Photo: Halcyon Theatre Artistic Director Tony Adams

Halcyon Theatre has announced its 2017-18 season, which will feature Bekah Brunstetter’s Midwest Premiere of  THE OREGON TRAIL (Sept. 14 – Nov. 4) and Caridad Svich’s Midwest Premiere of DE TROYA (May 10 – Jun. 20). Halcyon Theatre operates out of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3253 W. Wilson Avenue in the Albany Park neighborhood, with a mission to “present new voices from inadequately represented communities and works to recast classic works in order to showcase contemporary relevance.”

Additionally, Halcyon has recieved a $50,000 grant from Art Works Fund’s Idea Lab through The Chicago Community Trust. The grant is intened to allow Halcyon to “explore how aesthetic and venue choices affect performance and audience engagement.” Over the next two years, Halcyon will produce developmental productions and programming in alternate locations around the city.

“Both of the plays this season rumble with what happens when you realize the world before you is not the place you dreamed it would be,” says Artistic Director Tony Adams. “When grief strikes and they feel enveloped in loneliness, the women at the center of the stories are given a gift of seeing a different way forward, as if seeing the world through a magic mirror showing that more is possible. We get to watch what they do with that gift, how their journey makes them feel less lost and lonely. And hopefully we can feel a little less lonely too.”

“With funding as part of an Idea Lab grant from the Arts Work Fund, we will finally be able to experiment with taking performances outside of our theater, to alternate locations across our area,” continues Adams. “While we will be doing fewer mainstage productions, we will be able to take them to more places, and conducting scholarly research on how the same works connect with audience members in traditional vs. non-traditional settings. It’s a very exciting prospect.”