The Chicago-based theatre company, which dedicates a season of work to one playwright, will present the four-actor play Lips Together, Teeth Apart, the spiritual journey A Perfect Ganesh and the opera-themed play The Lisbon Traviata.
"We are thrilled to dedicate our 2015 season to the works of one of the most beloved and prolific playwrights working in the American theatre today," artistic director Nathaniel Swift said in a statement. "With insightful humor and sharp wit, Terrence McNally's plays embody the human spirit and illuminate the ever changing social and sexual politics of our time. We look forward to showcasing a wide range of his canon, from his award-winning Broadway hits to his rarely seen Pulitzer-nominated comedy. The Terrence McNally season will be a memorable and exciting theatrical experience for our audiences and artists alike."
A four-time Tony Award winner, McNally has also been honored with an Emmy Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His plays include The Ritz, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Mothers and Sons.
Read Playbill.com's interview with McNally here.
The season-at-a-glance follows. Lips Together, Teeth Apart
Directed by Ted Hoerl
The Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport Ave. Chicago IL
April 16-May 24, 2015
Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 PM; Sunday at 2 PM
"The 2015 Terrence McNally Season will open with Lips Together, Teeth Apart. A gay community in Fire Island provides an unlikely setting for two straight couples who are discovered lounging poolside, staring out to sea. Through monologues unheard by the others, the characters reveal a desperate sense of individual isolation. The only people these four characters find more alien are the gay men partying in the houses on either side of them. As they divert themselves from their own mortality with food, cocktails, The New York Times crossword puzzle, fireworks, charades, and biting jabs at each other and the boys next door, Sally and Sam and John and Chloe find little to celebrate about themselves or their country on its birthday. Ted Hoerl makes his Eclipse directorial debut."
A Perfect Ganesh
Directed by Artistic Director Nathaniel Swift
The Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport Ave. Chicago IL
July 16-Aug. 23
Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 PM; Sunday at 2 PM
"The 2015 McNally season continues with his Pulitzer nominated play, A Perfect Ganesh. On their journey for inner peace, two middle-aged women travel to India instead of to their more usual Caribbean vacation spots. They have chosen India as a way of healing from the deaths of their sons. While there, they meet a Hindu god, Ganesha, meaning 'wisdom.' Faced with the women's despair, who but the golden elephant god could intervene? Fluid in his power to assume any guise, at peace with all things, Ganesha is the spiritual center around which the play spins itself, drawing upon the tragic and the comic, the beautiful and the deplorable, until a breathtaking release arrives for both women at his hands. Artistic Director Nathaniel Swift directs."
The Lisbon Traviata
Directed by Ensemble Member Steve Scott
The Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport Ave. Chicago IL
Nov. 5-December 13
Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30 PM; Sunday at 2 PM
"The 2015 Terrence McNally season will conclude with The Lisbon Traviata. This sharply funny yet deeply tragic story centers around centers around a revealing conversation between depressed literary editor and opera fanatic, Stephen, and Mendy, a flamboyant opera queen. The two dish late into the night, distracting Stephen from his failing relationship with hilarious riffs on records, divas and more. But when Stephen returns home to confront his boyfriend, a tragedy unfolds on the scale of the grand opera he loves so much. Ensemble Member and Goodman Theatre Artistic Associate, Steve Scott directs."
All performances will be held at Chicago’s Athenaeum Theatre, located at 2936 N. Southport Ave. Visit eclipsetheatre.com for more information.
