The Know Theatre Presents GLASSHEART by Reina Hardy

For the holidays, we're bringing you a fairy tale for the broken-hearted. You already know and love the characters: an enchanted beast, his devoted servant, and a kind-hearted young woman who's been locked up...in a crappy Chicago apartment. Glassheart, running November 19 - December 12 at Know Theatre, brings you a daringly modern twist on the story of the Beauty and her Beast.

Whether you're a young woman with her first Chicago apartment or a cursed Beast with a talking lamp who's recently downsized, the hardest thing about moving to a big city can be making a genuine connection with people. Glassheart is a new kind of fairy tale: for the romantics, for the broken-hearted, and for everyone who's ready to breathe a little magic back into the world.

The Know's second show back on our Jackson Street MainStage after we were shuttered by the pandemic, Glassheart is written by Reina Hardy, who also penned the Know's 2017 holiday show, the Victorian-lady-detective crime caper Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride. Glassheart will be presented both live onstage and as a digital streaming production.

Glassheart sets the oft-adapted tale of Beauty and the Beast firmly in the present day with the question: what if Beauty had never shown up? After centuries of waiting, the Beast and his one remaining servant, a plucky living lamp, have sold their fairy-tale European castle and decamped to Chicago, hoping that the city's dense population holds at least one woman who can love a Beast. When Aiofe (say it "ee-fah;" it's an Irish name that means "beautiful") chances into their apartment in search of a runaway pet, the Beast and his Lamp think the curse's power may soon be broken ... but they may not be prepared for the sacrifices they'll make along the way.

Tamara Winters, the Associate Artistic Director of the Know and director of this production, said of Glassheart, "After 20 months of living through a truth that is stranger than fiction, diving headfirst into a story that intentionally dances between fantasy and reality feels remarkably satisfying. It's my favorite kind of story - one that takes what you think will be familiar and flips it on its head, asking all kinds of new questions you haven't thought to ask before. It's a grown-up kind of fairytale; a nice palate cleanser from predictable holiday fare. It's a story that will keep you guessing, but ultimately one that will remind you what it takes to become human. I think, right now, we could all use that lesson."

Adam Tran returns to the Know's MainStage to play the Beast on the heels of this summer's outdoor production of Mongrel, the solo show he wrote and performed. Joining him are a pair of leading ladies in their mainstage debuts: Hannah Gregory will play the Beast's devoted Lamp, who schemes to find the true love that will break the Beast's curse, and Julie Locker will appear as Aiofe, the young beauty who falls into imprisonment in the Beast's home. Rounding out the cast as the Witch is Jodie Linver, who was last seen on our MainStage as the goat Bibb in 2020's Alabaster.

Make a little magic with us this holiday season with this story of love, sacrifice, and redemption as we take a new twist on a tale as old as time.

Tickets are available on our website knowtheatre.com, or by calling our box office at 513-300-5669.

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