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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

THE THEATER PROJECT ANNOUNCES DURANG COMEDY

Miss WitherspoonMISS WITHERSPOON
By Christopher Durang
Directed by Mark Spina

WHEN: April 12-29; Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 pm with matinee performances at 2 PM Saturday April 21 and 28 and Sunday April 15, 22 and 29.
WHERE:
Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood
TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased at BrownPaperTickets.com or calling 800.838.3006.

The production marks the The Theater Project’s first as a resident company at the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts in Maplewood.

Miss Witherspoon is the most recent of Christopher Durang’s patented black comedies to be produced by The Theater Project. Durang, a New Jersey native, has a comic sensibility that resonates strongly with the company and its audiences. The Theater Project has produced many of Durang’s plays including Beyond Therapy, The Actor’s Nightmare , Baby with the Bath Water  and Why Torture is Wrong…And the People Who Love Them.

PictureMiss Witherspoon is a comedy about life, death, and, like it or not, reincarnation. And, Miss Witherspoon does NOT like the reincarnation bit. Eager to depart this world, she finds there are souls on the other side who have other ideas for her.

The cast includes Theater Project favorites Bev Sheehan (in the title role), Jenelle Sosa, Daaimah Talley, Kevin Sebastian and Meredith Handerhan.

“This is Durang at the top of his metaphysical, apocalyptic, high- and pop-culture game...” —Linda Winer, Newsday

“An endearingly meditative farce… it’s a pleasure to note that [Durang] hasn’t lost his screwball.” —Richard Corliss, Time.

The play was nominated in 2006 for the Pulitzer Prize in drama and was named one of the Ten Best Plays of 2005 by Time Magazine and Newsday.

TTP WE Logo LargeABOUT THE THEATER PROJECT
The Theater Project founded in 1994 (previously performing at Union County College) is joining forces with the What Exit? Theater Company, one of the state’s leading comedy platforms.  Under the banner The Theater Project, the new organization will produce main stage productions along with a host of other programming out of the Burgdorff Cultural Center in Maplewood.  The Theater Project’s Mark Spina will remain Artistic Director, and What Exit? Founder and Artistic Director Bev Sheehan will take on the roles of Casting Director and Special Events Coordinator. The Theater Project has recently received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the New Jersey State Council for the Arts. More information is available at
TheTheaterProject.org.