Sunday Scholar Series
February 10, 2008
4:15 - 5:15 pm (time approximate after performance)

COST: $10 ($5 for TimeLine subscribers)

• A one-hour, post-show panel discussion with experts on the themes and issues of the play

You do not need to attend the performance that day to participate in this discussion. Just arrive at the theatre by 4 pm, check in at the Box Office, and enter the theatre after the performance ends.

The Sunday Scholars panel on February 10 will be moderated by TimeLine Board Member Peter H. Kuntz (Managing Director, Programs and Production - Chicago Humanities Festival) and will feature panelists:

Dr. Clair M. Callan
Clair Callan, who grew up in Ireland, was born in England (of Irish parents) during the German blitz. Her parents had moved to England from Dublin as the war clouds of WWII were looming over Europe. Her father became a pilot officer in the RAF and fought against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. Fearing for the infant Clair’s safety, Clair’s parents evacuated her from England to her grandparents in Ireland when she was only a few months old. In 1942, Clair’s father was posted to a squadron in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This was considered a relatively safe assignment since Belfast had been mostly spared the bombardment suffered by mainland British cities. Clair’s parents sent for Clair and had her brought to them in Belfast from Dublin. On the night Clair arrived the situation changed. The Germans turned out in force and Belfast suffered its heaviest bombing of the war. Fortunately both Clair and her parents survived unscathed. They returned to live in southern Ireland following the war. Clair went on to graduate from medical school in Dublin. She came to the United States with her husband Sean in 1965. She became an anesthesiologist and in addition to medical practice has been active in medical organizations and community affairs. She has been president of the Illinois Medical Society, president of the American Medical Women’s Association, Vice-President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for Abbott Laboratories, Vice-President of Professional Standards for the American Medical Association, and has served on national and international advisory panels. At present, she is on the board of Lake Forest Hospital in the community where she lives. She also serves of the board of the Irish and American Heritage Society in Chicago and is chair of its cultural committee. In 2006 she was the principal organizer of the highly successful Irish Cosmos, a series of programs that showcased the achievements of the Irish in the Midwest.

J. Sean Callan
Callan, a physician and playwright, was born in Dublin, Ireland. His plays The Day Room and Hearthstone have been staged at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago; Hearthstone received a best new Irish play award from Tara Circle, New York. His other plays include The Day Patient and The Sixteenth Man. All of Sean's plays are dramas set in Ireland or England; they reflect his interest in morality, ethics and cultural conflicts. Sean's extensive writing experience includes being the theater critic and columnist for Chicago’s Irish American News and U.S. correspondent for the Drama League of Ireland Magazine. In the past he was contributing editor of Journal of the American Medical Association and medical editor of Medicine Today, a national weekly television program. He wrote a column for the Irish Medical Times for more than a quarter of a century, has authored Your Guide to Mental Health, a consumer’s guide to psychiatry and edited four other medical books. Courage & Country, Sean's biography of Gen. James Shields was awarded a certificate of excellence by the Illinois Historical Society. In all, he has authored more than 1000 articles in various publications around the world. Sean was a foundation member of the Irish Repertory of Chicago and served on its board. He also served on the board of CenterStage and was the publicist for Citadel Theater. He is a member of the Society of Irish Playwrights, Drama League of Ireland, Chicago Dramatists Playwrights Network, Theater Communications Group and Chicago Alliance for Playwrights. He has enjoyed a multifaceted career as a psychiatrist, U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, clinical professor at Chicago Medical School, hospital director, publisher, journalist, television editor and hospital accreditor. During the Vietnam war, he was drafted into the U.S. military and retired from the active Reserve with the rank of Colonel. He and his wife Clair live in Lake Forest, Illinois; they have four grown children.

Janet Nolan
Nolan is professor of Irish, Irish-American and modern European history at Loyola University Chicago. She is the author of two pioneering books on the role of women in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish and Irish-American history, Ourselves Alone: Women's Emigration from Ireland, 1885-1920 and Servants of the Poor: Teachers and Mobility in Ireland and Irish America, as well as numerous articles, book chapters and review essays on the subject of the Irish at home and abroad. In addition, Professor Nolan has given invited talks at venues throughout this country and in Ireland including the Ernie O'Malley Memorial Lecture at Glucksman Ireland House at New York University, the New College of California in San Francisco, and Queen's University Belfast. In addition to her writing, teaching and lecturing, she is a nationally-known oral historian.