AUDIENCE FAVORITES RETURN TO ACT IN PREMIERE STAGES SPRING READINGS THIS WEEKEND

Premiere Stages Interactive Spring Readings--Casting Announced! The readings will feature the return of audience favorites Lynda Gravatt (Follow Me to Nellie's) and Liz Wisan (Hannah) to Premiere Stages—details below! 2013 Play Festival Spring Readings Featuring the Region’s Most Promising New Plays All readings are FREE--talkbacks with playwrights follow! WHEN:MARCH 14-17 WHERE: Kean University Center Little Theatre, 1000 Morris Ave., Union Call 908.737.4092 to RSVP PART OF THE NEW JERSEY THEATRE ALLIANCE STAGES FESTIVAL!   Thursday, March 14th at 7:30 PM Brownsville Song by Kimber Lee Featuring: Lynda Gravatt*(Above), J. Mallory-McCree*, Jo Mei*, Sierra Hunter, and Daniel Boisrond In the aftermath of a shooting, a Brooklyn family struggles to find peace. Time moves in scattered rhythms, pivoting unpredictably between before and after, as they each stumble through grief, find each other, and fight their way toward hope. Friday, March 15th at 7:30 PM Soldier’s Heart by Tammy Ryan Featuring: Liz Wisan*, Holly Rhoades*, Jon Oats Wenc, Herbert Newsome*, Karen Sours*, Ross Johnson, and more! An American soldier leaves her son behind to defend the country she loves. When her commanding officer becomes her assailant, she returns home to face her greatest test, bringing back more than she bargained for. Saturday, March 16th at 7:30 PM Ontario Was Here by Darren Canady Featuring: Korey Jackson* and Myxolydia Tyler* Nathan and Penni are two bright Kansas City social workers who give their all for the children they serve, determined to make a difference. When a case blurs the lines between romance, work, and friendship, their dreams of changing the world are put to the test. Sunday, March 17th at 3 PM The Beautiful Dark by Erik Gernand Featuring: Colleen Clinton*, Dustin Fontaine, Jim Gushue*, Marguerite French*, Steven Hauck*, and more! 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 can she stop him before it’s too late? The Beautiful Dark provides a moving and thought-provoking approach to a subject that haunts the American psyche.

Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The New Jersey Historical Commission, The Provident Bank Foundation, Hudson City Savings Bank Foundation, The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and through the generous support of individual patrons. Premiere’s 9th Annual Spring Readings Series is part of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance’s Stages Festival, an annual statewide event that provides discounted and free theatre performances, workshops and events for families throughout the month of March. The Stages Festival is a co-sponsored project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional program sponsors are Bank of America and The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. Events in Burlington and Ocean County are made possible by the generous support of The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. Additional program support has been provided by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Hidden Ponds Foundation, The HMS Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, The F. M. Kirby Foundation, Prudential Foundation and Springpoint Senior Living Foundation and The Victoria Foundation. For more information on the Stages Festival, please visit www.njtheatrealliance.org or www.stagesfestival.org. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit www.JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State. For more information on Premiere Stages, please visit our website: www.kean.edu/premierestages