FUN HOME Rounds Out Arden Theatre Company's 30th Anniversary Season

Arden Theatre Company announces final additions to the 2017/18 30th Anniversary Season. Just announced today, the season will close with the Tony-Award winning musical, FUN HOME.

An additional production, the international, off-Broadway hit EVERY BRILLIANT THING, will run as the inaugural production in the Selma M. and Robert J. Horan Studio Theatre in the Hamilton Family Arts Center.

Hailed as one of Broadway's most original musicals and winner of 5 Tony Awards, FUN HOME is a groundbreaking story inspired by Alison Bechdel's best-selling graphic memoir. After the death of her father, Alison plunges into her past to uncover the many mysteries of her childhood growing up at the family funeral home in Central Pennsylvania. Featuring a score by Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change and Violet), FUN HOME is a refreshingly honest, moving new musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.

Arden Producing Artistic Director Terrence J. Nolen will direct FUN HOME and says, "The Arden has long been drawn to audacious musical theatre and committed to the idea that musicals can tell any story, including complex stories. Adaptations are also an important part of our work. FUN HOME is both an adaptation AND pushes the boundaries of the art form. I am excited to direct it in the Arden's intimate space."

He adds, "I am also a supporter of the work of Jeanine Tesori, who wrote the music and lyrics for FUN HOME, and whose shows Violet and Caroline, or Change, both received their regional premieres at the Arden."

The Philadelphia Premiere of EVERY BRILLIANT THING will be the first fully produced show in the Arden's intimate Selma M. and Robert J. Horan Studio Theatre in the Hamilton Family Arts Center. The show is a moving, insightful and hilarious new one-person play by Duncan Macmillan with Johnny Donahoe. Arden favorite Scott Greer leads audiences through a remarkable journey that truly examines what makes life worth living.

Nolen says, "The Selma M. and Robert J. Horan Studio Theatre has allowed us to consider work we otherwise wouldn't be able to produce. Scott Greer is one of our treasured collaborators and we love providing these new opportunities and challenges for members of the Philadelphia artistic community."

Previously announced for the 2017/18 30th Anniversary Mainstage Season are the Tony Award-winning musical CABARET to open the season, the world premiere of TOUCHTONES by Michael Hollinger and Robert Maggio, Toni Morrison's THE BLUEST EYE, adapted by Lydia R. Diamond, and Henrik Ibsen's classic, A DOLL'S HOUSE. The 20th Anniversary Season of Arden Children's Theatre includes PETER PAN and the world premiere of a new adaptation of SNOW WHITE.

Mainstage Subscriptions from three to six shows are now on sale for the 2017/18 Season and range in price from $93 - $240. Arden Children's Theatre subscriptions are also now on sale and range in price $26 - $50. Call the Arden Box Office at 215.922.1122, order online at www.ardentheatre.org, or visit the box office at 40 N. 2nd Street in Old City, Philadelphia.

Founded in 1988, Arden Theatre Company is dedicated to bringing to life great stories by great storytellers-on the stage, in the classroom, and in the community. Five productions are staged each season as part of the Mainstage series and two productions through Arden Children's Theatre, the city's first resident professional children's theatre program. New work is produced through the Independence Foundation New Play Showcase. The Arden's Education Department includes: Arden for All (AFA), a theatre access and education program for underserved young people; Arden Drama School, the after-school, Saturday, and summer camp classes for students in grades pre K-12; Teen Arden, an immersive after-school access program for Philadelphia-area based teenagers; and the Arden Professional Apprentice Program, a nationally renowned comprehensive theatre management training program. The Hamilton Family Arts Center is the new facility dedicated to education programs and new play development.

The Arden has received numerous honors including 65 awards and 334 nominations from the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. The Arden is a winner of four "Theatre Company of the Year" designations (Philadelphia Inquirer), six Philadelphia Magazine "Best of Philly" awards and three "Best of Philly Kids" awards, the City Paper's Reader's Choice Award and the prestigious "Great Friend to Kids Award" from the Please Touch Museum for Arden Children's Theatre work. For accessibility efforts, the Arden was named a "Keystone of Accessibility" by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Arden Theatre Company is a professional, nonprofit 501(c)(3) theatre company and a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the League of Resident Theatres, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Old City Arts Association. The Arden also participates in The Barrymore Awards, a program of Theatre Philadelphia.

---

2017/18 Season Show Descriptions:

CABARET

Book by Joe Masteroff

Based on the play by John Van Druten and Stories by Christopher Isherwood

Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Directed by Matthew Decker

9/21/17 - 10/22/17

F. Otto Haas Stage

Welcome to the Kit Kat Club, the hottest nightspot in 1929's seedy and sinful Berlin. American writer Cliff Bradshaw travels to Germany in search of inspiration and pleasure, and finds both in nightclub performer Sally Bowles. However, outside the club's doors, the Nazis' impending rise to power threatens to splinter their decadent lifestyle. Featuring one of Broadway's most memorable scores, Cabaret kicks off the Arden's 30th Anniversary Season with an immersive production that transforms the F. Otto Haas Stage into the Kit Kat Club. Right this way, your table's waiting...

TOUCHTONES - World Premiere!

Story by Michael Hollinger & Robert Maggio

Book & Lyrics by Michael Hollinger

Music by Robert Maggio

Directed by Emmanuelle Delpech

10/19/17 - 12/3/17

Arcadia Stage

It's 1999, the cusp of a new millennium, and technology promises fantasy, intimacy, and anonymity. TouchTones is a titillating new musical comedy about love, sex, and the voice at the other end of the line in a world of role-play, secret delights, and identities taken and mistaken. Emmanuelle Delpech, who staged this season's The Legend of Georgia McBride, directs.

EVERY BRILLIANT THING - Philadelphia Premiere! JUST ANNOUNCED!

By Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe

11/9/17 - 12/3/17

Selma M. and Robert J. Horan Studio Theatre, Hamilton Family Arts Center

"You're six years old. Mum's in hospital. Dad says she's 'done something wrong.' She finds it hard to be happy. So you start to make a list of everything that's brilliant about the world. Everything that's worth living for. 1. Ice cream. 2...."

So begins a moving, insightful and hilarious new one-person play that is unlike anything you've seen before. Arden favorite Scott Greer leads audiences through a remarkable journey that truly examines what makes life worth living - and the power of theatre to bring people together. Join us for the Philadelphia premiere of this international, off-Broadway hit as the inaugural production in the Arden's intimate Hamilton Family Arts Center Studio Theatre.

PETER PAN

Adapted by Douglas Irvine from the books by J.M. Barrie

Directed by Whit MacLaughlin

11/22/17 - 1/21/18

F. Otto Haas Stage

Ever since J.M. Barrie's story first appeared in 1904, countless versions have been produced on stage and in film. Now, Arden Children's Theatre presents a brand-new production that celebrates the joy of storytelling and the power of imagination. Join Peter on his adventure to Neverland, a magical island where there are no parents, no school, and fairies and pirates rule! Introduce your children and grandchildren to the characters you loved from J.M. Barrie's timeless masterpiece: Wendy Darling, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, a horde of mischievous Lost Boys, Nana the dog, and - last but not least - a very hungry, ticking crocodile.

A DOLL'S HOUSE

By Henrik Ibsen

Directed by Terrence J. Nolen

1/11/18 - 2/25/18

Arcadia Stage

Nora and Torvald are living their dream life with the brightest of futures. And then a long-buried secret rises to the surface, and Nora must choose between outward perfection and inner truth. Still shockingly relevant, this revolutionary classic will be brought to life in the intimacy of the Arcadia Stage.

Toni Morrison's

THE BLUEST EYE

Adapted by Lydia R. Diamond

Directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges

3/1/18 - 4/1/18

F. Otto Haas Stage

Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl growing up in the 1940's, wants nothing more than to be loved. Confronting turmoil at home, she prays for Shirley Temple's blue eyes, believing their beauty is the only thing standing between her and the happiness of the white girls at school. Based on Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's first novel, this powerful adaptation explores the destructive power of racism and the strength of a community attempting to embrace an era of change.

SNOW WHITE - World Premiere!

Written and Directed by Greg Banks

4/4/17 - 6/3/18

Arcadia Stage

This is SNOW WHITE as you've never seen it before. A world premiere production of the classic tale that features a beautiful princess, her evil queen, a huntsman, one magic mirror, and the legendary seven dwarfs - all brought to life by TWO ACTORS! From the writer of the Arden's acclaimed productions of PINOCCHIO and THE JUNGLE BOOK comes this new play that features two virtuosic performers bringing a world to life before your eyes with the vibrant creativity and thrilling theatricality you've come to expect from Arden Children's Theatre.

FUN HOME - JUST ANNOUNCED!

Music by Jeanine Tesori

Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron

Directed by Terrence J. Nolen

5/17/18 - 6/17/18

F. Otto Haas Stage

Hailed as one of Broadway's most original musicals and winner of 5 Tony Awards, Fun Home is a groundbreaking story inspired by Alison Bechdel's best-selling graphic memoir. After the death of her father, Alison plunges into her past to uncover the many mysteries of her childhood growing up at the family funeral home in Central Pennsylvania. Featuring a brilliant score by Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change), Fun Home is a refreshingly honest, moving new musical about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.