STAGE TUBE: Preview Seanachai Theatre Company's IN PIGEON HOUSE, Opening 10/17

In Pigeon House by Honor Molloy opens tomorrow night, October 17th and runs through November 18th, 2012 at the Den Theatre (1333 N. Milwaukee Avenue) in Chicago. Get a preview of the show in the video!

Juxtaposed against the contemporary drug-fueled club scene in Dublin, In Pigeon House weaves together vaudeville, music hall, and cinema in this love letter to traveling shows. Moving between time and genres, the itinerant players Basher, Masher, Rasher and Dolly rip up the stage with a furious tornado of language and Moving Pictures. A startlingly theatrical and darkly comic oeuvre, In Pigeon House at once explodes and upholds the romantic myth of the wandering player.

In Pigeon House's cast includes Ensemble actors Ira Amyx and Barbara Figgins. Amyx received Jeff nominations for his work in Seanachaí's productions of That Was Then (Supporting actor) and A Moon for the Misbegotten (Co-scenic designer with Merje Veski). John Mossman, who directed Figgins in Seanachaí's The Shadow of a Gunman, rounds out the cast along with Katherine Schwartz.

Design team includes Paul Loesel (Original Music Composition), Patrick McGee (Scenic and Properties Design), Garvin Jellison (Lighting), Beth Laske-Miller (Costumes and Make-up), Mark Comiskey (Video Designer), Ian Garrett (Sound and Engineering Designer), Susan Gosdick (Dialect Coach), Ashley Irons (Properties Master), Andrew Blendermann (Pianist and Musical Consultant), Andra Velis Simon (Vocal Coach), Jeri Frederickson (Dramaturgy), Erin Diener (Production Stage Manager), and Anna Lafontant (Stage Manager).

In Pigeon House owes its inspiration to the "fit-ups," traveling shows that toured Ireland's countryside in the first half of the twentieth century. Farmers and villagers "starved for a bit of culture" prized the indigenous touring companies from whose talented and highly accomplished ranks emerged such actors as Cyril Cusack and Milo O'Shea. John Molloy, father of the playwright, began his own career in the fit-ups before moving on to star in Ireland's first soap opera, Tolka Row.

Director Brian Shaw is a founding member of the physical theater company, Plasticene, with whom he created and performed original work for 17 years. Brian has performed with numerous theaters in Chicago, the Festival of the Americas in Montreal, the Hispanic Theater Festival in Miami, and the INFANT Festival in Serbia. He appeared off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre in The Strangerer by Mickle Maher. Shaw is a Professor in the Theater Department at Columbia College, where he teaches acting, physical theater, theater history and community-based performance.

Honor Molloy (playwright) is the author of Maiden Voyages (with Bronagh Murphy), Madame Killer (with Diana Kane), Crackskull Row, Murphy and Kick. She has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. Her plays have been produced in NYC by Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, The Public Theatre's New Works, HERE, as well as Sydney's Mardi Gras Arts Festival and the Inisbofin Arts Festival. She has performed stories from her autobiographical novel Smarty Girl: Dublin Savage (GemmaMedia / Simon & Schuster Audio) at the Irish Arts Center, Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side, Hamilton College, and at the 45th Commemoration of the Nelson Pillar Bombing at the Dublin City Archives.

Paul Loesel's (original music composer) songs, along with lyricist Scott Burkell, have been performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. Their songs have been premiered by Kristin Chenoweth, Rebecca Luker, Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Stephanie J. Block, Susan Egan, and Liz Callaway. Their musical, Six of One, (Jonathan Larson Foundation Grant, ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, CAP21 workshop, Philly Fringe Festival), re-titled The Extraordinary Ordinary, played the Clurman Theatre/Theatre Row in NYC. Musical Revues include Love Songs And Other Crap (MAC Award nomination) and Sorta Love Songs (Birdland). Their new musical, Ella Minnow Pea, based on the popular novel by Mark Dunn, received a production at the University of Michigan and will receive an NYC workshop this fall. Paul also collaborated with Honor Molloy on Madame Killer. He is the recipient of the 2010 Theatre Hall Of Fame Burton Lane Award.

Promotional video for In Pigeon House was created by Al Wyatt (Director), Jim Hoffman (DP), Donny Smutz (Camera Operator), Danny Fogarty (Editor) and Mark Comiskey (additional video design).

For more information, visit www.seanachai.org.

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