BOOM By Peter Sinn Nachtrieb Directed by Jason Southerland Chicago Premiere September 11 - October 11, 2009

It’s the end of the world. Do you have a date?
As an undiscovered comet hurtles towards earth, a lone scientist takes it upon himself to preserve the human race through a personal ad. But his plan for “intensely significant coupling” is more than his first date bargained for, food is running out, and his marine lab-turned-shelter is now beyond repair. This darkly funny experiment is an off-beat and hilarious look at the end of the world and how we might start anew.

“Mr. Nachtrieb has a gift for darkly funny dialogue and an appealing way of approaching big themes sideways.” —New York Times

“Sex! Planet-ruining cataclysms! Loads of booze! We’re ready for whatever strange places boom wants to take us.”—Variety

"Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s play flips from pants-around-the-ankles comedy to hipster ‘Twilight Zone’ takeoff…boom is imaginative and easy to like. —The New Yorker

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PLAY 2: To Be Announced October 29 - November 29, 2009

We are still working to choose the ideal play to round out this incredible season of Chicago, American and World Premieres. Under consideration are both hot progressive works from up-and-coming playwrights, alongside classics that speak astonishingly well to this cultural moment in our country’s history. We look forward to sharing the final selection with you soon!

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RETURN TO HAIFA Based on the novella by Ghassan Kanafani American Premiere February 4 - March 7, 2010

1948 marked the birth of the Jewish state and the exodus of 500,000 Palestinians from Israel. Safiyeh and Said fled during the fighting and were forced to leave their infant son behind in his crib. Holocaust survivors Ephraim and Miriam arrive in Haifa where they are given a new last name, the abandoned home and the baby to raise as their own. Now 20 years later, the boy’s birth parents return, hoping to recover what they once lost. Adapted from the 1968 Palestinian novella, Return to Haifa is an intensely intimate story about how we draw the lines of home, family and identity across time and politics.

*Rights pending

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WAR WITH THE NEWTS By Jason Loewith and Justin D.M. Palmer Based on the novel by Karel Capek World Premiere April 15 – May 16, 2010

Can one man stop an empire? In 1936, Czech-born Karel Capek wrote a spooky, fantastical novel about the discovery of an intelligent race of giant salamanders, which humanity enslaves for profit and national advantage. This highly-anticipated adaptation comes to us from Jason Loewith and Artistic Associate Justin D.M. Palmer in collaboration with puppet designer Michael Montenegro. On the heels of an enlightening research trip to the Czech Republic, the artistic team has truly unlocked the theatrical magic of this portentous story. Brought to life with pools, puppets and projections, War With the Newts is an incredibly timely satire about a global economy planting the seeds of its own destruction.

"Capek had in mind the totalitarian deluge that [in 1938] began to engulf Europe. But his satire aims, above all, at human blindness and greed. The enemy is always within, he reminds us."
—Heda Kovaly, New York Times Book Review

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A jubilant cast of children celebrates the life of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the controversial religion, in uplifting pageantry and song. The actual teachings of The Church of Scientology are explained and dissected against the candy-colored backdrop of a traditional nativity play. Avant-garde performance art and children's theater meet in a musical that the New York Times called "…A spooky, sharp-toothed smile of a show… a halo of hipness and daring,” while the Los Angeles Times hailed it as “An instant cult classic.” Winner of the 2004 OBIE Award for Outstanding Musical.