Fells Point Corner Theatre Presents DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE

Fells Point Corner Theatre (FPCT) continues its 35th season with a production of Dead Man's Cell Phone, Feb. 17- March 12, 8pm.

In this mysterious and thought-provoking romance, good intentions collide with danger when a naïve woman answers the cell phone of the deceased stranger next to her in a café. Called by Christopher Isherwood of the New York Times "a beguiling comedy [and] a hallucinatory poetic fantasy that blends the mundane and metaphysical, the blunt and the obscure, the patently bizarre and the bizarrely moving," the play premiered at Wooly Mammoth Theatre in 2007 and then moved to off-Broadway.

Playwright Sarah Ruhl is the author of The Clean House, Passion Play, Eurydice, Melancholy Play, Orlando, Demeter in the City, and Late: a cowboy song. Ruhl is a MacArthur Fellow, and two of her plays were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Her most recent, Becky Nurse of Salem, is playing at The Newhouse Theater on Broadway now. Ruhl serves on the faculty of The Yale School of Drama and also pens hilarious short essays. Her writing voice is described as tipping into magic realism or her own form of nonlinear realism, an alternate universe that is fascinated with technology. "Cell phones, iPads, wireless computers will change people in ways we don't even understand," Ruhl stated. "We're less connected to the present."

The FPCT production is directed by Kimberley Lynne who last directed 'Shrooms, the best play of the FPCT 10x10 Festival in spring 2022. Lynne is a local playwright, producer and teacher. "As a writer, I am so impressed by Ruhl's seamless mix of metaphysics, love and body parts," says Lynne. "Her characters are fully fleshed humans that swing between goofiness and philosophy with ease as they navigate Durangian plot twists. Whether we are in dream or purgatory or the other side, this story has moments for all audience to contemplate and cherish."

The talented cast includes some of Baltimore's best actors, including Marianne Angelella, Penelope Chan, J. Purnell Hargrove, Laura Malkus, Morgan Stanton, and Kay-Megan Washington. Designers of this other side odyssey include: Brad Norris for scenic; Todd Mion for sound; Karen Saar for costumes; and Joan Weber for dramaturgy.

A talk back with the dramaturg and the director will be scheduled on Sunday post matinee on March 5th.

Tickets are $24. For tickets and additional information about these performances, please visit www.fpct.org or call (410) 878-0228. Flex passes and group discounts are available. FPCT offers a Pay What You Can Night on Feb. 16th and a talkback March 5th after the show.

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