Centenary Stage Co to Feature APPLES IN WINTER by Jennifer Fawcett

Winner of the National New Playwright's Smith Prize, "Apples in Winter", a play about mothers and sons, will be the second play in the Centenary Stage Company's Women Playwrights Series (WPS) this month, presented on Wednesday, Apr 19 at 7:30 PM in the Lackland Center. In this moving drama of love and forgiveness written by Jennifer Fawcett, Miriam is making a pie for her son as the story unfolds. It will be the last time she will do it for him. "Apples in Winter" is a play about how we care for each other against all odds, and - in the end - it is a play about how to make a really good apple pie. The Smith Prize for Political Theater is awarded to emerging playwrights who tackle the pressing issues of our times.

The passion of playwright Jennifer Fawcett and dedication to her material is evident in a recent article for TCG (The Theatre Communications Group) National Conference. "What is the theatre that matters to you?" the author asked in the online article. "What is the community that matters to you? When we can answer these questions, as individual artists and administrators, as ensembles, companies and organizations, then we can truly create theatre that is passionate and meaningful to our audiences."

Jennifer Fawcett is a founder and Co-Artistic Director of Working Group Theatre in Iowa City, Ia. Her play Apples in Winter won the 2015 NNPN Smith Prize for Political Theatre and received development at the Banff Playwrights Colony in Canada. She is the winner of the NEFA National Theatre Project Award (with Working Group Theatre) for her two-play project, Out of Bounds, the National Science Playwriting Award (KC/ACTF) for Atlas of Mud, and she was nominated for the ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award for her play Birth Witches. Her work has been developed and produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Ground Floor, the Lark (New York), Hancher Auditorium (University of Iowa), Riverside Theatre (Iowa City), Available Light Theatre (Columbus), Tennessee Women's Theatre Project (Nashville), the Source Festival (Washington, DC), Palm Beach Dramaworks (West Palm Beach), and Halcyon Theatre (Chicago), among others. A graduate of the University of Iowa MFA Playwrights Workshop, she was the NNPN Playwright-In-Residence at Curious Theatre Company (Denver). She is a teaching alumna of the International Theatre and Literacy Project in Rwanda, which uses theatre as a means of social and educational uplift for children and teen-agers struggling with the challenges of poverty, crime, violence, gender inequity and inequality in developing countries.

Led by Catherine Rust, the CSC Women Playwrights Series celebrates its 26th year in 2017, having featured the work of more than 70 emerging playwrights in the developmental WPS process, and having taken 16 plays to full production from the series, including "The English Bride" by Lucile Lichtblau, which transferred from CSC to New York City in 2013, and "The Unfortunates" by Aoise Stratford, which was featured in the 2013 NY Fringe Festival. The WPS program offers playwrights the opportunity to work with professional actors and directors in a workshop rehearsal process, and to hear their work in front of a live audience - a critical part of the development process. Lively talk-backs with the playwright and cast follow each presentation, and one play is selected each year as the winner of the Susan Glaspell Award, which promises a full production in the main-stage season at CSC and a monetary award for the playwright.

Admission to the WPS is by donation and reservations are requested, as seating is limited. For information and reservations, call the CSC box office at 908 979 0900, or log on to www.centenarystageco.org.

The WPS receives support from the Zonta Club of Morristown, The Investors Bank Foundation, Phil and Gloria Lamoureux, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, and season sponsor Heath Village.

Coming up in WPS :

On April 26th, inspired by the true story, "Hitlers Tasters" by Michelle Kholos Brooks, brings to life the story of the young women given the opportunity to die for their country, three times a day, every day.