PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre Company has raised the curtain on the world premiere of a play loosely based on the religious passions of the 19th-century Oneida community in upstate New York.

“Silverhill,” created  by Philadelphia playwright Thomas Gibbons, packs a dramatic punch more theatrical than historical.

The Oneida community was a religious order known by a number of names (including that of “Bible Communists”), in which every woman was the wife of every man — a mechanism aiding the creation of a number of babies.

While the unit-directed sex drive occupies considerable energy in “Silverhill,” there’s a greater force consumed here by a member who peddles group-made products nationwide.

While it’s unfair to make “Silverhill” anything resembling the Oneida community or any similar group, there’s some stemwinding acting by this seven-member cast under Seth Rozin’s forceful direction.

The set consists for the most part of movable furniture and history.  A pungent portrait of a nasty, overworked director, “Silverhill” is really a quick trip to noise and nastiness and the education of the powerful dollar.

The play runs through November 14th at the Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom Street, in center city.

Reported by Bob Nelson, KYW Newsradio.
Photo provided