FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lovers Locked in a Heart-Shaped Box:
“Fool for Love” Valentine’s Week Show in Evanston
Benefits the Les Turner ALS Foundation
Three performances only: 2/10 (matinee and evening) and 2/12 at Found Kitchen & Social House
Evanston, IL—In celebration of Valentine’s week, and to honor the Diamond Jubilee Year of the late, acclaimed Chicago-area actor/playwright Sam Shepard, Chicago actors Megan Corse and Paul McComas on February 10th and 12th, 2019, will headline the theater and music show Lovers Locked in a Heart-Shaped Box: A “Fool for Love”Valentine’s Week Show Benefiting the Les Turner ALS Foundation at The Salon at Found Kitchen & Social House, 1631 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201. The three performances are Sunday 2/10/19 at 3:30pm and 7:30pm, and Tuesday 2/12/19 at 8:30pm. The 80-minute show is appropriate for age 13+, with a $7.50 suggested donation—a dime for each of the 75 years since Shepard’s birth in Fort Sheridan, just north of Chicago.
“Watching this oddly endearing pair of ornery, star-crossed innocents go at each other, we’re reminded just how serious and complicated adult love can get. How very much is at stake. How vulnerable, by definition, lovers are; how easy it is for them to harm each other, without even wanting to—and how difficult, but also vital, it is for them to try their utmost to keep that from happening.”
– Paul McComas
Corse and McComas portray “May & Eddie” in Paul’s propulsive adaptation of Shepard’s Fool for Love, 1983’s Obie Award Winner for Best New American Play. Shepard said his play “is to be performed relentlessly without a break”; the actors comply, launching the audience on a romantic roller coaster ride they won’t soon forget. The story of these sparring lovers—a southern spitfire and a brash cowboy, who share a mysterious connection—is a compelling and unexpectedly passionate drama.
The 45-minute play is preceded by a half-hour live musical set of original “songs of love and longing,” among them haunting Western tunes that Shepard’s sister Sandy Rogers wrote for Robert Altman’s 1985 feature-film version of the play. Corse and McComas are joined by guitarist Don Gibson and several other leading lights from Chicago’s burgeoning music scene.
All proceeds benefit the Les Turner ALS Foundation, the largest independent ALS organization in the country. The Foundation supports people living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease, to which Shepard succumbed in 2017 at age 73. Visit lesturnerals.org for more information about the Foundation’s work as the leader in comprehensive ALS care in Chicagoland.
“This disease slowly paralyzes you till you can’t walk, can’t speak, then can’t breathe,” says Les Turner CEO Andrea Pauls Backman. “Through our work, ultimately no one will have to suffer as Sam and his family did, and as my mom, Sally, and our family did. We’re honored to be part of a production that pays tribute to Shepard’s valiant fight. I thank Paul and Megan, their musical guests, and Found Kitchen & Social House for their creative, effective way of helping us help everyone who bravely struggles with ALS.”
Shepard’s multi-faceted career included acting, screenwriting, directing, fiction writing, and even rock ‘n’ roll drumming. Among his numerous collaborators were Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, director Wim Wenders, and Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre.
RESERVATIONS
Patrons are encouraged to inquire about the host venue’s “Food for Love” dinner-and-a-show offer:
Call 847-868-8945, or visit www.foundkitchen.com
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2180333555561893/
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Inspired by artists such as Bob Dylan, The Clash, and Leadbelly, transplanted New Yorker Don Gibson captivates with a “three chords and the truth” guitar method and aggressive strumming patterns at once raw and refined. Whether singing about the human condition or delivering simple, poetic love songs, his soulful vocals, emphatic guitar textures, and thought-provoking lyrics represent the darkly touching work of a modern urban songwriter.
Paul McComas is a two-time Chicago Reader Critic’s Choice recipient in Theater & Performance, the award-winning author of six books, a prize-winning filmmaker and educator, and a CAUDog Records recording artist (Unplugged: A Survivor’s Story in Scenes & Songs, with Maya Kuper—the soundtrack to the stage musical the duo adapted from Paul’s critically acclaimed 2002 novel). He plays bass, writes songs, and sings backup for two bands: the Unplugged show’s Dayna Clay Project, and the alt-pop/neo-western Badlands Lounge. Paul serves on both the National Leadership Council and the Speakers Bureau of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), collaborates with Patrick J. Kennedy’s mental health-based Kennedy Forum and, in general, works at the juncture of the arts and progressive advocacy/activism/outreach/healing—efforts for which he has been recognized by the state legislature of his native Wisconsin. www.unpluggedthemusical.com
Megan Corse is an on-camera actor with award-winning independent film and TV credits, and a classically trained theatre actor. She has brought to the stage everything from Shakespeare to Ike Holter, and is a newfound fan of Sam Shepard’s breadth of work. In addition to acting, Megan spends much of her time making music. She has toured nationally with her husband, Phil Circle, and has starred in musicals and performed countless shows across the Midwest. www.megancorse.com
THE LES TURNER ALS FOUNDATION
Founded in 1977, the Foundation is Chicago’s leader in research, patient care and education about ALS, serving the vast majority of People With ALS (PALS) in the area, offering hope and help when it’s needed most. The Foundation’s full-spectrum patient-service programs include in-home consultations, support groups, equipment loans and educational programs. The Foundation offers hope for a future without ALS by supporting the Les Turner ALS Center at Northwestern Medicine, bringing together three research laboratories and a multidisciplinary patient clinic under one umbrella.
The Les Turner ALS Foundation is one of the nation’s oldest independent ALS organizations. In 42 years of operation, it has raised $67 million to fight ALS. Through its collaborative research and symposia for healthcare professionals, it reaches the ALS community worldwide and is one of the founding members of the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations.
CONTACT:
Paul McComas, 224-343-6484, paulmccomas@mail.com (NOTE: not gmail)
Beth Richman for Les Turner ALS Foundation, 312-806-8999, brichman@lesturnerals.org
Danielle Daniot and Amy Morton for Found Kitchen & Social House,
847-868-8945, events@foundkitchen.com, amy@foundkitchen.com
Music Performers
