Amaryllis Theatre Company

Media relations for Amaryllis Theatre Company’s 2010-11 Season.

2010-11 Season

Dublin Carol
by Conor McPherson
Directed by Mimi Kenney Smith
December 7-19, 2010

Dublin Carol explores the world of John Plunkett, an undertaker whose life was nearly destroyed by drinking, as he shares memories of his tangled past with his young assistant on a rainy Christmas Eve in Dublin, Ireland. When an unexpected visitor arrives, John’s present and past collide, creating an uncertain future. With acerbic wit and an eye for the telling phrase, this dramatic spellbinder offers a contemporary Christmas carol for our times. The Amaryllis production of Dublin Carol is part of the Philadelphia Irish Theatre Festival, presented by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. During the Festival, six Philadelphia-area theatre companies will present works by Irish playwrights between December 2010 and May 2011.

Lydia
by Octavio Solis
Directed by Josette Todaro
April 12-23, 2011

In the 1970s on the Texas border separating the United States and Mexico, the Flores family welcomes Lydia, an undocumented maid, into their El Paso home to care for their daughter Ceci, who was tragically disabled in a car accident on the eve of her quinceañera, her fifteenth birthday. Lydia’s immediate and seemingly miraculous bond with Ceci sets the entire family on a mysterious and shocking journey of discovery.

The cast of Lydia includes Caitlin Elizabeth Reilly as 17-year-old Ceci with Anjoli Santiago as Lydia; Mário Canavarro as Misha, Ceci’s 16-year-old younger brother; Joe Guzmán as Claudio, the father; Johanna Carden, as Rosa, the mother; Jonathan Rivera as Alvaro, a 22-year-old cousin of the Flores family; and Robert DaPonte, as Rene, Ceci’s 19-year-old brother. 

Lydia is recommended for mature audiences only. This play contains nudity and extreme situations. It is not appropriate for children.

Amaryllis Theatre Company’s production of Song of Extinction by EM Lewis has been postponed. The run dates were originally scheduled for June 7-19, 2011. Details about rescheduling the production will be announced when available.

Song of Extinction
by EM Lewis

Max is unraveling.  His mother is dying of cancer and his father, a biologist obsessed with a rare insect, is incapable of dealing. School is the last thing on his mind so when a teacher, Khim Phan, tries to help Max, they find themselves on an emotional journey to the Cambodian killing fields and beyond.

Tickets

All tickets are $10 and are available by calling the Amaryllis box office at (267) 273-9823 or online at www.amaryllistheatre.org. All productions will be held at The Playground at the Adrienne, located at 2030 Sansom Street in Philadelphia.

Amaryllis Theatre Company produces award-winning, professional theatre that is fully inclusive and accessible. Founded in 1999 by Linda Merians, Mimi Kenney Smith and Stephen Smith, Amaryllis is one of only a handful of professional theatres in the country that regularly hires actors with disabilities. Over the last eleven years, Amaryllis has opened its productions to all, producing plays featuring actors with and without disabilities. Amaryllis provides universal accessibility for both the actors and the audience members. The company has produced plays in American Sign Language and provides programs in traditional print, large print and Braille and not only provides captioning and audio description but also shares this equipment and trains its colleagues statewide in accessibility. Amaryllis is the theatrical producing arm of VSA Pennsylvania, the state organization on Arts and Disability and, through VSA, of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Amaryllis Theatre Company presents Lydia, April 12 – 23, 2011 @ The Playground at the Adrienne

PHILADELPHIA – Amaryllis Theatre Company will present the Philadelphia Premiere of the intense, lyrical, and magical new play Lydia by Octavio Solis. One of the most talked-about works of 2009, the controversial play transports audiences to a 1970s Texas border town and into the home of a struggling Mexican immigrant family. Directed by Amaryllis Managing Director Josette Todaro, Solis’ “fresh, penetrating, often blissful play” (New York Times) is an unflinching and deeply emotional portrait of a family caught in a web of dark secrets.

Lydia runs from April 12 – 23, 2011 (opening night is Wednesday, April 13 at 7 p.m.) at The Playground at the Adrienne, located at 2030 Sansom Street in Philadelphia. All tickets are $10 and are available by calling the Amaryllis box office at (267) 273-9823 or online at www.amaryllistheatre.org.

Downloads

Anjoli Santiago as Lydia with Caitlin Elizabeth Reilly as Ceci in Amaryllis Theatre Company's production of Lydia by Octavio Solis. 1.86 MB
Robert DaPonte as Rene and Mário Canavarro as Misha in Amaryllis Theatre Company's production of Lydia by playwright Octavio Solis. 3.16 MB

Press Mentions

'Lydia': Family tragedy with a touch of the supernatural

The Philadelphia Inquirer


“Octavio Solis’ Lydia, currently receiving a forceful, unembellished treatment by Amaryllis Theatre Company, is often compared to an Arthur Miller American-dream-gone-awry family drama. But while it may rest on a similar framework, it owes an equal debt to the dark vision and supernaturalism of such Latino playwrights as Jose Rivera… Director Josette Todaro lets the play spin like a whirlwind, building momentum and gathering grit.”


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