There is no shortage of entertainment in Bucks County. If you are a theater buff, there are a variety of shows to pick from this weekend.  Here are a few of the shows as well as basic information about each of the theater companies. It’s all in alphabetical order so don’t just skim the first few.  Have a great weekend.

 

Bucks County Gilbert & Sullivan Society presents – Patience

Friday and Saturday

The story follows the lovesick exploits of a group of village maidens, two aesthetic-minded poets, a regiment of guards, and a fetching milkmaid named Patience. The bawdy tunes further illuminate the story as the village maidens abandon their common guards for the more sensitive bards, but the uncooperative bards are enamored of the lovely Patience. The delightful farce eventually untangles with plenty of satisfying and boisterous Gilbert and Sullivan choruses.

The Bucks County Gilbert & Sullivan Society , with a little help from our friends in the neighbouring Delaware Valley G&S societies,  produced our first fully costumed community performance in the Doylestown area. We presented “Trial By Jury” first performed in London in 1875. As this is a one act operetta it is only about 35 minutes long and so we also staged a concert performance of selections from some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s major works.

Web page: http://www.bucksgilbertandsullivan.org/Home_Page.php

 

The Bucks County Playhouse presents – Mothers and Sons

By Terrence McNally

June 13, 2013 — June 23, 2013

This world premiere by four time Tony Award®- winning playwright Terrence McNally, starring Tony and Emmy® Award-winner Tyne Daly, is the story of the mother of a young man who died from AIDS and his partner at the time of her son’s death. In the many years since they last met, both their lives have changed — more than either of them could have possibly imagined. This new play asks us to consider how far we have come as a society in need of healing and how far we still have to go.

The Bucks County Playhouse is located in New Hope, Pennsylvania, at the site of a former grist mill on the banks of the Delaware River. The original structure was built in 1790 when owner Benjamin Parry rebuilt the Hope Mills, which had recently burned down. The newly christened New Hope Mills inspired the village to change its name from Coryell’s Ferry to New Hope.

Web Page: http://www.bcptheater.org/

 

DCP Theatre presents – Cyrano de Bergerac

Friday and Saturday

Cyrano, a poet and expert duelist, falls in love with the fair Roxane, but is ashamed to court her because of his huge nose. Instead, he pens love letters for the handsome, but dull-witted, Christian, to win her hand for him. Will he succeed? Will Roxane learn her love’s true identity? To know the outcome, you must come to see this enduring classic love story.

Dutch Country Players is a non-profit community theatre founded in 1952, located in Telford. Monthly meetings held on the first Wednesday of each month at 8 pm. Auditions are open for all DCP Theatre productions. They welcome your talents, both onstage and behind the scenes whether you are a member of our theatre or not.

Web Page: http://www.dcptheatre.com/

 

Langhorne Players present – The Kingfisher

By William Douglas-Home

Friday and Saturday

Cecil, a seventy year-old successful novelist living comfortably with his fussy old butler is contemplating marriage. The object of his affections, Evelyn, has just buried the man she married fifty years ago. Cecil and Evelyn once had a brief romance, but he never quite got around to proposing marriage and she, sensibly, then turned to a man who did. “Now he wants to make up for that passed-up opportunity, without accepting the changes that time inevitably brings. She knows that you can’t go back, and that the path forward is not necessarily a simple straight one. There is, after all, a difference between life and living. Think about it. Douglas-Home certainly did.” (Whatsonstage.com) The dialogue in The Kingfisher bristles with hilarious one-liners. And that elusive and wary bird of the title? Is it a symbol for one of the characters and, if so, which? That’s for you to decide. Directed by Sheldon Zeff. Produced by Ken Junkins. Cast includes Hawkins: Scott Fishman, Evelyn: Gail Foulke, Cecil: Elliot Simmons.

Langhorne Players is a volunteer community theater company that produces unusual, thought-provoking works meant to engender post-theater conversation. Open auditions are held for each show and the company enthusiastically welcomes new volunteers and talent. Productions take place in a 73-seat theater in the 200-year-old Spring Garden Mill located in Tyler State Park, Newtown, Bucks County, PA.  

Web Page: http://www.langhorneplayers.org/

 

Town and Country Players present – The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

By William Inge

June 13, 2013 — June 29, 2013

The drama centers on Rubin Flood, who loses his salesman job in the 1920’s. While searching for a new job, he must deal with his wife, Cora, who shuns intimacy and mistakes his joblessness for stinginess, his shy daughter who prepares for her first dance and his pre-teen son who runs to his mother instead of dealing with bullies. He tries to find comfort with a friend, Mavis Pruitt, thus setting off rumors of a torrid relationship. In addition are the themes of modernization (i.e., not enough demand for horse harness, and the impending arrival of the oil industry).
This play opened December 5, 1957, at New York’s Music Box Theatre and ran for a total of 468 performances. It won the Tony Award for Best Play and was made into a film in 1960.

Town and Country Players was the brainchild of local residents Florence Weisel and Lenora Dunn and  Jean and Milton Rutherford. Together, they began the quest of bringing a non-equity play house to central Bucks County. Their first production “The Late George Apley”, was watched by 400 patrons on February 27, 1948 at Doylestown Borough School at Broad and Court Streets. With 64 seasons of fantastic theater presented to you by Town and Country Players, who knows what new surprises we have in store for you! They now make their home in an Historic Barn Theater Complex in Buckingham. They are a public, not-for-profit organization with 501(c)3 status with a seasoned Board of Directors, many of whom hold degrees in the performing arts or entrepreneurs and executives with major area corporations, schools, for-profit and not-for-profit companies.

Web Page: http://www.townandcountryplayers.org/