At the end of October, Bryn Athyn Community Theatre will be presenting a rendition of Booth Tarkington’s Seventeen at the Mitchell Performing Arts Center on the campus of the Academy of the New Church, in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.  Here’s the blurb from the Mitchell Center website:

Adapted from the novel by Booth Tarkington, Seventeen is set in midwestern America in the early 1900s. William Silvanus Baxter is seventeen long years of age, and in love with the baby-talking Lola Pratt. His endeavors to court her are thwarted by the existence of other suitors, his overly-frank little sister, and his woes over not having a proper evening suit. A mix of dry humour and tenderness.

October 21, 22, 23, 28, & 29, 2011
Fridays & Saturdays | 8 PM
Sunday | 2 PM

Ayisha Synnestvedt, who adapted the play, describes herself as “a big Tarkington fan” who’d like to see a resurgence in Tarkington’s popularity–very much my own motivation for adapting Beasley’s Christmas Party a few years ago.  She describes her adaptation of Seventeen as “very faithful to the book, with a few amputations for length and PCness that don’t take away from the spirit of it.”

If you’re interested in taking a look at Synnestvedt’s adaptation, you can look her up on Facebook, or I can put you in touch with her.