-Courtesy of Aversa PR & Events
Curtains up in Chester County and the Philadelphia suburbs. Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 N. High Street) is thrilled to announce the line-up for its first ever self-produced theatre season, and the company’s first under the leadership of new Artistic Director Carmen Khan. This historic first season of professional theatre in downtown West Chester begins with William Gibson’s joyful play, The Butterfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod The Nut, & The Slaughter Of 12 Hit Carols In A Pear Tree, opening just in time for the holidays and running November 30 to December 23, 2022.
The new year launches with Katori Hall’s spellbinding reimagination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final hours in an Olivier Award-winning Best New Play, The Mountaintop, running February 1 to February 26, 2023.
The season concludes in the spring with a family-friendly finale as audiences experience a classic story through Laura Eason’s adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer running April 19 to May 7, 2023.
Uptown is planning on offering additional programming during The Mountaintop and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. These include: student matinees, guest speakers, partners, post-show talk-backs, invited writers for program notes, and more. Uptown’s first student matinee will happen during The Mountaintop.
As a performing arts organization that now offers a full theatre season as well as music, dance, comedy and film series, Uptown has the opportunity to offer a unique ticket offering – a Theatre Society Subscription. The subscription bundles a theatre ticket package with exclusive perks including advance access to the best seats in the house, the same seats for every play, waived ticket fees, and advance pre-sales to a year-round calendar of music, a new Jazz Series, a Dance Series, stand-up and improv comedy, film presentations, and special events on both the A. Roy Smith MainStage and in the Univest Cabaret. Theatre Society Subscription packages start at $105. Audiences may choose Preview, Opening Night, and various weekday or weekend performances. Theatre Society Subscriptions are now open to current and new Friends of Uptown, a popular membership program that adds additional perks, including dining discounts. Subscription packages will open to the general public on Sept. 1, 2022. Single tickets go on sale Oct. 1, 2022.
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center introduces their first-ever Artistic Director, Carmen Khan, who is a West Chester local and well-known on the regional theatre scene. She brings deep knowledge and vision as the Founder and former Artistic/Executive Director of Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater. Her arrival to Uptown comes at an exciting time of transformation and growth as the organization builds to realize its mission of becoming one of the region’s premiere performing arts centers. With Khan’s distinct experience, Uptown is poised to become Chester County’s most exciting new destination for theatre and other performing arts.
“We aspire to expand,” said Khan. “We want our audience to leave every performance feeling the world is a little bigger place than when they came in; to expand the theatre’s reach and relevance and influence in the community; to expand West Chester’s sense of what is possible; what kind of a town we can be. I see Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center as a vibrant arts institution and a hub of community and culture for the region.”
She added, “For our inaugural theatre season here at Uptown, I was looking to share plays that are entertaining, imaginative, gripping, and playful. On a deeper level these plays offer profound hope for the human condition, and we hope they create connections, awareness and help us grow as global citizens. We are producing a season that will be exciting, thought provoking, and hilarious, with imaginative productions. Pure fun!”
As the performing arts center heads into its first theatre season, Khan brings the best of both worlds to her new position, with ties to the West Chester and Chester County communities, as well as to the regional arts scene. She has lived in West Chester for 32 years and raised her family in the borough. Khan commuted to Philadelphia where she founded and served as Artistic/Executive Director of the award-winning Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre. Since she founded the company in 1996, she has directed/produced over sixty productions of Shakespeare’s works. She also was the co-founder of The Laughing Stock Theatre, an all comedy theatre, and she was the Artistic Director of the Red Heel Theatre, which was devoted to the little known classics of the Jacobean age.
In addition to being a director, Khan is an actor and voice-over artist and has appeared in over forty theatrical productions. She holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of London, England, and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Khan is the co-author of a new edition of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, called “Macbeth Moment By Moment.”
As well as theatre, Uptown has something for everyone this fall in its intimate 327-seat MainStage theatre and 85 seat Cabaret. There is a robust line-up of music, including an extensive schedule of tributes to some of the most famous rock and roll artists in history, and a new Jazz Series. Uptown will announce a new Dance Series soon featuring some of the region’s most innovative dance companies. Plus audiences can expect comedy and film all year round. Stay tuned for all of these shows and series to be announced in coming weeks.
For more information about the season and everything happening at Uptown, visit https://uptownwestchester.org/ and follow Uptown on Facebook and Instagram @UptownWC.
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