Claire Wellin

Moored on the Chicago River between Clark St and LaSalle, The Eastland begins boarding and thousands of Western Electric employees and their families climb the ramp, excited for their annual company outing. Overflowing with passengers about to depart, the boat leans port – and doesn’t lean back. Within minutes, cries fill the air, families are torn apart and unexpected heroes emerge to rescue dozens of Chicagoans from a watery end. Artistic Director Andrew White (Of One Blood, 1984) resurrects the ghosts of America’s forgotten tragedy in this Lookingglass Original musical, with music by Artistic Associate Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman, the team behind the score of Lookingglass Alice, 1984, Metamorphoses, Hard Times, and The Secret in the Wings, as well as the acclaimed Winesburg, Ohio. Directed by Amanda Dehnert (Peter Pan: A Play). Inspired in part by Jay Bonansinga’s The Sinking of the Eastland: America’s Forgotten Tragedy

Following the death of their estranged father, Joni and Wes Carver travel to Arkansas to deal with their inheritance: a rundown house in a rural town, arriving just in time for Decoration Week-end - wherein former residents return to celebrate their ancestors. It is here, in a sea of strangers living and dead, that Joni and Wes finally find their place in the story of their own lives.