ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
THE HOUSE OF IDEAS
by Mark Pracht
Directed by Terry McCabe
August 23 – October 6, 2024
The final play of Mark Pracht’s
“Four-Color Trilogy”
recounts the rise of Marvel Comics and the struggles of its creators
to share the credit
City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor announced full casting and production team for THE HOUSE OF IDEAS, the opening production of City Lit Theater’s 2024-25 season. THE HOUSE OF IDEAS is the third installment of Mark Pracht’s “Four Color Trilogy” of plays about significant moments in the development of comic books as an art form and an industry. The play recounts Marvel Comics’ emergence as an industry powerhouse, as writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby struggle with sharing the credit for this newfound success.
Terry McCabe, who on July 1 retired as City Lit’s Producer and Artistic Director, will return to City Lit to direct this final installment of the trilogy which began under his leadership in 2022 with Pracht’s THE MARK OF KANE and continued in 2023 with THE INNOCENCE OF SEDUCTION. I'll be out to cover the opening of THE HOUSE OF IDEAS on Sunday, September 1st, following previews from August 23rd, so check back soon for my full review. The show runs through October 6th.
Leading McCabe’s cast will be Bryan Breau as Stan Lee and Brian Plocharczyk as Jack Kirby. Breau was seen last fall at City Lit as the villainous Preacher in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and is currently playing Vershínin in THREE SISTERS with Invictus Theatre. Plocharczyk returns to City Lit, where he last worked under McCabe as Hyde in THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. Most recently, he’s made numerous appearances on television, in such series as CHICAGO FIRE, THE CHI, and EMPIRE. Martin Goodman, the founder and publisher of Marvel Comics, will be played by Brian Parry, known for his performances at Redtwist Theatre in such iconic roles as Richard Nixon (FROST/NIXON), the title role of Shakespeare’s KING LEAR, and Willy Loman in DEATH OF A SALESMAN.
Stan Lee’s wife Joan will be played by Kate Black-Spence, whose recent credits include Marlene in RASTUS AND HATTIE with 16th Street Theatre and Captain Hook in NEVERLAND with Prop Thtr. Carrie Hardin (the Duchess in THE DUCHESS OF MALFI for Babes with Blades) has been cast as Jack Kirby’s wife Roz. Ben Veatch (THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE and TEN 2023: TAKE A TEN, both with The Gift Theatre) will play The Observer.
Completing the cast and playing multiple roles are Megan Clarke (Janice Valleau in City Lit’s THE INNOCENCE OF SEDUCTION) as Flo Steinberg, Greer Grant, and Suzy Sutton; Sean Harklerode (William Gaines in THE INNOCENCE OF SEDUCTION and First Tempter in MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, both at City Lit) as Carmine Infantino, Cpl. Pinkerton, Robert Knight, Jim Mooney; Jimmy Hogan (City Lit’s TWO HOURS IN A BAR and Princeton in AVENUE Q for Music Theater Works) as Joe Simon, Nat Freedland, Jim Shooter, and Stan Goldberg; and Chad Wise (Founder and Artistic Director of The New Millenium Theatre Company) as Jack Liebowitz, Menahem Golan, Pvt. Dugan, and Jack Schiff.
Top Row L-R: Kate Black-Spence, Bryan Breau, Megan Clarke, Carrie Hardin, Sean Harklerode.
Lower Row L-R: Jimmy Hogan, Brian Parry, Brian Plocharczyk, Ben Veatch, Chad Wise.
The production team will include G. "Max" Maxin IV (Scenic, Lighting and Projection Design), Beth Laske-Miller (Costume Design), Petter Wahlbäck (Composer and Sound Design), Jeff Brain (Props Design), Rachel Lee Flesher (Intimacy Coordinator), and Hazel Marie Flowers-McCabe (Stage Manager).
City Lit Season 44 subscriptions are available at $99.00, good for all performances, or $77.00 for preview performances. Subscriptions may be ordered online at www.citylit.org or purchased over the phone by calling 773-293-3682. Single tickets for the Season 44 are priced at $30 for previews and $35 for regular performances and will be on sale soon. Senior prices are $25 for previews and $30 for regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances.
Production Details
Previews: August 23 – 31, 2024
Press Opening: Sunday, September 1 at 3 pm
Regular Run: September 6 – October 6, 2024
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Mondays, September 23 and 30, 2024 at 7:30 pm
Tickets $30 for previews and $35 for regular performances.
Senior prices are $25 previews and $30 regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances.
Tickets available online at www.citylit.org or by phone at 773-293-3682.
All performances at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, on the second floor (accessible via elevator) of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church.
The final installment of the “Four-Color Trilogy” about three key moments in the history of comic books, THE HOUSE OF IDEAS examines the rise of Marvel and the fraught relationship between the Lennon and McCartney of comic books, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Today, Marvel Entertainment stands near the center of our popular culture. It was in the 1960s that Marvel Comics began creating dozens of memorable characters and built a single cohesive world for them to inhabit. In comic books, this was revolutionary. But Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the two men at the center of this renaissance, struggle with the idea of credit now that they’ve made it something worth struggling over.
BIOS
Mark Pracht (Playwright) was raised near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and graduated from the University of Nebraska, Kearney. He has proudly worked in the Chicago theater community for over 20 years, mainly as an actor. At City Lit he has appeared as Milt Shanks in THE COPPERHEAD and The Creature in FRANKENSTEIN, among others. Elsewhere, he was Lanfield in BLIZZARD ’67 at 16th Street Theatre (2017 Equity Jeff Nomination for Best Ensemble), and “Mountain” McClintock in REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT at The Artistic Home, for which he received a 2019 Non-Equity Jeff Award for Performance in a Principal Role. Most recently, you may have seen his Jeff Award nominated performance last year as John Proctor in THE CRUCIBLE at Invictus Theatre. He served as the Artistic Director of Brown Couch Theatre Company, where he directed Diana Son’s STOP KISS. His short plays have been produced by Chicago companies like Strangeloop Theatre, and his full length play NEON was presented by the Shelterbelt Theatre in Omaha, Nebraska. THE HOUSE OF IDEAS completes (for now) “The Four-Color Trilogy” a project over fifteen years in development.
Terry McCabe (Director) Terry McCabe was City Lit’s artistic director from February 2005 and its producer from July 2016 until his retirement from these positions at the end of the 2023-24 season. He retired on July 1 of this year. He has directed plays professionally in Chicago since 1981. He was artistic director of Stormfield Theatre for four years, resident director at Wisdom Bridge Theatre for five years, and worked at Body Politic Theatre three separate times in three different capacities over a span of 14 years. His City Lit adaptations of HOLMES AND WATSON, GIDGET (co-adapted with Marissa McKown), THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, SCOUNDREL TIME, and OPUS 1861 (co-adapted with Elizabeth Margolius) were Jeff-nominated. He won two Jeff Citations for directing at Stormfield and has been thrice nominated for the Jeff Award for Best Director, for shows at Court Theatre, Wisdom Bridge, and Victory Gardens. He has directed at many Chicago theatres either long-gone or still with us, as well as off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre and at Vienna’s English Theatre. His book MIS-DIRECTING THE PLAY has been denounced at length in American Theatre magazine and from the podium at the national convention of The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas but has been used in directing courses on three continents and is now available in paperback and Kindle e-book.
Brian Pastor (they/them, Executive Artistic Director) is a trans/non-binary producer, director, actor, and playwright in Chicago and the Executive Artistic Director of City Lit Theater. Brian previously spent ten and a half years on staff at City Lit, including nine as Managing Director. Brian has served as City Lit’s Resident Director, from 2019 until assuming their current position on July 1. For City Lit, they directed THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, George Bernard Shaw’s ARMS AND THE MAN, Archibald MacLeish’s J.B., and their own acclaimed adaptation of Robert Kennedy’s THIRTEEN DAYS. Brian is a founder and Emeritus Artistic Director of Chicago’s Promethean Theatre Ensemble, where they directed THE LION IN WINTER, THE WINTER’S TALE, and GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE (all Broadway World Award Nominated- Best Director), as well as HENRY V and THE DARK SIDE OF THE BARD. Brian also directed the world premiere of THE BLACK KNIGHT by Angeli Primlani, the inaugural show for Lifeboat Productions. As an actor, Brian has worked with Strawdog, Raven, WildClaw, Promethean, Accomplice, and City Lit, among others. Brian is the former Executive Director of Sideshow Theatre and the former Executive Director of Raven Theatre. They also served as a board and company member of The Mime Company and as a founding company member of Chicago dell’Arte. A Pittsburgh native, Brian has called Chicago home since their graduation from Northwestern University in 2003.
ABOUT CITY LIT THEATER COMPANY:
City Lit is the eighth oldest theatre company in Chicago, behind only Goodman, Court, Northlight, Oak Park Festival, Black Ensemble Theatre, Steppenwolf, and Pegasus theatres. It was founded in 1979 with $210 pooled by Arnold Aprill, David Dillon, and Lorell Wyatt. For its current season, its 44th , it operates with a budget slightly over $200,000. It was the first theatre in the nation devoted to stage adaptations of literary material. There were so few theatres in Chicago at the time of its founding that at City Lit’s launch event, the founders were able to read a congratulatory letter they had received from Tennessee Williams.
For four decades and counting, City Lit has explored fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoirs, songs, essays and drama in performance. A theatre that specializes in literary work communicates a commitment to certain civilizing influences—tradition imaginatively explored, a life of the mind, trust in an audience’s intelligence—that not every cultural outlet shares.
City Lit is located in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church building at 1020 West Bryn Mawr Avenue. Its work is supported in part by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events CityArts program. An Illinois not-for-profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt organization, City Lit keeps ticket prices below the actual cost of producing plays and depends on the support of those who share its belief in the beauty and power of the spoken written word.
