John Reeger's CHANGING CHANNELS Next Up in Route 66 Theatre's 'Driver's Seat' Series

Route 66 Theatre Company continues its "Driver's Seat" Monthly Reading Series at Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro (3905 N. Lincoln Ave) with CHANGING CHANNELS by John Reeger on Monday, November 7th at 7:30 p.m.

The reading will feature Joe Dempsey, Joe Foust, Heidi Kettenring, Ryan Stajmiger and Stef Tovar.

Inspired by true events, Changing Channels is set in 1952, backstage at the Dumont Television Company in New York City, where actors face accusations and potential blacklisting as hysteria sweeps Cold War America.

John Reeger is a Chicago playwright and actor. John and his long-time collaborator, the late composer/lyricist Julie Shannon, received the 1996 After Dark Award for Outstanding New Work when their musical The Christmas Schooner premiered at the Bailiwick Repertory. The Christmas Schooner is licensed by MTI and has gone on to receive more than 140 productions in theatres throughout the country and in Bristol, England. It has been produced annually in Chicago for the past twenty years. John and Julie previously collaborated on the musical Stones, which premiered in 1989 at the St. Louis Black Repertory. Stones garnered seven theatre awards for excellence, including Best Musical, in its production at Arizona's Phoenix Theatre. John and Julie's third collaboration, Let the Eagle Fly, the story of Cesar Chavez, was produced in concert version by the Goodman Theatre, as part of their 2004 Latino Theatre Festival. The first staged production of Let the Eagle Fly was at the University of Texas Pan American in the fall of that year. In September 2006, Let the Eagle Fly was produced by California Stage in Sacramento and later by Western Stage in Salinas, CA. Their most recent collaboration The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes (with music and lyrics co-authored by Michael Mahler) opened at The Mercury Theatre in January. This fall it received the 2016 Joseph Jefferson ("Jeff") Award for "New Work." An actor with more than 150 professional credits, John is the recipient of a Jeff Award for Principal Actor in a Musical. In 2015, John and his wife Paula Scrofano received a Career Achievement Jeff Award for their "contribution to Chicago theatre over the past five decades."

Route 66 Theatre Company introduces, develops, produces, and exports new work for the stage. The road begins with our new play development process and reaches west, where our World and Chicago Premiere shows are given an advocate for further regional productions along the road less traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles. Since the company's founding, Route 66 has produced 10 productions, 2 in two cities including an Off-Broadway premiere, been nominated for ten Jeff Awards and won two. Route 66 is now a resident company of The Den Theatre.

Route 66 is Stef Tovar, Founder and Artistic Director; Deborah Blumenthal, Director of New Play Development; Alana Parvey-Zalas, Business Manager; Rachel Wendte, Managing Director; Matthew Bonaccorso, Company Manager and Kelly Parker, Casting Director

Route 66 Theatre Company Artistic Associates: Brian Sidney-Bembridge, Audrey Billings, Johnny Clark, Brandon Dahlquist, Raymond Fox, Damon Kiely, Ron Klier, Jenni Lamb, Tyler Meredith, John Mohrlein, Kelly Parker, Geoff Rice, Emily Rohm, Tricia Small, Jeremy Sonkin, Alex Stage, Nancy Staiger, Erica Stephan, Bethany Thomas, Rita Vreeland, Steven Wilson and Emily Woods.

Route 66 Theatre Company Board of Directors: Jennifer Baumann, President; Deborah Haimes, Vice-President of Communications; Nicholas Stone, Treasurer; Molly Crabtree, Secretary; Elizabeth Derrico, Lee Dickson, James Frenzel, Laurie Hamilton, Pat Turnbull and Robert Veasey.

Route 66 Theatre Company's 9th Season is presented by generous grants from MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency and DCASE CityArts.

For more about Route 66 Theatre Company, visit www.route66theatre.org.

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