People's Light Production of THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES Closes 7/11

People's Light & Theatre Company presents THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, from June 16 - July 11, 2010, on the Main Stage. A world premiere production, with a script by Richard Hellesen, it is based on the children's classic tale by Hans Christian Andersen. AbiGail Adams directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern. For tickets call 610.644.3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org. This project is supported in part by TARGET.

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES is a slapstick, mad cap, puppet-romp version of the classic tale of an Emperor with a passion for fashion. In the Empire of Abalonia, the bratty new Royal demands a trendy new wardrobe. Enter two scamming rogues who are only too happy to help while trying to loot the royal treasury.

Artistic Director AbiGail Adams says, "This script pays homage to the Marx Brothers and Abbott and Costello - it is wacky and zany and we've assembled a very talented cast and artistic team to help tell this familiar tale in a fresh and funny way."

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, part of the TARGET Family Discovery Series, features Resident Company Members Kevin Bergen, Alda Cortese, Marcia Saunders, Mary Elizabeth Scallen and Tom Teti, who join guest artists Pete Pryor, Andrew Kane and Claire Inie-Richards, in addition to over 50 handmade puppets by Martina Plag.

Before each show, children are invited to D.Y.O.B. (Decorate Your Own Boxers) for free. The crafts will begin one hour before each performance in the upstairs lobby. Go to www.peopleslight.org for details.

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES previews on Wednesday, June 16th and Thursday, June 17th. The play opens on Friday, June 18th at 7pm and runs through July 11th. Audiences are encouraged to join the artists after each performance to discuss the production.
Single tickets start at $20 for youth and $29 for adults, with special discounts available for students and groups of 10 or more. 10am student group performances, discount meal packages, and talk-backs with the artists are also available. For more information or to purchase group tickets, call 610.647.1900, ext. 134 or email group@peopleslight.org.

KEY BIOS

Hans Christian Andersen (Author) is best known for his many beloved fairytales: "The Little Mermaid," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Princess and the Pea," "The Ugly Duckling," "Thumbelina," and "The Emperor's New Clothes," to name just a few. But Andersen's own life also sounds like the makings of a fairytale. He was born into a poor family in 1805 in Odense Denmark. He died in 1875 an acclaimed writer, accepted into the homes of royalty and brilliant thinkers alike. At the age of 14, Andersen set out for Copenhagen and the Royal Theater but was a failure as an actor. A fund from the King of Denmark gave him the opportunity to get an education but he was miserable at school. Years older than his educational peers and forbidden to write fiction, he still managed to produce a poem called "The Dying Child." The headmaster declared it to be "idle trash." It became one of the most famous poems of the century. Andersen published his first story at the age of 22 to unexpected acclaim, then penned a play which was performed at the Royal Court Theater, then turned out a collection of poems. He was already a well-known novelist when he began writing fairytales at the age of 29. The fairytales created a sensation. Up until that time, most stories for children had been fables, designed to deliver cautionary or moral lessons. Andersen's work had a depth and humor to it that readers of many ages loved. His fairytales have become films and plays, expressions ("she's an ugly duckling"), numerous written adaptations, and well-loved classics in over 150 languages.

Richard Hellesen (Playwright) is the author of a number of plays for adult and young audiences. The former include Kingdom, Once In Arden, Moonshadow and, with composer David De Berry, a widely-produced musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol. For Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. he has written two historical plays, One Destiny and The Road From Appomattox. Among his other plays for adults are two dozen short plays, including five finalists in The Actors Theatre of Louisville Ten-Minute Play Contest; his one-act Dos Corazones appears in "Best Ten-Minute Plays for Two Actors, 2004." In addition to The Emperor's New Clothes, his plays for young audiences include adaptations of Johnny Tremain, the Grimm Brothers' The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and - with composer Michael Silversher - a musical version of The Wind in the Willows as well as eleven Educational Touring shows for South Coast Repertory in California. They are currently at work on a musical adaptation of the Lois Lowry novel Gathering Blue. A member of the Dramatists Guild, he is the recipient of writing awards from the National Theatre Conference, PEN USA West, and the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild, and was Playwright in Residence at the William Inge Center for the Arts in Kansas in 2009. He makes his home in Sacramento, California.

AbiGail Adams (Director) is Artistic Director of the People's Light & Theatre Company. During her 33-year association with the Theatre, she has directed more than 60 plays. Recent productions include Nathan the Wise, The Day of the Picnic, Getting Near to Baby, Theophilus North, Twelfth Night, Something You Did, Fabulation, The Member of the Wedding, The O'Conner Girls, Sleeping Beauty, The Miser, String of Pearls, Arthur's Stone, Merlin's Fire, and In the Blood. Abbey served for ten years on the faculty at Swarthmore College and has also taught at New York University, Bryn Mawr College, Carnegie Mellon University and the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. She has served as a panelist and site reporter for the NEA and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Ursinus College.

Martina Plag (Puppet Designer) is German-born and trained as an architect. Her masks, puppets and automata have been in numerous juried exhibitions and have awarded her four residencies. Plag has designed puppets, sets, and prototypes for Mum Puppettheatre, Gas & Electric Arts, Enchantment Theatre Company, The University of Pennsylvania, Temple University: Philadelphia; Slingback Productions, NYC, The Children's Theatre Company, Minneapolis, MN, Rowan University, Glassborough, NJ and the International Opera Theater in Città della Pieve, Italy. Plag's puppetry atelier studium-praxis has presented four original productions since its inception in 2008. Martina creates puppetry for adult audiences to address contemporary issues and to advocate social change and awareness.

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