For Immediate Release: July 17, 2006
Media Contact: Deborah K. Fleischman, for Philadelphia Theatre Company, 215.735.7356

Philadelphia Theatre Company announces its 2006-2007 season featuring a new musical, an East Coast premiere and three Philadelphia premieres. In a season that promises to be new, provocative, and exhilarating, Philadelphia Theatre Company will produce four main stage productions: Murderers; Nerds://A Musical Software Satire; In the Continuum; and Orson's Shadow, as well as a special family production, The Frog Bride. Philadelphia Theatre Company welcomes US Airways as the Premiere Season Sponsor. This will be the company's final season at the Plays & Players Theater (1714 Delancey Street) before moving to their new venue, Philadelphia Theatre Company's Suzanne Roberts Theater, at Broad and Lombard Streets, opening in fall, 2007.

"Our new season again celebrates the genius and diversity of the American playwright," said Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik. "Our long standing commitment to premiere works in Philadelphia allows us to continue our relationship with Jeffrey Hatcher and Austin Pendleton, while also establishing a new and exciting partnership with the rising musical theater team of Jordan Allen-Dutton, Erik Weiner, and Hal Goldberg."

The season kicks off October 6 through November 5 with the East Coast premiere of Murderers by Jeffrey Hatcher, which was recently read in Philadelphia Theatre Company's STAGES new play series in fall 2005. Gerald, Lucy, and Minka are cold-blooded murderers, happily living at the Riddle Key Retirement Community in Florida. That they committed murder is not in question, but the "why" inspires an evening of greed, revenge and hilarity by one of Philadelphia Theatre Company's favorite playwrights and master storytellers. Jeffrey Hatcher authored Philadelphia Theatre Company's Barrymore Award-winning [Outstanding New Play] A Picasso (2004) as well as Philadelphia Theatre Company's Philadelphia premieres of Compleat Female Stage Beauty and Three Viewings. Murderers, directed by Michael Bush, former Director of Artistic Production at Manhattan Theatre Club, will feature Marylouise Burke, Brent Langdon, and Kristine Nielsen.

During the holiday season on December 22 through 30, Philadelphia Theatre Company will present a production for the whole family. The Frog Bride, written and performed by David Gonzalez and directed by Lenard Petite is Philadelphia Theatre Company's first-ever family production. When a King sends his three sons to find their brides, two return with fair ladies but the last returns with a frog. Filled with comic sparkle, this hip adaptation of a classic Russian tale is told by consummate storyteller David Gonzalez. Two live musicians weave one of Prokofiev's classics with an original jazz-funk score as Gonzalez performs every role against a backdrop of stunning live video projection and moving images by painter Wassily Kandinsky.

Running January 26 through February 25 will be Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of the new musical Nerds://A Musical Software Satire. With book and lyrics by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, and music by Hal Goldberg, Nerds://A Musical Software Satire will be featured in the Philadelphia New Play Festival: Where Theatre Begins, a program of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, taking place February 8 – 18, 2007. This new musical is a fresh and funny take on the parallel stories of computer pioneers Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as they blaze from "garage inventors" to warring titans of the computer revolution. Its creators are writers for the popular Cartoon Network Adult Swim Series show, Robot Chicken, and enjoyed an earlier success Off-Broadway with their long-running musical comedy The Bomb-itty of Errors.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's 31st season continues on March 16 through April 15 with the Philadelphia premiere of the Primary Stages Production of In The Continuum, written and performed by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter and directed by Robert O'Hara. This 2006 Obie Award-winner was named by both the New York Times and New York Magazine as one of the top four plays of 2005. Living worlds apart in L.A. and Zimbabwe, two young women experience a kaleidoscopic weekend of darkly comic events when their lives are changed forever as each is diagnosed with HIV. Portraying a rich array of characters, the playwrights/actresses offer a funny and mesmerizing evening of parallel denials and resonant self-discoveries. Danai Gurira appeared with Philadelphia Theatre Company in its Barrymore Award-winning production of The Story in 2005.

The season concludes with the Philadelphia premiere of Orson's Shadow by Austin Pendleton, running May 4-June 3. Read in Philadelphia Theatre Company's STAGES series as part of its 25th Anniversary celebration, Orson's Shadow recently enjoyed success Off-Broadway. Set in 1960, Orson's Shadow cleverly dramatizes legendary director Orson Welles' troubled attempts to bring Ionesco's Rhinoceros to the stage. The stars, Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright, are deep in the throes of an extramarital affair. Add to the mix Olivier's glamorous but unstable wife, actress Vivien Leigh, and theater critic Kenneth Tynan, and the result is a recipe for backstage humor and high drama.

Exciting special interest series are also available during the run of each show including: three post-show Meet-the-Artists events; two Wine Nights, with opportunities to sample top wines selected by noted sommelier, Luca Mazzotti (for Subscribers only); Night OUT!, a pre-show GLBT reception; and events with NEXT, the young patrons of Philadelphia Theatre Company for those between the ages of 26 through 40.

Subscriptions and Flex Memberships for the 2006-2007 Season are available at $116-$188 for a four-play season by calling Philadelphia Theatre Company at 215-985-0420 or 866-985-0420, or by visiting www.phillytheatreco.com. Special 25-&-Younger Flex subscriptions are also available for only $60. Student tickets to Philadelphia Theatre Company performances are always just $15.

Philadelphia Theatre Company is Philadelphia's only non-profit professional theater dedicated exclusively to producing world and regional premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director, Sara Garonzik, Philadelphia Theatre Company has had ever-increasing national impact having produced 34 world premieres of new American plays and musicals in its 31 seasons. Recent world premiere productions include: Some Men by Terrence McNally; Adrift in Macao by Christopher Durang and Peter Melnick (to be produced at Primary Stages, winter 2007); Bruce Graham's According to Goldman; Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso; Daniel Stern's comedy Barbra's Wedding (moved to the Westside Arts Theatre in 2003); John Henry Redwood's No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs; J.T. Rogers' White People; David Ives' Lives of the Saints; three-time Tony Award-winning Master Class by Terrence McNally, starring Zoe Caldwell; Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel (Lucille Lortel Award, 1997); and the American premiere of Birdy by Naomi Wallace. A Picasso received its New York premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club in April 2005. Philadelphia Theatre Company was chosen Best Theatre Company 2003 by Philadelphia Magazine, Theater Company of the Year by Philadelphia Weekly in 2005, Best Theater Company in the 2005 City Paper Readers' Choice Awards, and named Best Theater by Philadelphia Style Magazine in 2006. Since 1995, Philadelphia Theatre Company has received 99 nominations and 30 awards from Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards, most recently for Take Me Out (Outstanding Overall Production of a Play, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play [Kraig Swartz as Mason]), Elegies: A Song Cycle (Outstanding Music Direction [Kimberly Grigsby], and Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical), The Story (Outstanding Direction of a Play [Maria Mileaf]), and Trumbo (Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play [Bill Irwin]).

Philadelphia Theatre Company has embarked on a groundbreaking Capital Campaign in support of building its new home, the Suzanne Roberts Theater on the Avenue of the Arts, scheduled to open in Fall, 2007 when it concludes its 25-year residence at the historic Plays & Players Theater.

Go to News Releases»