MAINSTAGE | WORLD PREMIERE
MARSHA BLOVOTNICK AND THE MARVELOUS MAGICAL CHICKEN SOUP
By Dan Kitrosser
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At The Bluver Theatre @ The Drake, 302 S. Hicks Street, Philadelphia (Between Spruce and Pine Streets and 15th and 16th.) ​​​​​
Marsha is angry. At the world. At her ex-wives. At her nephew. And especially at her sister -- who has just invited herself over for Shabbat dinner. Marsha doesn’t know how she’ll get through the evening... and then a mysterious ancestor appears bearing a pot of magical chicken soup that just might heal the world. Will Marsha simmer down long enough to actually serve the magical soup?
Could this “Jewish penicillin” truly be the cure for what annoys her? Find out in this hysterical and tender World Premiere from one of Philly’s funniest writers!
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From the two-time "Fringie" winner and brilliant local playwright who brought you Why This Night? and one of the Good For the Jews one-acts!
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March 12th, 7 pm (Opening Night)
March 13th, 7 pm
March 14th, 8 pm
March 15th, 2 pm
March 15th, 7 pm
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March 19th, 2 pm
March 19th, 7 pm
March 20th, 7 pm
March 21st, 8 pm
March 22nd, 2 pm
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Directed by Jesse Bernstein
Marsha Blovotnick: Janis Dardaris*
The Sister: Susan Riley Stevens*
Chorus: Adam Pelta-Pauls
Nephew: Mason Rosenthal
Lilith, Lillith, and Lili: Jennifer Summerfield
*denotes member of Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers
Stage Manager: Celia HuttonJohns
Scenic and Lighting design: Will Lowry
Sound Desi:gn Christopher Colucci
Costume Design: Natalia de la Torre
Props Design: Clare Wislar
​​Production Manager: Beckah Smith
Planning to drive to the show? We're partnering with SpotHero to make it easier to park your car for the show. Reserve a spot in advance by clicking the link below.
And the great part about it - A portion of the SpotHero proceeds, when reserved through this link, will benefit Theatre Ariel!
MARSHA BINGO
A game about bad habits, petty thoughts, and being human.
You’ve been seeing Bingo squares show up, one by one.
Here’s what they add up to.
Play honestly.
Or don’t.
But Marsha will know.
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Thank you to our show supporters:
PROGRAM
BIOGRAPHIES
Jesse Bernstein (Director) is the Artistic Director of Theatre Ariel – but began his involvement with the theatre as a writer and performer of his solo show Ethics of the Fathers. Over 35 years, he has performed at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Arden Theatre Company, Ventura Theatre Company and the Walnut Street Theatre Company among others. In 1999, he originated the role of Reuven in Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok’s stage adaptation of The Chosen. For Theatre Ariel, he has appeared in Ethics of the Fathers, The Scribe, The Wanderers and Morning Star (collaboration with PAC). His TV credits include appearances on Law & Order, Veronica Mars and Days of Our Lives. www.iamjessebernstein.com
Janis Dardaris (Marsha) Recently: Montgomery theatre, peoples light. In philadelphia: Philadelphia Theatre co, Wilma, InterAct, Quintessence. regionally: mccarter theatre, Pittsburgh public, long wharf, three rivers, Arizona theatre co, Cleveland playhouse, national tour “breaking legs,” New York theatre, second stage, playwrights horizons, New York film and stage, directors co. Film: recently Zohara in “the chosen”
Susan Riley-Stevens (The Sister/Janice) is delighted to be making her Theatre Ariel debut! Recent credits include Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Walnut Street Theater and Harriet in POTUS, Arden Theater Co. Numerous other regional credits with 1812 Productions, PA Shakespeare Festival, People’s Light, Act II Playhouse, Bristol Riverside, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Dallas Theatre Center, Yale Rep, Portland Stage Company, Peterborough Players and Asolo Repertory Theatre. Voiceover Artist and Barrymore Award winner. MFA, Yale School of Drama.
Adam Pelta-Pauls (Chorus) is excited to be working with Jesse & Theatre Ariel again! He graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, Wales, before spending several years on international touring shows, performing Shakespeare and other works on stages across four continents. After appearing in Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange, he returned to the United States, and moved to Philadelphia, where he now works as an actor and theatre educator in and around the city. He’d like to thank his wife, Melissa, and their cats, Maisie and Bootsy, for all their support!
Mason Rosenthal (Nephew) is an actor and performance maker raised in Skokie, Illinois, and based in West Philadelphia. He is a co-founder of the Obie Award–winning company Lightning Rod Special. Mason's recent projects include "Super Compassionate" (Deep End, 2026), "Total Modeling" (MAAS, 2025), "Fascist Groove" (Cannonball, 2025), "Sohrab is Bumbling Foriegner" (FringeArts, 2025), and "The Fluxus Brothers Present: Good Art Bad Art" (PhysFestNYC, 2025). Mason is a 2026 Creative Capital Awardee and a "Next Forever" commissioned artist with Princeton University and The Civilians. Check his web series on the Jewish history of the American toy industry: "How Do You Jew?" www.masonmake.show
Jennifer Summerfield (Lilith, Lillith, and Lili) has appeared in Shakespeare in Clark Park ("Comedy of Errors,") Curio Theatre ("Marie Antoinette,") New York’s The Actor’s Temple ("Out of the Apple Orchard,") Hedgerow Theatre (the anti-social "Medea,") and is the writer and performer of "Mary Shelley: Strange Star," a play commissioned by the Rosenbach Museum and Library. As co-producer with Laurel Tree Theatre, she has performed in site-specific productions of "Hedda Gabler" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" and the films "A Doll’s House 20/20" and "Mary Shelley: Strange Star." She dearly loves working on new plays and is grateful to Theatre Ariel for this incredible opportunity.
Celia HuttonJohns (Stage Manager) (she/her) is a Philly based stage manager and enjoys exploring the most likely haunted corners of any theater. In her free time, she can be found listening to The Life of a Showgirl and watching Eagles games. Credits include Poor Judge (Pig Iron Theatre Company), Amsterdam (Theatre Ariel), Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, The Thanksgiving Play, Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, and The Complete Deaths (Curio Theatre Company), SPEECH (Lightning Rod Special), and The Taming! and Pericles: Prince of Tyre (Shakespeare in Clark Park).
Will Lowry (Scenic and Lighting design) is a scenographer, an Associate Professor of Theatre at Lehigh University (PA), and a Creative Partner with Flux Theatre Ensemble (NYC). He received his MFA in Design from UNC Greensboro. He has created over 150 scenic, costume, lighting, and media designs for theatres along the East Coast of the U.S. and beyond. He has designed over twenty off-off Broadway productions, contributed to multiple Broadway productions as a studio assistant, and this marks his 22nd world premiere. Philadelphia designs include scenery+lights for THE ROYALE (Lantern, Barrymore-nominated), scenery for THE WANDERERS (Lantern), and lighting for GOOD GRIEF (Hedgerow). [will-lowry.com]
Directed by Jesse Bernstein
Marsha Blovotnick: Janis Dardaris*
The Sister: Susan Riley Stevens*
Chorus: Adam Pelta-Pauls
Nephew: Mason Rosenthal
Lilith, Lillith, and Lili: Jennifer Summerfield
*denotes member of Actors Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers
Stage Manager: Celia HuttonJohns
Scenic and Lighting design: Will Lowry
Sound Desi:gn Christopher Colucci
Costume Design: Natalia de la Torre
Props Design: Clare Wislar
​​Production Manager: Beckah Smith
Dan Kitrosser (playwright, Marsha Blavotnick and the Magical, Mystical Soup) is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and storyteller. He cowrote the screenplay for We the Animals with Jeremiah Zagar which premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2018, winning the NEXT: Innovator Award, Best Narrative at OutFest 2018 and is nominated for 5 Independent Spirit Awards and a GLAAD Award. His plays include Tar Baby (First Fringe Award, Edinburgh Fringe, and an Amnesty International Citation for Excellence), Dead Special Crabs(monologues published in Smith & Kraus Best Men’s and Women’s…) and The Mumblings (optioned for TV series by FOX) and the award-winning solo show HOMOS! A Solo Disaster Musical, bitch which has residency in the historic and iconic Stonewall Inn in New York. Dan is currently writing the screen adaptation of Joshua Cohen's pulitzer prize winning novel The Netanyahus for Cold Iron Productions and The Public Record. You can hear him on his critically acclaimed iHeratRadio podcast SVETLANA! SVETLANA! (named a Best Podcast of 2023 by Vulture Magazine). He teaches screenwriting at Temple University and lives in South Philadelphia with his husband Jordan and narcissistic pitbull, Gemma.
Christopher Colucci (Sound Design) Recent work: Spinner (Delaware Theater Company); The Real Thing and Macbeth (Lantern Theater Company). Sherlock Holmes: The Great Detective and A Delicate Balance (Walnut Street Theater). 2016 Pew Fellowship in the Arts; Eight Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Original Music and Sound Design; Independence Fellowship in the Arts (2012, 2019); Resident Videographer (Lantern); MA Philosophy from Western Kentucky University. BA Philosophy/Theology from Eastern University. Christopher's music is available on Spotify and most streaming platforms. https://soundcloud.com/cmsound https://www.instagram.com/christopherm_colucci
Natalia de la Torre (Costume Design) Natalia serves as the Costume Shop Manager for the Walnut Street Theater. They are also a freelance costume designer and technician in Philadelphia. Regional work: SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE GREAT DETECTIVE (Walnut Street Theater); SETTLEMENTS (Interact Theater Company); CORIOLANUS (Shakespeare in Clark Park); SNOW WHITE (Arden Theater Company); FOUR WOMEN: NINA SIMONE (People’s Light and Theater Company); THREE SISTER TWO (Ego Po Theatre Company); SH*THEADS (Azuka Theater Company). Training: MFA in Production Design, Ohio University. She/They. www.nataliadelatorre.com
Clare Wislar (Props Design) is an artist for film, theatre, and real life, based in Philadelphia PA. Clare creates work that's meant to be interacted with, each detail positioned with purpose and intention.
Clare's website is: clarewislar.cargo.site and instagram is @missxprint
Beckah Smith (Production Manager)