ANTS World Premiere to Begin at New Jersey Rep, Feb 7

The New Jersey Repertory Company presents the World Premiere of Ants by Saviana Stanescu, directed by Jeff Zinn. Ants will begin preview performances on Thursday, February 7, 2013 and will celebrate its opening night on Saturday, February 9 at New Jersey Repertory Company (179 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ), running through Sunday, March 10. Tickets are $40 ($35 during previews and $50 on opening night - with reception) and can be purchased by calling 732-229-3166 or by visiting www.njrep.org.

Kara and Mia are sisters who emigrated from Eastern Europe and have been in living in America for a number of years pursuing what seems an increasingly elusive American dream. Kara works in a factory twelve hours a day doing backbreaking work so that she can make the mortgage payments, put food on the table and enable her younger sister to obtain her PhD in biochemistry. Mia is not just any doctoral student, however. She is brilliant, and her field of work under the watchful gaze of her supervisor, Dr. Kohn, is the world of ants. Completely unworldly and awkward with her fellow humans, Mia is very much at home with her ants, and is on the brink of a groundbreaking discovery - the ability to radically alter nature and convert workers into queens. If she succeeds the discovery would revolutionize biology and would have far-reaching implications for other species, including man. Mia is already rehearsing her Nobel Prize acceptance speech in front of her mirror when as luck would have it, fate rudely intervenes - forcing Mia to come out of her shell and improvise a radical solution to save the lifestyle she has almost grown to love, her sister's teetering sanity, and her beloved ants.

Directed by Jeff Zinn, the talented cast of Ants includes Michael Samuel Kaplan, Maria Silverman and Carol Todd. The production design team includes Jessica Parks (Set Design & Props), Jill Nagle (Lighting Design), Merek Royce Press(Sound Design), Patricia E. Doherty (Costume Design), Michael Carroll (Technical Director) and Jennifer Tardibuono (Stage Manager). No ants were harmed in the making of this play.

Preview week schedule: Thursday 2pm & 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 3pm
Opening with Reception: Saturday, February 9, 2013 8pm
Regular Performance Schedule through March 10: Thursday - Friday 8pm; Saturday 3pm & 8pm, Sunday 2pm

Tickets are $40 ($35 during previews, $50 opening night with reception). Discounts are available to seniors (65+), students (full-time 13-25) and groups of 10+. Tickets are available at www.njrep.org or by calling 732-229-3166. Discounts and coupons not valid on Saturday nights. For more information about New Jersey Repertory Company, visit www.njrep.org.

New Jersey Rep has been producing new works for fifteen seasons and many of the plays introduced by the theater to the public are subsequently produced by other theaters throughout the U.S. For its contributions to the American stage New Jersey Rep was recently awarded the 2012 National Theatre Company Award by the American Theatre Wing, creators of the annual Tony awards. Support for New Jersey Rep is provided in part by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, the Stone Foundation of New Jersey, the Baumol Family Foundation, OceanFirst Foundation, The Investors Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Jewish Communal Fund, Dramatists Guild Fund, Actors Equity Foundation, ERBA Company, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the American Theatre Wing.