Event

Bleacher Bums

The classic comedy about the team once known as the "lovable losers" will run throughout a post-season schedule in which the Cubs may play in the World Series for the first time in 71 years.

A fortunately bygone era in which Chicago Cubs fans continually had to "wait until next year" will be celebrated with a nostalgic production of the Chicago classic comedy Bleacher Bums, staged just a few blocks from Wrigley Field in The Broadway Theater of the Pride Arts Center, 4139 N Broadway. Bleacher Bums, which premiered 39 years ago at the Organic Theater, will be directed for Open Space by Nich Radcliffe. Radcliffe's production will begin performances September 22 and run through November 6. Press night is September 24. The run is scheduled to coincide with the League Playoffs in early-mid October and the World Series, which the present-day Cubs are favored to win. The World Series.

Bleacher Bums, which premiered in 1977, was written collaboratively by members of the Organic Theatre Company, from an idea by actor Joe Mantegna, who appeared in the original cast along with Dennis Franz and seven other actors. In a funny and touching 90 minutes, a collection of unique Cubs fans watch a game between their heroes and their dreaded arch rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, and talk about life as we watch them kvetch, bet, and persevere.

This production will use the revised script set in the summer of 1997, updated to mention players from that summer Sammy Sosa, Kerry Wood, Mark Grace who will no doubt be remembered fondly by Cubs regulars. Jerry Pritikin, the longtime Cubs fan known as the "Bleacher Preacher," is serving as a consultant to this production to advise on fan vernacular and behavior of 1997.