Park Square Theatre Presents THE LAST SEDER 9/17

Park Square Theatre opens its 35th Anniversary Season with the regional premiere of Jennifer Maisel's THE LAST SEDER with Peter Moore directing a stellar cast of rising stars and luminous pros. Like last season's wildly popular Becky's New Car, which Moore also directed, The Last Seder is a new play with an ironic and sometimes outrageous take on modern romance. "This show is so funny and touching, with great roles for actors," says Moore. "It's ben an enlightened and enlightening take on how we connect -- and fail to connect -- as family these days. Like Becky's New Car, I think this is a show for our times. And it's very smart writing. Audiences should come away feeling 'that's my family up there,' even though most of us aren't related to people quite this dramatic or hilarious."

Winner of the 2002 Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays award and the Charlotte Woolard Award for New Voice in American Theatre, The Last Seder is a play about passing family traditions on to the next generation, learning in the process that love comes along at every age in the most unexpected ways. The production, full of saucy wit and passionate emotions, opens at Park Square Theatre, 20 W. Seventh Pl., Saint Paul, on September 17 (previews begin September 10) and runs through October 3.

Faced with their father's (Gabe Angieri) worsening Alzheimer's, the four grown Price daughters (Maggie Chestovich, Ali Dachis, Shannon Jankowski and Mo Perry) return for the final Passover in their childhood home. Marvin has become too much for their mother, Lily (Karen Landry), to handle and will soon be moved to a nursing home, the family house sold. Each daughter brings how own life issues to the occasion: the fiancée wondering if her wedding will actually happen; the aimless wanderer and her on-again/off-again relationship with the boy next door; the pregnant lesbian; and the girl's who's so tired of arriving at dinner solo, she decides to pick up a guy at Penn Station. When the last Seder arrives, however, the family finds that the magic of the ritual Jewish feast opens the door to a new chapter in their life as a family.

Also appearing on stage are Virginia Burke (Jane), John Egan (Ken), Allen Hamilton (Harold Freeman), André Samples (Luke) and E.J. Subkoviak (Jon). The Last Seder artistic team includes Amy B. Kaufman (costumes), Mike Kittel (lighting) and Michael Hoover (scenic).

Previews of The Last Seder will be held Friday, September 10 through Thursday, September 16; the show opens Friday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Sundays through Sunday, October 3. All performances are in the company's intimate theater in Saint Paul's historic Hamm Building, 20 W. Seventh Pl. Tickets are $36-56 on Wednesdays through Sundays (with opening night at $40-60). Group, senior and special prices for those 30 and under are also offered. Tickets are available at 651-291-7005 or online at www.parksquaretheatre.org

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