‘Shane’ Is A Classic Western With A Fresh Perspective
A classic Western tale of loyalty and family, Shane makes its world premiere on stage, transporting audiences to 1889 Wyoming with rugged characters, a mysterious hero, and a young narrator who sees the adventure through very different eyes.
Ever since the Western genre became popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it has been a major part of American storytelling. We have hugely successful television shows and films, although, surprisingly, the genre has been somewhat lacking on the stage. There is Annie Get Your Gun and Oklahoma!, but it is a genre that could use more exploration.
Shane is about a mysterious man who shows up at the Starrett homestead in a Wyoming territory in 1889 and is just passing through. While there, Joe Starrett offers him a job as a farmhand. Shane clearly has a past that he is hiding, but he is a good worker, and Joe’s son, Bob, and wife, Marian, take to him just as Joe does. When open-range rancher Fletcher tells Joe to sell him his farm, Shane and Joe instead choose to defend the land with consequences.
Based on the 1949 novel by Jack Schaefer and adapted and directed by Artistic Associate Mark Pracht, this is the world premiere of Shane at City Lit Theater Company, and it is a western through and through.
Clad in leather vests, cowboy hats, striped shirts, and overalls, each of the adult men in this show carries themselves with their defenses up and has only rare moments of vulnerability. The story is serious, with real threats to families’ livelihoods and locals’ lives.
What sets this show apart, though, is that it is narrated by Bob, the Starretts’ son. Completely taken with Shane from the moment he lays eyes on him, Bob (played by charming Bruce Holtman) keeps the audience abreast of what is happening while bringing an unexpected sense of levity to the high-stakes drama around him. As an adolescent, he sees Shane and the events around him with a naivete that makes many of his lines particularly funny.
The stage feels rustic, with the front structure of a wooden house, wooden tables and chairs, flannel cakes for breakfast, and a wooden saloon in town. A screen at the back of the stage displays everything from the house window with the setting sun to fencing on the property, two men cutting down a tree stump, the silhouette of a man with smoke tendrils rising into the air, and more. Together, the rustic set and detailed projections create a fully realized Wyoming landscape.
The cast is solid, led by a fierce Michael B. Woods as Shane, a gentle protector in Josh Odor as Joe, and a strong but feminine energy in Whitney Minarik as Marian. And although the Starretts don’t seem to mind his mysterious past, the question of who Shane really is — and whether Shane is even his real name — lingers throughout the production as he fights for the people and land he has come to care about.
With stage combat, gunshots, a mysterious stranger, and a fight for the land they call home, Shane has all the hallmarks of a classic Western. If you love the genre, this is a chance to see one of its familiar stories take a new form on stage.
Shane runs for approximately 1 hour 35 minutes including a 10-minute intermission. It is suitable for ages 10 and up.
City Lit Theater: Shane Chicago Review – Shane is playing at the City Lit Theater through 10/4/2026. Tickets can be purchased through the City Lit Theater website. City Lit Theater is located at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Chicago, Il 60660 (Inside Edgewater Presbyterian Church).