Philadelphia, PA

Since we last reported on Our Town which is coming to the Arden Theatre Company on May 22nd, 2008, we have learned that the Arden has set up a Pay-What-You-Can performance for May 21st, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.

Here’s the facts:

Arden Theatre Company presents an unprecedented event!

OUR TOWN in Old City
by Thornton Wilder
directed by Terrence J. Nolen

sponsored by Comcast

What: Pay-What-You-Can performance
When: Wednesday, May 21 at 8pm

Beneficiary: Philadelphia Cares

Where: Arden Theatre Company - 40 N. 2nd Street, Old City Philadelphia

The finale of our 20th Anniversary season is an unprecedented event that
celebrates community. Winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Our
Town has become a much beloved classic and is, perhaps, the most
frequently produced play by an American playwright. Interweaving past
and present, Wilder’s stark and simple masterpiece chronicles the daily
life of close knit families and reveals the universal truth that connect
us all.

Act I (Daily Life) will be played at the Arden’s Haas Stage. At
intermission, the audience will walk through the churchyard to Christ
Church where we will stage the wedding of Act II (Marriage and Love).

To further involve our Philadelphia community, we will bring together
different musical groups - one night a boys choir, the next a gospel
choir, the next perhaps a string quartet? Each night we will have
special community guests as part of the production.

This is an event not to be missed!

If you have any Philadelphia News, Events, etc. please email them to phillytips@kyledylanconner.com.

The Wilma Theater has announced the productions for its 30th Anniversary season, which will open with the Philadelphia premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, September 17-October 19. Blanka Zizka will direct this work, which spans the years 1968-1990 from the double perspective of Prague, Czechoslovakia, where a rock ‘n’ roll band comes to symbolize resistance to the Communist regime, and of Cambridge, England, where the verities of love and death are shaping the lives of three generations in the family of a Marxist philosopher.
Over the holiday season, the Wilma will produce the U.S. premiere of Schmucks (December 3-January 4), a comic fantasy by Roy Smiles that tells of a fictitious meeting between two comic icons, Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce. Jiri Zizka will direct.

Following will be the Philadelphia premiere of Scorched (February 25-March 29) from the internationally acclaimed Lebanese-born playwright Wajdi Mouawad. The play, to be directed by Blanka Zizka, portrays characters searching for humanity while surrounded by the irrationality of war in the Middle East.

The season will close with the Philadelphia premiere of Terry Johnson’s Olivier Award Winner for Best New Comedy, Hysteria (May 13-June 14), based on an historical meeting between Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dalí. This production full of surrealist imagery will feature a set by Barrymore Award winner Mimi Lien. Jiri Zizka will direct.

For more information visit the Wilma Theater online at wilmatheater.org.

The most eagerly awaited world premier of Tony Award winner Bill Irwin’s The Happiness Lecture finally opens this month at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. The Happiness Lecture will run May 16th thru June 15th, 2008. Conceived, directed and starring Bill Irwin, Lecture concerns a group of adventurers who embark on a journey in pursuit of happiness.

The Walnut Street Theatre concludes it’s 199th year with one of the 20th century’s biggest and best loved musicals Les Miserables, May 13th thru August 1st, 2008. Reportedly one of the first self-producing theatre’s chosen by Lez Miz producer Cameron Mackinstosh to create a new concept for the 1985 musical, director Mark Clements’ production stars Broadway vet Hugh Panaro as Jean Valjean and Walnut favorite Paul Schoeffler as Valjean’s dogged pursuer Inspector Javert.

While we’re on the topic of musicals, this May the Cadillace Broadway Series offers two award winning shows bound to satisfy any fan. Taking the stage May 2nd thru 4th, 2008 at the Academy of Music is the irreverent hit Hairspray, a high-energy tale about a full-bodied girl who becomes an overnight celebrity. May 9th thru 11th, the Academy hosts the legendary musical Gypsy. Set during the heyday of vaudeville and burlesque, Gypsy features a wondrous score from Julie Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) including the classics “Everything’s Come up Roses” and “Some People.”

Fans of experimental theatre will applaud the long-awaited Philadelphia premier of New Paradise Laboratories’ 2004 work Prom, May 1st thru 11th, makes it’s local debut at Drexel University’s Mandell Theatre. The first installment in NPL’s “American Ethnographies” trilogy, Prom employs dance and athletics to recall this memorable teenage rite of passage.

The Bristol Riverside Theatre concludes it’s season with a revival of Jerry Herman’s 1969 musical Dear World, Now thru May 18th, 2008. A musical fable about the dangers of greed, World is a rarely-seen gem from the composer of Mame and Hello Dolly.

The Wilma Theater - who scored a hit in 2005 with Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House - now stages the playwright’s highly-acclaimed Eurydice, Now thru June 1st, 2008, directed by Blanka Zizka. An original retelling of the myth of Orpheus. The play is a magical exploration of the divide between life and death. Featuring an original score by composer Toby Twining, the Wilma’s surreal production promises to be one of the month’s most visually-dazzling offerings.

The Arden Theatre Company concludes it’s 20th anniversary season with an unconventional staging of Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece Our Town, May 22nd thru June 22nd, 2008. The first act of director Terrence J. Nolen’s production takes place at the Arden’s Haas Stage. During intermission the show moves next door to the historic Christ Church, which houses the second half of Wilder’s classic look at life in small town America.

Flashpoint Theatre Company takes on the reality TV craze with the company’s production of Eric Coble’s The Dead Guy, May 14th thru May 31st, 2008, which focuses on America’s seemingly boundless interest in the so-called reality of others.

Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company has announced it’s full cast and creative team for Our Town, directed by Terrence J. Nolen, to run May 22-June 22.

This production will take place in both the Haas Theatre and the adjacent Christ Church, and will feature guest appearances from over 100 local personalities and 36 community choirs.

The principal cast will feature Oberon Adjepong (Joe Stoddard), Fred Andersen (Simon Stimson), Krista Apple (A Woman From Among the Dead / Ensemble), Bev Appleton (Professor Willard), Carla Belver (Mrs. Soames), Rebecca Blumhagen (Emily Webb), David Corenswet (Si Crowell/Joe Crowell/Ensemble), Chioma Dunkley (Rebecca Gibbs), Sherri L. Edelen (Mrs. Gibbs), Nathan Edmondson (Sam Craig), Eric Hissom (Stage Manager), Cleo House, Jr. (Constable), Jordan Johnson (Wally Webb), Kevyn Morrow (Dr. Gibbs), Harry Philibosian (Ensemble), Peterson Townsend (George Gibbs), JoAnna Rhinehart (Mrs. Webb), Brian Anthony Wilson (Howie Newsome), Greg Wood (Mr. Webb), and Damien Wallace (A Man From Among the Dead / Ensemble).

The townspeople will be played by Robert Bauer, Craig Bazan, Katrina Yvette Cooper, Juanita Frederick, Andy Joos, Brian Kurtas, Erin Read, Wendy Staton, and Tara Van Ness.

The creative team will include Jim Kronzer (sets), Richard St. Clair (costumes), Justin Townsend (lighting), and Troy Herion (sound).

For more information, call 215-922-1122 or visit www.ardentheatre.org.

What is Our Town about?

Our Town is a three act play by Thornton Wilder which is, perhaps, the most frequently produced play by an American playwright. The play is set in the fictional community of Grover’s Corners, modeled after several New Hampshire towns in the Mount Monadnock region: Jaffrey, Peterborough, Dublin, and others. Using meta-theatrical devices, the play is set in a 1930’s theater. Through the actions of the Stage Manager, the town of Grover’s Corners is created for the audience and scenes from its history between the years of 1901 and 1913 play out. Wilder, in his 30s, lived in MacDowell Colony in Peterborough in June, 1937, one of many locations where Wilder worked on the play. The third act was drafted entirely in one day during a visit to Zurich in September of 1937 after a long evening walk in the rain with a friend.

Our Town is a story of character development that details the interactions between citizens of an everyday town in the early 20th century through their everyday lives (particularly the lives of George Gibbs, a doctor’s son, and Emily Webb, the daughter of a newspaper editor).

Our Town was first performed at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey on January 22, 1938. It next opened at the Wilbur Theater in Boston on January 25, 1938. Its New York City debut was on February 4, 1938 at Henry Miller’s Theatre, and later moved to the Morosco Theatre.

Les Miserables comes to the Walnut Street Theatre this summer, the oldest regional theatre in the United States of America. Les Mis is the most see show in Philadelphia. Les Mis will run May 13th thru August 3rd, 2008. Les Mis is the musical the swept the world. It is a truly spectacular finale to the Walnut’s 199th season. Based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Miserables is a sweeping, heartfelt and epic saga. The fugitive, Jean Valjean, is pitted against the tenacious inspector Javert in a lifelong struggle to evade capture. What follows is a deeply personal tale set against a historical backdrop of an unparalleled scale.

Les Mis is directed by Mark Clements. Some of the featured cast are, Hugh Panaro as Jean Valjean, Paul Schoeffler as Javert, Dawn Spence as Madame Thenardier, Scott Greer as Thenardier, Julie Craig as Cosette, and much more.

You can purchase tickets to Les Miserables at the Walnut Street Theatre by visiting www.walnutstreettheatre.org or by calling the box office at 215-574-3550.

I would also like to take the time to introduce myself, as you may have noticed this is my first blog post here at about-philadelphiaPA.com. I am a professional Actors’ Equity Association and Guild of Italian American Actors actor. I also run the blog, omigod.net. I am looking forward to a long relationship with 451press.