The Reading Theater Project Presents SPEAKEASY, Now thru 9/7

The Reading Theater Project has created a new play, Speakeasy, based on the history of Reading during the national prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s and 1930s. Performances will take place at the Olympian Ballroom at 603 Penn Avenue in West Reading. Opening night is tonight, August 30, 2014 at 8pm and the play runs through September 7, 2014.

The Reading Theater Project's mission is to make new theater inspired by Reading and Berks County. When the production process began, the focus was broad, and members of the Theater Project researched individuals and events from throughout Reading's history. "We wanted to find interesting characters, unique to the city of Reading, and use their lives as a starting point to create a play," said Artistic Director, Vicki Graff.

"Prohibition was a turning point for Reading," said playwright Sue Lange. Lange is a published author and award winning playwright based in Reading. "Reading went from being a 'wide open town' to a model site for the Federal government's enforcement efforts. I believe Reading would be different today if our breweries hadn't been shut down. Maybe we'd be the beer capital of the country."

The play, brainstormed and researched by the core artistic leadership of the Reading Theater Project and written (and continually researched) by Lange, focuses on Reading, using historical characters, like Beer Baron Max Hassel and newspaper reporter Li'l Elmer Pickney, as well as fictional characters that bring the story of Reading to life. It balances the fun of flappers and burlesque with the dark side of bootleggers and illegal business.

Speakeasy is environmental theater: the audience for the play will enter the ballroom as the audience for the speakeasy, The Diamond Mine. A vaudeville show will entertain them as well as actors playing characters who also visit the speakeasy.

The production boasts a cast of local professional and community actors, including Kira Apple, Christine Cieplinski, Marie DeBooth, M. Suzanne DeBooth, Joel Gori, Joel Lesher, Anita Lewis, Jane Ney, Michael O'Brien, Luis Pagan-Andersen, Chris Roche?, and Julia Smith. The production will feature Chris Heslop's jazz band, Hesse's Hot 3. Vicki Graff directs and Eileen Tarquinio stage manages.

The production is supported by the Puffin Foundation, Berks Arts Council, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and the Reading Musical Foundation. The West Reading Tavern, 1Up Collectibles, and the TEA Factory are major sponsors.

To purchase tickets for more information, please go to ReadingTheaterProject.com or call 484-706-9719. Ticket options include the play only ($20), or a special dinner and a show ticket or show and dessert tickets, in partnership with local restaurants (price vary).

The Reading Theater Project is multigenerational collective of performing artists who create new theater in Reading, PA. Since 2003, Reading Theater Project has given local professional performing artists an artistic home, with opportunities for collaboration, development, showcasing, and personal growth. For more information, please visit http://www.ReadingTheaterProject.com or call 484-706-9719.