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Center Valley, PA, July 13, 2023—Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) presents Olivier Award-winning writer Jessica Swale’s delightful adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. The production previews July 20 and 21, opens Saturday, July 22 and runs through August 5 in repertory with William Shakespeare’s The Tempest on the Main Stage at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts at DeSales University in Center Valley, PA.
The future is uncertain for sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood as they are left penniless and without prospects in a culture where status and matchmaking are nothing short of essential. As their family is forced to begin a new life in Devonshire, the Dashwood sisters discover the cruelties and unpredictability that come with the search for true love. Jane Austen’s razor-sharp wit shines through in this fresh and funny adaptation.
“It’s her (Swale’s) adaptation of Sense and Sensibility you’ll see onstage and what she achieves is masterful,” says Director Jessica Bedford. “Swale embraces the search for soulmates for the sisters with big open arms; it isn’t a marriage plot, it’s a love story and I can’t wait to bring it to life for audiences.”
Bedford is a Philadelphia based actor, director, dramaturg, playwright, and professor of theatre who is currently teaching at DeSales University. She is a co-author of the satirical piece The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged. Her recent directing credits include Delaware Shakespeare, Philadelphia Artists Collective, Act II Playhouse, ACT 1 Productions at DeSales, and McCarter Theatre.
In the cast are artists with numerous combined PSF credits including Akeem Davis as Edward Ferrars (Henry V, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing), Arrianna Daniels as Marianne Dashwood (DeSales Theatre graduate; PSF, Winnipesaukee Playhouse, River Union Stage, Rogue Theater Festival), Gina Lamparella as Mrs. Dashwood (onstage: Pericles and The Tempest; as director: Crazy For You, Richard II, and WillPower Tours), and Christopher Patrick Mullen as Thomas Middleton/Sir John/Dr. Harris (Shakespeare In Love, Richard II, Loveʼs Labour’s Lost, Julius Caesar, Pericles, Charleyʼs Aunt, and many more).
Joining them are John Austin as Willoughby (National Players-Olney Theatre, Arena Stage, Round House, Shakespeare Theatre Company), Sarah Gliko as Elinor Dashwood (founding member, Wilma HotHouse Acting Company: The Rain Stops Falling-Barrymore Award), Gregory Isaac as Col. Brandon (Lantern Theater, Walnut Street Theatre, Delaware Shakespeare), David Pica as John Dashwood/Perkins/Mr. Palmer (Arden Theatre, Hedgerow Theatre, Delaware Shakespeare), Sue Jin Song as Mrs. Jennings (Off- Broadway: The World of Extreme Happiness-NYC premiere, Manhattan Theatre Club), and Billie Wyatt as Fanny Dashwood (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ: Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare Live! 2019-2021).
Rounding out the cast are PSF Young Company actors Megan Castellane (Lucy Steele), CaSandra Kay Danubio (Miss Grey), Iyanu Joshuasville (Robert Ferrars), Nicole Lawrie (Margaret Dashwood), Abagaile Ruger (Mrs. Palmer), and Christian Tuffy (Barton Park).
Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility will feature lighting by Lily Fossner, sound by David M. Greenberg, choreography by Gina Lamparella, costumes by Leigh Paradise, set design by Steve TenEyck, and wig design by Carissa Thorlakson. The Stage Manager is Leslie Ann Boyden and the Assistant Stage Manager is Emma D. Emde. Rodrigo Hernandez Martinez is the associate scenic designer and Eli Lynn is the intimacy director. Charlotte Northeast is the dialect coach.
Audiences can enhance the experience before every performance with live music and a variety of dining options “On the Green.” Other special offerings are an Opening Night post-show champagne toast with the PSF Company on Saturday, July 22; a specialty dinner themed to the play with behind-the-scenes insights on Saturday, July 29, at 5:00pm; a talk-back with the actors after the show on Thursday, July 27; and an Audio Described and Open Captioned performance on Wednesday, August 2, 7:30pm.
The Production Sponsor for Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is Breslin Architects, and the Co-Sponsor is Keenan-Nagle Advertising. The 2023 Season Sponsors are Yvonne Payne and Edward Spitzer. The Associate Season Sponsors are Douglas Dykhouse, Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth, Kathleen Kund Nolan and Timothy E. Nolan, The Szarko Family, and Harry C. Trexler Trust.
Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 610.282.WILL [9455] or by visiting the PSF box office at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts.
Summer 2023 Season:
Schubert Theatre: Henry IV, Part 2 (May 31 to June 11); James and the Giant Peach (July 7 to Aug 5); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (July 19 to August 6).
Main Stage: In the Heights (June 14 to July 2); The Tempest (July 12 to August 6); Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (July 20 to August 6); Shakespeare for Kids (July 26 to August 5).
Outdoor Summer Stage: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again] (June 28 to July 16).
“Play On!” A Midsummer Night’s Dream Community Tour: (June 2 to June 18).
Artistic Leadership, Cast, and Creative Bios, here.
About Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is the only professional Equity theatre of its scope and scale within a 50-mile radius. PSF is one of only a handful of theatres on the continent producing Shakespeare, musicals, classics, and contemporary plays, all of which can normally be seen in repertory and in multiple spaces within a few visits in a single summer season. Similarly, PSF was among just a handful of theatres on the continent in recent summers to produce three Shakespeare plays in a single summer season. A patron would have to travel seven to nine hours from PSF to find a comparable range of offerings at a single theatre within a few weeks’ time.
The Festival’s award-winning company of many world-class artists includes Broadway, film, and television veterans, and winners and nominees of the Tony, Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson, Hayes, Lortel, and Barrymore awards. A leading Shakespeare theatre with a national reputation for excellence, PSF has received coverage in The Washington Post, NPR, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and in recent seasons The New York Times has identified PSF as one of the leading summer theatre festivals in the nation. “A world-class theater experience on a par with the top Bard fests,” is how one New York Drama Desk reviewer characterized PSF.
Founded in 1992 and the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PSF’s mission is to enrich, inspire, engage, and entertain the widest possible audience through first-rate productions of classical and contemporary plays, with a core commitment to Shakespeare and other master dramatists, and through an array of education and mentorship programs. A not-for-profit theatre, PSF receives significant support from its host, DeSales University, from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Traditionally, with 150 performances over ten weeks, the Festival attracts patrons each summer from 30+ states. In 30 years, PSF has offered 200+ total productions (82 Shakespeare), and entertained 1,000,000+ patrons from 50 states, now averaging 34,000-40,000 in attendance each summer season, plus another 13,000 students each year through its WillPower Tour to schools. PSF is a multi-year recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts: Shakespeare in American Communities, and is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group, and the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA). In 2013, leaders of the world’s premiere Shakespeare theatres gathered at PSF as the Festival hosted the international STA Conference. The Festival’s vision is for world-class theatre.
Information provided to TVL by:
Tina Louise Slak
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
The Professional Theatre at DeSales University
2755 Station Avenue
Center Valley, PA 18034
p: 610-282-WILL [9455]
www.pashakespeare.org
