New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu



 

Lantern Theater Company Announces 2023-24 Season

originally published: 03/16/2023


(PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- Lantern Theater Company has announced its upcoming 2023-24 season, which will mark the company’s 30th anniversary of bringing great stories from great writers to Philadelphia and beyond. To celebrate this milestone season, the Lantern will showcase four brilliant plays from some of the world’s best playwrights: Molière's comic masterpiece Tartuffe, directed by Charles McMahon; two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage’s dramatic gem, Crumbs from the Table of JoyFaith Healer from legendary Irish playwright Brian Friel, directed by longtime Lantern artistic partner Peter DeLaurier; and William Shakespeare’s lyrical and hilarious The Comedy of Errors, also directed by McMahon. The Lantern will also present its annual adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, a Philadelphia holiday tradition co-created by local theater artists Anthony Lawton, Christopher Colucci, and Thom Weaver.

“These plays are richly varied in tone and style but they all treat on a common theme: the ways that we can be complicit in our own self-deception,” said Lantern Artistic Director Charles McMahon. “These writers have created beautifully complex variations on this psychological theme, giving us stories that are comical, wistful, farcical, and poignant – but always informed by a core of essential truth. For our 30th anniversary season, we look forward to celebrating the endurance of the human spirit in the face of its own folly.”

Season subscriptions and flex packages start at $112 and are available online at www.lanterntheater.org or by calling the Lantern Box Office at (215) 829-0395. Single tickets for Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol go on sale July 11, 2023; single tickets for TartuffeCrumbs from the Table of JoyFaith Healer, and The Comedy of Errors go on sale August 1, 2023.

Lantern Theater Company’s 2023-24 Mainstage Season 

TARTUFFE by Molière; Directed by Charles McMahon. September 7 – October 8, 2023. Prim and devout Orgon invites Tartuffe, a charlatan par excellence, into his bourgeois household, laying the scene for equal parts domestic disruption and social outrage. Banned for decades by civil and religious authorities who found the play too close for comfort, this masterpiece from perhaps the most beloved comic playwright of all time is a searing and hilarious study in how we collaborate in our own deception. 




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE OF JOY by Lynn Nottage ; Director TBA. November 9 – December 10, 2023. Just landed in Brooklyn from the South, the Crump family is seeking their place in the Philadelphia-based Father Divine movement – but their two brilliant daughters on the cusp of adulthood are chafing at their father’s religious strictures. Their big dreams for the future are encouraged by their lively, fearless, free-thinking, communist Aunt Lily. This dramatic gem from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage gently reveals the funny and touching struggles of a family trying to make a new start in a strange world full of temptations and surprises.

FAITH HEALER by Brian Friel; Directed by Peter DeLaurier. February 1 – March 3, 2024. From the rich imagination of the great Irish playwright Brian Friel, Faith Healer is a deep dive into the psyche of an inspired performer – but is he really a shaman, an artist, or a con man? This story of a village set on edge by his machinations is at times comical and at times startling. Friel’s masterpiece shines a light on the dark places of the human soul, but its mysteries endure.

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS by William Shakespeare; Directed by Charles McMahon. May 16 – June 16, 2024. Come see how the story of a bereaved merchant searching for his lost son in a hostile city turns into an unrivaled comedy of mistaken identities, twins separated at birth, and love lost and won. When all of Ephesus is thrown into chaos, only the genius of Shakespeare can put it right again. 



2023-24 Special Holiday Production

CHARLES DICKENS' A CHRISTMAS CAROL an Original Adaptation by Anthony Lawton In Collaboration with Christopher Colucci and Thom Weaver; In Association with Mirror Theatre Company. December 2 - 27, 2023. In this wonderfully clear and direct telling of Charles Dickens’ beloved novella, acclaimed playwright and actor Anthony Lawton brings the story vividly to life as only theater can. Come rediscover Dickens’ timeless story of a miser’s miraculous redemption from a life of bitterness, greed, and isolation. Hailed by the late Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal as “electrifying” and by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “a 95-minute masterpiece…brilliantly performed and staged,” Lawton’s heartwarming adaptation has captured the hearts of theater critics and audiences alike, inspiring a new Philadelphia holiday tradition now in its sixth year.

Founded in 1994 and launching its 30th anniversary season in September 2023, the mission of Lantern Theater Company is to produce plays that investigate and illuminate what is essential in the human spirit and the spirit of the times. The Lantern serves audiences and students in Greater Philadelphia with award-winning productions and education programming, notably partnering with middle schools and high schools in the Philadelphia School District to provide in-classroom residencies in support of curricular learning. The Lantern became a national leader in streaming theater during the Covid-19 health crisis, producing ten films of fully designed plays that were created in the company’s resident home at St. Stephen’s Theater, garnering coverage in national media including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and reaching more than 30,000 patrons in 15 countries and all 50 states.




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info




 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Cape

Cape May Stage presents "Love, Loss, & What I Wore"

(CAPE MAY, NJ) -- Cape May Stage presents Love, Loss, & What I Wore from July 5-11, 2025. Based on Ilene Beckerman's bestselling book, this tender and witty play weaves together monologues and ensemble pieces to explore the deep connections between clothing and memory, touching on themes like mothers, prom dresses, bras, purses, and the timeless appeal of black clothing. Showtime is 8:00pm each night.



Classic

Classic American Tales presents "The Specialist" and "The Wizard of Oz" this week

(CAPE MAY, NJ) -- This week, Classic American Tales presents two different events in two different Cape May locations: The historic Dormer House B&B and Rea's Farm.



East

East Lynne Theater Company presents Ken Ludwig's "Dear Jack, Dear Louise"

(CAPE MAY, NJ) -- The award-winning, Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company (ELTC) – now in its 45th year–will present its first show of the company's Mainstage Season, Ken Ludwig's "Dear Jack, Dear Louise," from June 19 to July 12, 2025 with a special performance to honor Veterans on June 27. The heartwarming love story features Liz Mattera, an East Lynne veteran, as Louise, and New York-based actor Xander Furman as Jack, with Mark Edward Lang (ELTC's "Possessing Harriet") directing and lush period costumes by NYC designer Travis Chinick.



Montclair

Montclair Township Declares 'Montclair Theater Day' Ahead of Vanguard Theater's Inaugural Festival

(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Known for its vibrant and lively arts scene, the town of Montclair continues to find new and meaningful ways to celebrate creativity within its community. One of the town's newest initiatives includes the inaugural Montclair Theater Festival, presented by Vanguard Theater and The Essex County Board Of Commissioners. This eagerly anticipated event is set to take place on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Glenfield Park in Montclair's historic Fourth Ward.



Dragonfly

Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center presents Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" in Metuchen and Plainfield

(METUCHEN, NJ) -- Not long after a revival of Thornton Wilder's play Our Town closed on Broadway, New Jersey audiences will have the chance to see the classic drama close to home. Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center will present the classic play in both Metuchen and Plainfield in July. Directed by Dragonfly's Artistic Director Catherine LaMoreaux, Our Town invites audiences into the heart of small-town America through the everyday lives of the residents of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire.



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Vivid

Vivid Summer Solos: Where is Everybody?

Wednesday, July 09, 2025 @ 6:30pm
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
68 Elm Street, Summit, NJ 07901
category: theatre


 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre


 

The

The MAC players at the Middletown Arts Center present "Hairspray"

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Middletown Arts Center
36 Church Street, Middletown, NJ 07748
category: theatre


 

A

A Broadway Tour of America

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre


 

The

The Wizard of Oz

Saturday, July 12, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Algonquin Arts Theatre
60 Abe Voorhees, Manasquan, NJ 08736
category: theatre