Philadelphia Theatre Company Hosts Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Open to the public, the Ceremony will be emceed by CBS-3's Pat Ciarrocchi and feature congratulatory greetings from Philadelphia Theatre Company's Board President E. Gerald Riesenbach, Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik, and representatives from the State and City.

Following the ribbon cutting, the theater will be open from 2:00PM-4:30PM for tours, behind-the-scenes stories and ongoing entertainment.

The excitement continues at 7:00PM with the dramatic lighting of the marquee, emceed by CBS-3's Angela Russell. The marquee is a dramatic and intricate metal sculpture designed and fabricated exclusively for PTC's Suzanne Roberts Theatre.

Philadelphia Theatre Company's new Suzanne Roberts Theatre was designed by KieranTimberlake Associates LLP. The Mainstage boasts a beautiful, intimate auditorium with curved walls, warm-colored fabrics and an intricate leather-tiled proscenium arch. The urbane and elegant public lobbies are illuminated by a three-story glass façade that overlooks the Avenue of the Arts.

Founded in 1984, KieranTimberlake Associates LLP is an award-winning and internationally recognized architecture firm noted for its research, innovation, and inventive design. The firm's projects include programming, planning and design of all types of new structures and their interiors; and the renovation, reuse and conservation of existing structures. The firm has received over fifty design awards and projects have been published in Architecture, Architectural Record, Interiors, Interior Design, I.D. Magazine, Metropolis, Time, WIRED, World Architecture, and the New York Times.

Philadelphia Theatre Company is Philadelphia's only non-profit professional theater dedicated exclusively to producing world and regional premieres of works by contemporary American playwrights. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik, Philadelphia Theatre Company has had ever-increasing national impact having produced 34 world premieres of new American plays and musicals in its 31 seasons. Recent world premiere productions include: Nerds://A Musical Software Satire by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Erik Weiner, and Hal Goldberg; Some Men by Terrence McNally (recently produced at Second Stage Theatre); Adrift in Macao by Christopher Durang and Peter Melnick (produced at Primary Stages last Winter); Bruce Graham's According to Goldman; Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso; Daniel Stern's comedy Barbra's Wedding (moved to the Westside Arts Theatre in 2003); John Henry Redwood's No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs; J.T. Rogers' White People; David Ives' Lives of the Saints; three-time Tony Award-winning Master Class by Terrence McNally, starring Zoe Caldwell; Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel (Lucille Lortel Award, 1997); and the American premiere of Birdy by Naomi Wallace. A Picasso received its New York premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club in April 2005. Philadelphia Theatre Company was chosen Best Theatre Company 2003 by Philadelphia magazine, Theater Company of the Year by Philadelphia Weekly in 2005, Best Theater Company in the 2005 City Paper Readers' Choice Awards, and named Best Theater by Philadelphia Style Magazine in 2006. Since 1995, Philadelphia Theatre Company has received 109 nominations and 34 awards from Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards. -- www.phillytheatreco.com