Gallery of Images from the show


Notes from the Playwright/Director


This laugh-laden romantic smash has love… and hate… in the air. Socialite Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven’s fiery marriage and equally passionate divorce obsessed the masses. Fast forward two years after this dazzling break-up, just as Tracy is about to remarry. The day before the wedding, three unexpected guests show up at the Lord Mansion: an undercover reporter, photographer, and the ex-husband, Dexter, who made a deal to stop blackmail from destroying the family – for a wedding exclusive. Sparks fly in every conceivable way as a love quadrangle breeds comedic chaos and… no one can predict the ending of… The Philadelphia Story.

We are so happy to welcome you to the beloved “silver screen” movie… brought to life in the LATTE spotlights! This story captures our imagination as it dominated the stage and cinema box offices for years, starring Carey Grant, Kathryn Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart, It won six academy awards with Hepburn the uncredited coauthor and financier of the screenplay. Before that, the original play, starring Hepburn, ran for 417 performances, and toured for 250 more!

When I started writing a freshly adapted version for LATTE this summer, I braided three scripts together – the stage, screen, and a radio play version. Then I humbly attempted to create nuances that would honor the iconic roles, while keeping reactions honest and relevant to our current point in history. And we have had so much fun bringing it to stage for you!

If you read between the lines there are few timeless themes that reach out and pull you in. Tracy, the lead character, surprises us with an unusual, late-in-life “coming of age story”. Other characters have unexpected growth as well. And from the 1940’s, there is the story of classism not, well – having a causal relationship to actual “class”. That money and clothes don’t make “then man” as they said then… and I might humbly add today…that nothing but our choices and personal integrity identify what kind of a person we choose to be. For it is not when things “go our way” that we learn about who we are. No, it is when our mettle is tested that we can see what we are made of and choose to be. And now? No more spoilers!  We hope you enjoy The Philadelphia Story with us!