People’s Light & Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE CASE OF THE JERSEY LILY, written by Katie Forgette, from June 18 – July 13, 2008, on the Main Stage. Steve Umberger directs. People’s Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern. For tickets call 610.644.3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org.

In SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE CASE OF THE JERSEY LILY we find the beautiful actress Lillie Langtry seeking help from the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes in a small matter involving blackmail, some missing jewels and the royal family. Our hero gets some help from his sidekick, Watson, and the famous Oscar Wilde as the evil Professor Moriarty tries yet again to foil the day.

SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE CASE OF THE JERSEY LILY previews on Wednesday, June 18th and Thursday, June 19th at 7:30pm. The show opens on Friday, June 20th at 8pm and runs through July 13, 2008. Tickets are now on sale and cost $29 - $48, with special discounts available for students, seniors, and groups of 10 or more. Audiences are encouraged to join the artists after each Thursday night performance to discuss the production.

Author Katie Forgette wrote The O’Connor Girls, produced by People’s Light in the spring of 2005. She sent this script to Artistic Director Abigail Adams when it was completed. Adams immediately thought of Steve Umberger to direct.

“I wasn’t interested in doing a Sherlock Holmes play initially,” says Umberger. “But Katie’s Sherlock is a lighter and funnier take than many Sherlock scripts. It was the combination of suspense and humor that made it hard for me to turn down.”

“What’s more, she added some characters that really made me want to do this show. First, even though Moriarty is in only two of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, he is known as the arch-nemesis of Holmes. He appears in this script and does not disappoint. Then Forgette brings two actual people – Lillie Langtry and Oscar Wilde – into the script. In a clever mix of fact and fiction, Sherlock ends up influencing Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Artistic Director Abigail Adams adds, “We felt his script was perfect for summertime entertainment at People’s Light. Audiences can delight in the recognition of known entities like Langtry and Wilde, and also enjoy the intrigue and mystery of the traditional Sherlock Holmes.”

To enhance your summertime experience at People’s Light, Places! Bistro offers al fresco dining surrounded by People’s Light’s award-winning gardens. Call 610-647-8060 for reservations.

Special performances and discounts, in addition to discount meal packages and talk-backs with the artists are available for groups of 10 or more. For more information or to purchase group tickets, call 610.647.1900, ext. 134 or email group@peopleslight.org.

Subscriptions are now available for the 2008/2009 Season. Shows include The Persians (September 24 – October 19, 2008), Cinderella: A Panto (November 19, 2008 – January 4, 2009), The Day of the Picnic (January 28 – February 22, 2009), A Tale of Two Cities (March 11 – May 3, 2009), Doubt (June 3 – 28, 2009), and End Days (July 8 – August 2, 2009.) For information, tickets, and subscriptions, please call the box office at 610.644.3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org.

KEY BIOS

Katie Forgette (Playwright) has spent most of her professional life as an actor. At the Seattle Repertory Theatre she appeared in Inspecting Carol, An Ideal Husband, Private Eyes, All in the Timing, Scapin, Dancing at Lughnasa, Buying Time, A Flaw in the Ointment, Harvey, The Miser, Six Characters in Search of an Author, End of the Day, Love Diatribe, and Long Day’s Journey into Night. She has also appeared in productions at Intiman, ACT Theatre, The Empty Space, Village Theatre, Arizona Theatre Co., La Jolla Playhouse and Seattle Children’s Theatre. Her play, The O’Conner Girls, had its world premiere at the Seattle Rep in 2004 and was produced by People’s Light in 2005. It was showcased as part of the American National Theatre’s Founders’ Celebration at Dodger Stages in New York and has gone on to have numerous productions. Her most recent play, Evidence of Things Unseen, opened in May at CAP 21 in New York. Other plays include Naked and Proud, Cindy Rella (Playscripts, Inc.), It Went Like This and Circle of Willis. She received her M.F.A. from Brandeis University.

Steve Umberger (Director) has directed over 150 productions for theatres, including Riverside Theatre, Barter Theatre, N.C. Shakespeare Festival, Florida Studio Theatre, Blowing Rock Stage, Appalachian Summer Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and Charlotte Repertory Theatre. As Founding Artistic Director of Charlotte Rep, he started the company with a group of actors who wanted to work together and when he left it 200 plays later it had become a full-time professional company, the resident theatre of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, and a member of the League of Resident Theatres. His work at the Rep included developing a family of artists augmented by guest artists including Tony Kushner, Olympia Dukakis, and Beth Henley. He has worked with new plays at many theatres, including Charlotte Rep, where an annual new play festival showcased over 75 scripts and resulted in frequent premieres. Among the new plays he has directed are The Ghostman by Wendy Hammond, The Deer and the Antelope Play by Mark Dunn (published by Dramatists), Anita Bryant Died for Your Sins by Brian Christopher Williams, and the Clyde Edgerton/Mike Craver musical Lunch at the Piccadilly. Other favorite credits include Wit, Proof, Falsettos, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, The Road to Mecca, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, six productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (including a recent version developed with Cirque du Soleil’s Karl Baumann), and both parts of Angels in America. A member of Actors’ Equity and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, he’s also the founder of Playworks, created to help develop new work.

Alda Cortese (Mrs. Tory) has been with People’s Light since 1976, first appearing in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage at the Yellow Springs Center for the Performing Arts in Chester Springs. She has since appeared in nearly 100 productions with this theatre—most recently in the ensemble of Theophilus North. Less recent appearances in Humble Boy, The Foreigner, Jack & the Beanstalk, The O’Connor Girls, The Miser (for which she received a Barrymore nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress), String of Pearls, and Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire. Other roles include Doll Common in Playhouse Creatures, June in He Held Me Grand, Agnes in A Delicate Balance, and the Grandmother in The Little Red Riding Hood Show. Alda also serves as the Literary Manager.

Peter DeLaurier (Sherlock Holmes) was seen earlier this season as the Director in Six Characters in Search of an Author and last season in Humble Boy, The Imaginary Invalid and The Giver. He is an Artistic Associate at PLTC and has been with the Theatre since 1981. Other PLTC productions include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Around the World in 80 Days, The Forgiving Harvest, Holes, Camping With Henry & Tom, A Delicate Balance, In the Blood, Once in a Lifetime, Sister Carrie and the international tour of Kabuki Achilles. Peter was nominated for the Outstanding Actor Barrymore Award for his performance in Man from Nebraska and won that award for the one-man show Underneath the Lintel at the Lantern Theater Company (where he also appeared in QED and earlier this season in Skylight). He played Matthew Cuthbert at PLT last season in his stage adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (which received a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding New Play) and appeared in PLT's remounting of Holes at the Academy of Music. Peter will direct Sizwe Bansi Is Dead next season at the Lantern Theater. He has directed at PLT and at theatres around the country, serving as Artistic Director of New Stage Theatre in Jackson, MS. With his wife, PLT actress Ceal Phelan, and other friends, he co-founded two of Delaware's professional theatres: The Delaware Theatre Company (1978) and First Stage (1987).

Lenny Haas (John Smythe) was born and raised in the Philadelphia area and has been performing professionally in local theatres for twenty years. Most recently he was seen here as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and Man #1 in Theophilus North. He has worked at The Arden, The Wilma, Act II Playhouse, Mum Puppettheatre, Cape May Stage, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Bristol Riverside, Hedgerow, Luna, 1812 Productions, Teatro delle Due (in Italy) and New Paradise Laboratories. He has been a member of the Resident Ensemble of Artists here at PLTC since 1988, and this show marks his 30th production here. Other performances include The Foreigner, Born Yesterday, A Perfect Ganesh, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Memory of Water, Sister Carrie and The Fantasticks.

Jeb Kreager (Oscar Wilde) is a founding member of New Paradise Laboratories and has co-created and performed all of their work, most recently Batch (Humana Festival and 2007 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival). He is also the founder of BrownSquad, premiering CONTEST, his first work as director and choreographer, at the 2006 Live Arts Festival. In his time in Philadelphia, Jeb has also created new work with Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, Headlong Dance Theater, and Early Morning Opera. Jeb's recent performance work includes Frozen (InterAct), Mr. Marmalade (Theatre Exile), The Four of Us and Recent Tragic Events (1812 Productions), Mr. Bailey’s Minder (Walnut Street), The BFG (Arden), The Foreigner (People's Light) and Hippie Elegy (Headlong). A 2006 Independence Fellow, 2003 PCA Fellow and five-time Barrymore nominee, Jeb attended Virginia Tech, Antonio Fava's Scuola Internazionale dell'Attore Comico (Reggio Emilia, Italy) and Circle in the Square (New York).

Mark Lazar (Dr. Watson) is a company member celebrating his eleventh year with People's Light. In addition to spending the last four holiday seasons in a dress for Treasure Island, Robin Hood, Jack & the Beanstalk, and Sleeping Beauty, Mr. Lazar includes Twelfth Night, The Foreigner, The Crucible, The Miser, Arthur’s Stone, Merlin’s Fire, Born Yesterday, A View from the Bridge, The Little Foxes, Camping with Henry and Tom, and Hearts, among some of his recent favorites here. He is an eleven-season veteran of The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, spending the 1990s there as a Resident Company Member, performing Shakespeare, the other classics, and ten Christmas Carols as Ebenezer Scrooge. While with NCSF, he spent many off-seasons at The Charlotte Rep and includes productions with CTR’s Artistic Director, Steve Umberger, as some of his favorites: Speed of Darkness, Prelude to a Kiss, Boca!, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and The Tempest. A founding member and ten-year veteran of the acting company at The Madison Rep, Mr. Lazar performed regularly with nearly all of Wisconsin’s professional theatres. Mark and his wife Elaine now live near Valley Forge, along with their thirteen-year-old black lab, Ralph. Up next at People's Light: Cinderella.

Susan McKey (Mrs. Lillie Langtry) is celebrating her 20th year with People's Light. She was last seen as Lucy Wainwright in Getting Near to Baby, and Evelyn Treelawnee in Treasure Island, the holiday panto, and she is already looking forward to being in next year’s panto, Cinderella. Some of her favorite roles include Huck Finn in last spring's Splittin’ the Raft, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Ruth in Book of Days, Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth, and Kissing Kate Barlow in Holes. Susan is honored to be a long-time company member at a theatre which has given her such amazing opportunities to challenge and delight in her work, and playing Lillie Langtry is another exciting journey. Susan is a Barrymore Award winner, mother of Griffen (9) and Ella Marie (5), and a native Cape Codder.

Graham Smith (Professor Moriarty) has been in more than 180 plays and 10 films. His history includes a B.A. (Davidson College), M.F.A. (Hilberry Classic Theatre), twelve years with the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival (NCSF), plus 24 seasons with the Charlotte Repertory Theatre. A member of the Resident Ensemble of Artists at PLTC since 1999, he lives in Charlotte with his wife, Audrey Brown, and their two golden retrievers, Henry Possum and Slim Underfoot. Recent work includes Toby Belch in Twelfth Night and Danforth in The Crucible at PLTC and NCSF, Owen in The Foreigner (at PLTC), Gonzalo in The Tempest (Actors Theatre of Louisville) and Ben Hecht in Moonlight and Magnolias at Riverside Theatre. This Fall he will play King Lear at NCSF.

WHAT: SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE CASE OF THE JERSEY LILY by Katie Forgette

WHEN: June 18 –July 13, 2008 on the Main Stage

WHERE: People’s Light & Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355

PRICES: Tickets are $29 - $48, with special discounts available for students, seniors, and groups of 10 or more.

GROUPS: Meal and ticket packages available for groups of 10 or more at Places! Bistro, our on-site restaurant. Call Adria Charles for more information at 610.647.1900, ext. 134 or email group@peopleslight.org.

CONTACT: For tickets or information call the Box Office at 610.644.3500 or visit www.peopleslight.org

TIMES: Wednesday, Jun. 18 - Sunday, Jul. 13

PRODUCTION TEAM:
By Katie Forgette
Directed by Steve Umberger
Scenic Design by James F. Pyne, Jr.
Costume Design by Marla J. Jurglanis
Lighting Design by Dennis Parichy
Sound Design by Christopher Colucci
Dramaturgy by Elizabeth Pool
Fight Choreography by Samantha Bellomo
Dialect Coaching by Lynne Innerst
Stage Management by Kate McSorley

CAST:
Sherlock Holmes Peter DeLaurier
Dr. Watson Mark Lazar
Mrs. Lillie Langtry Susan McKey
Oscar Wilde Jeb Kreager
Mrs. Tory Alda Cortese
John Smythe Lenny Haas
Professor Moriarty Graham Smith