People's Light & Theatre Company presents THE GIVER, running April 26 - May 20, 2007 on the Main Stage. THE GIVER is directed by David Bradley and is adapted by Eric Coble from the Newbery Award-winning novel by Lois Lowry. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern. For tickets call 610-644-3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org.

A favorite of many students and teachers, THE GIVER tells the story of Jonas. In Jonas's world, everything is the same. There is no fear, no pain, and no memory. When Jonas turns 12 years-old, the Elders bestow on him the job he will hold for his lifetime and introduce him to The Giver. Jonas learns that he has the power to "see beyond" and discovers a choice that could challenge everything he felt was true and change his community forever.

THE GIVER was originally produced at the Oregon Children's Theatre in the fall of 2005. Though THE GIVER is not a brand new adaptation, it fulfills People's Light's goal to bring recognizable stories from literature to the stage. Artistic Director Abigail Adams says, "We have discovered that young audiences feel a strong connection to the work on stage when they see stories they know delivered in a new way."

This is People's Light's 10th Anniversary Season of the Family Discovery Series, a series designed to challenge, inspire, and delight young audiences, as well as the entire family. Recently, the Adaptation Project was launched and PLTC has commissioned two playwrights to do original adaptations of award-winning novels for young adults. CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD and GETTING NEAR TO BABY will be produced as part of the 2007/2008 Family Discovery Series. Both of these stories, as well as THE GIVER, are Newbery winners, awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year.

THE GIVER previews on Thursday, April 26, 2007. Opening night is at 7pm on Friday, April 27, 2007. The show runs through May 20, 2007. Tickets are now on sale and range in price from $20-$26, with discounts available for groups of 10 or more.

KEY BIOS

Lois Lowry (Author) is a prolific novelist and two-time Newbery Award winner. Ms. Lowry has written several series for young people, including the Anastasia Series (Anastasia Krupnik, Anastasia Again!, Anastasia at Your Service, Anastasia Ask Your Analyst, Anastasia on her Own, Anastasia Has the Answers, Anastasia's Chosen Career, Anastasia at this Address, and Anastasia Absolutely), the Sam Krupnik Series (All About Sam, Attaboy Sam!, See you Around, Sam, and Zooman Sam), the Tate Series (The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline, Switcharound, and Your Move, J.P.!), The Trilogy (The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger), and the Gooney Bird Books (Gooney Bird Greene and Gooney Bird and the Room Mother). In addition she has written The Silent Boy, A Summer to Die (a loosely autobiographical story of the death of Ms. Lowry's sister at a young age), Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye, Autumn Street, Taking Care of Terrific, Us and Uncle Fraud, Rabble Starkey, Stay! Keeper's Story, Number the Stars, and Looking Back. Ms. Lowry received the Newbery Medal, an award given annually by the Association for Library Services to Children, a division of the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. She received the medal in 1990 for Number the Stars and in 1994 for The Giver.

Eric Coble (Apapter) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. He has written both plays and screenplays, authoring a sizable number of plays for young audiences. Mr. Coble's plays for young people include Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Red Shoes, Gold in the Bones, Lake of Panthers, Sacagawea, Vote? and Cinderella Confidential. His plays have been produced Off-Broadway and on four continents, including productions at Manhattan Class Company, the Kennedy Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Play House, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alliance Theater, Stages Repertory, Playwrights Horizons, Laguna Playhouse, Curious Theatre, and the Contemporary American Theater Festival. Mr. Coble has received the AT&T Onstage Award, the National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, two TCG Extended Collaboration Grants, Aristophanes Award for Best Off-Broadway Comedy, First Place in the Southwest Festival of New Plays, Heideman Finalist for Actors Theatre of Louisville, Best of the CATCO Shorts Festival, and an Ohio Arts Council Grant. Currently Mr. Coble lives in Cleveland, Ohio where he is a member of the Cleveland Play House Playwrights Unit.

David Bradley (Director) is a long-time company member at People's Light. From 2002-2006 he was Associate Artistic Director at the Theatre and jointly led Project Discovery. His most recent project has been as Artistic Director of Living News, a new theatre piece about constitutional issues currently running at the National Constitution Center. His more than 20 People's Light productions include Robin Hood, The Crucible, Jack & the Beanstalk, Holes, He Held Me Grand, A View From the Bridge, Jungalbook, Pretty Fire, Iron Kisses, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Icarus Box. David has directed at Indiana Repertory Theatre and Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis and is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center Theater's Director's Lab. He teaches at Arcadia University and consults on projects relating to the arts, education, communication and leadership. David is a graduate of Yale University and lives in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia.

Marla Burkholder (Fiona/Rosemary) is back at People's Light after performing as Maid Marion in Robin Hood in the fall. Marla splits her time between acting in various theaters in the Philadelphia area and teaching in the theater department at Temple University. This summer she will be teaching for the People's Light Summerstage program and playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with Shakespeare in Clark Park.

Peter DeLaurier (Father) is an Artistic Associate at People's Light and has been with the Theatre since 1981. He wrote the adaptation for our recent production of Anne of Green Gables. He also played Matthew Cuthbert in that production, and his wife, Resident Ensemble member Ceal Phelan, played his sister, Marilla. Other PLTC family series productions include: Jason and the Golden Fleece, Around the World in 80 Days, The Forgiving Harvest, Holes, The Secret Garden, The Dreaming of Aloysius..., and Afternoon of the Elves. He was nominated for the Barrymore Award for his performance in PLTC's Man From Nebraska and won that award for the one-man show Underneath the Lintel at the Lantern Theater Company. He has directed at PLTC and at theatres around the country, serving as Artistic Director of New Stage Theatre in Jackson, MS. With Ceal and other friends, he co-founded two of Delaware's professional theatres: The Delaware Theatre Company (1978) and First Stage (1987).

Mark Del Guzzo (Asher) was most recently seen here in Robin Hood, Yemaya's Belly, and Jason and the Golden Fleece. Other PLTC appearances include 30FEST [POPS and The Cuban Swimmer], A Midsummer Night's Dream, Sleeping Beauty, The Miser, Born Yesterday, and Holes-both here and the remounting at the Academy of Music. He began his affiliation with People's Light at age 8, taking part in the Summerstage program and joining The New Voices Ensemble several years later. Mark has also spent the last few years as a teaching assistant with the Summerstage program and has spent the last couple years teaching classes at People's Light for 2nd and 3rd as well as 7th through 8th graders. A member of the Resident Ensemble, he was also seen here in The Fantasticks, Once in a Lifetime, Peter Pan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (performed at Swarthmore College), Grimm Tales, More Grimm Tales, Arabian Nights, and Sally's Gone, She Left Her Name. He is the vocalist/lyricist for the hard-core band Last Day Dying and in his spare time, he is working on his poetry and short stories which he hopes to one day perform.

Melanye Finister (Mother/Chief Elder) was most recently seen in Something You Did, Fabulation and The Member of the Wedding, and is currently the Director of Audience Development at People's Light. She has been a company member since 1991 and has appeared in over a dozen plays at PLTC, including 30FEST: The Moon Please and July 7,1994, String of Pearls, Afternoon of the Elves, Gospel at Colonus, More Grimm Tales, and Beauty and the Beast. She has also worked for the Arden, InterAct Theatre Company, Venture Theater, The Wilma, and The Walnut Street Theatre.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Lily) is a fifth grade student at the Rosemont School of the Holy Child. After her participation in the Summerstage program, this is her first Main Stage production at The People's Light & Theatre Company. Maggie has also participated in Summerstage at the Walnut Street Theatre and The Media Theatre. Maggie has performed as Fan in the Cardinal O'Hara High School production of Alan Menken's musical The Christmas Carol. She has performed in various roles at the Hedgerow Theatre, including most recently as the lead role in Carole and Bill Luttrell's musical Red Robbie's Christmas Story. She just finished performing as Ngana in Devon Prep's production of South Pacific. She studies dance at the Ellen Crescenta School of Dance and voice with Nora Whittaker.

Cedric Lilly (Jonas) is returning to People's Light for his third production-he was last seen in Robin Hood. Cedric is a graduate of The University of the Arts and has worked with Philadelphia area theater companies such as The Wilma, The Arden, Pig Iron Theatre Co., and 1812 Productions.

Stephen Novelli (The Giver) was seen recently in The Imaginary Invalid, The Crucible, Jack & the Beanstalk, and The Member of the Wedding, is an Associate Artistic Director at PLTC. He has directed Tuesdays with Morrie, POPS and The Mourning Show for 30FEST, Camping with Henry and Tom, The Hope Zone, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, and Glengarry Glen Ross, among others. A member of the resident company since 1974, he has performed in many productions, including roles in 30FEST, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Around the World in 80 Days, Born Yesterday, Julius Caesar, Arthur's Stone, Merlin's Fire, Midons - or The Object of Desire, The Little Foxes, The Little Prince, all 3 versions of A Christmas Carol, The Merchant of Venice, Sacco and Vanzetti: A Vaudeville, Sign of the Lizard, The Playboy of the Western World, Sister Carrie, Hamlet, Tartuffe, The Tempest, and Have It Your Way.

TICKET INFORMATION

For information or to purchase tickets, visit www.peopleslight.org or contact the Box Office, open daily from noon until 6pm, at 610-644-3500. Select 10am performances are available to school groups and include discounted tickets, supplemental materials, and a "talk back" with the artists. Group discounts for regular matinee and evening performances are available for parties of 10 or more. For more information on student performances or group tickets, call 610.647.1900, ext 134 or group@peopleslight.org.

Audiences are encouraged to join the artists after each performance to discuss the production.

The remaining People's Light & Theatre company 2006/2007 Season includes Splittin' the Raft, May 9 - June 10, 2007; and Humble Boy, June 20 - July 15, 2007.