Faculty Member Wins Theatre Award

Elizabeth Carlin-Metz, associate professor of theatre at Knox College, has received a 2007 Chicago After Dark Award for Outstanding Direction, for her production of Bertold Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children," adapted by David Hare.

Carlin-Metz is one of just four directors to receive the award, out of more than 2,000 productions in Chicago during the 2006-07 theatre season.

The play was presented from September 11 through November 5, 2006 at Theatre Building Chicago by Vitalist Theatre, the company Carlin-Metz co-founded with Robin Metz, Post Professor of English at Knox College.

"The profundity and current relevance of 'Mother Courage' was matched only by its demanding scope," stated the award citation, which was read at the award ceremony in Chicago on October 8. "This Herculean challenge was met with impeccable success by Ms. Carlin-Metz as she compiled a topnotch ensemble and a marvelous design team to pull off this complex triumph."

Other Outstanding Direction Award winners were "Come Back, Little Sheba," at Shattered Globe Theatre; "Fire on the Mountain," at Northlight Theatre; and "Ragtime," at Porchlight Music Theatre.

Vitalist Theatre also earned an Outstanding Performance Award for Lori Myers' portrayal of Mother Courage and an Outstanding Season Award for Kevin O'Donnell's original musical composition.

Other Knox faculty involved in the production were Robin Metz, executive producer and contributing artist; cast member Kelly Lynn Hogan, a 1992 Knox graduate and currently visiting instructor in theatre at Knox; set designer Craig Choma, a 1995 Knox graduate and currently associate professor of theatre at Knox; costume consultant Margo Shively, costume shop supervisor and lecturer in theatre at Knox; and graphic designers Lori Reed and Rob Reed of Galesburg, who have taught journalism at Knox.

Also assisting in the production of "Mother Courage" were current Knox students Martin Helms of Galesburg, master carpenter, and Brianne Benson of Indianapolis, production intern; and Jason Connell, a 2007 Knox graduate and staff member at the College's Seymour Library, who was master welder. In addition, more than twenty Knox alumni from Illinois and Wisconsin were involved in the production.

A member of the Knox faculty since 1994, Carlin-Metz earned a bachelor's degree at Roger Williams University and an M.F.A degree at Temple University. She and Robin Metz created Vitalist Theatre in 1997, and "Mother Courage and Her Children" is the sixth critically acclaimed production that the company has presented in Chicago. Their 2005 production, Helen Edmunson's stage adaptation of Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina," was praised by famed Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko as "the greatest production of Anna Karenina I've ever seen," while their 2004 production of Shakespeare's "King Lear" was selected as one of the "Top Ten Chicago Plays of the Year" by Performink, the newspaper that covers Chicago theatre.

Carlin-Metz will direct a Knox College production of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the spring of 2008.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 45 states and 44 nations. Knox's 'Old Main' is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.