The following press release is available for excerpt or in total. To arrange for interviews or photos, to reserve complimentary tickets for reviewers, or for more information, please call the KOP Players Information Line at 610-277-9505 or e-mail kofpplayers@fastmail.fm. To download this article, visit the Web site at www.kofpplayers.org


Music and memory take center stage as the King of Prussia Players begin their 46th season with "Dancing at Lughnasa."
Brian Friel's bittersweet drama begins as Michael Evans (Troy Fisher) recalls life in Northern Ireland in the summer of 1936, when the houseful of women he grew up in is changed forever by the arrivals of two very different men.
Michael is the illegitimate son of the youngest of the five Mundy sisters: formidable Kate (Nancy Kadwill), earthy Maggie (Dee Watson), shy Agnes (Amy Dickinson), fanciful Rose (Dana Courtine), and wistful Chris (Marifran Manzo). They eke out a living for themselves and then seven-year-old Michael (Ellis Mays), scraping by on Kate's teaching income and the other sisters' glove-making money. Life is hard work and simple pleasures, like a cigarette for Maggie or a bit of candy for Michael. Still, the sisters dream of dances, beaus, husbands, and life beyond their garden walls. Their single indulgence is a radio, which brings the sounds of the outside world into their humble cottage.
It is late August, the time of the ancient pagan festival of Lughnasa, and the sisters are adjusting to the return of their brother, Jack (Steve Kuerschner). Illness has brought Jack home after 25 years as a missionary in Africa, and he's having problems making the transition back to life in the small village. He forgets his family, his history, and at times, even his native language.
The other man on the scene is Gerry Evans (Jim Ludovici), Michael's ne'er-do-well father. The charming salesman's travels have brought him back to the area after years away, so he stops by for a visit. His arrival sparks different reactions in the Mundy women, from welcome to distrust, as he seeks to reconnect with Chris and the son he's rarely seen.
Gerry's arrival, Jack's strangeness, music's beat, and Lughnasa's heat stir feelings of discontent and yearning in Agnes and Rose, and youthful memories and regrets in Chris, Maggie, and Kate. The discord between what they have and what they want, between the past and the future, between the lure of the world and the call of hearth and home fray the close-knit fabric of their family. And after that fateful summer the Mundy sisters will never be the same.
"Dancing at Lughnasa" will be performed by the King of Prussia Players Nov. 15, 16, 22, and 23 at 8pm and Nov. 17 at 2pm at the Upper Merion Area High School in King of Prussia. For more information, call the Players' information line at (610) 277-9505 or visit the Web site at www.kofpplayers.org