Cast and Creative Team Set for WALDEN at Premiere Stages

Premiere Stages will present the New Jersey Premiere of Walden by Amy Berryman, September 4 - 21 in Kean University’s Bauer Boucher Theatre Center. Directed by Charlotte Cohn, Walden will feature professional actors Allison Altman, Erin Germaine Mahoney and Anthony Vaughn Merchant.  

In this timely play set in the near future, Stella and her fiancé, Bryan, are waiting at their remote cabin for Stella’s estranged twin sister, Cassie. Raised by their astronaut father to be NASA scientists, the twins have taken different paths: Cassie has just returned from a successful moon mission, while Stella left NASA behind. When Cassie arrives, old conflicts reignite, forcing the sisters to choose between life on Earth or pursuing a future in space, as humanity’s fate hangs in the balance.

Walden made its New York premiere at Second Stage Theater (Bennett Leak, Interim Artistic Director, Lisa Lawer Post, Executive Director) in 2024. Walden was first presented on stage by Sonia Friedman Productions. This production is presented through special arrangement with TRW Plays.   

Amy Berryman is a playwright, screenwriter, actor, and teaching artist originally from Seattle by way of West Texas. Her play Walden, directed by Ian Rickson, had its world premiere on London’s West End in May 2021. Walden premiered off-Broadway in 2024, directed by Whitney White, and was a nominee for the John Gassner Award from the Outer Critics' Circle and a nominee for Outstanding Production of a Play from the Drama League. Walden was also produced at TheaterWorks in Hartford in August 2021, directed by Mei Ann Teo (New York Times Critic’s Pick). Her work has been developed at Premiere Stages, Kitchen Dog, Caltech, East 15, Portland Stage, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and AMiOS, among others.

Walden was a finalist of Premiere Stages’ 2019 Play Festival and had a developmental workshop in June 2019.

“Serving as a launchpad for new plays is a very important part of our mission” stated Premiere’s Producing Artistic Director, John J. Wooten.” Seeing all of Amy’s success in London and New York after the initial development Walden received at Premiere Stages makes welcoming it back for its New Jersey Premiere extra special.”

The accomplished cast includes Allison Altman, whose theatre credits include Birthday Candles (Roundabout Theatre Company- OBC) and Mother, Daughter, Sisterwife (St. Ann’s Warehouse); Erin Germaine Mahoney, an actor, screenwriter, and playwright who recently appeared as Detective Carol Mackey in FBI: Most Wanted (CBS) and Anthony Vaughn Merchant, an actor and director, whose notable credits include powerful roles in Pay No Attention to the Girl, August: Osage County, and A Raisin in the Sun.

Understudies for the production are Kean Theatre Conservatory students Marcus McPherson and Ellie Saucier.

Director Charlotte Cohn directed the critically acclaimed UK premiere of Canned Goods by Erik Kahn in London, after directing the World Premiere at the American Theatre Group in N.J. Other directing highlights include Church & State (Berkshire Theatre Group), The Whole Shebang and Baltimore in Black and White (The Cell Theatre, NYC), My Italy Story (American Theatre Group) and Best Friends (Jazz at Lincoln Center). She will direct a reading of the new musical The Sound, co-created with Jason Odell Williams and Christian Douglas, in September.

The professional design team includes Set Designer David M. Barber, Costume Designer Julia Squier, Lighting Designer Zack Gage, Sound Designer Chad Raines and Props Master and Scenic Artist Michael Brinskele. Casting is by Stephanie Klapper, CSA. Dale Smallwood is the Production Stage Manager. Tori Hiotakis is the Assistant Stage Manager.

Walden runs September 4 - 21 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center at Kean University in Union, N.J. The performance schedule is Thursdays, September 4 and 18 at 7:30 pm, Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 3:00 & 7:30 pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm. There will be an additional 3:00 pm performance on Friday, September 12.