UNSTRINGED QUARTET
By Ed Shakespeare
WHEN: Saturday, May 14, 3 PM — ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY
WHERE: The Theater Project (Union County College’s Professional Theater Company), 1033 Springfield Avenue, Cranford
TICKETS: free admission
Reservations: 908.659.5189
TheTheaterProject.org
The Theater Project, Union County College's Professional Theater Company, will perform a script-in-hand staged reading of four one-act plays written by local NJ playwright Ed Shakespeare. The production will be followed by a lively discussion with the playwrights, directors, actors and audience.
The collection of four one-acts, entitled Unstringed Quartet includes:
Tomorrow Is Valentine’s Day and I Hate Your Guts: A long-time married couple, who are actors, rehearse the arguments in a play of a long-time married couple. Acting spills over into real life, and they are “assisted” by a clueless director.
In a New Jersey Minute: A married couple, led by a father who is a time management specialist, push their teenage son to be a multi-tasking academic superstar.
Meet Under the Elephant: Two old friends are now retired, and there is a rift in the friendship. One friend wants to be retired; the other wants to start a revolution.
The Hawk Will Never Die: Two college students vie to be the Hawk, the college mascot that, according to provisions in the will of an alumnus, gets a full scholarship if he continuously “flaps” his wings for every second of every basketball game.
Playwright Ed Shakespeare (above) is a resident of Lavallette and a former recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship grant for his play Firehouse. He is a member of the The Theater Project’s Playwrights’ Group, as well as Playwrights by the Jersey Shore and the South Street Players. He is also a New Jersey State Council on the Arts teaching artist.
For more information, contact The Theater Project at 908.659.5189 or by email at THEATERPROJECT@aol.com.
The Theater Project’s critically-acclaimed mainstage production of Carlyle Brown’s The African Company Presents Richard III continues through May 15. Tickets and information available at TheTheaterProject.org . (See my review on this blog)
134 years before Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, 108 years before Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, and 6 years before enslavement of blacks fully ended in New York state, a theater company of free black actors was passionately performing Shakespearean adaptations and original works in front of packed houses in 1821 Manhattan. The African Company, as they were known, then dared to open their production of Richard III on the same night and right next door to another Richard III production by New York City's leading theater of the time starring English tragedian Junius Brutus Booth. The African Company's refusal to close down and capitulate to the pressure of their white competitors is depicted in this provocative and empowering drama.
Wheelchair accessibility: All Theater Project activity takes place on the ground level of Union County College’s two-story Cranford complex. An 8-foot wide sidewalk with a curb cut leads to the entrance of the College nearest the theater, and when desirable, patrons with special needs can be driven to these doors and disembark at that point. The Theater Project’s 75 seat venue is able to accommodate as many as 12 wheelchairs. The flexible seating allows for companion and seeing-eye dog accommodation.
ABOUT UNION COUNTY COLLEGE
The Theater Project is Union County College’s Professional Theater Company. As the oldest community college in New Jersey, UCC has been serving both career-minded and transfer-oriented students since 1933. The College has maintained its commitment to scholarship by providing a solid liberal arts foundation while, at the same time, developing new programs and courses that meet the challenges of a rapidly developing society. To learn more, visit www.ucc.edu.
