Writers opens 2012-2013 season with 'Hamlet'

Writers' Theatre in Glencoe opens its 2012-2013 season with the grandest of Shakespeare's tragedies, “Hamlet.”

Artistic director Michael Halberstam directs the main stage production which runs Sept. 4 to Nov. 11 at Tudor Court, and stars Scott Parkinson as the troubled prince, Shannon Cochran as his mother Gertrude, and Cochran's real-life husband Michael Canavan as Claudius.

Next up is the Midwest premiere of “The Letters,” a political thriller by John W. Lowell set in 1930s Russia, in which a party official tries to prevent the public exposure of the allegedly homosexual correspondence from a famous Russian composer. Kimberly Senior directs the show which runs from Oct. 30 to Feb. 17, 2013, on the company's intimate second stage at Books on Vernon.

Next year also brings a main stage revival of “Sweet Charity,” by Neil Simon, with music and lyrics by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields. Halberstam directs the musical about an endearing dance hall “hostess” who has a unique knack for picking the wrong men. Music director Doug Peck reorchestrates the score for a jazz combo. Performances begin Jan. 22, 2013, and run through March 31 at Tudor Court.

Associate director Stuart Carden directs the U.S. premiere of David Greig's “Yellow Moon” (April 2-July, 21, 2013, at Books on Vernon). Set in the Scottish highlands, it centers on Leila and Lee, a couple of outsider teens in love, whose antics brand them as a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.

Writers' season concludes with wordsmith David Ives' 2010 adaptation of Pierre Corneille's “The Liar,” a 17th century farce in verse about a charismatic cad who flirts with two women, only to confuse the identity of the one he really likes. William Brown directs the Tudor Court production which runs from May 21 to July 28, 2013.

Season subscriptions are available at the box office at 376 Park Ave., Glencoe, by phone at (847) 242-6000 or online at writerstheatre.org.