West Chester’s Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center has announced the line-up for its first ever self-produced theatre season, and under the company’s leadership of first ever Artistic Director Carmen Khan.

This historic first season of professional theatre in downtown West Chester begins with William Gibson’s joyful play, The Butterfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod The Nut, & The Slaughter Of 12 Hit Carols In A Pear Tree.

The new year launches with Katori Hall’s spellbinding re-imagination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final hours in an Olivier Award-winning Best New Play, The Mountaintop.

The season concludes in the spring with a family-friendly finale as audiences experience a classic story through Laura Eason’s adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Uptown! now offers a unique ticket offering: a Theatre Society Subscription. The subscription bundles a theatre ticket package with exclusive perks, including advanced access to the best seats in the house, the same seats for every play, waived ticket fees, and advanced pre-sales to a year-round calendar of music, a new Jazz Series, a Dance Series, stand-up and improv comedy, film presentations, and special events on both the A. Roy Smith MainStage and in the Univest Cabaret.

Theatre Society Subscription packages start at $105. Audiences may choose Preview, Opening Night, and various weekday or weekend performances. Theatre Society Subscriptions are now open to current and new Friends of Uptown, a popular membership program that adds additional perks, including dining discounts. Subscription packages will open to the general public on Sept. 1, 2022. Single tickets go on sale Oct. 1, 2022.

Just in time for the 2022-2023 theatre season, Uptown! introduces its first-ever Artistic Director, Carmen Khan, a West Chester local and well-known on the regional theatre scene. Her arrival comes at an exciting time of transformation and growth as the organization builds to realize its mission of becoming one of the region’s premiere performing arts centers.

“We aspire to expand,” said Khan. “We want our audience to leave every performance feeling the world is a little bigger place than when they came in; to expand the theatre’s reach and relevance and influence in the community; to expand West Chester’s sense of what is possible; what kind of a town we can be. I see Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center as a vibrant arts institution and a hub of community and culture for the region.”

For its first season, Uptown! announces the following three shows: 

The Butterfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod The Nut & The Slaughter Of 12 Hit Carols In A Pear Tree
By William Gibson
Directed by Dominic Scudera
November 30 to December 23, 2022
Opening Night, Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 PM

The Mountaintop
By Katori Hall
Directed by Ryan George
February 1 to February 26, 2023
Opening Night, Friday, Feb. 3, 7 PM

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Based on the novel by Mark Twain
Directed by Carmen Khan
April 19 to May 7, 2023
Opening Night Saturday, April 21, 7 PM

Uptown is planning on offering additional programming during The Mountaintop and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. These include: student matinees, guest speakers, partners, post-show talk-backs, invited writers for program notes, and more. Uptown’s first student matinee will happen during The Mountaintop. 

For more information about the season and everything happening at Uptown, visit the website.