Cast and Creative Team Announced for Premiere Stages' THE MALLARD
Running July 17- August 3 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center.
By: A.A. Cristi Jun. 26, 2025
Premiere Stages at Kean University will present the premiere production of The Mallard by Vincent Delaney, winner of the 2024 Premiere Play Festival, July 17-August 3 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.).
Directed by Premiere Stages Producing Artistic Director John J. Wooten, The Mallard will feature actors Eddie Gouveia Blackman, Susan Ferrara, Jennifer Leigh Houston, Victoria Pollack and Woodrow Proctor.
In this new comedic play, Freya and Gillian are teachers who have offended their school board and lost their jobs. Davis and Reagan are yard sale fanatics in search of a priceless antique duck decoy, the Horace Crandall Mallard. What follows is a fierce, funny and escalating battle over a symbol that has wildly different meanings- intersecting the couples in a journey that far surpasses the quest for treasure.
Vincent Delaney's plays have been produced, commissioned and developed at the Guthrie, Humana Festival, Florida Studio Theatre, LAByrinth, New Harmony Project, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, the Children's Theatre Company, the Magic, Woolly Mammoth, Shakespeare and Company, Pittsburgh Public, the Lark, PlayLabs, Capital Rep and Orlando Shakes, among many others. His play Las Cruces was the winner of the 2016 Premiere Stages Play Festival and had its world premiere in September 2016.
Director John J. Wooten has been nominated as Best Director multiple times by the Newark Star-Ledger and has staged numerous productions that have been honored by the American Theatre Critics Association. As a playwright, John's widely published work has been produced commercially in New York, internationally and in regional theatres across America. He was awarded the New Jersey Theatre Alliance Star Award in 2023 and his second fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in 2021.
The accomplished cast includes Eddie Gouveia Blackman, whose theatre credits include Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family (Premiere Stages) and Chicken & Biscuits (Crossroads Theatre); Susan Ferrara, an award-winning actor-writer whose work includes the Onion News Network and the award-winning web series Then We Got Help; Jennifer Leigh Houston, star of the hilarious indie comedy/horror movie Evil Sublet, Victoria Pollack, whose theater credits include “The Girl” in the UK premiere of Minetti (Barbican, London; Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh), and Woodrow Proctor, who most recently appeared in The 39 Steps at Virginia Theater.
Understudies for the production are Kean Theatre Conservatory alumni Kara Groom and Ken Macalos.
The professional design team includes Set Designer Bethanie Wampol-Watson, Costume Designer Karen Lee Hart, Lighting Designer Zack Gage, Sound Designer Tyler Sautner and Props Master and Scenic Artist Michael Brinskele. Casting is by Stephanie Klapper, CSA. Dale Smallwood is the Production Stage Manager. Roe Manzo is the Assistant Stage Manager.
The Mallard runs July 17-August 3 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center on the Kean University main campus in Union, N.J. The performance schedule is Thursday, July 17 at 7:30pm, Thursdays, July 24 and 31 at 1:00pm, Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 3pm & 7:30pm and Sundays at 3pm.
Celebrate the kick-off of Premiere Stages' 20th Season at the Opening Night of The Mallard on Friday, July 18. Join Premiere Stages for a pre-show cocktail party with live music at the historic Kean Hall at Kean University. Following the performance, mingle with the cast in the theatre lobby while enjoying champagne and dessert.
Tickets for the Opening Night of The Mallard are $100. Tickets for all other performances are $40.50 standard, $30.50 for senior citizens and Kean alumni and staff, $25.50 for patrons with disabilities and $18 for students, inclusive of any fees. Significant discounts for groups of ten or more apply. To make reservations or to order a season brochure, please call the box office at 908-737-7469 or visit Premiere Stages online at premierestagesatkean.com.
Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available at all times; publications in alternate formats are available with advance notice. Sign-interpreted and audio described performances are available by request, at least three weeks in advance. Please call 908-737-4077 or email premiere@kean.edu to request these services. For more information, please visit Premiere Stages online at premierestagesatkean.com.
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