Podcast with Lookingglass Theatre Company’s ANDREW WHITE & REBECCA SPENCE

Podcast with Lookingglass Theatre Company's ANDREW WHITE & REBECCA SPENCE 1 Podcast with Lookingglass Theatres' ANDREW WHITE & REBECCA SPENCE from SHOWBIZ CHICAGO on Vimeo.

Podcast with Lookingglass Theatres’ ANDREW WHITE & REBECCA SPENCE from SHOWBIZ CHICAGO on Vimeo.

Actors Andrew White and Rebecca Spence discuss their roles of Charles and Emma Darwin in Lookingglass Theatre Company’s engaging World Premiere of IN THE GARDEN: A DARWINIAN LOVE STORY written by Artistic Associate Sara Gmitter and directed by Jessica Thebus. For more information visit lookingglasstheatre.org

darwin3Rebecca Spence (Emma) makes her Lookingglass debut with In the Garden. Theatre credits include: Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West (TimeLine Theatre Company); This (Theatre Wit); The Voysey Inheritance, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Remy Bumppo -Equity Jeff Nom.); The CrucibleHousehold SpiritsOur Lady of 121st Street,Pacific (Steppenwolf Theatre); Twelfth Night (Noble Fool Theatricals); Dracula (Defiant Theatre); Cyrano (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre). She is an ensemble member of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble where she appeared in Wrens andThese Shining Lives (Equity Jeff Nomination). Film Credits: Man of Steel, FoolsTiger Tail in BlueOne Small Hitch,ContagionThe DilemmaAudrey the TrainwreckEarthlingPublic EnemiesGrace is Gone and The Break-Up.  Television Credits: “Crisis” (NBC), “Betrayal” (ABC), “Boss” (STARZ), “The Mob Doctor” (FOX), “Detroit 1-8-7” (ABC), “The Chicago Code” (FOX), “The Beast” (A&E) and “Prison Break” (FOX).

Andrew White (Charles/Artistic Director/Ensemble Member) has participated as an actor, writer or director in more than thirty Lookingglass productions, most recently appearing in Ethan Frome. He wrote the book and lyrics for Eastland: A New Musical, received a Joseph Jefferson Award for his 2004 adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, and wrote and directed Of One Blood in 1989. He has taught in various Lookingglass Outreach programs and residencies, and co-founded Mosaic Experience, a company which uses an arts-based approach to dialogue about diversity.

Darwin1Lookingglass Theatre Company announces an extension of In the Garden: A Darwinian Love Story, the World-Premiere production by Artistic Associate Sara Gmitter and directed by Jessica Thebus. The show now runsthrough Sunday, June 29, 2014. The two-week extension goes on sale to the public on Thursday, May 15, 2014. In the Garden runs at Lookingglass Theatre Company, located inside Chicago’s historic Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave. at Pearson.

Long before The Origin of Species will forever change the world, Charles Darwin meets Emma Wedgewood and they forever change each other. In the space between science and faith, they find an unexpected and unlikely romance.

In the Garden chronicles the struggle of two fiercely independent individuals, divided by ideology but united by a fire that fuels a passionate lifelong debate: evolution vs. salvation. Only by embracing this duality can they possibly navigate the struggles, triumphs, losses and discoveries that await.

“Lookingglass Artistic Associate Sara Gmitter has crafted one of those rare plays that offers an extraordinarily powerful combination: an achingly beautiful love story that also happens to be completely topical.  Darwin’s writings are some of the most significant and influential in human history, and continue to engender heated debate in this country; that they were also a subject of loving, if sometimes contentious, debate within his own household is a story I know our audiences are going to find fascinating, relevant and thoroughly gripping,” says Artistic Director Andrew White.

The cast includes Ensemble Member Andrew White (Charles Darwin) with Jonathan Babbo (Young Charles and others), Cindy Gold (Harriet and others), Caroline Heffernan (Young Emma and others), Rebecca Spence (Emma Darwin) and Austin Tichenor (Dr. Darwin and others).

The creative team for In the Garden includes Collette Pollard (Scenic Designer), Mara Blumenfeld (Costume Designer/Ensemble Member), JR Lederle (Lighting Designer), Sarah Burnham (Properties Designer), Tess Golden(Production Stage Manager) and Jeri Frederickson (Assistant Stage Manager).

Tickets are now on sale to the public at the Lookingglass box office, located at Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave., online at www.lookingglasstheatre.org and by phone at (312) 337-0665.