Jersey City Theater Center Presents Acclaimed Play About Children of Deaf Parents

An acclaimed play portraying the complex life of a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), makes its New Jersey premiere next week at Merseles Studios in Jersey City as part of the Disruption series presented by Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC).

Listen...Can You Hear Me Now?, a solo-show written and performed by Gloria Rosen and directed by Suzanne Bachner, has performances Saturday, May 20 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, May 21 at 4:00 pm, at Merseles Studios, 339 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, N.J. Sunday's performance will be ASL interpreted and followed by an Artist Talkback.

In 2016 Listen...Can You Hear Me Now? excited audiences and judges at several theatre festivals, playing to sold out houses at the New York International Fringe Festival and at the United Solo Theatre Festival in NY, where it was awarded Best Autobiographical Script. The Play was also awarded the 2016 Best of Hollywood Fringe.

Now JCTC brings this festival circuit favorite about the little-known world of growing up CODA to Merseles Studios. "We are most honored and pleased to be performing our New Jersey premiere as part of JCTC's Disruption series," said Rosen. "I'm very grateful for this opportunity to welcome the New Jersey CODA and Deaf community, and to introduce a hearing audience to a world that's completely new to them."

JCTC presents series of theatre, performances, readings and visual arts on a topic global in scope yet relevant to the community. Listen...Can You Hear Me Now? looks at Disruption on a very personal level by exploring universal issues of communication and family relationships.

"It's rare that we get to see a play that puts the life of the hearing impaired - and specifically, the experiences of hearing children born to deaf parents - front and center," said Lisa Strum, Associate Theatre Coordinator, JCTC. "In today's social climate where marginalized groups continue to navigate invisibility, it's exciting to have a piece of theatre that disrupts the status quo of what most would consider a normal American experience."

An award winning playwright and actor, Gloria Rosen's one woman show shows what is it was like growing up a CODA, caught between the hearing and deaf worlds. In fact, her parents who used sign language with each other, forbid her to use -or even learn - sign language. This struggle for family members to communicate is a poignant story both funny and emotionally devastating. Listen... Can You Hear Me Now? is a daring, compassionate and eye-opening tale about a young girl finding her own identity and voice.

Maxamoo NYC: Theater & Performance Podcast: "Gloria is not only a fantastic storyteller but also able to embody herself as a character. A masterful job of introducing the audience to a world alien to any hearing person, yet also delivering a performance and story that speaks from the heart."

Listen... Can You Hear Me Now
May 20/8:00pm-10:00pm / Merseles Studios
(Doors open at 7:30)
May 21/4:00pm-6:00pm / Merseles Studios
Jersey City Theater Center
Merseles Studios
339 Newark Avenue
Jersey City, NJ 07302
(201) 795-5386

$20 General Admission ($15 Students & Senior Citizens, with valid ID)

To purchase tickets, visit jctcenter.org.

GLORIA ROSEN (∫Playwright/Performer) is an award winning playwright and actor. Her solo show, Listen...Can You Hear Me Now? played to sold out houses at the United Solo Theatre Festival in NY, and was awarded 2016 Best Autobiographical Script; was also awarded Best of Hollywood Fringe and played to sold out houses at The New York International Fringe Festival. She has appeared in numerous plays by award winning playwright Duncan Pflaster, most recently Lights and Noise and Bees and Boys for the Red Fern and TOSOSTheatre Companies. She created the role of Emily in Hidden Beauty at the NY EstroGenius Festival; Bubby in Bubby's Shadow at Planet Connections, and The Mother in the Indie Film - How to Break Up With Your Mother which has been screened at the following: Los Angeles Comedy Festival; LA Indie Music & Film Summit; The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival; New Film Makers NY Festival and numerous other venues. She also participates in the Effective Arts program as an actor - using improvisational techniques to aid in the training of clinical professionals in the field of organ donation. Gloria has performed at The Actors Studio; the Samuel French Festival; Manhattan Rep and in readings at Primary Stages. She can also be seen in numerous College Humor episodes. www.listenshow.com

SUZANNE BACHNER (Director) is an award-winning playwright and director. She is the director and developer of Bob Brader's internationally acclaimed, award-winning solo shows including Spitting In The Face Of The Devil. Other solo show directing: Sarah Elizabeth Greer's Bio-Hazard: A Relative Comedy (United Solo Europe 2016), Canadian Burlesque star Rosie Bitts' Stories of Love and Passion (US and Canadian tour) and her new play, The Good Adoptee (Best Autobiographical Script, United Solo). Playwriting and directing credits: CIRCLE (Sold Out International Tour, "Most Daring Show" of the London Fringe), the long- running NYC cult hits, Icons & Outcasts and BITE, and We Call Her Benny, which Broadway World called "the future of theatre". Suzanne studied playwriting with Romulus Linney and Adrienne Kennedy and holds an MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School at the New School University. She is a member of United Solo Academy and the Dramatists Guild. www.JMTCTheatre.com

Disruption and Listen... Can You Hear Me Now was also made possible through the generosity of Ben LoPiccolo Development Group, JCTC's Board of Directors, private donors and local Jersey City businesses.

Jersey City Theater Center, Inc. (JCTC) manages programming at Merseles Studios and White Eagle Hall, JCTC is a nonprofit, 501c3 arts organization committed to inspiring conversations about the important topics of our times through innovative and progressive performing and visual arts that embrace the diversity of Jersey City, bringing its community closer together and enhancing its quality of life. jctcenter.org