1812 Productions will close its 21st season with the Philadelphia Premiere of Michael Hollinger's Hope and Gravity. After a 20-year personal and professional friendship, Producing Artistic Director Jennifer Childs will direct Hollinger's work, his first-ever production with 1812. Hope and Gravity will play from April 26 thru May 20 at Plays and Players Theatre. Previews begin April 26. Opening Night will be Wednesday, May 2 at 7:00pm. Tickets and information are available at www.1812productions.org or at 215-592-9560.
An elevator crashes in a major city. This tragedy opens a cascade of stories from nine people whose lives intersect in ways mundane and profound. Moving back and forth in time, Hope and Gravity illuminates the corners of desire and reality-a poet who is losing his voice, a man and woman trying to have a baby, a repairman who delights in his work, a student who must reconcile his dreams with his paycheck, a woman whose peculiar tooth leads her to an affair with her dentist, a numbers-cruncher who is visited by the Virgin Mary. Hope and Gravity comes from the place where, Jennifer Childs says, "Hysterical laughter and aching truth live side by side." She continues, "I have been a fan of Michael's work since the Arden premiered his first play, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, in 1994-and one of my favorite acting experiences ever was performing in his play, Red Herring. He has the ability to combine humor and pathos in a way that is incredibly human and relatable."
To accommodate its multiple story lines, this new production of Hope and Gravity features an ingenious design incorporating nine different settings from celebrated Philadelphia designer
Jorge Cousineau. Cousineau, Production Manager Ben Levan, and Technical Director Lance Kniskern have spent three months devising the mechanics of building and revealing nine separate settings on the stage at Plays &
Players Theatre during each performance. With trick doors, fold out walls, and projections, Cousineau's multiple designs have been tailored to be operated by just three technicians with precise behind the scenes choreography, led by Stage Manager Thomas E. Shotkin. Cousineau's designs are accompanied by a sound design and original music from Michael Kiley, lighting design by Shon Causer, and costumes by Alison Roberts. "The structure of the play-how it jumps around through time-was really the inspiration for all of the elements of this design," says Mr. Cousineau. "I want all of these environments to not only serve the play, but to also be a vehicle and a companion for the audience. We move through this story, stopping at each scene-like an elevator moving from floor to floor. Each time the doors open, a new world is waiting for you on the other side."
In a season that has seen four professional productions at local theatres of his work (a landmark achievement for a Philadelphia playwright), Hollinger says of his 1812 debut, "Some of my plays, like Hope and Gravity, are designed to make you laugh a lot, but that laughter always comes with an ache-a recognition of our shared humanity, perhaps of loss as well. This is one of the reasons I felt instinctively that Hope and Gravity was a good fit for 1812 Productions, since some of Jen's own work also follows this pattern. I recall this vividly from their very first vaudeville show, 20 years ago, and witnessed it again most recently at this season's political comedy This Is The Week That Is, when, after two hours of laughing, the audience was hit with a gorgeous, spare, poignant rendition of
Paul Simon's American Tune, with its simple beauty and naked emotion. It was killer." Childs echoes this sentiment, noting the current state of American affairs. "Michael and I have been talking about producing a play of his at 1812 for years and this feels like the right play at the right time. The hope and gravity of everyday life in this cultural/political/social moment feels very tangible. We recognize these characters, if not in ourselves then in our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends. We laugh together, we cry together, we move ever forward."
Hope and Gravity will have an open-captioned performance in English on Sunday, May 6 at 2:00pm. The show will also have a bilingual performance on Wednesday, May 9 at 6:30pm with the performance in English and open-captioning in Spanish. This will be 1812 Productions' seventh Spanish-translated production and we are honored to welcome back Fernando Mendez who will work with Mr. Hollinger to translate his script. Mr. Mendez is a board member of Congreso de Latinos Unidos and host of the political program El Ritmo de La Comunidad on El Zol Philly.
Hope and Gravity will play April 26 thru May 20 at Plays &
Players Theatre,
1714 Delancey Place, in Center City, Philadelphia. Opening Night will be Wednesday, May 2 at 7:00pm. Tickets range from $28-$42 and are available at
215-592-9560 or at
www.1812productions.org.
Hope and Gravity is part of The Phoebe & Otto Premiere Series and welcomes Honorary Producers Nadine Lomakin and Michael McPhilmy. This production is supported by Honorary Sponsor Marilyn Steinbright and supported in part by The
Charlotte Cushman Foundation.
Photo Credit: John Flak
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