Press Night
Our 2018-19 season finale is CIVIL WAR VOICES (April 23 – May 26, 2019). “This is our true story and these are our words.” With this line, a cast of actor/musicians immerse us in the compelling, passionate, and true stories of real people from both sides of our country’s most divisive conflict. In their own words taken straight from the writings they left behind, this insightful and stirring play with music brings to life a deeply human celebration of what makes us American.
The Winter’s Tale
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Liz Carlson-Guerin
Previews Begin April 24
Opening Night is Saturday, April 27 at 8 p.m.
Closing May 18.
Written toward the end of William Shakespeare’s career, The Winter’s Tale is a story of folly, forgiveness and redemption. It begins when Leontes, King of Sicily, destroys his family and his oldest friendship in a fit of jealous rage that transforms him into a tyrant. What follows is a play unique among Shakespeare’s work. The Winter’s Tale is part tragedy, part comedy, and concludes with perhaps the most controversial ending ever penned by the Bard.
“Inua Ellams’ writing is a masterful use of language and character. The audience is met with two competing narratives that at once directly contrast each other while at the same time remain hopelessly intertwined.” says Director Jerrell L. Henderson.
Inua Ellams’ mysterious and wild play UNTITLED tells the story of twin boys born in Nigeria. Under the first full moon of their lives, they are given a traditional naming ceremony: one brother responds to his name with a baby’s laugh, the other cries out and rejects his name. These first moments shape their lives with the named brother (Y) leading a life of order with a plan, education, and predictable career and the unnamed brother (X) existing in a world of chaos, tumult and lack of follow-through. The two brothers are separated at 7 months old when Y is taken to England by their mother. X stays behind in Nigeria, until their deep connection forces them back together.
Opening Night: (Philadelphia, PA) 1812 Productions is pleased to present the original comedy, The God Project, written by Sean Close and Jennifer Childs and featuring Close, Childs, and Philadelphia theatre powerhouse Joilet Harris. David Bradley directs the production in his debut with 1812. The God Project will play from April 25 thru May 19 at Plays & Players Theatre. Opening Night will be Wednesday, May 1 at 7:00pm. Tickets and information are available at www.1812productions.org or at 215-592-9560.
The God Project is the story of Drew and Sheila, two co-workers at an overstocked Swedish furniture store. Sheila is kind and zealous, Drew is standoffish and bitter. They discover some unlikely common ground, however, when they realize that they are both Pastor’s Kids (PKs). Having left, or been kicked out of, church life, both have landed in this packed warehouse, assembling pieces of Swedish furniture with names that don’t make sense and waiting for the next sign from the universe, message from God, or appearance from their uncanny manager, Val. The God Project illuminates the hopes, frustrations, anger, and faith of two everyday people in the middle of a journey, one kuggstång at a time.
Opening Night (Two Tickets Confirmed: 4/9/2019)
Ana is a Korean American who travels to Seoul in 1975 to retrieve her recently deceased father’s ashes. Luke is a young American soldier fighting in the jungles of Myanmar in 1944. Number Four is a Korean comfort woman camping out on a bridge in Seoul in 1950, waiting for the return of the young American soldier who fathered her daughter. Three separate time periods collide in a small hotel room in Korea, mediated by a shape-shifting Jesus. Among the Dead is a dark comedy about a family broken apart by betrayed promises, and finding each other again through SPAM, journals, and Jesus. Mostly Jesus. Theatre Exile’s Producing Artistic Director Deborah Block will direct, with Barrymore Award-winning actorBi Jean Ngo playing Ana, James Kern playing Luke and Claris Park playing Number Four.