Organic Theater Company’s production “Melancholy Play” is Jeff Recommended

The Organic Theatre Company’s current production Melancholy Play: A Contemporary Farce has earned Jeff Recommended status.  The production features many NIU alumni and faculty, and continues its run at The Greenhouse Theatre, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, through April 14 with performances Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

The Organic is committed to staging bold, relevant productions of classic, contemporary, and adapted works with a permanent group of artists over a sustained period of time. They return to the Greenhouse Theater Center this March for a very special presentation. From March 20 through April 14 they bring to the stage Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl, author of such plays as The Vibrator Play, Eurydice, and The Clean House, directed by Organic Company Member, and NIU School of Theatre and Dance alumna Laura Sturm.

Tilly, a bank teller, personifies melancholy, which proves to be contagious in the world of Melancholy Play. She is not depressed, but lives in such a sensual, yearning state of being that everyone she meets falls in love with her, including her therapist, her tailor, and her hairdresser. A whimsical, incredibly playful modern fairy tale that examines of the values of living in and enjoying the beauty of this active, sensorial state of being that our current culture has mostly left behind. Despite our modern connotations of the word melancholy, the play is not sad at all, but a highly stylized and imaginative comedy.

The designation of “Jeff Recommended” is given to a production when, after the opening night of its run, at least one element of the show was deemed excellent by the opening night judges of the Joseph Jefferson Committee. The entire production is then eligible for nomination for awards at the end of the season.