WALNUT STREET THEATRE

I am directing a Reading of THE ECLECTIC SOCIETY a new play by Eric Conger at THE WALNUT STREET THEATRE in Philadelphia. We have rehearsal today at 1PM and a public Reading at 7Pm.

This chilling new drama by Eric Conger depicts life in a 1960’s fraternity house as a group of young men struggle to balance tradition with the ever-straining currents of change. The audience is thrown into the testosterone-fueled world of these “brothers” as their house is slowly torn apart by the initiation of an African-American scholarship student. With their country and their lives teetering at the precipice of change, this eclectic group of young men must find a way to overcome their differences before 125 years of tradition comes crashing down around them.

THE ECLECTIC SOCIETY concerns the events surrounding a hazing incident at an Eastern school in the fall of 1963. An elite fraternity is fractured when an inner-city black is brought into the house. Traditional values collide with race, and gender issues, as the new world prepares to unfold.

Eric Conger and I have been developing his new play with THE WALNUT STREET THEATRE. This is our second workshop Reading. I will direct the World Premiere of THE ECLECTIC SOCIETY in January 2010 in Philadelphia.

Ed Herendeen