World Premiere of WILD HORSES By Allison Gregory Rolls At New Jersey Repertory Company

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of nonprofit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, celebrates the final production of the Rolling World Premiere (RWP) of Wild Horses by Allison Gregory at New Jersey Repertory Company. The play has received a total of four distinct NNPN RWP productions, rolling through Member Theaters Contemporary American Theatre Festival (July 7-30, 2017; Shepherdstown, WV), CenterStage Theatre at the JCC (September 3-23, 2017; Rochester, NY), The VORTEX (November 16-December 9, 2017; Austin, TX), and New Jersey Repertory Company (February 22-March 25, 2018; Long Branch). Wild Horses is NNPN's 72nd Rolling World Premiere.

NNPN provides production support to the playwright and the partnering theaters, including assistance with the creation and the contracting of the premiere agreement, collaborative interactions between the theaters, and funds for the playwright's residency in each city to further develop the play.

Kate Udall in the NNPN Rolling World Premiere of Wild Horses by Allison Gregory at Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV (photo: Seth Freeman)

Jennifer Coy Jennimgs in the NNPN Rolling World Premiere of Wild Horses by Allison Gregory at The VORTEX in Austin, TX (photo: Errich Petersen) ABOUT WILD HORSES
A savagely-funny play about a summer that changed an adolescent girl forever, told by her grown-up self. As her friends challenge and cajole her and her family falls apart around her, she questions the core of her own humanity. The pathos and hubris of teenage years, the struggle for identity, independence, and authenticity, and the desire to find one's place in a complicated world - it all come rushing at us as she takes us on the ride of her life.

Davida Bloom, in the NNPN Rolling World Premiere of Wild Horses by Allison Gregory at CenterStage Theatre at the JCC in Rochester, NY (photo: Ralph Meranto)

Allison Gregory is a playwright and theatre collaborator. Her plays have been produced all over the country, and she has received commissions, grants, and development from Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, The Kennedy Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Skirball-Kenis Foundation, ACT Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare, The New Harmony Project, The Empty Space, Hedgebrook, Seattle's Arts and Cultural Affairs, LATC, Northwest Playwright's Alliance, Amphibian Stage Productions, National New Play Network (NNPN), Theatre Lab@FAU, and Austin Scriptworks. Her work has been the recipient of the Julie Harris Playwriting Award & South Coast Repertory's Playwright's Award, Garland & Dramalogue Awards, Seattle Times Best New Play Awards, Carbonell nominations, as well as finalists for the O'Neill, Bay Area Playwright's Festival, Great Plains, and American Blues Blue Ink Award. Her play Not Medea received National New Play Network (NNPN) Rolling World Premieres at B Street Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, and Perseverance Theatre in 2016. Motherland was selected for the 2016 NNPN Showcase Conference in Austin. Her plays are published by Playscripts, Smith & Krauss, Dramatic Publishing, and Rain City Press. Allison will be a Core Writer with The Playwright's Center beginning July 2017. She grew up in California, and now splits her time between Austin and Seattle. allisongregoryplays.com

The Contemporary American Theater Festival, founded by Producing Director Ed Herendeen in 1991, is dedicated to producing and developing new American theater. It is hosted on the campus of Shepherd University, a state liberal arts institution located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. CATF intersperses established voices with emerging ones and is committed to telling diverse stories. To date, it has produced 115 new plays, including 43 world premieres, and 10 commissions. CATF is a well-respected playwrights' forum, with a bent toward championing challenging, culturally relevant work. catf.org

CenterStage at the JCC began in 1977 as the volunteer theatre company at the Rochester Jewish Community Center. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Ralph Meranto since 2005, CenterStage is now a professional theatre utilizing the finest local actors, directors, and designers to present a 5-show subscription series of plays and musicals. jccrochester.org

We conjure and navigate the storm of imagination with urgent, unashamed art that dares to dream the world in which we want to live. This magic emanates from our cultural harbor, embraces diverse communities, breaks down barriers, and opens channels for vital exchange. The VORTEX creates and presents new, innovative performances-world premiere plays, operas, musicals, ritual theatre, and devised collaborations. The VORTEX transgresses conventional theatrical forms with multidisciplinary performances from diverse traditions. Music, film, dance, opera, aerial arts, puppetry, and performance art contribute to our vibrant theatre. We are an artist-owned and operated theater and have produced over 350 productions. We are proud to have always engaged in non-traditional casting. The VORTEX has presented work by dozens of famous cutting-edge artists and is internationally renowned as a haven for alternative performance. Our work has received more than 100 major awards and hundreds of nominations for artistic excellence in production, design, acting, performance, directing, playwriting, choreography, and musical composition. vortexrep.org

The New Jersey Repertory Company is a professional, non-profit theater founded in 1997 by Suzanne Barabas (Artistic Director) and Gabor Barabas (Executive Producer). Located in Long Branch, New Jersey, the theater's primary mission is to develop and produce new plays and to make a lasting contribution to the American stage. In addition, it also seeks to achieve the following: to be a catalyst in the redevelopment and revitalization of its surrounding community; to build and encourage young audiences and inspire interest in theater arts among young people; and to nurture the work of writers from diverse backgrounds and build diverse audiences. njrep.org

National New Play Network (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, production, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 250 productions nationwide through its innovative National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions - have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape. NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolutionize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange, is changing the way playwrights share their work and others discover it by providing immediate access to information on more than 17,500 new plays by living writers. NNPN's 30 Core and 80 Associate Members - along with the more than 250 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater.

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