Premiere Stages to Welcome Pulitzer Prize Winner Lynn Nottage to Kean University

Premiere Stages, currently celebrating its 10th anniversary as the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, will welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage to Kean's campus on Sunday, November 16 as part of Premiere Artists, its acclaimed professional development program for Kean University students. Premiere Artists brings world-class artists to the Kean University campus for master classes, offers exposure for student writers and actors through showcase performances, and provides students with professional experience and union credits as Premiere Stages actors, understudies, and interns in a variety of technical and arts administration fields. Previous artists that have participated include Academy Award winners Richard Dreyfuss, Olympia Dukakis, and Ellen Burstyn; Tony Award winners David Henry Hwang, John Lee Beatty, William Finn, and Norbert Leo Butz; Pulitzer Prize nominee Lee Blessing; Emmy Award winner Kim Zimmer; and the Broadway company of Rent.

Ms. Nottage, whose acclaimed play Ruined will be directed by Ernest Wiggins and will be performed by students of Kean's Department of Theatre November 14 - 22, will attend the November 16 performance and participate in an interactive discussion with the audience following the show, moderated by John J. Wooten, producing artistic director of Premiere Stages. Department of Theatre students and faculty involved in the production will also have the opportunity to interact with Ms. Nottage at a private reception after the "talk-back," sponsored by Premiere Stages.

"We are extremely pleased to have Lynn attend Ruined and join the roster of Premiere Artists," stated Mr. Wooten. "The students are very excited about the prospect of engaging Lynn about the play."

Lynn Nottage's Lily Award-winning play, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, which involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club and Goodman Theatre. It subsequently toured widely throughout U.S. regional theaters, premiering internationally at the Almeida Theatre in London, and has since been produced throughout the world, including Cambodia, Chad, the Caribbean, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Germany. Nottage earned the American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play forIntimate Apparel and the Obie Award for Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine. Her other plays include Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por'knockers and POOF!

Ms. Nottage is the recipient of the 2010 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, the inaugural Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play and the Helen Hayes Award for Ruined, the Lee Reynolds Award, and the Jewish World Watch iWitness Award. Her other honors include the 2007 MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant," the National Black Theatre Festival's August Wilson Playwriting Award, the 2005 Guggenheim Grant for Playwriting and the 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama. She has held fellowships at the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists and New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer. She is a co-founder and producer at the production company Market Road Films LLC.

Ms. Nottage is a board member for Theatre Communications Group, BRIC Arts Media Bklyn, Donor Direct Action, The New Black Fest, Voice and Vision, and the Dramatists Guild. She currently resides in New York City.

Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre, Kean University's Department of Theatre mirrors the university's mission to provide a core educational foundation based on the liberal arts. The department's curricula are designed to educate theatre students to enter the realm of professional theatre, theatre education or advanced graduate studies. The production of Ruined marks the second show in the Theatre Department's 2015 season.

"Having opened our 2014-2015 theatre season with Oscar Wilde's comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, we turn 180 degrees to provide our students and audiences with exposure to a Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary drama," stated Department of Theatre representative Holly Logue. "Sharing time with Ms. Nottage will be a particularly meaningful experience for all of us. The Department of Theatre is grateful to Premiere Stages for being our partner and supporting the work of Kean's students, the next generation of theatre artists." "The cast, crew and I welcome this wonderful opportunity to talk with Lynn Nottage about her work and our rendering of her play," added Director Ernest Wiggins.

Ruined runs November 14 - 22 in the Zella Fry Theatre, located in Vaughn Eames Hall. Ms. Nottage will be in attendanceSunday, November 16, and participate in a post-show discussion following the 2 p.m. matinee. Additional performances are scheduled for Friday, November 14 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, November 15 at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Wednesday, November 19 at 8 p.m.; Thursday, November 20 at 5:00 p.m.; Friday, November 21 at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, November 22 at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.

Standard tickets are $15, with $12 tickets available for Kean faculty, staff, and alumni, and $10 tickets available for students. To purchase tickets or request a Department of Theatre season brochure, please call the Kean Stage box office at 908-737-SHOW (7469), email ticket@kean.edu, or visit http://www.keanstage.com/.