For Immediate Release: April 19, 2005
Media Contact: David Cole, Action Arts Theater Company, 888.715.5589

Action Arts Theater Company will stage four performances of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by award-winning playwright and Oprah Book Club favorite Ann-Marie MacDonald. All performances staged at the Cheltenham Art Center. The show opens Friday April 29 and runs Saturday April 30 and May 6-7 at 8 p.m.

**Audience Advisory: Some Sexually Suggestive Content **

Who couldn't use a little escape from reality?

Perhaps our friends at Barnes & Noble describe this play the best, “Imagine a collaboration among Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Woody Allen, and you have the essence of Goodnight Desdemona.”

Meet Constance. Constance is . . . well different from most people. She's an underappreciated graduate student who is the laughing stock of the academic world. She's got this notion that Shakespeare's tragedies were originally written as comedies. Constance is a quirky doormat who gets walked on by everyone . . . until she finds herself thrust right into the pages of Shakespeare's two most famous plays.

The real world hasn't been too kind to Constance, but what does Shakespeare's fantasy world have in store for her?

Join us as we turn Shakespeare's tragedies topsy-turvy and send our plucky heroine - and the audience - on a magical journey across Cyprus and Verona. Constance meets Juliet and Desdemona and changes their destinies. She encounters ghosts, sword fights and girls gone wild all in a quest to find the true source of Shakespeare's greatest heroines. It's a fast-paced, witty physical comedy sure to please everybody.

Laugh with us, or laugh at us . . . but come enjoy our pseudo-Shakespearean escape from reality and you will laugh.

Action Arts Theater Company
Action Arts Theater Company has been resident at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts' Bernard H. Berger Theater for four years now. With daring show choices and very high production standards, they have been slowly building a small but loyal following. Previous productions include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [abridged], The Crucible, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, 12 Angry Men, Henry V, The Hostage, and the Philadelphia premiere of the award-winning gangster comedy Mojo.

Opening Night Reception
As always Action Arts celebrates the opening of a new production with a stunning, and complimentary, gourmet reception. After the opening night performance on April 29 theatergoers are invited to enjoy a tantalizing array of complimentary hors d'oeuvres, drinks and desserts.

If You Go
The show runs April 29-30 and May 6-7 at 8pm. The Cheltenham Center for the Arts is located at 439 Ashbourne Road in Cheltenham, PA 19012. All tickets are $10. For directions and ticket information call (888) 715-5589 or visit www.actionarts.net on the web.

Press Information

“Stratford-upon-Acid: that's where MacDonald's dizzying Goodnight Desdemona lives…MacDonald traipses through the canon with glee.” - The Village Voice

"Delightful, often hilarious . . . MacDonald doesn't miss a trick, scattering satirical observations on love and sex, scholarship and the Bard like birdseed, while taking full advantage of the slapstick possibilities in Shakespearean cross-dressing." -The Washington Post

“Imagine a collaboration among Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Woody Allen, and you have the essence of Goodnight Desdemona.” – Barnes & Noble

"Magical.... An uproarious and smart comedy." -Pittsburgh Press

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