2005 Year in Review

Ragtime opens the TLP Season

Timber Lake Playhouse is back in action. Artistic Director Brad Lyons and Company would like to invite you to the spectacular opening show of the 44th season, Ragtime, running June 2-12.

This lavish, new musical combines a sweeping score and powerful story to show America’s innocence, energy, and ambition at the start of the 20th century. Witness our country’s “melting pot” of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and love and hate in an epic “filled with the wondrous momentum of a parade. You’re helpless to resist!” (The Detroit News)

After examining America’s past with last year’s emotionally charged Hair, Mr. Lyons revisits our country’s history by directing the equally powerful Ragtime. “This larger-than-life epic is rarely performed in such an intimate space,” he states. “ The audience is really in for a unique experience.”

For the first time on the TLP stage, there will be 12 guest artists in one production. When added to the resident company and local performers, over 50 actors bring Ragtime to life. Returning TLP favorite Karl Hamilton (Children of a Lesser God, State Fair, Private Lives) will portray Tateh accompanied by veteran Robert Maher who is playing Grandfather. Alexandra Ausman (Cats, Dearly Departed, Hair) will also be returning to TLP for the season to bring the historical figure of Evelyn Nesbit back to life on stage. Other historical figures such as Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, and Henry Ford are also represented in the show.

Professional guest artists join the company from across the United States including: Daniel Riley and Lili-Anne Brown (Chicago), Moya Angela Campbell (Indianapolis, IN), Courtney Cleveland (Louisville, KY), To’Nia R. Gray (Cincinnati, OH), Quishaun D. Hill (Detroit, MI) and Raemon (Houston, TX).

Season subscriptions for the six-mainstage performances are now on sale for $85, a saving of $17. To reserve your tickets for the opening-night show or for any other performances, call the Timber Lake Playhouse Box Office between 11 am and 7 pm daily at (815) 244-2035. Adult tickets are $17 and all students are $8. New special Sunday night performances begin at 6:30 pm this season and tickets are at a reduced rate of only $15! Ask about special group rates for groups of 12 or more. Don’t forget our web site online at www.timberlakeplayhouse.org.

Visit the TC1 Cafe (op/ed page) for a review of Ragtime

by  Editor, theCity1.com
June 4, 2005