Lantern Theater Co's Season To Include Chekhov, McDonagh, Midsummer

Lantern Theater Company will open its 2010/2011 with UNCLE VANYA & THE CHEKHOV FESTIVAL

Uncle Vanya

October 21 - November 21, 2010
Opening Night: Wed, October 27, 7pm

By Anton Chekhov

Directed by Kathryn MacMillan

The Lantern celebrates the 150th anniversary of Chekhov's birth with a fresh production that is bursting with passion and fierce humor. Vanya and his niece Sonya have toiled for years to keep the family estate going. When Sonya's father, the retired Professor Serebriakov, and his dazzling young wife Yelena return for a visit, all work comes to a halt. Old resentments explode into arguments and secret longings come to light. Don't miss this rare opportunity to enter the provocative, tragicomic world of Chekhov's Russia.

Featuring: David Blatt, Peter DeLaurier, Charlie DelMarcelle, Ann Gundersheimer, David Howey, Melissa Lynch, Ceal Phelan, and Sarah Sanford.

The Chekhov Festival

November 5 - 7, 2010

Presented in conjunction with Uncle Vanya, this special weekend celebrates the influential work of Russian playwright, short-story writer, and physician Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), considered one of the greatest writers in the history of world literature. The festival will include special performances, readings, and discussions with scholars over Russian-themed dinners. Please visit lanterntheater.org or call 215.829.0395 for full schedule and pricing information.

BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL: THE ANTHONY LAWTON FESTIVAL

December 3 - 19, 2010

The Great Divorce
December 3 - 5, 9 - 12, 16 - 19

Based on the Novel by C.S. Lewis

Adapted and Performed by Anthony Lawton

C.S. Lewis' own favorite among his works, The Great Divorce tells the satirical and comic story of hapless professor Clive and the motley band of malcontents who join him on a very curious bus ride. Journeying between heaven and hell, Clive crosses a wildly inventive landscape filled with dazzling language, surprising insight, and philosophical imagination.

The Devil and Billy Markham
December 8, 11, 15

Based on the Play Shel Silverstein

Adapted and Performed by Anthony Lawton

Written entirely in rhyming couplets and punctuated with blues and country music, this raucous and raunchy play follows songwriter, good ol' boy, and ne'er-do-well Billy and his betting misadventures with the Devil.

Heresy
December 8, 15, 18

An Original Play Written and Performed by Anthony Lawton
A probing, comic, autobiographical solo play in which Lawton wrestles with the value of religion. Where is the line between faith and superstition? Why are so many Christians so un-Christian? What is the difference between religion that heals and religion that destroys?

A SKULL IN CONNEMARA

January 13 - February 6, 2011

Opening Night: Wednesday, January 19, 7pm

By Martin McDonagh

Directed by M. Craig Getting and Kathryn MacMillan

Leenane is a small Irish town with a small Catholic cemetery - too small. Widower Mick Dowd is hired each fall to disinter old bones to make room for the freshly departed, and this year's crop threatens to bring to the surface the long hidden secrets of the living. Irish writer Martin McDonagh, beloved for the gleeful madness of the 2007 Lantern hit The Lonesome West and the Oscar-nominated film In Bruges, is the mind behind this raucous, wonderfully unsettling comedy about death and dirt.

Featuring: Jake Blouch, Jered McLenigan, Ellen Mulroney, and Stephen Novelli.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

March 10 - April 10, 2011
Opening Night: Wednesday, March 16, 7pm

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Charles McMahon

March 10 - April 10, 2011

One of Shakespeare's most exuberant and effervescent comedies! Young lovers Hermia and Lysander, kept apart by strict Athenian law, escape to the woods where tyrannical parents can't find them - but mischief can. Elsewhere among the trees, the fairy king and queen are having a marital spat with disastrous consequences for one Nick Bottom. Rediscover your favorite characters in a lively production that puts you in the middle of all the mid-summer romance and magic, brought to you by "the city's most consistent producer of the Bard's work." -Philadelphia Weekly

Featuring: David Blatt, Charlie DelMarcelle, Lee Ann Etzold, Charlotte Ford, Dave Johnson, Benjamin Lloyd, David Sweeny, Bradley K. Wrenn, and more!

VIGIL

May 19 - June 12, 2011
Opening Night: Wednesday, May 25, 7pm

By Morris Panych

Directed by Peter DeLaurier

May 19 - June 12, 2011

Witty, cheeky, and gratifyingly macabre, this black comedy from Canadian playwright Morris Panych ends the Lantern's 2010/11 season with a bang. Middle-aged curmudgeon Kemp receives a letter from his rich aunt, who writes him she is "old and dying"... or does it say "yodeling?" It's hard to tell - her handwriting isn't very good. But Kemp quits his job and crosses the country to ready her for death, beginning an outrageous series of missteps and misunderstandings that gives way to a surprising, poignant finish. Join us for this clever, glittering hit of the Edinburgh Fringe and London's West End.

Featuring: Lenny Haas and Ceal Phelan.