Patti Moore as Tracy, Josh McIlvain as Carter. Photo by Melissa Bridge.

CARTER’S PLAY finished its inaugural  run on May 19, 2012.

Carter’s Play is the anti-feel good play about low budget art-making. Featuring a play within a play, emotional manipulation, sex, and cheapness all in the name of theater. Playing with both naturalism and theatricality, Carter’s Play explores the motivations and moral gray areas behind art, collaboration, and how people recast themselves in their own stories.

Read the review in STAGE MAGAZINE!

Read about is in Metro Philadelphia!

Read about us in the Philly Weekly!

Performers Patti Moore,  Mark Cairns,  Jennifer Summerfield, Chris Davis, Sarah Robinson, Josh McIlvain Lighting Design Catherine Lee Written by Josh McIlvain Directed by John Rosenberg and Josh McIlvain 

Show dates: Show’s over! Come again next time!

Venue: The White Space at Crane Old School, LP, 1417 North 2nd Street (2 blocks North of Girard, just north of Northern Liberties area). List on nearby restaurants down below!

Previous Praise!

Wild Punch was chosen as one of Merilyn Jackson’s 2011 Theatre Highlights: Critic’s Choice (Broad Street Review)–and we quote: “James Tolbert and Josh McIlvain . . . gave fascinating psychological performances.”

“Deer Head is off the wall. It’s also highly recommended if you’re into well-crafted short-form comedic theater. Director Josh McIlvain has a gift for creating improbable situations that keep getting more absurd.” Deni Kasrel, Philadelphia City Paper 

Boat Hole name one of 2010’s “10 Essentials at Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe.” Philly Weekly

“Brings on the funny and the offbeat, tinged with an urban edge.” Philadelphia City Paper

Carter’s Play is a bitingly funny comedic drama that explores the motivations and moral gray areas behind art, collaboration, and how people like to recast themselves in their stories. Carter’s Play follows a mid-career playwright-director (Carter) who uses all his manipulative powers to get the most of out of his friends and actors for his new play, an ultra-melodramatic reimagining of the breakdown of his marriage. As Carter’s creative and personal life are on the rise, those of his lascivious old friend and theater owner are spiraling downward. While intertwining a play within a play, the process of mounting that play, and the relationships between those putting it on, Carter’s Play examines how reality can be twisted into self-serving fiction in the art we make and how we build our careers and create relationships.

Mark Cairns as Tripp. Photo by Said Johnson.

READ ALL ABOUT US IN STAGE MAGAZINE

Art On A Budget…Life On Display: CARTER’S PLAY Brings New Meaning To ‘Backstage’

“For anyone who’s ever been involved in the creative process of producing low-budget theatre, one thing’s for sure: getting by with a little help from your friends, family, neighbors, enemies, (Ok, really ANYONE) is a must. This idea advances to a whole new meta-theatrical level in this original play-within-a-play, all while taking the audience on the journey of creating both. . . . Walking into the “White Space” at the Crane Art’s Old School building, there’s a very hip, performance-arty, museum-esque vibe that immediately let me know I was not in “Kansas” anymore . . . . It was apparent that THIS immediate audience would be seeing what a “real” audience never gets to see: the personal dramas and ensuing sex, hilarity, back-stabbing, etc, of the people behind the art. . . . Patti [Moore] lends an under-stated charm and honesty to all of her roles, especially when rehearsing a very hilarious sex scene from the play. . . . Jennifer Summerfield plays Chrissy as an identifiable actress, frustrated and struggling with a director wrapped up in his vision. Chrissy plays ‘Margo’ with a ferocious diva-ness and shines as she negotiates both characters quite seamlessly. . . . Mark Cairns, who plays the worn-down theatre owner and ostensibly the technical director, Tripp, does an hilarious job of representing a broken down and cynical theatre “techie.” . . . The fluid manner of transitioning between the two worlds makes CARTER’S PLAY all the more inventive and worth the trip . . .  a sneaky two-act look into a heightened world of art-making and the accompanying scandal that comes along with, CARTER’S PLAY is assuredly worth the $20 price of admission.” Amanda Curry, read the whole review here.