from BJ Jones, Artistic Director
It’s high summer here at Northlight. And even though it feels a bit like Fall, it puts us in mind of the spectacular 35th Anniversary season which will soon be here.
So often people ask me what we do in the off-season here at Northlight. The answer is, there is no off-season here at Northlight! There are shows to be cast, production meetings to be scheduled and attended, budgets to be readied, a full camp full of students (2 sessions!) and plays to be read.
I just got back from New York and the opening night of Judith Ivey’s production of Vanities at Second Stage. The performances were wonderful and Judy’s directorial work was heartfelt and dynamic. It was an honor to be her guest and exciting to attend a New York opening. Lauren Kennedy, the star of our production of The Last Five Years, is in the cast and as always is a superb performer with astonishing talent – it was great to see her again.
On Monday I had our first production meeting with the designers of The Lady with All the Answers production that we will open in October at Cherry Lane in New York. Broadway designers Neil Patel and Martin Paklidinez are brilliant and will give us a whole new look to this production.
This week we head to Nantucket with Judy as she reprises her role as Ann Landers for a benefit performance. She and her husband Tim Braine have a summer home there and are generously donating her performance for one night to benefit some of the island’s charities. It will be a great warm-up for Cherry Lane in October. I hope those of you who can will join us in NYC for the production in the Fall. I will send pictures for all you blogger types!
Amy Morton has been in casting Awake and Sing!, scheduled around her work directing the tour of August: Osage County. Director Steve Scott has been casting Souvenir, and I have been working on the casting of A Life with John Mahoney. The talent in Chicago is amazing and our casting director Lynn Baber has been working like a Trojan to get all of this accomplished.
We have been doing some readings as well. Northlight commissioned Auctioning the Ainsleys by Laura Schelhardt for this past season’s Interplay series, and we did another reading at Northwestern’s Cherub program last week. On Aug. 8th, Ainsleys will be read at the First Look Festival at Steppenwolf. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to see the reading here, please come down and enjoy Laura Schelhardt’s quirky and entertaining look at a family of auctioneers whose relationship to objects defines them.
Our summer camp is in full swing, and I wish you could have seen the Northlight Campers presentations at the end of their first session. Our camp, headed by Megan Shuchman and her crack team of teachers and directors, did a wonderful job of highlighting all of the students’ skills and incorporating a sense of play into their productions. Our camp and the Academy are doing so well and the students and parents are so thrilled with the experience, that I invite you all to explore the opportunity and enroll your children this fall.
On the plane back from NY, I ran into the Barnetts, subscribers who have been with us since my first season 12 years ago. The Barnetts join us for Backstage with BJ and for the Interplay series, and thoroughly enjoy being in the Northlight family. They come to Northlight with several other couples and really enjoy talking about the work with their friends. It was great to hear their feedback about work we have done over the years and delightful to chat about the Chicago theatre scene, as they see quite a bit of work around town. It is subscribers like the Barnetts who make the job worthwhile – people who are invested in the experience of our work and who really enjoy every aspect of making theatre.
OK time to pack for Nantucket. I will check in with you before the leaves turn gold!
More Anon,
Beej
