CTC Presents Benefit Performance at CityStage 

Chester Theatre Company and the Springfield Jewish Community Center will present a Special Benefit Performance of UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL at CityStage in Springfield on Sunday April 11 at 2:00pm. For tickets and information, call: the CTC Box Office at (413) 354-7771.

This intriguing play, which Seattle Weekly called “One of the great plays written in the last five years...an astonishingly beautiful piece of writing” stars John Shuman (THE DISHWASHERS) as the Librarian on the adventure of a lifetime. The performance will be followed by a TalkBack with Mr. Shuman and director Byam Stevens and a Reception.

UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL is the story of a spiritual quest told by the most unlikely of narrators. The play opens with the Librarian (John Shuman) discovering a book that has been returned 113 years overdue. Tracking down the delinquent book borrower takes the Librarian on an around-the-world hunt. The evidence he collects gradually reveals the culprit's identity -- Ahasuerus, the Wandering Jew, a mythical figure from medieval Christian folklore. By walking in Ahasuerus' footsteps, the Librarian experiences a unique spiritual reawakening that is surprising, amusing and totally unexpected.

John Shuman is a native of Springfield who fondly recalls many afternoons spent in the JCC swimming pool. His many acting credits include the Broadway productions of La Cage Aux Folles and 13 Rue de l'Amour, and the Off Broadway productions of Fantasticks, Hot l Baltimore and Moonchildren.