Amanda Schoonover & Charlotte Northeast to Star in SNOWGLOBE World Premiere at Shubin Theatre

The MacKnight Foundation kicks off the new year with the World Premiere of Nicholas Wardigo's Snowglobe. This new work will run January 23-February 9 at the Shubin Theatre, 407 Bainbridge Street. The show opens Thursday, January 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $25. $17 tickets are available for students and seniors. Tickets and more information can be found online at https://macknight.yapsody.com or by phone at (347) 644-7577.

In Snowglobe, a new work by a rising area playwright, two women live inside a snowglobe. Within the confines of their enclosed environment the women raise questions of science and faith. The play explores the fault lines in their very confined universe and how things can change when the environment is shaken.

Two of the region's top actresses Charlotte Northeast and Amanda Schoonover are starring in the play. The play is directed by The MacKnight Foundation's Bill McKinley, who also is designing the sound and lights. The set is created by Rick Miller and Chris Madden. The knitwear worn by the two actresses is created by Aurora Johansen-Wardigo.

Nicholas Wardigo is a rising local playwright. He was a conference playwright in 2010 at PlayPenn. His works have been produced at the Theatre Alliance in Washington, D.C., The Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, and several Philadelphia theatres. He is a recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Scriptworks and is a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Playwrighting Fellowship.

Wardigo has always been intrigued by the science versus religion debate. "These days, I fall more on the science side of it, but that wasn't always true. There was even a time when I thought that science and religion could happily coexist, as many optimists still believe, but I'm not convinced," said Wardigo. "I understand both arguments better than most, and I understand their flaws. The best way I could think of to satirize their flaws was to place them in a microcosm. Many of the arguments of Socrates and Aquinas and others begin with variations of 'I can conceive of a world in which...' Well, I've created a world where everything is known. You don't need to 'conceive of' anything."

He adds, "I'd like audiences to walk away with some idea of the absurdity of the argument. As Ingrid and Sonja argue about the nature of their universe, we (the audience) have inside information. We KNOW their universe has a creator, and he's sitting in an assembly line in Hong Kong with a hot-glue gun, slapping together snowglobes. But that reality is so far outside their reasoning and their faith, they'll never grasp it. I suspect the truth of our own universe shares an analogous ungraspability, and our arguments are, at best, a fascinating way to pass the time."