David Cromer to Return to OUR TOWN for the Hypocrites Benefit Reading

The Hypocrites welcomes David Cromer back to Chicago for a dynamic reading of Our Town. Many of the original 2008 cast returns for this extremely special benefit event.

Thornton Wilder's pivotal tale centers on the beauty in our everyday lives that we rarely take time to appreciate. Theme rings truer today as our modern lives mask the magnificence of the personal moments on our journey from birth to death.

Mr. Cromer directed and starred in Our Town for The Hypocrites' eleventh season (Winner of the 2009 Non-Equity Jeff Award for Best Play and Best Director.) His production has since had a long run off-broadway and has gone from L.A. to London.

All proceeds will support the Hypocrites' future productions.

The reading of Our Town by Thornton Wilder, directed by David Cromer, will take place at Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Downstairs Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL on Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 7:30pm. $100 per person. Single tickets are on sale at www.the-hypocrites.com.

David Cromer (Director) - Recent credits include: The Band's Visit (Atlantic Theatre Company),The Effect (Barrow Street Theatre), Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre), Angels in America (Kansas City Rep) and Our Town at the Almeida Theatre in London. NY Credits include: Women or Nothing at Atlantic , Really Really at MCC, The House of Blue Leaves and Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway, When the Rain Stops Falling and Nikolai and the Others at Lincoln Center Theater. Also at the Barrow Street Theatre he has directed Tribes, Our Town and Orson's Shadow as well as Adding Machine, which was a BST production at the Minetta Lane. Originally from Chicago, his credits there include Sweet Bird of Youth (The Goodman), A Streetcar Named Desire, Picnic and The Price (Writers Theatre), Cherrywood, Mojo, and The Hot l Baltimore (Mary- Arrchie), The Cider House Rules (co-directed with Marc Grapey at Famous Door), and Angels in America (The Journeymen), among others. For Michael Ira Cromer (1966-2015)

Artistic Director Sean Graney created The Hypocrites in 1997. The company is currently run by Graney and Executive Director Kelli Strickland. One of Chicago's premier off-Loop theater companies, The Hypocrites specializes in mounting bold productions that challenge preconceptions and redefining the role of the audience. The company has a reputation in Chicago for creating exciting, surprising and deeply engaging theater as it re-interprets classics and tackles ambitious new works.

Their recent production of Graney's All Our Tragic, a twelve-hour adaptation combining all 32 surviving Greek Tragedies, garnered the company six 2015 Equity Jeff Awards in its first year of eligibility. Graney's musical adaptations of Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore have become audience and critic favorites, being remounted numerous times in Chicago as well as going on tour to American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville and Olney Theater Center. The company has grown significantly in the past few years, receiving acclaim for productions at the Steppenwolf Garage, Goodman Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art, DCASE Storefront, Chopin Theater and nationally at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Actors Theatre of Louisville.

The American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Tony Awards, presented The Hypocrites with one of the 2013 National Theatre Company awards. The company's smash-hit production of Our Town, directed by David Cromer, transferred in 2009 to Off-Broadway, Los Angeles and Boston. Since the company's founding, The Hypocrites have produced over sixty mainstage productions and a dozen festival pieces, securing thirty-one Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson awards, six Equity Joseph Jefferson awards and two After Dark Awards. For more information, visit www.the-hypocrites.com.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride