Productions & Events featuring Charles Cooper

Broadway In Chicago is thrilled to announce TO MASTER THE ART will play the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place for a limited engagement beginning September 10, 2013. The Chicago Commercial Collective will produce the 2010 TimeLine world premiere hit.

Commissioned by TimeLine in 2008, this world premiere recalls the adventure and romance of Julia and Paul Child’s journey of discovery to Paris during the 1950s. From the bistro where Julia fell in love with food, to the kitchen table where she recreated everything learned during cooking class, to a room where Paul was grilled by U.S. agents about alleged Communist contact, this is the story of a larger-than-life culinary icon and her remarkable husband as they struggle to find themselves as Americans abroad.

A landmark classic from the legendary author of Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, this 1947 Tony Award winner for Best Play returns to the Chicago stage for the first time since an acclaimed Broadway revival last season. In the wake of World War II, a middle-class American family struggles with loss, love and an explosive secret from the past in this powerful drama about business ethics and responsibility.

Written and set during the 1968 presidential campaign, Weekend is a witty comedy about a Republican Senator who is about to announce his candidacy for his party’s nomination when his son arrives with shocking — and potentially politically damaging — news. Prejudice, blackmail, self-righteousness and opportunism become a potent mix as the candidate and his handlers conspire with well-calculated maneuvers to save the day.

During World War II in Ireland’s County Donegal, the close-knit West family has love and laughter in the safety of Dolly’s kitchen to distract itself from fears of the war nearby. But their plan to escape involvement is shattered when one of their own brings a British and two American soldiers across the border and into their midst. Soon clashes over issues of loyalty, jealousy, sexual identity and love invade the neutrality of Dolly West’s kitchen. This hilarious and poignant play invites us to feel the souls of its characters and reflect on the uncharted paths we’re led to by our choices.

One of the most acclaimed playwrights to emerge in Chicago in the last decade, Brett Neveu has a reputation for blistering dialogue, complex characters and haunting stories. Described as a “master at establishing mood” (Chicago Sun-Times) and “perhaps the city’s closest equivalent to a young [David] Mamet” (Chicago Tribune), with Harmless, he delivers a gripping three-character drama about a crisis unfolding on a small Midwestern college campus.

A creative writing professor is called to the office of the college president for questioning. What has been going on in his classroom to provoke a growing controversy and attract the attention of the United States military? Is there a real threat, or is it imagined?

Based on the autobiographical writings of Lillian Hellman, Lillian premiered on Broadway in January 1986 starring Tony Award-winner Zoe Caldwell.

The play is set in the waiting room of a New York hospital where Hellman awaits the death of her longtime companion Dashiell Hammett. As she waits, she reflects on her memories — growing up in New Orleans and New York, her successes and failures as an artist, her testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and the myriad people and incidents that shaped her life.

Described as “ribald, poignant entertainment” by Time and a “beautifully constructed union of intellect and emotion” by The Washington Post, Lillianis a compelling portrait of an artist and woman who made unforgettable contributions to the worlds of theatre, literature and politics in America.

Originally produced to great acclaim in London in 2004 and a subsequent hit Off-Broadway, Guantanamo is based on interviews with the families of men detained in Guantanamo Bay. This stirring drama weaves together riveting personal stories, legal opinion and political debate, putting a human face on the world’s headlines and examining the divisive line between maintaining national security and protecting human rights.

First staged in 1960, Robert Bolt’s masterpiece is a ferocious battle between church and state, faith and politics, and one man’s struggle to maintain his principles when he is pressured to abandon them. When England’s Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, is asked by Henry VIII to annul his marriage so he can re-marry, More is torn between serving his King or staying true to his beliefs. His defiance of Henry ignites a political firestorm and forces More to pay the price of his disloyalty.

Written by veteran Chicago actor Maureen Gallagher, MARTIN FUREY’S SHOT takes us into the life and work of a photojournalist as he moves between his home in Chicago and the violence of the war zones he covers. Martin tries to balance the horrors he has seen in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and pre-election South Africa with the normalcy he is expected to return to with his family and girlfriend. With his fellow photographers, Martin captures the struggles and dreams of a nation awaiting Nelson Mandela even as his own life falls apart.

A rarely produced gem, THIS HAPPY BREED exposes a different side of Noel Coward. This touching and emotional drama focuses on the conflict, frustration and love within a middle class British family during 20 years of peace between the two World Wars.

Art and politics collide when the government’s Works Progress Administration shuts down director Orson Welles’ new pro-union musical THE CRADLE WILL ROCK in 1937. With the theatre doors padlocked, the cast and company must work frantically to make sure their voices are heard. This fast-paced and brilliantly witty comedy brings to life a defining moment in the history of American theatre.

Greed and corruption run rampant in this American adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, transplanted to the Midwest in the 1920s. When one man attempts to expose a major water pollution scandal in his town, the community is faced with the economic and moral turmoil of setting things right.

Clifford Odets’ masterpiece is as robust, emotional and gritty as the Great Depression itself. As Odets describes it, each of the characters share a fundamental activity — a struggle for life amidst petty conditions. Crowded together in a cramped Bronx tenement and laid low by the Great Depression, this moving portrait of a Jewish family is both funny and heartbreaking as they cope with survival and cling to dreams of a brighter future.

Gerardo Escobar, who is heading up the commission to investigate the crimes of the old regime, is rescued roadside by a kind passerby, Dr. Miranda. When the two return to Gerardo’s home, his wife Paulina, is convinced that the Doctor is harboring a dark past. Set in a country transitioning back to democracy, Death and The Maiden is a modern thriller with a haunting conclusion. Barry Brunetti, director of TimeLine’s critically acclaimed No End of Blame, returns to our stage with this riveting exploration of human nature and the meaning of justice.

May 4 – June 2, 2002