ABANDONMENT ISSUES to Premiere in Howell Next Week

Abandonment Issues, a romantic comedy revolving around some tragic events, by Diana Rissetto and directed by Annette Curran, will premiere at the Grange Playhouse (4860 Route 9 South, Howell, NJ) on May 16th.

Maggie (Bonnie Palmer) had a rough childhood. After a childhood full of unbearable losses, she is left with abandonment issues that no amount of therapy can fix. Fearing anybody she is close to might leave her at any moment, she shuts herself off and trusts no one, retreating to her inner-world of writing scripts and re-imagining the way her life should have been. Everything changes her first semester of college, after running out of a Screenwriting 101 class from a ruthless professor who has just crushed her dreams, when she is followed by confident, handsome, free-spirited and independently wealthy Sam Kreitzman (Brendan Keffner), the son of the writer and star of an old television series that the fatherless Maggie grew up idolizing. Sam becomes the steady man in her life that will never let her down and enjoys feeling needed by the seemingly fragile Maggie. Afraid to get close to any girl for too long because he thinks he will turn into his father (who left Sam's mother for another woman years ago), Sam sees a different girl a week and keeps his close relationship with Maggie in a strictly "just friends" zone.

After college, Maggie meets Henry (Brian Lodato) whose great-great grandfather on his father's side owned slaves, while his grandfather on his mother's side was a notorious Nazi. Desperate to find an outlet to overcome the shame of his forefathers, Henry participates in Battle Reenactments, always taking on the righteous side and killing the bad guys. After being left at the altar (during his Civil War wedding), Henry has his own abandonment issues. When Sam's father (Denis Coughlan) is diagnosed with cancer and given months to live, he has one dying wish: to spend time with the son he barely knew. Sam's has his own issues-his parents were both Holocaust survivors and he was shipped to England before the war to live with a foster family, and later plucked from the only parents he ever knew. With Maggie and Henry along for the ride, Sam goes to California for his father's last month.

Throughout their bittersweet visit, all four help and learn from the others and realize everybody has abandonment issues, but we also miss out on a lot of life and love if we let them stand in our way.

Curran and Rissetto's also collaborated on Rissetto's drama Warmth, which was a finalist in the 2013 NJ Playwrights Contest, played a sold-out, extended run at the Grange Playhouse in July 2013 and was one of the most successful productions in the theatre's history. In May 2014, Warmth was presented as a fundraiser for the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey in Cherry Hill, NJ and raised over $25,000 with a one-night only special performance. Rissetto was praised for her quirky and witty humor and unique but sensitive handling of the grave topic of the Holocaust.

Abandonment Issues will run May 15th, 16th, 22nd and 23rd at 8:00 PM and May 17th and 24th at 3:00 PM. General admission tickets are $18 and Student and Senior admission is $15. For more information, please visit The Grange Playhouse's official website: www.thegrangeplayhouse.com.