City Lit Theater Reveals 2024-25 Season Programming

City Lit Theater has announced its programming for the 2024-25 season, the company’s 44th. The season is the first to be programmed under the leadership of Brian Pastor (they/them), who will assume the position of Executive Artistic Director on July 1, returning to the company they served for over ten years in administrative roles, including Managing Director. Most recently, they were a Resident Director of the company, and directed City Lit’s acclaimed productions of THIRTEEN DAYS, THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, and THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. Pastor’s appointment was announced in June 2023, following the announcement that longtime Producer and Artistic Director and Terry McCabe would retire at the end of the 2023-24 season.

Pastor’s inaugural season as Executive Artistic Director will be true to the company’s tradition of focusing on new work, new-to-Chicago plays, literary adaptations, and stage classics.

The House of Ideas

The season will open with THE HOUSE OF IDEAS, the third installment of Mark Pracht’s “Four Color Trilogy” of plays about significant moments in the development of comic books as an art form and an industry. This third installment recounts Marvel Comics’ emergence as an industry powerhouse, as writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby struggle with sharing the credit for this newfound success. McCabe will return to City Lit to direct this final installment of the trilogy which began under his leadership in 2022 with his direction of Pracht’s THE MARK OF KANE. THE HOUSE OF IDEAS will open on Sunday, September 1 at 3 pm following previews from August 23, and play through October 6.

Seven Guitars

August Wilson’s SEVEN GUITARS will follow, directed by Manny Buckley. This will be the first Chicago storefront production of this powerful drama from Wilson’s ten-play “Pittsburgh Cycle.” Set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1948, it follows six friends mourning the death of their friend Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, a rising blues star trapped by his circumstances and cut down in his prime. SEVEN GUITARS will open on Sunday, October 27 at 3 pm, following previews from October 18, and play through December 1.

Glassheart

Pastor will direct the final two plays of the season, which will continue in January 2025 with the Chicago premiere of GLASSHEART by Reina Hardy. A Chicago-based self-described “playwright and fabulist,” her work has been produced across the United States, and in the UK, Australia and Greece. GLASSHEART, a modern-day reimagining of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, was praised by the WASHINGTON POST for its “off-key insights” and its “funky, poetic” nature. THE WASHINGTONIAN called it “enchanting, funny, and thought-provoking.” This play, set in Chicago and written by a Chicago playwright, is finally getting its Chicago premiere at City Lit. GLASSHEART will open on January 19, 2025, at 3 pm following previews from January 10, and run through February 23, 2025.

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)

Concluding the season will be a world premiere adaptation of R.U.R. (ROSSUM'S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS)  a 1920 science-fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek that introduced the word "robot" to the English language. This “freely adapted” version of R.U.R. is by the playwright and director Bo List, who penned the adaptation of FRANKENSTEIN that City Lit produced in 2012. R.U.R. (ROSSUM'S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS) will open on Sunday, May 11, 2025, following previews from May 2, and play through June 15, 2025.

Of the season, Pastor says, "I'm very excited to continue City Lit's tradition of blending new works with fresh takes on classics. In many ways, this is a season about dreams (and how sometimes dreams can become nightmares). But it's also a season about discovering the beauty and the magic in the everyday. We hope these stories will awaken your senses."

City Lit Season 44 subscriptions are available at $99.00, good for all performances, or $77.00 for preview performances. Subscriptions may be ordered online at www.citylit.org or purchased over the phone by calling 773-293-3682. Single tickets for the Season 44 are priced at $30 for previews and $35 for regular performances and will be on sale soon. Senior prices are $25 for previews and $30 for regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances.

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