Philadelphia Theater In July

New Works in The Olde City

Original Works and Companies Featured In Two Philly Summer Festivals

Holy Humana, Batman! Just when they finished rolling up the last Independence Day bunting and fireworks - what should explode? Two theater festivals in the City of Brotherly Love this July. As all the suburban locals pack up their beach chairs and make for the shore, the various denizens of the Philadelphia Theatre Community begin to gear up for three theatrical weekends that display what’s been really new or news worthy this last year.

 

The second annual PlayPenn New Play Development Conference has begun!  For the next two weeks, public staged readings will presented on four new developing plays: A Scream by Gina Barnett, Bad for the Jews by Peter Morris, Malignance by Eric Pfeffinger, and Scarcity by Lucy Thurber. July 14-16 at the Adrienne Theater in Philadelphia. 

 
WHAT IS PLAYPENN?

 PlayPenn is an annual conference for the development of new plays, the advancement of new voices in the theatre in Philadelphia and nationally, and the cross-fertilization of writers, directors, dramaturgs and actors.

 
In Gina Barnett’s artsy farcey A Scream, highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and slapstick elements collide for an evening of screaming hilarity. An utterly charming but totally corrupt and down-on-his luck art dealer – Theo Blackstone– is given what he assumes to be a fake repro of Edvard Munch’s recently stolen “The Scream.” He tosses it, only to be unwittingly ensnared in a Homeland Security sting surrounding the famous painting. Things go from bad to worse with crooked federal agents, double crossing spies and members of an underground radical fringe group. A Scream, directed by Dan Foster, will be read on Friday, July 14 at 8:00 PM.

 
Swarthmore resident Peter Morris’ Bad for The Jews is a black comedy about crime, guilt and justice. Late at night, in a warehouse on the outskirts of Chicago, two old Jewish men, Mort and Barry, have bribed the security guard, a 20-something slacker, to look the other way as they break in to the storeroom. But it soon becomes apparent that they have kidnapped are holding a retired factory worker and Polish immigrant…. who (Mort claims) was once a guard at the death camps. Or was he? Bad for the Jews, directed by Daniel Stein, will be read on Saturday, July 15 at 3:00 PM.

 

Malignance by Eric Pfeffinger is a searing drama that cuts through the complacent assumptions about prejudice and class. When a little white girl falls fatally ill, it's a chance for her mother to climb the social ladder; for her father to convert other people's sympathy into sexual opportunities; and for everyone else to participate in the seductive melodrama of someone else's suffering. But when the family sucks their African-American neighbor Carla into their tragedy, the venomous prejudices churning beneath these ordinary middle class lives explode their comforting narratives about race, status, and death. Malignance, directed by Rick DesRochers, will be read on Saturday, July 15 at 8:00 PM.

Scarcity by Lucy Thurber explores the themes of family, loyalty, poverty and class in small town America. Billy and Rachel Lawrence struggle with high school, intelligence and a desperate family as they try to find a way out of where they came from while still leaving their family intact. Scarcity, directed by Brian Mertes, will be read on Sunday, July 16 at 3:00 PM.

All readings will be held at the Adrienne Theater at 2030 Sansom Street in Philadelphia. The readings are free and open to the public, but space is limited, so reservations are recommended For more information, contact Paul Meshejian, Artistic Director, Play Penn Conference  Call 215-563-3860 for reservations.