Eclipse Opens Inge Season With NATURAL AFFECTION

Eclipse Theatre Company, the only Midwest theatre company to feature one playwright in one season, will begin their 2018 William Inge Season this spring with a production of his rarely produced 1962 play Natural Affection, with Rachel Lambert making her Eclipse directorial debut.

As Sue Baker awaits the impending Christmas visit of her teenage son Donnie, she is torn between the love she feels as a mother and the fear that his presence will disrupt the life she has built in his absence. Having been deserted by the boy's father before his birth, Sue was forced to support herself, leaving Donnie to a childhood of orphan homes and ultimately a term on a penal farm. Working her way up to head lingerie buyer for a Chicago department store, Sue has acquired a small but fashionable apartment and a lover, Bernie Slovenk. When Donnie announces that he will not have to go back to the farm if she will give him a home, the crisis is broached.

Natural Affection runs approximately two hours and fifteen minutes, with one ten-minute intermission. Post-show discussions with the cast and crew will be held following all Sunday matinees except opening and closing weekends (free with paid ticket).

TICKETS: 773-935-6875, Athenaeum Box Office (open noon to last curtain, Wednesday-Sunday) Online tickets at www.eclipsetheatre.com

$30 for all regular performances (half-price rush tickets available)
$20 for previews; $10 for industry members at previews with headshot/card
$20 for each ticket in groups of ten or more, and for seniors (with ID)
$20 for students (with ID)

CAST: Ensemble members Zachery Alexander (Gil) and Joe McCauley (Vince),and guest artists Terry Bell (Donnie), Jennifer Cheung (Other Woman), Diana Coates (Sue), Luke Daigle (Bernie), Joe Feliciano (Superintendent / Man), and Cassidy Slaughter-Mason (Claire). Understudies are Jessica Kearney (for Sue and Other Woman) and Izadorius Tortuga (for Donny and Gill).

The 2018 William Inge Season will continue with Bus Stop, directed by Eclipse Ensemble Member Steve Scott, opening in July 2018.

Eclipse Theatre Company presents the work of one playwright each season. Eclipse offers the audience an opportunity, unique in the Midwest, to journey through the playwright's works. Join Eclipse in exploring the breadth and depth of one playwright's artistic worlds. One playwright, one season, one illuminating journey.