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Phila. Theater Initiative makes $863,000 in grants

As money gets tighter for area theaters - and everyone else - the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative has made the coming season a bit easier for a dozen companies, presenters and independent artists with its announcement of $863,000 in 2008 grants ranging from $20,000 to $110,000.

As money gets tighter for area theaters - and everyone else - the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative has made the coming season a bit easier for a dozen companies, presenters and independent artists with its announcement of $863,000 in 2008 grants ranging from $20,000 to $110,000.

Recipients are chosen by a panel of theater professionals from across the country. During their three-year terms, panelists attend area productions to familiarize themselves with each applicant's specialty. PTI director Fran Kumin says that "each organization is judged on its own terms, resources, mission and audience."

The panel, Kumin says, decides whether the project in question "signals artistic advancement for the applicant . . . whether it will attract the audience they want, whether it will expand the range of cultural programming here, or will it have a life elsewhere."

This year's winners are a mix of established houses and proven scripts, younger companies or performers with ambitious goals, and newcomers to the scene.

Topping the list are five companies with budgets of $1.5 million or more. Each will receive a grant of $110,000 toward its project.

Arden Theatre Company

will present the U.S. regional-theater premiere of John Caird's new adaptation of

Candide

, score by Leonard Bernstein.

People's Light & Theatre Company

houses the local premiere of Ellen McLaughlin's adaptation of Aeschylus'

The Persians

, with original music by Daniel Kluger.

Philadelphia Live Arts Festival

and Philly Fringe

imports the Capitol Theatre of Poland's production of Witold Gombrowicz's

Operetta

, with a new score, and directed by Swarthmore graduate Michal Zadara.

Philadelphia Theatre Company

will produce the Philadelphia premiere of Broadway's Tony-winner

Grey Gardens

, a musical version of the cult classic documentary.

The

Wilma Theater

will produce Wajdi Mouawad's

Scorched

, with new original music by Iraqi-American composer Amir ElSaffar.

The other grantees:

The

Kimmel Center

received $105,000 to bring in acclaimed Quebecois playwright/director Robert Lepage's

The Andersen Project

, a multimedia production based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen.

Pig Iron Theatre Company

received $75,000 for its original production,

Welcome to Yuba City

, a collaboration with songwriter and Philly native Michael Friedman and Italian "master clown teacher" Giovanni Fusetti.

Brat Productions

received a two-year grant of $48,000 for

Haunted Poe

, a site-specific haunted house that will coincide with the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth.

First-timer

Gas and Electric Arts

was granted $25,000 for its first commission,

Cabinet of Wonders

, by Minneapolis playwright Kira Obolensky.

Finally, three independent performers were awarded $20,000 each:

Sara Felder

for her comic-circus work

Melancholy: A Comedy

; Live Arts Festival perennial

Thaddeus Phillips

, for

The Melting Bridge

, which marks the final installment of his "Americas Trilogy"; and

Geoff Sobelle

will premiere his collaboration with Charlotte Ford,

Flesh and Blood and Fish and Fowl

, a live performance that mixes animation with old-fashioned illusions and, yes, taxidermy.

The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative is program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by the University of the Arts.