Signal Ensemble Theatre makes its Chicago debut with the world premiere of LEARNING TO FLY, a new play by Ronan Marra. This inaugural production will be staged at Wing and Groove Theatre, 1935 1/2 W North Ave. in the Flat Iron Arts Building. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved by telephone at 773-347-1350.

At 35,000 feet, you’re stuck with whomever you’re sitting by. Will and Sarah are stuck with each other. Tense negotiations over whose seat is whose spark a debate in which the two passengers discover a striking series of coincidences in their lives. A quick flight from DC to Charleston takes a harrowing and hilarious detour to the past.

Originally written as a one-act, LEARNING TO FLY received its first production at Kent State University’s Fringe Festival in the spring of 2000. This was followed by another production in October at New York City's ITN Theatre. While making the rounds in NYC, the play scored second place at Neverland Productions one-act competition.

In June of last year, LEARNING TO FLY had its Chicago premiere at Bailiwick’s Director's Festival. It was after this staging that the development of the two-act script began. Signal Ensemble Theatre's inaugural production is the world premiere of the full-length version of LEARNING TO FLY.

The play's author Ronan Marra directs this production. His plays have received productions, workshops and readings every year since 1997, when his first play, Off the Hook, debuted at Kent State University. The play was last seen in September at New Leaf, and has been adapted to serve as “Part One” of a longer piece, entitled Maintenance. His plays Letters to Destiny and The Waiter's Birthday were also produced by KSU. Ronan also directed the New York production of LEARNING TO FLY, and has directed productions of Say Goodnight, Gracie, by Ralph Pape, The Swan by Elizabeth Egloff, and The Messiah, by David Keller. He has been seen onstage in Chicago in Twelfth Night at First Folio and Life Is a Dream and Hamlet at Chase Park. Ronan is a member of Signal Ensemble and a Network Playwright with Chicago Dramatists.

LEARNING TO FLY features several notable Chicago actors: Erin Myers, who was recently seen in The Hypocrites’ Machinal plays Sarah; Georgann Charuhas who played Maggie in The Artistic Home’s After the Fall plays Diane; Kevin Schwendeman, who created the character of Will, reprises the role for this production; Signal Ensemble Member Joseph Stearns, last seen as the Narrator in Inequity's James and the Giant Peach, plays Glenn; Ian Crossland, who appeared in Marra's Off the Hook, plays The Voice.

The Design/Production team for Learning to Fly includes Whitney Buchman (Lighting Design) and Jeremy Dobbins (Sound Design/Stage Manager).

Signal Ensemble Theatre is dedicated to telling great stories well. Through clean, clear, and interesting staging of classic, contemporary, and modern works, we seek to engage and entertain the audience by inviting them to celebrate the human condition.

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