Theater
The Allens Lane Theater typically presents four mainstage plays each season, continuing a long-standing community theater program that has seen thousands of artists and audience members pass through its doors.
2023-2024 Theater Season
A Message from the Theater Artistic Director
As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Allens Lane Art Center, we have chosen four Mainstage plays and three Reader’s Theater plays for our theater season that all share the theme of “community.” We all search for community with others in different ways – sometimes it involves finding your place within the community where you live, other times it is about finding the right community of people around you who will accept you for who you are. All the plays this season deal with this in many ways, as theater at its heart is about people coming together for a shared experience of storytelling. For this 70th anniversary season, we are proud to announce the permanent return of the beloved tradition of Café Theater. Settle down around a table with your family and friends and enjoy food and drink before the show. We hope to see you in the audience as we celebrate 70 years of community theater excellence at Allens Lane Art Center.
– Josh Hitchens
In Their Silence
Written by TS Hawkins
Directed by Reva Stover
Starring: Jaylyn Anderson, Jameka Monet Wilson, Sabriaya Shipley
September 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, October 1, 2023
Grace is a burgeoning therapist. Merci dangles for freedom at the bottom of a bourbon glass. College sweethearts and newlyweds, they elope to Philadelphia for a fresh beginning. Stumbling into polarizing landscapes, they struggle in the margins of heart and home. In Their Silence is a choreopoem painting an unfortunate truth of Philadelphia’s social-political landscape. Part of the 2023 Philadelphia Fringe Festival.
Anne of Green Gables
Written by Lucy Maud Montgomery; Adapted by Josh Hitchens
Directed by Kathy Pacheco
December 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 2023
Cherished by generations of children and readers of all ages, this new adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic book tells the tale of Anne Shirley – a red-headed, pigtailed orphan with an extraordinary gift for imagination – who is mistakenly adopted by a lonely brother and sister and miraculously finds a family, friends, and an entire community that loves her for who she is.
Perfect Arrangement
Written by Topher Payne
Directed by Dakota Adams
March 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 2024
Inspired by true stories of the earliest stirrings of the gay rights movement in the 1950s, this play merges madcap I Love Lucy sitcom-style comedy with provocative drama as two seemingly perfect “All-American” couples are forced to contemplate breaking through the closet door. You will laugh so hard you cry – and wonder what’s changed and what’s stayed the same in 70 years.
An Ideal Husband
Written by Oscar Wilde
Directed by Taylor Rouillard
May 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31, June 1, 2, 2024
The promising career of Sir Robert Chiltern, a newly married and upstanding politician, is threatened when a past scandal is revealed and he must turn to his old friend (who is his wife’s former lover) for help. In this hilariously witty Victorian comedy by Oscar Wilde, the hypocrisy of the rich and the ridiculousness of the world of politics is mercilessly satirized – and seems very familiar.
History
Since its establishment in 1953, Allens Lane Art Center has been a vital cornerstone in the Mount Airy, Germantown, and Greater Philadelphia communities with the mission of Growing Together Through the Arts. Allens Lane typically presents four Mainstage productions each season, continuing a long-standing community theater program that has seen thousands of artists and audience members pass through its doors. We are committed to producing purposeful, challenging, and unique theater experiences including the best of contemporary drama, exciting new works, plays for young audiences, and boldly reimagined classics that reflect the rich diversity of the neighborhoods surrounding Allens Lane Art Center. In addition to our Mainstage season, we offer a Reader’s Theater program to present staged readings of new plays by local writers. The theater at Allens Lane aims to bring people of all ages together through the communal power of the arts and is committed to diverse representation in our productions both with the actors onstage and the artists working behind the scenes.
Theater Tickets
In-Person Individual Play Ticket Prices:
$20 General Admission
$15 Senior and Student Discount
Subscription Ticket Prices (includes Main Stage & Reader’s Theatre):
Current Season Subscription Rate: $100
Returning Season Subscription Rate: $80*
*Must have been a subscriber within the past 3 years
Tickets for Reader’s Theater and Alice in Wonderland are Pay-What-You-Wish.
Showtimes
Fridays & Saturdays @ 8:00pm
Sundays @ 2:00pm
Non-subscribers are let in 20 minutes prior to curtain for each performance. Subscribers are let in 30 minutes prior (a benefit of being a subscriber). Reservations for each performance are required. No physical tickets will be issued. Please give your reservation name at the box office when you arrive.
