Saint Sebastian Players Present World Premiere Of LITTLE STONES

The Saint Sebastian Players (SSP) continue their 38th season with the world premiere of Little Stones by company member Leigh Johnson. Performances are February 15-March 10, 2019 at SSP's home in the lower level of St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, Chicago. Starting this season, SSP Friday and Saturday evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday matinees remain at 2 p.m.

In this romantic drama combining notions of reincarnation and fate, a young director and actress rehearsing different plays in adjacent classrooms of St. Bonaventure School in the autumn of 2018 find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. Is it merely mutual attraction, or is it something deeper, more mysterious-a possible reconnection of old souls whose past lives were tragically cut short 100 years earlier? Combining neighborhood history with New Age sensibilities, Little Stones is a made-in-Chicago fable of karma, theatre and the 1918 flu pandemic.

SSP has produced two other mainstage works by Johnson: Lefties (2013) and the world premiere of Lotto Fever in the Sucker State (2014), as well as two shorter works in collaboration with Subtext Theater Company: Boys in the Valley and Legalize Lutefisk Live! (both 2018). Making his SSP directing debut is company member Aaron Harris Woodstein, who most recently assistant directed SSP's production of The Front Page and his work Turn That Thing Around at the Chicago Fringe Festival. The cast includes SSP company members Melinda "MJ" Deamon, Hilary Hensler, Marshall Mark Jacobson and Jim Masini, as well as Julian Colletta, Austin Cornett and Anne Ogden. SSP company members on the production team are Emil Zbella as set designer, Robert-Eric West as costume designer and Co-Producers Johnson, Masini, Jill Chukerman Test and Steven Walanka. Also on the team are Monica Llorente as sound designer and Tori Keeling as intimacy designer.

SSP's 2018-19 season concludes with the bittersweet comedy Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Delia Ephron and Nora Ephron, based on the bestseller by Ilene Beckerman, running April 26-May 19, 2019.

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

Little Stones by SSP's Leigh Johnson takes place February 15-March 10, 2019, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.-new this season-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. Full-priced tickets are $20, $12 for seniors, students with valid ID and children younger than 12. Group rates also are available. All programming is subject to change. For information, call 773-404-7922 or visit saintsebastianplayers.org