Lantern Theater Company

Lantern Theater Company puts on wonderful plays every season. I’ve attended for 2 years and am happy with them each time. They are located in the back of St. Stephen’s Church. The theater space is very small and intimate, so there isn’t a «bad» seat in the house. This season I found a FunSaver deal for season tickets. I am thrilled to be able to see all their productions this season.

Wonderful little theater! I am so happy that Philadelphia continues to support the Lantern. They choose wonderful plays, and many of the actors are local.
Tonight I saw «Photograph 51» and it was outstanding. There is something so special about small theaters and being so close to the actors, in the action.
The Lantern is not at all fancy, so do not expect that. Do however, expect hard working actors and workers that put on A+ productions.

Center City, Philly PA
A very nice live small theatre experience. Back in the day, in addition to doing a skit from our choice of play (I picked Juliet’s poison theme), I had to do an assignment for Acting class and I reviewed a shakespearian play here (Twelfth Night). Totally enjoyed it! Good experience! Actors were great!

The Lantern Theater company could probably use a lantern to illuminate the sketchy alleyway it is situated on. But this tiny little theater was the recent site of an impromptu coworker friend date night courtesy of free tickets from work, and we had a lovely time!
The show was Emma, based on the Jane Austen novel. I expected it to be slow, a bit hard to follow, kinda for old people. Instead, the actors had us cracking up, gasping, and loving every second of it! It actually took me until the almost last scene to realize one of the actresses was playing two characters! It was a long show (almost three hours, with an intermission), so better to eat dinner first. The costumes were great (despite some historically inaccurate shimmery flats that looked more like they were from Aldo than the 1800’s), sets were simple but perfect for the show.
The theater is very small, creating an intimate audience experience, I could probably have reached out and touched the actors if I was in the first row (the stage is not elevated or anything). So yea, this show will likely be the closest I come to being in Downton Abbey, which is pretty awesome.
Recommend if you’re looking for something interesting to break up your week, kids might not appreciate it but we did!

I had a great experience with this theater last week when visiting Philadelphia. I ordered a ticket easily online the night before and was able to walk there in 10 minutes from my hotel.
It’s a small theater but all seats have a good view of the stage. The best part was the play. The acting was phenomenal and I laughed all night.

I like the Lantern.
Their productions are challenging.
The venue is convenient downtown. Seating is excellent.

A Philly Gem, A National Treasure.
There is no greater theater in the entire Philadelphia Metropolitan area (although People’s Light and Theater Co. in Malvern is also good but a distant second.)
They do one Shakespeare a year and it is the best Shakespeare this side of the Atlantic and as good as the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company in London,) and you can’t get any better than that!
The Artistic Director, Charles McMahon, is a genius of international quality. He has an understanding of Shakespeare par excellence. Furthermore, he has outstanding taste and an ability to pick exactly the right shows for each season, how to choose precisely the best actors to play the various roles, how to stage and, if necessary, edit the play to the point of perfection.
I have been a patron of the arts for over 30 years and seen performing arts events all over the world and continue to do so. The Lantern is absolutely among the top there is. You will have absolutely no regrets subscribing to this outstanding theater company.

The Lantern Theater company has been around since 1996 and is actually housed inside the St. Stephen’s Theater at 10^th and Ludlow. The space also gets rented out as a multi-​purpose performance space so you may see other theater groups perform here from time to time. Check their website for the production schedule.
From their website it says they’ve been nominated for many awards and have won quite a few too in just over a decade of existence. And from the quality of their performance, they probably deserved every one.
Recently I went to see «School for Wives» by Moliere. It was excellent. The cast was magnificent and gave wonderful performances. They hit the style of Moliere right on the head with this show. The set and costuming were both well done. There is not much that I can say except that this being my first Lantern production it definitely made a positive impact and I will return to see another.
The theater space itself if very interesting. It actually has two seating areas that form a right angle with the stage as the meeting point of the two sections. In addition, there is a proscenium arch against one of the back walls. Although, depending on the show, the space is used in many different ways.
Lighting instruments are exposed from the grid above the stage and the stage is level with the first row of seats in each section. Some times the actors may even interact with the front rows. (For example, in the performance I went to, a patron got up and returned from the bathroom just as one of the actors came around the corner of the stage. The actor briefly danced with him (in character).)
Seating is general admission and you will have to climb two flights of stairs to get up to the theater. The auditorium has two sections of raked seating. The sight lines are excellent no matter where you sit. The space is highly intimate with just over 100 seats.
One draw back: Expect a line for the men’s room. It’s in the basement and there is only one stall and one urinal. It was like role reversal with the ladies room.