PlayPenn and Interact Theatre Company Present Reading of Willy Holtzman’s Honor Flight, featuring Harry Philibosian, Mary Martello, and Scott Greer

by Philly Review Team · Published October 3, 2017 · Updated October 4, 2017

The free event at The Drake’s Proscenium Theatre will take place on Monday, October 9 at 7:30PM.

PlayPenn, the nationally-recognized new play development organization, has partnered with Philadelphia’s Interact Theatre Company to present a one-night only reading of Willy Holtzman’s drama Honor Flight. The presentation will take place on Monday, October 9 at 7:30PM at The Drake’s Proscenium Theatre (302 South Hicks Street, Philadelphia, PA).
The 90-minute reading will feature award-winning Philadelphia actors Harry Philibosian, Mary Martello, and Scott Greer. The play tells the story of Donald, an over-medicated veteran counting down his days in a St. Louis nursing home. When sibling combat between his daughter and son lead to an unlikely pilgrimage to see the World War II memorial in Washington, distant and recent hidden memories upend the entire family.

“Willy [Holtzman] wrote the play with Harry Philibosian in mind,” said Paul Meshejian, PlayPenn’s Artistic Director. “We feel extremely fortunate to have Harry on stage with Mary Martello and Scott Greer. We think it will be a terrific evening.”
Company bios and details are below. The reading on October 9 is free and open to the public; no RSVP is necessary. Seating will be on a first come, first served basis. A small reception will take place in The Drake Theatre’s lobby after the performance.
For press information, contact Bryan Buttler, bryanbuttler@gmail.com. Thank you!
DETAILS:

PlayPenn and Interact Theatre Company present a reading of Honor Flight

By Willy Holtzman

Featuring Harry Philibosian, Scott Greer, and Mary Martello.

Monday, October 9, 2017

7:30PM

The Drake Theatre (302 South Hicks Street, Philadelphia)
Willy Holtzman’s plays include THE FIRST MRS. ROCHESTER (Portland Stage Company), HONOR FLIGHT (PlayPenn), G.O.B. (PlayPenn), THE MORINI STRAD (City Theatre, ATCA Steinberg Best New American Play Award nominee, had its New York debut at Primary Stages in March 2012); SOMETHING YOU DID (Primary Stages, People’s Light & Theatre, Theatre J, commissioned by Baltimore Center Stage); SABINA (Primary Stages, New Jewish Theatre, Gradiva Award Nominee); HEARTS (People’s Light & Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Asolo Theatre, New Jewish Theatre of St. Louis, received the Barrymore Award, the inaugural Arthur Miller Award and was anthologized in Smith and Kraus BEST NEW PLAYS); BOVVER BOYS (Primary Stages, Cleveland Play House, Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Curtain Theatre); THE CLOSER (GeVa Theatre — Davie Award, the Working Theatre); INSIDE OUT (commissioned and produced by Theatre for a New Audience, Portland Stage Company, Nebraska Repertory Theatre); THE LAST TEMPTATION OF JOE HILL (Working Theatre); BLANCO (Goodspeed Opera House Norma Terris Theatre); WHITE TRASH (West Bank Cabaret); SAN ANTONIO SUNSET (published in Best Short Plays and produced in New York, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Mumbai). VOICES IN CONFLICT (created with Wilton, Conn., high school students, was presented at the Public Theatre, the Vineyard Theatre and the Culture Project). Holtzman wrote and executive produced the independent film Edge of America (2004 Sundance Film Festival Opening Night selection, Tribeca Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Hamptons Film Festival, American Indian Film Festival — Best Picture) for which he received the Peabody Award, the Humanitas Prize, and the Writers Guild Award. He also wrote Blood Brothers(HBO, Cine Golden Eagle) and A Body to Die For (Emmy nomination). Holtzman received the HBO Award at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. He has taught writing to at-risk teens at Bronx Regional High School in South Bronx, and was the Lila Wallace Resident Playwright at Juilliard. He has worked with young writers through the 52d Street Project in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen and on the Navajo reservation. He serves on the board of New Dramatists (where as a member he received the Calloway Award) and Harlem Stage Company.
Mary Martello started performing at seven and has continued through four kids and fifty years. She trained at BoarsHead Theatre in Michigan, doing everything from Shakespeare and musical comedy to original plays and musicals: in Virginia at Barksdale Dinner Theatre, Theatre IV and Virginia Museum Theatre; in New York at Light Opera of Manhattan, the Public Theatre and a variety of off-off Broadway; in Colorado at the Denver Center Theatre; in New Jersey at Foundation Theatre, Passage Theatre and seven seasons at McCarter Theatre. Now a proud Philadelphian, she has had the privilege of working at the Arden, Azuka, Interact, Lantern, Peoples Light and Theatre, the Prince, the Walnut, the Wilma and 1812 Productions. Mary has received five Barrymore awards; has had the thrill of performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, received a Lunt/Fontanne Fellowship, and the 2016 Lantern Luminary Award.
Harry Philibosian was part of the Barrymore Award-winning ensemble for InterAct’s acclaimed 1999 production of LEBENSRAUM, for which he also received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He also appeared in InterAct’s productions of NIXON’S NIXON, MISSING LINK and GOD OF DESIRE. Harry has performed extensively with Theatre Exile, as well as with Act II Playhouse, Arden Theatre, 1812 Productions, Lantern Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre and Wilma Theatre, among others.

Scott Greer is thrilled to be back at InterAct, where past favorites include LEBENSRAUM and IT’S ALL TRUE. A 24 year veteran of Philadelphia theatre, Scott has worked for 1812, the Arden, Walnut, PTC, Wilma, Peoples Light, Theatre Exile, Lantern Theatre Company and many more. Regionally, he has worked for Actors Theatre of Louisville, Round House,Cape May Stage, Gulfshore Playhouse, and the Pearl Theatre in New York. He has won five Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre including the prestigious F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist. He

was named 2014’s “Best Theatre Talent” by Philadelphia Magazine.
InterAct Theatre Company: Celebrating its 30th anniversary year and second full season at The Drake, InterAct is a theatre for today’s world, producing new and contemporary plays that explore the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. Founded in 1988 by Producing Artistic Director Seth Rozin, InterAct seeks to entertain audiences by producing world-class, thought-provoking productions, and to use theatre as a tool to foster civic discourse. Find out more at interacttheatre.org.
PlayPenn is a 13-year old artist-driven organization dedicated to the development of new plays and playwrights. PlayPenn fully supports the needs of the writer and the demands of the play in an ever-evolving process within which playwrights can engage in risk taking, boundary-pushing work. The organization’s flagship annual new play development conference and year-round development workshops in cooperation with producing theatres result in staged readings of at least 10 new plays each year for over 1,800 artists, producers, and theatergoers. Additionally, PlayPenn’s rapidly expanding educational programs—which include 17-20 in-person and online classes annually with notable instructors, application assistance, personalized dramaturgy services, plus The Foundry, a three-year membership group for emerging playwrights resident in Philadelphia—serve another 230+ playwrights from the region and across the nation. PlayPenn supports artists at all career stages across a broad spectrum of cultural, economic, ethnic, and gender experience. Since 2005, PlayPenn has helped to develop over 100 new plays from infancy to a state closer to production-readiness. Nearly 60% of these plays have gone on to more than 275 professional productions at esteemed institutions in the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere around the world, including the London’s National Theatre, National Theatre of Israel, English Theatre Berlin, Roundabout Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre, Atlantic Theatre, Second Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, LaJolla Playhouse, Denver Center Theatre, South Coast Repertory, and a host of theatres in the Philadelphia region, in cities across the country and around the world. In 2017, PlayPenn celebrated the first of its developed plays to hit a Broadway stage, and win a Tony Award—JT Rogers’ Oslo at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Find out more at playpenn.org.