THE AMERICA PLAY Extends at Plays and Players thru 4/28

Plays & Players presents the The America Play & Other American Cousins, an experimental examination of the the missing side of American history, by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, combines questions on race and family with biting wit in the final production of 2012-13 Season. Now with FOUR additional performances!

From Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks comes a remarkable story of an African-American man who looks just like Abraham Lincoln and can be shot by would-be John Wilkes Booths for a small fee. When he disappears into the Great Hole of History, his wife and son go to find him. Questions of race, family, legacy, and the act of theater itself play out in a surprising and emotionally stunning journey. World premiere short plays, Other American Cousins (named for the play President Lincoln was watching when he was shot) will examine Americans' place in today's world and serve as a prologue to The America Play.

This surrealist depiction of American history lands in Plays & Players' Third Floor Skinner Studio April 4-28. Performances run Wednesday and Thursdays at 7pm (except April 18), Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm, and Sundays at 3pm.

Suzan-Lori Parks is a renowned African American playwright, winner of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001 and Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002. She was also recognized by the OBIE Awards with an award for playwriting and nominated for a Tony Award (Best Play) in 2002. The America Play is an early example of Parks' tremendous talent, leading TheaterReview.com to rave "With gentle humor and haunting imagery, Parks... has crafted a provocative meditation on what it really means to inherit the American myth."

Plays & Players is happy to have Suzana Berger on board as the director of The America Play. Suzana has a fantastic training background, earning her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She is currently the artistic director of Dragon's Eye Theatre and has created and directed productions across the nation, including several pieces for the Philly Fringe Festival and the Epic Theatre Ensemble in NYC such as Seek & Hide, Shakespeare Remix Macbeth and Leila Buck's One. Her other credits include A State of Innocence, Cymbeline, and Spring Awakening.

The America Play stars Steven Wright as The Foundling Father, a veteran Philadelphia actor who previously appeared in How To Disappear Completely And Not Be Found (Luna Theater Company), This Is The Week That Is (1812 Productions), Neighborhood 3 (Azuka Theatre), and Marat/Sade (EgoPoProductions), and many more. Tanya O'Neill will play his wife, Lucy, and Kirschen Wolford, a recent graduate of the University of the Arts, will plays his son, Brazil. Langston Darby, who previously appeared at Plays & Players in the World Premiere of Simulations and is a company member of ComedySportz Philadelphia, and Lindsay J. Daniels, a recent graduate of the University of the Arts, round out the cast playing numerous visitors to The Foundling Father and appearing in scenes from Our American Cousin.

Mr. Darby and Ms. Daniels will also star in two world premiere 10 minute plays, both titled Our American Cousin, which will alternate as a prologue to The America Play.

Written by local playwrights Quinn D. Eli and Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon, the plays will reflect contemporary notions of African-American identity as a response to the original play of the same name. Mr. Eli is a playwright, essayist, and fiction writer. Two of his short plays, Small Portions and Running Amok, appear, respectively in the 2010 and 2011 editions of Best American Ten-Minute Plays. He is also the co-leader of the PDC Playwrights in Residence program at Plays & Players. Ms. Williams-Witherspoon is an Associate Professor in the Theater Department at Temple University, the author of two non-fiction books on African-American theater and nine books of poetry, and has been arecipient of a host of awards and honors for her playwriting. The plays will be directed by Malika Oyetimein, the Artistic Director of Ademide Theater Ensemble, a frequent assistant director for Arden Theatre Company, and the director of Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog for GoKash Productions.

All performances at Plays & Players Theatre, at 1714 Delancey Place. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door for general admission. Discounted group rates of $15 for groups of 10 or more and student rates of $15 are also available.* Tickets may be purchased online at www.playsandplayers.org or by phone at 800-595-4849.

Performance Dates & Times:

April 4 at 7pm*
April 5 at 8pm*
April 6 at 8pm**
April 7 at 3pm - Post-show conversation with cast and special guests Sharon Brubaker and Dr. Vincent Williams from the Drexel University English Department.
April 10 at 10:30am***
April 10 at 7pm
April 11 at 7pm - Post-show conversation with Other American Cousins playwright Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon
April 12 at 8pm - Pre-show conversation at 6:30pm with Professor Herman Beavers of the University of Pennsylvania.
April 13 at 2pm

April 13 at 8pm
April 14 at 3pm - Post-show conversation with cast and special guest, Reverend A. Carl Prince of the Zion Baptist Church of Philadelphia.
April 17 at 7pm - Post-show conversation with Other American Cousins playwright Quinn D. Eli
April 19 at 8pm - Pre-show conversation at 6:30pm with Reverend LillIan Smith of Tinley Temple United Methodist Church - Music, Poetry and Faith: The Legacy of African-American Performance from the Civil War to Today.
April 20 at 2pm
April 20 at 8pm
April 21 at 3pm - Post-show conversation with cast and special guest, Dr. Judith Giesberg, Associate Professor of History at Villanova University
April 25 at 8pm **** EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND
April 26 at 8pm **** EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND
April 27 at 8pm **** EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND
April 28 at 3pm **** EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND

*Tickets to April 4 & 5 previews of The America Play are $5 off all price points.
**Opening Night. Reception to follow.
***Student matinee. Interested school groups call 215-735-0630 for more information.

Cast and Creative Team:

THE AMERICA PLAY
Directed by Suzana Berger
Starring Lindsay J. Daniels, Langston Darby, Tanya O'Neill, Kirschen Wolford and Steven Wright

OTHER AMERICAN COUSINS
Written by Quinn D. Eli and Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon and Directed by Malika Oyetimein
Starring Lindsay J. Daniels and Langston Darby

Set Design by Colin McIlvaine, Light Design by Andrew Cowles, Costume Design by Erica Hoelscher, Sound Design by Toby Pettit, Prop Design by Alyssa Velazquez, Dialect Coaching by Melanie Julien, Assistant Direction by Jeffrey Hyman, and Dramaturgy by Lena Barnard.

Suzan-Lori Parks is a renowned African American playwright, winner of the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001 and Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002. She was also recognized by the OBIE Awards with an award for playwriting and nominated for a Tony Award (Best Play) in 2002. The America Play is an early example of Parks' tremendous talent, displaying humor and thought provoking imagery in order to examine the missing side of American history and the intricacies of race, family and theater. The final production of our season will be directed by Suzana Berger, a highly trained director who has created works across the nation, including Philly Fringe and the Epic Theatre Ensemble in NYC.

Over 100 years old, Plays & Players was reborn in 2009 as a professional theater under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Daniel Student. Returning to its roots, Plays & Players seeks to invest in the talents of local emerging theater artists by providing a gathering place for practitioners to contribute to professional productions, expand their artistry through training, and connect and collaborate at the historic Plays & Players Theatre. The 2012-13 Season is dedicated to The American Presidency and debuted in November with a series of events titled An American Presidency: A Theatrical Response, including the popular Voices of a People's History, starring Michael J. Boryla and Guy Davis, and a presentation of Forearmed Productions' controversial Republican Theater Festival. The mainstage production was the Philadelphia premiere of popular rock musical, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

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