Premiere Stages to Open 10th Anniversary Season with THE ANSEL INTIMACY, 6/20-22

Premiere Stages at Kean University will launch its much-anticipated 10th Anniversary Season with a free staged reading of Vincent Delaney's fascinating new play, The Ansel Intimacy, June 20 - 22 in Kean's Murphy Dunn Theatre. Selected from over 400 submissions, The Ansel Intimacy is the first of two scripts scheduled for expanded development as part of the 2014 Premiere Stages Play Festival. The Festival is an annual competition for unproduced scripts by playwrights with ties to the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut), and perfectly embodies the theatre's passionate and longstanding commitment to supporting emerging artists through the development and production of new plays. Mr. Delaney has received an honorarium and the opportunity to further develop his play through a professional, 29-hour rehearsal process culminating in three public readings. The Ansel Intimacy, directed by Padraic Lillis, will feature Eric Troy Miller as Tate, Scott Hudson as Ansel, and Kelley O'Donnell as Iris.

A masterful blend of prescience and fantasy, The Ansel Intimacy invites audience members to a not-so-distant future of humans and their "sharers" in a story that is both comedic and cautionary. On his 16th birthday, Tate receives a gift he never wanted: Ansel, who was scientifically engineered to provide him with replacement parts. But as the bond between them grows, Tate discovers some gifts can't easily be accepted.

Vincent Delaney's plays have been produced, commissioned and developed at the Guthrie, Humana Festival, Seattle Rep, New Harmony Project, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, InterAct, the Children's Theatre Company, the Magic, Woolly Mammoth, Pittsburgh Public, the Lark, PlayLabs, and Orlando Shakespeare Festival, among others. He is a former ATCA Steinberg Award nominee, and the recipient of McKnight and Bush Fellowships, the Heideman, the Reva Shiner Comedy Award, a Jerome Commission, and Core Membership at the Playwrights Center. Mr. Delaney is an alumnus of the Seattle Rep Writers Group, and writes for Sandbox Radio.

Director Padraic Lillis is a member of Labyrinth Theater Company's Education Committee, and has worked as an adjunct faculty member for NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing for over ten years. He was named Indie Theater Now's Person of the Year in 2013, and is the recipient of a NYIT Award and NY International Fringe Festival Award for his direction. Mr. Lillis previously collaborated with actors Eric Troy Miller and Scott Hudson on Labyrinth's acclaimed production of Sweet Storm, which Mr. Hudson wrote. Actress Kelley O'Donnell, also a member of Labyrinth, previously appeared in Lake Effect, a play penned by Mr. Lillis, at the Geva Theatre Center's Festival of New Works.

Audience members attending Premiere's workshop of The Ansel Intimacy will have the opportunity to provide direct feedback to Mr. Delaney through interactive post-show discussions following each reading, as well as written evaluation forms. Positive feedback from patrons attending an earlier reading of The Ansel Intimacy in March contributed to Premiere's eventual decision to name the play this year's Runner-Up in the prestigious Play Festival. "Staged readings are so important to the new play development process," said Clare Drobot, Premiere's producing associate. "Premiere Stages audiences are so intelligent, and their feedback is invaluable to all of our playwrights as they continue to develop their plays."

The Ansel Intimacy runs Friday, June 20 at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 21 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, June 22 at 3 p.m. in the Murphy Dunn Theatre, located in Kean University's Vaughn Eames Hall at 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J. Admission and parking are free. Reservations are strongly recommended, as seating is limited. Please call 908-737-4092 or email premiere@kean.edu to reserve, or visit www.kean.edu/premierestages for more information.

Premiere Stages offers affordable prices, air-conditioned facilities and free parking close to the theatre. Premiere Stages also provides free or discounted tickets to patrons with disabilities. All Premiere Stages facilities are fully accessible spaces, and companion seating is available for patrons with disabilities. Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available at all times; publications in alternate formats are available with advanced notice. Please call (908) 737-4092 for a list of sign-interpreted, audio-described or open-captioned performances. For more information, visit Premiere Stages online at www.kean.edu/premierestages.

Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Northfield Bank Foundation, The Westfield Foundation, The New Jersey Historical Commission, The Provident Bank Foundation, The Hudson City Savings Bank Foundation, Union County HEART Grants, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance and through the generous support of individual patrons. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit www.JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State.

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