John Wooten News

Premiere Stages at Kean University, celebrating its ten-year anniversary, will present the New Jersey Premiere of Tammy Ryan's Soldier's Heart from July 10th through July 27th in the Zella Fry Theatre. Featuring Emmy award-winning actress and Premiere Stages fan favorite Kim Zimmer, this affecting new work tells the story of Casey, an American soldier who leaves her son behind to defend the country she loves. When the person she trusts most becomes her assailant, Casey returns home to face her greatest test, bringing back more than she bargained for. Soldier's Heart is the third play by Ms. Ryan that Premiere Stages has produced. Ryan's Dark Part of the Forest (2006) and the Primus Prize-winning Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods (2010) both premiered at Premiere Stages and were subsequently published.

Horse Trade Theater Group and StrangeDog Theatre will present the New York Premiere of ENCHANTED ARMS written by Ben Clawson, Stacie Lents, Joseph Palestina, and John Wooten, today, May 15-31 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A).

Premiere Stages will celebrate its 10th Anniversary as the professional theatre in residence at Kean University with a blockbuster 2014 Season, featuring an expanded lineup of award-winning premieres, engaging musical presentations for young audiences, captivating summer camps for middle-school and high-school students, and collaborations with like-minded organizations, both on and off campus. Over the past decade, with its unique commitment to presenting ground-breaking and socially relevant work, Premiere Stages has grown to become one of the nation's most respected centers for new play development.

Horse Trade Theater Group and StrangeDog Theatre will present the New York Premiere of ENCHANTED ARMS written by Ben Clawson, Stacie Lents, Joseph Palestina, and John Wooten, May 15-31 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A). This evening of new plays is conceived by Ben Clawson (The High Water Mark, Luna Stage) and directed by Artem Yatsuov (Basic Help, Sell Out Award Winner, FRIGID NYC 2014) with choreography by Annalisa Ledson (NACHMO 4 NYC). Featuring: Tony K Knotts (Master Harold…and the Boys!, Luna Stage), Michelle Lupo, Tracy Shar, Annalisa Ledson, Gary Martins, Shannon Sullivan, Seth Michael, Lee Ann Hoover, and David Hoffman. The creative team will include Lighting and Sound Design by Harrison J. Adams, Original Art Work by Sara Sciarrabbarasi, and Press Photography by Anthony Gusevich. The production will be Stage Managed by Rachael Tucker.

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, has announced its first playwriting residency for senior citizens, funded by the Westfield Foundation. This is the third Premiere Stages pilot program the Westfield Foundation has funded, having provided previous support for the launch of the now successful Camp Premiere for high school students, as well as for the launch of Liberty Live, which is entering its third year.

Premiere Stages at Kean University will hold its 10th Annual Spring Readings Series Thursday, March 14 through Saturday, March 15 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, March 16 at 3:00 pm in the Murphy Dunn Theatre, located in Vaughn Eames Hall on Kean's central campus (1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.).

FRIGID New York presents a STRANGEDOG THEATRE production BASIC HELP written by Ben Clawson on Fri 21-Feb@8:40, Thur 27-Feb@5:30/Sat 1-Mar @6:50/Wed 5-Mar@10:15 - Night Owl Special!; and Sun 9-Mar @12:30 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place). The production is directed by Artem Yatsunov (Bootstraps, The Virilogy, Claire Went To France) with Assistant Director Michael Joel and will feature Megan Greener (The Pearl, Secret Theatre) and Gavin Earl Johnson. Press Photography by Rebecca Bickley, Original Art Work by Michelle Lupo, Graphic Design by Lindsey Yadon. Assistant Director Michael Joel. The production is Stage Managed by Rachael Tucker.

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, has announced it will kick off its landmark 10th Anniversary Season with the launch of two new play development initiatives, the Premiere Play Festival Alumni Reading Series, and the Bauer-Boucher Kean Student/Alumni Reading.

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, is now accepting submissions for the 10th Annual Premiere Stages Play Festival. This yearly competition for unproduced scripts offers developmental and production opportunities to four playwrights born or currently residing in the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut).

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present free interactive Staged Readings of the 2013-2014 Liberty Live Commission, At Liberty Hall by James Christy, November 8th through 10th in the University Center Little Theatre at Kean University. The story of an unlikely pair of American immigrants, At Liberty Hall follows two high school students who've just moved to New Jersey: Christian Rosario, a funny but unfocused teenager from Queens by way of the Dominican Republic; and Alexander Hamilton, 16, the subject of Christian's 10th grade history project. This time-bending story finds common threads of humor, honor and awkwardness as told through the experiences of a someday-Founding Father and a kid looking for a way out of the projects.

Premiere Stages will present the winner of its 2013 Play Festival, The Beautiful Dark by Erik Gernand, September 5th through 22nd in the Zella Fry Theatre at Kean University. Selected from 400 submissions, this affecting new play tackles a subject ripped straight from the headlines. A woman's life is turned upside down when she suspects that her teenage son may be planning an attack on a school. Is her son capable of the unthinkable? And if she's wrong, will she ruin any chance he has at a normal life? A powerful and thought-provoking new play, The Beautiful Dark is a topical, non-political examination of a topic that haunts the American psyche.

Premiere Stages has announced its 2013 season, featuring an expanded lineup of award-winning premieres by emerging and established playwrights, theatre performances for young audiences, captivating summer camps for middle-school and high-school students, and collaborations with like-minded organizations, both on and off campus.

Premiere Stages, the professional theatre in residence at Kean University, is committed to supporting emerging playwrights through the development and production of new plays. Under the umbrella of the Premiere Stages Play Festival, Premiere produces a biannual commissioning program for New Jersey playwrights entitled Liberty Live. Liberty Live is a unique new partnership with the Liberty Hall Museum that features a production of a new play that celebrates New Jersey history, tours of the Museum, interactive displays, workshops for children and talk-backs with local historians. The focus of the 2013/2014 Liberty Live project will be The 350th Anniversary of New Jersey and will be part of the statewide NJ 350 Initiative.

Premiere Stages at Kean University will hold its 9th Annual Spring Readings Series Thursday, March 14 through Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 17th at 3:00 pm in the University Center Little Theatre, located on Kean's Central Campus, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J. This year's readings will feature the 2013 Premiere Stages Play Festival finalists Brownsville Song by Kimber Lee (Lark Playwrights' Workshop, Ma-Yi Writers Lab), Soldier's Heart by Tammy Ryan (Primus Prize Winner for Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods), Ontario Was Here by Darren Canady (Jeff Award-nominated Brothers of the Dust), and The Beautiful Dark by Erik Gernand (New Works Project Winner at T. Schreiber Studio). One new play will be read by professional actors each evening, and the public is encouraged to actively participate in the new play development process through post-reading dialogues with the writers. Patrons are also afforded the opportunity to provide written evaluations.

BroadwayWorld brings you the Best of New Jersey in the year 2012. Check out the Top Theatre Stories from each month during in the year 2012. We look forward to another exciting year of theatre in 2013!

With old movie posters splashed on the walls, a giant tree and a grill hanging from the ceiling, the Garret Theater stage was set for "Knowing and Un-Knowing," the revival of SBU Theater's biennial one-act festival, which ran Nov 30-Dec. 2.

Premiere Stages has announced new dates for the production of Talking to Westfield, part of Liberty Live, a new producing partnership with the Liberty Hall Museum, located on the campus of Kean University. Liberty Live dramatizes and celebrates the history that helped make New Jersey what it is today. Rescheduled performances will now be held December 7th-9th in the Little Theatre, located in the University Center on Kean University's main campus.

Premiere Stages, the Professional Theatre Company in residence at Kean University, seeks submissions to the 9th Annual Premiere Stages Play Festival. This yearly competition for unproduced scripts offers developmental opportunities to four playwrights born or currently residing in the greater metropolitan area (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut).