NJ Rep Announces 2014 Season of World Premieres

New Jersey Repertory Company has announced its 2014 Season, featuring a new slate of world premieres.

ADMIT ONE A World Premiere Comedy by Wendy Yondorf.
Many a parent succumbs to hysteria when it comes time to getting their children into the best schools. Howard Everett is no exception, but he has a leg up being one of the wealthiest donors to the elite Giddings University. What he did not anticipate, however, was that he was about to meet the admissions officer from hell. With his child's future at stake, just how far will a father go? January 16 - February 16, 2014

DATE OF A LIFETIME A New Musical with book and lyrics by Carl Kissin, music by Robert Baumgartner, Jr., produced in association with Hat on a Hat LLC. Marvin and Katie have a fleeting encounter while speed dating. During their brief time together they each, in turn, imagine what their lives would be like if they allowed this momentary meeting to evolve to the next level. Their decisions may determine their entire future and whether this will turn out to be a date from hell, or the date of a lifetime. March 6 - April 6, 2014

A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS A World Premiere Comedy by Lee Blessing. This sequel to Blessing's well-known 1988, Cold War play, A Walk in the Woods (nominated for both a Tony and a Pulitzer), explores how the current extreme political polarization in our society has come home to roost. We meet John Honeyman, the superpower arms negotiator, twenty years after his historic secret meetings with his Soviet counterpart. John is now retired, remarried and living an idyllic life in his country home along the Hudson, and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of his estranged son, the junior Senator from Tennessee. However, this coerced meeting is not a joyful reunion, but rather one filled with animosity, threats, ultimatums, and long-buried family secrets. April 24 - May 25, 2014

BUTLER A World Premiere by Richard Strand. Recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award. It's the start of the American Civil War and attorney Benjamin Butler has just been promoted to the rank of Major General at Fort Monroe, a Union hold-out in the great state of Virginia. Shepard Mallory, an escaped slave, seeks sanctuary at the Fort, along with several other runaway slaves. However, the law of the land has not yet changed, and slaves are still considered property and must be turned over to their "rightful" owners. This of course is tantamount to a death sentence and the new commander must grapple with a daunting moral and personal dilemma. Any act against the prevailing law will lead to his court martial or worse. June 12 - July 13, 2014

LUCKY ME A World Premiere Comedy by Robert Caisley. >From the playwright who brought us Happy comes a whimsical comedy about love, aging, bad luck and airport security. Sara's having a bad week. Really bad! The light bulbs in her apartment keep burning out, there's a leak in the roof, the aquarium is full of dead fish, the cat's gone AWOL, and her father -- who chased off her last beau -- is suspicious of Tom, their new neighbor, a TSA agent who just brought Sara home from the emergency room on New Year's Eve with a fractured fifth metatarsal. As Tom's attraction to Sara increases, he learns of the bizarre streak of bad luck that's been haunting Sara for years - twenty-two years to be precise. July 31 - August 31, 2014

ANGELS AND MINISTERS OF GRACE DEFEND US A World Premiere by Elaine Smith. A poignant family drama that deals with love and loss, set against the backdrop of the heartland of America. How do you wrestle with the present when you can't let go of the past? With a sister who can't keep her hand-made craft angels corralled, a brother who can't seem to make good, and an ex-husband who can't quite give up on her. It's way past time for Miriam to unravel her eccentric family's tangled problems once and for all. But when current crises collide with long-hidden secrets, even the angels can't keep all hell from breaking loose!October 9 - November 9, 2014

Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, at 8pm; Saturdays at 3pm & 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. Specially priced previews of each new play are on the 1st Thursday & Friday at 2pm & 8pm and the 1st Saturday at 3pm. Opening night with reception is the first Saturday night of each play at 8pm.

Tickets: $40; Opening Night: $50; Previews: $35; Discounts for Seniors (65+) and Students (full-time 13-25) Group Rates available for 10 or more. Extra performances available to groups of 50 or more.

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