Shining City
[h1]Shining City[/h1]
[h2]by Conor McPherson[/h2]
[h3]June 21 – July 20, 2008[/h3]
[h3]Synopsis[/h3]
Richly drawn characters and powerful storytelling weave a tale of love, loss and faith.
[h3]Note about the Playwright[/h3]
At 29, Conor McPherson, one of Ireland’s most celebrated living playwrights, was convinced he was going to die. He had already written seven successful plays ~ but he had drunk too much, too often, and his luck had finally run out. In February 2001, he felt a sharp pain in his side, collapsed and was taken to an intensive care unit in a London Hospital. He was unconscious for three weeks, suffering from pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that is potentially fatal. “I thought it was over,” he said.
Mr. McPherson survived, but his brush with death forced him to change. He describes his life back then as “a crazy nightmare” that he couldn’t control. “There were lots of terrible moments,” he said. “I let people down. I did stupid things. I got self-destructive. Take from that what you will.”
After his recovery, he visited a series of therapists, joined Alcoholics Anonymous and has been sober ever since. “Getting sick was a terrible thing, but in a funny way it had to happen,” he said, sipping ginger ale in a hotel restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. “It set me free and gave me a second chance.”
Shining City was the first play he wrote in sobriety.
[h3]Who’s Who[/h3]
Ian: RICKY WAUGH
John: GREGG WEINER
Neasa: DEBORAH L. SHERMAN
Laurence: JOHN BIXLER
Playwright: Conor McPherson
Director: Joseph Adler
Set Design: Tim Connelly
Lighting Design: Jeff Quinn
Music/Sound: Matt Corey
Costumes: Ellis Tillman
Costumes: Genessa Goldsmith
Props: Claire Savitt
Technical Director: Carlos Rodriguez
Stage Manager: Daniel Landon
Photos: George Schiavone