Apr 26 Friday
“Whose head is safe if a Queen’s is not…?”
Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scots, was executed by the order of her cousin Elizabeth, Queen of England. The two queens never met in person, but Schiller envisioned what would happen had they met and clashed face to face. Now reimagined for a modern audience by Peter Oswald, Mary Stuart shows the power struggle between these iconic rulers and the men striving for position around them.—CastElizabeth I, Queen of England - Lori Rohr Mary Stuart, former Queen of Scotland - Marisa Snook Earl of Leicester - Jamie Ewing Mortimer - Evin McQuistion Amias Paulet - Mark Brewer Lord Burleigh - Gabor Mark Talbot/Melvil - Derek Cook Hanna Kennedy - Arlene Arnone Drury/Bellievre/Davison/Page - Frank Rose Aubespine/O’Kelly/Officer/ Kent - Hunter Johnson
Production StaffDirector: Thomas NeumannStage Manager: Maureen Corcoran—This performance runs 2 hours and 45 minutes including a 15 minute intermission—The Theater at Side Street Studio Arts is on the second floor and is not wheelchair accessible.—If you have an questions or need further information please email: info@elsinoreensemble.com—A portion of the funding for this production was provided by the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission
Apr 27 Saturday
May 05 Sunday
Sargent’s Portrait of Madame X in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City is among the most famous portraits of all time. Sargent – a child of expatriate Americans – was a rising young star of the Parisian art world at the age of 27 when he began the painting that would become the center of a scandal at the annual Salon of 1884. Deeply wounded by the criticism, he moved to London at the urging of Henry James. Sargent went on to become the most famous portrait painter of his time, and the once scandalous “Portrait of Madame X” became, in the end, his most famous and enduring image.
Directed for the stage by Tony Award-winning playwright Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God), and written and performed by Bob Diven, this is a densely-packed 40 minutes of theater that transports us to Sargent’s London studio on a January evening in 1916, where an older Sargent makes the decision to sell this portrait that he has kept from public view for over 20 years. Revealing, for the first time, the little-known story of his “Portrait of Madame X”.
"This is a highly original, deep and entertaining work with particular appeal for those interested in art and artists..." -- S. Derrickson Moore, Las Cruces Sun News.
“And Diven's acting is as good as his writing.... He is both compact and expansive. And, if control of his own words were not enough, he tasks himself with singing, playing the piano, and painting -- all accomplished with a smooth skill I have seldom seen in any actor and never seen in an actor attempting so much."-- Dr. Barthy Byrd, University of Texas at El Paso.
May 09 Thursday
Artists' Ensemble Theater of Rockford presents "Annabella in July," a new romantic comedy by Richard Strand that will have you laughing and guessing what will happen next from start to finish, May 9-26 in Rockford University's Cheek Theatre.
Vanessa and Bryan are on vacation but have lost their way in the mountains. They are relieved to find a ski lodge where they can grab a bite and ask directions. However, to their utter bewilderment, everyone there recognizes Vanessa. How could they mistake glamorous, dazzling Anabella who visits every January?
Before she quite realizes, Vanessa drops her protests that she’s only a librarian from Nebraska and embraces her own magical powers in this delightful, fantastical romantic comedy from the playwright of "Ben Butler."
May 10 Friday
May 11 Saturday
May 12 Sunday
May 16 Thursday
May 17 Friday
May 18 Saturday