August 4-10, 2005

artpicks

The King of Prussia Project

by Steve Cohen

theater

There was a time when the biggest attraction in the King of Prussia area was not the mall but a theater — the Valley Forge Music Fair, first in a chain of summer venues that brought performances to the masses for half a century. The Music Fair made way for a supermarket in 1996. Then the Upper Merion Township Cultural Center closed, depriving the area of even a small-scale venue.

As kids, Erin Reilly and Matthew Decker attended their first shows at Valley Forge. They acted at Upper Merion High School in the late 1990s and went on to careers in Philadelphia and New York. They want to bring that culture back to the community. "The area is growing economically and it needs to grow culturally too," says Reilly. So they founded Theatre Horizon to involve the community and to create jobs for actors and designers. Their production of Moisés Kaufman's The Laramie Project, based on the killing of Matthew Shepard, starts Friday, with Lantern Theatre's KC Nocero directing.

"We are the only theater company in the Philadelphia area that is active all summer," says Reilly, "so we draw from a large pool of talent." Three of the cast members are Barrymore nominees or winners, and the company recently joined the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

"Our mission is to involve audiences emotionally and viscerally," says Reilly. "Last summer's production of Lanford Wilson's Book of Days urged citizens to question authority, and we put it on during the controversy over the war in Iraq. The Laramie Project warns us that hate and prejudice can erupt in any community, even here."

The Laramie Project, Fri.-Sat., Aug. 5-6, 7:30 p.m., through Aug. 13 (talk-backs following Aug. 11 and 12 performances), $10, Upper Merion High School, 435 Crossfield Rd, King of Prussia, 610-209-1897, www.theatrehorizon.org.