Playwright: Joy Cutler
Director: Aaron Oster

Cast:
Damon Bonetti: Danny
Rob Hargraves:  Virgil
Derick Loafman:  Intern/Jeffy/Old Man
Charlotte Northeast:  Lindy/Finney
Catherine Rush:  1st Nurse/Intercom Voice/Mother & stage directions
Peggy Smith:  Vita, Old Woman, 2nd Nurse

Synopsis:

Reaching Beatrice is a philosophical comedy that re-imagines Dante’s Inferno as a hospital elevator. Danny is a young man with a strong fear of germs, sickness and death. Unfortunately in order to meet Beatrice, a woman he encountered online, he has to enter a hospital where he finds himself surrounded by the very things that frighten him most. To reach Beatrice he must take the elevator to Level 12, but getting there is much harder than he anticipated. Virgil, the elevator operator escorts Danny on his journey, and as they cross paths with a series of strange and disturbing patients Danny’s medical paranoia reaches a crescendo. When he’s told that Beatrice is a patient, not a staff member like he thought, he panics and aborts his plan to see her. But escaping the suffocating confines of the elevator is not so easy…

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The Bridal Salon is a weekly play-reading series that was created to support the ever growing Philadelphia theater community.  Actors, directors, playwrights and theater enthusiasts can all benefit. The Bridal Salon showcases 2 one-act plays or 1 full-length piece each evening.  Audiences will have the chance to engage the directors, playwrights and actors in discussion about preparation and writing processes, inspiration, and character development. Every Wednesday night at 7pm, FREE.

“…Struggling with issues of identity, loneliness and loss, three very different people - a novelist in search of renewed fame, a troubled manchild of the streets, and a sibling consumed by grief - are bound by a cord fashioned by God and knotted by an unlikely angel. As each one becomes aware of their true self, they are transformed…”

Cast:
Mets Suber - Old Man
Joshua Ray - Young Man
Saladin White - The Kid
David Goodman - Young Woman

The Bridal Salon is a weekly play-reading series that was created to support the ever growing Philadelphia theater community.  Actors, directors, playwrights and theater enthusiasts can all benefit. The Bridal Salon showcases 2 one-act plays or 1 full-length piece each evening.  Audiences will have the chance to engage the directors, playwrights and actors in discussion about preparation and writing processes, inspiration, and character development. Every Wednesday night at 7pm, FREE.

Facilitated by Kathie Russo & Lucy Sexton

Ten Participants will use their personal stories and histories to weave them into short performance pieces. Participants will explore how performers translate their personal experiences into a larger truth.  How do we remain both ourselves and become a character portraying ourselves?  How do we create a portrait of ourselves in which others can see themselves?  These interactive workshops will include exercises in writing, moving and performing. The workshops will culminate in a showcase of the work created.

This is a two day workshop limited to 10 participants, who are required to participate both days.  To enroll, please send a brief personal statement detailing who you are and why you would like to participate to Lisa Nelson-Haynes at lisa@paintedbride.org.

These events kick off our presentation of Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, running March 25th - 27, 2010.  Stories Left to Tell is a compilation of the legendary Spalding Gray’s work that his widow, Kathie Russo, compiled after his death. More information on the show can be found on our website here.

Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell was funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 7pm:

“3.8 Billion Years Ago”
Written by: James L. Cook
Directed by: Connie Norwood

Around 3.8.billion Years Ago, man first appeared on the planet when GOD in his infinite sense of humor created Abdullah and Evelyn, not Adam and Eve.

Cast:
Kim Brown - Abdullah
Tyrone Hold - God
Met Suber - The Serpant
Roderick Slocum - The Narrator
Aihesia Goss - Evelyn

“Just Friends”
Written by: James L. Cook
Directed by: Connie Norwood

Four life-long friends get together to watch the HBO pay-per-view fights and something goes terribly wrong over a “bet” and the misunderstanding of how a draw decision can mean a lose. One of the friends becomes so upset that it brings out the darkside in him.

Cast:
Kim Brown - Raymond Boykins
Tyrone Holt - Billy Ennis
Met Suber - Clyde Miller
Roderick Slocum - Walterboy Carter
Connie Norwood - Rose Miller

The Bridal Salon is a weekly play-reading series that was created to support the ever growing Philadelphia theater community.  Actors, directors, playwrights and theater enthusiasts can all benefit. The Bridal Salon showcases 2 one-act plays or 1 full-length piece each evening.  Audiences will have the chance to engage the directors, playwrights and actors in discussion about preparation and writing processes, inspiration, and character development. Every Wednesday night at 7pm, FREE.

Wednesday, February 17th - 7pm

DANDELION MOMMA
Written by: Greg Romero
Directed by: Anthony Kamani

A one hundred year-old woman reflects on her life through broken pieces of memory. An eight year-old girl takes care of wayward dandelions and sees the lights inside of people. A farm girl and a writer search for life while planting seeds in the hardened ground of the Great Depression. The ground becomes harder, the girl becomes tired, the air becomes heavier and something new must be born.

Cast:

Meryl L. Brown- Augustine

Carly Bodnar- Woman

Khalili Munir- Man

Izzy Forte- Delores

Emma Berry- Delores

Monica McIntyre- Cello

Noreum Machi, a captivating new group that performs traditional yet contemporary Korean percussion music known as samulnori.  Samulnori is a modern staged adaptation of a ritualistic celebratory event performed by rice farmers and professional musicians at harvest festivals.  Noreum Machi employs several core instruments: the jaggo, an hourglass-shaped, double-headed drum used in all forms of Korean music; the buk, a double-headed barrel drum; and the kkwaenggwari, a small gong originally used in royal ancestral shrine music.

This tour of Noreum Machi is made possible by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program.

With additional support from the Center for Korean Studies, University of Pennsylvania

DJ King Britt and Rucyl Mills invite today’s most innovative artists to stretch the boundaries of genre, rhythm, and concept in musical conversation. Saturn Never Sleeps combines audio/visual micro-components into a thought altering world of sight and sound. Live musicians of acoustic and electronic inventions are curated as objects of art, coming together to create a multidimensional environment for the modern audiophile.

Thursday, February 11th Artists:

Guest choreographer, Curt Haworth premieres Human Candles, a whimsical story set somewhere between the loneliness of the city and the crush of bodies in underground dance clubs.  Choreographer/dance artist Vince Johnson offers a theatrical rendering of childhood fantasy, nighttime escapades and sex, with poetry, prose and an original score by composer John Bulack.  Stephen Welsh/SWERVE presents his latest group tour-de-force, Gray Matters.  This controversial parody explores a world where data-filled memory chips are routinely implanted into the human body.  Principal IPDC dancer, Rachel Condello makes her choreographic debut with a new work illustrating the emotions elicited by the warmest colors of the visual spectrum.

Zata…Imagine…let Indigenous Pitch Dance Collective take you there!

Where: Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia PA

When: February 19   8:00 pm

February 20   2:00 pm & 8:00 pm

Admission: $20 or $10 with student ID/Dance Pass.  Can be purchased at danceboxoffice.com or by calling 610-642-4630.

For Info: 610-642-4630 or info@indigenouspitch.org

Wednesday, February 3rd | 7pm

“The Perfect Gift”

Written by Susan Cain McQuilkin

Directed by Connie Norwood

On Christmas Eve Neil gives his wife, Sally, the perfect gift: a retirement home in a trailer park in Florida.  He’s shocked by her lack of enthusiasm.  Tension is interrupted when a lost, confused young woman shows up at their door.  They try to unravel her cryptic story but are pulled away by an animal uprising at the eccentric neighbor’s Living Nativity Scene.  They return to find the young woman has disappeared but has left behind something extraordinary.

As the rest of the family gathers for the holiday, the circumstances surrounding the stranger’s visit lead them all to surprising discoveries about issues of faith, forgiveness and the true spirit of Christmas.

Cast:

“Neil Dugan” - Gene D’Alessandro

“Sally Dugan” - Lee Kiszonas

“Rosemary Campbell” - Linda Schapley

“Delores Dellasandra” - Jan Michener

“Gracee” - Jenna Leigh

“Colleen Dugan” - Michelle Nagy

“Peter Keyes” - Bennett Dunn

This exhibition is composed of works that touch upon the current economic situation especially with regard to the effect it has on family stability. Representations of home -  something that should be solid and sheltering- are instead ephemeral and insubstantial. In making the works Stepanic referenced the story of the Three Little Pigs that teaches children the importance of preparation, because it involves both personal responsibility (choice of building materials) and external forces (the wolf.) This exhibition interweaves both elements of personal choice and external forces such as job loss and bankruptcy.

Join us for the third in our series of family writing workshops inspired by the artwork displayed in the Painted Bride’s Independence Foundation Gallery for the Visual Arts. Curator Anabelle Rodriguez-Gonzalez will guide families through the fascinating and enchanting world of artists Henry Bermudez and Rodriguez Calero. Parents and kids will have the opportunity to delve into new worlds through art and then create their own worlds through poetry by using a variety of dynamic and artistic poetic techniques. This FREE workshop is for children and adults of all ages!

*Space is limited! Call 267-670-0869 or email write@phillyspells.org to reserve your spot now.*

Check out this video of a past Family Writing Workshop.

The Bridal Salon is a weekly play-reading series that was created to support the ever growing Philadelphia theater community.  Actors, directors, playwrights and theater enthusiasts can all benefit. Returning in 2010 on Wednesday, January 27th at 7pm, and recurring each week, the Bridal Salon showcases 2 one-act plays or 1 full-length piece each evening.  Audiences will have the chance to engage the directors, playwrights and actors in discussion about preparation and writing processes, inspiration, and character development.

Wednesday, January 27^th | 7pm:

“A Good Cop”

Written by: Walt Vail
Directed by: Liam Castellan

Edward, a dedicated police officer with an excellent record of years on the force, is accused of brutally beating a teenager.  Sara, a police investigator, interrogates Edward in an attempt to get at the true reasons for his out-of-character action.  Edward offers a basic confession, but Sara pushes past it, forcing Edward to confront his past, his relationship with his family, and his own identity.

Cast: Sarah Schol as “Sara” & CJ Keller as “Edward”

“The Bird Lady”

Written by: Kate McGrath
Directed by: Chelsea Sanz

A bright and courageous scientist stricken with Multiple Sclerosis interviews a quirky and desperate college student to hire as her assistant.  They share loneliness, a passion for science, and possibly more.  Will she be able to trust him, make the leap of faith to share her life’s work, or will she continue to bitterly cut herself off from anyone who might care for her?

Cast: Dawn Harvey as “Adele” & Bob Stineman as “Bobby”

Painted Bride is collecting items to be sent to Haiti as part of the earthquake relief effort. Please contribute any of the following items, or similar ones, to the box in our lobby during any of our business hours (Tuesday - Saturday, 12pm-6pm):

• Gauze
• Ace bandages
• Sterile adhesive bandages
• Splints
• Band-aids
• Medical scissors
• Sutures
• Gloves
• Masks
• Thermometers
• Cold packs
• Cotton balls
• Tweezers
• Towels
• Hydrocortisone cream
• Neosporin
• Baby products
• Aspirin
• Antacids
• Water purification tables
• Toiletries (shampoo, feminine hygiene products, etc.)
• Eye was solution