Peterborough Players
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission Statement & History
    • Past Productions
    • Board & Staff
    • Our Sponsors
    • Directions to the Players
    • Contact Us
    • Land Acknowledgement
  • SHOWS & EVENTS
    • 2025 Summer Season >
      • Boeing Boeing
      • Dial M for Murder
      • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
      • Native Gardens
      • Hay Fever
    • Arts on Screen 2024-25 >
      • Met Opera 24/25
    • Calendar of Events
  • Box Office
    • Boeing Boeing
    • Dial M for Murder
    • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
    • Native Garden
    • Hay Fever
    • Seating Chart
    • Subscriptions
    • Barn Door Pass
    • Login
    • Arts on Screen Tickets >
      • Met Opera: Live in HD >
        • Salome
        • Il Barbiere Di Siviglia
    • Gift Certificates
  • Support
    • 2025 Advertising
    • Donate
    • Annual Appeal
    • Patio Brick Inscription
    • Theatre Seat
  • Work With Us
    • Auditions
    • Volunteer

​Peterborough Players Season Opens with MAHIDA'S EXTRA KEY TO HEAVEN

6/25/2019

 
Picture
Peterborough, NH – A chance encounter between a young American artist and an Iranian college student waiting for a ferry sets the scene for Mahida’s Extra Key to Heaven, by New Hampshire Playwright Russell Davis. Kicking off the theatre’s 86th year, the show opens on June 19th and runs through June 30th.

Directed by Players’ Artistic Director Gus Kaikkonen, Mahida’s Extra Key to Heaven gracefully plumbs the cultural collision between two very different families and brings into stark relief the disparity between our preconceived notions about those whose culture, race, or religion differs from our own. When Thomas offers Mahida shelter for the evening in his mother’s home, the simple offer triggers a chain of events that threatens to engulf them all. “I think clearly this play is driven in part by a desire to refute that kind of literal minded, black and white, opportunist thinking,” says playwright Russell Davis, “and to articulate how complex and gentle an alternative might be.”

Aliah Whitmore, a third generation Peterborough Player, appears in the title role of Mahida. She follows a long history of family members who’ve delighted the audiences of the Peterborough Players, including her grandfather, beloved stage and film actor James Whitmore, and her father, James Whitmore, Jr. She graces the Players’ stage for the first time. Players’ favorites Steven Michael Walters and Kathy Manfre return as Thomas and his mother Edna, respectively. Walters was most recently seen at the Players in Born Yesterday, and Peterborough resident Manfre appeared as Mrs. Tottendale in The Drowsy Chaperone. Rounding out the cast is newcomer Adham Haddara, a New York based actor at the Players for the first time, as Mahida’s brother Ramin. Playwright Davis is a resident of West Chesterfield, NH, having grown up in Europe and the Middle East, he came to the United States for college. His plays have been produced around the country, and he’s been the recipient of the Pew Fellowship for the Arts, among other recognition.

Of the play, Kaikkonen says that, “It’s definitely about America…there’s peril in the play. There’s danger in the play, and the peril and the danger comes out from the meeting of these two cultures – Iran and America – but it comes out in ways that are subtle and inevitable.”

Mahida’s Extra Key to Heaven runs from June 19th-30th and is sponsored in part by Atkins Callahan PLLC and the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript. Showtimes are Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 4pm. In addition, there is a 2pm matinee on Tuesday, June 25th. Tickets and more information can be found on our website or by calling the Box Office at (603) 924-7585.

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    November 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018

    RSS Feed

©2025 Peterborough Players, P.O. Box 118, 55 Hadley Road, Peterborough, NH 03458 •
Box Office: 603-924-7585 • Administrative Office: 603-924-9344
A recognized 501(c)3 • EIN#02-0262885 
​
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission Statement & History
    • Past Productions
    • Board & Staff
    • Our Sponsors
    • Directions to the Players
    • Contact Us
    • Land Acknowledgement
  • SHOWS & EVENTS
    • 2025 Summer Season >
      • Boeing Boeing
      • Dial M for Murder
      • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
      • Native Gardens
      • Hay Fever
    • Arts on Screen 2024-25 >
      • Met Opera 24/25
    • Calendar of Events
  • Box Office
    • Boeing Boeing
    • Dial M for Murder
    • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
    • Native Garden
    • Hay Fever
    • Seating Chart
    • Subscriptions
    • Barn Door Pass
    • Login
    • Arts on Screen Tickets >
      • Met Opera: Live in HD >
        • Salome
        • Il Barbiere Di Siviglia
    • Gift Certificates
  • Support
    • 2025 Advertising
    • Donate
    • Annual Appeal
    • Patio Brick Inscription
    • Theatre Seat
  • Work With Us
    • Auditions
    • Volunteer