“Hitting the ground running” is one of the most egregious and off-putting of clichés, even as clichés go, because: it is impossible. You know how fast you already have to be going to have a chance of hitting the ground running? About as fast as you can run – or, rather, about as fast as you can run in whatever thing is transporting you, because you’ve got to basically match your running speed to the speed you’re already traveling, or else you’d better get used to “hitting the ground and planting and getting the wind knocked out of you.” We bring this up because, ill-defined and tired phrase that it is, sometimes you have no choice but to use it, or some variant, which – nah, we’ll stick with the classic. Here’s the Irish Heritage Theatre, brand new players on the Philadelphia theater scene, staging Brian Friel’s Philadelphia, Here I Come! for their debut. This play has fourteen characters. This play is being presented on a very small stage. The Irish Heritage Theatre is, clearly, a courageous crew. The show’s up at Walnut Street’s Studio 5, Ninth and Walnut, through the 20th. (FULL ARTICLE: Toby Zinman, Philadelphia Inquirer)