THE STING Premieres Locally With The Beverly Theatre Guild

The Beverly Theatre Guild is set to stage a production of "The Sting" by David Rogers. This will be the local premiere of the play. Performances will take place at Morgan Park Academy Arts Center, 2153 W. 111th Street, Chicago on Fri. Feb. 11th & Sat. Feb. 12th @ 7:30 pm and Sun. Feb. 13th @ 2 pm. Tickets for adults are $22, while tickets for members are $20. For tickets, season subscriptions, and more information, click here or call: 773-BTG-TIXS.

The excitement, maneuvers, and comedy of the Paul Newman/Robert Redford screen triumph have been brilliantly adapted for stage production by one of the finest professional playwrights writing today. This show takes place in 1930's Chicago in a world of small-time hustlers and their girls-their money nonexistent but their ingenuity abundant.

Johnny Hooker (a small-time grifter played by Redford in the film) joins a friend in a successful con of a "runner." Unfortunately for them, the runner works for a powerful, vindictive rackets boss, Doyle Lonnegan, who is infuriated and arranges the killing of Johnny's friend. Hoping to avenge this senseless murder, Johnny enlists the aid of the master con man Henry Gondorff (originally played by Newman). Together they decide to try the big con called "The Wire." Structured in classic style, their first move is "The Set Up." From there they proceed to "The Tale." The tension mounts as they succeed and, with the powerful Lonnegan half-hooked, go on to "The Shut Out." The excitement becomes explosive and a final scene, with switch upon switch upon switch, has your audience guessing and gasping as it builds to the final con movement, "The Sting!"

Produced for the Beverly Theatre Guild by Tom & Dawn Fagan (Oak Forest), The Sting is directed by Henry Bender (Chicago-Old Town) in his debut with the Beverly Theatre Guild, and also with Katie Regalado (Worth) as Assistant Director. This clever and complex production will feature actors Matt Helson as Johnny Hooker (Chicago-Mt. Greenwood), Jim Turano as Henry Gondorff (River Forest), Jay Gyarmathy as Doyle Lonnegan (Chicago-Beverly), Mamie Alexander as Mrs. Vanderkieft (Chicago-South Loop), and Rachel De Boer as Cynthia Hastings (Crestwood).

The intriguing cast of characters will be portrayed by an incredibly talented ensemble, which includes: Dominiqe Adams (Park Forest), Nneka Alexander (Chicago-Ashburn), Rick Andersen (Chicago Beverly), Sherry Anton (Oak Lawn), Hugo Balta (Chicago-Galewood), Susan Berardi (Evergreen Park), Jack Burr (Chicago-Uptown), Sean Henry (Chicago-Beverly), Mark Jones (Blue Island), Katherine Kavouris (Merrionette Park), Betty Kort (Evergreen Park), Mamie Long (Chicago-South Loop), Francisco Lozano (Cicero), Meg Massaro (Chicago Beverly), Joe Miller (Evergreen Park), John Neumann (Chicago-Beverly), Tessa Tejeda (Chicago-Mt. Greenwood), Matthew Walsh (Tinley Park), Colleen Winters McNeela (Oak Lawn), Tim Tarby (Chicago-Beverly), and Julie Zebleckis (Bolingbrook).

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