Cast and Creative Team Announced for THE BIRTHDAY PARTY at City Lit Theater

City Lit will return from the holidays with THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, Harold Pinter's first produced full-length play. Artistic Director Terry McCabe, who will direct this dark comedy, has announced the cast and creative team. Like Pinter's later work, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY is ambivalent in its plotting, presentation of characters, and ending, but is a work of undeniable power and originality. Like Pinter's later plays, it is often called "a comedy of menace," in which a character is suddenly threatened by the vague horrors at large in the outside world. It is an unquestioned classic of 20th Century Theater. In THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, Stanley may or may not play the piano, and today may or may not be his birthday, and he may or may not be hiding from someone in Meg's boarding house where he's lived for a year. But he's definitely made nervous by news that two new boarders are about to arrive, and she's definitely throwing him a party. THE BIRTHDAY PARTY will open to the press on Sunday, January 22, following previews from January 13. It will play through February 26, 2023.

Elaine Carlson will return to City Lit to play boarding house operator Meg Boles. Carlson last appeared there in 2014's AT HOME AT THE ZOO. Since then, Carlson's many credits include the title roles of MRS. WARREN'S CONFESSION and THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT for Promethean Theatre Ensemble. She earned Jeff Award nominations for the former and for her Eleanor in Promethean's THE LION IN WINTER. Linsey Falls (of City Lit's THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, THE VIRGINIAN, and ARMS AND THE MAN) will play Petey Boles. David Fink, seen recently as Shorty in City Lit's THE VIRGINIAN, will be Stanley. The mysterious guests Goldberg and McCann will be played, respectively, by James Sparling and Will Casey. Sparling has played Sherlock Holmes at City Lit in three productions: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. HOLMES AND WATSON and THE SEVEN PERCENT SOLUTION. Some of Casey's recent credits include The Artistic Home's EURYDICE and Windy City Playhouse's NOISES OFF. Sahara Glasener-Boles, of City Lit's VOICE OF GOOD HOPE and PROMETHEUS BOUND, will be Lulu. The creative and production team for THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, in addition to McCabe as director, includes Ray Toler (Scenic Design), Jennifer Susan (Costume Design), and Hazel Flowers-McCabe (Stage Manager).
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY propelled Pinter into the front rank of British dramatists. His other plays include THE HOMECOMING, BETRAYAL, and OLD TIMES (2009 City Lit). His screenplays include THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN, SLEUTH, and THE HANDMAID'S TALE. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.

Single tickets are priced at $30 for previews and $34 for regular performances and are on sale at www.citylit.org. Senior prices are $25 for previews and $29 for regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances.

Need more Chicago Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...