Chicago's Glass Apple Theatre Announces Cast For "Lighthouses in the Desert"

Artistic Director Brian McKnight announces the cast for Glass Apple Theatre's world première new play Lighthouses in the Desert, written by Richard James Zieman.

Chicago, IL., August 24, 2021 -- Artistic Director Brian McKnight announces the cast for Glass Apple Theatre's world première new play Lighthouses in the Desert, written by Richard James Zieman. The production will be directed by acclaimed Chicago director Cheryl Snodgrass.

In Zieman's new play, Gail is convinced that the explosive story she has pieced together through news clippings and eyewitness tales will make her neighbor Toni an overnight millionaire if she publishes the story, rescuing Toni from her life as a sex worker. But all is not as it seems, and the imminent destruction of their squalid apartment building means the elderly Gail is quickly running out of time before everything in her life is demolished beyond repair.

Bringing GAIL from the page to the stage is Ellen Shaw. Ellen is delighted to be making her Chicago debut with Glass Apple Theater. Her credits include Carrie Watts in The Trip To Bountiful, Fonsia Dorsey in The Gin Game, Melissa in Love Letters, Lady Bird Johnson in Tea for Three and Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Kristin Doty is playing THE GIRL. Chicago credits include Talley's Folly (Oil Lamp Theater) and Testosterone (The International Voices Project). Regional credits include A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, and Cabaret (Playhouse on the Square); Little Women and Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook (The Circuit Playhouse); and The Marvelous Wonderettes (Top Hat Productions).

Rounding out the three-character drama is Fawn Johnstin as TONI. Fawn made her theatre debut at Steppenwolf Theater, as one of the original cast members of August: Osage County, playing the daughter, Jean. She is a graduate from The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in NYC, where she continued to reside and work on various projects for the last ten years. She was a proud member of F.A.B. (for, about, by) Women Theater Company, which is affiliated with The Barrow Group.

Performances will be at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark, Chicago, IL, 60660 between November 12 – December 19, 2021.