For Immediate Release: October 11, 2006
Media Contact: Erin Reilly, Theatre Horizon, 215.370.6413

Combining clowning, mime, sign language, and music, Madame Douce-Amere is a female Marcel Marceau, whose mischievous, silent antics take her beyond the stage and into the laps of the audience. Imagine a little old French lady who steals purses, walks an invisible dog, feeds yogurt to perfect strangers, and never utters a single word. Not your typical grandmother. However, she also steals the hearts of her audience as the title character in Madame Douce-Amere, presented on November 3rd at 8:00pm by Theatre Horizon, King of Prussia's professional theatre company.

Though creator and performer Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey never speaks during the play, her actions as the title character are "narrated" by a musician-actor who plays that quintessential French instrument, the accordion, throughout the show. The music becomes joyfully boisterous as Madame Douce-Amere's loneliness compells her to venture beyond the walls of her home and into the audience on a search for new friends and a little fun.

"Madame Douce-Amere is unlike anything I've ever seen because the audience, just by virtue of their presence in Madame's world, becomes an active participant in her daily life," states Co-Artistic Director Erin Reilly, who worked hard to bring the show to the suburbs after seeing it at the 2005 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. "You never know what she's going to do. She has no inhibitions, so the audience quickly feels equally at ease. It's a wonderful feeling." Douce-Amere is French for "bittersweet" and Reilly says the word perfectly describes the tone of the performance. "The play explores the memories that haunt Madame, and how much joy she finds in other human beings. It is touching and sweet, but also sad—and hysterically funny."

Though Madame Douce-Amere is currently being presented by 1812 Productions at the Walnut Street Theatre's 100-seat studio theatre in Philadelphia, for her one-night-only engagement in King of Prussia, Theatre Horizon is transforming the cozy basement of the Trinity Church into Madame Douce-Amere's own Parisian living room, where the play takes place. Audiences will lounge on stools, chairs, and overstuffed pillows, warming up before the show with some chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) donated by Starbucks.

"For the past 6 years, Theatre Horizon has been presenting plays in non-theatre spaces, and we've become experts at transforming an empty room into an intimate theatre," states Theatre Horizon's other Artistic Director, Matthew Decker. "We love the magic that happens when audiences take a break from their lives for an hour or two to enter into a totally different world. People are going to feel like they've walked right into Madame Douce-Amere's home."

Audiences lined up around the block for a chance to enter Madame Douce-Amere's world when the show premiered in 2005, where it enjoyed a sold-out run. And the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts thought the project was so worthy they awarded Theatre Horizon a generous grant to bring the play to Montgomery County. "This is a real coup for our community and for Theatre Horizon. It's rare that such a unique and versatile performance comes to town," states Reilly. Indeed, not since the days of the Valley Forge Music Fair has King of Prussia enjoyed out-of-town performers, but Reilly says it is part of Theatre Horizon's mission to bring terrific shows from other places to Montgomery County.

Ms. Delpech-Ramey welcomes the chance to perform in a place like the Trinity Church. "Theater for me happens outside of theater," she says, "in interaction with the audiences in new places." She is most inspired by her interaction with the audience which, in her words, "celebrates the joy, the risk, the sharing."

To enhance the audience's experience, Theatre Horizon will offer an acting workshop open to the public on Saturday November 4th, taught by Madame Douce-Amere star Ms. Delpech-Ramey. The three-hour workshop will let amateur actors or anyone interested explore their own creativity. Participants will play acting games, dabble in the basics of silent performance, and experiment with creating comic scenes using simple costumes. The workshop is free to those who attend Madame Douce-Amere, and $10 for all others.

Prices for Madame Douce-Amere are $17, $14 for seniors over 65 and students with valid ID. Save money when you buy online at www.theatrehorizon.org with NO SERVICE FEES.

THEATRE HORIZON'S MISSION
Theatre Horizon (formerly Upper Merion Summer Stage) was created to employ the energies of young artists to develop, produce, and perform theatre in the Upper Merion area. It is our goal to revitalize a love for the stage by creating a community of artists, students and audiences in which each member is given the opportunity to grow.

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