Rick Cluchey Stars in Shattered Globe's AN EVENING OF BECKETT,5/2-5/12

The Ensemble of Shattered Globe Theatre is pleased to present AN EVENING OF BECKETT starring renowned Beckett protégé and San Quentin Drama Workshop founder Rick Cluchey. The Chicago-born actor performs Beckett's classic one-act KRAPP'S LAST TAPE, featuring original direction by the playwright himself. The program concludes with SAM AND RICK, a moderated discussion with Cluchey about his personal experience with Beckett, the playwright's influences on art and theatre, life at San Quentin State Prison, and much more. AN EVENING OF BECKETT will play eight performances only, May 2 - 12, 2013 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are available at www.shatteredglobe.org or by calling the Stage 773 Box Office at (773) 327-5252. The press opening is Wednesday, May 1 at 8 pm.

A tour-de-force for one actor, KRAPP'S LAST TAPE is a brilliant character study and a sad, astute examination of aging and regret. A birthday party of sorts, Krapp sits in a darkened room with wine, bananas and the tape recorder by which he tracks his existence.

In SAM AND RICK, Cluchey is joined each performance by a different guest moderator for a powerful and insightful discussion chronicling Cluchey's unique relationship with Samuel Beckett - from his initial connection to the playwright's work while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison - to the close, seven-year creative partnership and friendship they developed after Cluchey's release. Interspersed with photos and video footage, each guest moderator brings a unique perspective to the artistic contributions of Beckett and his fascinating protégé, Rick Cluchey.

Guest moderators for SAM AND RICK include: longtime Beckett and Cluchey collaborator John Jenkins, an acting professor at The Theatre School at DePaul University and member of the San Quentin Drama Workshop (Wednesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 2); noted Chicago author, actor, director and teacher Sheldon Patinkin (Friday, May 3); Goodman Theatre Associate Producer Steve Scott (Saturday, May 4); Artistic Director Emeritus of Victory Gardens Theater Dennis Zacek (Sunday, May 5); Purdue University Associate Professor Lance Duerfahrd, author of The Work of Poverty: Samuel Beckett's Vagabonds (Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10); Dr. Neil Spira, President of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society (Saturday, May 11); and Shattered Globe Board member Dr. Mark Levey, also a member of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society (Sunday, May 12).

Rick Cluchey co-founded the San Quentin Drama Workshop (notably Beckett's American theatre company of choice) while serving a life sentence at San Quentin State Prison. After his sentence was commuted, he toured Europe with his play The Cage. There, he began his seven-year collaboration with Samuel Beckett, serving as the playwright's assistant director on a production of Waiting for Godot in Berlin. Cluchey eventually persuaded Beckett to direct him in Krapp's Last Tape and Endgame - stagings he later remounted around the world. Cluchey's life and work at San Quentin inspired John Hancock's 1997 prison drama Weeds, starring Nick Nolte. He received an Obie Award for David Mamet's Edmund, a Singapore Festival Award for Krapp's Last Tape and was the first American to receive Italy's prestigious Premio de la Crítica literary award. In Chicago, Cluchey has performed his works at Victory Gardens Theater and The Goodman Theatre.

Samuel Beckett is widely considered one of the most gifted and influential writers of the 20th century. His prolific body of work - including drama, prose, poetry, and more - spans the 1930s through the 1980s, and includes Waiting For Godot, Endgame, Happy Days and Krapp's Last Tape. Defying simple categorization, Beckett has been referred to as one of the last Modernists, one of the first Postmodernists, and one of the most important Absurdists. In 1969, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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