Lantern Theater Company is committed to an authentic and intimate exploration of the human spirit in our choice of classics, modern, and original works. We seek to be a vibrant, contributing member of our community, exposing audiences to great theater, inviting participation in dialogue and discussion, educating audience members about artistic and social issues, and employing theatrical language and techniques to enrich learning in the classroom.

Each year, we reach a loyal, diverse, and growing audience of 16,000 with our eclectic range of work, both on and off the stage, through three core programs.

Mainstage Productions
We are committed to creating theater that is smart, fun, engaging, and connected to our modern world. Our 2011/12 Mainstage season opens in October with New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656, the Philadelphia premiere of David Ives' recent off-Broadway hit about one of the greatest philosophers in history. We will celebrate the holiday season with Private Lives, Noël Coward's sophisticated, sexy, and sparkling romantic comedy. Springtime brings a fresh production of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's beloved tragedy of star-crossed lovers and a city at war. The 2011/12 season concludes with The Island, an uplifting and surprising funny drama by Tony Award-winners Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona. Special events will include the satiric and comic The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis' own favorite among his works, and Fall Philosophy Festival: Theater and the Age of Reason, a festival centered around New Jerusalem that will explore the Jewish experience in Europe and Spinoza's lasting influence on art, literature, and philosophy.

Lantern Theater Company: In Conversation
Our audience enrichment series offers an insider's look at each production with artists and guest scholars, plus other audience enrichment events designed to enhance the Lantern experience. Our popular Scholars: In Conversation series returns in March 2012 with Sex, Swords & Surprises in Shakespeare's Verona.

Illumination
Our award-winning education program engages local students and adults in the world of theater and nurtures their artistic expression, reaching the Greater Philadelphia region through in-school residencies, matinee performances for students, and teaching artist training for after school programs.

Philadelphia Weekly named the Lantern Best Theater Company in 2008, describing our selection of plays as "impressively diverse in genre and style." Since the inception of the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre in 1995, we have received 71 nominations and 15 awards, including the 2009 Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service Award and 8 nods for Outstanding Overall Production of a Play in the past 8 years.

Founded in 1994 by Charles McMahon and Michael Brophy, the Lantern has been in residence at St. Stephen's Theater at 10th & Ludlow Streets in Center City Philadelphia since 1996, managing the performance space and developing it into an affordable multi-purpose performing arts venue.