THE ACTOR'S NIGHTMARE and SISTER MARY IGNATIUS EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU Open Dec. 4 at interACT Theatre Productions

interACT Theater Productions will present Christopher Durang's darkly-hilarious Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, opening Dec. 4 at The Baird cultural center in South Orange.

The Obie-winning one-act play, which will be performed along with Durang's comedy The Actor's Nightmare, opened in 1979 and had a two-and-a-half year run on Broadway. Controversial at the time, it is known as one of the best plays by Durang, whose Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike won the 2013 Tony for Best Play.

Sister Mary Ignatius and The Actor's Nightmare, the story of an accountant mistaken for an actor's understudy who is pushed onto the stage even though he doesn't know any of the lines, have been performed together since 1981.

Sister Mary Ignatius (directed by Nick Clarey of West Orange) and The Actor's Nightmare (directed by Millburn resident Christine Gaden) will be performed back-to-back at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, 5, 11 and 12, and at 4 p.m. on Dec. 6 and Dec. 13. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at interactproductions.org or at the door.

Actors in the Sister Mary Ignatius cast include Kate Daly of West Orange in the title role, Jenny Hill of Leonardo in Monmouth County, Juanita Frederick of Newark, Matt Coakley of Gillette and Dorian McDonald of Orange. The cast of The Actor's Nightmare includes South Orange's Robert MacLachlan, Sally Jayne and Monah Yancy of Newark, Chelsea Varga of Mine Hill, and Maplewood's Stephen Sigmund.