Full cast and production team have been announced for City Lit’s season-opening production of SHANE, Mark Pracht’s World Premiere adaptation of the classic Western novel by Jack Schaefer. The story, which richly depicts the transition of the American frontier from individualism to community, has been an enduring favorite ever since the novel’s publication in 1949 and its 1953 Academy Award-winning film adaptation. Pracht, a Jeff Award-nominated writer (for his play THE HOUSE OF IDEAS, produced by City Lit in 2024) and one of City Lit’s first class of Artistic Associates, will direct. SHANE will open to the press on Saturday, August 29 at 7:30 pm, following previews from August 21. It will play through Sunday, October 4.
Michael B. Woods, a Jeff Award winner for Performer in a Principal Role - Play for his title role in BoHo Theatre’s 2018 production of CYRANO, will take on the title role of the mysterious outsider who rides into a Wyoming Valley and takes a job as a farmhand. The homesteading family who hires him – Joe and Marian Starrett and their son Bob – will be played by Josh Odor, Whitney Minarik, and Bruce Holtman. Odor won a Jeff Award earlier this year as Performer in a Supporting Role – Play (Short Run) for his performance as the villainous father in the American Premiere of GANGSTA BABY with Open Space Arts. In SHANE, he will play the much kinder father and husband Joe. Minarik has appeared in NETWORK and THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH with Invictus Theatre. Holtman was last seen at City Lit in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CHRISTMAS CLOWNS and also appeared in Theo Ubique’s THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. City Lit Artistic Associate Sean Harklerode, whose City Lit work includes roles in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, and all three entries in THE FOUR-COLOR TRILOGY, will play Fletcher – the cattle baron who tries to scare the Starretts off their land. The ruthless professional gunslinger Stark Wilson, who threatens to kill the homesteaders who refuse to leave, will be played by Jay Donley, whose experience with violence includes creating fight and intimacy design for Chicago productions as diverse as CAROUSEL (Music Theater Works) and ANGELS IN AMERICA (Invictus).
Also in Pracht’s SHANE cast are Brandon Boler (Ernie Wright), Ross Childs (Curly), Chuck Munro (Grafton), Frank Nall (Shipstead), and Andrew Pappas (Chris). Understudies are Anthony Augustin (Curly/Shipstead U/S), Marshall Kious (Joe Starrett/Fletcher U/S), Zach Kunde (Grafton/Wright U/S), Payton Nesci (Bob/Chris U/S), Chase Wheaton-Werle (Shane/Ledyard-Wilson U/S), and Mary Eliza Willingham (Marian Starrett U/S).
Top Row L-R:Brandon Boler, Ross Childs, Jay Donley, Sean Harklerode, Bruce Holtman, Whitney Minarik
Middle Row L-R: Chuck Munro, Frank Nall, Josh Odor, Andrew Pappas, Michael B. Woods, Mark Pracht
Bottom Row L-R: Anthony Augustine, Marshall Kious, Zach Kunde, Payton Nesci, Chase Wheaton-Werle, Mary Eliza Willingham
The SHANE production team will include Jeremiah Barr (Scenic Designer/Technical Director), Beth Laske Miller (Costume Designer), Petter Wahlbäck (Sound Designer/Composer), Josiah Croegaert (Lighting Designer), G. "Max" Maxin IV (Projection Designer), Jim Terry (Projection Artwork), Jeff Brain (Props Designer), Vic Bayona and Richard Gilbert of R & D Choreography (Violence Designers), Courtney Abbott (Intimacy Director), Michael Lesko (Stage Manager), Leigh Barrett (Assistant Director), Mateo Gutierrez (Production Manager).
All performances will be at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago, on the second floor of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church. City Lit Season 46 subscriptions are available at $112.00, good for all performances, or $88.00 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 Season 46 are priced at $32 for previews and $40 for regular performances and are on sale now. Senior prices are $5 off the applicable ticket prices. Students and active military are $22.00 for all performances.
LISTING INFORMATION
SHANE
Based on the novel by Jack Schaefer
Adapted and directed by Artistic Associate Mark Pracht
World Premiere Adaptation of the classic Western.
August 21 - October 4, 2026
Previews August 21 – 28, 2026
Press Opening Saturday, August 29, 2026, at 7:30 pm
Regular run August 29 - October 4, 2026
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
Plus two Mondays, September 21 (Understudy show) and September 28 at 7:30
Tickets $32 for previews and $40 for regular performances. Seniors $5.00 off all prices. Students and active military are $22.00 for all performances. Groups are $30 per person. Prices include all fees and taxes.
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.
In this World Premiere adaptation of the classic western, Shane, a mysterious stranger, shows up at the Starrett homestead in the Wyoming Territory in 1889. Though he seems to be hiding a dangerous past, he’s offered a job as a farm hand and settles in with the Starretts: Joe, his wife Marian, and his son Bob, our narrator. When Joe refuses to sell his land to open range rancher Fletcher, it sets up a deadly showdown that alters the fates of everyone involved.
BIOS
Jack Warner Schaefer (Author of the novel) was an American journalist and author, best known for writing the classic 1949 Western novel SHANE. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he worked as a reporter and editor before publishing his fiction debut. Despite never living in the West during his youth, his works are celebrated for their authentic, character-driven portrayals. His other notable novels included THE CANYON (1953), COMPANY OF COWARDS (1957), MONTE WALSH (1963), and STUBBY PRINGLE'S CHRISTMAS (1964).
Mark Pracht (Adapter and Director) 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 The Beast in GLASSHEART, 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 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. From 2022-2024, City Lit produced his “Four Color Trilogy” of plays about the history of the comic book industry — THE MARK OF KANE, THE INNOCENCE OF SEDUCTION, and THE HOUSE OF IDEAS (Jeff Nomination – New Work).
Brian Pastor (they/them, Executive Artistic Director) is a trans/nonbinary director, actor, playwright, and Jeff Award-winning producer (AUGUST WILSON’S SEVEN GUITARS), 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. From 2019 to 2024, Brian served as City Lit’s Resident Director, where they have directed GLASSHEART, THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, ARMS AND THE MAN, J.B., and their own acclaimed adaptation of Robert Kennedy’s THIRTEEN DAYS. Most recently, Brian directed the World Premieres of John Weagly’s SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CHRISTMAS CLOWNS and Bo List’s R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). Recently, they were named one of Newcity’s Players 2026: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago. 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, GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE, and HENRY V. 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 both Sideshow Theatre and 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 continuously operating 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 46th, it operates with a budget slightly over $250,000. 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.