Seanachai Theatre Changes Name to Irish Theatre of Chicago; 20th Anniversary Season Announced!

Seanachaí Theatre Company is pleased to celebrate its 20th anniversary season with an official name change to Irish Theatre of Chicago. The 2014-15 Season will include Conor McPherson's haunting drama SHINING CITY directed by ensemble member Jeff Christian and the world premiere drama THE WHITE ROAD by founding ensemble member Karen Tarjan, directed by ensemble member Robert Kauzlaric. Irish Theatre of Chicago's 2014-15 Season will be presented at its artistic home The Den Theatre,1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Chicago. Season subscriptions are currently available at www.seanachai.org or by calling (773) 878-3727. Single tickets will go on sale Monday, September 15, 2014.

"As we mark our 20th season as part of the Chicago theatre landscape, Seanachaí Theatre Company is officially changing its name to Irish Theatre of Chicago," comment ITC Co-Artistic Directors Michael Grant and Ira Amyx. "Changing the name has been under serious consideration for the last several years, and after meetings with our ensemble members and our board of directors, the new name was selected and the decision was made to make it official at the start of this our 2014-15 season. While our name is changing, our mission remains the same, and Seanachaí (gaelic for 'storyteller') is still at the heart of what we do. It is our hope that our new name and logo will support our future plans and make it easier for our current and future patrons to find and follow us in an increasingly diverse and complex digital age," add Grant and Amyx.

IRISH THEATRE OF CHICAGO'S 2014-15 SEASON:

November 26, 2014 - January 4, 2015

SHINING CITY

By Conor McPherson

Directed by ensemble member Jeff Christian

Featuring ensemble members Brad Armacost, Coburn Goss, Shane Kenyon and Carolyn Kruse

Two Dublin men wrestle the living and the dead in this contemporary ghost story by the incomparable Conor McPherson, author of last season's runaway hit The Seafarer. Ian, an ex-priest turned therapist takes on his first patient, John, a man who claims to have seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife. What follows is a haunting and suspenseful tale of what it means to lose faith - in God, in relationships and in one's self.

Last season's production of McPherson's The Seafarer earned the company five 2013-14 Equity Joseph Jeff Award nominations including Best Play, Best Ensemble, Best Director (Matt Miller), Best Actor (ensemble member Brad Armacost) and Best Supporting Actor (ensemble member Ira Amyx).

Conor McPherson is one of Ireland's premier contemporary playwrights, currently produced worldwide, in London's West End and on Broadway to both critical and audience acclaim. His other plays include The Veil (premiered at the Royal National Theatre October 2011, directed by the author), The Weir, The Seafarer, Port Authority, St. Nicholas, Shining City, Dublin Carol and The Night Alive.

April 30 - June 15, 2015

THE WHITE ROAD - World Premiere!

By founding ensemble member Karen Tarjan

Directed by ensemble member Robert Kauzlaric

THE WHITE ROAD is the story of Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica from sea to sea via the South Pole. The crew is forced to abandon their ship, The Endurance, having been crushed by pack ice. They have one path ahead -- The White Road. Experience an incredible story of survival, under near impossible conditions, and a display of the strength of the human spirit when all hope appears lost.

Karen Tarjan is a founding member of Seanachai Theatre and performed in many of their productions including And Neither Have I Wings to Fly, The Clearing, Chekhov in Yalta, Translations, Marked Tree, The Pagans and Dylan. Her adaptations of The Overcoat, The Two Towers (with James Sie), The Return of the King and The Killer Angels were all produced at Lifeline Theatre. This is her first original script.

About the Directors

Jeff Christian has been an ensemble member since 2003. He directed Mojo Mickybo, Our Father and A Whistle in the Dark for the company, and appeared in Lay Me Down Softly, The Shadow of a Gunman, The Weir, Our Father, Scenes From The Big Picture, War and David Cromer's production of Journey's End. He shared in three Jeff Awards with The Journeymen's Angels in America, and directed The Skin of Our Teeth for The Artistic Home, Proof and Driving Miss Daisy for New American Theater, Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Two Gentlemen of Verona for Lakeside Shakespeare, Kill Me for WildClaw Theatre and James Krag's one man show, According to Mark. He was the Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Project of Chicago for eight seasons and directed his adaptations of Dickens, Moliere, Ibsen, Euripides, Shakespeare, Marlowe and Goethe. He teaches directing in Columbia College's Department of Cinema Art + Science and was the 2014 recipient of The Excellence in Teaching Award.

Robert Kauzlaric's directing credits include Cymbeline (2014 Wilde Award nomination: Best of the Bard), She Stoops To Conquer (2014 Wilde Award nomination: Best Comedy), Love's Labour's Lost (2013 Wilde Award: Best of the Bard), and Tartuffe (2012 Wilde Award: Best Comedy) for the Michigan Shakespeare Festival; and the world premiere of Chris Hainsworth's stage adaptation of Hunger (the debut novel by Elise Blackwell) and the world premiere of John Hildreth's adaptation of Treasure Island, both at Lifeline Theatre. As a playwright, Robert has written over a dozen theatrical adaptations which have been produced in nearly 40 U.S. states, as well as in England, Ireland and Canada, including Neverwhere (2011 Non-Equity Jeff Award: New Adaptation) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (2008 Non-Equity Jeff Awards: Production-Play and New Adaptation). As an actor, Robert has appeared in over 50 productions in the Chicago area, including work with Circle Theatre, City Lit, Goodman Theatre, Greasy Joan & Co., the Hypocrites, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, New American Theater, Seanachaí Theatre Co., Strawdog Theatre Co. and Theatre at the Center.

Irish Theatre of Chicago (formerly Seanachaí Theatre Company) is supported in part by The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council and The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs: City Arts Program.

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