A new drama centered on Chicago’s first Black mayor is coming to the Lookingglass Theatre.
Titled “Prince Hal,” a riff on a famous character in William Shakespeare’s “Henry IV,” the drama by J. Nicole Brooks will portray Washington as a reluctant candidate for greatness who is buoyed by finding supporters among everyday Chicagoans in a West Loop tavern, a plot that suggests parallels with the Shakespeare history play.
Brooks, a Chicago-based actor, writer and director, previously wrote “Her Honor, Jane Byrne.” “Prince Hal,” slated for the late summer of 2027, is the second in a planned trilogy for Lookingglass about Chicago mayors. Washington, a Democrat, was the 51st mayor of Chicago from 1983 until his death in 1987.
Lookingglass also has announced a new work from the nationally acclaimed director and adapter Mary Zimmerman, a longtime ensemble member at the theater (and artistic associate at the Goodman Theatre) who has not staged a major fresh production there in some years. She will stage a new adaptation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ “The Yearling” next spring. The 1938 young person’s book, a bestseller at the time and also the winner of the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for a novel, is set in Florida’s “Big Scrub” right after the Civil War and has several farm animals as characters.
Lookingglass is not producing in the fall; the space will be home to the previously announced commercial production of “Kowalski,” starring Johnny Galecki, although a season ticket can be bought that covers all three shows.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic
More Top Picks Brother Ds 620 Mobile