Next Theatre Announces the Final Production of Their 2012 - 2013 Season, "The Exonerated," a Co-Production with the Theatre and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University

Cat Miller Directs the Production Running April 19 – May 5 at Northwestern University’s Josephine Louis Theatre.

Author Scott Turow; Recent Exoneree Juan Rivera; and Jeff Urdangen, Director, Center for Criminal Defense, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law are the panelists for the Post-Show Discussion, Friday, April 19.

EVANSTON, IL – Next Theatre Company is proud to announce the final production of their 2012-2013 season, Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen’s The Exonerated, directed by Northwestern University alumna Cat Miller, and co-produced with the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University and presented in partnership with the Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions (Center), April 19 – May 5 at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University. Opening night is Friday, April 19 at 8 p.m., with single ticket proceeds benefiting the Center. Press night is Saturday, April 20 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 - $25, with $5 tickets available to full-time Northwestern students on advance purchase. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847.491.7282.

Based on interviews conducted by playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, The Exonerated follows six former Death Row prisoners whose convictions were reversed.  From their trials to their incarcerations to their eventual releases, this award-winning play uses the words of these innocent men and women as they share the stories of everything and everyone that they lost when they were wrongly convicted, as well as the lives they are working to rebuild. The inaugural collaboration between Next and TIC, The Exonerated will be staged at TIC in partnership with the Center and will feature a cast of professional and student artists working together on this exploration of the criminal justice system.

POST SHOW DISCUSSIONS

Each performance has a post-show discussion hosted by Next Theatre, TIC and the Center. Best-selling novelist Scott Turow; recent exoneree Juan Rivera; and Jeff Urdangen, Director, Center for Criminal Defense, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law are panelists for the first discussion, Friday, April 19 following the 8 p.m. performance. Each post-show discussion includes artistic staff and artists involved in the production, as well as special guests familiar with the topic.  Additional guests are listed at www.tic.northwestern.edu/exonerated.

ABOUT NEXT THEATRE COMPANY

Next Theatre Company produces socially provocative, artistically adventurous work. It is Next’s vision to become a destination for audiences and artists who share this vision that theatre can promote awareness and provoke change with more power than any other medium of expression.

Since its founding in 1981 by Harriet Spizziri and Brian Finn, the 140-seat space has been home to over a hundred productions, serving nearly a quarter of a million theatregoers and winning Jeff Awards in nearly every category. The theatre's adventurous spirit and great conviction prompted Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune to announce that Next is "a resounding reaffirmation of what faith, dedication and talent can accomplish. It is what distinguished Chicago theatre in its early stages more than a quarter century ago, and it is what continues to make Chicago theatre so exciting.”

ABOUT THE NORTHWESTERN THEATRE AND INTERPRETATION CENTER

The Theatre and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University exists as an operational and administrational component of the School of Communication with the specific charge of producing, managing, funding and administering the performing arts productions of the School of Communication, Department of Theatre and Department of Performance Studies, including programmatic responsibility for theatre, music theatre and dance. Each year, as many as forty productions are mounted in its four different performance venues – the 439-seat Ethel M. Barber Theater, the 369-seat Josephine Louis Theater, the 100-seat Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theater and the 100-seat Mussetter-Struble Theater – as well as in the University’s 1,000-seat Cahn Auditorium. Now in its 32nd season, TIC brings together guest artists and events from Evanston, Chicago, New York City, London and beyond to explore the many different contemporary faces of poverty. Featuring award-winning Chicago directors William Brown and Peter Sullivan, acclaimed Northwestern alumnae Cat Miller and Jess McLeod, National Theatre Live broadcasts and the Imagine U Family Series, the 2012/13 season entertains and makes visible the issue of poverty in America, with an emphasis in Chicago and Evanston.  Joseph T. Appelt is the Theatre Department Chair, D. Soyini Madison is the Performance Studies Department Chair and Diane Claussen is the Managing Director for TIC. For more information, visit www.tic.northwestern.edu.

ABOUT NORTHWESTERN’S CENTER ON WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

Since its founding following the 1998 National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty, the Center has been instrumental in the exonerations of 35 innocent men and women in Illinois. Before the founding of the Center, members of its staff were instrumental in 16 additional exonerations — including that of Gary Dotson, who in 1989 became the first person in the world to be exonerated by DNA.  For more information, visit www.law.northwestern.edu/cwc/. 

Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen’s The Exonerated, directed by Northwestern University alumna Cat Miller, and co-produced with the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University and presented in partnership with the Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions (Center), April 19 – May 5 at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University. Opening night is Friday, April 19 at 8 p.m., with single ticket proceeds benefiting the Center. Press night is Saturday, April 20 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 - $25, with $5 tickets available to full-time Northwestern students on advance purchase. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847.491.7282.

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 The Exonerated is funded in part by The Evanston Community Foundation and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. This program is partially sponsored by a grant from the Evanston Community Foundation. This production is supported in part by a grant from the Alumnae of Northwestern. 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: James Juliano

March 26, 2013

SHOUT Marketing and Media Relations

773-852-0506

james@shoutchicago.com

*Media passes, photographs, videos, interviews and additional materials available upon request.

NEXT THEATRE ANNOUNCES THE FINAL PRODUCTION OF THEIR

2012 – 2013 SEASON, THE EXONERATED, A CO-PRODUCTION WITH THE THEATRE AND INTERPRETATION CENTER AT

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Cat Miller Directs the Production Running April 19 – May 5 at Northwestern University’s Josephine Louis Theatre.

Author Scott Turow; Recent Exoneree Juan Rivera; and Jeff Urdangen, Director, Center for Criminal Defense, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law are the panelists for the Post-Show Discussion, Friday, April 19.

EVANSTON, IL – Next Theatre Company is proud to announce the final production of their 2012-2013 season, Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen’s The Exonerated, directed by Northwestern University alumna Cat Miller, and co-produced with the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University and presented in partnership with the Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions (Center), April 19 – May 5 at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University. Opening night is Friday, April 19 at 8 p.m., with single ticket proceeds benefiting the Center. Press night is Saturday, April 20 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 - $25, with $5 tickets available to full-time Northwestern students on advance purchase. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847.491.7282.

Based on interviews conducted by playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, The Exonerated follows six former Death Row prisoners whose convictions were reversed.  From their trials to their incarcerations to their eventual releases, this award-winning play uses the words of these innocent men and women as they share the stories of everything and everyone that they lost when they were wrongly convicted, as well as the lives they are working to rebuild. The inaugural collaboration between Next and TIC, The Exonerated will be staged at TIC in partnership with the Center and will feature a cast of professional and student artists working together on this exploration of the criminal justice system.

POST SHOW DISCUSSIONS

Each performance has a post-show discussion hosted by Next Theatre, TIC and the Center. Best-selling novelist Scott Turow; recent exoneree Juan Rivera; and Jeff Urdangen, Director, Center for Criminal Defense, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern University School of Law are panelists for the first discussion, Friday, April 19 following the 8 p.m. performance. Each post-show discussion includes artistic staff and artists involved in the production, as well as special guests familiar with the topic.  Additional guests are listed at www.tic.northwestern.edu/exonerated.

- more -

ABOUT NEXT THEATRE COMPANY

Next Theatre Company produces socially provocative, artistically adventurous work. It is Next’s vision to become a destination for audiences and artists who share this vision that theatre can promote awareness and provoke change with more power than any other medium of expression.

Since its founding in 1981 by Harriet Spizziri and Brian Finn, the 140-seat space has been home to over a hundred productions, serving nearly a quarter of a million theatregoers and winning Jeff Awards in nearly every category. The theatre's adventurous spirit and great conviction prompted Richard Christiansen of the Chicago Tribune to announce that Next is "a resounding reaffirmation of what faith, dedication and talent can accomplish. It is what distinguished Chicago theatre in its early stages more than a quarter century ago, and it is what continues to make Chicago theatre so exciting.”

ABOUT THE NORTHWESTERN THEATRE AND INTERPRETATION CENTER

The Theatre and Interpretation Center at Northwestern University exists as an operational and administrational component of the School of Communication with the specific charge of producing, managing, funding and administering the performing arts productions of the School of Communication, Department of Theatre and Department of Performance Studies, including programmatic responsibility for theatre, music theatre and dance. Each year, as many as forty productions are mounted in its four different performance venues – the 439-seat Ethel M. Barber Theater, the 369-seat Josephine Louis Theater, the 100-seat Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theater and the 100-seat Mussetter-Struble Theater – as well as in the University’s 1,000-seat Cahn Auditorium. Now in its 32nd season, TIC brings together guest artists and events from Evanston, Chicago, New York City, London and beyond to explore the many different contemporary faces of poverty. Featuring award-winning Chicago directors William Brown and Peter Sullivan, acclaimed Northwestern alumnae Cat Miller and Jess McLeod, National Theatre Live broadcasts and the Imagine U Family Series, the 2012/13 season entertains and makes visible the issue of poverty in America, with an emphasis in Chicago and Evanston.  Joseph T. Appelt is the Theatre Department Chair, D. Soyini Madison is the Performance Studies Department Chair and Diane Claussen is the Managing Director for TIC. For more information, visit www.tic.northwestern.edu.

ABOUT NORTHWESTERN’S CENTER ON WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

Since its founding following the 1998 National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty, the Center has been instrumental in the exonerations of 35 innocent men and women in Illinois. Before the founding of the Center, members of its staff were instrumental in 16 additional exonerations — including that of Gary Dotson, who in 1989 became the first person in the world to be exonerated by DNA.  For more information, visit www.law.northwestern.edu/cwc/. 

Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen’s The Exonerated, directed by Northwestern University alumna Cat Miller, and co-produced with the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University and presented in partnership with the Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions (Center), April 19 – May 5 at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern University. Opening night is Friday, April 19 at 8 p.m., with single ticket proceeds benefiting the Center. Press night is Saturday, April 20 at 8 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 - $25, with $5 tickets available to full-time Northwestern students on advance purchase. Tickets may be purchased at nexttheatre.org or by calling 847.491.7282.

#   #   #

The Exonerated is funded in part by The Evanston Community Foundation and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. This program is partially sponsored by a grant from the Evanston Community Foundation. This production is supported in part by a grant from the Alumnae of Northwestern.