Coming up in Philly theater: Steel plants, South Africa, and a hit sequel

For Philadelphia theater habitués, September is all about Fringe. Hundreds of performances unfold across the city for two and a half gloriously jam-packed weeks, and if you’re anything like me, you set your hair on fire trying to keep up. October, by contrast, allows for more relaxed consumption, as many of Philly’s favorite resident theaters debut their new seasonal offerings. If the Fringe feels like the first week of college — meeting new people, getting lost around campus, forming fast bonds — October is closer to kicking it at a reunion with old friends.

1812 Productions, Philadelphia’s venerable all-comedy theater, opens its 22nd season with the American premiere of Tom Wells’s Broken Biscuits, October 4 through 28. A smash hit across the United Kingdom, where it’s toured extensively, the quirky comedy follows the travails of three teenage outcasts who form a rock band in the hopes of boosting their social stature. Amanda Jill Robinson, who impressed me greatly in Potts during last summer’s SoLow Fest, heads the cast, with Jennifer Childs directing.

Sweat and Desire Under the Elms

Lynn Nottage’s Sweat makes its local debut at Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC), some 60 miles from the play’s Reading, Pennsylvania, setting. Sweat garnered Nottage the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making her the first woman and second African American (after August Wilson) to win that award twice. Philly stage regulars Kittson O’Neill, Matteo Scammell, Kimberly S. Fairbanks, and Suli Holum will play the trade unionists tenuously holding onto the promise of the American Dream. Sweat also represents PTC’s first independently produced offering since Paige Price took the company’s reins in April 2017. Performances run October 12 through November 4.

EgoPo Classic Theater begins its season-long exploration of South African theater with two exciting offerings. From October 4 through 7, they will host a touring presentation of Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms, staged by the Cape Town–based Abrahamse and Meyer Productions. Director Fred Abrahamse puts a South African spin on O’Neill’s familial love triangle, making the characters British and Xhosa rather than American. Beginning October 24, EgoPo also introduces Philly to Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s A Human Being Died That Night, under Steven Wright’s direction.

Returning mothers

Out in Rose Valley, Hedgerow Theatre Company will present the mother of all Greek tragedies: Medea by Euripides, “freely adapted” by Robinson Jeffers, from October 18 through November 11. The production continues Hedgerow’s Core Company Project, which allows a quartet of resident actors — Adam Altman, Jessica DalCanton, Jared Reed, and Jennifer Summerfield — the opportunity to explore classical and contemporary works at the theater over a three-year period. Summerfield plays Medea to Reed’s Jason, with Altman and DalCanton assuming supporting roles.

October ends with Arden Theatre Company’s regional premiere of A Doll’s House, Part 2, Lucas Hnath’s cheeky Ibsen update. Grace Gonglewski stars as Nora, who returns to the Helmer household fifteen years after fatefully slamming its door to ask a favor of her former husband, Torvald. As the play’s humorous title suggests, hijinks ensue — but not without a healthy dose of pathos. Steven Rishard, Joilet F. Harris, and Grace Tarves round out the cast, playing at the Arden’s Old City complex from October 25 through December 9.