The ideas and ideals that inspired a revolution command the stage in The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s production of 1776. The Tony Award winner for best musical, 1776 captures both the aspirations and the frustrations of the men who dared to dream of a country where “all men are created equal.”

The production previews June 17 and 18, opens June 19 and runs through July 5 in the Labuda Center’s Main Stage Theatre. Single ticket prices range from $25 to $52, and $10 for student rush. Performances are 7pm Tuesday, 8pm Wednesday through Saturday, Sundays at 2 pm (with an additional 7:30pm show on June 21); 2pm matinees are Saturday, June 27 and July 4, and Wednesday June 24 and July 1. For tickets, call 610.282.WILL [9455] or online at www.pashakespeare.org.

Production Sponsor is Alvin H. Butz, Inc. and co-sponsor is the Wills Hall Oblate Community.

Making its debut on Broadway in 1969, 1776 was conceived by composer Sherman Edwards who joined with librettist Peter Stone to explore how the Declaration of Independence came to be signed. According to Director Dennis Razze: “The fantastic thing is 1776 takes the Founding Fathers, people we deify as being greater than mere mortals, and it treats them as being very human. They were real people who had flaws. Their dream of founding a democratic nation based on revolutionary ideals was a huge gamble that took great courage and daring.”

The audacious proposal for freedom and independence is championed by John Adams, played by Richard B. Watson, who has little patience for the glacial pace of the Continental Congress. Joining Adams in his fight against tyranny of King George are the witty and worldly Benjamin Franklin, portrayed by Richard Pruitt, and the soft-spoken highly-regarded Thomas Jefferson, performed by Spencer Plachy.

Adams, though extremely passionate about the matter at hand, is far too argumentative and abrasive to effectively present the issues to his fellow Congressmen. Debate is heated, and tempers flare—Adams and John Dickinson, played by Ezra Barnes, end up in a physical altercation. When perplexed with the question of who would best present their ideas, Franklin recommends the charismatic southern charmer, Virginia’s Richard Henry Lee, portrayed by Christopher Vettel.

Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson exemplify the role of great women, sometimes leading their husbands in addition to standing behind them. The actual love letters between Adams and his wife are incorporated into the script and give the conflict real, personal perspective. Abigail, portrayed by Edwardyne Cowan, is her husband’s rock, inspiring him to push for what he believes in. Jefferson’s young bride is portrayed by DeSales sophomore Katie Wexler.

Other notable cast members include Ron Heneghan as John Hancock; Christopher Coucill, Stephen Hopkins; David Jack, James Wilson; Gary Lindemann, Edward Rutledge and Stephen Bonnell, Charles Thompson.

Vincent Trovato serves as musical director and conductor; Stephen Casey choreographs. The designers are Will Neuert, sets; Sam Fleming, costumes; Eric T. Haugen, lighting and Matthew Given, sound. Blair Walsleben is the Production Stage Manager.

The 2009 Festival also features The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (on stage through June 28), Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (July 8-August 2 in the Schubert), Antony and Cleopatra (July 15-August 2, on the Main Stage) and Cinderella (through August 1, in the Schubert Theatre). A new performance experience, Shakespeare for Kids, runs on the Main Stage July 22-August 1 at 10am.

The free outdoor Green Show completes the season's offerings and is performed one hour prior to each evening performance.

Single ticket prices range from $25 to $52. Discounts are available for subscribers, seniors, students, and groups. Season tickets are still available and offer patrons the greatest discounts and flexibility. Tickets can be ordered by calling 610-282 WILL or online at www.pashakespeare.org.

Dr. and Mrs. Frank J. Szarko are the 2009 Season Sponsors. Associate Season Sponsors are the Harry C. Trexler Trust, The Morning Call and Service Electric Cable TV & Communications. Director Sponsors are Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth.

The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival at DeSales University is the Official Shakespeare Festival of the Commonwealth and a professional, not-for-profit theatre company. An independent 501 c 3 organization, PSF receives support from DeSales University and relies on contributions from individuals, government agencies, corporations and foundations. PSF is a constituent of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, and a member of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America.

Principal Artists’ Biographies

DENNIS RAZZE (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director of PSF who directed Cyrano de Bergerac last season and Amadeus in 2007. Other PSF productions include Man of La Mancha (2004), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1994), As You Like It (1996), The Taming of the Shrew (1998), and Twelfth Night (2000). Mr. Razze has also composed scores for PSF’s Cyrano de Bergerac, The Tempest, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Currently Director of Theatre for DeSales University, Mr. Razze has directed more than 50 productions at DeSales and was awarded Certificates of Merit from the American College Theatre Festival for his direction of Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma!, and The Music Man. He was the guest director for Lehigh University’s production of The Music Man at the Zoellner Arts Center in 2003.

PATRICK MULCAHY (Producing Artistic Director) will direct Antony and Cleopatra this season. Since assuming leadership in 2003, Mr. Mulcahy has overseen PSF's return to artistic excellence and financial stability, rebuilding the professional company of artists and achieving increasing national recognition for the Festival. Further accomplishments include: PSF’s awards from the National Endowment for the Arts; featuring artists who are winners and nominees of the Tony, Obie, Emmy, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Jefferson and Barrymore awards to the Festival; growth in all income areas; a 50% increase in attendance, and the expansion of the number of Actors’ Equity contracts per season. As a professional director, actor, and fight director, his credits include Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, television and radio. For PSF, he directed The Winter’s Tale (2007), Henry IV, Part 1 (2005), The Tempest (1999) and acted in and served as fight director for The Taming of the Shrew (1998) and Julius Caesar (1997). As Head of Acting at DeSales, he directed ten productions for Act 1, including I Hate Hamlet, The Grapes of Wrath, The Foreigner and The Diary of Anne Frank. He holds an M.F.A. in directing from Syracuse University.

EZRA BARNES (John Dickinson) Off Broadway: Far & Wide (Mint), Richard II (Pearl), To Kill a Mockingbird (Brave New World). Regional: Othello (Hartford Stage), Wuthering Heights (Paper Mill), An Ideal Husband, Arcadia, Misalliance (Pioneer Theatre), The Mousetrap (Cincinnati Playhouse), Good on Paper (Denver Center’s New Play Summit), Three Sisters (Philadelphia Festival Theatre), My Fair Lady (Weston Playhouse), Around the World in 80 Days (Bristol Riverside). Shakespeare on the Sound, Connecticut: Founder and Artistic Director (1996-2008), directed Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, played Prospero, Leontes and Benedict. Film: Joshua (Fox Searchlight), Once More With Feeling (Sundance, 2009). Television: Law & Order, etc. A graduate of Amherst College and the National Theatre Conservatory.

STEPHEN BONNELL (Charles Thomson) Credits include My Fair Lady (Pickering) and Oliver (Brownlow) at the Media Theatre. Off Broadway: Circle Rep., Soho Rep., La Mama, Nat Horne Theatre, No Smoking Playhouse and Equity Library Theatre. Regional in South Florida and Chicago: Coconut Grove Playhouse, Actors Playhouse, Florida Stage, Florida Shakespeare, Second City & Hull House Theatre. Stephen is a Fringe First Award Winner at the Edinburgh Festival for the original musical Salford Road. Favorite roles include: Charles (Blithe Spirit), Marat (Marat/Sade), Haskell (The Immigrant). Film: featured in the upcoming "Listen To Your Heart” and "Law Abiding Citizen". TV: Comedy Central.

STEPHEN CASEY (Choreographer) is the artistic director and resident choreographer for the Bucks County and Pocono Playhouses. Credits include: National and European touring companies of 42nd Street, A Chorus Line, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Regional: Paper Mill, North Carolina Theatre, Cleveland Opera and others.

CHRISTOPHER COUCILL (Stephen Hopkins) performed the title role in King Lear at PSF last season and as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha (2004). Broadway: The Graduate, Kiss Me Kate, Annie Get Your Gun. National tour: Crazy for You. Off Broadway: Portraits, The Fantasticks, The Rothschilds, A Funny Thing...Forum. Regional: McCarter Theatre, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, Shakespeare & Company, The Huntington, Dallas Theatre Center, and many others. Television: Deadline, Law & Order, One Life to Live, O Pioneers!, Margaret Mead: An Observer Observed.

EDWARDYNE COWAN (Abigail Adams) Favorite roles include Christine in the German production of Phantom, both Mother and Emma Goldman in the final tour of Ragtime, and Eliza opposite Richard Chamberlain in the European production of My Fair Lady, a role she also played on Broadway and on the US national tour. Edwardyne has sung at Carnegie Hall, performed Off Broadway, and in numerous regional and stock theatres. She was in the film Fermat’s Last Tango and can be heard on that original cast recording.

SAM FLEMING (Costume Designer) is the associate costume designer for The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and has design credits with the Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera (world premiere of Dead Man Walking), Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Arizona Theatre Co., Hartford Stage, Denver Center, Studio Arena, Center Stage, StageWest, ACT Seattle, Georgia Shakespeare Festival and Berkeley Rep. She designed more than 50 productions for Milwaukee Repertory Theater during her 14 years with the company. In New York, she has worked with the Pearl Theatre, Manhattan Class Company, and The Women’s Project.

MATTHEW GIVEN (Sound Designer; Production Manager) recently became PSF’s full-time production manager. This season marks his sixth as resident sound designer. Some PSF designs include: Dracula, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale, and The Merchant of Venice. He has also designed at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, The Gala Hispanic Theatre, Rutgers University, and various theatres in the New York City area. He holds an M.F.A. in sound design from Ohio University.

RON HENEGHAN (John Hancock) Returns for his fifth season at PSF: Albany, King Lear; Polixenes, The Winter’s Tale; Arragon/Venice in The Merchant of Venice, Blunt in Henry IV; Don Pedro, Much Ado about Nothing (’04) and Capt. Of the Inquisition in Man of La Mancha. Regional: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Empty Space Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Utah Shakespearean Festival, and three seasons as Artist-in-Residence at PCPA Theatrefest in California. His original plays include Below the Bard: Shakespeare’s Second Fiddles, and Tolerance Through Theatre, which toured to high schools in Eastern Pennsylvania.

ERIC T. HAUGEN (Lighting Designer) PSF credits: Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker, King Lear, Amadeus, My Fair Lady, and Henry IV, Part 1 among others. His theatrical lighting has been seen Off-Broadway and in regional theatres around the country. Based in Orlando, FL, Eric heads up a lighting design firm, FX Lighting, which provides lighting designs for television, themed entertainment, architecture, corporate meetings, and trade shows.

DAVID JACK (James Wilson) As one of America’s foremost children's recording artists, David Jack has been charming audiences for more than 23 years. He has twice been featured on NBC's TODAY, performed at The White House three times and starred in an eleven-year run of his own musical show at Anheuser-Busch's SESAME PLACE. His six CDs have received national awards including the coveted Parents' Choice Award. Recent theatrical roles include Coach Bolton/Disney's High School Musical and Julian Marsh/42nd Street (Bucks County Playhouse).

GARY LINDEMANN (Edward Rutledge) Broadway: Phantom of the Opera (Raoul). National Tours: Disney’s High School Musical (Coach Bolton), Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Soloist) Regional: Man of La Mancha (Cervantes/Quixote), 42nd Street (Pat Denning), Little Women (Prof. Bhaer) Urinetown (Lockstock), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Trevor), Beauty & the Beast (Beast), Brigadoon (Tommy), Music Man (Harold), Company (Paul), Camelot (Lancelot), Jesus Christ Superstar (Pilate), Mack & Mabel (William Desmond Taylor), Sweeney Todd (Antony), Kiss Me Kate (Fred). TV: Law & Order; All My Children, One Life to Live, Another World, Ryan’s Hope.

WILL NEUERT (Scenic Designer) PSF: Cyrano de Bergerac (2008), Amadeus (2007), As You Like It (2006) and Henry IV, Part 1 (2005). He has created the scenic designs for all Act 1 productions for the past 16 years. He was a board member and is a founding artist of PSF. As resident designer, he designed or supervised all guest designs of scenery for the Festival’s first nine seasons. He has worked at the North Shore Music Theatre, Ogunquit Playhouse, Peninsula Players, St. Michael’s Playhouse, University of Notre Dame, The Ohio State University, and Walt Disney Imagineering.

SPENCER PLACHY (Thomas Jefferson) returns for his fourth consecutive season at PSF. In the past three seasons, he was seen as Christian in Cyrano, one of the Venticelli in Amadeus and as Freddy in My Fair Lady. He recently played Chad in All Shook Up in Lancaster, PA. He's been on two National Tours, including Curly in Oklahoma! and Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof. Other credits include Ethan in The Full Monty and John Borden in The Lost Colony.

RICHARD PRUITT (Benjamin Franklin) Broadway: On The Waterfront, 42nd Street. Off-Broadway: Bat Boy The Musical, Wicked Philanthropy. Regional: Macbeth, Jesus Christ Superstar, Great Expectations, Damn Yankees, A View From The Bridge; HMS Pinafore, and others. For the last four holiday seasons, he has appeared in the holiday spectacular Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.

CHRISTOPHER VETTEL (Richard Henry Lee) National Tour: Annie – 30th Anniversary National (Bert Healy), Sunset Boulevard – 2nd National (Cliff, Joe Gillis u/s), Radio City Christmas Spectacular Chicago/St. Louis (Santa Claus). Regional: Flight of the Lawnchair Man – Goodspeed Musicals (Charles Lindbergh), Phantom – Westchester Broadway (Phillipe de Chandon), Jekyll & Hyde – Paper Mill Playhouse (Rowdy, Hyde u/s), Love Life – Walnut St. Theatre (Leffcourt/Quartet), Camelot – West Virginia Public (Lancelot), A Little Night Music – Barrington Stage Company (Count Carl Magnus). International: Sunset Boulevard – German Company (Joe Gillis), Cabaret – European Tour (Cliff) Opera/Concert: Magic Flute – Opera New England (Tamino), The Three-Penny Opera – Opera Company of Boston (Crookfinger Jake), Arias and Barcarolles – Boston Symphony Orchestra (Leonard Bernstein, conductor).

BLAIR WALSLEBEN (Production Stage Manager) returns to PSF for her sixth season. Favorite PSF productions include: Cyrano de Bergerac (2008), The Taming of the Shrew (2007), Amadeus, Sleuth, Othello, and Aladdin. Other favorites: Once Upon A Mattress, Alice in Wonderland and many productions at Bristol Riverside Theatre including: I Do! I Do!, Around the World in Eighty Days, Forever Plaid, Moon Over Buffalo, I Married Wyatt Earp (world premiere), Fences, and Olympus on My Mind.

RICHARD B. WATSON (John Adams) recently finished a successful run of The Shanghai Gesture at The Julia Miles in NYC and will appear in A Chorus Line in Auburn, NY later this summer. Recent credits include My Fair Lady as Henry Higgins at Sacramento and Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes & the West End Horror at Pioneer. He received his Master’s at the Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University.

KATIE WEXLER (Martha Jefferson) A rising sophomore theatre major at DeSales University, Katie is also appearing in the title role of Cinderella. She recently performed as Dot in Sunday in the Park with George.