Theatre Y to Present 'An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences, Underneath The Lintel'

Theatre Y presents "An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences: Underneath the Lintel" by Glen Berger, at various locations in Chicago, opening September 19, 2015. "Lovely Evidences," directed by Melissa Lorraine with Assistant Direction from Jordan Matthew Walsh, featuring Darren Hill, previews on September 18 at Theatre Y (entrance via side alley at 2649 N Francisco), press opening September 19 at Covenant Presbyterian Church (2012 W Dickens Ave); show runs every Monday, ongoing, with "flash mob" performances at locations to be announced weekly. For more information, visitTheatre-Y.com.

Underneath the Lintel was first produced in 2001 in Los Angeles by The Actor's Gang Theatre Company. It was produced later that same year in New York at the Soho Playhouse. The play ran for 450 performances, and was voted among the Top Ten Plays of the Year by Time Out New York magazine.

The sole character - the Librarian - embarks on a quest to find out who anonymously returned a library book that is 113 years overdue. A clue scribbled in the margin of the book and an unclaimed dry-cleaning ticket then take him on a mysterious adventure that spans the globe and the ages.

"I have found at the end of the day that the performer's passion is the trump card rarely employed by our capitalist theater industry," said Director Melissa Lorraine. "The actor has a soul, on fire or not, just as the director or writer has, but the actor's soul is for hire, and therefore finds passion where the job is (or not). When the play chooses the performer, there are sparks onstage - rarely witnessed in America - and they can ignite a forest. This play chose Darren. Darren came to me. I wanted to serve Darren who wants to serve this play."

"Beyond that, this is a play about our very position as artists in Chicago right now. Theatre Y is homeless again - vagabonds by choice and circumstance, the way we began, wandering the streets trying to be useful to our fellows. This play is aware of its insignificance. This character demands influence only because anything less feels lazy and unacceptable to him. Romantic, lucid and full of hopeless joy, our man speaks in full sentences about his incomprehensible notions - demanding a better reality, a better end. Shouting into the wind as the only true act of sanity.

"We take this text into the corners of dark bars, beside the warm fireplaces of bookstores, into the echoing rafters of abandoned migrant churches, to catch a homeless audience - the patron who has never claimed to want our wares, and to sit with him awhile. If what we make only matters to those who wish to listen, then it doesn't much matter."

Theatre Y is grabbing hold of this text as an opportunity to infiltrate every corner of Chicago in the spirit of its wandering anarchist librarian. Framed by Theatre Y's vaudevillian twin boy act, this complex and nuanced parlor room performance presents hope as the newest joke in town. He is the clown of our time, and he is the first to confess it. Theatre Y obliges him to brave the noise of the city, fighting for dignity, perhaps failing at times, but refusing to be ignored - carving his presence into doorframes all over town. Fossilizing, if nothing else, his excrement.

"Benjamin Franklin said there were only two things certain in life: Death and taxes," said Actor Darren Hill. "Death scares me, as it's a huge unknown: what comes after that event? Underneath the Lintel found me. I was given a free ticket to see it in London in 2007. Little did I know what I was about to experience. That night I was taken to places that I never even dreamed theatre could possibly take me. I remember being drawn in, thrown back, raised high and battered down low. I came away from that performance with so many questions about life, love, God, humanity, perseverance and the unknown. Underneath the Lintel became a huge influence on why and how I create theatre. I first performed it in 2012 and have continued to grow since. In my opinion this is storytelling at its best; there's a natural rhythm to the text that screams out LISTEN TO ME. If you do listen carefully you may get to find out that there is something after death...but what?"

The cast of An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences: Underneath the Lintel includes Darren Hill (Librarian). The creative team for An Impressive Presentation of Lovely Evidences: Underneath the Lintel includes Melissa Lorraine (Director), and Jordan Matthew Walsh (Assistant Director).

Melissa Lorraine (Director and Artistic Director of Theatre Y) became a company member of Studio K in Budapest, Hungary upon graduating from Northern Illinois University in 2002 with a B.F.A. in acting. During that year, she was given the rights to the newly-translated Juliet, by Transylvanian writer András. Three years later she co-founded Theatre Y with director Christopher Markle, and Juliet began her international tour, which has included over two hundred performances worldwide. I Killed My Mother, written by András for Melissa, premiered in Chicago at the Greenhouse Theater (Chicago's Best Actress Orgie award), and also ran at LaMama ETC in New York in 2012 and was featured on the cover of the New York Times Art Section. In 2010 Lorraine created a second production of Juliet with director Karin Coonrod for Theatre Y at the Royal George Theater in Chicago. Lorraine played Bertha in Exiles by James Joyce, Martha in The Misunderstanding by Albert Camus, and directed the critically acclaimed Vincent River by Philip Ridley in Theatre Y's summer Exiled Trilogy. She played the title role in Porn: 1989. A Butterfly by András Visky, for which she was named one of the 6 stars of 2012 by the Chicago Reader. Last year Lorraine directed Theatre Y's world premiere of The Binding, a collaboration with two Serbian/Hungarian choreographers which was a cover feature of the Chicago Reader. Recent Theatre Y performances: Euripides' Medea, Beckett's Happy Days, Penelope, O Penelope by Simon Abkarian, and Peter Handke's The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez.

Darren Hill (Librarian) has been living in Chicago for over two years and is loving the city and all it has to offer. In 2014, Darren appeared as Bob Cratchit in Artists' Ensemble's A Christmas Carol, and worked at Steppenwolf Theatre, Steep, Remy Bumppo and Raven Theatre, as well as appeared in The Onion (twice) and recorded voice-overs for Mastercard and Grant Thornton. Darren trained at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he played Captain Cat in Under Milk Wood and Polnius in Hamlet. He has toured the UK extensively, performing outdoor classics such as Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio), Importance of Being Earnest (Jack) and Macbeth (Macduff). Darren was in Les Enfants du Paradis at Arcola Theatre (Director of the Funambules Theatre); it was well received, with 5 stars in The Times, 4 stars in The Evening Standard and The Independent. "Une merveille - it's a triumph against the odds," said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph. Regarding Darren's performance in the BOVTS graduation showcase, The Stage said, "Hill showed a real talent for comedy and brings something likeable to his characters." A review of Under Milk Wood on the BBC website stated, "spare a thought for Cap'n Cat, Darren Hill; his lovelorn tale was pure 'Goodbye Mr. Chips' for the high seas." Represented by Stewart Talent, Darren has a strong tenor voice and is a versatile natural actor. Darren is also an accomplished film actor, taking roles in both short films such as Rebecca Trotman's The Waiting Room and T.C. Christensen's 2010 feature 17 Miracles.