2010-11 Season

Silverhill

by Thomas Gibbons
directed by Seth Rozin

Cast

Chris Coucill 
Alden
Nancy Boykin 
Kate
Tim Moyer 
Erastus
Dan Hodge 
Frank
Pierce Cravens
Howard
Mary Tuomanen
Annie
Jessica DalCanton 
Tirzah

Production Team

Rosemarie McKelvey 
Costume Designer
Nick Embree 
Set Designer
Kevin Francis 
Sound Designer
Peter Whinnery 
Lighting Designer

Based on the 19th century Oneida community of upstate New York, Silverhill is a play about innocence lost – but not by an individual so much as a community, and by extension, American society as a whole. Silverhill is a self-supporting Christian community that openly and successfully practices complex marriage and the communal sharing of wealth under the spiritual leadership of its charismatic founder. But when one young member introduces the idea that Silverhill should abandon communism and become a corporation, the capitalist spirit threatens to shatter the community’s peaceful utopia.

 

Lidless

by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
directed by Seth Rozin

Cast

Kittson O'Neill 
Alice
Ed Swidey 
Lucas
Sarah Van Auken 
Rhiannon/Zakiyah
Paul Nicholas 
Bashir
Gamze Ceylan 
Riva

Production Team

Holly Cain 
Costume Designer
Hiroshi Iwasaki 
Set Designer
Rob Kaplowitz 
Sound Designer
Thom Weaver 
Lighting Designer

In the 15 years since Alice served in the U.S. Army as an interrogator at Guantanamo Bay, she has successfully reinvented herself and suppressed all memories of her prior life – mostly through the aid of pharmaceuticals. She now lives contentedly, if not passionately, in Minnesota with her loving husband and precocious teenage daughter. That is, until Bashir, a Pakistani Muslim, shows up at Alice’s flower shop and asks for part of her liver as compensation for the suffering he endured as one of her detainees. The request sets into motion a series of visceral and spiritual encounters among six characters whose lives will be forever connected and defined by a single act of inhumanity.

 

Love Lessons from Abu Ghraib

Written and performed
by Jennifer Schelter
directed by Anne Zumbo

In 2006, renowned Philadelphia Yoga teacher and performer Jennifer Schelter was invited to travel to Turkey where she witnessed interviews of Iraqi prisoners of war at Abu Ghraib prison. Inspired by the improbable beauty of their stories, Schelter used her unique artistic language, expertise in Yoga and spiritual growth to craft Love Lessons, a one-woman performance examining the repercussions of torture and the different ways we attempt to heal ourselves.

 

Two Jews Walk Into A War...

by Seth Rozin
directed by
James Glossman

Cast

John Pietrowski 
Zeblyan
Tom Teti 
Ishaq

Production Team

Susan Smythe 
Costume Designer
Drew Francis 
Set Designer
Jeff Knapp 
Sound Designer
Peter Escalada-Mastick 
Lighting Designer

From the author of Black Gold comes this poignant comedy that New York Times  called “irreverent”,  “amusing”, and “sweet-natured”. Inspired by real-life events, Two Jews Walk Into A War... follows Ishaq and Zeblyan, the last two Jews from Afghanistan. They share the only remaining synagogue that has not been destroyed by the Taliban. They share a desire to continue practicing their religion and to repopulate the Jewish community in Kabul. But they hate each other. Can one incredible act of faith keep the diaspora alive and keep this Middle Eastern “odd couple” from killing each other? 

 

In A Daughter's Eyes

by A. Zell Williams
directed by Rebecca Wright

Cast

Lynette Freeman 
Rehema
Krista Apple 
Kathryn

Production Team

Maria Shaplin 
Costume Designer
Caitlin Lainoff 
Set Designer
Shannon Zura 
Sound Designer
Maria Shaplin 
Lighting Designer

An intense, timely new drama inspired by the true story of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an activist and journalist convicted in the death of a Philadelphia police officer. Set in Oakland, CA, at the turn of the millennium, the play follows two women – one, the daughter of an incarcerated Black Panther, and the other, the daughter of the white police officer he allegedly killed. Though these two strong-minded women are initially brought together in search of truth, their views on culture, class and race push them into an uneasy world of violence and mistrust. Locked in the battle that has defined their families’ legacies, these quintessentially American daughters must fight to find a balance between justice and forgiveness.