For Immediate Release: April 7, 2006
Media Contact: Tyler Melchior, 1812 Productions, 215.592.9560

1812 Productions presents a World Premiere comedy by Evan Smith, author of the 1812 smash hit, The Uneasy Chair. Daughters of Genius will run from May 19th to June 18th at St. Stephen’s Theatre, located at 10th and Ludlow Streets. The show stars David Howey, Dawn Falato, Grace Gonglewski, Mike Dees, Lenny Haas, Michele Guidry, and Jodi Epstein. Tickets range from $10 to $32 and are available by contacting 1812 Productions’ administrative office at (215) 592-9560 or online at www.1812productions.org.

An event over a year in the making, Daughters of Genius will be the first world premiere by an established playwright that 1812 Productions has mounted, as well as the biggest production, in terms of scale as well as budget, in 1812 history. Daughters of Genius tells the story of John Milton and his daughters, Anne, Mary, and Deborah, in the days preceding the completion of Milton’s masterpiece, Paradise Lost. These women have been relegated to the dark of ignorance for all of their lives. Now, as Milton nears blindness and Anne, Mary, and Deborah take dictation for him, these women see the possibility of wisdom upon the horizon—but how they each go about claiming it brings winged visitors, a hunchbacked heroine, and the threat of destruction down upon their inconspicuous London household. Part Mel Brooks, part Oscar Wilde, (and part Ten Commandments!), Daughters of Genius takes the battle for enlightenment from Heaven to Hell and back to England.

After the resounding success of 1812’s production of The Uneasy Chair in 2004, playwright Evan Smith approached Jennifer Childs, 1812’s Artistic Director, about taking on his newest work. Through generous funding from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, the process began with a series of staged readings and workshops in Philadelphia and at the William Inge Festival in Kansas. Ms. Childs has been an integral part of this development—through re-writes, casting, and design concepts. “Daughters of Genius is a play full of big ideas,” says Ms. Childs. “It’s stretching my imagination, challenging my skills as a director and, most importantly, it’s making me laugh out loud no matter how many times I hear it. After such an involved and complex process, I’m very excited to see this new play make the transition from the workshop table to the stage and to share this exceptional piece of theater with our audience.”

The technical requirements of Daughters of Genius surpass anything previously staged by 1812 Productions. Among many feats of magic and slight-of-hand, a special fly-rigging system will be installed in the performance space to allow the characters to literally fly between the physical and spiritual worlds. The actors playing these flying roles, Grace Gonglewski and Dawn Falato, will receive special training from Flying by Foy on how to fly and perform the necessary acrobatics within the confines of the set.

David Howey, formerly of the Royal Shakespeare Company, returns to 1812 Productions to take on the role of John Milton, after his acclaimed leading performance in Smith’s The Uneasy Chair. “In both The Uneasy Chair and Daughters of Genius, Evan demonstrates an extraordinary ability to recreate the authentic feel of a bygone era through mastery of the appropriate literary style,” says Mr. Howey. “This skill is matched by an ironic sensibility worthy of the sharpest of contemporary stand-up comics!”

The epic scope of Daughters of Genius captures the fullness of the tale of Paradise Lost, as well as the journey of the plays’ creation. The show’s author, Evan Smith, says, “Since beginning this process, I have often been asked why I chose to write a comedy about John Milton and his daughters on the night of the Great London Fire of 1666. I know it's a path well-trod—for example, we have already seen in recent years Neil Simon's Blind Man's Bluff, Tom Stoppard's Miltonic, or Tennessee Williams' one-act Words Are Tongues of Flame That Lick My Heels, —but I still feel the material is endlessly rich.”

Daughters of Genius marks a major milestone in 1812 Productions’ commitment to new comedy. In addition to being 1812’s first world premiere by an established playwright, Daughters of Genius is a quintessential representation of the kind of work 1812 seeks to produce as the country’s only all-comedy theatre company.

Cast & Crew

David Howey (John Milton): David Howey is an Associate Professor at the University of the Arts. He was an actor in England for 30 years working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre Company in London’s West End and in innumerable TV series and films. He has appeared on Broadway twice and performed Shakespeare across the United Sates, including Macbeth at the Annenberg Center, Prospero at Arcadia University, and Shylock, Malvolio, and Leontes for the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, Orpheus Descending, The Real Inspector Hound, and Black Comedy at the Wilma Theater; Hamlet at Bristol Riverside; The Underpants and Loot at the Arden theatre; After Play at Walnut Street Theatre; and as Josiah Wickett in Evan Smith’s The Uneasy Chair for 1812 productions.

Dawn Falato (Anne Milton): Dawn Falato has performed with 1812 Productions in Madam Ranevskaya, Bat Boy: The Musical and a number of "Bad Song" Cabarets. In the last five years, Dawn has also worked collaboratively to create over 20 new works of theatre locally and nationally. She is co-founder and Co- Artistic Director of Hotel Obligado Theatre and is a proud graduate of Barnard College and the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre.

Grace Gonglewski (The Angel): After graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Grace came to Philly to accept the Dorothy Haas Fellowship as the first ever Acting Apprentice at the Walnut Street theatre. She has acted in major roles at the Arden Theatre Company (19 roles including Hedda Gabler, Candida and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), The Walnut (The Heiress, Vohsey Inheritance, The Rivals, The Last Flapper, and Shooting Simone), The Wilma, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Delaware Theatre Company, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (6 seasons) and a tour of Ireland with Interact. She is the voice of Alex’s Lemonade Stand, CarSense, Comcast, Beneficial Savings Bank and Lancaster General Hospital among others. She lives in Mt Airy with her daughter Silvie and her husband, choreographer Eric Schoefer.

Evan Smith (Playwright): Evan Smith was born and raised in Savannah, GA, where he still lives. He attended Benedictine Military School, Vassar College, and the Yale School of Drama. His play Ecstasy of Lucy was performed by the Home for Contemporary Theatre at HERE; Servicemen was produced by New York Stage & Film; and his plays PSYCH and The Uneasy Chair were produced at Playwrights Horizons (The Uneasy Chair featured Roger Rees and Dana Ivey.) The Uneasy Chair received a critically acclaimed production at 1812 Productions in Philadelphia in 2004. His newest work, Daughters of Genius, garnered him a residency at the William Inge Festival during the summer of 2005. This production of Daughters of Genius at 1812 Productions is the show’s world premiere.

Jennifer Childs (Director): Jennifer is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of 1812 Productions. For 1812 she has conceived and directed The Big Time, Another Big Time, Like Crazy Like Wow, Something Wonderful Right Away, Always A Lady and Double Down. She is a ten time Barrymore nominee, winning the 1996 Best Supporting Actress in a Play award for the Wilma's Escape From Happiness and the 1999 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theater Artist. She is an instructor at the University of the Arts and the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation.

Company History: Artistic Director Jennifer Childs and Producing Artistic Director Pete Pryor founded 1812 Productions in the spring of 1998 with a goal to entertain and educate audiences through comedy, and to support and hire local artists. Philadelphia Weekly named 1812 Productions the “Theatre Company of the Year 2002-2003”. At the close of the 2002-2003 season, 1812 Productions was the recipient of eight nominations and two wins at the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. Most recently, 1812 Productions received eight Barrymore Award nominations for its 2004-2005 season. Their education program, 1812 Outreach, has received four consecutive nominations and been awarded once the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service. On April 20, 2005, 1812 Productions received an honorary citation from the City of Philadelphia for outstanding work and commitment to the Philadelphia arts community. 1812 Productions, while continually on the search for a permanent home, continues to perform at various locations around Philadelphia.

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