Summerstage 2012 Cool Treat for Theater Fans

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A whirlwind of Broadway stars, up-and-coming songwriters, Emmy Award-winning dance events, international stage and classic film broadcasts, musical revues and family theatre hits Northwestern University theaters this summer.

The Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University’s summer season begins June 22 and runs through July 30.

SummerStage 2012 events will be held as noted in the University’s Evanston campus venues, including the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive; Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive; Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, or the Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theater, 1949 Campus Drive. Single ticket prices are listed below. Season subscriptions (see details below), single tickets and discounted tickets for groups of 8 or more to all events are currently on sale. To order, phone (847) 491-7282 or visit www.tic.northwestern.edu.

TIC kicks off its SummerStage 2012 season at 8 p.m. Friday, June 22 with the seventh annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project “Songwriters Showcase” at the Josephine Louis Theater. For one night only, audiences will be treated to a celebration of new writers in pop, folk, hip-hop, country, Latin and music theatre. The event is hosted by the American Music Theatre Project’s 2012 Master Teachers Craig Carnelia, a Tony-nominated composer and lyricist; Andrew Lippa, a Grammy-nominated composer and lyricist; and Lari White, a Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. Single tickets are $5 to $10.

The weekend will conclude with The Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project “Celebration Concert” at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, honoring Academy Award-winning lyricist and songwriter Johnny Mercer and featuring Tony-nominated Broadway star Ann Hampton Callaway (“Swing!”). The program will include performances by Carnelia, Lippa, White and 2012 Songwriters Project participants, as well as audio and video clips of Mercer himself. Single tickets are $10 to $40.

TIC will continue the National Theatre Live series at7 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, and 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 24, at the Barber Theatre with two broadcasts of the stage production of “Frankenstein,” directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle (“127 Hours,” “Slumdog Millionnaire”) and featuring Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s “Sherlock”) and Jonny Lee Miller (“Trainspotting” and “Hackers”) in alternating roles as Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Single tickets are $10 to $20.

Under the artistic direction of 2011 Dance Chicago Choreographer of the Year and Northwestern faculty member Billy Siegenfeld, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project (JRJP) re-visits TIC’s Louis Theater at 8 p.m. Friday, June 29, and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 30, for two exuberant evenings of dance. The program will include premieres by Siegenfeld, River North Dance Chicago founding member and Northwestern faculty member Jeff Hancock and Be the Groove associate artistic director and Northwestern alumnus Kevin Durnbaugh, as well as audience and critical favorites from the JRJP repertory. Single tickets are $5 to $25.

From 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 13 to 2 p.m. Sunday, July 29 comes a grand salute to Broadway musical great Richard Rodgers. Directed by Jeff Award-winner Dominic Missimi and conceived and arranged by David Fiorello, “With a Song in My Heart: The Music of Richard Rodgers,” at the Barber Theater, is a three-part revue celebrating the collaborations of Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. Single tickets are $5 to $30.

In tandem with the three-week-only revue, TIC will offer audiences a Rodgers and Hammerstein mini-film series at the Barber Theater, featuring the 1955 Oscar Award-winning musical “Oklahoma!” at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 19 and the 1958 movie adaptation of “South Pacific” at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 28. Single tickets for each screening are $5 to $10.

The 2012 SummerStage season will conclude with the musical tale of everyone’s favorite toe-tapping, bathtub-habitating reptile, “Lyle the Crocodile,” which runs from 7 p.m. Friday, July 20 through 5 p.m. Sunday, July 29, at the Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theater. Directed by Northwestern MFA directing student John Michael DiResta and presented through TIC’s Imagine U: Family Series, the production will include Family Picnic Fridays, Pajama Saturdays, talk-backs with the cast and other events, making summer even more enjoyable for kids. Single tickets are $5 to $10.

SummerStage 2012 programming is partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. TIC’s National Theatre Live broadcasts are sponsored by a generous grant from The Alumnae of Northwestern University. For more season details, visit www.tic.northwestern.edu.

SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGE PRICING

Audiences may select from two different packages. The “6-Play Subscription” offers a 20 percent discount over single ticket prices and guarantees a seat to the “Celebration Concert,” Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, “With a Song in My Heart: The Romance of Richard Rodgers” and “Lyle the Crocodile.”  Subscribers also may choose from either “Frankenstein” broadcast and choose either the “Oklahoma!” screening or the “South Pacific” screening, and subscribers receive complimentary tickets to the “Songwriters Showcase” with advance reservations. Subscriptions range from $45 to $108.

The “4-Pack Flex-Pass Package” lets audiences select any event in the SummerStage 2012 season. One flex-pass may be used per show or flex-passes can be combined to bring friends to one or two events. Dates and shows can be selected at the time of ordering or audiences can choose their dates and events throughout the season. Flex-pass packages range from $30 to $90.

TICKETS

To order a season subscription, or single or group tickets, contact the TIC Box Office (847) 491-7282 or order online at www.tic.northwestern.edu.