The Hystery of Theatre, 101 (April 21st)

The second half of our eighteenth season will also feature the Compleat Wks of Wm Shakespeare cohorts—Aaron Zavitz, Eric Griffith, and I—this time both as actors and writers of this hysterical sprint down theatre-history-lane, as it takes us from the Greeks to musical theatre through the advent of “performance artists.”  This idea has been simmering in our collective psyches for quite a while and looks to be an informative, athletic, and riotously irreverent satire/farce to usher in the spring.

Distant Music (Jan.27th)

As you know, this season’s Irish production will feature the Midwest premiere of the award-winning play, Distant Music, by Boston playwright James McLindon.  McLindon, who just had his newest work, Salvation, produced by the Hudson Stage Company in NYC, worked with Artistic Director Cathy Kurz this past spring on a staged reading of Distant Music for the Great Plains Theatre Conference.  The great heart, humor, and depth in the piece led us to choose it for this season.  A three-hander—which will be acted by company member Laura Leininger, seasoned-actor Kevin Barratt, and myself—it will be the perfect interval to warm your January/February nights. 

In addition, C. Kurz has been in contact with Mr. McLindon discussing the prospect of his visiting the production and taking part in collateral events related to it. The prospect of hosting the playwright on one of the weekends is an exciting one, and one that we hope can come to fruition, assisted by the success of this Cal-Yr-End Fundraising effort.  It’s a rare opportunity to be able to feature one of the country’s most promising playwrights.