Assembly Festival Debuts with Mysterious 'Party of the Year'
‘You Are Cordially Invited’ immerses audiences in interactive theatre experience, March 3-5.
By: Sarah Wedeking '24 Tuesday, February 22, 2022 03:16 PM
Staged in the various rooms of Muhlenberg’s Hoffman House, “You Are Cordially Invited” follows the mysterious Crowlin family and their fantastical soiree. Last year’s guests couldn’t stop talking about it — but it seemed too surreal to be true. Was it all a fantasy? That’s for the audience to find out.
“There are 13 different stories happening from 13 different characters,” says the show’s director, Sarah Levine ‘22. The show becomes a kind of eclectic choose-your-own-adventure for the audience, in which they can interact with different characters.
“You’re in the house with us,” Levine says. “You get to see what you want to see — or what you happen to see.”
“You Are Cordially Invited” is a devised piece: the cast and production team started with a basic premise and have been working together to turn it into a fully realized framework. The story takes its final shape once the audience joins the party.
“It's going to be action almost everywhere,” Levine says. “What you choose to follow, where you choose to go, who you watch, who you listen to, is all up to you. Some of it's up to chance.”
The story itself will have to remain a mystery for the moment; Levine wouldn’t give too much away.
“It’s ‘Knives Out’ meets ‘Clue’ with a little bit of ‘Alice in Wonderland,’” she says. “The idea for this show comes from a very childish fantasy of being able to step into another world.”
“You Are Cordially Invited” premieres March 3-5, 2022, at the Hoffman House, Muhlenberg College. Showtimes are March 3 at 7pm, March 4 at 5 and 7pm, and March 5 at 4 and 7pm. Tickets are $15, with a campus price of $8 for students, faculty and staff of LVAIC institutions. Tickets and information at 484-664-3333 or available online.
About the Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance Department
Muhlenberg offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theatre and dance. The Princeton Review ranked Muhlenberg’s theatre program in the top twelve in the nation for eight years in a row, and Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theatre and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theatre and dance.
About Muhlenberg College
Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private liberal arts college offering baccalaureate and graduate programs. With an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences; selected preprofessional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health; and progressive workforce-focused post-baccalaureate certificates and master’s degrees. Located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, approximately 90 miles west of New York City, Muhlenberg is a member of the Centennial Conference, competing in 23 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
