Lantern Theater Company Opens 30th Anniversary Season With Molière's TARTUFFE

Lantern Theater Company wwill launch its 30th anniversary season with Tartuffe, Molière's comic masterpiece about family, fraud, and how what we want to believe can blind us from the truth. Translated into English verse by 1987/88 U.S. Poet Laureate and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Wilbur and directed by Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon, Molière's classic comedy will come to life with a tremendous team of Philadelphia actors including Morgan Charéce Hall, Gregory Isaac, Dave Johnson, Travoye Joyner, Jered McLenigan, Lee Minora, Campbell O'Hare, Cathy Simpson, Kahlil A. Wyatt, and Frank X.

The Lantern's production of Tartuffe runs Thursday, September 7 through Sunday, October 8, 2023, at St. Stephen's Theater, the Lantern's resident venue in Center City Philadelphia; a complete schedule of performances and audience enrichment events is included in the fact sheet below. Theater critics and members of the press are cordially invited to request press tickets for opening night on Wednesday, September 13 at 7 p.m. by contacting Anne Shuff at ashuff@lanterntheater.org.

Moliere's incisive and hilarious play has moved from its controversial origins to a revered place in the comedy pantheon, while poking merciless fun at hypocrisy, greed, and false virtue. Orgon and his mother have become devoted to Tartuffe, a seemingly pious man whom they have taken in. But Orgon's wife and adult children know the truth: Tartuffe is a conniving huckster who has ensnared Orgon, and he is using his influence to milk Orgon for all he is worth. Orgon promises Tartuffe everything, including offering his daughter Mariane in marriage and signing over all the family's worldly possessions. It is up to the children and Orgon's wife Elmire to reveal the truth about Tartuffe before it's too late. A last-minute intervention by the King of France saves the day, and all but the titular con man get a happy ending - and hopefully for Orgon, a little more wisdom.

Molière had an important patron in King Louis XIV of France, and the earliest version of Tartuffe was first produced in 1664 at Versailles. But even the king's support could not keep the play from controversy; the Catholic Church and members of French aristocracy were scandalized by the play's pointed mockery of those who use the cover of piety for personal gain. The archbishop of Paris went so far as to threaten excommunication to anyone who read or saw the play. Despite a ban on public performances, its popularity endured, and the 1669 revised version has become the most-performed play in the Comédie-Française's repertoire. Over the last 350 years, Tartuffe has been produced on Broadway, on screen, on television, and in opera, and it has become a widely loved and studied addition to the theatrical canon. Richard Wilbur's 1961 translation, with its ingeniously witty rhyming couplets, is now regarded as the play's standard English version.

"I have been thinking about how I might approach this play now literally for decades," said Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon, who helms the production. "Somehow this time feels right for a classic comedy treating on slander, lies, misinformation, and hypocrisy - but what is truly remarkable is the complete inability of some people to believe the evidence of their own eyes when it contradicts what they feel should be true."

Lantern Theater Company will delve into the world of Tartuffe on its Lantern Searchlight blog, available online at lanterntheater.org/searchlight. Articles will be published throughout the production's run, exploring the life and work of Molière, the evolution and rules of classical French drama, Tartuffe's controversy, behind the scenes interviews with the artists, and more.

Tickets for Tartuffe are $28 - $45 and are available online at www.lanterntheater.org or by calling the Lantern Box Office at (215) 829-0395. Discounts are available for under 30, seniors, U.S. military personnel, and groups of 10 or more. Performances of Tartuffe will take place at St. Stephen's Theater, located at 923 Ludlow Street in Center City Philadelphia. Face masks are welcome, but not required.