Halcyon Theatre’s 2016/2017 Season is Underway

19 Aug Halcyon Theatre’s 2016/2017 Season is Underway

If I can compare this coming season, Halcyon Theatre’s 11th, with last season’s incredible run, be prepared for exceptional performances and thought-provoking, original works.  After seeing “Love and Warcraft,” I was not going to make the mistake of missing the following two productions, “Estrella Cruz [the junkyard queen]” and “Dreams of the Penny Gods,” all three outstanding performances. So if you’ve missed any of Halcyon Theatre’s plays in past seasons, now is your chance to experience the works of this notable, Northwest-side theater company.  You’ll also be impressed with the new, 3rd floor, church loft performance space.  Don’t miss any of these plays!

FEFU AND HER FRIENDS

by María Irene Fornés
directed by Tony Adams
Aug. 18 – Oct. 8, 2016

On a Spring New England day in 1935, Fefu invites seven women into her home. Traveling through Fefu’s home with her closest friends, we see intimate glimpses of their complicated relationships. Fefu believes she can shape the world around her. They plan to rehearse a play for a charity event. Can she create a community? Or will their individual versions of womanhood destroy each other?

TICKETS: “Fefu and Her Friends”:   http://halcyontheatre.tix.com/schedule.aspx?orgnum=5319

DIRTY BUTTERFLY

by debbie tucker green
directed by Azar Kazemi
a co-production with The Blind Owl
Nov. 3 – Dec. 10, 2016 

Jason spends his nights with his ear pressed against the bedroom wall listening to the noises from Jo’s deeply troubled world next door. Amelia also hears into Jo’s world from her side of the wall and takes to sleeping downstairs to drown it all out. Soon all three are caught up in a blur of voyeuristic confessions and must confront the violence they cannot escape.

AMERICAN HWANGAP

by Lloyd Suh
directed by Helen Young
a co-production with A-Squared Theatre
February 24 through April 1, 2017

Lloyd Suh’s American Hwangap tells a deftly observant, funny, and moving story about a weekend in the lives of the Chuns, a Korean American family living in suburban Texas in 2005. After abandoning his family to return to his native South Korea, Min Suk Chun abruptly reappears in the lives of his ex-wife and children on the occasion of his hwangap, the traditional way of celebrating one’s 60th birthday in Korean culture. However, his ex-wife and kids, now adults, have moved on and do not welcome the patriarch back into their family. As his birthday approaches, Min Suk struggles to truly reunite his family and obtain forgiveness from the ones he loves most.

THE RIVER BRIDE

by Marisela Treviño Orta
directed by Rinska Carrasco-Prestinary
May 11 – June 18, 2017

Helena is dreading her sister’s wedding. The groom, Duarte, should have been hers. She knows her sister, Belmira, only wants to escape their quiet Brazilian town for an exciting new life in the city. Three days before the wedding, a mysterious stranger is pulled out of the river—a man with no past who offers both sisters an alluring, possibly dangerous future.

Based in Chicago on the Northwest side, Halcyon Theatre was formed in 2006 with a mission to make the stage “as diverse as the city of Chicago–presenting new voices from inadequately represented communities and recasting classic works to showcase their contemporary relevance.”

LOCATION:  Halcyon Theatre is in-residence at Christ Lutheran Church in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood at 3255 W. Wilson Ave., the corner of Wilson and Spaulding. Use the side entrance at 4541 N. Spaulding Ave. to access the theater.  More info about Getting There:  https://halcyontheatre.org/gettinghere

Advance tickets to all shows are only $20.  No-cost tickets are available on a first-come, first-saved basis. To access these seats, provide your contact information at our box office. (The box office opens one hour prior to the show). Seating begins 30 minutes before show time and is open and there are no assigned seats.

Halcyon’s Website:  https://halcyontheatre.org/

To make a donation to Halcyon Theatre: https://halcyontheatre.org/blog/donate

Pictured: Caity-Shea Violette, photographed by Tom McGrath

• Molly Jones, Theater Liaison, Northwest Arts Connection