John J. Wooten News

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, is now accepting submissions for the 15th annual Premiere Play Festival.  This yearly competition for unproduced scripts offers developmental and production opportunities to four playwrights with strong ties to the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware).

'Brick City,' a world premiere play, is now being performed at Premiere Stages on the Kean University campus now through September 23. Written by Nicole Pandolfo and Directed by Jessi D. Hill, it is a thought-provoking and important show. With excellent staging and a top-notch cast, the production captivates.

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present Nicole Pandolfo's Brick City September 6-23 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.). Originally commissioned over a two-year cycle through the NJPAC Stage Exchange and now receiving its first professional production, Brick City will feature actors Rafael Benoit, Jacqueline Correa, Madison Ferris and Chris Grant. Jessi D. Hill, who helmed this season's workshop of Deneen Reynold-Knott's Baton, directs.

Premiere Stages at Kean University is now presenting playwright, Craig Garcia's gripping family drama, 'Linger' through Sunday, July 29. The play was recently selected from over 570 submissions as the winner of the 2018 Premiere Play Festival. The production features superb direction by the theatre's Producing Artistic Director, John J. Wooten and an excellent cast.

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present Craig Garcia's 'Linger' from July 12-29 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center, Vaughn Eames Hall. The play was recently selected from over 570 submissions as the winner of the 2018 Premiere Play Festival,

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present Craig Garcia's Linger July 12-29 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.). Recently selected from over 570 submissions as the winner of the 2018 Premiere Play Festival, Linger will feature actors Will Ehren, Michael Frederic, Robby Haltiwanger, Jonathan C. Kaplan, Sarah Kathryn Makl and Danielle Skraastad. John J. Wooten, producing artistic director of Premiere Stages, will direct.

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre in residence at Kean University, is now accepting submissions for the 2019/2020 Liberty Live Commission, a biennial commissioning program for New Jersey playwrights in partnership with Kean's Liberty Hall Museum. Now in its fourth incarnation, Liberty Live culminates with a professional Equity production of a new play that celebrates New Jersey history. Past winners include Talking to Westfield by E.M. Lewis (2012), At Liberty Hall by James Christy (2013/2014), My Lord, What a Night by Deborah Brevoort (2015/2016) and Black Tom Island by Martin Casella (2017/2018), which will be fully produced this October.

Premiere Stages at Kean University has announced the winner of the 2018 Premiere Play Festival, its annual competition for unproduced scripts written by playwrights affiliated with the greater metropolitan area. The theatre has named Linger by Glen Ridge resident Craig Garcia this year's winner, and will present the play's first professional production this summer as part of the theatre's 14th season in residence at Kean University. The season, which runs June-October, will also feature full productions of Brick City by Ridgewood resident Nicole Pandolfo and Black Tom Island by Jersey City resident Martin Casella, as well as a developmental workshop of this year's runner-up for the Premiere Play Festival, Baton by Brooklyn resident Deneen Reynolds-Knott. 

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, has selected its four finalists for the 2018 Premiere Play Festival and will increase its cash awards for honored playwrights by one-third, the theatre announced today. Premiere Stages received a record 572 submissions for the festival, an annual competition for unproduced scripts that offers developmental opportunities to playwrights with strong affiliations to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The 572 submissions marked a 43% jump from 2017, and represented playwrights of all backgrounds and ages. For the first time in the festival's 14-year history, three of the four finalist scripts selected were requested from synopses submitted by playwrights.

Kean University announced today that Dr. W. John Bauer, Professor Emeritus, and his sister Nancy Boucher will make a major gift to the University on behalf of Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean. The gift will enable Premiere Stages and the Kean University Theatre Conservatory to refurbish the lobby and upgrade the entrance to their primary producing venues, the Zella Fry and Murphy Dunn Theatres housed in Vaughn Eames Hall. It will also provide support to Premiere's nationally recognized Play Festival and new play development programs. The University will commemorate the gift by officially designating the new entrance "The Bauer-Boucher Theatre Center."

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, will return to the Rahway School District in 2018 for two playwriting residencies, graciously funded by the Northfield Bank Foundation. Over the course of seven weeks, 6th grade students in two classrooms at the Cleveland Elementary School and the Roosevelt Elementary School will learn the basics of playwriting and work collaboratively to write original short plays for the stage. Both residencies will culminate in schoolwide assemblies of the student-written monologues and scenes, performed by professional actors.

The Kean University Theatre Conservatory in partnership with Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, will present two performances of the biannual Kean Actors Showcase on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at the Gene & Shelley Enlow Recital Hall in Hillside.

Elizabethtown College students put themselves in the spotlight for the College's 7th annual Shorts Fest. The event starts at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, in the Elizabethtown College Tempest Theatre.

Elizabethtown College students put themselves in the spotlight for the College's 7th annual Shorts Fest. The event starts at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, in the Elizabethtown College Tempest Theatre.

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to announce its second playwriting residency for senior citizens, graciously funded by the Wallerstein Foundation for Geriatric Life Improvement. Based in West Orange, the Wallerstein Foundation's primary mission is to support qualifying not-for-profit organizations that assist elderly individuals to remain healthy, active and engaged and generally improve their quality of life. The seven-week residency, which began in early October at Canterbury Village in West Orange, will culminate in a public presentation on November 28. John J. Wooten, producing artistic director of Premiere Stages, leads the residency.

Premiere Stages will present three free readings of the 2017/2018 Liberty Live Commission, Black Tom Island by Jersey City resident Martin Casella, November 17th through 19th in the Miron Student Center Little Theatre at Kean University.

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present three free readings of Nicole Pandolfo's Brick City, a recipient of the 2017 NJPAC Stage Exchange Commission, October 20th through 22nd in the Miron Student Center Little Theatre at Kean University. In this topical and compelling new play, worlds collide inside a failing Newark public school. Jessie, a combative high school senior with a disability, and Darnell, the star player of the basketball team, find themselves together in extended study hall during the most important marking period of their lives. As Darnell inches dangerously close to throwing away a lucrative college scholarship and Jessie a potential career as an artist, both discover that things aren't always as simple as they may seem. Producing artistic director John J. Wooten directs.

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, is now accepting submissions for the 14th annual Premiere Play Festival.

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present Foster Mom by Chris Cragin-Day, the winner of the 2017 Premiere Stages Play Festival, September 7-24 in Kean University's Zella Fry Theatre (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.).

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present Foster Mom by Chris Cragin-Day, the winner of the 2017 Premiere Stages Play Festival, September 7-24 in Kean University's Zella Fry Theatre (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.).