The Ibsen Award

The International Ibsen Award for 2009 goes to French director Ariane Mnouchkine (pictured)

Their website says that "The International Ibsen Award honors an individual, organization or institution in the fields of arts and culture for exceptional achievements defined within the spirit of Ibsen`s work."

Any Ibsen scholars reading this? What would you predict the parameters of such an award would be?

Final performances of Enemy of the People are Fri-Sat, 7:30pm, May 29-30.
Tickets are available through our website.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Tribune covers "unusable" nature preserve

Enemy of the People concerns the fallout from an environmental disaster. We recently highlighted the parallels to the incidents in Crestwood County. This morning I came across a story in Maywood.

'Dangerous' conditions at preserve
by Gerry Smith, Chicago Tribune
May 20, 2009

And after visiting Miller Meadow last fall to look into allegations of
open dumping, an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency inspector determined
that there were no violations, said state EPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson.

But Cox said the debris on the site is widespread and "physically
dangerous" for people who want to use the area for recreation.

"Purely from a public-use point of view, it makes the site unusable," Cox
said.

And Dye said she worries about the threat to wildlife at Miller Meadow
after seeing how erosion on the restoration site has carried debris and
biosolids toward the river banks.

"I'm not an expert, but if you dump a bunch of construction debris and soil
near a river and it starts to erode into the river, I think that's a problem,"
Dye said

Our Green Night of Theatre is Sunday, May 24 after the 2:00 pm performance of Enemy of the People. Panelists from Chicago Openlands and the Notebaert Nature Museum will discuss how to be green in our homes and community.

Tickets are available through our website.

Paul G. Miller

Season Dramaturge

Norway's Economy Makes Headlines

Company member Mark Jacob Chaitin brought this piece of news to our attention:

Thriving Norway Offers a Lesson in Frugality
By LANDON THOMAS Jr.
New York Times
May 13, 2009

The global financial crisis has brought low the economies of just about every country on earth. But not Norway. With a quirky contrariness as deeply etched in the national character as the fjords carved into its rugged landscape, Norway has thrived by going its own way. When others splurged, it saved. When others sought to limit the role of government, Norway strengthened its cradle-to-grave welfare state.

And in the midst of the worst global downturn since the Depression, Norway’s economy grew last year by just under 3 percent. The government enjoys a budget surplus of 11 percent and its ledger is entirely free of debt. By comparison, the United States is expected to chalk up a fiscal deficit this year equal to 12.9 percent of its gross domestic product and push its total debt to $11 trillion, or 65 percent of the size of its economy....

Instead of spending its riches lavishly, it passed legislation ensuring that oil revenue went straight into its sovereign wealth fund, state money that is used to make investments around the world. Now its sovereign wealth fund is close to being the largest in the world....

Eirik Wekre, an economist who writes thrillers in his spare time, describes Norwegians’ feelings about debt this way: “We cannot spend this money now; it would be stealing from future generations.” Mr. Wekre, who paid for his house and car with cash, attributes this broad consensus to the country’s iconoclasm. “The strongest man is he who stands alone in the world,” he said, quoting Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.

Enemy of the People runs May 4-30, 2009
Tickets are available through our website!