Musicals by a Pulitzer Prize-winner and from a Chicago icon among Wirtz Center’s winter offerings

EVANSTON, Ill. –– Northwestern University’s Wirtz Centers offer audiences never-seen productions this January and February with a public workshop production of “Shimmer: A New Musical,” Jan. 25 and 28 at Wirtz Center Chicago; “Working: A Musical Localized,” Feb. 2 to 11; and “Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really,” Feb. 23 to Mar. 3. “Working” and the reimagined “Dracula” will be staged at Wirtz Center Evanston. 

“Shimmer” is a new musical that interrogates America’s history of discrimination and features music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis, who most recently staged “X, the Life and Times of Malcom X” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Lyrics are by critically acclaimed Broadway librettist Michael Korie. The musical is based on the book “Shimmer” by The New York Times best-selling author and Northwestern University English professor Sarah Schulman. This workshop production is directed by Northwestern MFA alumna Jess McLeod with music direction by Bryan Perri. 

“Twenty years in the making, this remarkable new musical, created by three innovative pioneers in their respective fields of musical theatre, opera and literature, is a timely examination of the destructive impact of hate and the transformative power of resistance,” said Tanya Palmer, assistant dean and executive artistic director in the School of Communication. 

Anthony Davis and Michael Korie are available for media interviews. Journalists interested in speaking with them or requesting a media ticket to attend a show should email Stephen Lewis at Stephen.j.lewis@northwestern.edu.   

The Wirtz Center’s winter mainstage productions are as follows: 

 “Shimmer: A New Musical” (workshop presentation)
Jan. 25 and 28  
Book by Sarah Schulman
Music by Anthony Davis
Lyrics by Michael Korie 
Directed by Jess Mcleod 
Music directed by Bryan Perri 

Wirtz Center Chicago Theater (inside Abbott Hall) 
710 N. Lake Shore Dr., Chicago 

 It’s New York, 1947 just after World War II. Sylvia is a young Jewish girl from Brooklyn who wants to be a reporter but has gone as far as she can go. Cal is a young Black man from Harlem who wants to be a playwright but is currently a grill cook and has gone as far as he can go. “Shimmer” follows the progress, pitfalls and adventures of the two as they try to access “the American dream.” But because of their gender, race and sexual orientation, they come up against all the barriers of the age. Yet these two are determined and develop strategies, take risks and transgress social expectations to get the lives that they both deserve. 

“Working: A Musical – Localized” 
Feb. 2 – 11
From the book by Studs Terkel 
Adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso 
Localized format conceived by Daniel C. Levine for ACT of CT 
Directed by Erin Ortman 

Wirtz Center Evanston 
Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston 

 “Working: A Musical – Localized” is a documentary multimedia music theater piece, weaving interviews from both past and present, including people living within blocks of the Northwestern campus. Based on the book by iconic Chicago author Studs Terkel, with music by songwriters including Micki Grant, James Taylor, Stephen Schwartz and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the voices of a multitude of lived experiences come together to create a never-before-seen production that brings dignity to workers in our community and across the nation by honoring their stories.  

“Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really” 
Feb. 23 – Mar. 3
By Kate Hamill 
Based on the novel by Bram Stocker
Directed by Jasmine B. Gunter 

Wirtz Center Evanston 
Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston 

In this thrilling new adaptation that bounces between horror and humor, playwright Kate Hamill confronts the sexism in Bram Stoker’s original work. By upending the familiar tropes of damsels in distress and dashing villains, Hamill reimagines the vampire classic as a full-throated feminist battle cry driving a gleeful stake through the heart of toxic masculinity. 

Danceworks 2024: Emergence 
Mar. 8 – 10 

Wirtz Center Evanston 
Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston 

Northwestern’s annual dance showcase features new works by Northwestern faculty. Dance making is a collective experiment. Something emerges when bodies think, feel and move differently — something powerful; sometimes beautiful, maybe radical. Emergence signals an unfolding into the light, a new possibility.  

Tickets for each Northwestern Wirtz Center production are available online or at the Wirtz Center Box office, located in the Barber Theater lobby at 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston.