For Immediate Release: October 19, 2005
Media Contact: Sue Winge, Villanova Theatre, 610.519.7454

Villanova Theatre is pleased to present Incorruptible, a dark comedy about the Dark Ages written by Michael Hollinger, a Philadelphia-based playwright and assistant professor of theatre at Villanova, and Harriet Power, a Barrymore Award-winning director and associate professor of theatre.

Incorruptible runs November 15-20 and November 29-December 4, 2005, at Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday-Saturday and 2:00pm Sunday. Tickets are $18-$22, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups, and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474. Additional information is available online at www.theatre.villanova.edu.

Incorruptible received its world premiere in Philadelphia in 1996 and has since been produced across the U.S. and in Europe. The play is set in a down-on-its-luck monastery in Priseaux, France, in 1250 A.D., and explores the extremes to which the monks must go when things get desperate. Their holy relic, the bones of Saint Foy, has not produced a miracle in 13 years and the town's peasants refuse to pay to pray before her. The destitute monks feel their faith slipping away - until they cross paths with a sneaky, one-eyed traveling minstrel who teaches them an outrageous new way to pay off their old debts.

"The brilliance of Incorruptible lies in its wonderful balance of giddy humor against the challenges of trying to turn ideals into action," said Power. "What makes the play magical for me is its effervescent wit leavened by one of the most important paradoxes we humans face: How far are we willing to go in pursuit of our highest ideals?"

Hollinger found his inspiration for Incorruptible in St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York.

"I was walking through and saw a sign announcing that the finger bone of a saint was on display in the basement," he recalled. "I turned to my wife, who went through 18 years of Catholic education, and said 'They don't really have somebody's finger downstairs do they?' She assured me that they did and that was my introduction to the world of holy relics."

At the time Hollinger wrote the play, he was working at a non-profit theatre.

"When I started the play I was attracted by the comic possibilities of all these wacky monks," said Hollinger. "But as I continued to write, I discovered that their dire financial situation was not unlike the theatre I worked at where each season we had to receive substantial grants and sell tickets in order to survive another year and continue to fulfill our mission. The experience allowed me to see the central conflict of the play as one of means and ends."

Power concurred with Hollinger, explaining that "whether you are a theatre artist, a parent, a member of a religious order, a university professor - mission statements and budgets and bottom lines insinuate themselves into our lives, whether we want them to or not."

Another big thrust of the play is the phenomenon of miracles - will something truly miraculous occur if the monks have enough faith?

"This is a world where miracles are possible," Power said. "Miracles can happen, but I don't think they are common and they do not always seem to come when you need them."

Hollinger is a graduate of Villanova's M.A. theatre program and currently teaches playwriting and other theatre courses. He is the author of the plays Tooth and Claw, Red Herring, Incorruptible, An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf, and Tiny Island, all of which premiered at Philadelphia's Arden Theatre Company and have together enjoyed productions around the country, off-Broadway, and abroad. His newest play, Opus, will premiere at the Arden and Pittsburgh's City Theatre in 2006. Hollinger has written seven touring plays for young audiences, as well as the 3D Laser Show Extreme Choices for New Jersey's Liberty Science Center. For PBS, he wrote three short films and co-authored the feature-length Philadelphia Diary. Hollinger's awards include the Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays, a Barrymore Award for Outstanding New Play, the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist, a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award, the Frederick Loewe Award for Musical Theatre, and fellowships from the Independence Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Power has worked with playwrights throughout her career, as a resident director of Bay Area Playwrights Festival, West Coast Playwrights, and the Iowa Playwrights Festival, as well as during her tenure as Artistic Director of Venture Theatre and at the International Women Playwrights Festival in Galway, Ireland. Incorruptible launches a busy season of directing for her; future projects include Syncopation at Act II Playhouse in March 2006, the world premiere of Seth Rozin's Reinventing Eden at InterAct Theatre Company in April 2006, and Sebastian Barry's Fred and Jane, highlighting Villanova's Irish Festival in April 2006. She is the recipient of three Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Direction for Measure for Measure at Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, A Moon for the Misbegotten at Venture Theatre, and Angels in America: Perestroika, for which she received the 1997 award with Villanova colleague James J. Christy.

The cast of Incorruptible features a mix of graduate theatre students and guest artists, including Villanova professor Timothy Horner as Charles, the abbot of Priseaux; Villanova acting instructor David Whalen (featured as Kippy in Philadelphia Theatre Company's Take Me Out) as his second-in-command, Martin; Matthew Rohner as Brother Olf; Jared Nelson as Brother Felix; Barbara Quinn as a Peasant Woman from the village; Shane Borer as Jack, a one-eyed minstrel; Jessica Dal Canton as Marie, Jack's wife of sorts; and Taylor Williams as Agatha, the abbess of Bernay.

The production team is comprised of scenic designer Dirk Durossette, costume designer Charlotte Cloe Fox Wind, lighting designer Jerold R. Forsyth, properties designer cdavid hall-cottrill, sound designer John Stovicek, and dramaturg Baird Kistner. The choreographer is Samantha Bellomo and the fight choreographer is John Bellomo.

Incorruptible runs November 15-20 and November 29-December 4, 2005, at Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus. Showtimes are 8:00pm Tuesday-Saturday and 2:00pm Sunday. Tickets are $18-$22 and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474. Additional information is available online at www.theatre.villanova.edu.

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