Martin, Stoppard, and More Headline St. Sebastian Players' Season

The Saint Sebastian Players announce their 2008–09 season, including three mainstage productions that celebrate accomplished writers and the company's annual Monologue Matchup Competition fundraiser.

The season opens with the theatrical farce Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig, author of Lend Me A Tenor. Directed by Tony Soto, the production runs October 17–November 9, 2008. George and Charlotte Hay, fading stars of the 1950s, are playing Private Lives and Cyrano de Bergerac in rep in Buffalo, New York with five actors. On the brink of a disastrous split-up caused by George's dalliance with a young ingénue, they receive word that they might just have one last shot at stardom: Frank Capra is coming to town to see their matinee, and if likes what he sees, he might cast them in his movie remake of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Unfortunately for George and Charlotte, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, abetted by a visit from their daughter's clueless fiancé and hilarious uncertainty about which play they're actually performing, caused by Charlotte's deaf old stage-manager mother who hates every bone in George's body.

Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile, directed by SSP member Steven Walanka, runs February 13–March 8, 2009. Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso meet at a bar in Montmartre, Paris on October 8, 1904. Both men are on the verge of an amazing idea-Einstein will publish his special theory of relativity in 1905, and Picasso will paint Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907-when they find themselves at the Lapin Agile (Nimble Rabbit), where they have a lengthy debate about the value of genius and talent while interacting with a host of other characters.

Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, directed by SSP member John Oster, concludes the season April 24–May 17, 2009. The play focuses upon Henry, who, much like Stoppard, is a successful playwright. Henry is married to an actress, Charlotte, who is playing the lead in his current play; he has fallen in love with another actress, Annie, for whom he soon leaves Charlotte. But is his new love ''the real thing"? Other concerns the play addresses: Does art influence life? Can life imitate art (the converse of the proverb "art imitates life'")? Must art have a political and social value or can it stand alone, as art for art's sake? Stoppard argues that intellectuals are taking political expression for literature, and he makes a strong case that art should be valued for its aesthetic merits alone.

One of SSP's most notable events is its annual Monologue Matchup Competition, a one-of-a-kind fundraiser, created by the company in 1993, that gives actors the opportunity to show off their best monologues before a panel of distinguished theatre directors, competing for a range of prizes. This year's event, which is open to spectators as well as competitors, takes place on Monday, October 27 at 7 p.m. SSP member Nancy Pollock is producer.

All performances and events take place at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, at Marshfield just west of Ashland, in Chicago. Performances of each production are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Free parking is available in two lots. Full-priced subscriptions are $30; subscriptions for seniors and children younger than 12 are $15. Full-priced single tickets are $15, $10 for students with valid IDs and $7 for seniors and children younger than 12. Group rates also are available. Monologue Matchup competitors pay a $15 fee; audience members pay $12 to watch the proceedings.

All programming is subject to change. For information, call 773-404-7922 or visit saintsebastianplayers.org. Tickets are also on sale at ticketweb.com.

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