INCIDENT AT OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP Starts May 14 At Theatre 40

The play tells the story of the O'Sheas, a cash-challenged, Irish-Catholic family just trying to get through 1973. Linda O'Shea, our 19-year old narrator, is attempting to re-enact for the audience the most turbulent day of her life....but her family keeps interrupting, insisting on telling their side of the story.

The 1970s was a time of old school living. No Facebook, no tweets, no texting, no Skype. A time when public ridicule in a close-knit, hermetically sealed Catholic parish was the ultimate nightmare. When Linda's mother leaves it to Linda to tell her younger sister about the birds and the bees, the bawdy conversation is somehow overheard by the parish priest...and Father Lovett is not amused. He sets out to confront the family about "the corruption of their eldest daughter's soul."

Katie Forgette is the playwright. She wrote Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, one of Theatre 40's biggest hits in recent years. Her other plays include Cindy Rella, Everybody's a Critic, Evidence of Things Unseen, A Facility for Living, and The O'Conner Girls. She has spent most of her professional life as an actor at theatres in the Seattle area.

Ann Hearn Tobolowsky is the director. Her previous directing credits at Theatre 40 include Bus Stop, Holy Days, Driving Miss Daisy, Another Part of the Forest and The Color of Rose. She has also directed at The Road Theatre, Atwater Theatre and Malibu Playhouse. She is also an actor.

Her cast for Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help includes (in alphabetical order) Alison Blanchard, Lucia Camon, Ivy Khan, Maria Spassoff and Roger Weiss.

Assistant director: David Westbay. Stage manager: Don Solosan. Set design: Jeff G. Rack. Lighting design: Brandon Baruch. Sound design: Steve Shaw. Costume design: Michèle Young:

Fans of Katie Forgette's last play at Theatre 40 will enjoy this one, as the O'Shea family meets its challenges with warmth, heart and laughs.

For more information visit www.theatre40.org.