NJ REP PREMIERES NEW COMIC/DRAMA

A National New Play Network World Premiere

New Jersey Rep presents JERICHO By Jack Canfora WHEN: October 13 – November 13, Thursdays, Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 3 PM and 8 PM; and Sundays at 2 PM. WHERE: New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway, Long Branch; Free on-site parking and easy access from NJ Transit (North Jersey Coast Line) and Academy Buses TICKETS: $40, Discounts are available for seniors, students, and groups of 10 or more. Additional performances can be scheduled on Thursday and Friday matinees or Sunday nights for groups of 40 or more. For information and tickets, call 732.229.3166 or visit www.njrep.org JERICHO is a major new comic-drama by Jack Canfora that will have its world premiere at the New Jersey Repertory Company as part of a National New Play Network rolling world premiere. Following its opening at New Jersey Rep “Jericho” will have productions in Sarasota at the Florida Studio Theatre and the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis. There are pivotal moments in all our lives, even the most humble ones, when things threaten to careen and spin out of control. Sometimes the event takes the form of what we call a tragedy and cuts to the bone, thrumming every fiber of our being and the rudely struck discordant chords may reverberate within us for the rest of our upended days. “Jericho” deals with such a moment, one that intrudes unexpectedly into the lives of the play’s characters, four years before the start of the play. Despite the intervening years, the resultant wounds are still as fresh as on that fateful day. Beth lost her husband who now haunts her as a ghost as she tries unsuccessfully to rebuild her life. Despite years of therapy she is unable to move on, stuck like an insect in a hermetically sealed display case suffocating for lack of air. When she meets Ethan, he seems to be the ideal one to gently shepherd her back to the fold and rejoin the human race, but it seems that his very kindness intensifies her fears of reconnecting and being vulnerable once again to another person. In JERICHO although the cataclysmic past asserts its ponderous and pervasive presence, salvation is never far away, and the comic sense of life is never lost, as playwright Jack Canfora pulls out all the stops in this powerful and raucous comic-drama. Canfora is not new to New Jersey Rep and has had previous productions at the theater including “Place Setting” (2006) and “Poetic License,” (2007) and it was recently announced that the latter will be opening in New York City in February, 2012 at 59E59 Theatres. JERICHO is directed by Evan Bergman and stars Corey Tazmania, Matt Huffman, Andrew Rein, Jim Shankman, Carol Todd and Kathleen Goldpaugh.