The Corbetts are a normal married couple until a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves them drifting perilously apart. How do they deal with grief and getting their lives back together? Genesius Theatre presents this intense examination of self with David Lindsay-Abaire's 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, "Rabbit Hole," running through Sunday on its main stage, 153 N. 10th St., Reading.
Becca and Howie Corbett of Larchmont, New York, have everything a family could want until a life-shattering accident suddenly takes away their four-year-old son, Danny, in an unthinkable tragedy. According to Tina Angstadt, director of the Genesius production, "The play pulls you into the stark honesty of the characters, each dealing with the void in their lives and learning how to move forward in their own way.
"You feel an empathy with them, you want to know them, see where they are going and how they will manage to get there," she continued. "The dialogue conveys the normal awkwardness, pain, insecurity, and sometimes humor any one of us would go through coping with loss and loved ones."
Locally, Angstadt has produced and directed productions for the Fall Festival of the Arts, Reading Symphony Orchestra's KinderKonzerts, Alvernia College, Reading Civic Theatre, Ephrata Playhouse, and Genesius Theatre. She served on the Penn State Berks President's Advisory Council, and in the Governor Mifflin PTA Arts Programs. She calls the opportunity to direct "Rabbit Hole" as one of the plays on her bucket list.
The Genesius cast includes Erin Dixon as Becca Corbett, Corey Clark as Howie Corbett, Julia Minoto as Izzy, Kathleen Newville as Nat, and Colton Beard as Jason. Brian Trupp is assistant to the director; Briana Christie is stage manager.
The play is rated PG-13.
For Broadway's "Rabbit Hole" production, Cynthia Nixon won a Tony Award in 2006 for best performance by a leading actress in a play. The 2010 movie adaptation of "Rabbit Hole" starred Nicole Kidman as Becca Corbett and Aaron Eckhart as Howie Corbett.
Also from Genesius: Along with The L.O.V.E. Team of West Reading and Fecho Productions, "The Bitchin' 80s Prom," described as a truly RAD party with interaction (in the tradition of "Tony & Tina's Wedding"), will be presented Saturday, plus April 4, 11, 18 and 25, at the Olympian Ballroom, 603 Penn Ave., West Reading. Doors open 7 p.m.; the prom officially starts at 7:30 p.m. The event has PG-17 rating; strong language and sexual innuendo. Seating is general admission.
According to creator, producer and director LJ Fecho, artistic producer of Genesius Theatre, the event is set at Sky High's senior prom in 1989, "where all the people you loved to hate in high school will be there." That includes the exchange student geek, oversexed wallflower, overly sweet head cheerleader, hunk captain of the football team, and class bimbette, to name some. The audience gets to decide who should be prom king and queen. Music of the 80s will be featured by DJ Troy.
The cast includes 10 professional improvisational actors from the surrounding area: Diane Smith as the overzealous teacher/chaperone; Dara Himes as class president; Abby Hoy as oversexed wallflower; Maggie Shevlin as head cheerleader; Kristan Pagliei as class slut; Nicole Bird as class party girl; Caleb Anthony as class geek; Joe Swaggerty as captain of the football team; Drew Boardman as class flamer, and Taylor Clark as crazy class sleazoid guy.
Fecho is president of Fecho Productions, which teamed with Genesius Theatre and The L.O.V.E. Team of West Reading this past December for the local holiday event, "A Christmas Carol on the Trolley."
For further info: genesiusdifference.org
ARTS ROUNDUP
Three-hundred years of history will be celebrated at the "History Expo" on Saturday at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown, rain or shine. The free open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. will feature old-fashioned and colonial-style hands-on activities for all ages.
Valley folksinger Dave Fry will present "History Through Music" from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with folk songs that introduce a panorama of American history. There also will be a French and Indian War encampment with reenactors, cultural icons Abraham Lincoln and wife Mary, old-time puppet shows, and juggler Bob Swaim and his unique bicycles. The museum's Thomas the Tank Engine fun room will be open during the event. More than 40 historical societies, house museums and history organizations from the region will be on hand with displays and exhibits. Mini-tours of the 1770 Trout Hall, Allentown's colonial stone mansion on the grounds, will be held.
For further info: lehighvalleyheritagemuseum.org
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GoggleWorks studio artist Birdie Zoltan is exhibiting her "sculptural personalities of unrepentant whimsy" in a show, "Notions, Birdie Zoltan," through April 26 in the venue's Cohen Gallery West, 201 Washington St., Reading. Her art employs a variety of techniques including welding, casting, weaving, sewing, woodworking, carving and ceramics.
Zoltan attended the fine arts program at Montgomery College in Maryland and spent 20 years as a stained glass artist. She also was a designer assistant for Simplicity Patterns and Tyco Toys.
For further info: goggleworks.org
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The Reading Symphony Orchestra is holding its annual "Beat Beethoven Race" on April 19 at 10 a.m., on the campus of Alvernia University in Reading. Set to the music of Beethoven, participants can choose from three options: 10K run, 5K run/walk, and a one-mile fun run/walk. The challenge is to complete the course during a free, 60-minute concert by the 108-member Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra. Pre-registration closes April 4; mail-in registration closes April 15.
Festivities begin at 9:30 a.m. The public is encouraged to bring lawn chairs and be in place prior to the start of the race and concert. In case of rain, the orchestra will perform in the field house and be broadcast to the track. The event benefits the orchestra as it prepares for its 103rd season.
For further info: 610-373-7557
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Two out-of-work New York City musicians and roommates, Jon and Leslie, are unwittingly dating the same girl and both are struggling to meet rent, three months late. Now the IRS has decided to do some investigating when Leslie's sex has changed from 'male' to 'female.' It seems that Jon has been listing the two as a married couple on their taxes for years. How will this investigation turn out? It's all happening on the stage of the Pennsylvania Playhouse in William VanZandt and Jane Milmore's classic farce, "Love, Sex & the IRS," beginning Friday through April 12.
Director is Charles Weigold III, who's directed such Playhouse productions as Noel Coward's "Private Lives" and has acted on the main stage in "La Cage Aux Folles" and "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," to name some.
The cast includes Playhouse regulars Brian Welsko and Sebastian Paff as Jon and Leslie, respectively; newcomer Arlene Fox as Kate, the girl date; Steven Schmid as Jansen, the landlord; Jerry Brucker as Floyd Spinner, the IRS agent; Jen Santos as Vivian, Jon's mother; Samantha Strickler as Connie, Leslie's other woman, and Dara Connelly as Grunion, a mysterious drifter with a special skill.
The creative team includes SJ Pierce as stage manager, Shawn Kerbein as costume designer, and Brett Oliveira as scenic and lighting designer.
For further info: paplayhouse.org
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Kurt Weill's "Street Scene," an American opera, opens tonight at 8, with a full 30-piece orchestra at Muhlenberg College's Empie Theatre in the Baker Center for the Arts on the Allentown campus. The production runs through Sunday and features guest artists Lauren Curnow and Ed Bara as Anna and Frank Maurrant. Director Charles Richter said the production will vividly recreate the original orchestral sound of the show as Weill intended it.
"Street Scene" features a Tony Award-winning score and lyrics by Langston Hughes, the poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance. With book by Elmer Rice and music by Weill, the scene is set in the brutal summer heat of a tenement in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in the late 1920s. It's a world filled with hope, violence, and love, in which the characters struggle – some to rise up, some to get out, some to find joy, some simply to survive.
Musical director is Michael Schanck, choreographer is Karen Dearborn, scenery designer is Curtis Dretsch, lighting designer is Gertjan Houban, and costumer is Lara de Bruijn. The show is a co-production of Muhlenberg's Department of Theatre & Dance and Music Department.
For further info: muhlenberg.edu/theatre
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It's Literacy Day on Saturday at the Charles Brown IceHouse, 56 River Rd., Sand Island, Bethlehem, when Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre presents "Book, Beast and Puppet" at 10 a.m., accompanied by a puppet-making workshop.
A parade of marionette animal characters, Brer Rabbit, the Cat and the Fiddle, the Bremantown musicians and more will involve early readers into the world of books with puppetry, storytelling and audience participation.
For further info: mockturtle.org
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The romantic musical comedy, "Guys and Dolls," set in Damon Runyon's mythical New York City, comes to the State Theatre in Easton on Wednesday at 7 p.m., with a musical score by legendary Frank Loesser, and book and lyrics by Joe Swerling and comedy legend Abe Burrows. The cast of characters includes "mission doll" Sarah Brown, gambler Sky Masterson, nightclub performer Adelaide, and her fiancé Nathan Detroit.
For further info: statetheatre.org
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