Philadelphia Theatre Company Announces 18-19 Season; First Produced Season Under Paige Price And Emily Zeck

Philadelphia Theatre Company enters an historic new chapter with the announcement of its first produced season under Producing Artistic Director Paige Price and Managing Director Emily Zeck. Today, the leadership duo unveiled the line-up for 2018-2019 that includes Pulitzer Prize-winner Sweat by Lynn Nottage, a World Premiere production from the Kilroys' List with How To Catch Creation by Christina Anderson, and the Tony Award-winning musical The Bridges of Madison County, with a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. These complex and beautifully crafted stories from three award-winning female voices center around women and their experience - their relationships, their untold stories, their triumphs and their power. The season will journey to 1965 in Iowa for a sweeping musical, to a realistic and visceral modern-day experience in the heart of Pennsylvania, and to a generation-spanning daring new drama that audiences will discover for the first time. Philadelphia Theatre Company continues to produce in its home at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (480 S. Broad Street). Subscriptions for the new season went on sale immediately and are now available at the box-office or by calling 215-985-0420.

"I wanted my first full season with Philadelphia Theatre Company to focus on complex narratives and female characters who are reconciling their dreams with their realities," said Price. "Each play illuminates the emotional lives of everyday women who could live across the street, ride the subway next to us, or brush by us on the sidewalk. I hope these stories trigger in our audience an empathy for people we might not think about on a day to day basis, but who move about in the world right next to us. It's our job, as theatre makers, to elicit empathy - to portray stories in a manner that makes audiences step into the shoes of the people they see on stage. And just maybe, that translates to the real world."

PTC will open the 2018-2019 season with the Philadelphia Premiere of Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat. Sweat will run October 12 to November 4, 2018. Filled with warm humor and tremendous heart, Sweat tells the story of a group of friends who have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs while working together on a factory floor in Reading, PA. However, when layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the friends find themselves pitted against each other in a heart-wrenching fight to stay afloat. The play was nominated for the 2017 Drama Desk Award-Outstanding Play and received three 2017 Tony Award nominations for Best Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for both Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson.

Lynn Nottage began working on the play in 2011 by interviewing residents of Reading, which at the time was, according to the United States Census Bureau, officially one of the poorest cities in America, with a poverty rate of over 40%. Nottage was particularly influenced by a New York Times article reporting on the city specifically, and by the Occupy Wall Street movement more generally. She particularly examined the loss of heavy industry and a changing ethnic composition of the region.

"One of the hardest jobs anyone can have is the job of being poor," said Nottage. "To survive from day to day is an epic struggle to find a way to feed yourself, clothe yourself, put a roof over your head. It is the most Herculean path when you have nothing."

Price added, "I thought it was important for us to bring this Pennsylvania story to life. At PTC's See and Be Scene showcase, the audience expressed so much enthusiasm for this show. Sweat tells the story of people not far from here, and yet the themes in it certainly are relatable to people who live in Philadelphia. It's a socially relevant work, written by a leading black American female playwright. It pulls no punches, revealing complex issues and deep passions in a story that is playing out with slight variations, in communities all over America."

The season will continue with an acclaimed Broadway musical. PTC is excited to produce the Philadelphia premiere of The Bridges of Madison County with a book by Marsha Norman, and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown from February 8 to March 3, 2019. Price saw The Bridges of Madison County on Broadway and always thought it would be great to see a more intimate staging of the production. In this soaring romance, Francesca Johnson, a beautiful Italian woman who married an American soldier to flee war-ravaged Italy, looks forward to a rare four days alone on her Iowa farm in 1965. However, her quiet escape is upended when ruggedly handsome National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid pulls into her driveway seeking directions. What happens next in those four days may very well alter the course of Francesca's life.

"I thought that the central story was so huge, so epic, that the original singing ensemble intruded on it. I have since learned that the show was initially written for a smaller principal cast and I'm so excited to have PTC realize that version," said Price.

"The score, and the heartbreaking choice at the center of the piece for our heroine have always held my interest in this work. Her life is not what she expected, and she has the chance to run away from it, perhaps to find unimaginable joy and happiness. It explores the road not taken, which I think every person on the planet can relate to," Price added.

The new season will conclude with the start of a new direction for Philadelphia Theatre Company. Starting this season, Price is commiting to producing one work from The Kilroy List every year moving forward. The Kilroys are a group of playwrights and producers in Los Angeles "who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action." They are "committed to ending the systemic underrepresentation of female and trans playwrights in the American theater." Each year, The Kilroys release a list of recommended, unproduced shows as a tool for producers to use when looking for new works and voices.

The first choice from the Kilroys' List is the World Premiere production of Christina Anderson's How To Catch Creation. This inspirational story will run March 22 to April 14, 2019. In the mid-1960s, a black, queer, feminist writer's life is changed when her girlfriend tells her some unexpected news. Fifty years later, the reverberations of that moment still echo in the lives of four individuals in the rapidly changing city of San Francisco. Christina Anderson's stunning and complex examination of the universal act of creation-creation of life, of family, of art-spans space and time to inspire a new generation of makers and lovers.

Price saw a reading of this work at The Goodman Theatre's New Stages Series in Chicago. "I sought out plays that were on the Kilroy List and was delighted that the show that so moved me in Chicago was on the list," said Price. "The show touched me, drawing a connection between generations, and drawing contrasts to the world in the 1960s and today, especially through the lens of a feminist queer writer. This writer also made choices that impacted the lives of others forever, so it fits the theme that has emerged this season."

Price added, "This play is for the PTC loyalists and those in the theatre community who told me time and again that they loved when PTC was a leading producer of new work. I wanted to make a bold choice in my inaugural year here."

On top of the produced works listed above, Philadelphia Theatre Company will soon announce a list of presented works and other theatrical programs similar to those offered during the company's current 2017-2018 festival-style season. Look for offerings to include another all-ages production around the holidays, the return of the See and Be Scene showcase, a comedy collaboration with local improv theatre groups, and additional programming during Theatre Philadelphia's 2nd Annual Philly Theatre Week.

"We learned a lot about our audience during my first few months at Philadelphia Theatre Company," said Price. "We heard overwhelmingly that Philadelphia theatre-goers wanted thought-provoking serious theatre, but we found that our most successful presented works also centered around comedy and music. When designing my 'ideal' season, I want shows that make me both laugh and cry. I want story, emotion, character, humor - all the essentials. We will offer variety and balance as we weave our produced and presented works into the big picture. Our focus will be on excellence across all spectrums, while appealing to everyone from the long-time subscribers to the first time (and youngest) theatre-goer."

Subscriptions and Memberships for the new 2018-2019 season are now on sale and PTC has structured loyalty pricing for Subscribers and Members. Subscribers are guaranteed the best-in- market discount through the entire season. Full Season Subscriptions include all three shows and are discounted 50% off full priced tickets. Ticket fees are waived. Memberships offer "select-your-own-season", are available for $25, and are discounted 25% off full ticket prices. Ticket fees are waived. Full priced tickets range from $20 for Preview performances to $69 for Opening Night. Access-priced seats will be available in every performance, and student, senior and military discounts are available.

"We have seats saved specially for our subscribers from 2016-2017," added Price. "Philadelphia Theatre Company has a long and cherished history with our subscribers, and we can't wait to share this exhilarating new season with them."

Subscriptions and Memberships can be purchased at the box office or by calling 215-985-0420.

ABOUT Philadelphia Theatre Company

Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) is a leading regional theater company that produces, develops, and presents entertaining and imaginative contemporary theater focused on the American experience. PTC balances its Philadelphia roots with a national point of view that combines a taste for adventure with a dedication to new American plays and musicals.

Founded in 1974, PTC has presented 140 world and Philadelphia premieres. More than 50 percent of PTC's world premieres have moved on to New York and other major cities, helping to earn Philadelphia a national reputation as a hub for new play development. PTC has received more than 180 nominations and 53 awards from the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. In 2007, PTC was instrumental in expanding Philadelphia's thriving cultural corridor by opening the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on the Avenue of the Arts.

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