THE PHILLY FAN Makes Kimmel Center Premiere 9/23-10/31

The one-man smash hit show, The Philly Fan, starring Barrymore Award winner Tom McCarthy and written by award-winning playwright Bruce Graham, will return to Philadelphia for a limited
6-week engagement beginning Sept. 23 - Oct. 31 at the Kimmel Center's Innovation Studio.

The press opening is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 24 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are now available at $35 for Thursday and Friday performances and $47 for Saturday and Sunday performances. Tickets may be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office, Broad & Spruce Sts. (open daily 10 am to 6 pm), by calling 215-731-3333 or online at _www.kimmelcenter.org_ (http://www.kimmelcenter.org/) .

Group discounts of 10 or more are available by calling 215-790-5883. Performances include: Thursday & Friday evenings at 8:00 pm, Saturday evenings at 5:00 pm & 8:00 pm; and matinee performance Sundays at 3:00 pm.

The Philly Fan is a one man tour-de-force where two-time Barrymore Award winner Tom McCarthy takes audiences on a hilarious journey through the last fifty years of Philadelphia's sports history, the familiar ups and downs of Philly sports...and the frustrations therein. The production is an in-your-face, tell-it-like-it-is romp through the eyes of a hard core sports fan who is accustomed to seeing sure-thing victories turn into " oh-my-God-they-blew-it" defeats.

Additionally, the show will feature a bevy of new, updated material reflecting recent developments on the Philadelphia sports scene. According to writer Bruce Graham, "new material will include 50 percent more Donovan McNabb jokes."

Written by Philadelphia playwright Bruce Graham and directed by Theatre Exile's artistic director Joe Canuso, The Philly Fan first premiered at the 2004 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe. The play has enjoyed several sold-out engagements since then, and received a
Barrymore Award nomination for ‘Best New Play" in 2005-06.

The Philly Fan is hailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer as "a theatrical love letter to the knowledgeable, unapologetic, demanding but ultimately forgiving Philadelphia fans....Those who follow sports, and probably those who don't, will delight in this show, written with humor and insight by Bruce Graham and acted by a bluff, outspokenly funny Tom McCarthy."