By Emma Gibson, Tiny Dynamite Productions

2011 Knight Arts Challenge winner Tiny Dynamite Productions is getting ready for the second season of ‘a Play, a Pie and a Pint,’ which will begin on March 6th 2012 at The Red Room of The Society Hill Playhouse. The season will run for four weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 6.30 – 7.30pm. A new show will be produced each week and will be served up alongside a pie (slice of pizza) and a pint (or beverage of choice). The first season of ‘a Play, a Pie and a Pint’ (October 2011) played to sell out audiences and critical acclaim at The Society Hill Playhouse and had an extended run in November at Fergies Pub in Sansom Street.

The first play of the season is ‘Being Norwegian’ by David Greig. The production will be produced by Tiny Dynamite, directed by Barrymore nominated director, David O’Connor and performed by Kevin Bergen (Barrymore nomination ‘Man from Nebraska’, resident company member People’s Light and Theatre) and Kittson O’Neill (New Jerusalem, Lantern Theatre and artistic associate at Interact).

Being Norwegian is part of a trilogy of short plays by David Greig which also includes ‘Kyoto’ and ‘Brewers Fayre’. The play tells the story of Sean, just out of prison, who invites Lisa back to his flat for a drink. Lisa says she’s Norwegian. Is Sean Norwegian too? The play is a dark, funny encounter in which two outsiders reach out to each other across the deep fjords of the heart.

“Greig’s play… speaks tenderly of loneliness, nostalgia, the desperate longing to connect and that misfit feeling that no one quite knows where you are coming from. All that, before most plays have even started.” Maddy Costa, The Guardian. The second play of the season will be the US premiere of ‘End of Hope’ by David Ireland, produced by Inis Nua Theatre Company (last season, The Ching Room). The play will be directed by Tom Reing (artistic director of Inis Nua) and the cast includes Corinna Burns (Little Gem) and Jared Delaney (associate artistic director, Inis Nua). This will be followed by a collection of short plays (Restaurant Shorts) by David Auburn, David Ives and Philadelphia playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger who has written a piece specifically for the project. The seasons finale will be the US premiere of ‘Buridan’s Ass’ by Irish playwright, S. R. Plant. The playwright will be joining us for both performances and there will be a talk back with the playwright and director held after the performance on tuesday 27th March. This production will be presented by Iron Age Theatre Company and will be directed by John Doyle and performed by Adam Altman and Steve Hatzai.

It has been an amazing year for Tiny Dynamite. In the last 10 months we have raised $50,000, read over 160 plays, produced 8 plays at 2 venues, worked with 4 theatre producers, 5 directors, 14 actors, 6 musicians, served up over 1000 slices of pizza,several more pot pies and plenty of beer. We raise our glasses to you, our community here in Philadelphia and to the many brilliant artists we have had the privilege to work with in the last year. Cheers!