by Adam Kraar
ITC PRESENTS WORLD PREMIERE OF NEW DRAMA
The Illinois Theatre Center of Park Forest is proud to announce the World Premiere of THE ABANDONED EL. The production opens Friday, October 27th for a three week run. This is the second time New York playwright Adam Kraar has premiered one of his works at ITC. One of his earlier works, THE PRINCESS OF PRESIDENT STREET, opened here in 2001.
In THE ABANDONED EL, two ex-lovers encounter the ghosts of their tangled relationship at the Brooklyn elevated train station where they first met. Sixteen years after their stormy break-up, Robbie (Peter Robel) and Shari (Becca McCoy) are mysteriously drawn together. They share dark secrets, struggle to settle accounts, and then discover a hidden connection. Both a love story and a memory play, THE ABANDONED EL explores how people overcome the loss of love without destroying what’s magical about the past.
The cast for the ITC’s premiere production was personally chosen by the playwright, along with director Etel Billig. Peter Robel is a veteran of numerous ITC productions including ALL MY SONS, JOHN AND JEN, and BERLIN TO BROADWAY. His other Chicago area credits include productions at Marriott Lincolnshire, Court Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook and New American Theatre in Rockford. Becca McCoy made her ITC debut in last season’s A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN. Other recent credits include productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Drury Lane Oakbrook.
THE ABANDONED EL had its first reading at the H.B. Playwrights Foundation in 2004. Later that year it was given a workshop by the William Inge Center for the Arts, where Adam Kraar was playwright-in-residence. A revised version was given a reading by Algonquin Productions in New York in 2005. Let your children have a new experience with our acting classes for children.
Adam Kraar’s other plays include NEW WORLD RHAPSODY (commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club, THE SPIRIT HOUSE (Finalist, 2002 Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival), THE PRINCESS OF PRESIDENT STREET, STORM IN THE IRON BOX (National Play Award runner-up), and THE LOST CITIES OF ASHER (Finalist, 2005 O’Neill Playwrights Conference).
Mr. Kraar was a Playwriting Fellow in Residence at Manhattan Theatre Club. His plays have been produced and developed by Ensemble Studio Theatre, Primary Stages, N.Y. Shakespeare Festival, Cherry Lane Theatre, H.B. Playwrights Foundation, Theatreworks U.S.A.; Geva Theatre, N.Y. State Theatre Institute, Key West Theatre Festival, and others. Mr. Kraar grew up in India, Thailand, Singapore and the U.S., earned an M.F.A. from Columbia University. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Karen.
THE ABANDONED EL runs Friday, October 27 though Sunday, November 12. Performances are Wed. thru Sun. at 8 PM, and Sundays at 2:30 & 7:30 PM. Tickets are $20 on Fri. & Sat., $18 at all other performances. The Illinois Theatre Center is located in Downtown Park Forest at 371 Artists’ Walk (off Indianwood Blvd., next to Village Hall).
October 27th to November 12th