People’s Light & Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of GETTING NEAR TO BABY, written by Y York, based on the novel by Audrey Couloumbis, from March 27 – April 20, 2008, on the Steinbright Stage. Abigail Adams directs. People’s Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern. For tickets call 610.644.3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org. GETTING NEAR TO BABY is part of the TARGET Family Discovery Series and the US Airways New Plays Festival for Families.

After the death of their baby sister, 12-year-old Willa Jo and Little Sister are whisked away from their Mom to live temporarily with Aunt Patty, who has a million rules about everything. Little Sister has stopped talking, so Willa Jo needs to translate for her, and Aunt Patty won’t let them play with the children across the street (dirty riffraff in Aunt Patty’s opinion). The play is the story of one family’s tender and often humorous journey toward acceptance and understanding.

GETTING NEAR TO BABY is the second play this season that is being produced as part of the People’s Light Adaptation Project, an NEA-funded program that brings award-winning children’s literature to the stage. GETTING NEAR TO BABY is a 2000 Newbery Honor Book. The first adaptation, CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD, based on the novel by Avi, was produced earlier this season, closing on February 24, 2008.

Artistic Director Abigail Adams says, “Commissioning and producing new works for young audiences has always been something to which we have been committed. The Adaptation Project just formalizes that commitment and allows us to commission more prominent authors and playwrights. We hope these works go on to be produced by other regional theatres around the country.”

Adams adds, “We are thrilled to work with Y York on GETTING NEAR TO BABY. She wrote THE FORGIVING HARVEST for us in 2004, and I think she is one of the finest playwrights writing for young people today. She is also a great fit for People’s Light because she shares our values.”

GETTING NEAR TO BABY is presented as part of Imagination Begins With US - The US Airways New Plays Festival for Families. This three-city festival is supported by a major $300,000 grant from US Airways to promote new plays for young theatre audiences. This season, each world-premiere production is a “page-to-stage” adaptation for young people ages 8 to 18 and their families: GETTING NEAR TO BABY; A Tale of Two Cities at Childsplay in Tempe, Arizona; and Surviving The Applewhites at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We are extremely proud to be spearheading such an innovative festival. This is the first time that three theatre companies in three different cities are collaborating to produce three new plays for young audiences. These plays promote literacy, creativity and ultimately academic success for students,” said C.A. Howlett, Senior Vice President Public Affairs of US Airways. “The festival is a triple-header for us, for our three partner theatres, and for young audiences in our hub cities.”

As part of this same festival, next season People’s Light will produce A TALE OF TWO CITIES, currently being produced at Childsplay in Tempe, Arizona.

GETTING NEAR TO BABY previews on Thursday, March 27th at 7pm. The show opens on Friday, March 28th at 7pm and runs through April 20, 2008. Tickets are now on sale and cost $20 for children and $28 for adults, with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. Audiences are encouraged to join the artists after each performance to discuss the production.

2-show subscriptions and People’s Pass subscriptions to the 2007/2008 Season are still available at a significant savings. Remaining shows in the 6-Play Series include: I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady From Rwanda (May 28 – June 22, 2008) and Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily (June 18 – July 13, 2008). For information, tickets, and subscriptions, please call the box office at 610.644.3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org.

Special performances and discounts, in addition to discount meal packages and talk-backs with the artists are available for groups of 10 or more. For more information or to purchase group tickets, call 610.647.1900, ext. 134 or email group@peopleslight.org.

For more information about Imagination Begins With US -- US Airways New Plays Festival for Families, contact Pam Hait or Martha Hunter (602) 952-0040 or email pam@strategies-az.com.

KEY BIOS

Y York (Playwright) has written numerous plays, including Framed (SmashBox Productions, 2007); Bleachers in the Sun (SmashBox, 2008); …and LA is Burning, (New Harmony Project, 2007); River Rat and Cat (ChildsPlay premiere, 2006); Nothing is the Same (TCG-Pew Charitable Trust, Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices Festival, 2004); Fork in the Road, 2004; The Forgiving Harvest (AT&T:Onstage Award, People’s Light premiere, 2004, AATE Distinguished Play Award, 2006); Mask of the Unicorn Warrior (Rockefeller Foundation grant, Seattle Children’s Theatre premiere, 2001); The Othello (4-character hip hop adaptation, Mile Square Productions, 2005); Krisit (Primary Stages, 2001); also: The New Dark Clarity; 3-character It Comes Around; The Kissing List of Margaret Jones; and Mary’s Eddy. Y is currently working on a musical and the adaptation of Jerry Spinelli’s Eggs for People’s Light, 2009. Earlier work is still produced in theatres across the country and is available from Broadway Play Publishing, Dramatic Publishing, St. Martin’s Press, Smith and Kraus, or from Carl Mulert at The Gersh Agency, New York. In June, 2006, Y received the Hawaii State Award for Literature. She is an alumna of New Dramatists, a member of the Dramatists Guild, and still lives with Mark Lutwak to whom most things are dedicated.

Audrey Couloumbis (Author) was born in Springfield, Illinois and now lives in upstate New York and Florida. Getting Near to Baby was her first children’s book, and it received a Newbery Honor Award in 2000. The early death of an aunt’s child as well as hearing about a child who died from tainted water were the memories that her story drew on. Other children’s books she has published are Say Yes; Summer’s End; The Misadventures of Maude March; and Maude March on the Run. She is married and has two grown children and a dog. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Couloumbis was a housekeeper, a sweater designer, and a school custodian. In an interview on her website, she says her early interests were nature, animals, and art. When asked “Where do you get your ideas?” she replied, “I notice the way somebody moves, the way people treat each other in moments when they think that no one else is looking or don’t care what anyone thinks.” When asked, “What’s the most interesting writing question anyone ever asked you?” Couloumbis said, “There was this third grader who asked if I ever had someone like Aunt Patty, ‘who loved you so much she was crabby about it?’ She stays in my mind.”

Abigail Adams (Director) is Artistic Director of the People’s Light & Theatre Company. During her 30-year association with the Theatre, she has directed more than 50 plays. Recent productions include Theophilus North, Twelfth Night, Something You Did, Fabulation, The Member of the Wedding, The O’Conner Girls, Sleeping Beauty, The Miser, String of Pearls, Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire, In the Blood, The Little Red Riding Hood Show and The Little Foxes. Abbey served for ten years on the faculty at Swarthmore College and has also taught at New York University, Bryn Mawr College, Carnegie Mellon University and the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. She has served as a panelist and site reporter for the NEA and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Ursinus College.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Little Sister) is a sixth grade student at Rosemont School of the Holy Child. This is her third Main Stage production at the People’s Light & Theatre Company. She most recently played Long John Silver’s side-kick Polly, amongst a celebrated cast in PLTC’s popular holiday panto Treasure Island. This role followed her premier performance as Lily in last spring’s critically acclaimed production of The Giver. Maggie has performed in various roles at the Hedgerow Theater, her last as the lead in Carol and Bill Luttrell’s musical Red Robbie’s Christmas Story. She performed as Fan in the Cardinal O’Hara High School production of Alan Menken’s musical The Christmas Carol and as Nygana in Devon Prep’s production of South Pacific. Maggie has participated in the Walnut Street Theater’s Summerstage and Advanced Musical Theater programs. She studies dance at the Ellen Crescenta School of Dance and voice with Nora Whittaker.

Claire Inie-Richards (Willa Jo) was previously seen as Curio in Twelfth Night and Betty Paris in The Crucible. She is a second year home-schooler, and a sophomore of the Center for Performing and Fine Arts in West Chester. In addition, Claire is serving an apprenticeship at PLTC, which includes projects in the office and work as a Production Assistant.

Susan McKey (Lucy Wainwright) was last seen as Evelyn Treelawnee in Treasure Island, the holiday Panto, and will be in next year’s Panto, Cinderella. Last spring she played Huck Finn in Splittin’ the Raft. Next, Susan will play Lillie Langtry in Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily, the final production here at PLT. Susan is a Barrymore Award winner, mother of Griffen (8) and Ella Marie (5), and a native Cape Codder.

Christopher Patrick Mullen (Uncle Hob) A graduate of DeSales University, Chris is a member of the Resident Ensemble of Artists here at PLTC, where he has appeared in Crispin: The Cross of Lead, Splittin’ the Raft, Twelfth Night, Robin Hood, The Crucible, Jack & the Beanstalk, The Miser, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest, among other productions. Regional credits include: Assassins, Irma Vep, As You Like It, Around the World in 80 Days, The Imaginary Invalid, Hamlet, The Glass Menagerie, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Charlie’s Aunt (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival). Other regional and NY credits include: The Pavilion, Hedda Gabler, The Stinky Cheese Man, Much Ado about Nothing, Hyde in the Shadows, The Seven Year Itch, and Doughboy. On television, he has played a couple of bad guys on NBC’s Law & Order. Chris is a founding co-artistic director of QUINNOPOLIS, NY. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, Erin.

Mary Elizabeth Scallen (Aunt Patty) has been a member of the Resident Ensemble of Artists since 1991 and is currently an Artistic Associate at PLTC. Recent appearances here include Theophilus North, Twelfth Night, The Imaginary Invalid, and Fabulation. Mary Beth has also worked with The Arden, PlayPenn, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Weston Playhouse (VT), Gretna Theatre (PA) and Mill Mountain Theatre (VA). She teaches acting at People’s Light and at the University of Pennsylvania.