For Immediate Release: August 21, 2006
Media Contact: Debra Yemenijian, Footlighters Theater, 484.467.2166

Out-of-work actors, ornery ghosts, baseball, and pirates. What do they have in common? Join Footlighters Theater during its 2006-2007 season to find out!

Footlighters begins its 78th season in September with the light comedy “Eat Your Heart Out,” by Nick Hall. Charlie’s an out-of-work actor currently employed as a waiter. In a series of hilarious encounters in both elegant and shabby Manhattan restaurants, he gets involved with an amusing gallery of characters whose stories intertwine with his. The action is uninterrupted, and the comedy never stops. It’s a sharp, stunning play that will make you howl (and maybe sniffle a little bit, too).

Performances of “Eat Your Heart Out” are at 8 p.m., September 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, and 23, and at 2 p.m., September 10 and 17.

For our second production, slip into something spooky for Footlighters’ rendition of Tim Kelly’s “The Uninvited.” Famous as a novel and then as a classic film, this is a thrilling tale of ghosts and dark secrets. Seeking to escape the demands of life in London, Pam Fitzgerald and her brother, Roddy, an aspiring playwright, find a charming house overlooking the Irish Sea in western England. They soon learn that the house is inhabited by an evil spirit. The action builds steadily to a nail-biting climax, in which the ghost is discovered to be not only real but very dangerous.

Performances of “The Uninvited” are at 8 p.m., October 20, 21, 27, 28, and November 3 and 4, and at 2 p.m., October 22 and 29.

Just in time for winter, Footlighters presents a holiday whodunit. “The Butler Did It,” by Walter Marks and Peter Marks, has been described as the off-Broadway equivalent of “Deathtrap.” This diabolically clever show mixes laughter and chills as it spins its twisted tale of murder and mayhem in the glittering world of theater. A director rehearsing a classic whodunit gets more than he bargains for in this comic thriller where everyone’s name is Butler. It’s a genuinely amusing burlesque of those good old ‘30s movie thrillers, in which the killer is unmasked in the final moments.

Performances of “The Butler Did It” are at 8 p.m., December 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, and 16, and at 2 p.m., December 3 and 10.

The second half of our season opens in February with the comedy “Never Too Late” by Summer Arthur Long. This Broadway hit is about a married man in his 50s who suddenly learns he’s becoming a father again. His last child was born 24 years ago, and considering the boob she married, he finds the prospect of another child unthinkable. And it’s not only the impending birth that startles him. His previously meek wife begins to lay down the law, too. What follows is a good, old-fashioned domestic farce.

Performances of “Never Too Late” are at 8 p.m., February 23, 24, and March 2, 3, 9, and 10, and at 2 p.m., February 25 and March 4.

Get your baseball fix before the Phillies start their season! Our 2007 musical is “Damn Yankees,” a perennial favorite by the writers that brought us “The Pajama Game.” Faust meets professional baseball in this Broadway classic. Middle-aged baseball fanatic Joe Boyd trades his soul to the devil for a chance to lead his favorite team to victory in the pennant race against the New York Yankees. Light, fast-paced, and devilishly clever, “Damn Yankees” is a home-run hit. Its catchy score is filled with rousing production numbers and popular favorites such as “You Gotta Have Heart” and “Whatever Lola Wants.”

Performances of “Damn Yankees” are at 8 p.m., April 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, and May 4, 5, and at 2 p.m., April 15, 22, and 29.

From the baseball diamond, Footlighters will head to the high seas to end its season with Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.” As a child, Frederic was apprenticed to a band of tenderhearted pirates by his nurse, who mistook her master’s instructions to apprentice the boy to a pilot. Upon completing his 21st year, Frederic rejoices that he has fulfilled his indentures and is now free to return to respectable society. But it turns out that he was born on February 29 in a leap year, and he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday. By the time the curtain falls, the pirates, a major general, his large family of beautiful but unwed daughters, and the timid constabulary all contribute to a cacophony that can be silenced only by Queen Victoria’s name.

Performances of “Pirates of Penzance” are at 8 p.m., June 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, and 16, and at 2 p.m., June 3 and 10.

Tickets for Footlighters shows can be reserved by visiting the Web site (www.footlighterstheater.com) or by calling the reservation line at (610) 296-9245. Tickets for comedies and dramas are $12; tickets for musicals are $15. Season subscriptions can be purchased for $55 for adults, and $45 for seniors (60 and over) and children under 16.

All productions are staged at Footlighters Theater, 58 Main Ave., Berwyn. Parking is available on Main Ave. and at St. Monica’s Catholic Church across from the theater. For directions, visit www.footlighterstheater.com/Directions/1Directions.htm.

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