For Immediate Release: September 8, 2005
Media Contact: Sharla Feldscher for Enchantment Theatre Company, 215.627.0801 x101

Enchantment Theatre Company brings magic to the stage this holiday season with Cinderella, opening December 9 and running through December 23 with more than 26 performances at The Mandell Theater. Cinderella, the company's fifth annual holiday production, is sure to delight both children and their adult companions.

The story of Cinderella may be well-known to the stage and screen, but Enchantment Theatre Company digs deeper than the traditional girl-meets-prince tale and presents a touching story about learning to believe in yourself and daring to follow your dreams. Featuring masked actors skillfully intertwined with life-size puppets, complex illusions, shadow play, and a captivating, original score, this version of Cinderella makes a familiar story seem new.

Audiences will be filled with wonder when Cinderella magically floats her broom across the kitchen floor; the Fairy Godmother transforms a pumpkin into an elegant coach with a horse and footman; and Cinderella's ragged dress changes into a stunning gown. Exquisite costumes, imaginative sets and dazzling special effects round out the production.

Enchantment Theatre Company has been playing to Philadelphia audiences since 2000, when it committed itself to becoming the city's own theatrical group just for children and families. Each year the company has presented a lavish holiday production on a downtown stage, including such favorites as Beauty and the Beast, Snow Queen and Pinocchio.

Founded in 1979 by Jennifer Blatchley Smith and Landis Smith, both writers and performers, Enchantment Theatre Company has toured its original productions all over the world. The company has toured in the Far East six times, performing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. It also has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center in New York City and at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. In addition to touring its productions across the United States and overseas, Enchantment Theatre stages additional repertoire with symphony orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, with which it collaborated on a theatrical adaptation of Igor Stravinsky's "The Firebird" at The Kimmel Center in November 2003.

Partnering with Jennifer and Landis Smith is Leslie Reidel, resident director and writer, who is currently a Professor of Theater at the University of Delaware and whose directorial credits include the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Utah, Colorado and Fort Worth Shakespeare Festivals, and 12 years as resident director of the Great American Children's Theater. Award-winning composer Andy Teirstein has collaborated with Enchantment Theatre on several productions, including Cinderella. In addition to writing soundtracks for the company, Teirstein has created scores for several PBS and BBC films, and he has received awards from the NEA, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Meet the Composer. He is currently on the faculty of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Ticket prices for Cinderella are $26-20 for adults, $14-10 for children, with special group rates as low as $8 per ticket, and $2 discount for seniors. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Enchantment Theatre Company Box Office at (215) 881-9899 or by visiting www.enchantmenttheatre.org.

The Mandell Theater is located at 33rd and Chestnut Streets, on the campus of Drexel University in Philadelphia.

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