Lifeline’s ‘Big Stories, Up Close’ motto at work for 2016-17

Lifeline Theatre, which has long been devoted to “Big Stories, Up Close,” has announced its 2016-2017 season with the MainStage lineup featuring a Victorian-era mystery “Miss Holmes,” the modern sci-fi adventure, “A Wrinkle in Time,” and a swashbuckling Elizabethn romp, “Her Majesty’s Will.”

Here’s a closer look:

+ “Miss Holmes,” a new play inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, written by Christopher M. Walsh and directed by Paul S. Holmquist (Sept. 9–Oct. 30, 2016): Miss Sherlock Holmes, possessor of one of the greatest deductive minds of her generation, finds herself regularly incarcerated for behaviors deemed abnormal in a “respectable” lady. Miss Dorothy Watson returns to London with a hard-won medical degree, but no one will hire a female doctor. These unconventional women, trapped in an era that refuses to accept them, must forge a bond of trust and work together to uncover the deadly secrets surrounding a corrupt police investigator whose wives have a habit up turning up dead. A murder mystery that re-introduces familiar characters from the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle under a brand new light, in a world premiere production.

+ “A Wrinkle in Time,” based on the novel by Madeleine L’Engle, adapted by James Sie and directed by Frances Limoncelli (Feb. 17–April 9, 2017): Ever since her father vanished under mysterious circumstances, Meg Murray’s life has been spiraling out of control. But one dark and stormy night, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which appear and promise to help rescue him from the monstrous darkness that threatens the universe. Meg, along with her extraordinary brother Charles Wallace, their pal Calvin, and a host of extraterrestrial friends and foes journey into the heart of a terrible evil in the hope of reuniting a fragmented family in this newly-revised adaptation of the beloved 1963 favorite by Madeleine L’Engle, not seen on the Lifeline stage since 1999.

+ “Her Majesty’s Will,” a world premiere based on the novel by David Blixt, adapted by Lifeline Theatre ensemble member Robert Kauzlaric and directed by Chris Hainsworth (May 26–July 16, 2017): Young William Shakespeare is hiding from the law in rural Lancashire, languishing as a simple school master. Christopher Marlowe is living the high life as a spy for the Crown. When a dastardly plot to assassinate the Queen draws these two unforgettable wits together, Will is swept up in a world of intrigue, treachery, and mayhem in an adventure that will define the rest of his life, if he can only manage to save Her Majesty. An irreverent comedy that imagines Shakespeare’s “lost years” as a rousing romp through the streets and across the stages of Elizabethan London, in this new work based on the 2013 novel by Chicago author David Blixt.

Lifeline’s KidSeries productions will include “Thumbelina,” based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, “Fable-ous!,” a new play inspired by Aesop’s fables, and “Giggle, Giggle, Quack,” a musical based on the popular bestseller by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin, with a score by George Howe.

Season subscriptions and single tickets for the 2016-2017 MainStage and KidSeries seasons are on sale now. Lifeline Theatre is located at 6912 N. Glenwood Ave. For tickets call (773) 761-4477 or visit www.lifelinetheatre.com.