Time travel fascinates many people especially when it comes to how someone could change his or her love life.
“Bloomsday,” which Gaelic Park Players stage from Nov. 5-21 at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest, focuses on one man’s journey to reunite with a woman he met decades ago during a James Joyce literary tour.
“It’s our first show since the pandemic began. We are so excited to be able to do theater again,” said Gail Lauryn, director of “Bloomsday.”
“It’s an interesting show. The play is based on a man who wants to go back to a woman he met years ago in Dublin, Ireland. He was with her for only one day but he feels like if he can change what happened between them, he could change his whole life.
“He goes back in time and, yet, at the same time he’s living in the present because he arranges to meet the young woman as an old woman. He writes her a letter and has a date to meet her at his current age. It’s so nuanced and has many levels. It’s been fun to direct.”
Written by Steven Dietz, “Bloomsday” premiered in 2015 at Seattle’s A Contemporary Theatre and received a 2016 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award Citation.
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Lauryn is working with assistant director Kristel Flynn on Gaelic Park Players’ production of “Bloomsday,” which stars Peter Piane of Bolingbrook as Robert, Bridget Christianson of Midlothian as Cait, and Justin Cahill and Maria Zoia as the younger Robbie and Caithleen, respectively.
“Three of the actors are brand-new to Gaelic Park Players. Bridget Christianson has been with the group since the very beginning. Where Peter Piane brings the darkness, she brings the lightness,” said Lauryn of Chicago’s Morgan Park community.
“What keeps an organization going is having new people come in. Two of the people are in their early 20s. Both of them are graduates of Northern Illinois University’s acting program. They were friends and came in and auditioned together. Maria Zoia and Justin Cahill had such good chemistry together.
“Peter has a lot of acting experience. He’s a professional actor here in Chicago so he’s a lot of fun. I wanted the older Robert to have darkness to show why he wanted to go back to change things. Peter does such a good job of that.”
Gaelic Park Players were invited to perform “Bloomsday” on Oct. 23 as part of Irish Books Arts & Music Celebration at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago.
“We’re very proud of the fact that we got invited,” said Lauryn, who has been involved with Gaelic Park Players since being cast in 2017’s “For Better, For Worse.”
Lauryn’s involvement in theater began at age 12 when she was a student at Morgan Park Academy in Chicago and then-staffer Stanrod Carmichael asked for her help.
“One of the teachers said, ‘I want you to be on my crew for the high school show. The Drama Club was high school only. I was in junior high. I got so excited being on the crew,” she recalled.
Years later, Lauryn continues to be involved in theater and even teamed with her family for “Chapatti,” a two-person play that was streamed in April online to help the Beverly Theatre Guild Chicago, Mokena’s Curtain Call Theatre, Gaelic Park Players and Blue Island’s Stray Dog Theatre Company.
“That went very well. We’re a family of actors. It’s in our blood,” said Lauryn about herself; her husband, Dave Lauryn; and their children, Ariel Lauryn and Eric Lauryn.
“We were so missing theater. We realized that community theaters were losing money. They still had expenses so we decided to put on a benefit performance. We paid for all the royalties and all the costs of having it filmed and edited. Then it was put on by ShowTix4U.
“It was very nice. We were able to give about $1,500 to four community theater groups.”
“The philosophy of Gaelic Park Players is that it should be fun,” Gail Lauryn said.
“It’s hard work but the hard work should still be fun.”
‘Bloomsday’
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 5-6, 11-12, and 19-20; 3 p.m. Nov. 7, 14 and 21
Where: Chicago Gaelic Park, 6119 W. 147th St., Oak Forest
Tickets: $15
Information: 708-687-9323; gaelicparkplayers.org
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.