100 YEARS by Richard Dresser a co-production between Playwrights Theatre and Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre

Yasmine Beverly Rana to read in Warsaw

Yasmine Beverly Rana will be reading from The War Zone is My Bed and Other Plays in Warsaw. The first reading will be at TR Warszawa, Monday, April 23 at 7 pm. On Friday, April 27, the reading will be at Museum of Modern Art Warsaw at 6 pm.

The War Zone is My Bed and Other Plays follows journeys of spiritual destruction and redemption from the banks of the Mississippi River and the fallen levees of New Orleans to the conflict-ravaged streets of Sarajevo and Kabul, as the characters attempt to seek and sustain love in violent circumstances.

In the title play, The War Zone is My Bed, a prostitute from Kabul and a journalist from Bosnia stumble through a maze of brutality to find solace within each other. In Blood Sky a traumatic event is triggered by a mysterious, animalistic call. Also collected here are Returning, in which a photographer from Sarajevo is torn between his role as an artist and victim of war and Paradise, where, as the Mississippi River rises, two lovers who are also illegal immigrants, debate whether they should stay in New Orleans and risk their lives or flee—and, thereby reveal their illegal status.

http://www.trwarszawa.pl/spotkanie-yasmine-beverley-rana

5 Questions With Carrie Louise Nutt

The 9th reading in our FORUM series is LSD by Carrie Louise Nutt which will be presented on Tuesday, December 6, beginning at 7:00pm at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Dreyfuss Theatre in Madison, NJ.

Carrie Louise Nutt’s play Agua was a 2010 O’Neill semi-finalist. It was developed during her NNPN Emerging Playwright Residency at PNTJ. When Gods Walk the Earth was part of the Great Plains Theatre Conference PlayLabs, received Tulsa University’s “Best New Works for Young Women” award, and was recently produced at Manhattan Rep. Carrie is published in One on One: The Best Men’s Monologues for the 21st Century by Applause. She is a member of DGA and PWC. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Rutgers. Recently, she received a new play commission from MCTVS. http://web.me.com/carrienutt/Site/About_Me.html

1. What inspired you to write LSD?
I became interested in government drug experimentation while I was researching for a different play. I ended up stumbling across two stories in particular that jumped out at me. One was centered around a young scientist who died under unclear circumstances and the other story was about a patient admitted to a psychiatric hospital who reported being experimented on. I began to get a picture of a time where Cold War paranoia drove people to do things to others that they should not have. It set up a dynamic where anything was permissible for the greater good. I felt that had resonance for us today.

2. Can you tell us a little about your new play commission from MCTVS?
MCTVS has commissioned me to write a one-act play for their theatre students. I was asked to come onboard for this school year as a Guest Artist. I will teach as well as put together a play for the students to perform. This play will go up in March alongside several other commissions and a handful of student plays in a festival that MCTVS is producing.

3. What is your favorite play or book and why?
My favorite book is Blindness because Jose Saramago understand the difference between civility and savagery. The only difference between the civilized and the uncivilized is the availability of resources. You take that away and it is surprising what people will do.

4. How long have you been writing?
Since I was in elementary school. I used to read Nancy Drew, and then stay up late writing my own mystery novels.

5. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
The Hunger Games. It's a great trilogy. It's total pop culture, adrenaline junkie trash, but I love it for how well it wraps the reader into the action and the love triangle.

Click here to purchase a ticket to see LSD at FDU.
You can also find additional information on our website about the entire FORUM reading series.

$10 per reading
$25 for a FORUM pass (attend all 23 readings in the series)

THE FALLEN by Yasmine Beverly Rana

Week One of the FORUM reading series: A Celebration of New Jersey Writers

continues this evening at 7pm with THE FALLEN by Yasmine Beverly Rana

Survivors of the atrocities in the former Yugoslavia confront their past and assess their future. An expanded version and further development of the play read in last year’s series.

Reserve your seat to tonight's reading online or by calling 973.514.1787 X10.

Performance takes place at:
Playwrights Theatre
33 Green Village Road
Madison, NJ 07940

Directions can be found here

Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods A Must See

Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods
by Tammy Ryan

a co-production between Playwrights Theatre and Premiere Stages, in partnership with Kean University Human Rights Institute

directed by John Pietrowski

September 2 - 19, 2010

"See. This. Play." Sherri Rase, [Q]onStage

"If you like excellent drama...you must see new, powerful, timely play Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods."Rick Busciglio, Examiner.com

"Almost everything comes together extraordinarily well in director John Pietrowski's crisp production."
Peter Filichia, The Star-Ledger

Click here to purchase tickets online or call the box office at 908-737-7469. Please note: All performances take place at the Zella Fry Theatre on the campus of Kean University.

Performances This Week:
Thursday, Sept 9 at 8pm
Friday, Sept 10 at 8pm
Saturday, Sept 11 at 3pm and 8pm
Sunday, Sept 12 at 3pm

Special Events This Week:
Sunday, Sept 12 - "Sunday Scholars" post-show discussion with Dr. Jay Spaulding, expert on Sudanese History

An optimistic former "Lost Boy" from Sudan meets a suburban mother in desperate need of adventure. What begins as an unlikely friendship soon becomes an unbreakable bond that leads them toward a better understanding of their place in the world.

Click here for directions to Premiere Stages at Kean University

Daily Record review of Mahida's Extra Key To Heaven

Check out Bill Westhoven's review of "Mahida's Extra Key to Heaven" by Russell Davis in today's Daily Record.

"Mahida's Extra Key to Heaven" is the kind of play you won't want to see alone, because you'll need someone to discuss it with on the way home. That sort of entertainment is torture for some people, but for others, this food for thought will be a gourmet meal." -- Bill Westhoven, Daily Record