John Tillinger directs Lisa Banes as Miss Fischer and Jeffrey DeMunn as Picasso, through June 22 on the PTC mainstage. Tillinger helmed a Nov. 11, 2002, reading of the play.
The new work "takes place at the height of the German occupation of France when Pablo Picasso is brought into Gestapo headquarters in Paris for an interrogation by a mysterious woman named Miss Fischer." She "wants Picasso to authenticate three paintings, each assumed to be a Picasso." The work is billed as "a cat-and-mouse mystery about art, sex, death and the lure of power."
The reading was part of PTC's STAGES Festival of new play readings, where plays are read with an eye toward offering a forum for the development of new works, but also for possible future production at Philadelphia Theatre Company, now in its 27th season.
PTC launched Daniel Stern's Barbra's Wedding in spring 2002, and it's now enjoying an Off-Broadway run.
Hatcher's plays include Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Three Viewings, Scotland Road, Sockdology and Tuesdays With Morrie. Directors Tillinger's credits include Night Must Fall with Matthew Broderick, Manhattan Theatre Club's House and Garden, Sylvia, A Perfect Ganesh and Lips Together, Teeth Apart, among others. Designers are Derek McLane (set), Duane Schuler (lighting), Linda Cho (costumes) and Matthew Callahan (sound).
Official opening is May 31. Tickets range $30-$45. PTC has been in residence at Plays & Players Theater, 1714 Delancey Street, since 1982. For more information about Philadelphia Theatre Company, call (215) 569-9700 or visit www.phillytheatreco.com.
