PHILADELPHIA: 1812 Productions has announced its 2015–16 season, including three mainstage comedy productions and three limited engagement events of classic material and original works.
The season begins with the Philadelphia premiere of The Shoplifters (Aug. 27–Sept. 20) by Morris Panych. The comedy is about Alma and Otto, a pair of senior citizens in trouble with the law. This production will feature Mary Martello and Johnnie Hobbs Jr., and will be staged at Arden Theatre Company.
1812 then celebrates the 10th anniversary production of the political satire This Is the Week That Is (Nov. 27–Dec. 31) by the This Is The Week That Is ensemble, just in time for the 2016 presidential election campaigns.
Next is I Will Not Go Gently (April 21–May 15, 2016), a new one-woman comedy written and performed by Jennifer Childs. The show is about rock-and-roll widows and “welfare queens” straddling the past and the future and trying to figure out how to survive in the present. This production will appear as the second initiative of 1812’s Women and Comedy Project.
The first special event of the season, Improvukkah: Improv for the Holidays (Dec. 14–15), will feature Thomas E. Shotkin in an evening of on-the-spot comedy celebrating the Festival of Lights.
A Tribute to Joan Rivers (Feb 29–March 1, 2016) will salute the famous and infamous work of the late comedian.
Lastly, 1812 Productions will celebrate a classic American humorist in the 5th annual series of An Evening Without… (May 2–3, 2016). The featured comedian is yet to be announced.
