Was Dr. Martin Luther King correct in saying the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice? Even if we do learn from the past, are we still doomed to repeat some of it? Promethean Theatre Ensemble Artistic Director Brian Pastor says, “Friedrich Nietzsche once noted that ‘when we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.’ As Promethean begins its 13th season, we are reminded of one of our founding tenets: that we tell stories of the past to illuminate our present. The themes that we explore this season challenge us to craft a better tomorrow by taking our cues from the boldest voices of yesteryear.”
Ted Hoerl, Director of ARCADIA, Fall 2018
We will open the 2018-19 season with Tom Stoppard’s ARCADIA – a play that alternates between action in the early 19th century and the present, as its modern characters explore the past to improve their understanding of the present. Mathematical theory, natural history, and Lord Byron all contribute to humanity’s eternally amusing dance of love. The production will be directed by longtime Chicago actor and director Ted Hoerl, recently the director of LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART at Eclipse Theatre. ARCADIA will run at the Greenhouse Theater Center from November 16, 2018 to December 16, 2018, with a press opening on Monday, November 19th.
-
- Brian Pastor, Director of GROSS INDECENCY, Winter 2019
Next the company will remount our 2016 production of Moisés Kaufman’s historical drama GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE. Kaufman’s play examines the persecution and prosecution of Wilde in late 19th Century Britain for his homosexuality. GROSS INDECENCY, which Brian Pastor will again direct, will be performed with cross-gender casting in some roles, as it was in the company’s earlier production, which enjoyed a two-week run in December 2016. Promethean Ensemble Member Jamie Bragg will reprise her leading role as Oscar Wilde. GROSS INDECENCY will run at Strawdog Theatre from February 15, 2019 to March 24, 2019, with a press opening on Saturday, February 23rd.
Jess Hutchinson, Director of MAD BEAT HIP & GONE, Spring 2019
Our season will conclude in the spring with the Midwest Premiere of MAD BEAT HIP & GONE by Steven Dietz, author of LAST OF THE BOYS and PRIVATE EYES among a canon of over thirty plays that have been produced by regional theatres across the country, internationally and off-Broadway in New York. MAD BEAT HIP & GONE follows two young Nebraska men of the 1950s who meet beat generation writer Jack Kerouac. Rejecting the established order of mid-fifties America, they follow Kerouac’s example and hit the open road in search of truth. The production will be directed by Jess Hutchinson, Artistic Director of Chicago’s late New Leaf Theatre. The production will run from April 26, 2019 to June 1, 2019 at the new The Edge Theater Off Broadway in Edgewater, with a press opening on Saturday, May 4th.
We’ll celebrate and provide a few previews of these upcoming shows at our annual Season Kickoff Party on Sunday October 7, 2018 at 7 pm in the upstairs lobby of the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. Tickets will be $15 and will include hors d-oeuvres, one drink ticket, one raffle ticket, and scenes from each play in the season. Tickets for the Kickoff Party will be available soon at www.prometheantheatre.org.