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Tom, Dick And Harriet
Award Winning Play by Two Newspapermen Begins
Production
For Immediate Release: March 5, 2004 Contact: Mark Jacobson,
215.551.3376
Philadelphia, PA - What happens to newspaper stories one
day after they are read? They wrap fish, line birdcages and help light
fireplaces.
Here's one story that met a more fortunate end: In March 1999, The
Philadelphia Inquirer published a front-page story about a paternity
lawsuit. It described a Pennsylvania man who determined through a DNA
test that the son for whom he had been paying child support was not his
own. After the story appeared, Inquirer author Shankar Vedantam
and Inquirer editor Donald Drake asked themselves if the issues
in the story could be turned into a play. Can DNA technology really
decide what it means to be a parent?
After years of collaboration, Tom, Dick And Harriet won
the 2nd Annual Brick Playhouse Award for Outstanding Writing. Now, The
Brick Playhouse will present the world premiere April 7-25, 2004
at The 2nd Stage at
the Adrienne at 2030 Sansom Street.
Tom, Dick And Harriet follows the arc of a m�nage
� trois that goes awry: Three friends ford the raging rivers of sex and
love only to
wash up on the shoals of marriage and parenthood. A 10 year-old boy
becomes their ultimate test, prompting hilarious battles over genetics
and possessiveness. Inspired by the Inquirer story, this is a crackling
comedy about politics, parents and the press.
Shankar Vedantam is now a staff writer at The Washington
Post. A collection of his short stories, The Ghosts of Kashmir, will
soon be published in India. One of the stories has been published in
2002 in Rosebud Magazine. He is also working on a novel and a new play
about civil liberties in a post-Sept 11 America. He is one of the
authors of the book Violence or Dialogue, released in Oct 2003. He
lives in Washington D.C.
Donald C. Drake is a former staff writer at The
Philadelphia Inquirer and author of several plays, including Clear and
Present Danger, which was produced by the Walnut Street Theater; Words,
which was produced by the Wilma and The International Theatre in
Vienna; Final Edition, which was produced by the Eureka theater in
Eureka, Ca., and Saintly Mother, which was given as a staged reading at
the O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference. Drake is
a member of the Philadelphia Dramatists Center and The Dramatists Guild
of America.
The Brick Playhouse is dedicated to the revitalization of
all forms of the art of theatre in the Philadelphia region. As the
area's lone company dedicated exclusively to the creation, development
and production of new theatre works we strive to identify and encourage
emerging theatre artists. We are committed to assisting these theatre
artists through the provision of real estate, constructive artistic
feedback, and abundant production possibilities, all of which are
necessary to develop and produce fresh, innovative and intriguing works
of art. The Brick is also dedicated to the cultivation of new audiences
for modern theatre through education, access, participation and
affordable opportunities for the community to experience both the
process and the final product that is contemporary theatre
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