For Immediate Release: January 17, 2007
Media Contact: Margie Royal, Hedgerow Theatre, 610.565.4211

Hedgerow Theatre proudly presents the Philadelphia premiere of Nagle Jackson's A Hotel On Marvin Gardens, Feb. 2-March 11. Internationally produced playwright and director Nagle Jackson, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, will direct the Hedgerow production. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m., with a Sunday matinee at 2:00 p.m. Special performances include a Valentine's evening show 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 with intermission treats ($30) and a 2 p.m. matinee Wednesday, March 7. For reservations, call the Hedgerow Theatre Box Office at 610-565-4211.

"My life is like this board game," quips one of the characters in A Hotel on Marvin Gardens, and there you have the essence of this contemporary comedy, which premiered at the Denver Center Theatre Co. in 1999. The central character is K.C., the powerful owner of ME, a magazine blatantly devoted to "self-help, self-promotion and self gratification." Each April Fool's Day, K.C. holds a marathon Monopoly game party at her island retreat in Long Island Sound. This year, the game players are K.C. herself, her obedient lover and publisher Bo, the magazine's emotional editor Henry, and the magazine's eccentric new restaurant critic, Erna.

Nagle Jackson has directed on Broadway and at leading regional theatres including A.C.T., the McCarter Theatre, the Hartford Stage Company, the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Washington, DC Summer Shakespeare Festival, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and The Acting Company. He was Artistic Director of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater from 1971-77 (where he met Hedgerow's Producing Artistic Director, Penelope Reed).

Playwright Nagle Jackson wrote A Hotel on Marvin Gardens on a lark in 1999. "I wrote it just for fun. I wanted to write a drawing room comedy, because it is a genre that no longer exists. People don't sit around and chat the way they used to. The only time people gather now is to play games." Enter the game of Monopoly. "It is such an icon of American culture," Jackson said. "It's all about power and acquisition. The play's focus is on one of the players, a highly successful woman the likes of Martha Stewart or magazine publisher Tina Brown. We explore what would a woman who has never lost do if it appears she will lose a game."

The Hedgerow production of A Hotel on Marvin Gardens will feature a stellar ensemble of Michelle Horman, Paul Kuhn, Penelope Reed, Doug Wild and Miriam Ani.

Over the last 84 years, Hedgerow Theatre has been the inspiration for such national companies as People’s Light & Theatre Company and the Eugene O’Neill Festival. The quality of Hedgerow’s productions has earned the praise of playwrights Eugene O’Neill, Sean O’Casey and George Bernard Shaw. Famous alumni include Richard Basehardt, Margaret Hamilton and Buck Henry. Philadelphia alumni include Tom McCarthy, Tom Teti, Janis Dardis and Abigail Adams. In 2005 Hedgerow won a coveted Barrymore award for “The Lives of Bosie.”

Tickets are $22 for Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday performances; $25 on Friday and Saturday, with $3 discounts for seniors and $10 for age 18 and under. For reservations or more information, call 610-565-4211 or visit www.hedgerowtheatre.org. Hedgerow Theatre is at 64 Rose Valley Road, Media, Pa.

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