MORNING’S AT SEVEN at the Shawnee Playhouse

Center Stage Players presents MORNING’S AT SEVEN, opening Friday September 26 at 8:00 pm at the Shawnee Playhouse.

“The year’s at the spring, And day’s at the morn:
Morning’s at seven; The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven; All’s right with the world.”
-Robert Browning

Paul Osborn’s gentle comedy, Morning’s At Seven, takes place over an evening and a day in late summer, not spring, and although things are definitely not all right with the Gibbs sisters at the play’s beginning, audiences will surely leave the theater smiling.

The story centers on four aging sisters who have lived in the same small midwestern town for nearly 50 years. Ida and Carl live next door to Cora and Thor, who have shared their home with spinster Arry for over 40 years, while Esty and David live a few streets away. At a time when most people are settling comfortably into their twilight years, the sisters’ lives are thrown into an uproar as two of the group begin to question the status quo and decide to make some changes before it’s too late. The catalyst is the arrival of Myrtle, the long-time fiancee of Ida and Carl’s forty-year-old son, Homer. Cora is tired of sharing her home with her sister, Carl is afraid that his life is a failure, and Homer can’t decide whether to finally marry Myrtle.

Still, family is family, and before the end of the weekend, secrets will be revealed and relationships will be healed. Osborn’s play opened on Broadway in 1939 and had two successful Broadway revivals. Its 1980 revival won three Tony awards, and Walter Kerr wrote, “I’m dead certain that all’s right with Morning’s at Seven. It’s enchanting.”

The Shawnee Playhouse fall production is presented in conjunction with Center Stage Players. Sue Butler directs, with Lillian Gonzalez as Stage Manager. The cast includes Pat Van Varick and Dave Hymes as Cora and Thor Swanson, Judy Lawler and Jack Butler as Ida and Carl Bolton, and Sue Butler and Scotty McIntosh as Esty and David Crampton. Katherine Neville plays spinster Arry Gibbs, Patrick Turner is Homer Bolton, and Barbara Calchera is Myrtle Brown.

The play opens on Friday, September 26th, at 8:00pm. It will play weekends through October 26, 2008. Thursday and Sunday matinees are at 2:00 pm and Friday and Saturday evenings performances begin at 8:00 pm. For information and reservations call the Shawnee Playhouse Box Office at (570) 421-5093.

The Shawnee Playhouse’s 29th Season continues throughout the fall with the haunted comedy BLITHE SPIRIT, opening on Halloween and continuing through November 9.

For tickets, showtimes, and more information please contact the Shawnee Playhouse Box Office at 570-421-5093 or visit www.TheShawneePlayhouse.com

PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES:
Thursday October 9 at 2:00 pm.
Friday October 10 at 8:00 pm.
Saturday October 11 at 2:00 pm.
Sunday October 12 at 2:00 pm.

Thursday October 16 at 2:00 pm.
Friday October 17 at 8:00 pm.
Saturday October 18 at 2:00 pm.
Sunday October 19 at 2:00 pm.

Thursday October 23 at 2:00 pm.
Friday October 24 at 8:00 pm.
Saturday October 25 at 2:00 pm.
Sunday October 26 at 2:00 pm.