FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2010

Artistic Director Charles McMahon and Managing Director Anne Shuff are thrilled to announce Lantern Theater Company's 17th anniversary season. The 2010/11 season is packed with a diverse line-up of plays and events that illustrate the Lantern's ongoing commitment to celebrating the best in classic and contemporary playwriting.

Mainstage Season
Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov, October 21 - November 21, 2010
A Skull in Connemara, by Martin McDonagh, January 13 - February 6, 2011
A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, March 10 - April 10, 2011
Vigil, by Morris Panych, May 19 - June 12, 2011

Special Events
The Chekhov Festival, November 5 - 7, 2010
Between Heaven and Hell: The Anthony Lawton Festival, December 3 - 19, 2010
Lantern Theater Company: In Conversation, October 2010 - June 2011

"With this diverse selection of plays and events, Lantern Theater Company is committed to making smart theater fun and engaging," said Artistic Director Charles McMahon. "We believe that great theater can stimulate both the passion and the intellect, and make us laugh out loud in the process. When you feel that you have to talk with your friends about the themes of the play you have just seen, we know we've done our job."

Season subscriptions and advance group sales are now on sale at www.lanterntheater.org or through the Lantern Box Office at 215.829.0395. Four-Play and Flex Subscriptions are available for $72-$168 with discounts for students and seniors. New this season is the $60 Student Flex Subscription, which includes four-passes valid for any 2010/11 season performance (excluding Opening Nights and Special Events). Single tickets go on sale September 7, 2010. All performances are held at St. Stephen's Theater, 10th & Ludlow Streets, Philadelphia, PA.

A full list of 2010/11 season plays and events, including casting and press openings follows. Reviewing press are invited to all Opening Nights and may reserve tickets through Megan Wendell at Canary Promotion at 215.690.4065.

UNCLE VANYA
By Anton Chekhov
Directed by Kathryn MacMillan
October 21 - November 21, 2010
Opening Night: Wednesday, October 27 at 7pm

The Lantern celebrates the 150th anniversary of Chekhov's birth with a fresh production that is bursting with passion and fierce humor. Vanya and his niece Sonya have toiled for years to keep the family estate going. When Sonya's father, the retired Professor Serebriakov, and his dazzling young wife Yelena return for a visit, all work comes to a halt. Old resentments explode into arguments and secret longings come to light. Don't miss this rare opportunity to enter the provocative, tragicomic world of Chekhov's Russia. Featuring David Blatt, Peter DeLaurier, Charlie DelMarcelle, Ann Gundersheimer, David Howey, Melissa Lynch, Ceal Phelan, and Sarah Sanford.

THE CHEKHOV FESTIVAL
Presented in conjunction with our production of Uncle Vanya, this special weekend celebrates the influential work of Russian playwright, short-story writer, and physician Anton Chekhov, considered one of the greatest writers in the history of world literature. The festival will include readings of Chekhov's work and discussions with theater scholars over themed dinners; full schedule will be announced in September 2010.

BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL: THE ANTHONY LAWTON FESTIVAL
This three-part festival celebrates Philadelphia actor/playwright Anthony Lawton's spiritual theater for a secular audience.

• THE GREAT DIVORCE
  Based on the Novel by C.S. Lewis
  Adapted and Performed by Anthony Lawton
  December 3 - 19, 2010
  Opening Night: Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8pm
  
  C.S. Lewis' own favorite among his works, The Great Divorce tells the satirical and comic story of hapless professor Clive and the motley band of malcontents who join him on a very curious bus ride. Journeying between Heaven and Hell, Clive crosses a wildly inventive landscape filled with dazzling language, surprising insight, and philosophical imagination.
  
  
• THE DEVIL AND BILLY MARKHAM
  By Shel Silverstein
  Adapted and Performed by Anthony Lawton
  December 8, 11, and 15
  Opening Night: December 8, 2010 at 7pm
  
  Written entirely in rhyming couplets and punctuated with blues and country music, this raucous and raunchy play follows songwriter, good ol' boy, and ne'er-do-well Billy and his betting misadventures with the Devil. This play includes themes of sacrifice and redemption and is unapologetically and joyously profane. PARENTAL GUIDANCE ADVISED FOR AUDIENCE MEMBERS UNDER 17.
  
  
• HERESY
  Written and Performed by Anthony Lawton
  December 8, 15, and 18
  Opening Night: December 8, 2010 at 9:30pm
  
  A probing, comic, autobiographical solo play in which Lawton wrestles with the value of religion. Where is the line between faith and superstition? Why are so many Christians so un-Christian? What is the difference between faith that heals and faith that destroys? This play contains profanity, frank discussions of sex, and ideas that some may consider to be blasphemous. CHILDREN UNDER 17 NOT ADMITTED.

A SKULL IN CONNEMARA
By Martin McDonagh
Directed by M. Craig Getting and Kathryn MacMillan
January 13 - February 6, 2011
Opening Night: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 7pm

Leenane is a small Irish town with a small Catholic cemetery – too small. Widower Mick Dowd is hired each fall to disinter old bones to make room for the freshly departed, and this year's crop threatens to bring to the surface the long hidden secrets of the living. Irish writer Martin McDonagh, beloved for the gleeful madness of the 2007 Lantern hit The Lonesome West and the Oscar-nominated film In Bruges, is the mind behind this raucous, wonderfully unsettling comedy about death and dirt. Featuring Jake Blouch, Jered McLenigan, Ellen Mulroney, and Stephen Novelli.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Charles McMahon
March 10 - April 10, 2011
Opening Night: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 7pm

One of Shakespeare's most exuberant and effervescent comedies! Young lovers Hermia and Lysander, kept apart by strict Athenian law, escape to the woods where tyrannical parents can't find them – but mischief can. Elsewhere among the trees, the fairy king and queen are having a marital spat with disastrous consequences for one Nick Bottom. Rediscover your favorite characters in a lively production that puts you in the middle of all the mid-summer romance and magic, brought to you by "the city's most consistent producer of the Bard's work." –Philadelphia Weekly Featuring David Blatt, Mark Cairns, Mike Dees, Charlie DelMarcelle, Lee Ann Etzold, Charlotte Ford, Dave Johnson, Joanna Liao, Benjamin Lloyd, David Sweeny, and Bradley K. Wrenn.

SCHOLARS: IN CONVERSATION – Midsummer's Magic: Commedia, Sex, and the Supernatural
March 21, 28, and April 4

Presented on three consecutive Mondays in conjunction with A Midsummer Night's Dream, this series brings together audiences, scholars, and artists for fun and insightful conversations. We'll discuss Shakespeare's use of the supernatural, love, and sex in his comedies as well as Commedia influences on our production. Panelists and topics will be announced in December 2010.

VIGIL
By Morris Panych
Directed by Peter DeLaurier
May 19 - June 12, 2011
Opening Night: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 7pm

Witty, cheeky, and gratifyingly macabre, this black comedy from Canadian playwright Morris Panych ends the Lantern's 2010/11 season with a bang. Middle-aged curmudgeon Kemp receives a letter from his rich aunt, who writes him she is "old and dying"... or does it say "yodeling?" It's hard to tell – her handwriting isn't very good. But Kemp quits his job and crosses the country to ready her for death, beginning an outrageous series of missteps and misunderstandings that gives way to a surprising, poignant finish. Join us for this clever, glittering hit of the Edinburgh Fringe and London's West End. Featuring Lenny Haas and Ceal Phelan.

ABOUT THE LANTERN
Founded in 1994, Lantern Theater Company is committed to an authentic and intimate exploration of the human spirit in its choice of classic, modern, and original works. The Lantern reaches a loyal and growing annual audience of over 16,000 through three core programs: mainstage productions and special presentations that create innovative and stimulating theatrical experiences; the In Conversation audience enrichment program, which offers an insider's look at each production with Lantern artists and guest scholars; and the Barrymore Award-winning Illumination program, which engages local students and adults in the world of theater through in-classroom residencies, student matinee performances, and teaching artist training for after school programs.

Philadelphia Weekly named the Lantern "Best Theater Company" in 2008, describing the company's selection of plays as "impressively diverse in genre and style." Since the inception of the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre in 1995, the Lantern has received 71 nominations and 13 awards, including the 2009 Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service. The Lantern has received eight nominations for Outstanding Overall Production of Play over the past seven years, more than any other theater company in the Philadelphia region.

Lantern Theater Company 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.