Displaying items by tag: Tom Stoppard

Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham, concludes its 2025/26 Season with the sweeping yet intimate play Leopoldstadt, written by the late, celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard, directed by Carey Perloff. Leopoldstadt is the largest production in Writers Theatre's history and includes a remarkable 29-member ensemble of Chicago actors and script revisions made by Stoppard and Perloff expressly for the Writers Theatre production. 

"Tom Stoppard's final play is one of his most personal, emotionally powerful, and epic in its scope. This summer, Writers audiences will experience Leopoldstadt in the most intimate venue the play has ever been performed in and feel every word of it. It will almost be like you are inside this family's Vienna flat with them through the decades," said Braden Abraham. "With Tom's blessing, and through the ingenuity of director Carey Perloff—one of Stoppard's closest collaborators—her creative team, and a large ensemble of Chicago's finest actors, we are attempting something with this presentation that has never been done before."

Tickets are now on sale for the celebrated play running in the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; 847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org.

The all-Chicago cast includes many performers new to the Writers stage, including Steppenwolf ensemble member Ian Barford and Lookingglass ensemble member Joey Slotnik.

Leopoldstadt marks the return to Writers Theatre for Sean Fortunato (The Real Thing, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hedda Gabler, among others), Jessie Fisher (Every Brilliant Thing), Kate Fry (Arcadia, Hedda Gabler, Oh Coward, Marjorie Prime, among others), Erik Hellman (Translations, Marjorie Prime, Smart People), Andrew Mueller (Translations, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812), Barbara Roberston (The Detective's Wife), and Sarah Coakley Price (Eurydice) and Emma Rosenthal (The Diary of Anne Frank).

The full cast is: Justin Albinder (Zac/Nathan), Ian Barford (Hermann), Ella Bopari (Young Sally/Mimi), Levi Charnay (Young Jacob/Heini), Hanna Dworkin (Poldi/Older Hanna, Understudy Emilia/Eva), Jessie Fisher (Hilde/Rosa), Sean Fortunato (Ernst), Kate Fry (Gretl), Sam Bell-Gurwitz (Jacob/Leo), Erik Hellman (Fritz/Percy), Asha Dale Hopman (Young Rosa/Bella), Rachel Jones (Ensemble, Understudy Jana/Sally & Wilma), Theo Clark Leber (Young Jacob/Heini). Morgan Medina (Young Rosa/Bella), Andrew Mueller (Otto/Civilian, Understudy Fritz/Percy & Ernst), Grainne Ortlieb (Jana/Sally, Understudy Hanna/Hermine), Sarah Coakley Price (Wilma, Understudy Eva/Nellie), Barbara Robertson (Emilia/Older Eva), Adeline Rosenthal (Young Sally/Mimi), Emma Rosenthal (Eva/Nellie, Understudy Hilda/Rosa), Sebastian Rus (Pauli/Young Leo), Caleb Scherr (Pauli/Young Leo), Joey Slotnick (Ludwig) and Brenann Stacker (Hanna/Hermine). The understudies are: Ani Cohen, Jack Doherty, Ian Geers, Göran Norquist and Rebekah Ward.

Under the direction of Carey Perloff, a frequent collaborator and dear friend of Stoppard's, this new production features script revisions the two made expressly for Writers Theatre. The Tony Award-winning work is the final play from one of our era's greatest playwrights. A Jewish family braves the darkest and most consequential chapters of the 20th century in this epic masterpiece from the late Tom Stoppard. 

The creative team includes: Carey Perloff (Director), Faith Hart (Assistant Director), Tommy Rapley (Choreographer), Ken MacDonald (Scenic Designer), Keith Parham (Lighting Designer), Alex Jaeger (Costume Designer), Tom Watson (Makeup and Wigs Designer) and Eva Breneman (Voice/Dialects/Text).

Leopoldstadt

Written by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Carey Perloff 

Dates: First performance: Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 7:30pm
Closing performance: July 19, 2026   

Performance Schedule: 
Wednesdays: 2:00pm and 7:30pm 
Thursdays: 7:30pm  
Fridays: 7:30pm  
Saturdays: 2:00pm and 7:30pm  
Sundays: 2:00pm and 7:00pm 

Open Captioned Performance: Thursday, June 25 at 7:30pm 

ASL-Interpreted Performance: Saturday, June 27 at 2:00pm 

Pay What You Can Performances: Thursday, June 4 at 7:30pm and Sunday, June 21 at 7:00pm   

Location: Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe 

Prices: $55-$125 
Special pricing and full performance buy-out packages are available for groups of 10 or more. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Discounts are available for students, educators, theater industry professionals, active military personnel, veterans, police officers, firefighters, and their immediate families. Information is available at: https://www.writerstheatre.org/plan-your-visit/box-office-and-theatre-center/pricing--special-offers 

Box Office: The Box Office is located at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; 847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org 

NOTES OF INTEREST 

• Directed by Carey Perloff, a longtime collaborator of the late playwright, this production marks the largest and most ambitious project in the history of Writers Theatre, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of its Jeanne Gang-designed building.
• Writers Theatre is celebrating the 10^th anniversary of its Jeanne Gang-designed building. The first production in the new venue was Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, featuring Leopoldstadt cast member Kate Fry. Staging an epic like Leopoldstadt represents the culmination of what Gang's building has made possible over the last decade.
• In addition to Arcadia, Writers has previously produced Stoppard's The Real Thing, (featuring Carrie Coon and Leopodstadt's Sean Fortunato), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, (also featuring Fortunato).
• Writers Theatre embarked on a dedicated fundraising campaign to bring the production to fruition. To date, over $1.2 million has been raised from 37 individual donors to support the work.
• This production features specific script revisions made by Stoppard and Perloff expressly for the intimate stage at Writers Theatre. The minor, but impactful changes, included adjustments to the dialogue for American actors by taking out the anglicisms, removing a couple of the minor characters and adding an intermission.
• Leopoldstadt has been a major critical success in the US and UK and won four 2023 Tony Awards, including Best Play and two 2020 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play.
• In celebration of the largest production in Writers Theatre history and the final play from one of our era's greatest playwrights, Writers Theatre presents The Stoppard Series, an unprecedented line-up of special events to enhance the experience of the production. These events have been created to celebrate themes and events complementary to Leopoldstadt. 

The Stoppard Series

Writers Theatre continues its tradition of deep artistic engagement with The Stoppard Series, a curated collection of lectures, conversations, and community events to illuminate the historical and personal layers of Leopoldstadt.  The events, conversations and experiences included in The Stoppard Series are made possible by the Leopoldstadt sponsors. 

Details for a full slate of programming will be available soon and registration will open on May 1, 2026. 

In the meantime, registration is currently open for the following programs as part of The Stoppard Series:

The Green Room: A Conversation with Carey Perloff
Wednesday, May 6 at 7pm

At this event, Perloff will discuss her friendship and working relationship with the late Stoppard, her family's history in Vienna, and the ways this new production is leaning into WT's trademark intimacy. A podcast featuring highlights from the conversation will be available following the live event.

Leopoldstadt: The Final Word Audience Discussion

Sundays, June 28 and July 19 at noon

Join fellow audience members and WT artistic staff for a lively, in-person discussion delving into the characters, production elements and themes of the play. Come share your impressions and uncover new perspectives as we reflect on the story, its characters, and the creative choices behind this staging. Final Word discussions are intended for patrons who have seen the production.

Writers Theatre community partners for The Stoppard Series include: Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Temple Am Shalom, North Shore Congregation Israel, Glencoe Union Church, Congregation Sukkat Shalom, Northwestern - Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israeli Studies, Northwestern – Hillel, University of Chicago, Folks Operetta, Resetting the Table, Jewish Studio Project and The Art Institute of Chicago.

WRITERS THEATRE 2026/27 SEASON

The recently announced season includes Matthew Libby's Sisters, directed by Jessica Thebus; The Royale by Marco Ramirez (Orange is the New Black, Buena Vista Social Club), directed by Tyrone Phillips; Noël Coward's Brief Encounter by Emma Rice, directed by Shana Cooper and music direction by Matt Deitchman; the Strindberg thriller Creditors, written by Jen Silverman and directed by Braden Abraham; Hershey Felder's brand-new work The Piano and Me.   

Writers Theatre is offering a variety of subscriptions with an option for every theatregoer. Each subscription includes a deeply discounted ticket price, ranging from $275-$385 for one ticket to the five-play series. Flex subscriptions, with options for either four tickets ($280) or five tickets ($350), are available.

Season subscribers receive the new Writers Theatre concierge service for ticket exchanges and questions. Exclusive subscriber benefits include: complimentary ticket exchanges (upgrade fees may apply), special "subscriber-rate" prices on additional tickets, advance access to special events and programs, easy, free parking, exclusive discounts in bar items and merchandise, discounts on rental of Writers Theatre event spaces on Writers Theatre merchandise, event rentals, and more. For a complete list of benefits visit writerstheatre.org.

Season Packages are available online at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000.

Single tickets will go on sale for each show approximately two months prior to first preview. Single ticket prices start at $35.

ABOUT WRITERS THEATRE

Writers Theatre proudly celebrates its 35th Season.  

From its beginnings in the back room of a Glencoe bookstore, Writers Theatre established what would become its defining conviction: that vibrant language and exceptional performances in an intimate setting create a transformative theatrical experience. Today, the company is a major cultural destination in the Chicago region with a national reputation for artistic excellence, heralded by The Wall Street Journal as "America's finest regional theatre company." 

Founded in 1992, Writers has produced over 160 productions—from inventive interpretations of classics to groundbreaking new work. In 2016, the company opened a state-of-the-art theatre center designed by the internationally renowned Studio Gang Architects. The new facility includes the 255-seat Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre and the flexible 100-seat Gillian Theatre, spaces designed to preserve the company's trademark intimacy and bring audiences up close to Chicago's finest actors. The building's striking glass atrium serves as a welcoming gathering space for artists, staff and the community, open daily for reading, working and conversation.  

Led by Executive Director Kate Lipuma and Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham, Writers Theatre welcomes more than 60,000 patrons each year. The company has established itself as an important originator of new theatrical work, having produced over 30 world premieres in its history—including Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol, Witch by Jen Silverman, Trevor the Musical by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis, A Minister's Wife by Austin Pendleton, Jan Tranen and Josh Schmidt, The Savannah Disputation by Evan Smith and Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus's adaptation of Crime and Punishment. 

Education and community engagement remain central to Writers Theatre's mission. Each season, the organization reaches more than 5,000 students and adults through school matinees, in-school residencies and curriculum-based programs that introduce young people to professional theatre. Writers Theatre also offers a wide range of free programs for the broader community, including readings, lectures and partnerships with local organizations that make theatre accessible to audiences of all ages. 

Located just 20 miles north of downtown Chicago, Writers Theatre offers artists and audiences a setting that combines world-class theatre with the calm and accessibility of Chicago's North Shore. As Writers Theatre enters its 35th season, the company continues its commitment to artistic excellence, meaningful storytelling and the uniquely powerful connection that only intimate theatre can create. 

The Player (Lorenze Rush Jr) has just run into Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with his troupe of players. As he explains how the players operate, he announces:

“Every exit is an entrance someplace else.”

As soon as he recites the line, his troupe jumps into action. They move with quickness as they prepare the stage to put on a show for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern – the willing audience they happened to run into on their travels. The line offers an opportunity to perform, and they are excited to take it. The ensemble is strong – particularly in their physical comedy, and they heighten the moment with ease.

On another level, The Player’s line offers the perfect backdrop for the play. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find themselves at the top of the show unable to remember anything – including where they are or why. As the play moves forward, the anxiety only increases, and it’s clear that the Player’s line rings true. Every turn of events offers another possibility, and it’s unclear where the duo’s story will end.  

(left to right) Lorenzo Rush, Jr., Rob Lindley, Nate Burger, Erik Hellman.

Written by Tom Stoppard, the play follows Rosencrantz (Nate Burger) and Guildenstern (Erik Hellman) – the famous duo from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. We catch a glimpse into what the two friends were navigating in the midst of Hamlet’s crisis – before, after, and during their visit with the Danish prince. As they battle questions of identity, loss, and fate, they meet the Players – the very same troupe that puts on the play in Shakespeare’s tragedy, exposing King Claudius as the murderer of Hamlet’s father. As Rosencrantz and Guildenstern struggle to put the pieces of their story together, they start to get at the root of what it even means to be alive. Burger and Hellman drive the play with spot-on comedic timing, as well as a chemistry that is exciting (and at times heartbreaking) to watch unfold.

Directed skillfully by Charles Newell, the production is fast-paced, and offers a deconstructed adaptation of Stoppard’s piece. If you are anything like this writer and familiar with Stoppard’s play, you may find the approach almost shocking at first. The adaptation is certainly different, and much is cut away to allow this more nuanced view of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s journey. However, upon finding your bearings, you may also discover that the approach immediately thrusts the audience into the chaos of what the duo is feeling as they navigate their story. As the piece quickly jumps through space and time, you may find that the approach almost creates an immersive experience for all witnessing.

Newell’s artistic team leans into the theatricality of the play – particularly in the scenic and lighting design. Scenic Designer John Culbert takes advantage of the vast openness of the stage itself. The furniture primarily includes benches that move about as needed, and the emptiness allows full view of the back wall that clearly states, “Court Theatre.” The story focuses heavily on the group of players, and exposing the stage in this way allows that meta story element to fully take form. Lighting Designer Keith Parham utilizes shadows, playing into the eerie, almost frightening themes of the play – especially those that offer questions around death and existence. 

You might find that the striking design allows for the surprises of the script to hit even harder – starting with the entrance of the players. At the beginning of the play, we meet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern almost at the foot of the stage – with a big red curtain draped behind them. As they start to hear whispers of others in the space, we see large shadows take form on the curtain. The darkness aids in this moment, and we can feel the duo’s fear as they search around, wondering what might attack them. Then, all of a sudden, the red curtain drops to the ground with a bang – shocking the audience with the reveal of the Players backlit in silhouettes. The gesture at this particular performance was met with a mix of gasps and applause as folks overcame the shock and absorbed the staging before them.

Stoppard’s play has been around since 1966, but you might find that Charles Newell brings a fresh take that even leaves long-time fans wondering what twist or turn may happen next. Along with a standout cast and stunning design, Court Theatre’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is one to remember.

RECOMMENDED

Running through April 28, 2024 at Court Theatre – 5535 S. Ellis Avenue.

The Chicago premiere of a Tom Stoppard play is one of the most hotly anticipated events of this season. We’re never short for great Stoppard productions in this town, but The Hard Problem was Stoppard’s first new play in nine years when it debuted in 2015, and since Court Theatre’s Charlie Newell can be trusted to mount a strong production, the author is undoubtedly the main draw. Some of his best-known plays, such as the recently produced Travesties and Arcadia, were extremely complicated, sprawling works which required the audience to have a sizable pre-existing knowledge of artistic movements and the interplay between culture and technology, but The Hard Problem, as the title states, zeroes in on a single issue which, depending on which side of it you fall on, might not really seem to be a problem at all. Whether the mind is a function of the brain or has an ethereal quality is not something Stoppard attempts to answer definitively, but the degree to which this play interests you will largely depend on your investment in the debate.

Chaon Cross owns the part of Hilary, the only fully three-dimensional character in the play. A young psychologist whose path in life has had some unexpected hiccups, Hilary is dependent on Spike (Jürgen Hooper), an evolutionary biologist, to help her fake the mathematical credentials she needs to get a job with the Krohl Institute, a research lab dedicated to solving the mind-body problem. She doesn’t even particularly want to work there, but it was the only place she applied to and heard back from. Spike is an utterly noxious, self-justifying proponent of evolutionary psychology, but it seems to be more than just a need to be perceived as good at data processing which causes Hilary to keep inviting him into her bed. Anyway, it turns out that Leo (Brian McCaskill), the man running the part of the Krohl Institute Hilary’s interested in, shares her preference for psychology over neurology, and she gets the job on her own merits.

The Krohl Institute was created by Jerry Krohl (Nathan Hosner), a billionaire hedge fund manager, to help him gain an edge over other traders. Krohl himself doesn’t really care whether the brain is a meat computer or a conduit for the sublime; he just wants to eliminate uncertainty in practical matters. Early on, we meet Amal (Owais Ahmed), a mathematician who holds the position that the soul is flesh and whom Krohl later punishes for publicly predicting the 2008 crash instead of keeping it close to the vest. Amal’s growing disillusion with humans’ capacity for rational thought is driven largely by what he sees happening in the stock market, but he’s reluctant to fall into line with Hilary’s belief that this leaves us with no alternatives but belief in some kind of divinity.

The plot concerns Hilary’s struggle with a job that was never a good fit for her while her entire field appears to be in jeopardy. But Stoppard’s interest seems to be in how nobody really wants to acknowledge the true implications of their belief system, whatever that happens to be. Hilary is a less forceful arguer than Spike, but Newell’s centering of her on stage almost throughout the show and Cross’s commitment to her full range of emotions prevent us from dismissing her. Stoppard has also made her opponents repulsive Thersites-like characters, while Hilary’s on-stage ally is the kind-hearted, idealistic Bo (Emjoy Gavino). John Culbert’s scenic design doesn’t give them very many hiding places, which is perhaps why they resort to vicious verbal, and eventually, physical confrontations to make their points.

If Stoppard’s goal was to show how the debate over the hard problem spills out of sealed realms such as universities and think tanks to strike at peoples’ deepest vulnerabilities, the flatness of the other characters prevents him from quite getting there. However, he does a good enough job of illustrating his point for us to understand it. A great many people love Stoppard and Court Theatre simply for having these conversations, with no expectation the problem will be resolved. Pointing out how divorced from real life rationalism and rationalizations are is enough to make a fruitful evening, and getting to experience it being put so eloquently by fine actors is a bonus.

Recommended

The Hard Problem plays at Court Theatre through April 9, with performances on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Fridays at 8:00 pm, Saturdays at 3:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and Sundays at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm. Running time is one hour and forty minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $48–68; to order, call 773-753-4472 or visit CourtTheatre.org. For more information, see TheatreinChicago.com.

There is an expectation when one sees a play that they will be taken on a journey. Audiences want to get lost in a story line, lose all sense of time enjoy the escapism. When an audience is reminded that they are watching a play, however, and that play goes on seemingly for ages, it ceases to become escapism and becomes a classroom lecture. “Arcadia” is just such a play. Written by Tom Stoppard, it is not an easy play to describe in brief. It confusedly intertwines the past and present with multiple story lines following intellectual theories that verge on the point of being arrogant and difficult to grasp in a play like setting.

The play bounces between the early 1800's and the present day in a stately manor in England. At the core of play, the present day is trying to uncover what took place at the manor in the 1800's. In the past, a gifted 13-year-old girl, Thomasina, delves into deep theoretical analysis of higher mathematics and physics, jotting down her theories and equations, unknowingly for the future to see. Paralleling that story line is her tutor, Septimus, who cheats with the wife of a visiting poet while pinning for the master of the manor’s wife, and who was somehow-possibly-connected to the famous Romantic poet, Byron. Flash forward to the present day where an academic hopes to uncover if the tutor, Septimus, might have had some involvement with the death of that visiting poet, and that his possible connection to Byron might mean that Byron was involved in this death as well. But wait! There’s more! Paralleling that story line in the present day, one of the family members of the estate combs through old hunting logs and notes to see that the young girl, Thomasina might have been a genius on the brink of an intellectual breakthrough, and seeks to dive deeply into her notes to potentially uncover her genius and the work during her young and short life.

Underneath all of these story lines is the running theme of “Arcadia,” named for a pair of 17th century paintings that picture shepherds around a tomb with the words “Et in Arcadia ego” on it. The incorrect Latin phrase translates to “Here I am in Arcadia” but it’s more accurate translation is “Even in Arcadia, here I am” the “I” being death. Stoppard is quoted by his biographer as saying he “wanted the presence of death in the title.” Spoiler alert, death does happen and is one of the core subplots, a sort of “who-done-it,” but it is just another element to this complicated play. Another reach for the “intellectual stimulation.”

Cliff notes would have a tough time summarizing this play. The play has witty, smart, and biting dialogue, well delivered by an articulate and charismatic cast. But look away, or miss a line and you might miss an introduction to a key character, or their relation to the other characters, or their purpose of being in the play at all. If not for the clothing change and syntax you might get lost in which time period you are in. The audience is obligated to follow along with every line and process all the information rapidly in order to keep pace with this play. With a run time of 2 hour 55 minute and only a brief 15 minute intermission that is a tall order for an audience, and even tougher story to convey for the actors. But the new multi-million dollar Writer’s Theater wants just that, for the audience and actors to meet as one, to journey together and become fully immersed with the story. The immaculate theater is nestled in the cozy tree lined streets of downtown Glencoe, and will be a wonderful location for future high-quality theatrical productions on the North Shore.

Overall, “Arcadia” would be better as a novel, where a reader can pause to examine the characters, read internal monologues and gain an understanding of the characters’ motivations and thoughts. It would be easier to follow the time changes and carefully consider the many complex theories being presented and explored. I think the length of such a book would rival a Tolstoy novel, though nothing would be lost to the wings. A play that requires such rapt and intense concentration from an audience for such a long duration makes it unapproachable to someone looking to get lost in a story. Watching “Arcadia” audiences do get lost, but for all the wrong reasons. “Arcadia” runs through May 1st. Tickets are available at http://www.writerstheatre.org.