PTC Concludes Its Mainstage Season With GREY GARDENS 5/22 - 6/28

The stage will brighten with Philadelphia Theatre Company's mainstage season finale Grey Gardens, book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie, on May 22 - June 28 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).  Directed by Lisa Peterson, the ensemble cast features Todd Almond, Cole Burden, Kim Carson, Maggie Fitzgerald, Joy Franz, James Ijames, John Jellison, Anastasia Korbal, and Hollis Resnik.

Previews begin Friday, May 22 with opening night on Wednesday, May 27. Performances run Tuesdays through Sundays.  Tickets are $51 to $70, with discounts for students, seniors and groups.  Tickets are available by calling the PTC Box Office at 215-985-0420 or visiting PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.

Named Time magazine's #1 show in 2006, Grey Gardens blends humor, heartache and humanity as it follows the deliciously eccentric lives of the reclusive Little Edie Beale and her mother Edith Bouvier Beale - the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Set at the Grey Gardens
mansion in tony East Hampton, the two Edies slip from their status as wealthy socialites to penniless hermits in their dilapidated home.

Grey Gardens is funded in part by The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. Marilyn and Robert Birnhak are the Honorary Executive Producers for Grey Gardens.

Grey Gardens was the first musical on Broadway ever to be adapted from a documentary.  The show premiered at Playwrights Horizons in February, 2006 and then moved to Broadway that November, winning two Tony Awards.

Lisa Peterson (Director) is the recipient of the OBIE Award for her direction of Buckinghamshire and two Drama Desk nominations for The Waves, both at New York Theatre Workshop.  She has also garnered two DramaLogue Awards for the world premieres of Collected Stories at South
Coast Rep and Ikebana at East West Players.  She has directed the world premieres of The Batting Cage; July 7, 1994; Tough Choices for the New Century; Slavs!; and Trip's Cinch, all at Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival and The Scarlet Letter at CSC.  She is currently Resident
Director at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Todd Almond (Gould) starred in I Am My Own Wife at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Peterborough Players, Florida Studio Theater, and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati where he also starred in Hedwig and the Angry Itch.  He has also appeared in Two Pianos, 4 Hands at Kansas City Repertory. His own musicals have premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre, and he served as music director for the world premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's Tres Ninas.

Cole Burden (Joe Kennedy and Jerry) has appeared in New York at New York Music Festival in Bonnie and Clyde, The Piper, and Warrior as well as at City Center Encores in Applause.  His regional credits include productions at the O'Neill Theatre Center, Houston Theatre Under the Stars, and Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

Kim Carson (Young Edie) has appeared frequently at People's Light & Theatre Company, including Six Characters in Search of an Author, for which she received a Barrymore Award nomination, and at Mumpuppet Theatre, where she earned her second Barrymore Award nomination in The
Fantasticks.  She recently won the Barrymore Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for Hedwig and the Angry Itch at Azuka Theatre Company.  Carson has also been featured in several productions at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Young Jackie) is a seventh grade student at Rosemont School of the Holy Child.  She comes to PTC after spending the summer and fall at the Walnut Street Theater as Eponine in Les Miserables and as Violet in State Fair.  She has appeared in four productions at
People's Light & Theatre Company, including Getting Near to Baby, for which she received a Barrymore nomination, and has also performed at Media Theatre, Hedgerow Theatre and St Joseph's University Theater.

Joy Franz (Edith) was most recently seen in the world premiere of Hats at Denver Theatre Center.  Her Broadway credits include starring roles in Into the Woods, Pippin, A Little Night Music and Company.  She has been a frequent guest at Paper Mill Playhouse, and Great Barrington Stage,
and has also performed at Cincinnati Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera, and Missouri Repertory Theatre.

Anastasia Danielle Korbel (Young Lee) makes her Philadelphia debut having performed as Molly in the 30th Anniversary national touring production of Annie.  The eight year old has appeared frequently at New Candlelight Theatre, Kelsey Theatre and The Ritz Theatre.

James William Ijames (Brooks) was seen recently at the Arden Theatre Company in James and the Giant Peach.  Other local appearances include productions at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, New Paradise Laboratories and several productions at Temple University where he earned an
MFA.

John Jellison (Major Bouvier and Norman Vincent Peale) has appeared on Broadway in All Shook Up, The Phantom of the Opera, and Caroline, Or Change, and off-Broadway in A New Brain and Anything Goes, both at Lincoln Center, and Assassins at Playwrights Horizons.  He has performed
regionally at McCarter Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Yale Repertory Theatre and The Kennedy Center.

Hollis Resnik (Edie) recreates the role which won her raves at Chicago's Northlight Theatre.  She has won three Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, and House of Martin Guerre, as well as the Sarah Siddons Leading Lady Award for
Piaf.  She starred in the national tours of Les Miserables, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Grey Gardens brings back PTC favorite designers Ryan Rummery as sound designer (PTC's Unusual Acts of Devotion and Murderers) and Jorge Cousineau on projections (PTC's The Happiness Lecture, After Ashley and Intimate Apparel).  The production also features the Philadelphia debut of set and costume designer David Zinn (2008 OBIE Award for Sustained
Achievement in Set and Costume Design, and 2008 Hewes nomination for The Four of Us) and lighting designer Matthew Richards (The Music of Jacob Sterling and Port Authority at Atlantic Theatre Company, and Len, Asleep in Vinyl at Second Stage).

Philadelphia Theatre Companys' Official Airlines is US Airways; its Accommodations Sponsor is A.K.A. Rittenhouse Square; and its Media Sponsor is CBS3.

Philadelphia Theatre Company is Philadelphia's only non-profit professional theater dedicated exclusively to producing world and regional premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights.  Sara Garonzik has been the company's Producing Artistic Director since 1982, and in October 2007, Diane Claussen became its Managing Director.  Philadelphia Theatre Company continues to experience ever-increasing national impact, having produced 34 world premieres of new American plays and musicals in its 33 seasons.  Recent world premiere productions include: Unusual Acts of Devotion by Terrence McNally (to be produced this spring at La Jolla Playhouse); The Happiness Lecture by Bill Irwin; Nerds://A Musical Software Satire by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Erik Weiner, and Hal Goldberg; Some Men by Terrence McNally (later produced at the Second Stage); Adrift in Macao, a musical by Christopher Durang and Peter Melnick (produced at Primary
Stages); Bruce Graham's According to Goldman; Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso (later produced at Manhattan Theatre Club); Daniel Stern's comedy Barbra's Wedding (moved to the Westside Arts Theatre in 2003); John Henry Redwood's No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs (later produced at Primary Stages); J.T. Rogers' White People; David Ives' Lives of the Saints; three-time Tony Award-winning Master Class by Terrence McNally, starring Zoe Caldwell; Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel (Lucille Lortel Award, 1997); and the American premiere of Birdy by Naomi Wallace, among others.

Philadelphia Theatre Company has received numerous "Best Theater Company" citations from media sources such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Weekly, Philadelphia Style Magazine, and Philadelphia City Paper.  Since 1995, Philadelphia Theatre Company has received 134 nominations and 36 awards from Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards.

For further information on Philadelphia Theatre Company, call 215-985-0420 or visit PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org.

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