Philadelphia Artists Collective (PAC) Presents Philadelphia Premiere Of CHILDREN OF THE SUN

The Philadelphia Artists Collective (PAC) is preparing for the Philadelphia premiere of Maxim Gorky's Children of the Sun. Adapted by Andrew Upton and directed by Megan Bellwoar, Gorky's darkly comedic tale plays a limited engagement, May 2-19, at The Bluver Theatre at The Drake.

Pavel Protasov's scientific experiments leave him oblivious to his surroundings - namely his wife Yelena's needs and the widow Melania's adoration. Liza's physical frailty and emotional sensitivity prevent her from embracing the love of Boris, the local veterinarian. Yelena's sense of neglect in her marriage leaves her open to attention from the artist Dimitri. Set on the cusp of a cholera epidemic, Children of the Sun tale explores a family struggling with a tangled present and conflicting ideas of the future.

"I think Gorky asks big questions of us through this play," noted Director Megan Bellwoar. "How do we address our own myopia? What does it mean to do the hard work of engagement with the challenges of our time - especially if we've created or participated in them? And when those challenges arrive at our doorstep, do we lock the doors and go back to our microscopes? Or open up the gate to invite them into the house for the conversation that needs to be had - and the collective work that needs to be done?"

Gorky wrote Children of the Sun in February of 1905 while he was briefly imprisoned in St. Petersburg during the 1905 Russian Revolution. The play is set during a 1865 cholera outbreak, but it was abundantly clear to readers to be a reflection of current events, featuring furious workers and peasants rising up violently against the privileged and self- important upper class. The play was so controversial, in fact, that it was banned as soon as it was published.

The play was first produced in October of 1905 at the Moscow Art Theatre, which was founded by Constantin Stanislavky. At the premiere of the play, Stanislavky actually staged the actors playing the angry mob to stream in from all sides of the audience and storm the stage. The political climate at the time was so tense that when the actor playing the lead was "killed" on stage, the audience panicked, believing he had actually been murdered. They leapt to their feet, screaming and began pulling out pistols, prompting the actor himself to quickly spring back to life and walk to the edge of the stage to reassure the audience that he was fine.

The Philadelphia debut features Newton Buchanan as "Pavel," Jessica DalCanton as "Yelena," Cassandra Alexander as "Liza," Damon Bonetti as "Boris," Madeleine Claire Garcia as "Melaniya," Eli Lynn as "Dimitri," Bob Weick as "Yegor," Peggy Smith as "Nanny/Avdotya," Eric Mills as "Nazar/Yakov," Frank Jimenez as "Roman/Misha," and Kelsey Hébert as "Feema/Loosha."

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