Whistler in the Dark Theatre Presents THE AFTER-DINNER JOKE, Now thru 11/24

Whistler in the Dark Theatre presents... The After-Dinner Joke by Caryl Churchill, directed by Meg Taintor. Press night: Friday, November 8th, 2013.

Young, idealistic Selby wants to "do good" - so she quits her secretarial job in a large corporation and begins to work for that corporation's charity branch. As she negotiates her new world of the business side of charity, she plunges into an Alice-in-Wonderland-like adventure - and embarks on a quest to separate politics from charity.

Originally written for television, The After-Dinner Joke was first aired on BBC 1 in 1978. 35 years later, Caryl Churchill's wicked satire of the politics of charity and the absence of charity in politics has lost none of its relevancy or bite. Whistler's five-actor cast takes on the more than 60 characters and 50 locations in an anarchic, Monty Python-inspired whirlwind - all in the intimacy of the Charlestown Working Theater.

The After-Dinner Joke launches a season-long celebration of Caryl Churchill's work at Whistler, that will include performances, readings, panel discussions and a special radio play series.

Ensemble: Melissa Barker, Joseph D. Freeman, Lorna Nogueira, Meredith Stypinski & Bob Musset
Director: Meg Taintor
Dialect Design: Liz Hayes
Light Design: PJ Strachman
Projections: Kelley Leigh David
Set Design: Matthew Soule

The show runs tonight, November 7-24, 2013, playing Thursdays 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sundays 11/10 & 11/17 at 3pm; Sun 11/24 at 7pm. Press Night: Friday November 8th at 8pm. All performances run at The Charlestown Working Theatre, 442 Bunker Hill St * Charlestown, MA. 10-minute walk from Sullivan Station (Orange Line). All tickets are Pay What You Want at the door. Tickets are available to reserve online starting at $15. For more information about the production, visit www.whistlerinthedark.com.

Whistler in the Dark Theatre is a proud participant in the Charlestown Working Theater's Resident Lab. The Lab, led by the Charlestown Working Theater, Theatre on Fire and Whistler in the Dark, is a new collaborative initiative that creates opportunities for trainings, readings, open rehearsals, and more. Through a focused intentional diversity of programming, both on the stage and in supplement to the presented work, the three companies will work together to foster an engaged community of artists and audiences.