PHILADELPHIA– Early popular demand has prompted Lantern Theater Company to announce an immediate extension of the upcoming production of David Ives’ The Liar, an adaptation of the 1664 French comedy classic by Pierre Corneille, directed by Associate Artistic Director Kathryn MacMillan. This Philadelphia premiere by the playwright of the Lantern’s smash hit New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656 will now run from November 1 – December 2, 2012 (press opening Wednesday, November 7, 7 p.m.). [A full performance schedule follows in the fact sheet below.]
Incorrigible liar Dorante (Aubie Merrylees) arrives in Paris seeking pleasure and falls head over heels for the beautiful Clarice (Sarah Gliko). When he mistakes her name for her best friend Lucrece (Emilie Krause), Dorante’s lies dig him into a world of trouble. Sophisticated and playful, The Liar showcases Ives’ masterful approach to language with naughty humor skewering high class and young love.
“David Ives refers to The Liar as a translaptation, both translating and adapting from the original French. Similar to his approach to New Jerusalem, the play isn’t reverent to the time period or form, but feels like where we are in this moment,” says director Kathryn MacMillian.
Adds the Lantern’s Artistic Director Charles McMahon, “the play is bursting with youth and vitality. There is a wonderful sense of chaotic improvisation that Ives has woven into the language, which infuses the entire play with a sense that anything can happen at any moment. It’s really extraordinary the range of styles and subjects that Ives has tackled in the past several years, as Philadelphia theatergoers will have a chance to see this season. That works as diverse as The Liar, New Jerusalem, and Venus in Fur could all spring from the same mind is really remarkable.”
Tickets for The Liar are $20 – $38 and are available online at lanterntheater.org or by calling the Lantern Box Office at 215-829-0395. $10 student rush tickets are available 10 minutes before curtain with valid ID; cash only. Additional discounts are available for seniors and groups of 10 or more. Lantern Theater Company is located at St. Stephen’s Theater, 10th & Ludlow Streets in Center City Philadelphia.
The Lantern’s production of The Liar includes a cast of new faces, including up and coming actor Aubie Merrylees (seen in last year’s The Aliens with Theatre Exile and as Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web at the Arden) as the titular liar Dorante. Also making their Lantern debuts are Sarah Gliko (Charlotte in the Arden’s Charlotte’s Web) as Clarice, Emilie Krause (New Paradise Laboratories’ 27, the Arden’s Charlotte’s Web) as Lucrece, Emily Rogge (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective’s The Roman Actor) as twins Isabelle and Sabine, Peter Schmitz (local and national credits include the Walnut, Arden, and Wilma Theaters) as Geronte, and Matt Tallman (Mauckingbird Theatre Company’s The Temperamentals and Much Ado About Nothing) as Philliste. Returning to the Lantern are Jake Blouch (previously Romeo and Juliet, New Jerusalem; coming up in Henry V) as Alcippe and Dave Johnson (Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Sylvestre/Leandro in Scapin) as Dorante’s manservant Cliton.
Complementing the spirit of the play, the set design by Meghan Jones (Private Lives, Romeo and Juliet) and costume design by Maggie Baker (New Jerusalem) will have a modern feel and cheeky edge. Christopher Colucci (Private Lives) returns as composer and sound designer, with Shon Causer (New Jerusalem) as lighting designer and J. Alex Cordaro as Fight Director.
About the Playwright
David Ives is perhaps best known for his evenings of one-act comedies called All in the Timing and Time Flies. All in the Timing won the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award, ran for two years Off-Broadway and, in the 1995-96 season, was the most performed non-Shakespeare play in the country. His full-length plays include his most recent, Venus In Fur, which enjoyed a successful Broadway run last season, earning Ives a Tony nomination for Best Play; New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656, which won the prestigious Hull-Warriner Award and enjoyed two successful runs at the Lantern; Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain); Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; Polish Joke; and Ancient History. In addition to this ‘translaptation’ of The Liar, Ives has translated Feydeau’s classic farce A Flea In Her Ear and Yazmina Reza’s drama A Spanish Play, and adapted Molière’s The Misanthrope into The School for Lies. He is also the author of three young-adult novels. A graduate of Yale School of Drama and a former Guggenheim Fellow in playwriting, Mr. Ives lives in New York City.
2012/13 Season
Lantern Theater Company will continue its 2012/13 season with The Beauty Queen of Leenane, by Martin McDonagh, directed by Kathryn MacMillan (January 10 – February 3, 2013); William Shakespeare’s Henry V, directed by Charles McMahon (March 14 – April 14, 2013); and closing with the Philadelphia premiere of Heroes by Tom Stoppard, adapted from Gérald Sibleyras’ Le Vent Des Peupliers, directed by M. Craig Getting (May 16 – June 9, 2013).
The Liar: FACTS
The Liar
By David Ives
Adapted from the comedy by Pierre Corneille
Directed by Kathryn MacMillan
Dates:
The Liar
November 1 – December 2, 2012
Preview Performances on November 1 – 6
Opening night is Wednesday, November 7, 7:00 p.m.
Theater:
Lantern Theater Company
At St. Stephen’s Theater
10th & Ludlow Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Prices:
Adults: $20-$38
Seniors: $20-$33
Students: $10-$28
$10 student rush tickets available 10 minutes before curtain with valid ID; cash only.
Special discounts are available for seniors and groups of 10 or more.
Tickets:
Phone: (215) 829-0395
Online:www.lanterntheater.org
Cast (in alphabetical order)
Jake Blouch as Alcippe
Sarah Gliko as Clarice
Dave Johnson as Cliton
Emilie Krause as Lucrece
Aubie Merrylees as Dorante
Emily Rogge as Isabelle/Sabine
Peter Schmitz as Geronte
Matt Tallman as Philliste
Production Team
Meghan Jones — Production Manager & Scenic Designer
Maggie Baker — Costume Designer
Shon Causer — Lighting Designer
Christopher Colucci — Composer & Sound Designer
J. Alex Cordaro — Fight Director
Rebecca Smith — Stage Manager
Jarrod Ian Markman — Assistant Director
PERFORMANCES
Thu, 11/1 at 7:00pm
Fri, 11/2 at 8:00pm
Sat, 11/3 at 8:00pm
Sun, 11/4 at 2:00pm
Tue, 11/ 6 at 7:00pm
Wed, 11/7 * at 7:00pm
Thu, 11/8 at 7:00pm
Fri, 11/9 DIC at 8:00pm
Sat, 11/10 at 8:00pm
Sun, 11/11 AIC at 2:00pm
Wed, 11/14 at 2:00pm
Wed, 11/14 at 7:00pm
Thu, 11/15 at 7:00pm
Fri, 11/16 ADIC at 8:00pm
Sat, 11/17 at 8:00pm
Sun, 11/18 at 2:00pm
Wed, 11/21 at 7:00pm
Fri, 11/23 OC at 8:00pm
Sat, 11/24 OC at 2:00pm
Sat, 11/24 at 8:00pm
Sun, 11/25 at 2:00pm
Extended Dates
Wed, 11/28 at 7:00pm
Thu, 11/29 at 7:00pm
Fri, 11/30 at 8:00pm
Sat, 12/1 at 8:00pm
Sun, 12/2 at 2:00pm
*Opening Night
DIC: Directors: In Conversation, 7 p.m.
AIC: Artists: In Conversation, post-show
ADIC: Artistic Directors: In Conversation, 7 p.m.
OC: Open Captioned Performance
