Mythological/comedic play by ‘Only Murders in the Building’ writer/EP Madeleine George comes to People’s Light

Courtesy of En Route Marketing

Beginning May 1, Malvern-based theatre People’s Light (39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355) begins its Series 2 productions with the regional premiere of the Obie Award winning play Hurricane Diane by Pulitzer Prize finalist Madeleine George. The comedic romp with a  mythological twist is a hilarious parable of climate reckoning and liberation set in an unassuming  Monmouth County, New Jersey cul-de-sac. Directed by People’s Light Associate Producing Director Molly Rosa Houlahan, Hurricane Diane features actor Rami Margron in the lead role, performing alongside Suli Holum, Teri Lamm, Shauna Miles, and Julianna Zinkel. The play runs from May 1 to 19, with 21 performances presented on the Leonard C. Haas Stage, a 340-seat performance venue housed in  an 18th-century stone barn. 

Madeleine George is an award-winning playwright and author known for her 2014 play The Watson Intelligence, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. She is a writer and executive producer of the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-nominated Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building. George’s Hurricane Diane made its world premiere at Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 2017, then went on to run off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in 2019. It has been praised as “smart and boisterously funny” (Boston Globe) and “a perfect storm of timely tragicomedy” (The New York Times). 

The play centers on Diane (Margron), a permaculture gardener with swaggering charm. She also has supernatural powers thanks to her secret identity: the Greek god Dionysus. After settling in a modern day New Jersey suburb, Diane sets out to recruit the mortals for an environmental revolution that would restore Earth to its natural state. She begins with a clique of four housewives – Pam (Holum), Carol (Lamm), Renee (Miles), and Beth (Zinkel) – who are in dire need of a bacchanalian catharsis. George’s Obie Award-winning comedy is a hilarious story that blends ancient myth, climate revolution, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drama. 

“When searching for my first play to direct back in my hometown, I was immediately drawn  to Hurricane Diane,” said Houlahan. “I recognized the women in this play as ones I grew up with – fierce, funny, smart, and incredibly complicated women who stubbornly made their world in their own image for better or for worse. It felt like a delightful challenge to invite this community to turn a careful eye to our own worst habits and potentially indulge in the wild, wicked catharsis that awaits.” 

The regional premiere production of Hurricane Diane at People’s Light features actor and comedian Rami Margron (they/them) reprising the role of Diane after appearing in previous productions at The  Old Globe in San Diego, California (2020) and The Huntington Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts (2021). Two of the New Jersey housewives are played by People’s Light Company Artist members, Teri Lamm (Lettie, The Vinegar Tree) and Julianna Zinkel (The Vinegar Tree, The Harassment of Iris Malloy). 

Audiences will also recognize fellow Hurricane Diane cast members Suli Holum (The Kiln 2024, Tiny  Island) and Shauna Miles (the ripple, the wave that carried me home). 

Malvern native and People’s Light Associate Producing Director Molly Rosa Houlahan will make her directorial debut at the theatre with this production. A director, producer, and theatremaker, Houlahan earned her Master of Fine Arts from Brown University/Trinity Rep in Providence, Rhode Island, and won  the Louis Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Performing and Creative Arts upon graduating from Yale  University in New Haven, Connecticut. She has been a Directing Fellow at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in  California, Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, and New York City’s Manhattan Theatre  Club and Playwright Horizons. Houlahan had extensive directing experience at theatre companies across  the U.S. before returning to Malvern in 2023 to begin her current role at People’s Light. 

“We are thrilled our audiences have the pleasure of experiencing Molly’s directing debut with Hurricane Diane,” said Zak Berkman, Producing Artistic Director at People’s Light. “She doesn’t shy from works that delightfully collide worlds, ideas, energy, and tone. Madeleine George’s play is just that. It’s the best kind of adventure, embracing larger-than-life theatricality while telling stories about our intimate  and complex lives today.” 

“Having grown up within 15 minutes of People’s Light, I was lucky enough as a young person to learn  what world-class professional theater was in my own backyard,” Houlahan added. “Through classes and student matinees, I grew as a young artist who was hungry for more. Now, having moved back nearly 15 years later, it is the most strange and delightful full circle to be back at People’s Light working in the very halls that formed me. I am thrilled for my regional theater directorial debut to be at home, in the place that started it all.” 

Houlahan leads the production’s creative team, featuring Associate Director Andrew Watring, Composer Benji Goldsmith, Scenic Designer Grisele Gonzalez, Costume Designer Camilla Dely, Lighting Designer Ebony Burton, Sound Designer Caroline Eng, and Intimacy Consultant Eli Lynn. The team is rounded out by Stage Manager Jess McPhillips.  

TICKET INFORMATION 
Preview performances for Hurricane Diane are from Wednesday, May 1, through Saturday, May 4. The production opens with a performance on Sunday, May 5, at 2 p.m. and runs through Sunday, May 19.  Tickets start at $42, including fees. People’s Light also offers a range of ticket discounts, including youth tickets, 50% off Access Nights, 25% off for educators and military, and discounted student and industry tickets. The Access Night performance for Hurricane Diane is Friday, May 3, at 7 p.m. 

Learn more about available ticket discounts here. To purchase single tickets, visit peopleslight.org or call  the box office at 610-644-3500. Special rates are available for groups of 10 or more. For more  information or to purchase group tickets, call the People’s Light Box Office at 610-644-3500 or email tickets@peopleslight.org.  

Hurricane Diane has an estimated runtime of 90 minutes with no intermission and is recommended for audiences ages 14 or older. Actors, prices, productions, performance dates, and times are subject to change.