The American Music Theater Festival, which has been attracting national attention to Philadelphia since 1984, will offer three premieres this season. The finale, in May, sounds particularly hot: Tango/Orfeo, two Latin dance/ theater pieces.
The People's Light and Theater Company in Malvern has two stages and a world premiere for each in May. One of them - Drury Pifer's Zig Zag Zelda - is a play within a play, taking off from the literary world's neverending fascination with F. Scott Fitzgerald and his troubled wife, Zelda.
The Philadelphia Drama Guild's world premiere is Rocky and Diego, by Center City resident Roger Cornish. The Philadelphia Festival Theater for New Plays will have three world premieres opening between April 11 and May 23, including a work by Bruce Graham, who has had three plays produced by the company. And the Theater Company of Philadelphia's Spring Festival of New Plays, April 28 to May 28, will offer no fewer than seven premieres, all developed in the company's playwrights workshop.
David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross isn't a new play, but it's new to Philadelphia. And its pedigree includes the 1984 Pulitzer Prize. It's a darkly comic look at the American way of doing business, this production courtesy the Philadelphia Theater Company. PTC is also in the new-play business. Its Stages Festival - April 25 to 30 - will showcase five new works. These are staged readings or workshop presentations.
