PTC's mission is to produce the Philadelphia world premieres of work of "America's most significant contemporary playwrights."

Philip Himberg will direct McNally's gay-history play with music, Some Men, May 12-June 11, 2006. PTC's relationship with five-time Tony Award-winner McNally extends back 17 years, including the world premiere production of the Tony Award-winning Master Class, and also the Philadelphia premieres of Love! Valour! Compassion!, Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

Some Men, directed by Himberg in a fall 2004 workshop for Sundance Institute Theatre Laboratory at White Oak in Yulee, FL, "is a theatrical collage that explores what it has meant to be a gay American man over the last century, from World War II until some moment in the very near future."

According to PTC, "This poignant and funny play chronicles the lives of eight men and two women, all guests of a contemporary same-sex wedding, set against the backdrop of landmark events in gay history and the changing spectrum of popular American music."

The PTC season begins Oct. 19-Nov. 20 with the world premiere of Adrift in Macao, the new musical comedy with book and lyrics by Christopher Durang, music by Peter Melnick, and directed by Sheryl Kaller. A run in New York is expected to follow the Philly engagement. The musical "is a funny and irreverent musical parody of film noir…mixing together farce, camp and tongue-in-cheek wit." It "spins the tale of five quirky characters stranded in a Casablanca-like locale in the Orient."

Adrift in Macao played Vassar College's Powerhouse Theatre as part of New York Stage & Film's 2002 summer season. Producers Susan Dietz and Ina Meibach are reportedly behind the future commercial run.

The second slot of the PTC season will be a Philly premiere to be announced, running Feb. 3-March 5, 2006.

Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, about an African-American seamstress making underclothes for both "courtesans" and socialites in 1900s New York, runs March 17-April 16, 2006, in its Philadelphia premiere. Tim Vasen will direct.

Also in 2005-06 PTC will also offer a special presentation of Josh Kornbluth's Ben Franklin Unplugged Jan. 10-21, 2006, in honor of Benjamin Franklin's 300th birthday. Directed by David Dower, Ben Franklin Unplugged "is a hilarious tour-de-force by West Coast monologist Josh Kornbluth that takes him on a wild journey to uncover the mystery of the relationship between Franklin and his son."

The piece is "based on actual historical findings with plenty of laughs along the way." Kornbluth's quest "not only solves the mystery of Franklin and his son, but also offers Kornbluth poignant closure and reconciliation with his own father."

PTC's annual collaboration with Philadelphia Young Playwrights of professional productions of student-written plays will be on stage Dec. 2-10. These productions "combine the talents and imaginations of the region's award-winning young playwrights with Philadelphia's best professional actors, directors, and designers."

For information about Philadelphia Theatre Company, call (215) 985-0420 or (866) 985-0420, or visit www.phillytheatreco.com.

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Philadelphia Theatre Company "is Philadelphia's only non-profit professional theatre dedicated exclusively to producing regional and world premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights."

Producing artistic director is Sara Garonzik, who said in statement, "This special season re-confirms our commitment to new work and to the sense of adventure that has been a hallmark of Philadelphia Theatre Company since our inception."

Among its more than 30 world premieres of new American plays are Bruce Graham's According to Goldman; Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso; Daniel Stern's comedy Barbra's Wedding; John Henry Redwood's No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs; J.T. Roger's White People; David Ives' Lives of the Saints; three-time Tony Award-winning Master Class by Terrence McNally; Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel; and the American premiere of Birdy by Naomi Wallace.

Philadelphia Theatre Company recently embarked on a capital campaign in support of building its new home, the Suzanne Roberts Theater, scheduled to open in Fall 2007. The company has been in residence at the historic Plays & Players Theater since 1982.