David Schwimmer to Play George Gibbs in Chicago Our Town

David Schwimmer will play George Gibbs in Lookingglass Theatre Company’s production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, which begins performances at the Chicago company’s theater in the Water Tower Water Works on February 11. Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro and Jessica Thebus are co-directing the play.

Joining the 42-year-old Schwimmer are Laura Eason as his young love Emily Webb, Joey Slotnick as the Stage Manager, Lookingglass artistic director David Catlin as Dr. Gibbs, and company members Thomas J. Cox, Kevin Douglas, Christine Mary Dunford, Raymond Fox, Sara Gmitter, David Kersnar, Louise Lamson, John Musial, Heidi Stillman, Tracy Walsh and Andy White.

The Lookingglass web site says that Shapiro and Thebus’ production “will infuse the play with a singular chemistry you won’t see anywhere else. In the hands of these renowned artists, Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece will be disarmingly beautiful, utterly compelling and painfully funny."

Shapiro, a Tony winner for helming August: Osage County, said on the theater's web site, “In this moment, when the world is fractured by hate, fear and violence, it is critical that we tell stories that reveal our connectedness, not our isolation and, most importantly, our responsibility to one another as a family of man and not nation."

Best known for his long run as Ross Geller on Friends, Schwimmer is a founder of Lookingglass Theatre and has appeared in or directed many productions there. He appeared on Broadway in the 2006 revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

This is the second major production of Our Town to play in Chicago in less than a year. David Cromer’s mounting of the play, in which he played the Stage Manager, drew rave reviews in May 2008 and will transfer to off-Broadway’s Barrow Street Theatre beginning February 17 for an open-ended run.