ShawChicago to Present George Bernard Shaw's MISALLIANCE This Fall

ShawChicago presents George Bernard Shaw's farce on the fashionable, Misalliance. Performances run September 17 - October 10 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60610.

Enter 1909 Britain, when everyone rich is obsessed with propriety, the latest trends in plumbing and Turkish baths. The old money Summerhays and nouveau riche Tarleton families, who became rich selling underwear, are soon to be united. The spoiled and ineffectual Bentley Summerhays is engaged to Hypatia Tartleton, who has no care for love, breaks all the rules, and is having an affair with her soon-to-be father-in-law, Lord Summerhays. Meanwhile, her brother John Tarleton, Jr. is hell-bent on stopping the marriage.

This very prestigious soap opera is interrupted when an aeroplane crashes into their garden conservatory. From the wreckage emerges Joseph Percival, a famous pilot with three fathers. Alongside him, to everyone's utmost shock, is Lina Szczepanowska, an unmarried daredevil female acrobat who dresses like a man.

"Lina defines Shaw's 'New Woman,'" says Director Barbara Zahora. "The New Women were able to break out and away from convention. Not just to change themselves but to change the men and the world around them.... It isn't about making women separate or better, but finding or making the world a braver, more functional place."

All the men fall for Lina. Hypatia further dismisses any other rules of monogamy and voraciously pursues Joseph Percival. Chaos ensues as desire runs wild, and the calm façade of the upper class is turned upside down.

"It's just pure fun with great ideas," says Zahora.

CAST: Gary Alexander, Allison Cook, Jesse Dornan, Matthew Gall, Richard Henzel, Jack Hickey, Patrick Lane, Michelle Shupe and Kate Young.

ShawChicago Theater Company presents George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance at 1016 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL 60610. Performances: September 17, 2 PM; September 18, 2 PM; September 19, 2 PM; September 24, 2 PM; September 25, 2 PM; September 26, 7 PM; October 1, 2 PM; October 2, 2 PM; October 2, 7 PM; October 8, 2 PM; October 9, 2 PM; and October 10, 7 PM. Tickets: $35.00 General, $30.00 Senior Citizen, $20.00 Students. Group rates are available. Tickets may be purchased at www.shawchicago.org or over the phone at 312-587-7390.

BARBARA ZAHORA is directing for ShawChicago for a second time with Misalliance, having made her directorial debut with the company last season with Noel Coward's Private Lives. Over the last few years she has been seen regularly on the ShawChicago stage, most recently as Gloria Clandon in You Never Can Tell.

Other directing credits include the upcoming Shrewish (Barbara's original adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew) for Artemisia Theatre; The Udmurts for Equity Library Theatre's All Access series; The Winter's Tale, 50 Minute Romeo and Juliet, All's Well that Ends Well, Troilus and Cressida, and The Merry Wives of Windsor for Shakespeare Project of Chicago; and Something Shaw and Spoon River: Coming Home for the Chicago College of Performing Arts. As an actor, Barbara's stage credits include All My Sons and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (American Players Theatre); Hamlet, Heartbreak House, A Little Night Music, and Misalliance (Writers' Theatre); Dancing at Lughnasa and Mrs. Coney (Oak Park Festival Theatre); The Country Girl (Illinois Theatre Center); Marionette Macbeth, The Moliere Comedies, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Richard II, The School for Scandal, and All's Well That Ends Well (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Lady Windermere's Fan (Northlight Theatre); A Christmas Carol, Wit (Goodman Theatre); Hard Times (Lookingglass Theatre); and many appearances with the Shakespeare Project of Chicago, where she is the current Associate Artistic Director. She is a visiting assistant professor at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts, is represented by Paonessa Talent, and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.

ShawChicago is a professional non-profit theater company founded in 1994 with a mission to present the plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries as concert readings. Operating under Actors' Equity, ShawChicago is about to celebrate its 23rd season, Dysfunctional Family Fun. The company presents special afternoon performances for senior citizens and morning performances for students throughout the Chicagoland area. ShawChicago also offers outreach performances across the city and its suburbs, providing theater to libraries, senior living communities and schools. ShawChicago is a theater company in residence at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts.

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