QUIRKY COMEDY PREMIERES @ NJ REP NOW THROUGH MARCH 10

ANTS A new play by Saviana Stanescu Directed by Jeff Zinn WHEN: now through March 10; Thursdays and Fridays 8 PM; Saturdays 3 PM & 8 PM; Sundays 2 PM WHERE: New Jersey Repertory Company,179 Broadway, Long Branch Tickets can be purchased by calling 732.229.3166 or by visiting www.njrep.org.

The New Jersey Repertory Company is proud to present the World Premiere of "Ants" by Romanian playwright, Saviana Stanescu, directed by Jeff Zinn. Kara and Mia are sisters who emigrated from Eastern Europe and have been living in America for a number of years pursuing what seems an increasingly elusive American dream. (Left: Maria Silverman [Mia] and Michael Samuel Kaplan [Adam]). Kara works long hours in a factory so that she can make the mortgage payments, put food on the table, and enable her younger sister to obtain her PhD in biochemistry. Mia is not just any doctoral student, however. She is brilliant, and her field of work under the watchful gaze of her supervisor, Dr. Kohn, is the world of ants. Completely unworldly and awkward with her fellow humans, Mia is very much at home with her ants, and is on the brink of a groundbreaking discovery—the ability to radically alter nature and convert workers into queens. If she succeeds the discovery would revolutionize biology and would have far-reaching implications for other species, including man. Mia is already rehearsing her Nobel Prize acceptance speech in front of her mirror when as luck would have it, fate rudely intervenes—forcing Mia to come out of her shell and improvise a radical solution to save the lifestyle she has almost grown to love, her sister’s teetering sanity and her beloved ants. The production design team includes Jessica Parks (Scenic Design & Properties), Jill Nagle (Lighting Design), Merek Royce Press (Sound Design), Patricia E. Doherty (Costume Design), Michael Carroll (Technical Director) and Jennifer Tardibuono (Stage Manager).   New Jersey Rep has been producing new works for fifteen seasons and many of the plays introduced by the theater to the public are subsequently produced by other theaters throughout the U.S. For its contributions to the American stage New Jersey Rep was recently awarded the 2012 National Theatre Company Award by the American Theatre Wing, creators of the annual Tony awards. Support for New Jersey Rep is provided in part by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, the Stone Foundation of New Jersey, the Baumol Family Foundation, OceanFirst Foundation, The Investors Foundation, The National New Play Network, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Jewish Communal Fund, Dramatists Guild Fund, Actors Equity Foundation, ERBA Company, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the American Theatre Wing.