Performance Clips of LITTLE LAMB...

Watch performance clips of InterAct's LITTLE LAMB...

Featuring Frank X (as José), Kaci M. Fannin (as Cathy) & Ames Adamson (as Denny)

Featuring Ames Adamson (as Denny)

Featuring Cathy Simpson (as Francie)

LITTLE LAMB is running now through June 28, 2009. Tickets and more information are available on InterAct's website.

Video Trailer of JIHAD JONES...

Watch the video trailer of InterAct's JIHAD JONES & THE KALASHNIKOV BABES...

Featuring Fajer Al-Kaisi (as Ashraf), John Zak (as Barry), Laura Catlaw (as Cassandra), Peter Schmitz (as Julius), and Leah Walton (as Peggy)

LITTLE LAMB is running now through June 28, 2009. Tickets and more information are available on InterAct's website.

InterAct's JIHAD JONES Featured in Video Interview

Jim Rutter, from BroadStreetReview.com, interviews several creative artists from InterAct's production of JIHAD JONES & THE KALASHNIKOV BABES. Jim covers such topics as the life of an Arab American actor with JIHAD JONES lead, Fajer Al-Kaisi; the inspiration behind JIHAD JONES with playwright, Yussef El Guindi; and the rarity of InterAct producing comedies with InterAct's Producing Artistic Director and JIHAD JONES production director, Seth Rozin.

JIHAD JONES runs Friday, April 10 - May 10, 2009. Tickets and more information are available on InterAct's website.

JIHAD JONES Playwright Is Finalist For Largest National Playwrighting Award

InterAct congratulates and wishes luck to the playwright of InterAct's upcoming JIHAD JONES & THE KALASHNIKOV BABES, Yussef El Guindi, on his nomination for the 2009 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA Award. Nominated for his play, OUR ENEMIES: LIVELY SCENES OF LOVE AND COMBAT, Yussef is one of six finalists for the award given annually by The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA), recognizing the best new scripts produced professionally outside New York City during 2008. OUR ENEMIES depicts Muslim-Americans struggling among themselves over how to portray their cultural identity and how deeply to assimilate in the post-9/11 world. The play was produced in March 2008 by Silk Road Theatre Project in Chicago.

The other finalists for the 2009 award are Steven Dietz, playwright of InterAct's production of LAST OF THE BOYS, who is nominated for his play BECKY's NEW CAR; Lee Blessing, playwright of WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA which was commissioned by InterAct in 2008, who is nominated for his play, GREAT FALLS; Octavio Solis; E.M. Lewis; and Tracy Letts.

Consideration for the Steinberg/ATCA awards is limited to new plays not yet produced in New York City by the end of the year. The six 2009 finalists were selected from plays nominated by ATCA members, then evaluated by a committee of 13 theater critics from around the country. The winner and two additional citations will be presented April 4 at Actors Theatre of Louisville during the Humana Festival of New American Plays. The top award includes a cash prize of $25,000 – currently the largest national new play award – with $7,500 for each citation.

Read more about the Steinberg Award and this year's nominees here.

InterAct Visits The Inspiration For Its Biggest Hit: PERMANENT COLLECTION

Thanks to a posting on Wendy Rosenfield's Drama Queen blog, we're pleased to learn that an article posted yesterday by The Chicago Tribune reports that back in 2005, President Barrack and First Lady Michelle Obama attended a performance of Northlight Theatre's production of PERMANENT COLLECTION, a drama that received it's World Premiere at InterAct in 2003.

For those who missed it, PERMANENT COLLECTION uses a fictionalized account of the story behind the Barnes Foundation to frame a compelling and thought-provoking examination of race relations in the United States. Written by InterAct's Resident Playwright, Thomas Gibbons, PERMANENT COLLECTION is, to date, the best-selling play in InterAct's history and has gone on to become one of our most subsequently produced premieres, with over two dozen national and international productions.

This all served to remind me that I had neglected to post a note about InterAct's recent visit to the Barnes Foundation:

During the recent run of THE RANT, InterAct Artistic Director Seth Rozin arranged for a field trip to the Barnes for the production's playwright, actors and InterAct's administrative staff. Having grown up in the neighborhood nearby, Seth thought it would be a fascinating point of local interest for Aldo Billingslea and Andrew Case, the production's out-of-town artists, as well as an important lesson in InterAct history for the show's artists, the staff and a few close friends of the company, since most of us had not visited the inspiration behind the company's biggest hit. He also thought it was important for us to go while the Barnes is still in its original home in Lower Merion, before it's relocation to the museum district in Center City, since changes to the permanent collection (hence the title) serves the most pivotal role in the plot of the script.

Left to Right: Seth Rozin, Julie Grega, Rebecca Wright, Jessica Hurley, Dwight Wilkins, Kimberly Fairbanks, David Golston, Aldo Billingslea, Elena Araoz and Daniel Sumile. Not pictured: Kathy Jaffari, Andrew Case, Kia Feindt, David Ingram, Joshua Lieberman and David & Ziva Brown

On a personal note, before moving to Philadelphia I had the privilege of working on a production of PERMANENT COLLECTION at Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, MO. Prior to researching the play, I had no knowledge of the Barnes - I was soley drawn into the play's dramatic story and important message. Throughout the course of marketing the show I learned a lot about the Barnes and its unique creation and subsequent history, however, nothing prepared me for the jaw-dropping experience of seeing it in person. I was taken, as was most of the those in our group, by complete surprise at the astounding quality (and sheer volume) of a collection that was originally amassed as the whim of one man's passion. Everyone in our group left that day with a renewed appreciation for the power and beauty that amazing art brings to the world...

- David Golston, Director of Marketing & PR

How to Share Your Comments With InterAct

Want to share your opinion about an InterAct performance you've recently attended? Need to tell the world your thoughts on an issue raised in an InterAct play? Want to respond to a critic's review that you feel doesn't adequately describe a production? Know of a play that addresses an important social issue you'd like to bring to our attention?

TWO SIMPLE WAYS TO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH US...

• Post your comments on InterAct's blog by clicking on the "Comments Link" at the bottom of a blog entry and then entering your thoughts in the box at the bottom of the blog entry page. This may be done annonymously or otherwise.

• Email your comments directly to InterAct by contacting David Golston, Director of Marketing & PR, at dgolston@interacttheatre.org. In order to protect the privacy of those who contact us, we will identify comments with a first name and last initial only.

We will gladly post any comment that is intended to share sincere reactions and opinions or promote thoughtful discourse and debate. We reserve the right to delete posts without notice or explanation and ignore emails that are rude, insulting, contain personal attacks or inflammatory comments, or exist solely to advertise a person, product or website that has no connection to InterAct Theatre Company or its productions. While this rule is intended to cover most common situations, we cannot anticipate every possibility, and consequently, reserve the right to take any actions we deem appropriate to ensure this blog is not abused in any way.

We look forward to hearing what you have to say...

- David Golston
Director of Marketing & PR

An Audience Member Reacts To THE RANT

-----Email Message-----
From: Jim W.
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 10:34 PM
To: InterAct Theatre Company
Subject: The Rant

... this was one of my outstanding theatrical experiences in philadelphia. we saw the play on february 10th and it was unbelieveably good. i don't read reviews and was totally unprepared for such an exciting and well crafted evening. the play is outstanding; full of dramatic tension, just the right touch of irony and humor, the opening monologue i am sure is one that any actor would die for, interesting characters and perspectives and a stunning climax. not an extra word or clammy sentence - truly wonderful and with great pace, energy and dramatic impetus. even the two characters who aren't there become totally real.

the acting was perfection. what an ensemble, what a team! they were engaged with one another as characters and actors and drew the audience completely into their anger, their passions, their cynicism, their lies and their truths.

the staging, the excellent sets, the lighting, the costumes, and, of course, the direction were outstanding in every respect. i felt honored to have witnessed such a production being pioneered here in philadelphia. i think it will put our town on the national theatrical map!
well done and keep it up. a tough act to follow, as they say.

sincerely,
jim w.

SAVE THE DATE: InterAct Announces Date for Annual Benefit

We are all so excited about InterAct's upcoming annual benefit! Here are a few of the details:

SAVE THE DATE!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Labor of Love: A May Day Cabaret
A Benefit for InterAct Theatre Company

The event will take place at PACE Local Union Hall, 410 N. 8th St., Phila. It will feature cocktails & hors d’oeuvres, a cabaret performance of labor anthems & social-protest songs, and the presentation of InterAct’s Kaki Marshal Arts & Community Award. The evening will honor Tom McCarthy & Terry Graboyes.

For reservations or more information, call InterAct's Box Office: 215.568.8079

InterAct Presents CITY OF NUMBERS, A New Drama About Crime In Philadelphia

In conjunction with InterAct’s mainstage production of THE RANT, Andrew Case’s thought-provoking new drama exploring the link between inner-city crime and personal bias, InterAct will present the first public performance of CITY OF NUMBERS, a new play addressing inner-city crime based on interviews with prison inmates, victims’ families, and other Philadelphia residents affected by violent crimes. Subtitled “mixtape of a city...” and written by Sean Christopher Lewis, who developed the play during his tenure as emerging-playwright-in-residence at InterAct last season, CITY OF NUMBERS is being presented as a collaboration between InterAct’s InterAction education program and The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, funded by a grant from the Violette de Mazia foundation. CITY OF NUMBERS will be presented in preview performances on InterAct's home at The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., on Thursday and Friday, February 19 and 20, at 10 p.m., with an opening performance on Saturday, February 21, at 2:00 p.m. The play will then be performed in Spring 2009 at St. Gabriel’s Hall and Graterford Prison, where much of the playwright’s research, including inmate interviews, were conducted.

ABOUT THE PLAY

The summer of 2008, the City of Philadelphia found itself in the midst of a murder epidemic. Comparable to that of a third world country, Philadelphia’s murder rate had become so pervasive that the city was commonly referred to as housing “more bodies than days.” Exploring the issue of crime through interviews and narratives, CITY OF NUMBERS introduces us to inmates at Graterford Prison, located just west of Philadelphia. These inmates are men who have been employed to create murals towards the beautification of the city, even as they serve life sentences for murder. Exploring multiple perspectives, CITY OF NUMBERS also presents the voices of victims of violent crimes and their families,as well as Mayor Michael Nutter, hip hop artists, ER doctors and people on the street – all to provide a clearer picture of the city in which we live. Culled entirely from interviews, blog entries, recorded, and documented television, CITY OF NUMBERS is a stunning and shocking portrait of the City of Brotherly Love.

Artwork by Luis ‘Suave’ Gonzalez, inmate, SCI Graterford

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

SEAN CHRISTOPHER LEWIS is the inaugural recipient of the Rosa Parks Award for Social Justice in Playwriting from the Kennedy Center. A former National New Play Network Emerging Playwright in Residence at InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia, he has toured his critically-lauded solo shows I WILL MAKE YOU ORPHANS (Uno Festival of Solo Performance, Available Light 01 Festival, Equinox Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Center for Independent Artists, Galapagos Art Space, Hyde Park Theatre, TIXE Arts Center, Bowery Poetry Club) and THE GONE CHAIR (Penn State University's Cultural Conversations Festival, Openstage Harrisburg's Flying Solo Festival, Riverside Theatre). His other plays include MILITANT LANGUAGE (nationally-premiered at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Halcyon Theatre of Chicago, Bang and Clatter in Cleveland and Theater for the New City in NY) and THE APERTURE (Cleveland Public Theatre). Mr. Lewis has been a playwriting fellow at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and has had his work developed at the PlayPenn New Play Conference, Lark New Play Development Center, Orlando Shakespeare Festival’s Harriet Lake Festival of New Work and at the National Center for New Plays at Stanford University. Also a noted actor, he has worked Off-Broadway at the Pearl Theatre, in NYC at La Mama ETC, and regionally with companies like the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and mostly recently in the feature films GOD COUNTRY and BLOOD FANTASY.

All three performances of CITY OF NUMBERS are FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. For reservations, call InterAct's box office at 215.568.8079. For more information, visit InterAct’s website at http://www.interacttheatre.org/ or Mural Arts program’s website at http://www.muralarts.org/.

InterAct's Writing Aloud Featured on WXPN

Please tune in to WXPN (88.5 FM) on Monday, February 2, at 7:00 p.m., when InterAct Theatre Company's award-winning short fiction series, Writing Aloud, will be featured on "LIVE at the Writers House". As a long-standing collaboration between Kelly Writers House and WXPN, "LIVE at the Writers House" is a one-hour broadcast featuring poetry, music and other spoken-word art hosted by WXPN's own Michaela Majoun.

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary Season this year, InterAct's Writing Aloud program is an award-winning series featuring comtemporary short fiction read aloud on stage by professional actors. The January 26th edition of "LIVE at the Writers House" will feature the three short fictional stories that will be presented in upcoming editions of Writing Aloud. The stories included will be:

“A Courtship," written by Jonathan Liebson, will be presented during the Writing Aloud event on Monday, February 9. "A Courtship" tells the story of a southern widow who fantasizes about a local preacher as she struggles to take care of her unruly adolescent son. Jonathan Liebson's work has appeared in Chelsea, South Dakota Review, Harvard Review, Meridian and The Georgia Review, among other places, and has also won awards or been honored by The Atlantic Monthly and the William Faulkner-William Wisdom's annual fiction competition. A graduate of Wesleyan University, he holds an M.A. in literature from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England, and an MFA in fiction from NYU. He currently teaches writing and literature at Eugene Lang College of The New School, in New York.

"Mitzraim (Means Tight Spaces, the Rabbi Said),” written by Liz Abrams-Morley, will be presented during the Monday, April 27 Writing Aloud event. “Mitzraim (Means Tight Spaces, the Rabbi Said)” tells the story of a grown daughter who struggle to deal with her aging father as he succumbs to Alzheimers. Liz Abrams-Morley is the author of the full-length poetry collection Learning to Calculate the Half Life, (Zinka Press, 2001) and two chapbooks including What Winter Reveals, (Plan B Press, 2005.) Her second full-length collection, Necessary Turns, is due out from Word Press in 2010. Liz's poems and short stories have appeared in a variety of nationally distributed journals and anthologies and both have been read on National Public Radio. She is on the MFA in Creative Writing faculty at Rosemont College, has worked as a poet-in-residence in grades K-12 in public and private schools throughout Pennsylvania, and is one of three director/editors at and a co-founder of an online writing consultation business, http://www.writearoundtheblock.org/. In the rest of her life she lives with her husband and two dog-like cats in Philadelphia, is a mother, a mother-in-law, wife, sister, family caretaker, friend and lapsed family therapist. She wades knee-deep in the flow of everyday life from which she draws constant inspiration and occasional exasperation.

“Your Story,” written by Kelly Lundgren Pietrucha, will also be included in Writing Aloud's Monday, April 27, event. "Your Story" tells how during the midst of an ice storm that closes down the state, a man is forced to reckon with himself and his relationship with his wife. Kelly Lundgren Pietrucha's work has appeared in Carve, Fiction Attic, Literary Mama, and Pindeldyboz. She earned a Masters in Fiction from Temple University, where she currently teaches creative writing. She also teaches reading and writing at Camden County College in New Jersey. She lives in New Jersey with her family, and is currently working on her first novel.

"LIVE at the Writers House" will be broadcast live from Kelly Writers House's Arts Cafe, located at 3805 Locust Walk on campus of Univeristy of Pennsylvania.

For more information about Kelly Writers House or WXPN's "LIVE at the Writers House" broadcast, visit http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/involved/series/live/

To subscribe to Writing Aloud's remaining 2008/2009 Season (only $10 per event!), purchase tickets to an upcoming performance, or for more information about the program, visit http://www.interacttheatre.org/writing-aloud-2008-2009.html.

InterAct Hosts Reading of Lee Blessing's 20/20 Commissioned Play

On Sunday, November 30, InterAct conducted a reading of Lee Blessing’s WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA, which was one of five plays InterAct commissioned in February 2008, as part of its new 20/20 New Play Commission program. Set in the future at a four-star hotel in The Hague, WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA reveals an introspective yet defiant George W. Bush on the eve of his international war crimes trial. The reading of the play was held in New York and was attended by Cari Feiler Bender, former InterAct Board Chair, in whose name the commission was sponsored, along with many of her friends and family who contributed to the commission.

- Seth Rozin
Producing Artistic Director

Left to Right: Playwright Lee Blessing, Commission Sponsor Cari Feiler Bender
& InterAct Producing Artistic Director Seth Rozin

[Photos provided by and used with permission of Cari Feiler Bender]

To learn how you too can sponsor a 20/20 New Play Commission or for information on the other four 2008 playwright recipients and their plays, visit: www.interacttheatre.org/20-20-commission-program.html.

InterAct Secures First Play of 2009/2010 Season

Although we’ve barely begun the current season, the staff here at InterAct is already working hard behind the scenes on the line-up for the 2009/2010 Season… and the hard work is paying off! We’re extremely pleased to announce that we’ve secured the rights to co-world premiere (along with Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago) the unique new satire, THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY, which will serve as our season-opener next fall. Written by Kristoffer Diaz, CHAD DIETY is a dynamic, theatrical, funny and provocative new play that examines Americans’ fears of terrorism, Islamic extremism and globalization through the larger-than-life world of professional wrestling. CHAD DEITY will be InterAct’s first production to be performed outside of The Adrienne since we moved into our artistic home in 1997. The play will be performed at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival theatre at 2111 Sansom Street (right down the street from The Adrienne).

- Seth Rozin
Producing Artistic Director

InterAct Congratulates THE WAR PARTY's Meghan Heimbecker On Recent Engagement (Live. Onstage. In Front of an Amazed Audience.)

Left to Right: Chad Burkins and Meghan Heimbecker

Interesting and unexpected things happen on a regular basis when you work in theatre. And more often than not, they turn out to be better than anything even the most talented professional could create on stage.

Such was the case during the curtain call of the Saturday, November 15, performance of THE WAR PARTY, when featured actress Meghan Heimbecker received an extremely heartfelt (not to mention very memorable) proposal from her boyfriend, Chad Burkins. In front of several members of Meghan's family, and a theatre full of strangers, Chad popped up from the audience during Meghan's final bow only to pop out one of the most romantic proposals to have ever graced a theatrical stage. Meghan said, "yes," and an entirely new, and much more pleasant, meaning for the term "shock and awe" was born...

Everyone at InterAct congratulates Meghan and Chad
and wishes them the best of luck in their future together!

Left to Right: Chad Burkins, Susan Wilder, Meghan Heimbecker & Tim Moyer

[Photos provided by and used with the permission of the newly engaged couple.]

To learn more about Meghan Heimbecker and her career as an actress, director and teaching artist, visit her website: www.meghanheimbecker.com.

InterAct To Help Develop New Play by Aditi Kapil

We're excited to announce that InterAct has been chosen to participate as part of a consortium consisting of three national theatres and one theatre institute in Bulgaria that has been selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as a pilot project for its New Play Development Program, hosted by Arena Stage. Along with InterAct, Mixed Blood Theater (Minneapolis), Lark Development Center (New York City) and the Fourth World Theatre Institute (Bulgaria) will collaboratively support the development of Aditi Kapil’s newest play, AGNES UNDER THE BIG TOP, over the next year. This dynamic and imaginative new play examines the collision of cultures, immigration and the American dream through the intersecting stories of five fascinating characters. InterAct will host a reading and workshop of the play in April 2009.

Aditi Kapil is an actress, writer, and director, of Bulgarian and Indian descent. She was raised in Sweden, and resides in Minneapolis, MN. She is a graduate of Macalester College with a BA in English and Dramatic Arts, has performed extensively in the Twin Cities and around the country, her writing has been nationally produced to critical acclaim, and her latest play, LOVE PERSON. has been nominated for the Blackburn Prize and the Pulitzer Prize.

- Seth Rozin
Producing Artistic Director

For more information about the work of Aditi Kapil visit her website: www.aditikapil.com.

InterAct Inaugurates New Blog & New Season

Welcome to this first InterAct blog entry which we hope will evolve into a lively and active interaction between our artists and our audiences.

Our first production of the 2008-2009 season is upon us, so I wanted to begin by letting you know why I chose to include THE WAR PARTY by Vincent Delaney in our season. I read the play at several stages in its development over the past couple of years, each time finding it funny and provocative and thoroughly enjoyable. When I read it again last spring it felt not only more advanced but way more relevant.

This election year has frayed just about every nerve of every American, it seems. There has been a tremendous amount of antipathy being expressed about everything from patriotism to partisanship, and it is that sense of frustration with the way things are that THE WAR PARTY tackles.

As a theatre that is viewed by most as “leftist” (even though we try very hard to produce plays that challenge, rather than affirm our audience’s values and beliefs) THE WAR PARTY also offers a fresh and refreshing take on the American political landscape. Here, Vincent Delaney has created a play around a central character we rarely, if ever see on stage: A decidedly successful conservative woman senator who is neither satirized nor made into a caricature. Laura Smith is far more complex and compelling than the monolithic right wing stereotype she has, frankly, played the role of. In fact, she has actually hidden from the world many things about herself that would engender our sympathy and support…in the interest of pursuing a political career in America’s bitterly divided cultural landscape.

I can’t tell you too much without giving away the many surprises in the play, but suffice it to say that it takes unexpected turns right up until the end.

I look forward to hearing from you, before or after you’ve seen THE WAR PARTY.

- Seth Rozin
Producing Artistic Director

For more information about THE WAR PARTY, including excerpts from the script and an interview with the playwright, visit www.interacttheatre.org/2008-2009-feature-1.html.