Quintessence Theatre To Present World Premiere Adaptation of GIOVANNI'S ROOM And More

Since 2010, Quintessence Theatre has produced classic works for the Contemporary Stage at the historic Sedgwick Theater in Northwest Philadelphia. Quintessence has now announced a spectacular 5-show XV Anniversary Season featuring a Philadelphia Premiere, a holiday musical, two Shakespeare classics in repertory and a World Premiere produced exclusively for Philadelphia. 

The season opens with the Philadelphia Premiere of Martin Crimp's Cyrano de Bergerac (September 25-October 20) - a rapid-fire, poetry slamming, wild, and celebratory adaptation of the French classic. The holiday season will light up with Kiss Me Kate - the family-friendly classic Cole Porter love letter to theatre and the first musical ever to take home the Tony Award for Best Musical (November 27-January 5, 2025). As the only theatre company in Philadelphia producing the works of William Shakespeare in repertory, Quintessence is producing an aptly named “Reckless Romance” rep from February 27 through April 26, 2025 with A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Antony and Cleopatra. To cap the XV Anniversary Season, Quintessence is producing the World Premiere of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room; the groundbreaking 1956 novel is being adapted for the stage by Benjamin Sprunger and Paul Oakley Stovall (May 28-June 22, 2025). Quintessence is honored to have been granted exclusive permission from the James Baldwin Estate to produce this play for Philadelphia. 

Five, 4 and 3-show subscription packages are on sale now starting at $75, with the introduction of a new Premium Seating Package, tiered discounts offering up to 25% off single ticket prices, and expanded subscriber benefits. Single tickets go on sale to the general public August 12. Early bird discounts are in effect through August 12th. Subscriptions, show descriptions and pricing are available online at QTGrep.org, by calling the Box Office at 215-987-4450, email at BoxOffice@QTGrep.org, or in-person at the Box Office Mon-Fri, 10am - 5PM, at the Sedgwick Theater, located at 7137 Germantown Ave., Phila., PA 19119.  

“Passion is defined as a ‘strong and barely controllable emotion.' It is with great passion that Quintessence brings the classics to Philadelphia, and we have selected five classics that explore the destabilizing and transcendent force of human passion,” said Artistic Director Alex Burns. “In a moment of profound global uncertainty, we invite our community to revisit these cherished tales by Rostand, Shakespeare, James Baldwin; laughing, crying, cheering, and reflecting upon the genius, fallibility and absurdity of humankind. Quintessence was unable to celebrate its 10th season anniversary due to COVID. It is with great excitement we prepare to bring the house down at the historic Sedgwick Theater with our 15th Anniversary Season of epic classic theatre.”

Subscription Packages

Quintessence offers enhanced subscription packages this season with tiered discounts that include: a Premium Seat Five Show Package, a Preview Subscription, an Opening Night Subscription, a Build-Your-Own Subscription, and a 10-Trip Ticket Package. Preview Subscriptions start at $75. The 5-show Premium Seat Five Show Package is $244 with guaranteed Premium seats for each production selected by Producing Artistic Director, Alex Burns, and is available in limited quantity. A Preview Subscription is available for five, four, or three shows. It starts at $75.  Subscribers also have access to a limited number of Opening Night Subscriptions. Subscribers can join Quintessence for Opening Night and enjoy a post-performance celebration with the cast and creative team.  Opening Night Packages start at $165. A flexible 10-Trip Ticket package provides each subscriber 10 tickets they can redeem however they please during the 2024-2025 season with the exception of Opening Nights. Subscribers can use up to two tickets for each musical. Terms and low ticket fees apply, and for Early Birds, subscription fees are waived until August 12th.

XV Anniversary Season

Philadelphia Premiere
Cyrano de Bergerac

By Edmond Rostand
Freely Adapted by Martin Crimp
Directed by Alex Burns
September 25 - October 20
Opening Night: Saturday, October 5, 7:30 pm

The beloved pioneer of panaché, Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, is a celebration of the power of language, in the Philadelphia premiere of a new wickedly witty adaptation by in-yer-face theatre's Martin Crimp (The Misanthrope, 2013). Cyrano secretly loves the radiant and well-read Roxane. Roxane loves the beautiful bodied but dim-witted Christian. Cyrano is a masterful swordsman and a genius with words, but his long nose makes him embittered and fearful to profess his love. So instead of fighting, Cyrano offers Christian the use of his poetry in order to win Roxane's affection with more than just looks, and a powerful and often hilarious love triangle is set in motion. As France goes to war, each character is torn between duty, the lure of physical attraction and the seductive power of words.

Kiss Me Kate

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Sam and Bella Spewack
Directed by Todd Underwood
November 27 - January 5, 2025
Opening Night: Friday, December 6, 7:30 pm

Audiences will fall so in love with Cole Porter's timeless love letter to the theatre – in all its wunderbar greasepaint and glory -  and celebrate the holidays with the first musical to win the Tony Award for Best Musical.  It's “too darn hot” when two divorced celebrities star opposite each other in an out-of-town tryout for a new Broadway musical adaptation of Shakespeare's ‘Taming of the Shrew.' For Fred and Lilli, it's not just another opening of another show. Their careers depend on the production's success, and to up the ante a pair of betting gangsters brush up their Shakespeare to try and get in on the action. 

The Reckless Romance Repertory
A Midsummer Night's Dream

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Alex Burns
February 27 - April 26, 2025
Opening Night: Saturday, March 15, 7:30 pm

Four Athenian youths reject their parents' efforts to interfere in their romantic lives, and choose to run away instead of facing the love-limiting laws of the land. Lost in the surrounding wilderness, the lovers stumble upon a fairy kingdom in conflict; a spat between the fairy king and queen so great it threatens to alter the earth's orbit and suspend its seasons. A group of laborers, secretly rehearsing their play for a royal competition, also wander unwittingly into the middle of the fairy battle. Mayhem ensues, and Shakespeare confirms we can all prove an ass when in love.

Antony and Cleopatra

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Alex Burns
February 25 - April 25, 2025
Opening Night: Saturday, March 22, 7:30 pm

Julius Caesar is assassinated, the rebellion foiled, and the Roman Empire is now ruled equally by three men, of which Mark Antony is the most powerful. Stationed in the east, Mark Antony summons Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt to demand submission, but instead, Antony is subdued by Cleopatra's beauty, wit and charm. Heart tied to Cleopatra, Antony neglects wife and empire, the man of war surrendering to a life of decadence, seduction and the pleasures of Egypt. Torn between desire and duty, will the eternity in their eyes and in their lips create a new global power, or will Antony and Cleopatra's passions lead to the fall of the empire?

World Premiere
James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room

From the novel by James Baldwin
Adapted for the stage by Benjamin Sprunger and Paul Oakley Stovall

Directed by Paul Oakley Stovall
May 28-June 22
Opening Night: Saturday, June 7 at 7:30 pm

The James Baldwin Estate has granted Quintessence Theatre exclusive permission to produce this World Premiere adaptation of “Giovanni's Room” by Benjamin Sprunger and Paul Oakley Stovall. In the groundbreaking 1956 novel, a beautiful young American travels to Paris with his girlfriend to deliberate their future marriage. In the city of light David discovers Paris' vibrant queer community and falls in love with Giovanni, an Italian bartender at a local gay bar. Unsettled by the discovery of an effeminate nature in himself and the men around him, and scared by the newfound force of his desire and passion, David is unable to imagine a future public life with Giovanni, and disappears into his past self, setting off a series of fatal tragic accidents. Adaptor/playwright Paul Oakley Stovall's ‘Written by Phillis' premiered at Quintessence two seasons ago.

About Quintessence Theatre 

Founded in 2010, the award-winning Quintessence Theatre is dedicated to bringing epic works of classic drama and literature to the Contemporary Stage. 

As Philadelphia's text-based, actor-focused repertory theatre, Quintessence re-envisions the classics to inspire our community to consider what is essential in theatre and in human nature. 

Quintessence has just concluded its 14th season at the Sedgwick Theater in Philadelphia's Northwest neighborhood of Mt. Airy, and is led by Producing Artistic Director, Alex Burns and Executive Director, Erica Ezold.  

Public and street parking is available throughout the Mt.Airy neighborhood. 

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