DEAD WRITERS THEATRE COLLECTIVE PRESENTS THREE BENEFIT PERFORMANCES OF EDITH WHARTON’S “HOUSE OF MIRTH” ADAPTED BY DAWN KEELER AT STAGE 773 CABARET, AUG. 28-30

t- IN THE BALLROOM SepiaDead Writers Theatre Collective presents three benefit performances of Dawn Keeler’s adaption of Edith Wharton’s “House of Mirth” at the Stage 773 Cabaret, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Aug. 28-30. Funds raised will go to benefit Dead Writers Theatre Collective and their upcoming productions. “The House of Mirth” will be performed in a cabaret setting with full period costumes and antique props and furniture. For more information visit deadwriters.net.

Based on the classic novel that helped to establish Wharton as the first great American woman novelist, “House of Mirth” vividly depicts Lily Bart’s flamboyant progress through the glorious whirl of New York’s high society, circa 1905, and her tragic fall. The Guardian calls the novel “mercilessly frank in its description of 19th-century New York society,” and notes “its depiction of social mores and their influence gives it universal resonance.”

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer and designer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. Wharton combined her inside view of America’s privileged class with wit to write humorous, incisive novels and short stories of social and psychological insight.

DWTC House of Mirth mid size

Ann Marie White as Lily Bart, Sean McGill as Lawrence Selden. Photo is by Charlie McGrath

The cast for “House of Mirth” features Ann Marie White as Lily Bart, Sean McGill as Lawrence Selden, Joanna Riopelle* as Judy Trenor, Rob Cramer* as Gus Trenor, Jonathan Crabtree as Simon Rosedale, Maeghan Looney* as Bertha Dorset, Andrea Young as Gerty Farish, Jake Meyer as George Dorset, Kevin Sheehan* as Percy Gryce and Kerry Sheridan as Carrie Fisher.The design team includes Charlie Marie McGrath* (Director), Sarah Jo White (Costume & Wig Designer). Stage Manager is Matthew Bonaccorso*.

Director McGrath (Associate Member, SDC) and holds a BS in Drama from Northwestern University and certificate degrees from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and British American Dramatic Academy.  She is a Collective Member of the Dead Writer’s Theatre Collective, an Artistic Associate with Open Door Repertory Company, and the

  • Denotes Dead Writers Theater Collective Member

Resident Director for Proud Kate Theatre Project. McGrath also assesses scripts for a number of theater companies, including the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene

 

 

O’Neill Theatre Center, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, New Georges, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, Proud Kate and Stage Left, and has taken a number of them on to further stages of development.

Dawn Keeler’s stage adaptation of Edith Wharton’s the “House of Mirth,” commissioned in 1995 by the Cambridge Theatre Company, and published in the U.S. by Samuel French, was Keeler’s first work for the theater. She has since adapted Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever” and Henry James “Daisy Miller” by Henry James. After an early career as a ballet dancer, she became an actress. Since 1994, she has been a director of the London Actors Centre, and has recently become a Trustee of the British actors Benevolent Fund.

Dead Writer Theatre Collective presents three benefit performances of “House of Mirth” Thursday, at the Stage 773 Cabaret, 1225 W. Belmont Aug. 28, Friday, Aug. 29 and Saturday, Aug. 30at7:30 p.m. Seating is general admission. Tickets are $40 (includes a complimentary glass of wine). For tickets visit deadwriters.net.

Dead Writers Theatre Collective seeks to transport audiences into the original world of the play through extensively studied period appropriate settings, props and costumes.  This strict attention to detail and high level of aesthetics is a hallmark of the Collective.

The Collective, under the leadership of Artistic Director Jim Schneider and Managing Director Bob Douglas, is a Chicago-based 501 (c ) 3 non-profit arts collective comprised of directors, designers, actors and playwrights and educators with a mission is to produceworks either by or about dead writers. Past productions have included Jane Austen’s “Emma,” Noel Coward’s “The Vortex,” Brenda Kilianski’s “Loos Ends: A Hollywood Memoir,” Adam Pasen “Tea with Eddie and Fitz,” (winner of the Broadway World Award for Best New Play of 2013) and Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan.”

Dead Writers Theatre Collective productions are supported in part by The Pauls Foundation,The Barre Seid and Barbara Landis Foundation and the John R. Halligan CharitableFund. For more information about Dead Writers Theater Collective visit deadwriters.net or call 773.305.8221.