The Iron Age 12 Days of Christmas

The Nutcracker from Iron Age Theatre! A Little Hiliday Card from all us us!

Getting Dirty: How the Maroons destressed themselves!

An Iron Age Experience – From the Mind of a Maroon

by John Jerbasi (Wentz in Maroons)

Sports can create an instant bond between people. Whether it is the sharing of the field alongside teammates in glory or in losing, trusting a teammate to complete a play or the physicality and contact shared on a field, sports creates a unique connection. Theater, also, creates very special relationships with people. I, personally, have my most special and dearest friends from having worked with them in theater. For different reasons than sports, I feel, in theater, one must strip down their insecurities and completely trust the person next to them on stage, with more than a physical play or action but with themselves, with who they are. Now, hybridizing the two, as in “Maroons”, has created something truly memorable.

Honoring the Dead: Theatre as Monument

My father passed away about 14 days before Maroons opened and we buried him the day of our preview. I am sure I am going to end up writing about that issue in many blog entries over the next months or years but one part of that experience seems to inspire some writing in reference to Maroon.

On that Thursday, we took my dad’s ashes to the cemetery and interred them at the plot held by my mother’s family. The small “urn,” really an Irish green marble box with his name inscribed on top, was placed in one of the empty spaces there. The tomb stone above the grave reads “Zummo,” my mother’s maiden name, and my father’s name is of course Doyle. We spent some time, as we stood around that grave waiting for the priest to arrive and say his service over the ashes, discussing how to put Dad’s name on the tombstone so he would have a specific marker as part of the larger memorial. Those minutes considering how to create a memorial, a place of permanent remembrance for my dad, stuck with me. The hundreds of people who came to his viewing and funeral, the kind letters and cards, the pictures we displayed, all acted as a memorial for Dad but at that final resting place, we were thinking of something more “monumental” and long lasting.

As we work on Maroons and now as have put the show into performance, I have noticed something about my relationship with this play, and ultimately may previous works.

Maroons is a monument to the members of the 1925 Pottsville Maroons.

Are You From Pottsville? Taking the Team Back to its Hometown.

by Randall Wise

With the owners of MAROONS Sports Bar

The Pottsville Maroons still live in the hearts and hopes of the people of Pottsville. To this day people in the community are passionate about getting back the stolen championship.

The residents of Pottsville that have made the trip to Norristown to see the show are truly interested and moved by the story as it plays out before them. Luke Moyer, who plays Doc, commented he has never performed for people that are so profoundly engaged in the story. He said he could feel their passion from the stage (and we hope they feel his, and ours, back).

World Newsreel Sports: The 1925 Pottsville Maroons… A Hysterical Historical Reenactment.

In the Losing Locker Room: Deciding to Return to the Field

Christie in Love at The Centre Theater

I was sitting in the front room of the first floor of the Centre Theater’s building after a particularly wonderful rehearsal of Christie in Love and my three actors, Luke Moyer, Ray Saraceni and Adam Altman were participating in a discussion about the theatre. I had decided to run three shows in the Fall, the first at The Fringe, performed at Eastern State, The Second at The Philly Urban Theatre Festival and the Third as part of the regular Centre Theater season.

I was asked by the head of the Philly Cultural Alliance to consider running my Fringe show at The Centre Theater to help broaden the Fringe into the suburbs or at least show that the Centre was a viable venue for the Fringe.

I was not comfortable with moving the show out of the city, much of the reason I do these festivals is to have Iron Age Theatre performing in the city, but I decided to run one weekend of the first two shows at The Centre.

The conversation that night was revolving around the idea that our audiences in Norristown have been pretty weak over the past two years. Lower attendance caused by many obvious sources (a weak economy, the renovation and construction associated with the new garage in Norristown and the streetscaping, and the death of theatre companies in Philly) but there must be other causes…. Our discussion was focused on remedying the problem that is Iron Age Theatre. We are for the most part, the most respected company in Philly that almost no one has seen. So often I am greeted by theatre compatriots in town with great enthusiasm or my actors are greeted with warmth and acceptance by Philly companies but these people greeting them have never seen one of our productions.

I was expressing to Ray Saraceni about the difficulty of putting up the shows, knowing that few people would come and money would be tight. We sat considering options including moving more actively to Philly or Phoenixville, we talked about other goals.

Sports Radio Interview with Ray Saraceni

Reviews of MAROONS!

From Montgomery Ticket

From The Philadelphia Inquirer

From Stage Partners