From left to right: Gay Carducci as Linda Loman, Paul Kuhn as Willy Loman, Aaron Kirkpatrick as Biff Loman and Chase Byrd as Happy Loman. (Photo by JR Blackwell)

There might not be two people in all of Philadelphia better suited to play Willy and Linda Loman than Paul Kuhn and Gay Carducci.

Theatergoers will have the rare opportunity to see Kuhn and Carducci, co-founders of the Curio Theatre Company, on stage as two pivotal characters in the Arthur Miller classic “Death of a Salesman,” which opens Feb. 12 as part of Curio’s 11th season.

Kuhn and Carducci, longtime partners off stage as well, bring a rare authenticity to their on-stage relationship, said Director Dan Hodge.

“They have a depth of relationship and shared humor that you can only really find in people who have lived together through the high times and the lean times,” said Hodge. 

Death of a Salesman, of course, is the masterful untangling of the “American Dream” first staged in 1949. “It’s about the sacrifices people make to keep a household running, and the pressure we put on ourselves to succeed – often without having a clear definition of what ‘success’ means for us,” Hodge said. “In that way, this play will always be relevant and immediate.”

Aaron Kirkpatrick, Brian McCann, Chase Byrd, Colleen Hughes, and Robert DaPonte round out the cast. Steven Hungerford is the set designer; Aetna Gallagher is costume designer; Tim Martin is the lighting designer; and Kyle Yackoski is sound designer.

Previews of the performance begin Wednesday, Feb. 10 (due to a heating emergency in the performance space, the previews formerly scheduled for Feb. 4 – 6 have been cancelled). The show opens at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12 and runs through March 5. Tickets cost $15-$25 per person. For more information and to purchase tickets go here: www.curiotheatre.org.