Chicago, IL, August 24, 2012 —The Griffin Theatre Company will produce Terence Rattigan's FLARE PATH replacing the previously announced production of AFTER THE DANCE. Ensemble member Robin Witt is still slated to direct the play which will be the second production in the Griffin's 24th season.
The Griffin will kick off its 2012/2013 season with the Midwest Premiere of the acclaimed musical THE BURNT PART BOYS (November 3 — December 22, 2012). The musical last produced at Playwrights Horizon's with a book by Mariana Elder, music by Chris Miller and Lyrics by Nathan Tysen will be directed by Jonathan Berry. Following in mid-winter will be the rare revival of Terence Rattigan's World War II love story, FLARE PATH (January 5 — February 24, 2013). The production directed by ensemble member Robin Witt will be the first known production of Rattigan's play in Chicago. The Griffin's 3rd production is To Be Announced (May — June 2013) and will be the inaugural production in the new Griffin Arts Center located on Foster Avenue near Damen.
THE BURNT PART BOYS
THE BURNT PART BOYS takes place in Rural West Virginia, 1962. A young boy and his older brother try and come to terms with their past so they can move ahead to the future. With a group of friends, they embark on a life-altering journey to the coalmine that took their father's life. Nominated for the 2011 Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical and a finalist for the 2006 American Theatre Critics New Play Award this bluegrass and pop-inspired musical, looks at the power of family bonds and friendship that unite us and the importance and need to understand.
FLARE PATH
Based on Rattigan's own wartime experiences as a member of the RAF (Royal Air Force) FLARE PATH is a deeply moving portrait of people in love and at war in 1942 Briton. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter a famous heartthrob film star arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the center of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies.
The original London production was a critical and popular success and ran for eighteen months and 679 performances. Prime Minister Winston Churchill said the play was "a masterpiece of understatement ... but then we are rather good at understatement, aren't we?"
FLARE PATHwas most recently revived last year in London's West End and starred Sienna Miller and James Purefoy. The production directed by Trevor Nunn was an unexpected hit for the Theater Royal and played to sold out houses for its entire run.
And a third production yet to be announced and performed at the new GRIFFIN ARTS CENTER.
2012/2013 National Touring Season
The Griffin Theatre Company's touring season will be presented in a record number of venues throughout the United States. The Griffin's productions of LETTERS HOME and its two youth productions FRINDLE and THE STINKY CHEESE MAN & OTHER FAIRLY STUPID TALES will travel to more than 45 cities from coast to coast. The trio of productions will reach more than 100,000 audience members nationwide.
LETTERS HOME which had its premiere here in Chicago in January 2007 at the Chicago Cultural Center has continued to flourish as a touring production and has been widely seen by an estimated 60,000 people since it was first produced five years ago. The powerful play which dramatically presents actual letters of soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan will travel to the states of Nevada, California, Arkansas, Georgia, New York, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arizona to name just a few.
The Griffin Theatre's production of FRINDLE, an adaptation of Andrew Clements best-selling children's book has become one of the most popular and successful touring productions for young people in the United States and will be performed for an estimated 70,000 children this coming year. The play which centers on a battle of wits between a young boy, Nicholas Allen and his 5th grade Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Granger, and the invention of a new word is currently ranked as one of the top five most widely read children's books in the United States. The Griffin's THE STINKY CHEESE MAN & OTHER FAIRLY STUPID TALES rounds out the company's touring roster with venues across the United States from Las Vegas to New York City.
2012/2013 Season Schedule
THE BURNT PART BOYS
Music: Chris Miller
Lyrics: Nathan Tysen
Book: Mariana Elder
Directed by Jonathan Berry
November 3 — December 22, 2012
At Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave. Chicago
FLARE PATH
By Terence Rattigan
Directed by Robin Witt
January 5 — February 24, 2013
At Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave. Chicago
TBA Production
May — June, 2013
At the New Griffin Arts Center
LETTERS HOME
National Tour — venues to be announced
October 17, 2012 — May 10, 2013
FRINDLE
National Tour — venues to be announced
November 29, 2012 — May 1, 2013
THE STINKY CHEESE MAN & OTHER FAIRLY STUPID TALES
National Tour — venues to be announced
November 17, 2012 — March 15, 2013
The Griffin Theatre Company is partially supported by grants from a CityArts Program II grant through the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
