Janus Theater to perform in New York City festival

Janus Theater Company is going on the road later this month when it performs Jack Helbig's play "Thinking of Her Made Him Think of Her" at the Piney Fork Theater Festival in New York City. The play was originally performed at the Elgin Fringe Festival in 2014 and was well-received by audiences.

Before leaving on the trip, the company will present "You Don't Know Jack: The Helbig Plays" at Blue Box Café, 176 E. Chicago St., Elgin. The show will feature short plays by Jack Helbig; performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14; and 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15. The suggested donation is $10. All proceeds will help fund Janus Theater's trip to New York City.

The cast will feature Melody Jefferies, Eric Wagner and Grant Schumacher - all local actors.

Janus Theater is familiar with moving around. Founded in 1998, the company was dubbed a "gypsy troupe" during its early years after traveling to multiple venues in the suburbs, Chicago, and the London Fringe Festival. This will be the first trip for the company to the Big Apple. The timing for the trip was a combination of perseverance and luck.

"I wanted to direct Jack's play for years," said Janus Theater Artistic Director Sean Hargadon. "It's a playful piece made for a fringe festival. Over the years, I attempted to enter it into different festivals by lottery, but was never selected, so once the Elgin Fringe Festival made the call, I knew this was my shot."

Performing the play was the fun part. The New York part was all in the timing.

"I saw a posting for the Piney Forks Festival (NYC) and entered the play into the festival and it was selected," said Chicago playwright and critic Jack Helbig, who also teaches during the day. "The production worked so well in Elgin, I invited the cast and director to take the play to the New York festival."

Helbig cut back on his freelance newspaper writing and reviewing some years ago to devote more time to writing.

"I pretty much write whenever I have time (before school, during vacations and holidays) and have been doing that regularly for the last 10 years," he said. "I finally have a backlog of plays to enter in contests and submit to theaters. I have been lucky this year to have a number of places like my work."

For details on "You Don't Know Jack: The Helbig Plays," the fundraiser, or Janus Theater, contact elginarts@gmail.com.