Old Academy Players to Present World Premiere of VERNAL RITES

As part of their 99th Season, Old Academy Players will premiere the drama Vernal Rites as a mainstage production for 2021-2022. Vernal Rites, written by former Provincetown, Massachusetts resident (and current Bucks County resident), Rob Rosiello, was inspired by his experiences and the people he met while living on Cape Cod. Rosiello uses the return of the legendary, and now endangered, Right Whales to Cape Cod every Spring as the backdrop for this new work. Family legend mixes with New England folklore to create a story that begins with bloody handprints, pulled up floorboards, and a missing matriarch... "time keeps the best secrets and buries them in an unmarked grave, forever lost to the ages...until the truth longs to find its way home..."

Vernal Rites will make its World Premiere at Old Academy Players on January 14th, 2022. Vernal Rites previously received stage readings in Bucks County and at Old Academy Players. In the Spring of 2021, Vernal Rites was adapted into a radio drama format for a special airing with R5 Productions.

Rob Rosiello is a member of The Dramatists' Guild and a graduate of Villanova University's Masters' Program in Theatre. He is a Princess Grace Playwriting and Eugene O'Neill Play Conference Semi-Finalist and Arch and Bruce Brown Playwriting Competition Finalist. In March 2018 his drama, A Song I Forgot to Sing, received its world premiere at Old Academy Players in Philadelphia, PA. This past fall, he created a four-part radio thriller for R5 Productions, The Broken Hollow Banshee. He was a teaching assistant at Primary Stages School of Performing Arts in NYC, and a member of the Barrymore Award Winning ensemble of Angels in America. Rosiello produced the National Tour for RuPaul's Drag Race Winners Seasons 1-5 on behalf of LOGO TV and ABSOLUT.

Directed by Nancy Ridgeway, this production features: Sandra Hartman, Ryan Henzes, Susan Mattson, Jackie Meisner, Caitlin Riley, Stephanie Rogers, and Nancy Vander Zwan. Set Design by T. Mark Cole, Lighting Design by Taylor Ridgeway, and Sound Design with Original Music by Jim McIntosh. Old Academy Players is located at 3544 Indian Queen Lane in Philadelphia, PA, and runs weekends from January 14th - January 30th. Curtain time is 8pm for Friday and Saturday evening shows on January 14th & 15th, 21st & 22nd, 28th & 29th. Matinees are at 2pm on Sundays January 23rd and 30th. Tickets can be ordered online at www.oldacademyplayers.org or by calling the Box Office at 1-215-843-1109. General $20.

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