Theater of the Seventh Sister to Host First Spoken Word Weekend This Week

Theater of the Seventh Sister presents its first annual Spoken Word Weekend on April 14, 15 & 16th at the Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster.

This event will first feature a Reader's Theater production of an original play entitled The Patriarch by local playwright and actor John Reshetar and guest directed by Jeffrey Lanigan of Philadelphia on Thursday, April 14 and Friday April 15, 2016. Following a rough altercation with a discovered gang member, Avner Bachman, an elderly Jewish man running a grocery store in Detroit, MI, tries to maintain order and peace within his crumbling business in a troubled area in town. When a young misguided youth named Jamal White confesses to the act of vandalism he committed to Avner's store the night before, an unusual bond takes place between the two and they end up working together for the span of one week. Yet all is not resolved as another threat begins to surface, putting their lives in jeopardy and everyone else in between. Featuring actors Christian Baez, Kyle Harris, Blessing Robinson, John Rohrkemper, Danielle Schloski and Mike Truitt -The Patriarch explores uncommon friendships, urban culture, and a lesson on how to move forward in troubled times.

Celebrating the spoken word in verse, story, and song, in the final event of the Spoken Word Weekend, 15 local performers will give breath to their original works in Spoken Word Play on Saturday, April 16, 2016. With the theme of Origins, the performers will play with the ideas of beginnings and history.
Both new and familiar faces will grace the stage: from the fresh verse of young performers to grandparents offering stories honed from a lifetime of wisdom and wit.
Unlike any other event in our region, the Spoken Word Play is an event meant to enlighten and excite audiences as static pieces of writing come physically alive on the stage, revealing the power of words to delight, inspire, and transform.
This Theater of the Seventh Sister annual event aims to build a community of artists whose works juxtapose and have conversations with each other in the shared public space of the stage. Participants include: storytellers Tony Crocamo and Marie Winger, poets Scott Hower, Annie Ginder, Marla Kipp, Richard Payne, Peggy Rushton, Mimi Shapiro, Marilyn Morrison, Eliot White, John Bingham, Kathleen Millay, Corinne Smith, Daniel Sellers, and Beth Weaver-Kreider.

The Spoken Word Weekend performances will be held April 14, 15 & April 16 at 7:30 pm at the Community Mennonite Church, 328 West Orange Street, Lancaster. Contact The Theater of the Seventh Sister for more information or to reserve tickets. Tickets are $15 general admission or take advantage of our twofer offer - see any two Spoken Word Weekend performances for $25!

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