Philadelphia Theatre Company offering up Pulitzer-winning play, and Fringe support to 5 local artists

Considering how plenty of evenings Kenneth and his best friend Bert spend ordering Mai Tai s at the local tiki bar Bert doesn t drink much That s because Bert is invisible But when the used bookstore where Kenneth works closes and he loses his job Kenneth necessities more than an invisible friend to help him land on his feet He requirements friends He requirements population He demands kindness And frankly it s what we all need now which is one reason that Tyler Dobrowsky co-artistic director of the Philadelphia Theatre Company chose Primary Trust to open its - season That and it won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and is being produced in theaters all around the nation It was such a sweet play and is really openhearted It s about the need for population and friendship On the surface it can seem like a simple play but there s such depth to it It s really a heart-forward play Dobrowsky noted Tyler Dobrosky is co-artistic director of the Philadelphia Theatre Company Courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Company Play selection can be complicated Dobrowsky explained he reads about three or four plays a week looking for the right mix for upcoming seasons And literally the first time he read Primary Trust it really didn t hit him But then the agent representing playwright Eboni Booth appealed him to take a second look The same agent also represents Philadelphia s Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames Ijames new play Wilderness Generation will stage its world premiere at the Philadelphia Theatre Company next April directed by Tabai Magar the theatre company s co-artistic director and Dobrowsky s wife Wilderness Generation is another family reunion drama set in the south like Ijames prizewinning play Fat Ham Once Dobrowsky learned that Primary Trust won the Pulitzer and was on stages everywhere his feelings were even more mixed Did he just want to jump on the Primary Trust bandwagon because the play was popular I m a contrarian he admitted The poster artwork for Primary Trust Courtesy of the Philadelphia Theatre Company But the second reading won him over I was so moved by the play I really responded to how the main character is searching for region and friendship and that felt like really sweet and central Dobrowsky mentioned Dobrowsky also sent the play to director Amina Robinson to read When she loved it as well the deal was set Busy September The timing is thought-provoking though Primary Trust opens Sept right in the middle of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival with its -some different shows Not great Dobrowsky admitted The Primary Trust production dates had a lot to do with scheduling when artists were available and when the theater wasn t being rented Next year he hopes Philadelphia Theatre Company can work more closely with Fringe in a more expansive partnership Meanwhile though the Philadelphia Theatre Company has teamed up with Cannonball a subsidiary festival within the Fringe to produce the Philadelphia Theatre Company Text and Dramaturgy Cohort Tabai Magar is the Philadelphia Theatre Company s co-artistic director Courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Company Five playwrights were chosen by Dobrowsky and Magar in consultation with producers at Cannonball The playwrights received mentoring and other endorsement from Dobrowsky and Magar as they prepared their offerings for the Fringe festival using Cannonball s venues We selected five artists to work with over the summer and give feedback guidance and advice Dobrowsky announced Greater part importantly we gave them rehearsal space and a printer for their scripts For Dobrowsky and Magar the collaboration was invigorating he commented and a break from the myriad of less-glamorous aspects of running a theater It was truly a lot of fun he revealed All of their projects seemed really engaging and we were interested in these particular artists They have different backgrounds and are at different levels of their career and advancement For Tabai and me we re still a little new to Philly This allowed us to know artists that we wouldn t have known otherwise Dobrowsky disclosed An image of the set design for Primary Trust by David P Gordon Courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Company FYI Primary Trust Philadelphia Theatre Co Sept -Oct Suzanne Roberts Theatre S Broad St - - Works supported by Cannonball s Philadelphia Theatre Company Text and Dramaturgy Cohort A Journey of Hardship Suffering a work in progress showing a clowny comedy of errors inspired by a true story of a -century Alaska wilderness expedition Mosquitoes included Sept at Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake S Hicks St After Worlds by Taj Rauch from Wherehouse An immersive interactive show an experimental narrative using soundscapes and content clouds Sept and at p m Sept at p m Sept at p m Icebox Project Space Gallery N American St The Super Conductor by August Hakvaag about scientific progress workers rights and physics Sept p m and Sept p m Proscenium at the Drake S Hicks St Caribbean King by AZ Espinoza a de-colonial trans-gressive adaptive confrontation with William Shakespeare s King Lear Sept at p m and Sept at p m Proscenium at the Drake new heaven new earth by Rayne Afro-centric version of William Shakespeare s Antony and Cleopatra from Upstream Performance Collaborative and Shakespeare in Clark Park Sept p m at Proscenium at the Drake The post Philadelphia Theatre Company offering up Pulitzer-winning play and Fringe endorsement to local artists appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY