Saint Sebastian Players Announce Their 30th Anniversary Season

Celebrating 30 years of producing theatre on Chicago's North Side, the Saint Sebastian Players announce a 2010-11 season filled with laughter, as well as the company's annual Monologue Matchup Competition.

Opening the season is the farce Cash on Delivery by Michael Cooney. Unemployed Eric Swan has been swindling the government for two years by claiming every type of benefit for the innumerable fictitious tenants who live at his address. When an investigator shows up to meet one of these tenants, Swan turns to his actual tenant Norman McDonald for help, and the comic chaos begins. Performances are October 22-November 14, 2010.

Arms and the Man, SSP's first production of a George Bernard Shaw comedy, questions the romantic ideas about love and war that seem to crop up in every age. During the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War, Bluntschli, a Swiss mercenary, steals into the bedroom of Raina, a romantic young Bulgarian woman, to escape a street battle. His practical "cowardice" eventually proves more alluring that her arrogant fiancé's blustering and posing, and she finally realizes that she truly loves Bluntschli, her "chocolate cream soldier." Performances are February 18-March 13, 2011.
The Sisters Rosensweig is Wendy Wasserstein's captivating look at three uncommon women and their quest for love, self-definition and fulfillment. As different as only sisters can be, each tries to live up to an image imposed by her family during an emotional weekend that covers everything from class and religion to culture, status and sibling rivalry-and all as the Soviet Union falls! Performances are April 29-May 22, 2011.

One of SSP's most notable events is its annual Monologue Matchup Competition, created by the company in 1993, that allows actors to show off their best monologues, competing for a range of prizes before a panel of distinguished theatre professionals. This year's event, open to spectators as well as competitors, takes place Monday, November 1 at 7 p.m.

SSP began producing theatre in 1982 at its original home, the St. Sebastian parish, located at the corner of Halsted Street and Wellington Avenue on Chicago's North Side. When the parish closed, SSP relocated to its current home, St. Bonaventure, at 1625 W. Diversey. During those 30 seasons, the company has produced original and previously produced dramas, comedies and musicals; original audience-participation murder mysteries for special events; and the Monologue Matchup Competition, as well as provided support for smaller Sebastian Studio Projects produced by company members. For a complete history, click here. For a complete list of mainstage productions, click here.

All performances and events take place at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, at Marshfield just west of Ashland, in Chicago. Performances of each production are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Free parking is available in two lots. Subscription packages for the three-play season are $30, $20 for seniors; other options are available that include the Monologue Matchup and/or SSP's Annual Banquet. Full-priced single tickets are $15, $10 for students with valid IDs and $7 for seniors and children younger than 12. Group rates also are available. Monologue Matchup competitors pay a $15 fee; audience members pay $12 to watch the proceedings.

All programming is subject to change. For information, call 773-404-7922 or visit saintsebastianplayers.org.

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