Pictured: Playwright Sarah Ruhl

Shattered Globe Theatre will conclude its 2016-17 Season with the Chicago premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70th BIRTHDAY, written for her mother Kathleen Ruhl, a Chicago actress who played Peter Pan as a teenager. Directed by Jessica Thebus, the production will feature Kathleen Ruhl, surrounded by the Shattered Globe Ensemble. FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70th BIRTHDAY will play April 6 – May 20, 2017 at Theater Wit.

Five siblings – 2 doctors, 3 Republicans and 1 teacher of rhetoric – move from their father’s hospital bed to a Jameson-fueled kitchen table wake, and then head for the “second star to the right and straight on until morning.”

During a recent interview in American Theatre magazine, Ruhl said “I think that anyone who has lost someone in a family can relate, but I also think that for people who’ve been in theatre, it sort of ends up to be a love note to what it means to work in the theatre.”

“We’re overjoyed Sarah Ruhl has just awarded SGT the rights to her new play,” commented Producing Artistic Director Sandy Shinner. “Under Jessica’s direction, Sarah’s humor and unique spin on the classic tale will touch every audience member’s heart. I’m excited to surprise the audience as the intensity of the first two sections of the play transforms into a world of imagination and metaphor.”

FOR PETER PAN ON HER 70th BIRTHDAY premiered this season at Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival and transferred to Berkeley Rep this summer. It joins two previously announced productions for Shattered Globe’s 2016-17 Season: Sam Shepard’s quintessential American drama TRUE WEST (September 8 – October 22, 2016) directed by James Yost and the Chicago premiere of Meg Miroshnik’s THE TALL GIRLS (January 12 – February 25, 2017), an ensemble piece about five young women in the 1930s rural Midwest who find a way to escape their crumbling town through basketball.