Julia Cho's THE PIANO TEACHER at Next Theatre in Evanston, IL

Mary Ann Thebus, "Mrs.K" and Next Theatre's artistic director, Jenny Avery Talkback

Manny Buckley, "Michael" joins The Talkback

my comrades, brandi jackson, dana daniels and laurie hartung after the show

mom and me

Director, Lisa Portes and her talented colleagues at Next Theatre in Evanston, IL present Julia Cho's alarming and beautiful play, The Piano Teacher. In an impressive, riveting, Broadway caliber performance, much akin to Lois Smith in Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful, Mary Ann Thebus delivers what artistic director, Jenny Avery called after the show, "a Herculian" turn as the disbelieving, winsome, "Mrs. K." Sadieh Rifai as "Mary Fields" and Manny Buckley as "Michael" hold their own with charismatic portrayals that add to the suspense. My small sample group of my pals and my mom all gave this show a thumbs up. My mom, always the brilliant professor, quite succinctly said, "That was excellent! All three actors were so good. And Julia dealt with so many things - an amalgamation of issues in a compact amount of time!" The show was tight, masterfully directed and thought-provoking, to say the least. I left the theater thinking that Julia's tale of memories and consequences was so true, simple and clear - that the path to Hell may well be paved with good intentions, and that it is a miracle that any of us survive this life at all. But thankfully we do, and we get to experience the magic of theater like this, like Marsha Norman's 'Night Mother, Chay Yew's Porcelain... And perhaps whatever Next Theatre and Ms. Cho have to offer in the future... www.nexttheatre.org/index.htm