Keep hoping machine running / Love everybody

Issue 21: Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie

Dear Friend,

On the 50th anniversary of her father’s death, Nora Guthrie recounted a (very) young Bob Dylan saying, "You can listen to Woody Guthrie songs and actually learn how to live." And it's not just his songs. In fact, when we first produced Woody Sez a few years ago, I stumbled upon Guthrie’s 1943 New Years Rulin’s. His all-encompassing regiment provides wisdom and constant inspiration for me. For example, his suggestions range from “eat good…” to “learn people better” to “keep hoping machine running.” I have carried them with me ever since.

Woody penned nearly 3,000 song lyrics, published two novels, and wrote numerous published and unpublished works, including his editorial column Woody Sez, the inspiration for this play's title. This production features three dozen songs comprised almost entirely by Guthrie's own words.

Woody has a lot to say and we are in an especially good moment to listen.

"Take it easy, but take it,"

Marcie Bramucci,
Director of Community Investment

Inside Woody Sez

Next week, four wildly talented musicians take the Leonard C. Haas Stage to conjure the music, the memory, the majesty of folk-music revolutionary Woody Guthrie. This production, which has whipped around the world, was our first introduction to the many and varied talents of creator/performer David M. Lutken (The Road: My Life with John Denver, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash) who reprises his role as the legendary figure, alongside returning artists Helen J. Russell (Ring of Fire…) and Darcie Deaville; and People’s Light newcomers Spiff Wiegand and Mimi Bessette. With the overwhelming response to our 2014 production of Woody Sez, we are eager for even more of our community to enjoy this toe-tapping, hand-clapping, sing-along summer event, back by popular demand August 1-26.

The cast of "Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie" (2014)

Lutken hopes the production captures the iconic troubadour's essence: the jaunty resistance and quiet moral force that Guthrie exuded as he traveled the country in the middle of the twentieth century. “It’s Woody’s personal history, his restless, prodigal, triumphant, gut-wrenching, and defiant life, that gives depth and dimension to his achievements,” Lutken says.

Original direction by Nick Corley with restaging for this production by Sherry Lutken (Director, Ring of Fire). The design team includes Luke Cantarella for set (The Diary of Anne Frank, Morning's at Seven), Jeffrey Meek for costumes, and Master Electrician Gregory Scott Miller for lighting. Kate McSorley Fossner stage manages.

You can bet the company’s beloved BYOI (bring-your-own-instrument) Hootenannies are back for our Thursday evening performances. See below for details.

Surrounding Woody Sez

Enhance your experience! We have great opportunities to dive deep into the world of the play and ask our artists and staff all your burning questions.

Scoop on Wednesday

Resident Dramaturg Gina Pisasale hosts David Lutken (and a rotating surprise guest) for a lively and informal conversation in the Steinbright lobby. Join us for a light bite and a chat beginning August 8th. Tickets are just $5, and now available online.

Thursday Hootenannies

A post-performance BYOI (bring-your-own-instrument) musical free-for-all with the cast. All musicians and music enthusiasts are welcome to hoot, holler, and sing along.

August 9th, 16th, 23rd

More Access

People's Light is wheelchair accessible, service animal-friendly, and we offer assistive listening devices and large print programs at every performance.

Relaxed Performance

August 19th at 2pm

A live theatre experience that invites and encourages (but is not limited to) individuals with Autism, ADD, ADHD, Dementia, and sensory sensitivities. Get more info here.

Open Caption Performances

August 15th at 2pm & 7:30pm
August 19th at 2pm

These performances feature an LED screen above the stage that displays dialogue in real-time. If you are interested in Open Caption services, please notify the Box Office when reserving your tickets so we can seat you in the ideal section.

Downtown at the Drake, PlayPenn's 2018 Conference is in its final weekend under the leadership of Paul Meshejian. Gina Pisasale supports play development (Tha Chink-Mart) while Kevin Bergen (Joan), David Ingram (Dimenticar), Aubie Merrylees (Bruise & Thorn), and Julianna Zinkel (Joan) perform readings of these exciting new plays-in-progress. Many readings are sold out, but click here in hopes of wiggling in via the waitlist. (Word on the street is that folks are rarely turned away...)

Catch Tom Teti “giving the performance of his life” (read more) in Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie at Act II Playhouse through 7/29.

Adventures abound at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival this summer. Erin Sheffield’s Shakespeare for Kids with music by Andrew Kane runs through 8/4, with a relaxed performance 8/1 at 2PM. This week Greg Wood opened All’s Well that Ends Well. Christopher Patrick Mullen pulls double duty performing in both Shakespeare in Love and King Richard II, which run concurrently through 8/5.

David Bradley's brain child Live Connections, together with Philadelphia public high school Hill-Freedman World Academy, released the album What's Going On in June. The collection of student-written songs is the culmination of a year-long collaboration, and the second release from Hill-Freedman's student-led record label.

Cathy Simpson portrayed “Mother of the Earth” alongside an actual herd of sheep and sheep herding dogs in Doggie Hamlet earlier this summer as part of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA).

SummerBLAST is in full force across the People’s Light campus with our rockstar teaching artists: Nadira Beard, Claire Inie-Richards, Susan McKey and Samantha Reading. This team is supported by incoming Director of Education & Civic Practice, Kathryn Moroney. This week our Youth (ages 10-13) create an original play inspired by Jerry Spinelli’s Maniac Magee, while Teens (14-18) tackle playwrighting.

Earlier this summer we wished a fond farewell to our Interim Producer for Arts Discovery, Devon Laudenslager, who accepted the position of Project Director – Literacy in Early Learning Spaces, with the Free Library of Philadelphia, where she is tackling youth literacy. We wish her all the best!

Ken Marini will pick up his clubs in support of Arts Discovery programs for the People’s Light Golf Classic on 10/1. Join him at our new location, White Manor Country Club this fall. Click here for more information.

Meet Kathryn Moroney

People's Light is excited to announce the addition of Kathryn Moroney to our full-time staff in the new role of Director of Education & Civic Practice. To help welcome Kathryn and to introduce you to her, here's an excerpt of an interview between us (visit our blog for the full exchange.)

Marcie Bramucci: How would you describe your new position?

Kathryn Moroney: My role as Director of Education & Civic Practice means that I get to think about all the countless ways to make learning opportunities through theatre. Part of that is planning for school participation: working with classroom groups who will attend our productions or host Teaching Artists in their schools for longer-term residency work. Part of that is giving community youth and adults experiences of being art-makers themselves; our Saturday classes and summer programs are good examples. I’ll also help to steer longer partnerships, such as the work of the New Voices Ensemble, whose members not only study in theatre classes but also develop their own performance of the course of a whole year visiting at People’s Light.

I would call myself a producer, facilitator and educator; I have to be able to plan budgets and staff and schedules, but I also have to see the potential in each production, each affiliated artist, and each community relationship for how we might explore and teach something new together.

MB: What do you like to do when you aren’t running theatre education programs?

KM: I love to travel, whether to visit my family and friends spread around the country or to visit entirely new places. When I’m not traveling, I’m actually pretty good at playing tourist near home – I love exploring local restaurants, performances, nature walks, festivals depending on the season. I used to enjoy running before I let that habit go, and I’m hoping to start up again. (If I declare that publicly, now I’m committed to following through!)

MB: What is a wish that you have (large or small)?

KM: Let’s start with a small wish that will grow: I hope that all of the audiences and families and teachers and colleagues I am about to meet will be candid and open and talkative! I plan to listen and learn a lot this year, so I hope everyone...read more

Looking Forward: Such Things as Vampires

The 2018-2019 Season opener has fangs.

Folk music with a punk attitude. The real story of Mina and Lucy, the heroines at the heart of Bram Stoker's gothic masterpiece, Dracula. A funny and frightening theatrical musical experience, described by its creators as "part concert, part passion play, part ritual."

Such Things as Vampires grew out of our Harmony Lab program and shares roots with Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole. Though Vampires stems from a work of fiction, the themes it addresses—identity; other-ness; love, life, and death—are very real.

Art by Tori Harvey

Sample the original music on SoundCloud! These recordings were taken last summer during a workshop here at People's Light. Music & Lyrics by Zak Berkman and Jessie Fisher.

R.S.V.P. for "Y, I Love You" final performance

Every summer, the New Voices Ensemble performs an original work for family and friends. Some of you may have attended the June 28th performance at Chester City Hall — what a night! If you missed it, there are still limited seats available for the August 3rd performance here at People's Light.

Y, I Love You takes place in the home of Emerson and Gwendolyn Banes on their 50th wedding anniversary. As they go through their daily routine and prepare for a surprise anniversary dinner, the audience sees the Banes' entire lives unfold in flashback. Through the play, director and playwright Nadira Beard and her students have explored issues of family, loss, and resilience across a lifetime.

Performance Dates:
Friday, August 3rd at 7pm | Steinbright Stage, People's Light

RSVP via email to artsdiscovery@peopleslight.org

The cast and crew of Y, I LOVE YOU