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Exit the King by Eugène Ionesco

Walnut Street Theater, Independence Studio on 3
Philadelphia, PA

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King Berenger skips, jumps, sings, and limps from lumbago. He's the Hugh Hefner of a crumbling kingdom, though this party's over and the end is here. Ionesco's absurdist classic, a hilarious, sparklingly witty comedy, comes to life via the colorful IRC lens, the minds behind Ionesco's sold-out Rhinoceros, Fringe 2014.

Featuring: Robb Hutter, Patricia Durante, Susan Giddings, Anna Lou Hearn, Jenna Kuerzi and Bob Schmidt.

Directed by Tina Brock

Set and Costume Design by Erica Hoelscher
Lighting Design by Andrew Cowles
Sound Design by Tina Brock
Technical Direction by Scott Casssidy

September 1 - 20, 2015
Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio on 3
825 Walnut Street (Third Floor)
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Tuesday thru Saturday - 7:30 pm
Sunday - 2:30 pm

Wednesday & Thursday - $22
Friday, Saturday & Sunday - $25
Preview Performance (9/1) - $15
Opening Night (9/2) - $25

Seating is very limited; early arrival is encouraged. Doors open one half-hour before curtain.

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The End of Happy Days, Hi-Jinx, Bean-Feasts and Strip Tease:
Eugene Ionesco's Exit the King, an Absurdist Tragicomedy
September 1 through September 20, 2015
The Walnut Street Theatre's Independence Studio on 3

The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, Philadelphia's critically-acclaimed theater company known for accessible, buoyant interpretations of classic absurdist works, will present Ionesco's "hilarious and poignant comedy about the liveliest death on record" as part of Philadelphia's Neighborhood Fringe 2015. Exit the King will preview Tuesday, September 1 and open Wednesday, September 2 at 7:30 pm, running through Sunday, September 20, 2015 at The Walnut Street Theatre's Independence Studio on 3.

First staged on Broadway in 1968, New York Times critic Clive Barnes called Exit the King a "masterpieceincomparably, Ionesco's greatest work." Exit tells the story of megalomaniacal ruler whose incompetence has left his country in near ruin. Despite the efforts of the Queen and the loyal members of his court to help him reconcile his remaining time, he refuses to relinquish control, attend to matters at hand and make peace with his destiny. The play saw few productions in the 40 years following its 1968 premiere until a stunning Broadway production in 2009, directed by Neil Armfield, featuring Geoffrey Rush in the lead role for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor. The critically-acclaimed revival also featured performers Susan Sarandon, William Sadler, Lauren Ambrose, Andrea Martin and Brian Hutchison.

Exit the King was conceived during a period of illness when the author was consumed with fears of death. The playwright's inspiration was borne from a childhood obsession that one could avoid being sick and simply live forever: "I told myself that one could learn to die, and that I could learn to die, that one can also help other people to die. This seems to me to be the most important thing we can do, since we're all of us dying men who refuse to die. This play is an attempt at an apprenticeship in dying."

Exit the King follows previous sold-out productions of Ionesco's Rhinoceros (Fringe 2014), The Chairs (Fringe 2009), Franz Kafka's The Castle (Fringe 2013) and Witold Gombrowicz's Ivona: Princess of Burgundia (Fringe 2012). Helming the IRC production are Consortium favorites Robb Hutter (Ivona: Princess of Burgundia, Charles Mee's Paradise Park), Susan Giddings (Jean Giraudoux's Ondine, Ivona: Princess of Burgundia) and Bob Schmidt (Rhinoceros, Boris Vian's The Empire Builders, The Chairs), leading an ensemble of 6 performers, including IRC newcomers Patricia Durante, Anna Lou Hearn and Jenna Kuerzi. Producing Artistic Director Tina Brock will direct. The Exit the King design team includes IRC Associate Artistic Director Erica Hoelscher (set and costume design), designer on last year's sold-out production of Rhinoceros (also set and costumes), and costumes for the majority of IRC productions since 2010. Andrew Cowles (Lighting Design) returns after the IRC's February 2015 production of George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance; IRC Producing Artistic Director and Exit director Tina Brock will also serve as Sound Designer.

Eugène Ionesco (1909 -1994) was a Romanian playwright who spent much of his childhood in Paris. Ionesco's first play, The Bald Soprano, written in 1950, remains the longest continuously running show in Paris. Over half a century later, the seminal works that earned him a reputation as the "Inventor of the Metaphysical Farce" and "Shakespeare of the Absurd" are enjoying a well-deserved renaissance in New York theaters and around the world. Ionesco writes: "I thought that it was strange to assume that it was abnormal for anyone to be forever asking questions about the nature of the universe, about what the human condition really was, my condition, what I was doing here, if there was really something to do. It seemed to me on the contrary -- that it was abnormal for people not to think about it -- for them to allow themselves to live, as it were, unconsciously."

Exit the King will run September 1 through September 20, 2015 with performances Tuesday through Sunday at The Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio on 3, 825 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Curtain for Tuesday through Saturday performances is 7:30 pm, Sunday matinee curtain is 2:30 pm. Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $15 - $25 and can be purchased through the FringeArts box office, by ordering online at http://ExitTheKing.bpt.me or www.IdiopathicRidiculopathyConsortium.org, or by calling 215.285.0472.

2015 marks The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium's ninth season presenting challenging and rarely-produced absurdist gems from authors around the globe. Exit the King will operate under a contract with Actors' Equity Association. The IRC is a 501C3 non-profit organization, and a member of The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. The IRC's 2015 season is made possible in part by generous grants from Wyncote Foundation; The Philadelphia Cultural Fund; The Samuel S. Fels Fund, The Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency with support also provided by PECO and administered regionally by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and The Charlotte Cushman Foundation.

The 2015 Fringe Festival is a 17-day-long performing arts celebration in Philadelphia September 3rd-19th, highlighting the cultural vibrancy of Philadelphia year-round by presenting cutting-edge world-class performances from around the globe.

IRC. We bring good nothingness to life.

Location

Walnut Street Theater, Independence Studio on 3
825 Walnut Street (Third Floor)
Philadelphia, PA 19107
United States

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