HARD TIMES

October 4, 2017 – January 14, 2018

Adapted and Directed by Ensemble Member Heidi Stillman
From the Book by Charles Dickens
In Association with The Actors Gymnasium

Lookingglass launches its 30th Season with the return of the award-winning, circus-infused Hard Times.

A Dickensian carnival of characters inhabits the streets of smoke-choked Coketown: grim Mr. Gradgrind’s school churns out joyless students; poor Stephen Blackpool toils in the nearby mines; and mill-owner Mr. Bounderby, full of bluster and bombast, presides over it all. Only when a traveling circus alights nearby, and young orphan Sissy Jupe enters their world, does a ray of hope shine through.

Artistic Director Heidi Stillman adapts and directs this timeless love-letter to the power of beauty, hope, and imagination.

Captivating in every sense of the word.

– Chicago Sun-Times

A chance to escape to the circus.

– Chicago Tribune

ARTISTS

HEIDI STILLMAN

Adapter/Director

DANIEL OSTLING

Scenic Designer

MARA BLUMENFELD

Costume Designer

BRIAN SIDNEY BEMBRIDGE

Lighting Designer

ANDRE PLUESS

Sound Designer, Composer

SYLVIA HERNANDEZ-DISTASI

Circus Choreography

AMANDA HERRMANN

Properties Designer

JERI FREDERICKSON

Stage Manager

FEATURING

AUDREY ANDERSON

Sissy

ATRA ASDOU

Rachael, Mrs. Gradgrind, Sherezade (beginning 12/19)

DAVID CATLIN

Sleary, Stephen

AMY J. CARLE

Mrs. Sparsit, Drunk Woman, Pufflerumpus

Bitzer, Le Papillon

Louisa

Mrs. Pegler

Mr. Gradgrind, Sissy's Father, Slackbridge

NATHAN HOSNER

Mr. Harthouse, Mr. M'Choakumchild, Kidderminster

LOUISE LAMSON

Rachael, Mrs. Gradgrind, Sherezade (through 12/17)

JJ PHILLIPS

Tom

TROY WEST

Mr. Bounderby

LOOKINGGLASS ARTISTS

Lookingglass is an ensemble based company, with a dedicated group of artists composing its roster of Ensemble Members, Artistic Associates, and Teaching Artists.