People's Light & Theatre Company Presents SNOW WHITE: A MUSICAL PANTO, 11/18 - 1/3

People's Light & Theatre Company presents SNOW WHITE, by Kathryn Petersen, with music and lyrics written by Michael Ogborn, from November 18, 2009 to January 3, 2010 on the Main Stage. Pete Pryor directs. SNOW WHITE is one of three shows in the Target Family Discovery Series and is sponsored by ING.

This is People's Light's sixth "Panto" style show, a traditional form borrowed from England, where almost every town has a Panto during the holiday season. Pantos are part "fractured fairy tale" and part variety show.

SNOW WHITE incorporates traditional Panto elements, including audience participation (in the form of cheering the heroes and booing the villains), candy tossed out to audience members, and "silly songs" shared in an audience sing-along.

"With our holiday Panto," notes Artistic Director AbiGail Adams, "We've developed a tradition that both we and our audiences love. All ages get a kick out of it. Just like the best plays for all ages, there is something for everybody."

Last season, People's Light's Panto, CINDERELLA, won four Barrymore Awards including Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical, Outstanding Musical Ensemble, Outstanding Original Music for Michael Ogborn and Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Peter Pryor.

CINDERELLA's creative team returns to mount this year's SNOW WHITE - Kathryn Petersen writes the script, Michael Ogborn provides nine new original songs and Pete Pryor directs. Plus some cast regulars return in key roles, most notably Mark Lazar as the "Dame," Hatta Whopper.

SNOW WHITE previews on Wednesday, November 18th and Thursday, November 19th at 7pm. The show opens on Saturday, November 21st at 7pm and runs through January 3rd. Tickets are now on sale and start at $29, with special discounts available for students, seniors, and groups of 10 or more. Audiences are encouraged to join the artists after each Thursday night performance to discuss the production.

Subscription tickets are also available. In addition to SNOW WHITE, shows in the series include King Lear (March 3 - March 28, 2010), Stretch: A Fantasia (March 31 - April 25, 2010), and The Secret of Sherlock Holmes (July 7 - August 8, 2010).

Subscriptions to the TARGET Family Discovery Series are still available. The three-show subscription includes: SNOW WHITE, Gossamer (April 29 - May 23, 2010); and The Emperor's New Clothes (June 16 - July 11, 2010). For information, tickets, and subscriptions, please call the box office at 610-644-3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org.

Kathryn Petersen (Playwright) is a member of the Dramatist's Guild and has had ten plays produced professionally and two plays published with the Dramatic Publishing Company. Her play Arthur's Stone, Merlin's Fire has been produced in high schools and community theaters around the country. Last year's Panto, Cinderella, was nominated for thirteen Barrymore awards and won four. As an actress, she is a member of the Actor's Equity Association and has appeared in over sixty productions regionally. She has been awarded the Emerging Artist Award from The Princess Grace Foundation and has been nominated for Philadelphia's Best Actress Barrymore for the role of Jill in Jack & Jill. Recent roles have been Daya in Nathan the Wise at People's Light and Barbara in Iron Kisses at Act II Playhouse. She is an Artistic Associate at People's Light and has been a member of the resident company for over twenty years. Kathryn is an Assistant Professor of Theater at Arcadia University and is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at Temple University.

Michael Ogborn (Composer) is returning for his 3rd Panto. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA and currently makes his home in New York City. A graduate of DeSales University, he made his Off-Broadway debut in 1993 with the critically-acclaimed musical revue Box Office of the Damned, featuring then "newcomer" Kristen Chenoweth. His work has been produced at the Arden Theatre Company (Baby Case - winner of four Barrymore Awards including Outstanding Music and Best Musical of the Year - and Café Puttanesca), The Wilma Theater, and 1812 Productions in Philadelphia; The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; the City Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA; the Horizon Theater in Atlanta, GA; the Diversionary Theater in San Diego, CA; Theater LaB in Houston, TX; and Radio City Music Hall in New York, NY. As a "Piano Man" he received Philadelphia Magazine's 1992 Best of Philly Award for a Cabaret Performer, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award in 1993 for the PBS music video Soldiers in the Sky, and in 2003 the Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement given by BMI Musical Theater Workshop. He is currently at work with playwright Michael Hollinger on the musical Tulipomania, commissioned by the Arden Theatre Company. Other projects in the works include A Tour of the Ruins and Dot Comet. Mr. Ogborn is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, and the owner of Leydensong Music Co. Other produced works include Fishwives (‘81), Earbeds (‘83), The Vagabond Age (‘84), Oh, Antigone! (‘86), Pinocchio: A Real Boy (‘87), C'est la Guerre! (‘89), Ozone-a-thon (‘96), Regalia (‘97), Jungle Book (‘00), Mary, Don't Ask ! (‘03), The USED Faces of 2004, Treasure Island (‘07), and Cinderella (‘08). Visit www.michaelogborn.com.

Pete Pryor (Director) is returning to PLTC after directing last year's Barrymore Award-winning Cinderella. Pete is the Co-Founder of 1812 Productions and the Artist-in-Residence at the Pathway School.

Lois Sach Binder (Regina Valo) is making her PLTC debut. Lois recently finished a successful run of Respect at Act II Playhouse and will be reprising her role again this winter at the Society Hill Playhouse. Critically acclaimed as Iowa Housewife in Menopause the Musical, favorites include Mayor Matilda in All Shook Up (Media), Ernestina in Hello Dolly! (Walnut Street), Louise in Always...Patsy Cline (Sellersville), LuLu in Larry Gatlin's Texas Flyer (TUTS), and Alma Hix in Music Man-director Terrence Mann (North Carolina). Holding a BA (Swarthmore) and MA (NYU), Lois appears in film, TV, voice-overs and cabaret.

Rachel Brennan (Frannie, The Production Assistant) is making her People's Light debut. She is a graduate of The catholic University of America (cum laude), where she studied Musical Theatre. She recently originated the role of Cindy in the World Premiere of Marlee Matlin and Doug Cooney's Nobody's Perfect at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Recent credits include: Lana Sherwood in It's A Wonderful Life! A Live Radio Play (Prince Music Theatre), Charlie's Mother in Willy Wonka (The Kennedy Center), Princess Georgiana in Princess and the Pea and The Farmer's Wife/Princess in Puss n' Boots (Storybook Music Theatre). This winter Rachel can be seen in The Kennedy Center's first national tour of Nobody's Perfect.

Marla Burkholder (Ernestina Fefengelig) splits her time between acting, teaching, and dialect coaching in the Philadelphia theater community. She holds an MFA in acting from Temple University and teaches acting and speech for 1812 Productions, People's Light & Theatre, and Temple Theaters among others. She is the co-artistic director of Shakespeare in Clark Park, an outdoor theater venture in West Philadelphia. Marla was last on stage at People's Light in Robin Hood and The Giver.

Jeff Coon (Vladimir Von Upchuck) is returning for his second Panto. He last appeared as Prince Aiden of Sargasso in Cinderella last year. He has performed locally at Walnut Street Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Prince Music Theater, The Fulton Theatre in Lancaster and many others. Favorite roles include: Che (Evita), Billy Bigelow (Carousel), Harold Hill (The Music Man) and Franklin Shepard (Merrily We Roll Along). Later this season he'll be seen as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park with George at the Arden.

Ben Dibble (Jones, The Screen Writer) is a nine-time Barrymore Award nominee and has appeared locally at the Arden, the Wilma, the Walnut, 1812 Productions, the Lantern, Act II Playhouse, the Kimmel Center, Delaware Theatre Company, and Lenape Regional P.A.C. Ben was the recipient of the 2006 F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Barrymore Award. Favorite roles include Freddy in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Leo Bloom in The Producers, Hauptman in Baby Case, and the title roles in Candide and Bat Boy: The Musical. Ben will be returning to the Walnut in Fiddler on the Roof this spring.

Sarah Doherty (Flora, The Housekeeper) has worked with Pig Iron Theatre Co., Arden Theatre Co., Act II Playhouse, Theater Catalyst, Walnut St. Theatre, Theatre Exile and Brat Productions. Sarah was named "Best Actress in a Musical" by Philadelphia Weekly in 2006 (for Brat Productions' Grease and Desist). She also won a Barrymore Award that year (Pig Iron's Mission to Mercury) and was nominated in 2003 (Arden's Boxcar Children) and 2005 (Grease and Desist). She graduated from the Temple MFA Acting program this past Spring.

Chris Faith (Miles, The Butler) has performed Off-Broadway in The Secret Garden and Like It Is at the York Theatre. He has played opposite Linda Eder in The Seduction of Sheila Valentine at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center. Locally he has appeared at the Wilma Theater, the Arden Theatre Company, 1812 Productions, Mum Puppettheatre, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Act II Playhouse and the Bristol Riverside Theatre. Chris is a multiple Barrymore Award nominee, including for Best Actor in a Play. He co-hosted the 2006/07 Barrymore Awards ceremony alongside Greg Wood. Chris holds an MFA in Acting from Brandeis University, and he and his wife, Reina, own and operate Dance Arts Collaborative, a children's performing arts school.

Andrew Kane (Bubba, The Body Guard) is returning to People's Light after playing Tom Cat in last year's Cinderella. A 2007 graduate of DeSales University, other area credits include The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, The Lantern, Theatre Horizon, and The Arden. He has receivEd Barrymore nominations for Ensemble in a Play (Go, Dog. Go! at the Arden,) Ensemble in a Musical, and Supporting Actor in a Musical (both for Cinderella at People's Light).

Dustin Karrat (George, The Gardener) graduated from Arcadia University this May with a BA in Theatre Arts. Since then, he has performed at Hedgerow Theatre in The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 (Ken de la Maize) and in The Ibsen Project: A Lonely Light (Sigurd Ibsen) in this year's Fringe Festival.

Mark Lazar (Hatta Whopper) is a company member celebrating his twelfth year with PLTC. And in addition to spending the last five holiday seasons in a dress as The Dame in the annual People's Light Panto, he includes Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily, Twelfth Night, The Foreigner, The Crucible, The Miser, Arthur's Stone, Merlin's Fire, Born Yesterday, The Little Foxes, Camping with Henry and Tom, and Hearts among some of his recent favorites here. He is an eleven-season veteran of The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, residing there throughout the 1990s as a Resident Company Member, while spending many off-seasons at The Charlotte Repertory Theatre. Earlier, as a founding member and ten-year veteran of The Acting Company at The Madison Rep, Mr. Lazar performed regularly with nearly all of Wisconsin's professional theatres. Up next: the People's Light production of King Lear. And once again this holiday season, Mark is the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge for First State Children's Theatre's live Public Radio Broadcast (and re-broadcasts) of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Susan McKey (Rhonda, The Ladies' Maid) has appeared in all five previous holiday Pantos. She has been a company member at People's Light since 1988 and last season was seen as Sylvia Stein in End Days and Poisianna in Cinderella. Last spring she also worked with Edward Albee and played Ann in the Philadelphia premiere of Albee's At Home at the Zoo at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. People's Light is her artistic home, and other favorite roles here include Lillie Langtry in Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Jersey Lily, Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth, and Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible She will perform in King Lear later this season. Susan is a Barrymore Award winner and part of the "Freedom Rising" company at the National Constitution Center.

Christopher Patrick Mullen (Pierre, The Personal Chef) is a DeSales graduate, a People's Light artist since 1989, and this is his 5th Panto. Other PLTC credits include: Getting Near to Baby, Splittin' the Raft, Twelfth Night, and The Crucible. Other recent credits include: When You Comin' Back Red Ryder (Retro Productions); Candide, Assassins, and The Stinky Cheese Man (Arden Theatre Company); King Lear, Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and As You Like It (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Around the World in 80 Days (Syracuse Stage); Hamlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre); and The Pavilion (Chester Theatre Company). Television credits include appearances on Law & Order. Chris is a member of Quinnopolis NY.

Luigi Sottile (Smith, Radio Announcer & Foley Artist) will appear this year at People's Light in King Lear and also in the Wilma Theatre's production of Leaving. Previous roles include Templar in Nathan the Wise here at People's Light, Father Welsh in The Lonesome West, Horace/Chrysalde in The School for Wives, Cassio in Othello, Lush in The Hothouse, Khlestakov in The Government Inspector (all at the Lantern Theatre), Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in Clark Park), and Handsome in Whiskey Neat (Azuka Theatre).

Tom Teti (LB Mogul) appeared recently at People's Light in Cinderella, Treasure Island, and A Tale of Two Cities. This summer he appeared in Philadelphia's PlayPenn Festival. He is producer and director of the Reading Writer's event for the Center for Literacy. He teaches acting at Hedgerow Theatre

 

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