City Lit Theater has announced a cohort of Artistic Associates for the first time in its 45-year history. Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor said, “These artists have a rich history with the company and represent a wide range of talents, both onstage and backstage.”
This first cohort includes:
Jeremiah Barr (scenic, props, puppet designer)
Bryan Breau (actor)
Manny Buckey (director)
Liz Cooper (lighting designer)
Kingsley Day (writer, composer, actor)
Kat Evans (actor)
Sean Harklerode (actor)
Robert Howard (actor)
Hazel Marie Flowers-McCabe (stage manager)
Mark Pracht (actor, director, playwright)
Shawna Tucker (actor, playwright)
Anne Wrider (actor)
Pastor continues, “These remarkable talents will have key roles on the boards, at fundraising events, and much more. City Lit's growing family ensures a healthy and vital organization as we navigate Season 45 and beyond!”
City Lit Theater began its 45th season in July with the critically acclaimed and Jeff recommended production of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s JESUS HOPPED THE ‘A’ TRAIN, directed by Esteban Andres Cruz, which will play through September 7. The season will continue in October with the world premiere of Timothy Griffin’s STRANGE CARGO: THE DOOM OF THE DEMETER, adapted from the seventh chapter of the Bram Stoker novel DRACULA, directed by Ed Rutherford. In December, City Lit will present a special out-of-subscription series presentation of the holiday play SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CHRISTMAS CLOWNS, by John Weagly, adapted from the works of G.K. Chesterton and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Brian Pastor will direct. The 45th season will resume in February with the historical po, litical drama CHANGING CHANNELS by Chicago actor and playwright John Reeger and directed by Kevin Theis. It will conclude in May and June with a world premiere musical adaptation of Rafael Sabatini’s 1921 novel SCARAMOUCHE, with music and lyrics by Kingsley Day and book by Day and James Glossman. Beth Wolf is directing. Individual show tickets and subscriptions may be ordered online at www.citylit.org or purchased over the phone by calling 773-293-3682.
Brian Pastor (they/them, Executive Artistic Director) Brian Pastor is a trans/non-binary 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 directed 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 Premiere of Bo Lists R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) and the Chicago Premiere of Reina Hardy's GLASSHEART. 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 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 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.