Past Productions
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
Adapted, Composed & Directed by Douglas Post
November 27, 2009-January 3, 2010
A musical version of the exploits of Mr. Toad, an amphibian obsessed with motor cars, and his steadfast friends Rat, Mole and Badger, who attempt to break him of his terrible habit, against the background of a class struggle in the Wildwood. Featuring an eclectic score made up of rock, reggae, tin-pan alley, spirituals and a Gilbert and Sullivan send-up.
Performed by Jessica Anne Cook, Anthony Di Pisa, BJ Englehardt, Harmony France, Jennifer T. Grubb, Michael Herschberg, Megan Keach, Edward Kuffert, Katie Mack, Annie Passanisi, Ed Rutherford, Thomas M. Shea, Jeremy Trager. Musical Arrangements by Kevin O'Donnell. Musical Direction by Andra Velis Simon. Choreography by Brenda Didier. Designed by Matthew Cummings, Alan Donahue, Sarah Hughey, Ricky Lurie.
The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett
Adapted by Terry McCabe
August 28 - October 11, 2009
A world premiere City Lit adaptation. Nick Charles, a retired private eye, is unwillingly drawn into solving a murder in Prohibition-era New York. He and his extremely clever wife Nora share brilliant repartee and much drinking.
Directed by Adrianne Cury. Performed by William Bullion, Jennifer Dymit, Christina Gorman, Jake Jones, Steve Ratcliff, John Robinson, Benjamin Sprunger, Kendra Thulin, Shawna Tucker, Lee Wichman, Michael B. Woods. Designed by Kyle Anderson, Rebecca Hamlin, Terry McCabe and Nathan Rohrer.
Private Lives
by Noel Coward
performed by Don Bender, Cameron Feagin, Maggie Kettering, George Seegebrecht, Shawna Tucker.
In repertory with
Old Times
by Harold Pinter
performed by Don Bender, Gianine DeFrancesco, Cameron Feagin.
March 20 - May 3, 2009
An enigmatic drama and an intimate comedy, both about the effect of old love upon new, performed in alternating repertory by the same lead actors.
Directed by Terry McCabe. Designed by Matthew Cummings, Tamar Geist, Thomas Kieffer, Grant Sabin. Sound Design for Private Lives by Christopher Kriz. Fight Choreography for Private Lives by David Yondorf.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois: A One Night Only Concert Reading
by Robert Emmet Sherwood
directed by Beth Wolf
February 12, 2009
On the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, City Lit presented a one night concert reading of Abe Lincoln in Illinois, about Lincoln's days in the Prairie State. The price of tickets was $5.01, the Lincoln bill plus the Lincoln coin.
Scoundrel Time
by Lilian Hellman
adapted by Terry McCabe
Janurary 30- March 8, 2009
A world premier City Lit adaptation of Hellman's legendary memoir of the events surrounding her testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee at the height of McCarthyism. "I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions," she told the Committee. She was blacklisted for years as a result, but lived to tell the tale-her way.
Directed by Adrianne Cury. Performed by Jerry Bloom and Sheila Willis. Designed by Kyle Anderson, Rebecca Hamlin, Terry McCabe and Nathan Rohrer.
The Confession
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
adapted by Cameron Feagin
November 7 - December 14, 2008
A world premiere City Lit adaptation of a psychological thriller by early 20th Century America's greatest woman mystery writer. A woman rents a house and finds in it a confession to-but no evidence of-a horrible crime.
Directed by Terry McCabe. Performed by Thad Anzur, Cameron Feagin, Mary Poole, Mike Postilion, Kay Schmitt. Designed by Branimira Ivanova, Christopher Kris, Stephen F. Murray, Katie Schweiger.
Dashiell Hamlet
by Mike Nowak, Mike Nussbaum, Kathleen Thompson, and Paul H. Thompson
Directed by Mike Nussbaum
September 12 - October 26, 2008
A film-noir styled rewrite of Shakespeare's tragedy, set in 1945 Los Angeles: Nat Hamill, scion of the family that owns Hollywood's Majestic Studios, returns home from the war to find that his recently deceased father may have been murdered.
Performed by Jerry Bloom, Melissa diLeonardo, Andy Hagar, Greg Hardin, Julian Martinez, Erin Myers, Mike Nowak, Mark Pracht, Geoff Rice, Shawna Tucker. Designed by Leigh Barrett, Matthew Cummings, Thomas Kieffer, Christopher Kriz, Grant Sabin.
Pudd'nhead Wilson
by Mark Twain
adapted by Terry McCabe and Brian Pastor
May 2 - June 15, 2008
Two babies switched in infancy, one born free and one born enslaved. Twain's final major novel set in America, and his last long look at his boyhood hometown.
Directed by Terry McCabe. Performed by Jerry Bloom, Kingsley Day, Ehren Fournier, Noelle Hardy, Dan Howard, Randolph Johnson, Jim Morley, Craig J. Newman, Katy Nielsen, Mark Pracht, Adam Todd, Shawna Tucker. Designed by Katie Claudnic, Keith Pitts, Nathan Rohrer.
Underneath the Lintel
by Glen Berger
directed by Kristine Thatcher
March 6 - April 20, 2008
A wryly humorous Dutch librarian searches the world to find the person who returned a book 113 years overdue, so he can collect the fine.
Performed by Michael Joseph Mitchell, Winner, 2007 Best Actor Pulsar Award for his portrayal of The Librarian at BoarsHead Theatre
Directed by: Kristine Thatcher, City Lit Associate Director
Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
January 11 - February 24, 2008
A joyous comedy. Viola is disguised as a man and loves Orsino, who loves Olivia, who loves Viola's disguise. How will this fadge?
Directed by Jay Paul Skelton. Performed by Jeremy Cudd, Mike Dolson, Melanie Esplin, Vanessa Greenway, Nick Lake, Julian Martinez, Joe McCauley, Robert McLean, Frank Nall, Matt Rudy, Tiffany Joy Ross, Paige Smith, Conor Woods. Designed by Branimira Ivanova, Hazel Marie, Jared Moore, Robert Steel, Marcus Stephens.
A City Lit Christmas
devised and adapted by Terry McCabe
November 24 - December 30, 2007
Christmas stories and songs, merrily showing how to drive the cold winter away. Featuring the Chicago performance premiere of a 1916 Irving Berlin Christmas song lost for 80 years, pieces by O. Henry, P.G. Wodehouse, Mark Twain, Edna Ferber, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kingsley Day, Charles Dickens and others, and complete Christmas episode of The Shadow radio series, live onstage.
Directed by Terry McCabe. Music Directed by Daniel Robinson. Performed by Melanie Esplin, Meghan M. Martinez, Thomas M. Shea, and Brandon Zale. Designed by Branimira Ivanova, Stephen F. Murray, and Robert Steel.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
The Hound
of the Baskervilles
August 31 - October 14
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in their greatest adventure. Don Bender and Will Schutz reprise their roles from City Lit's 2006 hit Holmes and Watson. A world premiere City Lit Adaptation.
Adapted by Terry McCabe. Directed by Kevin Theis. Performed by Don Bender, Jerry Bloom, Bill Brennan, Chris Cantelmi, Elise Kauzlaric, Will Schutz, George Seegebrecht, Christopher M. Walsh, Philip Winston. Designed by Branimira Ivanova, Sean Mallary, Grant Sabin, Robert Steel.
The Art of Adaptation
August 17-19 2007A juried festival of fiction and myth in performance. Seven world premieres of short pieces.
$500 cash prize to The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe adapted by Ivan Faute.
Also presented at the festival:
Native Speaker by Chang Rae-Lee adapted by Nambi E. Kelley
The Wall-Reader by Fiona Barr adapted by Thomas Murray
Frigg's Grief from Voluspa adapted by Russell Berns
The Chaser by John Collier adapted by Ed Rutherford
Taibele and Her Demon by I. B. Singer adapted by Jordan Mann
Why Dogs Don't Talk by Dean Monti adapted by David Rice
The Art of Adaptation was funded in part by The Saints.
Gidget
by Frederick Kohner
April 20 - June 3, 2007
Before it was a movie and a TV show, it was a novel that critics compared to A Catcher in the Rye. An open-hearted and intelligent coming-of-age story. "It's a beautiful book," says Francis Ford Coppola, of all people. A world premiere City Lit adaptation.
Adapted by Terry McCabe and Marissa McKown.
Directed by Marissa McKown.
Performed by Carrie Hardin, Eric Hoffman, Dan Kennedy, Sabrina Kramnich, Phil Marino, Brian Pastor, Tom Weber.
Designed by Rebecca Hamlin, Christopher Provyn, Jacob Snodgrass, Robert Steel.
The Juniper Tree
A Tragic Household Tale
written and composed by
Wendy Kesselman
February 23 - April 7, 2007
A musical adaption of the Grimms fairy tale by the playwright of My Sister in This House and the new version of The Diary of Anne Frank. Beautiful and haunting, and everybody in it who deserves to live happily ever after does so. Perfectly suitable for the whole family, but not children's theatre.
Directed by David Cromer. Starring John Francisco and Anne Sheridan Smith. Music directed by Andra Velis Simon. Designed by Christopher Provyn, Grant Sabin and Jacob Snodgrass. Stage managed by Zoe Sigman.
Christmas
As We Grow Older
devised and directed by Terry McCabe
music directed by Daniel Robinson
designed by Jacob Snodgrass and Terry McCabe
November 17 - December 24, 2006
A world premiere revue of Christmas stories and songs merrily showing how to drive the cold winter away by Anonymous, L. Frank Baum, Irving Berlin, John Collier, Henry Creamer, Kingsley Day, Charles Dickens, Edna Ferber, O. Henry, C. Frank Horn, Jerome Kern, J. Turner Layton, Henry Lewis, James Pierpont, Ted Snyder, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Tallman, Mark Twain and P.G. Wodehouse.
With Kingsley Day, Melanie Esplin, Darrelyn Marx and Thomas M. Shea.
The Strange Case Of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
adapted by Frank Galati
directed by Terry McCabe
September 22 - November 5, 2006
The world premiere of Galati's adaption of Stevenson's magnificent novel about the battle between good and evil within us all. The honorable Henry Jekyll is destroyed by the thing inside himself that is the monstrous Edward Hyde. Galati's adaption is a brilliant and powerful exploration of this deep, rich story.
With Jerry Bloom, Gerard Dedera, Susie Griffith, Brian Pastor, Brian Plocharczyk, Will Schutz, George Seegebrecht, and Andrew Whatley.
Books on the Chopping Block
Readings Celebrate Banned Books Week,
Launch City Lit’s New Second Performance Space
City Lit Theater Company is joining with the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom in presenting Books on the Chopping Block, the Chicago celebration of the ALA’s 25th annual Banned Books Week (September 23-30).
Kicking off September 24, City Lit and the ALA will present four performances of short excerpts from nine books that faced expulsion from the high school curriculum in suburban Cook County earlier this year. The 7 p.m. readings will inaugurate City Lit’s 2006-07 concert readings series in its new second space at Gallery Mornea, 602 Davis Street in Evanston.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
Holmes and Watson
A world premiere City Lit adaptation
Directed by Terry McCabe
April 21 - June 4, 2006
The world’s greatest detective makes his City Lit debut in two of his grandest adventures re-imagined as psychological drama: A Scandal in Bohemia, in which he faces Irene Adler, the adventuress he will always know as “the woman,” and The Final Problem, which pits him against his very doppelganger: “the Napoleon of crime,” Professor Moriarty.
Adapted and directed by Terry McCabe. Featuring City Lit favorites Don Bender and Will Schutz, with Meghan Principe as Irene Adler.
Douglas Post's
Somebody Foreign
Directed by Terry McCabe
February 6 - March 26, 2006
A murder case develops international complications, leaving the woman at its center wondering what crime is really being investigated. Liz Fletcher, a professor of Mid-East Studies, finds herself the focus of FBI, police and media attention when her brother and his fiancee are murdered.
With Bethanny Alexander, Shay Ames, Kelli Cousins, Charles W. Glenn, Greg Hardin, Brian Plocharczyk, Jim Schmid, John Tomlinson, Niki Williams.
Edward Albee's
Seascape
Directed by Terry McCabe
September 16 - October 30, 2005
Seascape won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1975, the second of Albee’s three Pulitzers. It has been unseen by Chicago audiences since Northlight Theatre, then called the Evanston Theatre Company, produced the play’s local premiere in 1977. The City Lit production precedes by six weeks the play’s Broadway revival. The play concerns two middle-aged married couples whose chance encounter on the beach changes everything for both of them.
Seascape features a cast of four, including George Seegebrecht, a Jeff Citation winner for City Lit’s 2002 production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Taking Steps.