OLIVER!, TRANSIT OF VENUS & More Set for Saint Sebastian Players' 36th Season

The Saint Sebastian Players (SSP) have announced the company's 36th season, featuring a classic musical, a little-known yet memorable drama and a clever comedy.

The season opens with Oliver! with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. Bringing Charles Dickens' novel to life, this Tony Award winner takes audiences on a wild adventure through Victorian England. Young orphaned Oliver Twist navigates London's underworld of theft and violence, searching for a home, a family and, most important, love. When a boy named the Artful Dodger picks up Oliver on the street, he brings him to join a gang of child pickpockets, led by the conniving but charismatic Fagin. When Oliver is falsely accused of a theft he didn't commit, a kind and wealthy gentleman rescues him, to the dismay of Fagin's violent sidekick, Bill Sykes. Caught in the middle is the warmhearted Nancy, who is trapped under Bill's thumb, but desperate to help Oliver. The show features such spirited, timeless songs as "As Long as He Needs Me," "Food, Glorious Food" and "Where is Love." Performances run October 21-November 13, 2016.

Next is a little-seen yet powerful, provocative drama Transit of Venus by Canadian playwright Maureen Hunter. Inspired by real-life astronomer Le Gentil, the story begins as he puts off marrying the young and willful Celeste to travel around the world in his attempt to plot the course of Venus across the sky. Undone at every turn by weather, war and misfortune, he finds, upon his final return, a woman undone by his absence and ready to set course. Spanning 11 years in the lives of Celeste and Le Gentil, Hunter's play explores issues of faith, solitude and the human spirit. Performances are February 17-March 12, 2017.

Concluding the season is a comic twist on Shakespeare, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. The play concerns the misadventures and musings of two minor characters from Hamlet who are childhood friends of the prince, focusing on their actions, with the events of Hamlet as background. The duo are the leading characters in this version, appearing on stage here when they are off-stage in Shakespeare's play, except a few times when the events of both plays coincide. In Hamlet, the King uses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to discover Hamlet's motives and plot against him. Hamlet, however, mocks them derisively and outwits them. Thus, the action in Hamlet, while typically viewed as tragic, is largely nonsensically comical from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's perspective. Performances are April 28-May 21, 2017.

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 its history, the company has produced original and previously produced dramas, comedies and musicals; original audience-participation 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 production history, visit saintsebastianplayers.org/Production-History

Performances for each production take place Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, at Marshfield just west of Ashland, in Chicago. Free parking is available in two lots. Subscription packages for the three-play season are $45, $30 for seniors. Full-priced single tickets are $25 forOliver! and $20 for the remaining productions; students with valid IDs may purchase $15 tickets at the door; tickets for seniors and children younger than 12 are $15 forOliver! and $12 for the remaining productions. Group rates also are available.

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

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