Displaying items by tag: Black Button Eyes Productions

Black Button Eyes Productions has announced it will follow up its hit co-production (with City Lit Theater) of STRANGE CARGO: THE DOOM OF THE DEMETER  with Conor McPherson's fantasy drama ST NICHOLAS, in June and July. Storefront theatre stalwart Kevin Webb will perform the one-actor, darkly comic drama of an unnamed Dublin theatre critic whose figurative penchant for drawing blood with his reviews takes a turn when he becomes involved with a group of real-life vampires in suburban London. One of McPherson's earliest produced plays, ST NICHOLAS premiered in London in 1997 and was staged in New York off-Broadway in 1998. THE NEW YORK TIMES' Ben Brantley called it "a delectably droll celebration of storytelling as striptease...Mr. McPherson combines old-fashioned yarn-spinning skills with a canny grasp of the frayed contemporary psyche." The opening will be Saturday, June 27 at  7:30 pm, following a preview on June 26, and will play through July 26 at City Lit Theater, in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue.

Kevin Webb has been one of the most prolific actors of the Chicago storefront theater scene, with over 50 credits – eight of them with Black Button Eyes - since arriving in Chicago from Mississippi in 2009. He is an ensemble member of Trap Door Theatre and a Jeff Award winner for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd with Kokandy Productions.

The production team for ST. NICHOLAS includes Liz Cooper (Lighting Design), Rachel Sypniewski (Costume Design), Jeremiah Barr (Set/Props design and Technical Direction), Joe Griffin (Sound Design), and Carrie Hardin (Dialect Coach).

Tickets for ST NICHOLAS are $30,00 plus fess for all performances and are on sale now at https://stnicholaschicago.eventbrite.com .

LISTING INFORMATION

ST NICHOLAS
By Conor McPherson
Directed by Ed Rutherford
Starring Kevin Webb
June 26 – July 26, 2026
Preview Friday, June 26 at 7:30 pm
Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm
No performance Saturday, July 4. Additional performances Monday, July 13 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, July 18 at 3:00 pm.
City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago
Tickets $30 plus fees on sale now at https://stnicholaschicago.eventbrite.com .
 
This is a play about theater critics. And this is a play about vampires.  But we repeat ourselves. In this darkly humorous one-person show by Conor McPherson, a former Dublin scribbler spins the tale of his unfortunate encounter with the supernatural.

BIOS

Kevin Webb (he/him, performer) is oh so happy to be returning to Black Button Eyes. He has been seen in their productions of SHOCKHEADED PETER, MARY ROSE, CORALINE, NEVERMORE, NIGHTMARES & NIGHTCAPS, DR. HORRIBLE'S SING ALONG BLOG, AMOUR and WHISPER HOUSE. Chicago credits: TITANIC THE MUSICAL (MARRIOTT); SWEENEY TODD, INTO THE WOODS AND JEKYLL & HYDE (Kokandy); SWEENEY TODD and THE IRISH...AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY (Porchlight); THE PRAGMATISTS — Poland and Chicago, THE KILLER, MOTHER COURAGE and THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI (Trap Door); THE SECRET GARDEN (Court); A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and SWEENEY TODD (Theo Ubique); THE PITCHFORK DISNEY (Interrobang); THE VIEW UPSTAIRS (Circle); MARIE CHRISTINE (BoHo); SONGS FROM AN UNMADE BED, ANGRY FAGS and DESIGN FOR LIVING (PrideArts). Kevin is a proud member of the Trap Door Theatre ensemble and spends most days walking dogs around Chicago.
 
Ed Rutherford (he/him, Director) is the Producing Artistic Director of Black Button Eyes Productions, where directing credits include STRANGE CARGO: THE DOOM OF THE DEMETER, GHOST QUARTET (Jeff Nomination: Director of a Musical), EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL (Jeff Nomination: Director of a Musical), SHOCKHEADED PETER, DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG, AMOUR, GOBLIN MARKET, and CORALINE, as well as his scripts NIGHTMARES & NIGHTCAPS, A SHADOW BRIGHT AND BURNING, and MARY ROSE (Jeff Nomination: New Work). Promethean Theatre Ensemble: artistic associate, where he directed THE LIAR, his adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's THE LAST UNICORN, THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE and BEYOND THERAPY. Book & Lyrics: the parody musical MURDER, REWROTE and MARY ROSE. As an actor, he's performed with City Lit, Drury Lane Oakbrook, Porchlight, Theater Wit and many others. A graduate of Northwestern's theater program, he also completed his MBA at Kellogg. ed-rutherford.com.

Conor McPherson (Playwright) is a celebrated Irish playwright, screenwriter, and director, best known for his intimate, conversational plays that frequently blend naturalism with the supernatural, exploring themes of guilt, regret, and redemption. His international breakthrough came with THE WEIR (1997), which won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. Other major acclaimed works include ST. NICHOLAS (1997), DUBLIN CAROL (2000), SHINING CITY (2004)—nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play—and THE SEAFARER (2006). In 2017, he wrote and directed the Bob Dylan musical GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, which found critical success on the West End and Broadway.
 
ABOUT BLACK BUTTON EYES PRODUCTIONS
 
Black Button Eyes Productions' mission is to bring to Chicago premieres and seldom-seen works containing elements of fantasy, in which the magical and surreal invade reality. The company has mounted 14 productions since its founding in 2014, including STRANGE CARGO: THE DOOM OF THE DEMETER (co-production with City Lit Theater), A SHADOW BRIGHT AND BURNING, MARY ROSE, DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG, MASQUE OF THE RED CORONA VIRUS, WHISPER HOUSE, GHOST QUARTET, EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL, NIGHTMARES AND NIGHTCAPS: THE STORIES OF JOHN COLLIER, NEVERMORE: THE IMAGINARY LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, SHOCKHEADED PETER, AMOUR, and GOBLIN MARKET, and CORALINE. Black Button Eyes Productions is led by Producing Artistic Director Ed Rutherford.

“Strange Cargo: The Doom of the Demeter,” is a compelling proposition for a stage play. Now in its world premiere in a Black Button production with City Lit Theater, Timothy Griffin’s original two-act script draws on Chapter 7 of Bram Stoker's novel “Dracula,”  .

That chapter in the book “Dracula” is sparse on details. It opens with the crash of the Demeter into the wharf in Whitby, England, with no one found alive on board (This is the point in time where Griffin's play ends.) The book chapter is mostly filled with details of the ship’s route and descriptions of weather—but salted with incidental references to a crew growing demoralized, brought on by unexplained disappearances of their fellow sailors as the month-long journey from Varna, Russia to Whitby, progresses.

The minimal details in the book gives the playwright free rein to fill in things not described in the Demeter’s log—ostensibly translated hastily from Russian for a journalist in Whitby, who is the narrator of the chapter.

Playwright Griffin adds in the tale of Yorga (Herb Metzler is compellingly sinister and cloyingly evil), as he transits from Transylvania in Eastern Europe to England, accompanying his “strange cargo.” In Griffin’s telling, it lists on the ship’s manifest as “50 sealed crates of earth” but we suspect it also carries something more wicked.

Some disambiguation may be in order here: in “Strange Cargo,” Yorga appears to be either a ghoul who acts as consigliere for Dracula, who perhaps is sealed in one of the crates in the hold? We’re uncertain. The Yorga character does not appear in the book “Dracula,” but was created for a 1970 Dracula film, so the playwright may be giving a nod to that piece.

Directed by Ed Rutherford, “Strange Cargo” opens as the crew of the Demeter confront a last minute booking on the Russian cargo ship arranged by Yorga, who wrangles space for the crates of not fully disclosed contents. The audience might suspect (it isn’t explicitly revealed in the play)—and those familiar with the Stokers’ tale or its recent depiction in Robert Eggers’ 2024 film “Nosferatu”—this cargo is the necessary support for an unknown entity who remains sealed for the journey, at least most of the time.

Though the steward Abramoff (Andrew Bosworth in a very good performance) objects there are no cabins or food for civilian passengers, Yorga makes the case he needs little, that he carries his own victuals, and is willing to bunk in the hold with his cargo. Grateful for the business, Captain Gorodetsky (Brian Parry is strikingly good) signs off after it’s already loaded, and Yorga is doubtless hanging from a nearby beam by this time.

Much of Griffin’s script focuses on the life of the crew and the minutiae of operations, mind-numbingly so at least to my mind, but filled with realism. As the ship makes its way through the month-long journey - supratitles periodically tracking the day count and maps of its progress - the Demeter must put in mid journey for a customs inspection in Turkey. A variety of other nautical events recounted in Stoker’s book are dutifully recounted by Griffin, to the detriment of the audience’s interest.

What the playwright does accomplish, furthered by very good performances, is the establishment of memorable characters: Guza (Jennifer Agather), Basarab (Alex Albrecht), Digeren (Riles August Holiday), Munir (Cameron Austin Brown), Bucatar (Ross Compton), Post (Robert Howard), and Petrofsky (Nathaniel Kohlmeier). Thus as these characters one by one meet their unhappy fates in the next act, we know who they are. 

When Act II opens the play takes a more sinister turn, and crew members start disappearing regularly. So frequently does this happens that it becomes tedious, and repetitious. “Captain!” shout various crewmembers in repeated scenes of alarm, and Captain Gorodetsky is forever being warned that individual sailors have fallen into depressive stupors. After each of these warnings he promises to “keep an eye on him.” Sailors on watch simply disappear nearly nightly, which Gorodetsky addresses by searching the ship from stem to stern.

But the action warms up as the Demeter finally reaches the English coast, crossing the Channel and navigating in the final events that lead to the decimated ship reaching port. Monstrous puppetry and silhouettes of terror-filled action below decks bring a culmination to the show.

The excellence of the performances outshine the meager script. And Brian Parry, an acting powerhouse, manages to stabilize the production with the weight of his performance. Some software-driven technical glitches opening night were rapidly set right, so no complaints should be lodged on that score. But the repetitiveness of the loathsome sufferings inflicted on the crew detracted from the effect the playwright doubtless intended. With some script polishing, this has the makings of a great recurring seasonal show for Halloween. And overall it’s still fun to watch.

“Strange Cargo: The Doom of the Demeter” runs through November 23 at City Lit Theater in Chicago.

With their usual care and commitment, Black Button Eyes Productions is introducing ‘Whisper House’, a musical ghost story about loss, love and not giving up, to Chicago. The premise is promising. A young boy loses his Airman father in the Pacific during WWII, a loss that his mother cannot handle. He is sent to live with his aunt Lily in a lighthouse in Maine that she tends with the assistance of a Japanese immigrant who somehow got stranded there on his way to find his future. There’s a law-and-order sheriff who may have feelings for Lily. Or not. And there are the tunefully malignant and omnipresent ghosts, who frequently opine that everyone would be better off dead. The pedigree of the musical is impressive, with music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik of Spring Awakening fame and book and additional lyrics by Kyle Jarrow (‘Spongebob Squarepants Musical’). Unfortunately, the plot is predictable, the music bland, and the ghostly sirens quickly grow tiresome—why they want everyone to be miserable or dead is not entirely clear. It is thanks to director Ed Rutherford’s well-paced and elegant staging, and the sincerity of the talented cast, that ‘Whisper House’ is an engaging and ultimately moving love story. Though the resolution, when it comes, is wholly anticipated (except for those Ghosts, whose denouement surprises even them, as the lyrics acknowledge), it is surprisingly affecting. ‘Whisper House’ as a musical is a mess—it feels incomplete and prosaic, like the suspended ambitions of its characters—but the strong Black Button Eyes ensemble reveals the heart that no doubt drew them to this imperfect rumination on the need for love and the ways that humans push it away.

Most of the problems with ‘Whisper House’ stem from the musical’s transparently thin plot and mostly forgettable (with the occasional catchy hook) score. The trite lyrics channel pop psychology via Edward Gorey. The narrative conveniently brings together characters who are bound to mistrust one another: Christopher is sent to the last place on Earth he wants to be to live with an aunt he never met after the death of his father in a firefight with Japanese pilots. A Japanese caretaker helps Lily with household chores she cannot easily do (because of her limp), as well as offering companionship. Also looking in periodically is Charles, a flag-waving law enforcement officer. Christopher is immediately distrustful of Yasuhiro and the rabidly nationalistic Charles is just looking for a reason to get rid of him. Lily is haunted both literally and figuratively by the memory of a yacht that sank 20 years earlier, leading her to mistrust herself even when her instincts are sound. The stage is set for a claustrophobic clash of characters and cultures. And then, there are the ghosts of two stylish drowning victims. It’s hard to tell whether the creators wanted the ghosts to serve as metaphors for the living characters’ hurtful instincts or as actual characters. To the credit of director Ed Rutherford and his team of collaborators, he is able to keep a hold on the humanity of the characters and the genuine good will of the plot to deliver a slight, but entertainingly moving yarn. Rutherford could have done more to flesh out purpose and through-line for the ghostly narrators, and, despite a valiant effort by the design team, the smallish stage makes it difficult to portray multiple locations, including the ocean and an adjoining lighthouse, while also accommodating an onstage backing band. However, the care that was invested in the staging ultimately pays off. Set designer Nikolaj Sorensen focuses on the kitchen of the lighthouse and keeps the space open enough to convey the other locations, albeit with efficient but clunky scene changes (which the occasionally corporeal and accommodating ghosts incorporate into Derek Van Barham’s 1920’s-inspired choreography). With the addition of the color-saturated lighting design of Liz Cooper, nifty period props by Adrian Hadlock, and creaky-spooky sound effects by Robert Hornbostel, the design team effectively creates the gloomy, desolate backdrop the story requires. Costume designer Rachel M. Sypniewski further adds to the effect, with simple, drab costumes for the humans who have no one to dress for (except for the Sheriff, whose uniform is his mask) and stylish Jazz Age formal wear for the ghosts, though, in keeping with their tragic fate, they dress in funereal white and black. Much credit also goes to musical director/conductor/musician Micky York and the other members of the six-piece ensemble, who create a spectrum of musical backdrops for the narrative and generally maintain the right balance with the vocals—not easy in a space of this size and configuration.

At the outset, we are introduced to the characters that in the ghosts believe would be better off dead. The guilt-ridden Christopher wants to care for his mother as he promised but is instead sent to stay with his father’s estranged sister. Leo Spiegel impressively captures Christopher’s grief, outrage and sense of powerlessness, though he does seem to take the omnipresence of ghosts in the lighthouse too much in stride (if ghosts told me I should be afraid, I would take their advice). Kate Nawrocki is the show’s anchor as Christopher’s aunt, who requests that he avoid addressing her as Ma’am or Aunt, insisting on Miss Lily. Pragmatic to the point of being cold, Nawrocki’s Lily nevertheless allows a sly sense of humor and genuine compassion to temper her bone-dry delivery. The growing connection between Spiegel’s needy and impudent Christopher and Nawrocki’s equally needy and uncompromising Lily is a high point in the show. Also living on the lighthouse property is Yasuhiro, who has forged a quiet but strong camaraderie with Lily. It is clear from the start that Lily and Yasuhiro share a bond, but misgivings about their different backgrounds, coupled with ghostly interference and the implementation of Executive Order 9066, keep them from acknowledging this. Karmann Bajuyo fortunately sidesteps the potential for melodrama in his character, offering a quietly self-deprecating and warmly humorous portrayal that provides a softer counterpoint to the flinty Lily. As Charles, the local sheriff who fully embraces the jingoistic and xenophobic patriotism that characterized some of America’s home front response to WWII, T.J. Anderson is cast against type. Lacking the hulking physical presence that one would expect of this stereotypical bully, Anderson tries to create a more complex character than the writing can support, coming across as a nice guy hiding behind toxic attitudes and braggadocio. This attempt at depth throws too much light on the two-dimensional writing and makes one wish for a more conventional bad guy. Anderson’s Charles also is no match for either Lily or Yasuhiro, which means he must rely solely on his badge and gun to intimidate (which violence designer Brendan Hutt wisely acknowledges when Charles’ racism inevitably—and unnecessarily—leads to violence). Mikaela Sullivan and Kevin Webb, as the waterlogged victims of 20-year-old shipwreck, play their roles with macabre relish. They have the voices and musical acumen to move easily through the various pop genres of the score, and beguilingly address both audience and the living characters they torment. Despite thoroughly enjoyable performances, one is still left wondering exactly what these two ghosts need or want (the reason given for their presence does not adequately explain their behavior): revenge? connection? company? all of the above? With these questions left unanswered, it can be occasionally frustrating to watch the spirits alternately charm, comfort, frighten, and belittle the living, often magnifying their most self-destructive musings.

This ghost story would be better off without its ghosts (despite charming and tuneful portrayals by Mikaela Sullivan and Kevin Webb), who mostly meddle in the living characters’ lives by amplifying their fears, misjudgments and self-doubts. They don’t need ghosts to do that for them. And, as much of the musical portion of the musical belongs to the ghostly interlopers, the predictable but ultimately moving story of a family thrown together by blood and circumstance is nearly drowned out by synth-pop hauntings. The balance is so off that it seems touch and go whether the excellent ensemble—with Kate Nawrocki, Karmann Bayuyo and Leo Spiegel as reluctant allies who need to learn trust at its heart—can land the emotional cargo. They do, and there is no denying that this is a good time for a reminder that compassion, and love can heal both a wounded heart and a wounded world. ‘Whisper House’ is decidedly not great theater, but as a musical curiosity it is mostly innocuous and entertaining, and Ed Rutherford’s cast ensures surely propels the plot to a satisfying and emotional conclusion, though a true resolution does not materialize. 

‘Whisper House’ runs through February 15 at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Avenue, Chicago. Tickets are available at athenaeumtheatre.org, by calling (773)935-6875 or in person at the Athenaeum Theatre Box Office.