Lisa Wolf

Jeff Bowen, Hunter Bell [title of show]

Lisa Wolf — Sun, 20 May 2012 03:18:24 +0000

Northlight Theatre presents [title of show] — the Broadway musical sensation about creating a Broadway musical. The music and lyrics are written by Jeff Bowen, while the book is written by Hunter Bell. [title of show] was conceived by friends Jeff and Hunter during Spring of 2004, when they decided to submit to the New York Musical Theatre Festival. With a deadline of only 3 weeks, they discovered that their conversations about what to write were more interesting than the ideas they had for an original show. We spoke about the risk and personal commitment involved in creating [title of show] both financially and personally, and how the success of the show has opened doors for future endeavors.

Frank Galati (The March)

Lisa Wolf — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:05:54 +0000

Tony Award-winning ensemble member Frank Galati returns to Steppenwolf Theatre Company to direct his stage adaptation of THE MARCH, Pulitzer Prize-finalist E.L. Doctorow’s novel about General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Civil War march through Georgia. This marks Galati ’s second stage production of a Doctorow novel, following the highly-acclaimed musical Ragtime. The March is the fourth play in Steppenwolf’s 2011/12 season, dedicated to the ways that ordinary lives are touched by war. Frank Galati and I met at Northwestern University at an event titled “Chicago Directs” — an up close and personal conversation between Frank Galati and Anna Shapiro. We spoke about the task of adapting this epic novel into a stage production, as he looks for the play hiding in the novel. He is truly passionate about this story, which he feels is about family and love against the backdrop of loss and heartbreak.

Sue Fabisch (Motherhood the Musical)

Lisa Wolf — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:23:28 +0000

MOTHERHOOD THE MUSICAL is written by author and songwriter Sue Fabisch, a mother who understands that sometimes the best way to cope with the joys and trials of motherhood is to share the experience with other moms. Fabisch has the most personal connection with “I’m Danny’s Mom” which she wrote about her own son while in a traffic jam in the Lincoln Tunnel. I think Sue says it best…. “Let’s face it – motherhood is definitely the hardest job in the world. If you don’t laugh, you’re gonna’ cry, so you might as well laugh.” This four-woman hit musical has been touring the nation since opening in Fort Lauderdale , FL in 2010. I speak for all moms when I say we are looking forward to a sequel!

Michael Lomenda, John Gardiner, Preston Truman Boyd, Joseph Leo Bwarie (Jersey Boys)

Lisa Wolf — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:22:04 +0000

JERSEY BOYS are back! Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning Best Musical, Jersey Boys played an incredible run in Chicago from 2007-2010 and continued to break box office records, becoming a resident production after the show opened to rave reviews at the Bank of America Theatre. As a big fan of the show, I was thrilled to speak with Michael Lomenda (Nick Massi) John Gardiner (Tommy DeVito) Preston Truman Boyd (Bob Gaudio) and Joseph Leo Bwarie (Frankie Valli) about the secret behind the phenomenon and success of Jersey Boys, in addition to the responsibility that goes along with this celebrity status. This quartet is clearly passionate about each other and the play.

Lisa Wolf on ABC 7 Chicago News

Lisa Wolf — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:27:14 +0000

Lisa Wolf, spokesperson for iTeen 365, joins Ravi Baichwal on the ABC 7 News, airing at 6:00 PM on March 30, 2012.

“It is not meant to be a bad situation,” said Wolf. “It is meant to be an ‘I love you’ situation. We do this because we love you, and because we care, and we feel opening the dialogue is an educational process for both of us.”

David Darlow (Camino Real)

Lisa Wolf — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:37:15 +0000

Tennessee Williams’ CAMINO REAL is running at Goodman Theatre, and is hailed as a “cosmic fantasy…as eloquent and rhythmic as a piece of music.” Camino Real is among the more overtly poetic plays from a writer famous for his psychological realism. The phrase “Camino Real” translates from Spanish as “royal road” but in Williams’ play, it represents a dead end. Camino Real places familiar characters from literature in a mythical town in a Latin American country where the “spring of humanity has gone dry.” David Darlow is Jacques Casanova, and we had the rare opportunity to discuss how Director Calixto Bieito transformed a highly abstract, non-linear story into a non-conventional, shocking experience full of sex, dreams, poetry, violence, love and death.

Mark H. Dold, Martin Rayner (Freud’s Last Session)

Lisa Wolf — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 05:11:48 +0000

FREUD’S LAST SESSION, winner of the 2011 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play, makes its Midwest Premiere at the Mercury Theater. Starring Mark H. Dold as C.S. Lewis and Martin Rayner as Dr. Sigmund Freud, this play is set in Freud’s London office, September 3, 1939. This fictional “meeting of the minds” allows us to observe a potentially true-to-life meeting between Lewis and Freud only weeks prior to Freud’s death, and in the midst of World War II. Their conversations reflect their opposing opinions on life, love, God and sex, and are a mix of intellectual debate and humor. To quote playwright Mark St. Germain, “When I first tried to get this show produced in NY, I was told it didn’t have a chance. Why would anyone pay to see two guys talking about God when they could go see Spider-Man?” Over the past two years, Freud’s Last Session has played nearly 800 Off-Broadway performances in NY, and I fully expect a successful run at the Mercury Theater.

BJ Jones (Ten Chimneys)

Lisa Wolf — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 08:21:08 +0000

Northlight Theatre presents TEN CHIMNEYS by Jeffrey Hatcher, directed by Artistic Director BJ Jones. BJ, a two-time Jeff Award winner, is in his 14th season as Artistic Director of Northlight Theatre. As spoken by BJ, “On June 23, 2008, I took playwright Jeffrey Hatcher and David Ira Goldstein, Artistic Director of the Arizona Theatre Company, to Ten Chimneys in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. David maintains that I suggested Jeffrey write a play about Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne and their summers in Wisconsin .” Four years later, we have a revealing take on the private lives of these very public figures.

Finn Caldwell (War Horse)

Lisa Wolf — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:33:58 +0000

WAR HORSE, winner of five 2011 Tony Awards including Best Play, will come to Chicago this December as part of the Broadway in Chicago series. War Horse is based on the children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo, who created the story as a reminder of the little-known suffering of horses during World War I. According to Finn Caldwell, Associate Puppetry Director, “A lot of the story is created through the horse…the other actors on stage act as a fourth puppeteer because they treat Joey as if he were a real horse.” With a character that doesn’t speak, the intention is to tell the story from an objective observer who sees war from both sides. I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of this epic show in Chicago.

Cindy Gold (Pippin)

Lisa Wolf — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:43:18 +0000

The Music Theatre Company, Highland Park ’s Equity theatre, presents PIPPIN with music and lyrics by the wonderful Stephen Schwartz, directed and choreographed by Founding Artistic Director Jessica Redish. I was thrilled to speak with Jeff Award-winning Cindy Gold, who is playing the role of Berthe. Cindy is also Head of Acting and Associate Professor of Theatre at Northwestern University . I have had the honor of seeing Cindy perform throughout Chicago . Cindy feels that working in the profession while teaching is vitally important, as this feeds her as an artist, which feeds her as a teacher. I couldn’t agree more…