founder and choreographer Billy Siegenfeld.

Northwestern’s first Dance Minor Concert, June 1, will feature the choreography of six dance minors. Two Northwestern students from the theatre department and dance program also will premiere their 17-month collaboration on a new myth about home, faith and loss, “Roots of Earth” on June 8 and 9.

To purchase single and group tickets to Mainstage events call the TIC Box Office at (847) 491-7282 or www.tic.northwestern.edu.

All June events are open to the public and take place on Northwestern’s Evanston campus, as noted.

JUNE 2012

The Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project, “Songwriters Showcase,” hosted by Craig Carnelia, Andrew Lippa and Lari White, at 8 p.m. Friday, June 22, at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. Original music will be performed by emerging songwriters from across the country during the annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project Showcase. The one-evening-only concert will celebrate pop, folk, hip-hop, country, Latin and music theatre. The program will be hosted by the three 2012 Master Teachers -- Tony-nominated composer and lyricist Craig Carnelia, Grammy-nominated composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa and Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Lari White. Single tickets are $10.

The Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project, “Celebration Concert, featuring Ann Hampton Callaway,“ 8 p.m. Saturday, June 23, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. Honoring the tradition of Academy Award-winning lyricist and songwriter Johnny Mercer, the concert will feature Tony-nominated Broadway star Ann Hampton Callaway (“Swing!”), one of the leading champions of the Great American Songbook and “the singer who stills the room.”) The program also will include performances by Tony-nominated composer and lyricist Craig Carnelia, Grammy-nominated composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa and Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Lari White, as well as emerging songwriters in the 2012 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project. Single tickets are $40 per person and $10 for full-time students with IDs.

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE 

National Theatre Live broadcast, “Frankenstein,” a new play by Nick Dear based on the novel by Mary Shelley, 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, and 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 24, Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle (“127 Hours,” “Slumdog Millionaire”) returned to the theatre to direct this visionary production starring Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s “Sherlock”) and Jonny Lee Miller (“Trainspotting” and “Hackers”). It will return to cinemas worldwide in June for a limited season of encore screenings. Childlike in his innocence, but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless and increasingly desperate and vengeful creature tracks down his creator and strikes a terrifying deal. Issues of scientific responsibility, parental neglect and the nature of good and evil are embedded in this thrilling and classic Gothic tale. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for full-time students with IDS. The Theatre and Interpretation Center’s National Theatre Live broadcasts are sponsored by a generous grant from The Alumnae of Northwestern University. The program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. Single tickets are $20 and $10 for full-time students with IDs.

DANCE

Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, 8 p.m. Friday, June 29, and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 30, Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. The Emmy Award-winning dance company, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, will present an evening of dance premieres under the artistic direction of company founder and choreographer Billy Siegenfeld. Featuring the entire Jump Rhythm ensemble and choreography by River North Dance Chicago founding member Jeff Hancock and Be The Groove associate director Kevin Dumbaugh, this two-performance-only event includes audience and critical favorites from the Jump Rhythm repertory. Tickets are $25 for the general public; $22 for seniors 62 and older, Northwestern faculty and staff and educators; and $10 for full-time students; $5 for Northwestern students on advance purchase only.

Dance Minors Concert, “A Minor Affair,” 8 p.m. Friday, June 1, Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center, Ballroom Theater, 10 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. Directed by School of Communication seniors Leah Martin and Cailey McCandless, Northwestern’s first Dance Minor Concert will feature the choreography of School of Communication and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences dance minors Kayla Grayson, Mary Gulino, Lilly Liu, Leah Martin, Cailey McCandless and Katherine Scott. The works will be performed by dance majors and minors, including Aric Barrow, Alex Frankenthal, Grayson, Gulino, Jean Kim, Liu, Martin, McCandless, Rachel Molinaro, Tessa Owens, Sophia Rafiqi, Jacinda Ratcliffe, Scott and Chelsea Yang. Single tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door prior to the concert.

“Roots of Earth,” 8 p.m. Friday, June 8, and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 9, Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center, Ballroom Theater, 10 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. Created during a 17-month collaboration between Northwestern dance student Britt Banaszynski and Northwestern theatre student Leah Martin and funded by the Northwestern University School of Communication Dean’s Advisory Council, this three-performance-only world premiere presents a mythic world in which two homeless sisters and three forest explorers face the consequences of their respective needs for security and adventure. Performances are free and open to the public. General admission seating is limited and reservations can be made by emailing roots-of-earth@gmail.com.