Photos: PILOT ISLAND & HER KEEPERS At The Den Theatre

After their critically acclaimed fifth season, The Impostors Theatre Company will return with the highly anticipated world premiere of Pilot Island & Her Keepers, a haunting new play by ITC ensemble member Kayla Belec, directed by ITC Artistic Director Stefan Roseen. Inspired by the true stories of lighthouse keepers whose lives were changed by the treacherous waters of Death’s Door, this evocative production transports the audience to the heart of the Great Lakes, where the real-life Pilot Island lighthouse still stands sentinel over dangerous waters. Pilot Island & Her Keepers runs from November 8 to November 23, 2024, at ITC's resident home, The Den Theatre, 1331 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60622. 

Deep in the heart of the Great Lakes, where Lake Michigan waters intersect with Green Bay, a lighthouse stands watch over the narrow, treacherous passage known to those in her reach as Porte des Morts, or Death’s Door. Hailed as a haven by some and posed as a prison by others, Pilot Island hosts a number of faithful and reluctant keepers alike. As the only checkpoint standing between a ship’s safe passage and an unknown alternative, the island and its light play a vital role in the lives of both the passersby beholden to its reaches, and its inhabitants–saviors to those whose brush with death is close and indelible. 

Where once carefully crafted routines guided by human hands give way to automated processes, there lives an impression. Each soul Pilot Island hosts treads a deeper footpath and leaves behind a new story to haunt her shores–a young pair of immigrants with no lighthouse keeping experience and the mercurial second assistant burrowing under their skins; a beloved pet becoming an unlikely martyr; a Keeper who saved enough lives to create a legacy, and more.

In a kaleidoscope of new, imaginative storytelling colliding with factual records of life on Pilot Island between the 1880s-1910s, Pilot Island & Her Keepers holds a beveled pane of glass over the meeting of fact & fiction–where memory passes down to legacy, and history transforms into lore.

The cast of Pilot Island & Her Keepers features ITC ensemble members Keaton Stewart as Narrator One (Christine) and Toria Olivier as Narrator Four (Mary Louise), with Riles Holiday as Narrator Two (Emmanuel), Ian Rigg as Narrator Three (Rohn), Raúl Alonso as Narrator Five (Pederson), Zoë Bishop as Narrator Six (Gale), and Andrew Shipman as Narrator Seven (Boyce).

Following Pilot Island & Her Keepers ITC’s Sixth Season will continue with the world-premiere, original musical, of Helena & Hermia in the Enamored Odyssey written by ITC ensemble member Dominick Vicent Alesia. The season will conclude with Footholds Vol. 6, an anthology play written by the community and directed by ITC Executive Director Rachel Borgo.

Photo Credit: Kyle Smart | The Impostors Theatre Company

The cast of PILOT ISLAND & HER KEEPERS

The cast of PILOT ISLAND & HER KEEPERS

The cast of PILOT ISLAND & HER KEEPERS

The cast of PILOT ISLAND & HER KEEPERS