Theatre Exile Returns To The Fringe With IRON, Opens 9/11

Theatre Exile launches our 2010/2011 season with the Philadelphia Premiere of Iron by Rona Munro. Directed by Deborah Block, Exile's co-artistic director and the founding program director of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, Iron runs September 8th through October 10th at Theatre Exile's new Studio X, with the press opening Saturday, September 11th at 8pm.

Iron goes behind the prison bars to find Fay and Josie, a mother and daughter struggling to
reconnect 15 years after a brutal murder. The spellbinding Catharine Slusar stars in this taut mystery about how we condemn ourselves to a life sentence of isolation with literal bars and
figurative walls.

Iron marks the inaugural production in Theatre Exile's intimate new Studio X performance space in South Philadelphia. Iron will open as part of the Philly Fringe, marking Exile's exciting return to our Festival roots after a five-year hiatus.

Returning to the Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe is Exile's co-artistic director Deborah Block, a founder of the Festival and the program director for ten years. For a decade, Deborah was not only one of the brains behind its amazing success, but also the face of the Festival itself. A constant presence at the Late Night Cabaret and an ever-supportive nurturer of shows from the smallest guerilla theatre events to large, international productions, Deborah was key to the organization that changed the entire landscape of Philadelphia's performative arts community. In 2006, Deborah left the Festival to join Theatre Exile as co-artistic director. Five festivals later, Exile presents the highly-anticipated return of Philadelphia's own Fringe maven.

For Iron, Exile brings together two of Philadelphia's most applauded leading ladies to share the stage for the first time. Catharine Slusar returns to Exile as the steely lifetime inmate Fay, after her tremendous performance as Risa in Exile's Any Given Monday last season. Kim Carson joins Catharine as the prim Josie, who is trying to put the pieces of her missing childhood together. Kim has been a long-time friend of Exile, having recently married Exile's associate artistic director, Matt Pfeiffer; this will be her first performance on Exile's stage.

Director

Deborah Block has been a consistent figure in the Philadelphia arts community for over 20 years as a director, dramaturg, producer, curator and educator. She has been involved in the creation of many professional productions including directing over 50 shows with an emphasis on new plays and movement-based theater, and has received much recognition for her professional and educational work. She has directed scores of educational productions and has taught at many local universities. A recipient of the Lambda Award, The Albert Benzwie Memorial Scholarship in Playwriting and an Independence Fellowship in the Arts, she is also one of the founders of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe and was the program director for ten years. She currently teaches at Temple University where she received her MFA. Block has previously directed Kick Me, Sole Searching, Roosters, dark play or stories for boys, and Hunter Gatherers for Theatre Exile.

Cast

Catharine Slusar returns to Exile following her role as the chilly wife Risa in
last season's Any Given Monday. Catharine has performed across the country and is well known to Philadelphia audiences through her work at the Arden Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre, Lantern, Bristol Riverside, People's Light and Theater Company, and Act II Playhouse. She has been awarded a Barrymore Award, the Haas Award for an Emerging Artist, and an Independence Fellowship which took her to France and Russia. Catharine is a graduate of Yale and teaches acting at Bryn Mawr College.

Joining Slusar is first-time Exile performer Kim Carson, well known for the many roles she's played
in the Philadelphia area. Most recently, she played Toadpipe in Lantern's The Screwtape Letters, Anna Lisa in InterAct's off-Broadway-bound When We Go Upon The Sea, Dorothy in The Wizard Of
Oz at Media Theatre, and a reprise of her 2008 Barrymore Award-winning role in Azuka's Hedwig & The Angry Inch. Other favorite credits include: Grey Gardens at Philadelphia Theatre Co.; Cinderella
and Six Characters... at Peoples Light and Theatre Co.; and Side By Side By Sondheim at Walnut Street. Ms. Carson has also worked at Arden Theatre Co., New Jersey Rep, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

Philadelphia newcomer Caitlin Antram makes her Exile debut in Iron. She is a recent graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Theatre program and has performed professionally in the Lockhaven area and on tour, including a recent touring production of Babes in Toyland.

Mike Hagan is no stranger to the Philadelphia stage, having performed in dozens of professional productions at The Ritz, Luna, Philadelphia Theater Workshop, Plays and Players, The Players Club of Swarthmore, and numerous other theaters. Iron is Mike's first Exile credit.

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