Illusion Theater Presents World Premiere of Willa Cather's My Antonia

(Minneapolis - December 31, 2009)  - Illusion Theater and playwright Allison Moore will bring Willa Cather's vibrant character of Antonia Shimerda to life on the stage in the world premiere of My Antonia from February 19 - March 20, 2010. The production is expected to draw broad interest from book clubs and local universities, including the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and Metro State University.

Illusion Theater will be partnering with the University of Minnesota's College of Continuing Education on a one-day immersion course about Willa Cather, from her life in Nebraska to how she emerged as one of America's preeminent authors to how the novel was transformed into this new play.

This theatrical adaptation was developed during Illusion's 2009 Fresh Ink Series and will now see its first full-scale production. Post-show discussions with guest speakers will follow select performances.

In 1918, Willa Cather made the gutsy choice to write about the 1880's European immigrants who came here to make their American dreams come true. They endured bitter winters and struggled to make things grow in the hard scrabble soil of the windswept Nebraska prairie. Allison Moore's new adaptation is told through the memories of narrator Jim Burden, who after twenty years of living in the East returns to his small prairie town to see Antonia, the Czech immigrant girl who shaped his understanding of life. The story is wrapped up in an environment of the changing prairie created by the actors, set, and sound.

The play will feature the ensemble of Katie Guentzel, John Catron, Brian Goranson, Beth Gilleland, Angie Haigh, and Molly Sue MacDonald supported by musicians performing music by Roberta Carlson. Illusion Theater's Producing Director Michael Robins will direct. Illusion Theater Artistic Associate Dean Holzman will design the set with Mike Wangen as the lighting designer and Kathy Kohl as the costume designer. This project is funded in part by The National Endowment for The Arts and the American Masters Series.

Playwright Allison Moore is a talented writer whose plays have been developed or read at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Williamstown Theatre Festival, InterAct Theatre, and Manhattan Theatre Club. Her works have been produced at the Cherry Lane Alternative, Kitchen Dog Theatre, Actor's Express, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Playwrights' Center, and Illusion Theater, among others. Allison is a recipient of a Bush Artist fellow grant and two Playwright Center Jerome fellowships. She is currently a McKnight Artist Playwright Fellow.

Ticket & Address Information
Tickets for My Antonia are $25 with discounts for Illusion Theater Members and groups of ten or more. Tickets are currently on sale, as are Illusion Theater Memberships, and are available at the Illusion Theater Box Office at 612-339-4944 or online at www.illusiontheater.org.

The theater is located on the 8th floor in the Hennepin Center for The Arts at 528 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis. The building is on the corner of 6th Street and Hennepin Avenue, just one block from Metro Transit's Hiawatha Light-Rail Line.

Performance Schedule:
Friday, February 19 at 8pm (Opening Night)
Saturday, February 20 at 8pm
Wednesday, February 24 at 10am
Thursday, February 25 at 8pm
Friday, February 26 at 8pm
Saturday, February 27 at 8pm
Sunday, February 28 at 7pm (Pay-What-You-Can)
Wednesday, March 3 at 10am
Thursday, March 4 at 8pm
Friday, March 5 at 8pm
Saturday, March 6 at 8pm
Sunday, March 7 at 7pm
Wednesday, March 10 at 10am
Thursday, March 11 at 8pm
Friday, March 12 at 8pm
Saturday, March 13 at 8pm
Sunday, March 14 at 7pm
Thursday, March 18 at 8pm
Friday, March 19 at 8pm
Saturday, March 20 at 8pm

The class Compleat Immersion: Willa Cather in Context and on Stage at the University of Minnesota's College of Continuing Education will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2010 in Saint Paul. Visit http://www.cce.umn.edu/courses/CS-0696.html for more information about the class.

About Illusion Theater
Illusion Theater was founded in 1974 and presents its season on the 8th floor of the Hennepin Center for the Arts in downtown Minneapolis. Since the beginning, Producing Directors Michael Robins and Bonnie Morris have led Illusion Theater in illuminating the illusions, myths, and realities of our times and in using the power of theater to catalyze personal and social change. In thirty-five years, Illusion has generated over 500 plays, developed thousands of artists, and created ground-breaking educational works. Plays developed at Illusion have been produced in theaters throughout the world. Illusion's work has catalyzed conversations in living rooms, kitchens, coffee houses, and board rooms, and has led to transformations in policy, in organizations, in students, and in individuals.