Steve Hendrickson as The Poet (photo Caskey Hunsader)

(CHESTER, Mass.) – The curtain comes down on the 2013 season at Chester Theatre Company (CTC) with a production of An Iliad, a critically acclaimed one-man retelling of Homer’s epic poem, running from Thursday, August 15 through Sunday, August 25, 2013. Playwrights Lisa Peterson and Tony Award-winner Denis O’Hare were honored with a special citation from the 2012 Obie Awards for bringing a modern sensibility to Homer’s epic tale.

Based on a translation of The Iliad by Robert Fagles, An Iliad opens with the entrance of an old man carrying a battered suitcase. The man, it turns out, is a poet, and his “song” is Homer’s story of Achilles and Hector, of Troy, of gods and goddesses, kings and heroes, epic battles and an endless war. It soon becomes clear the poet has been telling this story for a very long time and observed much in the process, all of which he shares with the wit and wisdom gleaned of long experience.

Steve Hendrickson will play the Poet, accompanied by musician/composer Tom Shread. The play is directed by Sheila Siragusa.

Tickets are available at Chester Theatre Company or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX.