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

The Winners of the 29th Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest

Playwrights Theatre is pleased to announce the winners of the 29th Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest. From the 261 plays submitted by young writers throughout the state, a panel of theatre professionals has selected four High School plays, three Junior High School plays and three Elementary Schools plays. In each category, plays were selected without knowledge of playwrights' schools or grade. Judges were not provided with any of the playwrights' information. The 29th Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest Festival will be held on May 21 and May 22 as part of a partnership between Playwrights Theatre and Premiere Stages at Kean University. Select plays from this festival will be reprised at Playwrights Theatre’s nationally-recognized Forum Reading Series in December 2012. This reading series brings together writers from all over the United States.

The plays will be presented at the University Center's Little Theatre at Kean University on Monday, May 21 at 7 pm for the Elementary and Junior High Division winners and on Tuesday, May 22 at 7 pm for the High School Division winners’ plays. The readings will feature professional actors and directors and reservations can be made by calling 973-514-1787 X21 or via email njypf@ptnj.org. Admission to the readings is free, but reservations are required, as seating is limited.

In the High School Division (grades 10-12), the winners are:
Monster by Samuel Gelman, 12th grade, The Pingry School
The Mystery Madame of 110 and Broadway by Emma Hathaway, 11th grade, Bergen County Academies
Must-Read by Isabelle Ingato, 11th grade, Toms River High School East
Disneyland by Alina Sodano, 11th grade, Bergen County Academies

The aforementioned winners will receive a New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education, which is co-sponsored by New Jersey Arts Education Partnership and the New Jersey Department of Education, at the Governor’s Awards Ceremony on May 10 at 4:30 pm at the War Memorial in Trenton. The Governor’s Award is the highest honor in arts education in New Jersey.

In the Junior High School Division (grades 7-9), the winners are:
It Always Would by Emma Q. Baxter, 7th grade, Randolph Middle School
Fame in the Family by Madeleine Granovetter, 9th grade, Glen Ridge High School
Only Strangers by Nicole Zanchelli, 9th grade, Mount Saint Mary Academy

In the Elementary School Division (grades 4-6), the winners are:
Rosedale by Elizabeth Kilgore, 5th grade, St. Vincent Martyr School
The Time Travelers by Jason Li, 6th grade, Cranbury School
From Geek to Chic by Mollie Sullivan, 4th grade, Torey J. Sabatini School

Samuel Gelman (High School) and Elizabeth Kilgore (Elementary) were winners in their respective divisions last year. For the past two years, Emma Q. Baxter has submitted plays to contest and she was recognized last year with an Honorable Mention. Mollie Sullivan’s (Elementary) play was presented in March 2012 during the Madison Young Playwrights Festival.

SAVE THE DATE! September 17, 2011

Save the Date! September 17, 2011 - Playwrights Theatre Benefit Celebrating 25 Years of Creativity and Community http://www.ptnj.org/miscpage/p​laywrights-theatre-benefit

Honoring:

Lawrence S. Feinsod, Executive County Superintendent, Essex County

Jeannie Tsukamoto, Council Member, Madison Borough Council

Lisa Ellis, President, Madison Board of Education

Dave Carver and Playwrights Theatre’s Champion Girls Softball Team

Arthur Wilson, Poet/Playwright/Teaching Artist

Shamsuddin Abdul-Hamid, 2010 NJ State Poetry Out Loud Champion

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Featuring the Improbable Playwrights:

New plays by

Hon. Jon M. Bramnick, NJ State Assemblyman

Hon. Mary-Anna Holden, Mayor of Madison

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Music by:

Jerry Vezza

Sahirah Johnson with Jane Keitel

and...

The MoMs (from MoM A Rock Concert Musical)

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A Collaborative Play Written by You

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Silent Auction

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Menu: Heavy Hors d’oeuvres, Wine, Light Refreshments, Dessert and Coffee

Dress: Business Casual

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We hope you will join us! Tickets are $75 and you can get yours today by mail, phone or online.


By Mail: Make checks payable to Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and send to:
Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey
PO Box 1295
Madison, NJ 07940

By Phone: Call 973.514.1787 x10 to charge your credit card

Online: You can book through Eventbrite http://ptnj25.eventbrite.com

Tickets will also be available at the door on the day of the event.

Final Performances at Playwrights Theatre

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie
by Julie Jensen

"The gap that often exists between children's theater and theater considered satisfying/acceptable entertainment for mature adults has been gainfully closed by playwright Julie Jensen. In her adventurous and appealing Across The Wide and Lonesome Prairie we share the experiences as well as the hopes and aspirations of Hattie and Pepper as they make their way from Missouri to Oregon. Mostly, it is a tale about courage." -- Simon Saltzman, Curtain Up

Final Performances This Week:
Thursday, November 18 at 3:00pm
Thursday, November 18 at 8:00pm
Friday, November 19 at 8:00pm
Saturday, November 20 at 8:00pm
Sunday, November 21 at 3:00pm

directed by John Pietrowski

featuring Jane Keitel and Lori Lawrence

appropriate for ages 8 and up

In association with The Growing Stage in Netcong, NJ, Playwrights Theatre is pleased to present Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie November 4 - 21, 2010. All performances will take place at Playwrights Theatre, 33 Green Village Road, Madison.

Migrating with their parents on the Oregon Trail in 1847, two thirteen-year old girls become fast friends as they grow up together on their humorous and harrowing journey.

The Growing Stage will be touring the production and performing the piece at its home - The Historic Palace Theatre in Netcong throughout March and May and information can be received by contacting the theatre directly at http://www.growingstage.com/.

Ticket Prices:
$25.00 for Adults
$22.50 for Seniors
$20.00 for Book Clubs and Groups of 10+
$15.00 for Students

Tickets on sale on our website or by calling the box office at 973-514-1787 X10.

StrangeDog Theatre returns to Playwrights Theatre

StrangeDog Theatre returns to Playwrights Theatre on November 26 and 27 at 8pm.

We'll See Tomorrow (appropriate for ages 17 and up) depicts a variety of people struggling with their place in a world altering and growing faster than any other time in history, trying to discover where responsibility and the human spirit factor on this exponential curve.

A futuristic, cutting edge, state of the art meld of comedy and drama featuring fifteen characters portrayed by three actors, We'll See Tomorrow promises to be a whirlwind of science, madness, and whatever happens to fill the space in between.

For tickets call 201.500.SDOG (7364) or visit their website.

Get to Know the Cast of MoM

Stefanie Seskin (Catalina) is the founder of blue number nine, a Jersey City based group formed in 1995 that has toured regionally and across the midwest. Seskin is a recipient of ASCAP’s ASCAPLU$ Songwriter Award in the “Popular” category since 2001. Prior to forming blue number nine, Seskin played bass with Bill Popp and the Tapes, sang back-up vocals in several projects, and is credited on 14 albums, on bass, sax, flute, vocals and as engineer.

Jane Keitel (Nancy) Recent Credits: PTNJ: The Good German by David Wiltse (NY/NJ Premiere), Where the Sun Never Sets; American Globe She Bop; Garage Theatre, 7 Good Ways. Jane loves her other work as a teaching artist and director. Directing credits: Les Miserables, School Ed., Pirates of Penzance, WASP. Love and thanks to John, Dani & Richard. Dedicated with love to her mom, Helen, the original ‘Single Mom’. Contact: Facebook: ‘EJ Keitel’ or keitelmusic@aol.com.

Donna Jean Fogel (Karen) has appeared in numerous plays in NYC and regionally as well as in the independent film Nine and Law & Order. Some favorite roles: Sara in Stop Kiss, The Barrow Group; Lady Layle Wingate in Rain from Heaven, Reckless Theatre Co; Supporta in Scenes From an Execution, Blue Light/Atlantic Theatre/Olney; Sister Jane in As It Is in Heaven, Stonington Opera House on Deer Isle, ME; Frankie/Francis in The Voice of the Prairie, Cape May Stage.

Bekka Lindström (Melissa) recently played Sister Betsy in As It Is In Heaven at the Stonington Opera House in Deer Isle, Maine. She last appeared in the NY Fringe as Lori in The Lightning Field, which then went on to a run in London. Other New York credits: Medea in A Jar In The Forest (The Samuel French Play Festival); the suffragette Ellen Gates Star in Jane’s House (The Neighborhood Playhouse); and Sylvia in Stacked (The Bank Street Theater).

Dana Loren McCoy (Ingrid) is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music and Berklee College of Music, Performance and Composition Majors. Dana has performed and written songs for Virgin, EMI, Netwerk and Empire Records. Dana loves the girls in “MoM” and Richard more than Nutella, and blows everlasting kisses to the producers and team at PTNJ for supporting this wonderful project. Special thanks to Tracy Wells who has been all our MoM on this journey.

Think Pink - Moms Are Free

In Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, all MoMs get free tickets this weekend!

Calling all Moms! To kick off the first weekend of "MoM A Rock Concert Musical", we're giving away free tickets to all Moms. All you have to do is wear pink to the show tonight or tomorrow and you'll get in for FREE*.

Performances This Weekend:
Saturday, October 2 at 8pm
Sunday, October 3 at 3pm

Ruth Ross, NJ Arts Maven, thinks the show is great! Read her entire review.

Five "soccer moms" form a rock band to play at a High School benefit. Then they get really famous. Beautiful and terrible things happen to them. MOM A ROCK CONCERT MUSICAL chronicles their rise and rise. The workshop production won Outstanding Musical at FringeNYC 2009.

Appropriate for ages 16 and up, adult language and situations

Call the Box Office at 973-514-1787 X10 to reserve your tickets

*Not valid on previously purchased tickets. No retroactive discounts.

Playwrights Theatre
33 Green Village Road
PO Box 1295
Madison, NJ 07940
www.ptnj.org
973-514-1787 X10

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

Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods Opens Today

Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods by Tammy Ryan is a co-production between Playwrights Theatre and Premiere Stages in partnership with Kean University Human Rights Institute. The production which previews tonight, September 2, 2010 at 8pm runs through September 19, 2010.


Directed by John Pietrowski
Appropriate for ages 11 and up.

An optimistic “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.

Please note: All performances of this production will be held at the Zella Fry Theatre on the Campus of Kean University.

A host of special events will occur in conjunction with the production. For more information, click here.

September 2 - "Pizza Preview" with $10 student tickets and free pizza in the lobby before the show.

To order tickets call the box office at 908-737-7469 or order online.

Class Dismissed by Jeffrey Sweet

"Classed Dismissed" by Jeffrey Sweet continues the FORUM reading series tonight at 7pm.

About the Playwright: Jeffrey Sweet has had 13 plays produced at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theatre of Chicago where he is a resident writer. He has previously worked with director James Glossman on productions of The Value of Names (at George Street), Bluff and Immoral Imperatives. Jeff’s play, With and Without, played at the Bickford. He wrote Something Wonderful Right Away, an oral history of Second City. He serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild.

About the Director: For Playwrights Theatre: Sedition, The Good German, Circumference of a Squirrel, Sunrise at Monticello, adapted & directed Jim Lehrer’s Flying Crows and The Special Prisoner (w/William Schallert). Elsewhere: Death of a Salesman (w/Frankie Faison), Bluff (w/John Astin), The Value of Names (w/Jack Klugman), The Price (w/Orson Bean & Stephanie Zimbalist), All My Sons (w/Richard Benjamin & Paula Prentiss), The Gin Game (w/William Schallert), Mrs. Warren’s Profession (w/Paula Prentiss & Prentiss Benjamin), Macbeth (w/Frankie Faison), Spread Eagle (w/Ed Asner, Sharon Gless, Jamey Sheridan, Fred Savage).

Beggar at the Feast by Fengar Gael

The third week of FORUM continues tonight at 7pm with "Beggar at the Feast" by Fengar Gael, directed by John Pietrowski. FORUM is a staged reading series featuring the work of some of the country's best writers with intimate discussions between author and audience following each performance.

About the Playwright: Fengar Gael plays have been produced at the InterAct Theatre, New Jersey Repertory, Moxie Theatre, Seanachi Theatre, and MultiStages. She is a recipient of the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Play for Devil Dog Six, the Playwrights First Award for Opaline, and commissions from South Coast Repertory and the National New Play Network. She is working on a musical, Soul on Vinyl, and her play, The Usher’s Ball, will be produced in New York at CAP 21 next summer.

About the Director: John Pietrowski is the Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre, where he has directed numerous world premiere productions of plays in his 19-year tenure. A winner of the Agnes E. Nixon playwriting award at Northwestern University for two of his plays, he has had readings and productions of plays at theatres in New Jersey and New York. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Performance Studies Department, he also holds an Masters of Public Administration in non-profit management from Seton Hall University, and teaches at both Fairleigh Dickinson and Seton Hall University.

Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods by Tammy Ryan

Tammy Ryan's "Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods" continues the FORUM reading series tonight at 7pm.

About the Playwright: Tammy Ryan’s plays include A Confluence of Dreaming (finalist, 2008 Julie Harris Playwriting Award), The Music Lesson (2004 AATE Distinguished Play Award), and Dark Part Of The Forest (winner 2006 Premiere Stages Playwriting Festival). Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods was developed at the New Harmony Project and Premiere Stages Playwriting Festival this summer and will be presented at the National New Play Network’s 2009 National Showcase of New Plays in Atlanta in December.

About the Director: John Pietrowski is the Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre, where he has directed numerous world premiere productions of plays in his 19-year tenure. A winner of the Agnes E. Nixon playwriting award at Northwestern University for two of his plays, he has had readings and productions of plays at theatres in New Jersey and New York. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Performance Studies Department, he also holds an Masters of Public Administration in non-profit management from Seton Hall University, and teaches at both Fairleigh Dickinson and Seton Hall University.

Risk by Yasmine Beverly Rana

The second week of the FORUM reading series begins tonight at 7pm with "Risk" by Yasmine Beverly Rana. Tickets are $10 for one reading or purchase a FORUM pass for $25 and see all the plays you want in the FORUM series. Reserve online or call the box office at 973.514.1787 X10.

About the Playwright: Yasmine Beverly Rana's The War Zone is My Bed and Other Plays will be published by Seagull Books. The volume will include Blood Sky, Returning, and Paradise, all presented in Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey’s Reading Series. Yasmine is a founder and Resident Playwright at Nora’s Playhouse in New York, a new theater company celebrating the voices and stories of women artists. www.norasplayhouse.org. Her plays have been produced at Johns Hopkins University, Brooklyn College, Second Stage Theater, La MaMa E.T.C, among others.

About the Director: is the Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre, where he has directed numerous world premiere productions of plays in his 19-year tenure. A winner of the Agnes E. Nixon playwriting award at Northwestern University for two of his plays, he has had readings and productions of plays at theatres in New Jersey and New York. A graduate of Northwestern University’s Performance Studies Department, he also holds an Masters of Public Administration in non-profit management from Seton Hall University, and teaches at both Fairleigh Dickinson and Seton Hall University.

NOT WHAT YOU THINK by Joe Sutton

On stage Saturday, November 7, join us for a reading of "Not What You Think" by Joe Sutton. Among the scheduled performers are Len Cariou (Tony-winner, original Sweeney Todd, Little Night Music) who will play George Orwell.

About the Playwright: Joe Sutton's plays about topical issues include Voir Dire (nominated for the Pulitzer), As It is in Heaven, and Restoring the Sun. Joe’s plays have been produced by such theatres as the New York Theater Workshop, Seattle Rep, and, most recently the Old Vic which produced his play Complicit. Joe is a recipient of fellowships from NYFA, the NEA, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. When not in rehearsal, Joe resides in Montclair, NJ with his wife Anne and their sons James and Nicholas.

About the Director: For Playwrights Theatre: Sedition, The Good German, Circumference of a Squirrel, Sunrise at Monticello, adapted & directed Jim Lehrer’s Flying Crows and The Special Prisoner (w/William Schallert). Elsewhere: Death of a Salesman (w/Frankie Faison), Bluff (w/John Astin), The Value of Names (w/Jack Klugman), The Price (w/Orson Bean & Stephanie Zimbalist), All My Sons (w/Richard Benjamin & Paula Prentiss), The Gin Game (w/William Schallert), Mrs. Warren’s Profession (w/Paula Prentiss & Prentiss Benjamin), Macbeth (w/Frankie Faison), Spread Eagle (w/Ed Asner, Sharon Gless, Jamey Sheridan, Fred Savage).

Reserve your tickets online or by calling the box office at 973.514.1787 X10

FORUM begins this week

FORUM: 14 Staged Readings of New Plays

All readings begin at 7pm

Attend 1 reading for $10 or attend up to all 14 readings with a FORUM pass for only $25

Playwrights Theatre announces the return of the popular roundtable reading series FORUM with staged readings of 14 innovative new plays by some of the country's best writers with intimate discussions between author and audience following each performance.

On tonight's schedule is "Super" by Lia Romeo, directed by Artem Yatsunov.

About the Playwright: Lia Romeo earned her B.A. from Princeton University and her M.F.A. in playwriting from Rutgers University. She was last year's Emerging Playwright-In-Residence at Playwrights Theatre. Her short plays have been produced in fourteen different states and internationally, and she has world premieres of two new full-lenth plays coming up this season in Kansas and California. She is also the author of the humor book 11,002 Things To Be Miserable About, available in bookstores nationwide.

About the Director: Artem Yatsunov is one of the founding members of the troupe StrangeDog Theatre, http://www.strangedogtheatre.com/, with whom he has been directing for over a year now. Some of his past credits include: subUrbia by Eric Bogosian (Jersey City); Bootstraps (Luna Stage) and New.Tricks! (Playwrights Theatre) by Ben Clawson. Up next, he's directing the world premiere of Omnivores by Ben Clawson, opening the day after Thanksgiving, right here at Playwrights Theatre. Montclair State University Alum.

To reserve your tickets, call our box office at 973.514.1787 X10 or reserve online.

Click here for directions to the theatre.

William Westhoven's Jersey Stages

Be in "the know" of what is happening on the plethora of stages in New Jersey by following theatre columnist and business editor of the Daily Record, William Westhoven's Jersey Stages blog.

Adult classes

Are you looking for a creative way to express yourself? Well, then look no further. Playwrights Theatre has classes for adults that will let your inner artistic side shine.

Playwriting Workshop September 14 - November 23 and November 30 - February 1

Acting & Performance Workshop October 6 - December 15 and March 2 - May 11

Writing Prose Narrative October 15 - November 12

Reading, Writing, Response February 25

Click here for all the details and to register

Volunteer!

Volunteering is a great way to give back to your community. We have lots of different volunteer opportunities available: data entry, ushering, postcard distribution, concession stand, maintaining the theatre and much more! Why not give us a call (973.514.1787 X10) or an email today to find how you can help kick off our 24th season. We'll see you at the theatre!

Interesting blog perspective on Off-Broadway.

Documentary on Hal Prince

On June 6, check out the documentary on Hal Prince director and producer extraordinaire. In 2006, Harold Prince received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater. He has won 21 Tonys (no other individual has accomplished this) and is credited with more than 50 plays, musicals and operas.