Plays & Players Celebrates 100th Anniversary, 5/14

Plays & Players celebrates their 100th Anniversary on May 14 at 7pm with a staged reading of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband featuring local celebrities of stage, screen, politics, and more. An Ideal Husband was first performed on Plays & Players' stage in the Spring of 1912, exactly 100 years ago. Tickets to this event are $25 for general admission or $50 for general admission and a "meet-the-artist" post-show reception from 9pm-10pm. Prior to the performance, there will be a pre-show reception and silent auction, with doors opening at 6pm.

The 100th Anniversary Reading stars big names in Philadelphia theater including star of stage & screen Sylvia Kauders (Witness, American Splendor, The Wrestler, Sex and the City, The Sopranos); Barrymore Award winning actors Madi DiStefano and Amanda Schoonover; Barrymore nominated actor Kevin Bergen; Kash Goins, star of Plays & Players' production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone and producer of the Philadelphia Urban Theatre Festival; long-time Plays & Players member and former board member Ray Smith; and new board member Jennifer MacMillan.

Other stars include Fox 29's Good Day co-anchor Karen Hepp, the Philadelphia's Magic Gardens' Isaiah Zagar, City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, City Commissioner Keith Richardson, Tangier's owner Jack Roe, and Delancey Place resident Bill Melton.

An Ideal Husband is a sharp and witty satire of "refined" society from theatrical legend Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Artist). Successful political figure Sir Robert Chiltern's life is perfect thanks to the help of his loving and brilliant wife Gertrude and the support of his quick witted sister Mabel. In contrast, his friend's life, the uninspired but utterly charming Lord Arthur Goring, is one of lounging, flirting with Mabel, and avoiding his father's insistence that he should marry. The world of these men is turned upside down by the arrival of Old Acquaintance, Mrs. Cheveley, who has come with blackmail in mind. As the comments and lies begin to fly about, it's revealed that the man thought to be perfect is flawed, the man with all the flaws must do something right, and the question remains: what makes an ideal husband?

Plays & Players (P&P) is at once 100 years old and 3 years old, having recently changed from a community theatre to a professional theatre focused on supporting and nurturing the work of local artists through performance and development. It hired its first Producing Artistic Director, Daniel Student, in its organization's history, and has reached a level of prominence for the growing quality of its productions as well as its ability to launch the careers of some of the city's most talented performers. One of the hottest companies in town, and winner of Philadelphia Magazine's "Best In Philly" award two years in a row, Plays & Players has become a rare place where a rich past meets an exciting present. Please visit us at www.playsandplayers.org.

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