The goal for the 2010-11 season was produce a three play season entitled No Way Out, featuring plays that address the issue of suicide. By no means was this to be a dull season, however -- we featured an outrageous regional premiere by a leading American comedic playwright, a classic dark comedy by a local playwright and a Pulitzer Prize-winning piece that received it's first professional production in the city of Philadelphia.

Where did the inspiration for this season come from?

A 2008 study released by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine shows that the suicide attempt rate in the United States rose for the first time in ten years and that the steepest rise appears to be among Caucasian women aged 25 to 35 and over 45. Click this link for more info.

In a 2009 Temple University study, it was shown that teenagers and young adults living in Philadelphia have almost twice the national average of suicide attempts among high school and college students, with African-American females having a higher attempt rate than males. Click this link for more info.

All three of the plays we chose included a suicide attempt by a woman in these age groups. Our main objective was to make this pressing issue known to the Philadelphia community, especially to the women who reflect these statistics. And, of course, to keep our audiences laughing and crying along with us as we created a thought-provoking dialogue.

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