1812 Productions is pleased to present this special two-week workshop of a new performance piece by Barrymore Award winner and 1812 Co-Founder Pete Pryor. Beautiful Boy will have 12 presentations from May 13th to May 25th at The Playground at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street. There is no press night or opening night performance. All performances will be followed by an open discussion with the audience that will help to develop a future production. Tickets for all presentations are $10 each and can be purchased by contacting 1812 Productions' administrative office at (215) 592-9560 or online at www.1812productions.org.

The concept of Beautiful Boy came out of the years of work that Pete and his wife have done with their eldest son who is autistic. Through that work, a community of family members, artists, and teachers has grown around their son and created an environment where family interaction happens on a wide variety of levels. "Our house has been opened up to many wonderful individuals who attempt to go into my son's world and try to connect with him on his terms," Pete says. "It's amazing to me that this disorder which is believed to limit communication and create isolation has forced my entire family to become more connected with others and has shown us different ways of communicating that we had never thought of before."

With a performance both scripted and improvised, Beautiful Boy is a direct exploration of this multilayered communication as Pete takes on the roles of several of the people in the environment including that of the autistic son. Created as a story for the stage, he weaves together fiction with fact in an effort to get at the heart of the disconnect between father and son. Beautiful Boy is an exercise in language-literal, physical, and perceptual-and is as much about the act of making theatre as it is about using theatre as a tool to break down barriers.

Pete adds, "One of my goals for Beautiful Boy is to create a feeling for the audience-if only for a moment-of what it may be like to have autism. An idea or experience of what it may be like to be in those shoes. Because real love and real communication are not just about getting someone to speak your language, they're about how you both speak each other's language." In this way, the audience also plays a part in the progress of each presentation as they, at various points, become the subject of the show as well as spectators.

"I'm glad for the ability to workshop a piece like this as so much of it will have to wait until it actually hits the stage to be created. Right now, I'm working with my own ideals and experience about how to make connection, both as a father and as an actor. But in Beautiful Boy, all of those ideas of alienation, self-discovery, environment, and interrelation spin together in ways I've never tried to interpret in this manner before. In creating this piece, I am honoring my son as well as the miraculous ability we all have to build bridges with only our minds and our ability to love."

Pete is a Co-Founder of and Resident Artist at 1812 Productions. He is the recipient of two Independence Foundation Fellowships and two Barrymore Awards. He is also the Artist in Residence at the Pathway School where he teaches a theatre curriculum and process of his own creation to children with developmental disabilities. Regional Credits include work at: The Arden, Act II Playhouse, Azuka, The Boarshead Theatre, Cape May Stage, Theatre Exile, The Lantern Theatre, People's Light and Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Freedom Theatre, The Wilma and The O' Casey Theatre of Ireland. Film and TV: The Cellar, Surrender Dorothy, The In Crowd, Felix Melman, Hack and The Starship Akuno.

Beautiful Boy
Featuring: Pete Pryor
Dates: May 13th-May 25th
Location: The Playground at the Adrienne
Tickets: $10
Tickets and Information Contact: 1812 Productions