What do two brothers, a prostitute, a pimp, a poet, a millionaire, and a customer/waiter all have in common? This is not a trick question, nor a bad joke, not even a strange version of Monopoly! (though the millionaire might have thrown you off) This hodge podge group is actually the character list of Vagabond Acting Troupe’s exciting spring production, Noah Haidle’s RAG AND BONE.

The Vagabond Acting Troupe, celebrating 15 years of educational ensemble-based theatrical work, once again displays their ongoing commitment to producing new cutting edge works with the premiere of Noah Haidle's RAG AND BONE at Philadelphia’s Second Stage at the Adrienne Theater, April 10th-April 26th, during their third annual new works festival (running April 10 to May 5).

"RAG AND BONE is a madcap existential exploration of a vagabond heart's journey home," says Aileen McCulloch, Executive Artistic Director and founder of the company, which marks its tenth year producuing on the 2nd Stage. "Since the troupe has been on a similar artistic exploration in our 15 years of experiment and process, Noah's play seems like the perfect capper to a year dedicated to developing works of the artistic heart!

"Haidle is arguably one of the most exhilarating contemporary young playwrights of our time," continues McCulloch, who directs the season's final main-stage production, which features a cast of seven new ensemble members. "Vagabond's area premiere of RAG AND BONE marks the third Philadelphia premiere of a Haidle play this season, with MR. MARMALADE receiving a critically acclaimed run with Theatre Exile last fall, followed by a Temple University premiere of Haidle's ______________________ mid-way through the season. If you're getting that much air time in Philadelphia, you've got to be onto something!"

Set in a place that gets “less oxygen and sunlight than the rest of the world,” RAG AND BONE provides a world of visual metaphore. In this graphic novel-like world, reality and whimsy are intertwined, where one can "try out" another’s heart for the right price, and The Ladder Store is the place to find a way to get off the ground in not only a real but a metaphysical way. When high school hero George starts stealing and selling black market hearts to take care of his younger, slower brother, Jeff, he must also deal with the guilt of his career choice. When an artist's heart comes into his possession, he knows he's made a score big enough to set himself and his brother up for life! But when word gets out that the feeling of a poet is up for grabs, the heart that promised so much becomes the target of every empty chest in town.

Questioning what it means to feel, where the heart is really located, the freudian effects of mother love, and even making a side-trip to Bermuda, RAG AND BONE is a fast, fresh splash of black comedy from the playwright who reminds us, “I live my life in pursuit of truth and beauty. It doesn’t pay very well.” (Children under 13 are cautioned…while in many ways Haidle’s work is child-like, his language is not)

RAG AND BONE runs April 10 to 26, on the 2nd Stage of the Adrienne Theatre, Wednesdays thru Saturdays at 8 p.m., with one Monday Industrial Theatre Night on April 21, at 8 p.m. Tickets are from $12 to $20 depending on the night of performance.

Also included in the April New Works Festival is a two-night solo works festival, featuring new works by 10 local solo artists, and the company's third original one act play festival, featuring five new one act plays. The Solo Works Festival runs April 13 and 14 at 8 p.m., and the One Act Play Festival runs April 30, May 1, 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. on the 2nd Stage of the Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia.

Visit the Vagabond Acting Troupe at www.vagabondactingtroupe.org for complete schedule and pricing details on all New Works Festival events. Tickets may also be reserved by calling 215-563-4330 ext. 3.