(Credit: Bucks County Playhouse)
Bucks County Playhouse announced it will continue its new book club series, “Playhouse Books in the Barn,” with five additional meetings scheduled throughout 2025.
The series blends literature and theater, connecting selected books with productions in the Playhouse’s 2025 mainstage season. Held in the Playhouse barn, the events are designed to spark engaging conversation and build community around the arts.
Tickets are $20 per session and include light refreshments. A cash bar will also be available. Seating is limited, and reservations are required.
Book selections are curated in partnership with Playhouse staff and the Doylestown and Lahaska Bookshops. The goal is to inspire discussion related to the Playhouse’s current productions.
Books are not included in the ticket price. Participants may obtain their own copies or receive a 20% discount at the Lahaska Bookshop, 162A Route 263, Peddler’s Village, Lahaska.
The series kicked off March 5 with a sold-out discussion of “Run, Rose, Run” by James Patterson and Dolly Parton. The event featured special guest Marty Dodson, a Nashville-based songwriter and co-writer of the score for “Hard Road to Heaven,” the Playhouse’s season opener. Dodson has written 10 No. 1 hits, including Kenny Chesney’s “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven” and Billy Currington’s “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right.” His songs have been recorded by more than 150 artists, including Blake Shelton, George Strait, Rascal Flatts and Carrie Underwood.
Upcoming book selections include:
• May 7 – “At the Edge of the Orchard” by Tracy Chevalier, paired with “The Apple Boys”
• June 25 – “But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” by Laura Flam, paired with “Leader of the Pack”
Tickets can be purchased by calling the Bucks County Playhouse box office at 215-862-2121 or visiting buckscountyplayhouse.org.
ABOUT BUCKS COUNTY PLAYHOUSE
Steeped in a theatrical history that stems back to its founding in 1939 by a roster of theatrical royalty, Bucks County Playhouse is celebrating the twelfth anniversary of its 2012 re-opening and restoration. With more than 75,000 patrons walking through its doors every year, the Playhouse is leading the economic resurgence of New Hope and the surrounding community.
In 2014, Tony Award-winning producers Alexander Fraser, Robyn Goodman and Josh Fiedler took the helm of the Playhouse, and it has reclaimed its reputation of attracting Broadway and Hollywood artists. Playhouse productions of “Company” starring Justin Guarini, and William Finn’s “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” were named by Wall Street Journal to its “Best of Theatre” list for 2015. In 2018, the Wall Street Journal again hailed the Playhouse and Artistic Associate Hunter Foster in its Best of the Year listings for its production of “42nd Street” and in 2019 labeled the Playhouse “one of the best regional theaters on the East coast.”
Box office records have been repeatedly broken by signature productions of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” “Steel Magnolias” directed by Marsha Mason, “Million Dollar Quartet,” “42nd Street,” and “Guys & Dolls” (all directed by Hunter Foster) and “Mamma Mia!” directed by John Tartaglia and choreographed by Shannon Lewis.
The 2023 season was the brightest yet, featuring hit productions of Jonathan Larsen’s “Tick, Tick Boom” directed by Eric Rosen, “Bridges of Madison County” directed by Hunter Foster, who also led “The Rocky Horror Show” starring Frankie Grande. “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” became the top-selling show in Playhouse history.
In 2024, more than 40% of the audience was new — flocking to record-breaking productions of “Grease!” and “Anastasia: The Musical.” The creative teams who come to create new productions at the Playhouse are among the most talented artists working in the professional theatre today and relish the opportunity to work on the historic stage where Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, and Jessica Walter began their careers.
