Oak Park Festival Theatre's summer season kicks off with the production of an American classic.
Director Steve Pickering furrows his brow, leans in close to talk. His gaze grows more intense as he expounds on the source material and setting for Inherit the Wind, the first of two Oak Park Festival Theatre summer productions. "This is a play with a lot of rust on it," he said. "But it's about the freedom of individual thought and that excited me." Pickering is at the helm of the play, which fictionally recreates the Scopes "monkey" trial of 1925, where two famed attorneys collided in a Dayton, Tenn. courtroom over the legality of high school teacher John Scopes teaching evolution in a public school. Playing the role of attorney Matthew Harrison Brady is Aaron Christensen, a Chicago actor who's credits include roles at Chicago's …
Shows in Oak Park will include The Glass Menagerie, Richard III.
The Oak Park Festival Theatre is planning to bring some classic theater to the village this upcoming year. The company will continue the four-play season format for 2011-2012, with two productions outside in Austin Gardens, along with two indoors at Madison Street Theatre. This fall, Kevin Theis will direct Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. It begins previews Oct. 6, with the official opening on Oct. 9, and runs until Nov. 13. Alan Ruck, well-known for his role as Cameron in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, will star alongside OPFT Artistic Director Jack Hickey in the spring production of Stones in His Pockets, directed by David Mink. The play begins previews March 29 and opens April 1 and runs through May 6. Next summer in Austin Gardens…
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