Chicago 1893: The Zoopraxiscope, cracker jacks and neon lights. The Ferris Wheel, hootchy-kootchy… hell they even had the hamburger! On the eve of a glowing new century, something terrible happens in a humble two-story home. And everything ends. Chicago 1933: When The Fair returns 40 years later, so do the unfinished histories of everything that could have been. And so things begin for the hermit upstairs and the mysterious look-a-like below.

Inspired by the Chicago World’s Fairs of 1893 and 1933, theater impresario Steele Mackaye and dangerous turn-of-the-century technology, The Light Years is being developed in part at the 2011 and 2012 Sundance Institute Theatre Labs and at New York Stage and Film and is supported by a grant from The Greenwall Foundation.

This downtown gem, full of minor-key revelations and offhand epiphanies, roots its quirky charm in an earnest and surprising realism. Charming, offbeat, sneakily funny. CRITIC’S PICK

-The New York Times

Script now available
from Samuel French.

Two cops . . . in the kind of quiet little town where a kid dreams of growing up to be a fireman. Or a racecar driver. Where the only question you ask yourself at the end of the day is if you’re gonna knock back your cold one at Swanky’s, Spanky’s or Zingers. A town where neighbors pitch in to help neighbors in need. And where if you wake up in the middle of the night . . . you should keep your eyes closed. Because the man in red is there in the corner. Watching you. Smiling at you with his yellow eyes and black teeth. Best to pretend you’re still asleep.

Written by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen
Directed and developed by Oliver Butler

Featuring: *Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen,
*Monique Vukovic & *Michael Cyril Creighton

Set Design by Laura Jellinek
Lighting Design by Mike Riggs
Costume Design by Sydney Maresca
Sound Design by Nathan Leigh
Stage Manager: Amy Ehrenberg
Assistant Stage Manager: Shelley Miles

This production was originally produced in association with the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator at the Ontological Theater at Saint Mark’s Church in Spring 2010.

In January 2011, Buddy Cop 2 was presented at Atlantic Stage 2 in association with Performance Space 122 as part of COIL - an annual winter festival of contemporary performance featuring hits from the past, present and future seasons of Performance Space 122.

Buddy Cop 2 was made possible in part by grants from The Greenwall Foundation, The Mancini Foundation and public funds from the Fund for Creative Communities, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Production design support provided by The Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Foundation.

*Equity Approved Showcase- Appearing courtesy Actors’ Equity Association

Photo by Ian Savage