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People's Light & Theatre closes its run of Donald Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment-The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself), tonight, April 15, on the Steinbright Stage. Jackson Phippin directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355. For more information visit PeoplesLight.org. Shipwrecked! is part of the PNC Arts Alive Family Discovery Series.
Shipwrecked! is described as "a delight-filled traveler's tale (which may or may not be true) that takes you from the exotic islands of the Coral Sea to Queen Victoria's garden to the Royal Geographic Society. Fun for ages nine and up, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies has crafted this fast-paced, exciting play based on the stories from history's Louis de Rougemont. Born in 1844, De Rougemont claimed to have survived 30 years in the Australian Outback before returning to London to tell of his outrageous experiences. While his stories enthralled the nation, Australians booed him, not believing his tales. Margulies' Shipwrecked! leaves it up to the audience to decide what to believe."
Longtime People's Light company member Graham Smith plays the role of Louis, while James Ijames (2011 recipient of the F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Award) and Mary McCool play an assortment of characters. Director Jackson Phippin returns to People's Light, bringing to the stage his extensive experience working with experimental theatre.Phippin says, "This is a story of adventure and wanderlust. It is also a story of the imagination. The story flows out of one man's mind. It moves very quickly at times, changing venues in the blink of an eye. So we've decided that our approach needs to be suggestive-transformative-that it needs to be inherently theatrical and playful. We want the audience to imagine with us the suggested reality of these adventures."He continues, "Like all plays, Shipwrecked! begins with language and as we read we sense a world. Most times that world is fixed and encumbered by its historical and cultural reality. This piece isn't nearly as rigid and invites the artistic team to create a special reality that will be highly entertaining. To have the opportunity to create such a special theatrical space and performance style is always to be relished!"
