Orbiter 3 Announces Final Production, A PEOPLE

After producing six world premiere plays by Philadelphia playwrights, Orbiter 3 is presenting their seventh and final production this May: A People by L M Feldman. In just three years Orbiter 3 has brought new work by local playwrights to the stage (six of the seven plays directed by women) and leaves a legacy of creating sustainable and radical theatre.

Orbiter 3's final show A People is a multigenerational landscape and kaleidoscopic journey across Jewish history and culture. With 88 characters played by eight actors, A People grapples with questions about what we inherit, who we are tied to, and what to do with those ties. A People asks: What is my relationship to those who came before me? And are we - is anyone - still a people?

Feldman says she wrote the play in an effort to explore "how, as a contemporary, 30-something, feminist, queer, gender non-conforming woman, I can relate to a history, culture, and lineage that bears little resemblance to me. I wanted to ask big, tender questions and to wrestle with those questions over the course of a play - as honestly and lovingly as I can - in order to discover kinship or resonance or understanding."

The play is immersive, inclusive, and designed to be, not only a play, but also a transcendent, memorable, participatory, communal event; it holds the audience in its embrace, breaks bread with us, passes wine, makes us feel - even for 90 minutes - that we're all profoundly and inextricably connected.

A People will feature Aaron Bell, Richard Chan, Mal Cherifi, Eliana Fabiyi, Anita Holland, Jaime Maseda, Bianca Sanchez and Leah Walton. With direction by Rebecca Wright, her third time helming a production with Orbiter 3, the play also features lighting by Mike Inwood, sound by Lucas Fendlay and Daniel Perelstein, costumes by Katherine Fritz and props & space design by Doug Greene.

Founded in 2015, Orbiter 3 is Philadelphia's first playwrights producing collective and is dedicated to making inclusive, accessible theatre that accepts risk, values local artists, and chases the playwright's vision. They have been nominated for 12 Barrymore awards and received the Virginia Brown Martin Award in 2017.

Following this production, with all seven Orbiter 3 shows completed, the collective will release their plays and documentation of their development as a resource for theatermakers, and dissolve as an organization.

Members of Orbiter 3 include Emily Acker, L M Feldman, Emma Goidel, Sam Henderson, James Ijames, Mary Tuomanen and Douglas Williams. The collective is led by Artistic Director Maura Krause, Associate Producer Erin Washburn and Company Manager Cat Ramirez.

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