City Lit Theater announces 33rd season
City Lit Theater (1020 W Bryn Mawr) has announced its 33rd season, which consists of Frankenstein, The Cricket in the Hearth, Peyton Place and Comrades Mine. Frankenstein opens the season with previews on Friday, September 28, 2012, and runs through Sunday, November 4. City Lit Theater is located in the historic Edgewater Presbyterian Church building, and the group specializes in literate theatre, including stage adaptations of literary material. Subscription for the 2012-2013 season runs $85. For more info or to purchase online click here.
About the shows:
Frankenstein tells the classic tale of Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the creation that ends up ruling his life. Opening on a haggard, emaciated, and nearly frozen Frankenstein, the story follows the doctor as the Creature goes from conception to creation. This haunting tale makes real the devastating effects that result from the denial of love. One of the first horror novels, Mary Shelley’s story continues to captivate readers and audiences alike due to a complex “monster” in search of a place in the world.
The Cricket on the Hearth is a celebration of the magic of domesticity. The story follows the intersecting lives of the Perrybingles and the Plummers as well as that of the miser, Mr. Tackleton. Dickens uses his characters to stress the importance and power of love as the ruler of one’s life.
Peyton Place, dubbed by John Waters “the first dirty book the baby-boom generation ever read,” is set in a seemingly quiet New England town. The story follows the lives of the emotionally distant Constance McKenzie, her daughter Allison, and Allison’s best friend Selena Cross as they come to terms with their sexual identities in an environment of repression. Mixing the salacious with the insightful, the story uncovers the uncomfortable secrets often pushed under the rug, forcing the characters to declare themselves as individuals.
Comrades Mine continues City Lit’s Civil War Sesquicentennial Project. “What part am I to act in this great drama?” When Emma Edmonds wrote this question in her memoir of the Civil War, she had already answered it by serving in the Army of the Potomac for two years disguised as a man. This is based on the incredible true story of a woman who went to great lengths to serve.
