Halcyon Theatre Announces DREAMS OF THE PENNY GODS Cast

Chicago's Halcyon Theatre announces casting for the World Premiere of Dreams of the Penny Gods by Callie Kimball. Directed by Jennifer Adams, Co-Founder of Halcyon Theatre, the company closes its 10th Anniversary season with this dark dramedy that captures the lies a family tells themselves. The cast of Dreams of the Penny Gods features Denise Hoeflich, Robert N. Isaac, Ted James, Shadana Patterson and Caity-Shea Violette. Dreams of the Penny Gods runs March 24 - May 1 at Halcyon Theatre, in residence at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3253 W. Wilson Avenue. The official opening night performance is Thursday, March 31, at 8pm; the running time is approx. 110 minutes with one intermission.

"Dreams of the Penny Gods appealed to me initially because I, like the family in Kimball's play, am from Maine" explains Adams. "This is a family about as far from the idyllic notion of a quaint seaside as you can get. Penny Gods asks the question, 'Can someone from a family of monsters ever escape? And if they escape, where do they run to?'"

Dreams of the Penny Gods tells the story of Bug (Violette) just your average 13-year-old girl who happens to have been born into a criminal family that's hiding out in a storage facility. Naturally, she transforms herself into a high priestess who's trying to raise the dead. On this particular summer day, her incantations seem to work, setting off a rough Armageddon and launching her into the world. Through guidance from her assumed-mother Kitty (Hoeflich), Jehovian-Sister Gloria (Patterson) as well as the unexpected appearance of Bobby (James) and his companion, Truck (Isaac), this contemporary drama delves into the family's immoral infrastructure and completely turns Bug's perceived world on its head.

Callie Kimball's work returns to Chicago from the 2013 debut of May 39th at Halcyon Theatre's Alcyone Festival. She's been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship and was an O'Neill National Playwrights Conference semifinalist. Following Kimball's MFA Thesis Production at Hunter College in 2012, Dreams of the Penny Gods was first brought to life at New York's acclaimed Lark Play Development Center in 2013 and was most recently workshopped at Snowlion Rep Playlab in Maine this past June. Halcyon Theatre is proud to be the first to take this enthralling script from workshop to stage.

Dreams of the Penny God's design team includes Michael Chancellor (set), Cat Davis (lights), Izumi Inaba (costumes), Tony Adams (sound), Alec Long (properties), and Victoria Apodaca (stage management).

Performance schedule and tickets

Dreams of the Penny Gods will be performed March 24 through May 1 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8p.m. and Sundays at 6p.m. Tickets are $20 for guaranteed advance admission or at no-cost through the Radical Hospitality program. Visit https://halcyontheatre.org/pennygods or call 773-413-0454.

Radical Hospitality program

As a core part of Halcyon's mission of eradicating economic boarders and building inclusive audiences, the theatre offers no-cost access to all productions for any audience member. There are two ways to see a performance:

1) No-cost admission: Halcyon holds a significant number of seats for no-cost admission on a first come, first served basis for each performance. To access these seats, provide contact information at the box office up to one hour prior to curtain. Seating begins 30 minutes before show time. No assigned seats.

2) Guaranteed admission: $20 guaranteed seats can be reserved in advance online and in person at the box office. Seating begins 30 minutes before show time and is open. No assigned seats.