What What

Conor McPherson and Theatre Exile present SHINING CITY

Places → Where to go

Posted By: Aaron Van Gossen | April 4, 2010 | No comments

Theatre Exile will close out its 2009-2010 season with Conor McPherson’s Tony Award nominated play, Shining City at Plays and Players Theatre. And there could be no better show to round out such a fantastic 13th season. First with Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s dark comedy Hunter Gatherers, and then the world premiere of Any Given Monday by Philadelphia’s own Bruce Graham. Add to that the premier season of Exile’s new series, Studio X-Hibition, staged readings of brand new works by five Philadelphia playwrights, this has been quite a season of spectacular theatre for Philadelphia’s edgiest theatre company. Exile has made its mark on the Philadelphia theatre scene by never backing down from its mission statement to produce provocative works that give voice to artists and plays that aren’t normally given much attention in mainstream theatre. In these bad economic times when many theatre companies are ‘playing it safe’ to ensure good ticket sales, Exile has continued to produce dark, edgy, in your face theatre that has become its trademark.

This continues with Shining City, Conor McPherson’s hauntingly beautiful drama set in Dublin, Ireland. John (Scott Greer) is haunted by visions of his dead wife, whose accidental death he feels responsible for. But not only that, John is seeing the ghost of his wife all over his house, making him terrified to go home. To deal with this he sees Ian (William Zielinski) a novice psychiatrist who has his own set of problems to deal with after first leaving his church, then his girlfriend and new baby. Together, they come to realizations about losing faith in God and relationships, and ultimately learn to deal with the guilt. Shining City was written after Conor McPherson went to therapy to deal with his alcoholism. McPherson treats therapy as both something serious and humorous. After all, there is a certain redundancy in a profession that encourages people to talk in a culture known for storytelling.

Shining City, directed by Matt Pfeiffer (2008 F. Otto Haas award winner for Best Emerging Theatre Artist and Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Exile), and co-starring Keith Conallen and Genevieve Perrier (most recently seen in Any Given Monday), opens for previews on April 7, with the press opening April 9. Theatre Exile is also hosting ‘Meet the Artist Night’ on Wednesday April 14 at 6:30 in Quig’s Pub, upstairs from the theatre. Come raise a pint with the actors, director, designers and the great staff of Theatre Exile before the show. I’ll be there; and me after three Guinness’s is quite a sight to see, trust me.

Plays and Players Theatre is located at 1714 Delancey Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. For tickets call the box office at 215-218-4022 or go online at www.theatreexile.org. And tell them Aaron sent you.