Quintessence Theatre Group's Upcoming Season to Include OTHELLO, ARMS AND THE MAN and More

Quintessence Theatre Group announces its third season as it continues to build a home for progressive classical theatre in Philadelphia. The 2012 – 2013 season will include Shakespeare’s OTHELLO, Gogol’s THE DIARY OF A MADMAN, Shaw’s ARMS AND THE MAN, and Molière’s THE MISANTHROPE in an adaptation by Martin Crimp. Each of the four plays explores the idea of pride in its positive and negative manifestations, exposing and celebrating the potential glory and ultimate fallibility of humankind. Following two celebrated seasons, Quintessence will continue to present visceral actor-driven theatrical events which ignite Philadelphia’s theatrical imagination through essential and complex adaptations of classic texts for the Contemporary Stage.

Quintessence is devoted to the idea of classical repertory theatre and will therefore conclude its third season with THE CHOCOLATE AND CHAMPAGNE REPERTORY: Shaw’s ARMS AND THE MAN and Crimp’s THE MISANTHROPE will be presented in rotating repertory by an ensemble of nine actors. Both productions will be directed by Quintessence Artistic Director Alexander Burns.

Quintessence continues its residence at the historic Sedgwick Theater. By presenting professional theatre outside center city Philadelphia, Quintessence plays a fundamental role in the renaissance of main street Mt. Airy, a thriving and diverse neighborhood located in northwest Philadelphia.

QUINTESSENCE THEATRE GROUP’S 2012 – 2013 SEASON

OTHELLO
by William Shakespeare
October 10 – November 4, 2012 Opening Night: October 13, 2012
Othello the Moor is the celebrated General of Venice’s armed forces. Virtuous, steadfast and politic, Othello falls in love and impetuously marries Desdemona, a powerful senator’s daughter. Iago, an ambitious subordinate, turns mortal enemy when Othello makes Cassio, an untested scholar of war, his new lieutenant. Reason and passion collide as Iago preys on Othello’s greatest vulnerability, his love for Desdemona. In an electrifying return to the Elizabethan tradition of all-male Shakespeare, Quintessence unleashes what promises to be one of the most powerful productions of this tragedy ever seen on the Philadelphia stage.

THE DIARY OF A MADMAN
by Nikolai Gogol
Adapted by David Holman, with Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush
February 13 – March 10, 2013 Opening Night: February 16, 2013
Poprishkin is a civil servant devoted to his diary. His entries start off reporting anxiety attacks at work and conclude with the megalomaniac delusion that he’s the lost king of Spain. Known for his play The Government Inspector, Nikolai Gogol’s 1835 short story remains shockingly relevant and hysterical almost two hundred years after its publication. Part clown show, part tragedy, playwright David Holman adapts The Diary of a Madman into a masterful send up of bureaucracy and a raw account of one man’s descent into madness.

THE CHOCOLATE AND CHAMPAGNE REPERTORY April 17 – May 26, 2013
ARMS AND THE MAN
by George Bernard Shaw
April 17 – May 25, 2013 Opening Night: April 20, 2013
A hired gun in the Serbo-Bulgarian War receives unforeseen kindness when he takes cover in a Bulgarian lady’s bedroom. Once the fighting is over, he comes back to return the favor, ignoring the fact that she’s engaged to another war hero. A romantic comedy of star-crossed lovers, Shaw’s Arms and the Man argues the dangers of idealism, honor and pride in both love and war.

THE MISANTHROPE
by Molière
Adapted by Martin Crimp
April 24 – May 26, 2013 Opening Night: May 4, 2013
A playwright uses his acerbic wit and scathing critiques to unleash his discontent on the world. Unsettled by his popular girlfriend’s continued flirtation with other men, he suggests running away and starting a new life free from the superficiality, hypocrisy and immorality of modern society. Celebrated British playwright Martin Crimp (Attempts on Her Life, The Country) moves Molière’s social satire from 17th century France to 21st century London, sharpening the bite of one of the world’s most controversial and humorous playwrights.

ABOUT QUINTESSENCE
Quintessence Theatre Group is a professional classical theatre, dedicated to the performance and adaptation of epic works of classic literature and drama for the Contemporary Stage, which ignites the mind, body and soul through the power of the actor, design and spoken word.
Quintessence takes its name from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “What a piece of work is a man… And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” Quintessence embodies both Elizabethan uses of the word: the fifth element (the element of the heavens and soul), as well as that pure and perfect essence of a substance. Quintessence defines “classic” as a work written over one hundred years ago, or adapted from a piece of theatre or literature written before that time. Therefore any work written before 1912 was considered eligible for our third season.

Led by Artistic Director Alexander Burns and Associate Artistic Director Pamela Reichen, Quintessence Theatre Group was established in 2010. Its first two seasons included Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure, Henry V and The Merchant of Venice, Plato’s Apology, Molière’s Don Juan, Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Goldoni’s The Venetian Twins, Anouilh’s Antigone, and Chekhov’s The Seagull. Howard Shapiro, the theatre editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, stated Quintessence is “a company still in its infancy but far beyond that in its current work.”

Quintessence will continue to work towards the establishment of an acting ensemble and a rotating repertory at the historic Sedgwick Theater in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. As Quintessence Theatre’s home, the Sedgwick Theater, a 1928 art deco movie palace designed by William Lee, will regain its place as a jewel in Philadelphia’s cultural landscape.

THE SEDGWICK THEATER: All performances take place at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19119. Free Parking is available behind the theatre. The Sedgwick Theater is readily accessible via SEPTA Regional Rail to either the Allen Lane Station (Chestnut Hill West) or Sedgwick Station (Chestnut Hill East). The SEPTA 23 Bus also services the Sedgwick Theater, connecting South Philadelphia to Chestnut Hill.

SCHEDULE: Performances occur on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. For a performance schedule of The Chocolate and Champagne Repertory please visit our website.

TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $30. Senior tickets (65 and over) are $20. Youth tickets (25 and under) are $15. Individual tickets go on sale September 1, 2012 and are available at the box office, by visiting our website at www.QuintessenceTheatre.org, or by calling 1.877.238.5596.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: Subscriptions to Quintessence Theatre Group’s 2012 – 2013 season are on sale now. Subscribers save up to 50% on the cost of tickets, are able to exchange tickets up to 24 hours before the performance date, and receive discounts at EARTH Bread + Brewery and Wine Thief, two popular Mt. Airy restaurants. To purchase a subscription, visit our website at www.QuintessenceTheatre.org and click ‘SUBSCRIBE’, or call Toll Free at 1.877.884.4545 from 10am – 6pm.

GROUP SALES: Group rates and special student matinees are available. For information on group sales please call 1.877.238.5596 or email Quintessence at Artistic@QuintessenceTheatre.org.

RUSH TICKETS: $10 rush tickets for industry professionals and students with ID are available at the box office one hour before performances depending on availability.

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN: The first preview for each Quintessence production is a Pay-What-You-Can performance open to the general public. The dates for the 2012 – 2013 Season Pay-What-You-Can performances are as follows: OTHELLO, October 10; THE DIARY OF A MADMAN, February 13; ARMS AND THE MAN, April 17; THE MISANTHROPE, April 24.

For general information please contact Quintessence Theatre Group directly at 215.240.6055.

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