Pulitzer Prize-Winner Stephen Adly Guirgis Announced As Eclipse Theatre Company's 2016 Featured Playwright

Chicago's Eclipse Theatre Company, the Midwest's only theatre company to focus on a single playwright each season, will feature the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis for their 2016 Season.

Eclipse will explore the range of Guirgis's output with three full productions, plus readings and public events about the playwright.

"As we continue through our third decade, the Eclipse ensemble is excited to present the works of one of the most important and imaginative voices in contemporary American theatre," said Eclipse's Artistic Director Nathaniel Swift. "Stephen Adly Guirgis's plays are funny and heart-breaking, written in the poetic voice of everyday people, exploring the most grand questions of human existence, and the most intimate moments of human connections. His plays are essentially important for this moment in America, as we continue to wrestle with questions of race, gender, power, and violence."

"We plan to show a wide range of Guirgis's writing, including comedies and dramas, off-Broadway hits and rarely seen gems, through our productions and staged readings. The 2016 Stephen Adly Guirgis Season will be an exciting, entertaining, and thought-provoking theatrical experience for artists and audiences alike," Swift added.

The 2016 Stephen Adly Guirgis Season will include: Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train directed by ensemble member Anish JethmalaniAt the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. Chicago IL 60657April 14 - May 22, 2016 Opening Nights April 17 at 3 p.m., and April 19 at 7:30 p.m.Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.

The 2016 Stephen Adly Guirgis Season opens with Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train. At New York's Rikers Island, Angel Cruz is in prison awaiting trial for shooting Reverend Kim. He walks the tightrope between salvation and the point of no return. While in jail he meets Lucius Jenkins, an inmate whose pride and religious zeal defy the bars that hold him prisoner. Their encounter will change each other forever. Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train is a brilliant, visceral examination of morality and justice, questioning the difference between true faith and self-serving uses of religion.

Our Lady of 121st Street directed by ensemble member Sarah MoellerAt the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. Chicago IL 60657July 14 - August 21, 2016 Opening Nights July 17 at 3 p.m., July 19 at 7:30 p.m.Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. The 2016 Guirgis season continues with Our Lady of 121st Street. The Ortiz Funeral Home is in big trouble: The body of beloved community activist and nun Sister Rose has been stolen from the viewing room, and waiting for her proper return are some of New York City's most emotionally charged, life-challenged neighborhood denizens, trying to find a place to put their grief, checkered pasts and their uncertain futures. The rest of the crowd in this dark, insightful and very funny comedy inevitably square off on each other, motivated by rage, pain and a scary desire to come clean-perhaps for the first time. A final 2016 production to be announced directed by ensemble member Steve ScottAt the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. Chicago IL 60657November 3 - December 18, 2016 Opening Nights November 6 at 3 p.m., November 7 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m.; no show Thanksgiving, 11/24 In addition to the three main productions, Eclipse will also explore additional works by Stephen Adly Guirgis through a yearlong free series of intimate readings and discussions, The Playwright Scholar Series. Details will be announced when finalized.

Stephen Adly Guirgis, winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Between Riverside and Crazy..., is a longtime member of NYC's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced on five continents and throughout the United States. They include the extended, sold-out run of The Last Day of Judas Iscariot, Our Lady of 121st Street (named one of the ten best plays of 2003; Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Best Play nominations), Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (Edinburgh Fringe First Award, Olivier Nomination as London's Best New Play, Barrymore Award, Detroit Free Press Best Play Award), and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings (Ten Best of '99, Time Out New York critics pick). All four plays were originally produced by LAByrinth, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and are published through Dramatists Play Service and by Faber & Faber. Guirgis was awarded a 2004 TCG fellowship, attended the 2004 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab, was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine, and appeared in Entertainment Weekly's 2005 Summer Must List. He has received new play commissions from Manhattan Theater Club and South Coast Rep, is a member of New Dramatists and the MCC Playwrights Coalition, and has contributed to ESOPUS magazine. Television writing credits include NYPD Blue, The Sopranos, David Milch's CBS drama Big Apple, and Shane Salerno's NBC drama UC: Undercover. As an actor, he has appeared in Brett C. Leonard's Guinea Pig Solo, produced at the Public Theatre in New York, and played leading roles in Todd Solondz's Palindromes and Brett C. Leonard's award-winning Jailbait opposite Michael Pitt.

The current Eclipse ensemble is Stephen Dale, Kathleen Dickinson, Susanne Hufnagel, Anish Jethmalani, Joe McCauley, Sarah Moeller, Nina O'Keefe, J.P. Pierson, Rebecca Prescott, Steve Scott, TayLar, and Katie Vandehey. The Artistic Director is Nathaniel Swift and the Managing Director is Kevin Scott. Eclipse Theatre Company presents the work of one playwright each season, offering audiences an opportunity, unique in the Midwest, to journey through the playwright's works. Eclipse featured playwrights include Jean Cocteau (1998); Tennessee Williams (1999); Lillian Hellman (2000); Romulus Linney (2001); John Guare (2002); Neil Simon (2003); Keith Reddin (2004); Lanford Wilson (2005); Rebecca Gilman (2006); Pearl Cleage (2007); Arthur Miller (2010), Naomi Wallace (2011), Eugene O'Neill (2012), Sir Alan Ayckbourn (2013), and Lynn Nottage (2014), Terrence McNally (2015), and Stephen Adly Guirgis (2016). One playwright, one season, one illuminating journey.Eclipse Theatre Company, 312-869-4870, info@eclipsetheatre.com, www.eclipsetheatre.com

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