Kevin Kline in PRESENT LAUGHTER Tonight on Great Performances

The Great Performances series on PBS is giving us a sparkling set of choices this fall, with a lighter-than-air musical She Loves Me last month, a look behind the curtain at Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and Hamilton, Paula Vogel's fierce new play Indecent later this month, the stage version of an old Fred Astaire/Bing Crosby movie Holiday Inn closer to Thanksgiving,and tonight's Present Laughter, with Kevin Kline in a revival of the Noel Coward comedy.

Coward wrote Present Laughter (that's the adjectival "present" in the sense of  "occurring right now," not the verb or offering laughter up on a platter) just before World War II, directing and starring in the original production a few years later. It's hard not to see the character of Garry Essendine, a charmingly egocentric actor with a grand manner and a life full of overly dramatic complications and hijinks, as Coward himself, even though a host of great actors, from Simon Callow to Albert Finney, Frank Langella, Ian McKellen, Peter O'Toole, George C. Scott and even John Gielgud in a radio version, have tried to make Mr. Essendine their own.

Moritz von Stuelpnagel directed the latest Broadway revival with Kevin Kline, whose supporting cast includes Kate Burton, Kristine Nielsen, Reg Rogers and Cobie Smulders. This Present Laughter played at the St. James Theater from April to July of this year, and the role of Garry earned Kline his third Tony Award. Trivia note: Burton, who plays Garry's wife in this production, was the ingenue back in 1982 opposite George C. Scott.

As with She Loves Me, Present Laughter will air in the Friday evening Great Performances slot on most PBS stations. You can find it locally on either WTVP or WILL at 8 pm tonight (that's Central time) and if you can't get to a television, it's also streaming online. You'll also find a video preview, a scene demonstrating Garry's way with a dressing gown, Cobie Smulders acting slinky, and the director, producer and several cast members talking about the play and Kevin Kline.

Witty and Eccentric, HAY FEVER Makes a Mad Dash at ISU

It's tough for today's young actors to pull off the sly and sardonic insouciance that oozes out of a Noel Coward play. Blithe Spirit, Design for Living, Private Lives... The characters live in a sophisticated, droll world where everyone is excessively witty, excessively self-involved and excessively crazy. These people don't talk, they banter or speechify. They don't walk, they saunter or stroll or float. And they don't sit -- they pose languidly against the nearest chaise longue.

All of those eccentricities are in full force in Sonja Moser's production of Coward's Hay Fever for the Illinois State University School of Theatre and Dance. Moser has put her cast through the paces to bring to life the swoony, swanny postures that signify Coward's world.

Hay Fever is set in the early 20s, in a country house a few hours from London. The Bliss family -- former theatre diva Judith; her husband David, a novelist; and their balmy children Sorel and Simon -- have taken up residence here, amusing themselves by bickering and fussing, playing parlor games, maybe indulging in a bit of tennis or punting up the river. Each Bliss has invited a guest from the the city for the weekend without telling each other or their put-upon maid Clara, who used to be Judith's dresser when she was on the stage. So into their midst stumble athletic young Sandy Tyrell, vampish Myra Arundel, proper diplomat Richard Greatham and sweet young flapper Jackie Coryton. At the mercy of the Blisses and their whims, each of the four guests get kissed by someone unexpected, some of them get accidentally engaged, and almost no one gets breakfast.

Among the cast, Bethany Hart stands out with her take on Judith, whose amazing eyelashes and histrionics land her somewhere in the area of Norma Desmond by way of Carol Burnett. Or maybe Alexis Carrington. Kaitlyn Wehr is perfect and perfectly lovely as Sorel, a fresh-faced Judith, Jr., while Colin Trevino-Odell knows exactly what to do with Richard, the stuffy diplomat who is way over his head in this bunch. The rest of the cast keeps the humor afloat, from Kyle Chandler Fitzgerald's goofy Daniel-Radcliffe-esque Simon to Eliza Palumbo's naive ingenue, Alejandro Raya's hale fellow well-met, Gabriela Rivera's sloe-eyed vamp, Lauren Sheffey's clumpy housekeeper and Nico Tangorra's twitchy novelist who doesn't know his Rue St. Honoré from his Rue Boissy d’Anglas. Special mention should be made of Anne Olsen, who comes on board with the world's least flattering headgear as Amy, an extra maid who is generally not on stage. Olsen gives this new character a real spark of insanity in just the right places.

Overall, this Hay Fever is funny and fresh, with a frisky pace that serves it well. Katie McCasland's charming, wrap-around scenic design puts some of the audience smack-dab in the action, properly framing the show and supporting its hijinks, while Jess Ray's costume design is both stylish and flashy in shades of red and purple, with especially entertaining looks for Judith and Sorel Bliss.

It looks great and moves well, and Pete Guither's piano playing as well as Wehr's performance of a pair of Gilbert and Sullivan ditties add to the atmosphere. I'd do away with the extended song that closes the show, however. It brings absolutely everyone back on stage to make fun of show biz and that doesn't really work in the context of the show or the action we've seen, even if it does give all the actors a chance to sing.

Opening night of Hay Fever was sold out, so you are advised to make a reservation for the remaining five performances.

HAY FEVER
by Noel Coward

The School of Theatre and Dance at Illinois State University
Westhoff Theatre

Director: Sonja Moser
Scenic Designer: Katie McCasland
Costume Designer: Jess Ray
Lighting Designer: Kyle Techentin
Sound Designer: Caisa Sandburg
Stage Manager: Marissa Talarico

Cast: Kyle Chandler Fitzgerald, Bethany Hart, Anne Olsen, Eliza Palumbo, Alejandro Raya, Gabriela Rivera, Lauren Sheffey, Nico Tangorra, Colin Trevino-Odell and Kaitlyn Wehr.

Remaining Performances: September 25, 26 and 27 at 7:30 pm, September 27 and 28 at 2 pm.

Running time: 2:10, including one 10-minute intermission

Catching HAY FEVER Next Week?

It seems like Illinois State University's fall semester has been underway for forever. It's really only been a bit more than a month. But that's plenty of time to get a cast and crew ready for Noel Coward's Hay Fever, a 1924 comedy about an eccentric theatrical family enjoying a weekend in the country.

I call the Bliss family theatrical even though Judith, the mother in the mix, is the only one with a career on the stage. Judith has supposedly retired, but she's still quite the diva. Her husband David is a novelist, while their son Simon fancies himself an artist and daughter Sorel is an ingenue who longs to be "a fresh, open-air girl with a passion for games."

They're all more than a bit crazy. When they take to their country house for the weekend, each member of the Bliss family invites a guest, unbeknownst to the others. Let's just everybody is planning a flirtation with someone. Judith has invited a handsome young boxer named Sandy, while David's guest is Jackie, a dippy but pretty flapper, Simon's is a vamp named Myra and Sorel's is Richard Greatham, a diplomat with a stiff upper lip and more of a sense of propriety than the other nuts and bolts in the bunch.

Once they're all jumbled together in one household -- tennis, anyone? -- things get crazy quickly. The Blisses are already 'round the bend, but their guests and their put-upon housekeeper Clara (she used to be Judith's dresser when she was on the stage) will have to move fast to keep their wits about them.

Hay Fever is not the best-known among Coward's plays, but it does enjoy fairly regular revivals. It's hit Broadway four times, the most recent in 1986. Closer to home, Illinois Wesleyan University put it on a year or two ago. But now Illinois State University and director Sonja Moser are offering their own take on this lighter-than-air confection from 1924.

Moser is known for her singular, often physical approach to material. Her Electra, a show she directed at ISU and then moved to Chicago's Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company, was both musical and meta-theatrical, with country rock songs, a lot of mud and loads of energy.

What will an artist like Moser do with a bon bon like Hay Fever? We'll have to wait till September 24 to find out.

This Hay Fever stars MFA acting candidate Bethany Hart and undergrad Nico Tangorra as Mom and Pop Bliss, with Kaitlyn Wehr and Kyle Fitzgerald as Sorel and Simon. Eliza Palumbo will play Jackie, with Alejandro Reya as Sandy, Gabriela Rivera as Myra, and MFA actor Colin Trevino-Odell as Richard. Lauren Sheffey will play Clara, the housekeeper, with an added character named Amy played by Nicole Greco.

Hay Fever plays in ISU's Westhoff Theatre from September 24 to 28. You can get more information here or go here to order tickets.

What's Ahead on ISU Stages in 2014-15

Illinois State University's Department of Theatre and Dance has announced what will be on stage in the Fall of 2014 and Spring of 2015. And it's an ambitious and intriguing lineup, with lots of new work, lots of female playwrights, and lots of roles for actors of color.

The first play on the schedule will be Sarah Ruhl's funny, provocative take on women, sexuality, and the birth of the vibrator in the 19th century. In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) will be directed for ISU's Center for the Performing Arts by David Ian Lee, an MFA director who earned rave reviews for his production of Perestroika last semester. The Vibrator Play was originally directed by Les Waters, the current Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, for Berkeley Rep in California; Waters then took the play to Broadway with a production that starred Laura Benanti and Michael Cerveris and earned Tony nominations for the play, David Zinn's Victorian costume design, and featured actress Maria Dizzia. The play was also a nominee for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Lynn Nottage, the playwright behind By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, also slated for the CPA this Fall, is no stranger to the Pulitzer Prize. Her play, Ruined, was the 2009 winner of that prestigious prize. Vera Stark is more humorous and more lively than Ruined, telling the story of an African-American woman who works as a maid for a Hollywood diva. But then Vera gets a role on screen as a maid -- the maid to her boss's Southern belle in some epic historical romance film -- and the fact that her sparkling performance upstages everybody does not go unnoticed. She had a career. She had suitors. She went to the best parties. So what happened to Vera Stark? Nottage's play is irreverent and a little wacky, and it will serve as the Crossroads production for the season. Don LaCasse is on tap to direct the ISU version of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.

And here's that Pulitzer word again. The third play on ISU's schedule is a Pulitzer winner from yet another female playwright. Water by the Spoonful is Quiara Alegría Hudes's second play in a three-play series about a soldier named Elliot who has issues when he comes back to the U.S. The first play, Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue, was nominated for a Pulitzer in 2007, while the third Elliot play, The Happiest Song Plays Last, premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theatre last year. Elliot, his cousin, his biological mother and an online circle of recovering addicts populate Water by the Spoonful, a lyrical, innovative play about connections, guilt and forgiveness. Third-year MFA candidate Leah Cassella will direct Water by the Spoonful in Westhoff Theatre.

Going from Quiara Alegría Hudes to Noel Coward is quite a jump. Although Illinois Wesleyan just did Hay Fever last semester, ISU director Sonja Moser is going to go for her own take on the Coward classic. Instead of Spoonful's disconnected cyberworld of 2012, Hay Fever is all about the 1920s during a weekend at an eccentric family's country house. Tennis, anyone? It's lighter than air, fizzy and charming. What in the world will Moser do with it? I guess we'll find out next Fall in Westhoff Theatre!

The last piece of the 2014 puzzle is the annual Fall Dance Concert, under the direction of Sara Semonis, Artistic Director of Illinois Dance Theatre.

As we move into 2015, ISU assistant professor Duane Boutté will bring the Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret, based on the Joe van Druten play I Am a Camera, itself based on Christopher Isherwood's autobiographical novel Goodbye to Berlin, to the Center for the Performing Arts. The original Broadway Cabaret and its decadent view of life in Berlin in the 1930s won eight Tony Awards back in 1967, including Best Musical, Best Composer and Lyricist for John Kander and Fred Ebb, Best Director for Hal Prince and Best Featured Actor for Joel Grey, who played the seedy, scary Emcee. Grey reprised his role and won an Oscar for his role in the 1972 movie directed by Bob Fosse, a film that took home eight Oscars, including Best Director and Best Actress for Liza Minnelli. That's Liza at the top of the heap in the movie poster shown here.

Moving back in time and somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand miles to the east, Anton Chekhov's The Seagull will take the stage at the CPA later in the Spring semester. The Seagull was written in 1895 and its first production was a famous flop. But Stanislavski's 1898 production for the Moscow Art Theatre turned it into a sensation. It's about the interaction and complications between and among a fading actress named Arkadina, her lover Trigorin, who is a writer; her would-be playwright son Treplev; and a young woman named Nina, as well as various other characters who live on the country estate owned by Arkadina's brother Sorin. The Seagull was last performed at Illinois State University as part of the 2004-05 season. This time out, Lori Adams, who heads up the Acting program at ISU, will direct.

Second-year MFA director Jonathan Hunt Sell will twist and (gender-bend) Moliere's classic comedy The School for Wives for Westhoff Theatre, giving Moliere the "Drag and Breeches" treatment with men playing the female roles and women playing the male ones. So the gents will be in dresses -- fancy 17th century French couture -- and the ladies will be in breeches. That should upend and refresh this tale of a creepy guy named Arnolphe and his attempts to keep his innocent ward, Agnes, cooped up and stupid so she won't fall in love and he can marry her himself.

Sell's colleague Jessika Malone, the other second-year MFA candidate in directing, also looks outside the U.S. for her play. She has chosen Selkie: Between Land and Sea, a mystical, mythical Scottish piece by Laurie Brooks, for her Spring production in Westhoff. The legend of the selkie is a cross between a mermaid story and the Swan Princess, with a girl who becomes a seal when in the sea, but a woman when on land. Laurie Brooks has also written a book version of her story, simply called Selkie Girl, and that's the image you see here.

All the details on Illinois State University's schedule will appear here and here once the current season is finished. 

Catch HAY FEVER This Week at IWU

Achoo! I don't recall anyone sneezing in Noel Coward's Hay Fever, although it would be in character if it were the biggest, most over-the-top sneeze ever. Hay Fever, which first played in London in 1925, is one of those blithe and witty comedies about crazy theatrical people who pull a few unsuspecting "normal" people (i.e., not theatre people) into their orbit and the hijinks that ensue when they do. It's sort of The Royal Family by way of Private Lives.

This one involves Judith Bliss, grande dame of the English stage, and her husband, David, a novelist, who decide to spend a weekend at their country home, with their equally flaky children, Simon and Sorel, in tow. Each of them has asked along a potential romantic partner, but once their guests are there, the Blisses pull all sorts of parlor games and silly tricks that baffle the newcomers. There are misunderstandings when flowery dialogue from one of Judith's hit shows is inserted into real conversations, feigned mad passion, emotional outbursts and all sorts of tempests in teapots. The Blisses are charming, eccentric and self-indulgent, with a sort of 1920s "tennis, anyone?" elegance along with their madcap antics.

Hay Fever may not be revived as often as Private Lives or Blithe Spirit, but it has enjoyed four Broadway productions since it opened in 1925 with Laura Hope Crews (Aunt Pittypat in Gone with the Wind) as Judith Bliss and multiple British productions in London and the provinces. Over the years, actresses as different as Shirley Booth, Constance Collier, Judi Dench, Lindsay Duncan, Edith Evans, Rosemary Harris and Diana Rigg have all played Judith, while Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen and Sam Waterston have done Simon, and Maggie Smith has played both Myra and Jackie, the female guests in the party.

Illinois Wesleyan professor Nancy Loitz directs the McPherson Theatre production of Hay Fever that opens tomorrow, with Kate Fitzgerald as Judith, Ian Scarlato as David, Abby Dryden and Will Henke as Sorel and Simon, Joey Chu, Jenna Haimes, Forrest Loeffler and Priscilla Moy as the confused guests who wander into the Bliss household, and Alexa Eldridge as the family housekeeper. Debra Madans completes the cast as an understudy.

IWU's production begins Tuesday November 19 and continues through Saturday November 23, with performances at 8 pm each night. There will also be a Sunday matinee at 2 pm on the 24th. For ticket information, you can click here for the box office site, visit the the School of Theatre Arts Facebook page, or call the box office directly at 309-556-3232.

IWU Fall Theatre Season Starts with A CLASS ACT in October

IWU's MacPherson Theatre in Fall 2012

Have you been wondering what's playing this year from Illinois Wesleyan's School of Theatre Arts? I'm happy to say I have some of the answers.

A Class Act, a musical inspired by the life and work of composer Edward Kleban, will be first up for IWU's singers, dancers and actors, with Associate Professor Jean MacFarland Kerr directing and choreographing. You can read more about Kleban in the Masterworks Broadway article linked under his name, but he is probably best known as the lyricist of A Chorus Line. After Kleban passed away at the age of 48, his longtime girlfriend Linda Kline, to whom he'd left all the rights to his work, decided to celebrate his story by constructing a semi-biographical show around a trunkload of his music. She collaborated in that effort with Lonny Price, and the result was A Class Act, which was produced off-Broadway in 2000 and on Broadway in 2001. Illinois Wesleyan's production is scheduled for performances in McPherson Theatre from October 8 to 13, linking up with IWU Homecoming events.

Noel Coward's classic comedy Hay Fever, directed by Professor Nancy Loitz, is up next at McPherson Theatre, with performances from November 19 to 24. Coward wrote Hay Fever in 1924, and it is very much in keeping with the droll, whimsical Coward oeuvre of that time, focusing on the eccentric, self-centered, artsy members of the Bliss family as they gather at their country estate for a weekend. Tennis, anyone? Actually, this party is more about charades and other over-the-top dramatic games that leave their guests nonplussed. But the Blisses will have a great time, as they always do. Broadway casts for Hay Fever have included Laura Hope Crews (1925), Constance Collier (1931), Shirley Booth and Sam Waterston (1970), and Rosemary Harris and Campbell Scott (1985).

IWU's first offering in 2014 will be 12 Ophelias (a play with Broken Songs), Caridad Svich's Ophelia-centered take that jumps off from Hamlet. Assistant Professor Dani Snyder-Young will direct 12 Ophelias at McPherson Theatre from February 11 to 16. As Svich bends the story, Ophelia (and a chorus of guides also called Ophelia) rise from the murky water in Hamlet to contend with somewhat recognizable characters called Rude Boy, R and G, H and... Gertrude. This story's Hamlet (Rude Boy) is still best pals with H (Horatio) but Gertrude is now heading up a bordello. Svich's "mirrored world of word-scraps and cold sex" represents a fresh and unexpected way to look at Shakespeare.

And The Drowsy Chaperone, set to be performed from April 8 to 13, is a fresh and unexpected way to look at the Broadway musical. Assistant Professor Tom Quinn will take the reins of this irresistible romp, centered around a man who immerses himself in the cast recording of his favorite old show, something called The Drowsy Chaperone, until the whole thing starts to come alive right there in his tiny apartment. Bob Martin and Don McKellar wrote the Drowsy book, while Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison contributed its fizzy, infectious music and lyrics. Visiting Professor Saundra DeAthos-Meers will act as musical director, while Jessica Waltrip will choreograph the rambunctious dance numbers. The 2006 Broadway version of The Drowsy Chaperone won Tony Awards for its book, score, set and costumes, and for featured actress Beth Leavel. A movie version is reportedly in the works starring Oscar (and Tony and Emmy) winner Geoffrey Rush as the narrator.

In addition to the above slate of shows destined for McPherson Theatre, there will be three shows in the E. Melba Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre, with Treasure playing October 31 to November 2 and two additional shows not yet announced, scheduled for March 3 to 5 and May 22 to 24. A play workshop on April 26 and the Music Theatre Scene Study Showcase on April 19, directed by Associate Professor Scott Susong, finish up the semester.

Last year's shows were still up last time I looked, but you can expect all the inside dope on the 2013-14 season to appear on the Illinois Wesleyan Theatre box office page.

Entertainment Marches On!

I don't know about going out like a lamb, but March is definitely coming in like a lion in terms of local entertainment. It's unusual to have so much happening on the very first day of the month, but that's the way it is for March, 2012.

If you want to go out tonight, you have a choice of great holdovers, promising new stuff, Oscar-winning movies, or a touch of legit* March Madness. First up, what's opening tonight...

Noël Coward's "Blithe Spirit" begins its run at Community Players tonight with a 7:30 Pay-What-You-Can preview. "Blithe Spirit" is, to my mind, Coward's best play, brimming with the wit and droll humor Coward is known for. Its plot involves British novelist Charles Condomine, who is married to a sensible woman named Ruth. But when Charles and Ruth host an unfortunate seance with eccentric Madame Arcati, they accidentally conjure up the spirit of Charles' blithe, beautiful, infuriating first wife, Elvira, who isn't too keen on leaving now that she's back. Uh oh. Now Charles is caught between two wives, one ghostly and the other very much alive and not very happy to be supplanted by an invisible rival.

"Blithe Spirit" is directed by Tom Smith for Community Players, with a cast that includes Thom Rakestraw as Charles, Hannah Kerns and Gayle Hess as his wife, past and present, and Judy Stroh as Madame Arcati. Performances continue through March 17.

Also opening tonight is the Station Theatre's production of Gina Gionfriddo's "Becky Shaw," a tart little comedy of its own. "Becky Shaw," whose title references Becky Sharp, the amoral antiheroine and best part of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair,"was a hit at the 2008 Humana Festival and enjoyed subsequent New York and regional productions. It begins with a terrible, terrible, terrible first date, a fix-up, played off against the pair of dewy-eyed newlyweds who fixed them up, commenting on love, romance, sex and sexual ethics in the modern world.

The acerbic humor of "Becky Shaw" is its strength, and it should do very well at the Station under the able direction of Kay Bohannon Holley, with Lindsey Gates Markel, Mathew Green, Mike Prosise, Martha Mills and Joi Hoffsommer in the cast. "Becky Shaw" opens tonight at 8, playing till the 17th.

Meanwhile, you have two other do-not-miss theatrical choices that are finishing up this weekend. People continue to discuss the problem of female playwrights not getting enough productions, but here in Bloomington-Normal, we have four more performances of Theresa Rebeck's snappy, dark and jaded "Mauritius," about sisters and shady wheeler-dealers battling over a valuable stamp collection, at Heartland Theatre, and three more performances of Caryl Churchill's sprightly but provocative gender-bent comedy "Cloud 9" at ISU's Westhoff theatre..

ISU also has two smaller productions opening tonight, with Vanessa Stalling and Matt Campbell directing Young Jean Lee's "Pullman, WA" and Heather Raffo's "9 Parts of Desire," respectively. Those two shows, more chances to support the work of female playwrights, play this weekend only, both closing on Sunday, March 4.

The women playwrights celebration continues at Illinois Wesleyan University, with April de Angelis's "Playhouse Creatures" taking a bow on March 6 in the E. Melba Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre. Christopher Connelly directs this bawdy look at English theater in the 17th century, when women were first allowed to trod the boards (instead of men playing all the roles) and Nell Gwynn went from Orange Girl to theatrical star. IWU's box office page says there are only three performances March 6-8, which means you'll need to be quick on your feet if you want to see this one.

The Normal Theater offers a mini Woody Allen Film Fest with two of his best, "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Annie Hall" playing on the big, beautiful screen March 15-16 and 17-18, respectively. 'The Purple Rose of Cairo" stars Mia Farrow as an unhappy wife who loves to lose herself in movies, and Jeff Daniels as the pith-helmeted leading man who leaps off the screen into her life, while "Annie Hall" is the quintessential Allen romantic comedy, about a man very much like Woody who falls for a woman very much like Diane Keaton, and all the sweet, bittersweet and humorous quirks in their relationship.

On screen, the movie that just swept the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Oscars, "The Artist" is available right now in Champaign at The Art Theater, where they promise us that they have the only "beautiful 35mm print" in town. If you miss it there but want the vintage movie theater experience, you can try to catch it at the Normal Theater March 29-31. That was unconfirmed as of today, but the Normal Theater invites you to keep an eye on their Facebook page for details as the time gets closer.

New Route Theatre gears up for 2012 with its first "One Shot Deal," a reprise of "The Mystical Willie Lynch," Gregory Hicks' poetic exploration of the lasting repercussions of slavery on African-American history, on March 21 at the Eaton Gallery.

Over in Champaign, Parkland College's production of "Pinkalicious, the Musical," directed by J.W. Morrissette, continues through March 10, the University of Illinois opera program opens Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" tonight in Krannert Center's Tryon Festival Theatre, and the Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company (CUTC) will offer the rollicking musical comedy, "The Producers," directed by Mikel Matthews, beginning March 15.

Late in the month, Shozo Sato returns to U of I with his production of "Lady Macbeth: A Kabuki Play," conceived by Sato and written by Karen Sunde. The U of I Department of Theatre says that this take on Shakespeare "retells the Scottish Play from the power-driven perspective of the would-be queen." Further, "[w]ith this evocative production, the Department of Theatre joins the National Theatre Conference’s Initiative to Celebrate American Women Playwrights."

Good for you, U of I. And thank you, ISU, IWU, Heartland, and the Celebration Company at the Station Theatre, for doing your part, as well. I doubt that most of them are focusing on female playwrights on purpose, but even a happy coincidence is to be celebrated.

*Legit March Madness refers to high school basketball in Illinois, where the term "March Madness" was coined. I will tell you all about how that happened someday. For right now, suffice it to say that if I say "March Madness," I mean Illinois and I mean high school. This one's for you, H.V. Porter!