Never Come Morning

"It doesn't get any better than this. A vintage Windy City story told with patented Chicago realism. Algren would be proud," writes the Chicago Tribune of this adaptation of Nelson Algren's epic novel of passion, pathos and despair. Never Come Morning traces the lives of Polish youths in Wicker Park Chicago circa 1942. At the center is Bruno "Lefty" Bicek, a gifted 20-year-old boxer and "petty thief working his way up the Felony Hit Parade." With his girlfriend, Steffi Rostenkowski, they brave an unholy alliance of petty thuggery, small-time organized crime and Chicago-style ward politics. Boxing is his ticket to escape hard times and gang life, but when Bruno doesn't prevent the brutal gang rape of Steffi, it tears them apart, their worlds changed forever. Bruno is sent to jail and Steffi to a brothel governed by the brutality of a local crime boss. Attempting to escape their fate, Steffi is asked to betray Bruno. The result is shocking—a last twist of fate that hits the audience like a sledgehammer left to the belly. From the no man's land under the Division Street El tracks, to card games, brothels, jail cells and the boxing ring, Peditto sculpts Algren's world with visual poetry conceived in the gritty, bone-breaking Chicago school of realism. A timeless urban folk tale and tour de force ensemble work.