Wisdom Bridge Theatre has nailed down two of four productions to start its first season in the revitalized Ivanhoe Theatre at 750 W. Wellington Ave.
Already planned is Mayo Simon’s “The Old Lady’s Guide to Survival,” starring June Havoc, Gypsy Rose Lee’s sister, as one of two elderly women who team up to battle the ravages of age. The show, to be directed by Alan Mandell and to run Oct. 26 through Dec. 11, is expected to go on to off-Broadway.
Producing director Jeffrey Ortmann says plans are also now definite to produce the premiere of the musical “Sugar Hill,” about the heyday of Harlem’s musical renaissance, sometime next spring. Ortmann himself will direct that effort, written by Louis St. Louis and Robert Fernandez.
Two tentative revivals, pending rights acquisition, will round off the season. Wisdom Bridge plans to revive “The Glass Menagerie” in December, 50 years after its premiere at the Civic Theater here, and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” with Terry McCabe directing, sometime next year.
Big changes continue to accompany the troupe’s gradual departure from its longtime Howard Street home. In something of a surprise, set and lighting designer Kevin Rigdon has signed on as artistic associate, joining McCabe, who is also working to revive the Body Politic. Rigdon, who has designed on Broadway and all over the world and who will continue his association as resident designer with Steppenwolf Theatre, is expected to bring his production expertise to Wisdom Bridge’s move to the Ivanhoe and later to a second planned home in Skokie.
Those plans continue to move forward as well, with Ortmann scheduling a revival of “To Kill a Mockingbird” starring Joel Daly in February and a new production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” in April to play in the current Centre East as a kind of warmup to the company’s eventual residency in Skokie. By the fall of 1996, Wisdom Bridge will also produce at the new Centre East planned for construction near Golf Road and Skokie Boulevard in the north suburb.
If all goes according to plan, there will then be two troupes producing both in Skokie and at the Ivanhoe.
Meanwhile, in a minor but telling move, Wisdom Bridge moved offices from Howard Street over the weekend to 332 S. Michigan Ave.
The Wisdom Bridge residency at the Ivanhoe accompanies other plans for that newly multiple theater. Pegasus Players’ “Strike Up the Band” is currently on the mainstage, to be followed by Wisdom Bridge and two additional productions by the theater’s owner, Doug Bragan.
An adaptation of “Ivanhoe” opens Oct. 19 and Famous Door’s “Hellcab” will run in repertory at a new, second Ivanhoe theater space. And downstairs, in a third 50-seat theater, the Free Associates will bring their “Cast on a Hot Tin Roof” and the detective spoof “Pick-A-Dick” this fall.
For tickets for all of this at the Ivanhoe: 312-975-7171.
– The Shubert Theatre’s touring version of “Grease,” based on the new Tommy Tune Broadway production, will star Sally Struthers (Miss Lynch), Davy Jones (deejay Vince Fontaine) and onetime pop star Rex Smith will play, ahem, teenager Danny Zuko. (Smith’s last noteworthy juvenile lead role was in “The Pirates of Penzance” some 14 years ago.)
Also, the dates of “Grease” have been changed to Dec. 6 through 31 at the Shubert, 22 W. Monroe St.
The show joins a series consisting of “Blood Brothers” Sept. 27 through Oct. 9, “The Sisters Rosensweig” Oct. 11 through Nov. 6, “Family Secrets” with dates to be announced and a fifth production to be selected later. For subscription tickets: 312-977-1717.
– Director Peter Sellars has come up with a non-traditional cast for his eagerly anticipated fall production of “The Merchant of Venice” at the Goodman Theatre.
Paul Butler will play Shylock, Elaine Tse will portray Portia and Gino Silva will play Antonio in the production opening Oct. 10. Lori Tan Chinn (Nerissa), Del Close (Old Gobbo), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Launcelot Gobbo), John Ortiz (Bassanio) and Carlos Sanz (Gratiano) are also in the cast. For tickets: 312-443-3800.
– Lookingglass Theatre has postponed indefinitely its planned fall production of the writings of the Marquis de Sade, “S/M,” to be adapted and directed by Mary Zimmerman.
Instead, the company’s next production will be Joy Gregory’s “Dreaming Lucia,” her original work based on the life of James Joyce’s daughter, Lucia, to open sometime in January. The troupe recently extended the summer production of “Up Against It,” a rock ‘n’ roll show based on Joe Orton’s Beatles’ screenplay, through Sept. 17 at the Goodman Studio. Laura Eason, Lookingglass’ new artistic director, plans to announce full season plans later.
