Shaw Festival’s Saint Joan to be Presented at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, April 2007 … The Shaw Festival’s flagship Shaw production, the iconic Saint Joan, directed by Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell, will be presented at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater from January 8-20, 2008. The production began preview performances on Saturday at the Festival Theatre for its regular run as part of The Shaw’s 2007 Season.

The production will be presented within the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2007-2008 The World’s Stage Series for a limited two-week run at the Courtyard Theater. Chicago Shakespeare Theater is one of the fastest-growing producing and presenting theater institutions in the United States today. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson, CST has achieved a reputation for consistently high production values and artistic standards.

Jackie Maxwell noted: “It has been my strong desire to get the extraordinary work we do here at The Shaw out on the road, making contacts with renowned theatre companies and their communities. The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a world-class theatre company producing work of the highest quality and with a history of presenting American and international productions of distinction. The Shaw Festival is thrilled to join those ranks, and debut in Chicago, with Saint Joan.”

In 1431 Jeanne d’Arc (Tara Rosling) – a young peasant girl who led an army and crowned a king – was burned at the stake as a heretic. Afterwards, in the smouldering ashes, one thing remained untouched – her heart. In 1920 she was made a saint. In 1923 Bernard Shaw took her extraordinary story and brilliantly retold it, revealing it also as the beginning of a nationalism which dictated the very make-up of Europe until our own 20th-century apocalypse, World War I.

The Shaw’s production moves between the France of WWI and Joan’s War to re-examine Shaw’s continually resonant play, asking all the while: if Joan were alive today, would we recognize her – and would we listen?

Ben Carlson, who appears as Cauchon in Saint Joan, won critical acclaim for his portrayal of the title character in the CST’s 2006 production of Hamlet.

The cast also includes Harry Judge as the Dauphin, Peter Krantz as de Stogumber, Patrick McManus as Dunois, and Blair Williams as Warwick, as well as Norman Browning, Andrew Bunker, Martin Happer, Douglas E. Hughes, Billy Lake, Thom Marriott, Jesse Martyn, Marla McLean, Ric Reid and Michael Strathmore.

Saint Joan is designed by Sue LePage, with lighting design by Kevin Lamotte and original music by Paul Sportelli. The stage management team includes Stage Manager Allan Teichman and Assistant Stage Manager Amy Jewell.

Saint Joan began preview performances Saturday, April 21; opens Wednesday, May 9; and plays in repertory until Saturday, October 27. Saint Joan is sponsored by CIBC World Markets.

The 2007 season is proudly presented by HSBC Bank Canada/HSBC Bank USA.

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Odette Yazbeck
Director, Public Relations
905-468-2153 or
1-800-657-1106 ext 222
odette@shawfest.com

Patti Broughton
Public Relations Co-ordinator
905-468-2153 or
1-800-657-1106 ext 224
pbroughton@shawfest.com