1812 Productions is pleased to present the world premiere production To The Moon, a modern comedy inspired by the life and work of legendary performer Jackie Gleason. Taking its cue from the great domestic comedy of The Honeymooners, and the sharp writing and physical comedy of The Jackie Gleason Show, To The Moon features an original script by Jennifer Childs, choreography by Tony Award winner Bill Irwin, and an integrated production design-sound, scenic, lighting, video-by Jorge Cousineau.
In To The Moon, celebrated Philadelphia actor, and Barrymore Award winner,
Scott Greer plays brash, put-upon, and underemployed actor Scottie, whose fantasy life frequently invades his real one. Working as a standardized patient, rehearsing different illnesses for medical students rehearsing to be doctors, Scottie dreams of becoming the captain of his own destiny like his idol,
Jackie Gleason. After discovering an unproduced script from The
Jackie Gleason Show, Scottie sets his sights on fame and excess, knowing that if one wants to be the best, one has to act the part. In Scottie's words, "Gleason? Nobody told him what to do. He wanted to eat, he ate. He wanted to drink, he drank. He wanted to smoke, he smoked. He wanted to have his own show, he had his own show." Barrymore Award nominee
Anthony Lawton plays Scottie's neighbor and best pal, Lawton. Ever an optimist, and slightly aloof, Lawton is also an actor working a less-than-ideal circuit of historical reenactments, children's parties, and hot dog commercials. Down but not out, Lawton is a perfect sidekick for Scottie's schemes.
Scott Greer and
Anthony Lawton are joined by Tracie Higgins and Sean Roach, making their 1812 Productions debuts. Higgins plays Tracie, Scottie's wife and a perfume counter clerk at the local department store. Roach is To The Moon's one-man ensemble, a roving comedic player taking on a dozen parts. At the heart of To The Moon, we find a man facing down his dreams; hilariously, irreverently, and recklessly demolishing the line between reality and fiction.
1812 Productions has a 15 year history of creating original comedies in classic styles, inspired by different eras of comedic history. The creation of To The Moon began in May of 2010 when patron Greg Marx contacted the show's playwright, and 1812 Productions'
Producing Artistic Director, Jennifer Childs after attending a performance of 1812's production of
Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor. Greg Marx is the son of
Marvin Marx, award-winning comedy writer for
Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, The Honeymooners, and The
Jackie Gleason Show, among others. After his father's passing in 1975, Greg inherited a basement full of original scripts, notes, research, and joke files-some of which never made the airwaves-and he invited Ms. Childs to his home in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania to view this treasure trove of comedy history.
Using this material as a launching pad, Ms. Childs began creating her story, and assembling the creative team that would bring To The Moon to life. Going beyond these classic scripts, To The Moon looks at the reality of
Jackie Gleason's life as both a person and a persona, one inseparable from the other. He was a teenage pool hustler and he was The Great One, he was a high school drop-out and he was a television power broker, he was the beleaguered Poor Soul and he was the eccentric Reginald Van Gleason III.
Ms. Childs enlisted renowned playwright
Jeffrey Hatcher as her playwriting mentor. Mr. Hatcher's works include Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Tuesdays with Morrie (with
Mitch Albom), A Picasso, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (
Edgar Allen Poe Award nominee for Best Play), among many others. A perfect sounding board for Ms. Childs throughout this creative process, Mr. Hatcher is best known for his stage adaptations of classic works, as well as original works in vintage styles.
Tony Award winner
Bill Irwin joined the creative process as movement consultant and choreographer early in 2014. An acclaimed actor and physical performer, Mr. Irwin has led multiple workshops with the To The Moon cast, not only creating the show's dance routines, but also working with the cast on the different styles of physical comedy that were a hallmark of The
Jackie Gleason Show.
F. Otto Haas Award winner Matt Pfeiffer takes the director's chair, fresh from his lauded production of
Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale at Theatre Exile, another collaboration with To The Moon star
Scott Greer. Mr. Pfeiffer is joined by
Lucille Lortel award winning production designer
Jorge Cousineau who will create an integrated landscape of set, lights, video, and sound that moves with Scottie's imagination-from the domestic comedy of everyday life to the lunar setting of his wildest dreams. And Barrymore Award winner, and 1812 Productions veteran, Alex Bechtel brings his musical prowess to the production with original compositions that accompany Scottie through his lives, both real and imagined.
Having created more than a dozen premiere works at 1812 Productions, the show's playwright Jennifer Childs is on heightened creative ground with To The Moon as she has written a script inspired by one of television's most iconic personalities, without using material from any of the extant Gleason scripts. This homage to The Great One, and to the style of his era, is an everyman comedy about the power, and peril, of looking up and laying out your dreams for the world to see. Ms. Childs says of this process, "Most times when I start a new piece I know what I want to write about then I have to go and do the research. This time, someone came to me with all sorts of research, and a big part of the past few years has been figuring out what, why, and if I wanted to write about it. If it was going to be a bio of Gleason or a recreation of his show, well that should be on television, shouldn't it? What did I have to say and why did it have to be theater? Investigating the heart of Gleason and his characters-and why they still resonate with us-took me to some unexpected places. That helped me find my way to this story which I believe is a universal one whether you are a Gleason fan or not."
To The Moon plays from April 16-May 17 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, in Old City, Philadelphia. Opening Night will be Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00pm. Tickets range from $26-$40 and are available at
www.1812productions.org or at 215-592-9560.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works. Production support for To The Moon has been provided by The Arcadia Foundation and Peco Energy. To The Moon is part of The Phoebe and Otto Premiere Series sponsored by Wyncote Foundation. To The Moon has been supported in part by
Charlotte Cushman Foundation. To The Moon was created in part through support from Independence Foundation's New Theatre Works Initiative which encourages the development and production of new theatrical work in the Philadelphia area. To The Moon is pleased to welcome its Honorary Producers, and long time 1812 Productions supporters, Sharon and
Jeff Weiss.
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