The Wilma Theater presents the World Premiere of Language Rooms

by Yussef El Guindi

directed by Blanka Zizka

March 3 – April 4, 2010

The Wilma Theater continues its 2009 – 2010 season with the World Premiere production of Language Rooms, a black comedy that exposes the divided loyalties among today’s immigrants, discovering the rising cost of the American Dream. The play, from rising Arab-American playwright Yussef El Guindi, is directed by the Wilma’s co-Artistic Director Blanka Zizka.

A recipient of the Edgerton Foundation’s prestigious New American Play award, Language Rooms begins previews on March 3, opens on March 10 (press night), and closes on April 4, 2010. Tickets range from $36 to $65, and are available at the Wilma’s Box Office by calling (215) 546-7842, visiting www.wilmatheater.org, or coming to the theater, located at 265 South Broad Street in Philadelphia. Student tickets are available for as little as $10, depending on date and time, made possible through a grant from PNC Arts Alive.

Ahmed is a shining example of the American Dream, successfully landing a big-time position as a translator at a top-secret detainment facility. But things are not what they seem in this twisted workplace, as he soon finds himself dodging shifty video cameras and absurd interoffice mind games. Brilliantly shifting between comedy and political suspense with surprising twists along the way, Language Rooms is a riveting dark comedy about the abuses of patriotism and loyalty.

Director Blanka Zizka says, “What I like so much about the play is that it deals with the world we live in right now, without suffering from ideological or political agendas or predictability. Just the opposite: the play is fresh, inventive, darkly funny, and fiercely original. It explores the absurd reality that can ensue from pursuing a dream without noticing that the dream has lost its moral standing, leaving merely insistence on loyalty.”

Language Rooms tells an updated immigrant story, pinned down in the glare of an interrogator’s lamp and through the lens of the Arab-American experience. El Guindi’s script highlights the tension between first- and second-generation immigrants, as their personal desires get caught in the machinery of the outside world. As Egyptian-born playwright El Guindi says, “the price for a better life is always a little higher than you think it will be.”

As El Guindi tells Wilma Dramaturg Walter Bilderback, “The wonderful optimism of this country, the propulsion to keep going, to reinvent, that weightlessness, the acceptance that you can change your name, your history, kick your past to the curb as you gun for a new beginning, I think all those good things end up gutting you of a center, a wholeness. What becomes of your touchstones, your anchor, your story, after you leave so much behind?  Who are you when you’re always in flux?”

The Wilma’s World Premiere of Language Rooms grows out of an intensive development process, which began with a reading on the Wilma stage a year ago, in addition to workshops at Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater and at the Wilma this summer. The Wilma welcomes back Yussef El Guindi – who The Philadelphia Inquirer calls “laugh-out-loud funny” – for an extended residency during rehearsals.

Attention Parents!

Here’s a Drama Class for Kids…

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Introduction to the Stage

Do you have a child who has always wanted to try acting, but never has? Or has been in school plays, and wants to do more? Here is a beginning theater class for kids who want to know what it’s like to put on plays. In this class, kids will get a tour of the historic Plays & Players Theater, learn some acting and improvisation games, and get a sense of the basics of creating theater, both onstage and backstage. The final class will be a small showcase of what the kids have learned, with games and/or scenes.  2 hour sessions, Ages: 6-10

Instructors: Ryan Walter and Laura Zingle

Sessions: Saturdays, February 6-March 27; Time: 10am-noon

Performance March 27 at 11am.

Location: Skinner Studio, 3rd floor of Plays & Players Theater

1714 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Cost: $100 per student; Additional kids in the same family $80

25% discount for Members of Plays & Players

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SPECIAL: If you get a friend to sign up for the class with you, you each get 50% off! That’s $50! Enter the code BUYTWO on the website.

For more info, or to sign up for this class, visit

www.playsandplayers.org

Call the theater at 215-735-0630

Or call Laura Zingle (one of the instructors) at 215-470-8932

INTERACT THEATRE & MURAL ARTS
COLLABORATE TO PREMIERE NEW PLAY
ADDRESSING CRIME IN PHILADELPHIA

CITY OF NUMBERS
mixtape of a city…

Written by Sean Christopher Lewis

Directed by Matt Slaybaugh

Please Note: CITY OF NUMBERS contains adult language.

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OVERVIEW:

WHAT: CITY OF NUMBERS

mixtape of a city…

Written & Performed by Sean Christopher Lewis

Directed by Matt Slaybaugh

WHEN: January 22 – February 21, 2010

Tuesdays & Wednesdays @ 7 p.m.; Thursdays – Saturdays @ 8 p.m.; Sundays @ 2 p.m.; Saturday, January 23 @ 2 p.m.

PRICE: $16 Previews

$25 Tuesdays – Thursdays

$29 Fridays – Sundays

Discounts available for groups, seniors and students

WHERE: On the Mainstage of The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia

INFO / RESERVATIONS: InterAct Theatre Company Box Office

Phone: 215.568.8079

Online: www.InterActTheatre.org

PHOTOS from the Opening Night Reception now on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=138407&id=49107703151

WICKED Announces Lottery for $25 Seats

Performances Begin January 6 at the Academy of Music

January 4, 2010

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from January 6 – 24, 2010 at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time up to 20 people who present themselves at the Academy of Music box office (Broad St. & Locust St.) will have their names placed in a ‘witches hat’ and then 30 minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of seats at $25 each, cash only.  This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person. A limited number of regular price tickets still remain for performances of WICKED.

WICKED begins performances at the Academy of Music January 6 and runs through January 24. When WICKED played Philadelphia in 2006 and 2007, both engagements sold out in record time and broke box office house records.

Arden Theatre Company presents the perfect theatrical treat for the whole family this holiday season!

Peter Pan

A brand-new version of J.M. Barrie’s classic tale
Adapted for the stage by Douglas Irvine
From the books by J.M. Barrie

Directed by David O’Connor

“We found Peter Pan to be a wonderful few hours of merriment, fantasy, and mayhem.

There was flying, crowing, fighting, and pretty much everything else fun you could want or need.” –Phillyist
Background: Arden Children’s Theatre presents a brand-new version of Peter Pan that celebrates the wonder of storytelling and the power of make-believe.

Recommended for families with children ages five and older.

Holiday Performances:

Wednesday, December 23 at 4pm

Thursday, December 24 at 12pm
Saturday, December 26 at 12pm, 4pm and 7pm

Sunday, December 27 at 12pm and 4pm

Tuesday, December 29 at 12pm and 4pm

Wednesday, December 30 at 12pm and 4pm

Thursday, December 31 at 12pm
Friday, January 1 at 2pm

Saturday, January 2 at 12pm and 4pm

Sunday, January 3 at 12pm and 4pm

Tickets:
Kids: $16-$18
Teens: $20-$22

Adults: $30-$32

Order by calling 215.922.1122

Or online at www.ardentheatre.org

PHOTO: Frank X as Captain Hook and David J. Sweeny as Smee in Arden Theatre Company’s production ofPeter Pan. Photo by Mark Garvin.

11th Hour Theatre Company and Theatre Horizon present:

Little Shop of Horrors

Music by Alan Menken, Book by Howard Ashman
Directed by Megan Nicole O’Brien

11th Hour Theatre Company and Theatre Horizon are bringing audiences back to Skid Row one more time as they present the Center City run of their inventive reimagining of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s classic Little Shop of Horrors. This production debuted at Montgomery County’s Centre Theatre. Now, this fresh take on a musical gem will hit the boards at the Independence Black Box at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street, running from November 27-December 20, 2009. The show will open on Thursday, December 3. Tickets cost $27 – $30. There is a three dollar discount for all tickets purchased online. Tickets for preview performances cost $17 – there is no discount on preview tickets. Tickets are available at www.11thhourtheatrecompany.org or by calling the box office at 267-987-9865.

Steve Pacek as Seymour in 11th Hour’s Little Shop of Horrors

11th Hour and Theatre Horizon will take audiences downtown to Skid Row, where depression is the status quo and most people are dying to get out. Director Megan Nicole O’Brien and the artistic team have set out to create a sense of realism with the show, doing away with the typical cartoonish set, performances, and staging that have traditionally been paired with productions. On Skid Row, audiences will meet flower shop clerk Seymour who sets out to win the heart of the beautiful Audrey and escape their miserable life in the ghetto. Seymour and Audrey are co-workers at Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists. While browsing the wholesale flower district, a sudden eclipse of the sun drops a weird plant in Seymour’s way. He brings it back to the shop and names it Audrey II. Will this plant offer escape? Or will it the plant’s deadly appetite open up a new found blood lust in Seymour.

“This show is a lot grittier. We wondered what it would be like if this really was Skid Row. We looked at what these characters would be like if they really existed,” said director Megan Nicole O’Brien. “We didn’t want Seymour to be that cartoony, ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ caricature that people are used to. I really always felt that there is something lost with Audrey played as the traditional blond bombshell stereotype. I really wanted audiences to hear what she had to say. I always saw her as a gentle, sweet, and kind person. She has wisdom for other people, but not so much for herself. As we created the show, we really thought about who these people would be in real life.”

Steve Pacek, one of the founders of 11th Hour Theatre Company, appears as Seymour. Melinda Bass, who was part of 11th Hour’s Barrymore Award-winning ensemble for World Goes ‘Round, is joining the cast as Audrey. Bass replaces Maggie Lakis. Lakis has left the cast to join the New York cast of Avenue Q, reprising the roles she played on the First National Tour. Laura Giknis, Alex Keiper, and Candace Thomas are appearing as Chiffon, Ronette, and Crystal, the sassy denizens of Skid Row. Carl Clemons-Hopkins plays Audrey’s sadistic dentist boyfriend. Paul McElwee is appearing as Mushnick. M.K. Hines voices the deadly plant, Audrey II while Craig Patrick O’Brien controls and manipulates it.

11th Hour co-founder O’Brien directs the show. Noted local director and puppet designer Aaron Cromie designed the puppets that serve as Audrey II. Shelley Hicklin is setting the lights and Lauren Perigard designed the costumes. Jenn Rose choreographed the show and Mark Valenzuela designed the sound. Dan Kazemi serves as Music Director. He recently won the Barrymore Award for the musical direction of Avenue X.

“We wanted the audience to hear what these people had to say,” said O’Brien. “We wanted the show to have a voice that is relevant to this point in time.”

About 11th Hour Theatre Company
11th Hour Theatre Company is a not-for-profit company committed to expanding one of the truly great American art forms…musical theatre. As one of only two companies in the city dedicated to producing musical theatre, 11th Hour focuses on the intimate relationship that forms between artist and audience when music, theatre and dance come together to entertain, educate and inspire.

Location: Prince Music Theater
1412 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia,PA19103

Dates: November 27, 2009- December 20, 2009: Wednesday – Sunday
Saturday November 28th @ 8pm (Preview)
Sunday November 29th @ 2pm & 7pm (Previews)
Wednesday December 2nd @ 6:30pm (Preview)
Thursday December 3rd @ 7pm (Opening Night)
Friday December 4th @ 8pm
Saturday December 5th @ 8pm
Sunday December 6th @ 2pm
Wednesday December 9th @ 6:30pm
Thursday December 10th @ 6:30pm
Friday December 11th @ 8pm
Saturday December 12th @ 8pm
Sunday December 13th @ 2pm
Monday December 14th @ 7pm (Industry Night)
Thursday December 17th @ 6:30pm
Friday December 18th @ 8pm
Saturday December 19th @ 8pm (only)
Sunday December 20th @ 2pm