The 2nd Act Players, the North Shore’s showcase for emerging stage talent, is kicking off its inaugural season with two dynamic new plays by emerging Chicago-area playwrights.
John N. Frank’s original new work, Boys in the Basement, a dramedy which examines how men cope with the painful loss of family brought on by divorce, will open Nov. 6th and run for two weekends through Nov. 15th.
Boys in the Basement will be followed the weekend of January 29th by the 2nd Act Players presenting Remembrance, an original work co-produced and directed by noted North Shore author and playwright ArLynn Leiber Pressser. Remembrance looks poignantly at how we honor those we have lost and will always love.
Remembrance already has played to sold-out houses during its early 2015 run at the Winnetka Community House. Frank’s two early plays, New Year’s Eve at Grandma’s House and Talking with My Dad, as performed by the 2nd Act Players, played to sold out crowds during their runs in 2013 and 2014 at the Piven Theatre in Evanston. The 2nd Act Players are returning to the Piven for their 2015-2016 season.
Widely acclaimed Chicago theater and screen veteran Mary Reynard is joining the 2nd Act Players as director of Boys in the Basement. Reynard carries an impressive directing resume, having received rave reviews for her work on such plays as A Body of Water at Chicago’s Redtwist Theater and Roundhouse Productions’ Macbeth at Chicago’s New Rock Theater.
“Having Mary join us represents a major step forward for the 2nd Act Players,” says 2nd Act Creative Director and Co-founder John N. Frank. “The same holds true for the opportunity we have to present ArLynn’s Remembrance.” Lieber is the creator of the Face to Facebook project in which she traveled around the world to meet more than 300 Facebook friends.
“We have been a pop-up theater company until now, doing one show a year,” notes Frank. “But our first season will put us on the map as a theater that’s here to stay, and one that will have an impact on theater on the North Shore and throughout Chicago.”
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