For Immediate Release: July 16, 2006
Media Contact: Patrick Doran, Theatre Horizon, 610.805.9556

King of Prussia based Theatre Horizon presents the Philadelphia area premiere of red hot playwright Richard Greenberg’s The Violet Hour, a play the Chicago Sun-Times calls a “luminous, mysterious, emotionally churning tragicomedy.” Villanova Humanities professor and graduate Kathryn C. Nocero directs a local professional cast that includes a Barrymore Award winner and two Barrymore nominees. The Violet Hour transports us to 1919 Manhattan, where an upstart young book publisher is forced to choose between producing the autobiography of his lover, a popular black chanteuse, or the wild rambling mega-tome by his brilliant novelist friend. Amid the zany chaos comes a gift from the future that spells out the consequences of each publication. The Violet Hour runs August 3 through 13, with previews August 1 and 2. Performances are at Upper Merion Area High School, 435 Crossfield Road, King of Prussia at 7:30pm. Ticket prices range from $14 to $17. Buy online and save at www.theatrehorizon.org.

Richard Greenberg has seen a meteoric rise in his notoriety, and won the Tony Award in 2003 for Best New Play for Take Me Out. His play Three Days of Rain premiered this spring on Broadway starring Julia Roberts, and his new play The House in Town is currently at the Lincoln Center Theater. The Violet Hour, which starred Robert Sean Leonard and Mario Cantone in its Broadway premiere, is an elegant puzzle that highlights both the glamour and the heartache of those at the top of the Manhattan social food chain in the early 20th century.

Director Nocero is thrilled to be working with such an incredible cast. “I truly believe that we have a cast that is equal in caliber to the Broadway cast, in some ways better matched to their characters than any production that I’ve heard of,” states Nocero. A graduate of Villanova Theatre’s Masters program and currently a professor there, Nocero is excited about the play’s mystery, its beauty, and its humor. “This is a period in history that has always interested me. Following World War One, there was a glittering madness; something I think is echoed in our own time. It’s a trap that the characters in this play fall into. They think that since the war is over, the worst must be over for them as well. Their world is one in which there is great beauty but great stillness, hesitation, and a fear of the unknown that prevents people from living each day fully. What amazes me most about the script is how Greenberg can deal in such powerful dramatic moments and yet keep the play very funny throughout.”

In the Theatre Horizon production, Erik Ransom plays John Pace Seavering, a young, ambitious publisher without a credit to his name. Barrymore nominee Karen Vicks plays Jessie Brewster, a tortured black singer/performer in the mold of Josephine Baker whose love affair with Seavering is complicated when she asks him to publish her provocative memoirs. Barrymore nominee Jered McLenigan and Erin Reilly are a mismatched and melancholic literati couple evocative of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, each desperate for attention in their own way. Seavering’s assistant, and the show’s comic relief, is Gidger (played by Barrymore-Award winner and Villanova alum Michael J. Dees), who constantly scrambles to cope with the output from a mysterious machine of peculiar provenance.

“We will really transport the audience to this time in history,” Says Nocero. “In addition, our designers have created a set that has left a great deal of room for lovely lighting design, which helps give this play a magical feel. It clips along like a snappy 1920s film, with sparkling dialogue grounded in a contemporary sensibility.”

The Violet Hour is the third show in Theatre Horizon’s ambitious 2006 summer season. The company burst on the scene several years ago, initially performing politically-minded dramas in non-conventional spaces. Since then, their offerings have tripled, and last season’s hit The Laramie Project won them a dedicated local following and rave reviews. Their 2006 season included an outdoor musical, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, which attracted over 1,000 audience members, plus a raucous one-man performance of The Devil and Billy Markham, performed over the course two nights in a bar to sold-out crowds.

Prices for The Violet Hour are $17, $14 for seniors over 65 and students with valid ID. Save money when you buy online at www.theatrehorizon.org with NO SERVICE FEES.

THEATRE HORIZON’S MISSION Theatre Horizon was created to employ the energies of young artists to develop, produce, and perform theatre in the Upper Merion area. It is our goal to foster a love for the stage by creating a community of artists, students and audiences in which each member is given the opportunity to grow.

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