Northwestern Theatre in January

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A special Jan. 21 staged reading of David Mamet’s “Race,” a provocative play exploring racial issues, guilt and bold accusations, will take place at Northwestern University’s Josephine Louis Theater in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

Free and open to the public, the 2 p.m. reading will be presented on the Evanston campus by the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University. Advance reservations are recommended. To reserve tickets, visit www.tic.northwestern.edu or call the Theatre and Interpretation Center box office at (847) 491-7282.

The reading will launch a weeklong series of events on the Evanston and Chicago campuses in remembrance of Dr. King. Northwestern’s 2013 celebration will culminate Monday, Jan. 28, in the University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. observance at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston and the Northwestern University School of Law’s Thorne Auditorium in Chicago.

Northwestern University recently designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day as an official University-recognized holiday for all students, faculty and staff every year, starting in January 2013. As a result, some of the key events being planned for the annual campus commemoration have been rescheduled a week later. Information on Evanston and Chicago campus events honoring Dr. King will be posted on Northwestern University’s website at www.northwestern.edu, as details become available.

The 71st Annual Dolphin Show production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” will take place at Cahn Auditorium from Jan. 25 through Feb. 2. One of the country’s largest student-produced musicals, it will feature 40 Northwestern student cast members on stage. For information on the show’s history, visit www.nudolphinshow.org/about-dolphin/.

The School of Communication’s department of performance studies will host two Performance Hour presentations Jan. 18 and 19, at Annie May Swift Hall. “Murder. Women. Hope.” will be directed by Northwestern undergraduate Charles Schultz, and “How To: Mend a Heart” will be performed by undergraduate Rachel Geistfeld. The event is free and open to the public. More information will be posted under the “Winter Quarter” tab as it becomes available at http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/departments/performancestudies/performances.php. 

CONSTRUCTION ALERT 

A three-year construction project under way on the southeast end of the Northwestern University campus has closed the Arts Circle Drive to traffic. Free parking for evening and weekend events remains available but the project will impact handicapped parking and patrons requiring special access to Evanston campus theaters. Visit www.tic.northwestern.edu/construction to learn more.

JANUARY 2013 TIC PRODUCTION

“Race” by David Mamet, a staged reading directed by Erin Murray, 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University, Evanston campus. David Mamet’s critically acclaimed drama follows two lawyers -- one white and one black -- who are defending a wealthy white client accused of raping a black woman. When a new legal assistant is brought into the case, issues of race and gender politics that simmer under the surface of daily life explode into dangerous and complex truths. Presented by the Theatre and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University, this staged reading will be directed by third-year MFA student Erin Murray and will launch Northwestern’s weeklong Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration 2013. General admission is free and open to the public. Advance reservations are recommended. To reserve tickets, visit www.tic.northwestern.edu or call the Theatre and Interpretation Center box office at (847) 491-7282.

JANUARY 2013 STUDENT PRODUCTION

The 71st Annual Dolphin Show presents “My Fair Lady,” 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25; 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26; 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27; 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1; and 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St., Northwestern University, Evanston campus. “My Fair Lady,” with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, delighted audiences and critics alike with its original 1956 production and subsequent Academy Award-winning film adaptation. Expertly re-imagining George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” the musical tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl, who is the subject of a bet proposed to a local speech scientist, Henry Higgins. Can she be transformed from a lowly street beggar to a true English lady? Tickets are $25 for the general public, $20 for Northwestern faculty/staff and senior citizens and $10 for students with IDs and children. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.nudolphinshow.org.

Performance Hours, hosted by the Northwestern University School of Communication’s department of performance studies, are hourlong public performances directed by a graduate or undergraduate student. They provide a forum for students to express themselves and a place for all production members -- cast, staff and designers -- to learn and practice their crafts. Admission is free and open to the public.

Performance Hour, “Murder. Women. Hope.” and “How To: Mend a Heart,” 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, and 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, Alvina Krause Studio, Annie May Swift Hall, 1920 Campus Drive, Northwestern University’s Evanston campus. Combining strategies of rhetoric and staging derived from early 20th-century German Expressionism with postmodern collage, this solo performance reconstitutes Oskar Kokoschka’s 1907 play “Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen.” Hosted by the School of Communication’s department of performance studies, “Murder. Women. Hope.” will be directed by undergraduate Charles Schultz. “How To: Mend a Heart” explores how people recover from a break-up following the Kübler-Ross model of grief. Undergraduate Rachel Geistfeld’s performance piece includes recent and older poems, poems from close to home and poems from around the world, which show different ways that people grieve over lost love, as well as the Bee Gees’ song “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.” More information will be posted under the “Winter Quarter” tab at http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/departments/performancestudies/performances.php when details become available.