People's Light & Theatre Company

The People's Light & Theatre Company, a non-profit professional theatre performing for young audiences and adults, was founded in 1974 by Danny Fruchter, Meg Fruchter, Ken Marini, and Dick Keeler in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Abigail Adams has been the company's artistic director since 1975. The company was located in Strode's Mill from 1974 to 1976 and in Yellow Spring from 1976 to 1978. In 1979 the company moved to a seven-acre site in Malvern, Pennsylvania which has two black box theatres, the Main Stage and the Steinbright Stage, and a restored 18th-century farmhouse, which includes a banquet room and a bistro.

The People’s Light and Theatre Company, a non-profit professional theatre performing for young audiences and adults, was founded in 1974 by Danny Fruchter, Meg Fruchter, Ken Marini, and Dick Keeler in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Abigail Adams has been the company’s Artistic Director since 1975. The company was located in Strode’s Mill from 1974 to 1976 and in Yellow Spring from 1976 to 1978. In 1979 the company moved to a seven-acre site in Malvern, Pennsylvania that has two black box theatres, the Main Stage and the Steinbright Stage, and a restored 18th-century farmhouse, which includes a banquet room and a bistro.

The mission and programming of the company has always focused on collaboration among artists with diverse backgrounds and on community outreach. In 2009 the theatre's mission statement was, People’s Light, a professional theatre in Chester County, Pennsylvania, makes plays drawn from many sources to entertain, inspire, and engage our community. We extend our mission of making and experiencing theatre through arts education programs that excite curiosity about, and deepen understanding of, the world around us. These plays and programs bring people together and provide opportunities for reflection, discovery, and celebration.

Each season, People’s Light produces eight to nine plays, including world and regional premieres, contemporary plays, new approaches to classic texts and a Family Discovery Series. From 1974-2009, the company has produced more than 300 plays, 100 of which were premieres. These include the following plays for young audiences: plays by playwrights in residence Russell Davis and Lou Lippa; James Still’s He Held Me Grand ; Y York’s The Forgiving Harvest, and London’s Young Vic productions.

People’s Light makes connections with new audiences through its nationally recognized arts education program, Project Discovery, which includes the following: The Theatre School, offering year-round theatre classes for youth and adults and Summerstage programs for young people from grades 2-12; Professional Development for Teachers, offering classes, workshops and residencies for teachers who would like to integrate theatre in their curriculum; School and Community Projects, offering theatre residencies and workshops for schools and community groups; Project Discovery High School, a free-ticket program for twenty-one area high schools; The New Voices Ensemble, a youth theatre project bringing urban and suburban students together to explore civic and community issues.

People’s Light has received major grants throughout the years from national and local foundations and corporations. These include: the National Endowment for the Arts, AT&T:OnStage, NEA Shakespeare for a New Generation, The Shubert Foundation, TCG New Generations and The Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund.