City Lit Theater will follow its critical and popular hit THE HOUSE OF IDEAS with August Wilson’s SEVEN GUITARS, directed by veteran Chicago director and actor Manny Buckley. SEVEN GUITARS is the 1940s entry in Wilson's “Pittsburgh Cycle,” a decade-by-decade anthology of African American life. Like all but one of the cycle’s ten plays, SEVEN GUITARS is set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. It follows six friends mourning the death of their friend Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, a rising blues star trapped by his circumstances and cut down in his prime. Wilson later revisited the stories of some of these characters in KING HEDLEY II, set in the 1980s. SEVEN GUITARS will open on Sunday, October 27 at 3 pm, following previews from October 18, and will play through December 1.
Buckley’s cast will include a mix of City Lit veterans and newcomers. Jordan Gleaves, who makes his City Lit debut following many credits with Nashville Shakespeare Festival and who has additionally performed with Remy Bumppo and Timeline Theatre, will play Floyd. Maureen Azzun, seen recently in NATIVE SON for Lifeline Theatre, will be his girlfriend Vera. Andrea Conway – Diaz (Barbara Jordan in City Lit’s VOICE OF GOOD HOPE) and Robert Howard (City Lit’s MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL) will appear as neighbors Louise and Hedley. Brian Bradford (City Lit’s THE INNOCENCE OF SEDUCTION, FUENTE OVEJUNA, and THE BLOODHOUND LAW) and Jarvell Williams (RICHARD II with Sandbox Theatre Collective and GOD OF CARNAGE for Milwaukee Rep) have been cast as Floyd’s bandmates Red Carter and Canewell. Tiffany Williams (Luisa in Quest Theatre Ensemble’s THE FANTASTICKS) will play Louise’s niece Ruby.
Top Row L-R: Maureen Azzun, Brian Bradford, Andrea Conway-Diaz, Jordan Gleaves.
Lower Row L-R: Robert Howard, Jarvell Williams, Tiffany Williams.
The production team includes Milo Bue (Scenic Design), Rachel S. Parent (Costume Design), Warren Levon (Sound Design), Mike McShane (Lighting Designer), Jeremiah Barr (Props Design), Micah Figueroa (Violence Design), Chels Morgan (Intimacy Coordinator), Carlyle DePriest (Casting Director), and Kristen Jett (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 are on sale now at www.citylit.org. Senior prices are $25 for previews and $30 for regular performances. Students and military are $12.00 for all performances.
LISTING INFORMATION
SEVEN GUITARS
30TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION
by August Wilson
Directed by Manny Buckley
October 18 – December 1, 2024
Previews October 18 - 26
Press Opening Sunday, October 27 at 3 pm
Regular run November 1 – December 1, 2024
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Mondays, November 18 and 25, 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.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 Chicago non-Equity premiere of this searing August Wilson drama about six friends in the Hill District of Pittsburgh in 1948 mourning the death of their friend Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, a rising blues star trapped by his circumstances and cut down in his prime. One of Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” of ten plays depicting the African American experience in each of the 20th Century’s decades.
BIOS
Manny Buckley (he/him, director) is a Chicago based director, actor and writer. Manny last directed DRIVING MISS DAISY at Jedlicka Performing Arts Center, where he also directed THE BAD SEED. Other directing credits include KINGDOM, an audio play (Broken Nose Theatre); UHURU, CANE, ORIGIN STORY, MOTHER OF PEARL and THE REAPERS ON WOODBROOK AVENUE (BLUE INK FESTIVAL), MULTIPLE SHORT PLAYS IN PLAYGROUND-CHICAGO'S MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND, RIPPED: THE LIVING NEWSPAPER, #ENOUGH (PLAYS TO END GUN VIOLENCE) and THE ONE MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL. As an actor, he appeared in City Lit's world premiere COMRADES MINE; his other acting credits include work with Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Court, Victory Gardens, Chicago Dramatists, Next Theater, House Theatre, Shattered Globe Theater, Cincinnati Children's Theatre and Studio Theatre. Manny has numerous credits with American Blues Theater, where he is an ensemble member and turned in his critically acclaimed, award-winning solo performance in LOOKING OVER THE PRESIDENT’S SHOULDER. Film and TV credits: PROVEN INNOCENT, CHICAGO FIRE, CHICAGO PD, and commercials and industrial films for the US Navy, Northwestern University and THE ONION. He has received nominations for the Joseph Jefferson Award, the Helen Hayes Award and the 3Arts Award; he is the recipient of both a Black Theater Alliance Award and Black Excellence Award. Mr Buckley was last seen in THE RECLAMATION OF MADISON HEMINGS at American Blues Theater.
August Wilson (playwright) was a renowned American playwright whose works are celebrated for their exploration of the African American experience throughout the 20th Century. Born Frederick August Kittel Jr. on April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wilson grew up in the Hill District, a predominantly Black neighborhood that would later serve as the backdrop for nine of the ten plays referred to as the "Pittsburgh Cycle" or the "Century Cycle," each set in a different decade of the 20th century and exploring various aspects of the African American experience.
Wilson's first major play, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, premiered at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference in 1978 and was the only play of the “Pittsburgh Cycle” not to be set in Pittsburgh. Some of Wilson's most notable works include FENCES (1985), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, and THE PIANO LESSON (1987), which also received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His plays are celebrated for their richly drawn characters, poetic language, and profound exploration of themes such as family, identity, and the legacy of slavery.
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.