Melanye Finister News

People's Light wraps up summer with a music-infused production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Long after it won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Wilder's masterwork remains one of the most popular plays of all time, reminding audiences across the country that there is beauty in the ordinary.

When a family of shepherds in the suburbs of Corinth learns their adopted son Oedipus has ascended the throne of Thebes, they plan a bender to end all benders. But who's on cleanup after the party's over? Equal parts irreverent comedy and emotional journey into family dysfunction, Dionysus Was Such A Nice Man by Kate Tarker examines with horror and humor the lasting effects of personal trauma. The first ever World Premiere commissioned for Wilma's HotHouse, this searing new play directed by French physical theater master Dominique Serrand runs April 23 - May 12 at The Wilma Theater.

Theatre Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards were announced yesterday. The awards recognized the best Philadelphia area theater from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018. Judges and recommenders saw 112 productions by 40 companies were eligible, of which 10 companies won awards, for 11 productions.

Theatre Philadelphia, the region's marketing and leadership organization for theatre, proudly announces the 2018 nominees for the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre. Celebrating the rich, diverse professional theatre scene in the Greater Philadelphia region, the Barrymore Ceremony will be held on Monday, November 5th at 7pm at the Bok Building at 1901 S. 9th Street in South Philadelphia. Guests will continue the festivities with an after-party Celebration at the same location. Tickets for artists, supporters, and the general public are now on sale at www.theatrephiladelphia.org.

People's Light presents the wildly successful off-Broadway hit Skeleton Crew, a powerful story of love and loyalty by New Play Frontiers writer Dominique Morisseau. This funny, incisive, and "deeply American" (The New York Times) play that "theatergoers won't want to miss" (Huffington Post) centers on a group of Detroit autoworkers as they confront the eroding manufacturing industry. Steve H. Broadnax III, who directed the theatre's critically-acclaimed staging of The Mountaintop in 2016, returns for the production. Skeleton Crew opens on June 13 and has already extended to July 15 on the Steinbright Stage at People's Light.

Building on the Blaine County School District's mission of inspiring, engaging, educating and empowering every student, Company of Fools announces the 21st year of Stages of Wonder-an in-school dramatic arts program that has served as the theatre curriculum in local elementary schools since 1997.

In a cramped, secret Amsterdam annex, alongside seven other refugees, a Jewish girl hides from the Nazis. In the midst of this nightmare scenario, Anne Frank channels her lively intelligence into a diary that resonates decades after her death. Wendy Kesselman's adaptation captures the immediacy of Anne's unique voice, and the courage and terror of a life evading Hitler's genocide of the Jews.

Theatre Philadelphia, the region's marketing and leadership organization for theatre, has announced the 2017 nominees for the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre.

This gritty, gripping, and shockingly funny world premiere tosses audiences into a revolutionary Philadelphia court designed by a passionate group of women. Every day these lawyers, judges, parole officers and staff members work to transform the lives of women repeatedly convicted for prostitution. In her daring and vital new play Project Dawn, playwright Karen Hartman probes the thin lines between freedom and slavery, activism and obsession, for women on both sides of the law. Inspired by Hartman's extensive, first-hand research inside Philly's real-life court system, and cast with seven actresses who play multiple characters, this production represents the first world premiere to emerge from the acclaimed New Play Frontiers Residency & Commission program at People's Light. People's Light is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355. For tickets, call 610.644.3500 or visit peopleslight.org. This production is sponsored by PECO, and supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

People's Light invites you to delight in "one of the sweetest and smartest romantic farces ever written" (The Wall Street Journal). Crafted with satirical wit and whimsy by beloved American author Thornton Wilder, and directed by Abigail Adams, The Matchmaker pits wealthy widower Horace Vandergelder against the vivacious and sly matchmaker Dolly Levi in a search for the perfect wife.

Andrew Bovell's When the Rain Stops Falling continues the Wilma Theater's 2016-17 season. A fish falls from the sky in the year 2039. A man named Gabriel prepares to meet his adult son after being estranged for twenty years. He wonders why his son is coming and what he wants: to know who he is? Where he comes from? Where he belongs? Gabriel knows nothing; his own past escapes him. As the story of Gabriel's family unfolds onstage, his ancestors come alive around him to fill in the gaps. With its web of intricately overlapping connections, When the Rain Stops Falling follows four generations of a family from 1959 to 2039, and from London to Australia. As this family and their world evolve over time, one question remains: in the face of climate change, can we break our habits and change the way we live?

Theatre Philadelphia is thrilled to announce the nominees for the 2015 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. Now in its second season since its successful relaunch, the 2015 Barrymore Awards will celebrate and honor outstanding achievements in professional theatre throughout the Greater Philadelphia region during the 2014/15 season.

People's Light opens its 41st season with Arthur Miller's All My Sons running September 9 through October 4, 2015. Kamilah Forbes directs. People's Light is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.  For tickets, call 610.644.3500 or visit peopleslight.org. All My Sons is sponsored by PECO.

People's Light & Theatre opens its 40th Anniversary Season with August Wilson's Fences running tonight, September 10-October 5, 2014 on the Leonard C. Haas Stage. Kamilah Forbes directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.

People's Light & Theatre opens its 40th Anniversary Season with August Wilson's Fences running September 10-October 5, 2014 on the Leonard C. Haas Stage. Kamilah Forbes directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.

People's Light & Theatre has announced its 40th Anniversary Season that celebrates the passion and artistry that created and sustained our company. The season includes one world premiere, two regional premieres, and one Philadelphia premiere. Nationally acclaimed artists Mary McDonnell, David Strathairn, and Victor Williams will join longtime company members and various newcomers on our stages. They will perform iconic works by August Wilson, Anton Chekhov, and Neil Simon, new plays by Bruce Graham, Bill Cain, and Jessica Dickey, and our new holiday panto by Pete Pryor and Samantha Bellomo. We will transport audiences to Merlin's Middle Ages, Ranyevskaya's changing Russia, 19th & 21st Century Gettysburg, and Lou's Bar in today's South Philly.

This year the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts began with the question, 'If you had a time machine, where would you go?' In answer to that, the Painted Bride is taking audiences back to December 5, 1833 and right into the heart of the founding of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. This creation, If She Stood, will run for six performances - tonight, April 26, 2013 at 8pm, Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 8pm, and Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 3pm, followed by Today, May 3, 2013 at 8pm, Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 8pm and Sunday May 5, 2013 at 3pm, at the Painted Bride Art Center during the 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.

This year the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts began with the question, 'If you had a time machine, where would you go?' In answer to that, the Painted Bride is taking audiences back to December 5, 1833 and right into the heart of the founding of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. This creation, If She Stood, will run for six performances - Friday, April 26, 2013 at 8pm, Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 8pm, and Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 3pm, followed by Friday, May 3, 2013 at 8pm, Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 8pm and Sunday May 5, 2013 at 3pm, at the Painted Bride Art Center during the 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.