Brian Fruits, a former resident of Hephzibah Home is grateful for the care and support he received there as a child. He is repaying that kindness through his talent for theater — one of the gifts he was encouraged to explore in his youth.
Saltbox Theater Collective will donate to Hephzibah proceeds from the Thursday, September 24, 8:00 pm performance of Euripides’ The Bacchae at Madison Street Theatre, 1010 Madison Street, Oak Park. Fruits hopes Oak Park will pack the house on Thursday for this riveting 105-minute show, translated by Nicholas Rudall and produced by Jeramie Simmons. It’s the first production for Saltbox. Staged with a large Greek chorus and half masks, the play explores the balance of control and freedom within society, echoing contemporary struggles such as the recent Ferguson, MO, crisis.
“The play is more than 2,000 years old, but it still has much to say to us,” Fruits explains. For Fruits the theme is about identity and the play reflects the group’s desire to select dicey, cutting-edge work.
Fruits, who has a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s in fine arts in theater, has been teaching and directing for quite a while. He is also an instructor in the theater department at Concordia University Chicago, his alma mater.
Tickets can be purchased at the door or reserved in advance by sending an e-mail to info@saltboxtheatre.org. Include your full name, phone number, show date, and number of tickets you would like to reserve. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. Ticket information for The Bacchae is also available on the following websites: www.mstoakpark.com and www.saltboxtheatre.org.
Visit the links below to learn more about Brian Fruits, his early years at Hephzibah, and the love of theater and Oak Park that brought him back to the community.
http://www.uchicago.edu/features/transforming_lives_through_foster_care/
http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/7-21-2015/The-long-journey-from-North-Blvd.-to-Madison-St./
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