Happy Spring from your friends at Premiere Stages!
We are delighted to invite you to our 11th Annual Spring Reading Series, featuring free public readings of the four finalists for the 2015 Premiere Stages Play Festival as read by professional actors!
WHEN: March 19 - 22
WHERE: Zella Fry Theatre, located in Vaughn Eames Hall at Kean University (1000 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ).
ADMISSION: free, but seating is limited; please call 908.737.4092 or email premiere@kean.edu to reserve.
For more information, please visit www.kean.edu/premierestages.
This year's finalists are:
GREAT KILLS
by Kate Cortesi
WHEN: Thursday, March 19, at 7 PM
A high school achiever’s college application reveals a secret from her past, sending her Staten Island family into a tailspin. But is this ambitious young woman traumatized by violence, as her essay claims, or by a culture of achievement that has trained her to market herself at any cost?
REDEEMED
by Keli Goff
WHEN: Friday, March 20, at 7 PM
In the years before the same-sex marriage revolution begins sweeping the nation, Avery Jackson surprises her family and friends by quitting her job at a New York law firm to try to help elect the first openly gay candidate to Congress. In addition to the bruising political campaign, Avery finds herself at odds with her father, who is one of the South's most prominent anti-gay pastors.
THE PEOPLE BEFORE THE PARK
by Keith Josef Adkins
WHEN: Saturday, March 21, at 7 PM
1857. New York City. A hard-working man and his son live in a respectful African-American community called Seneca Village. However, their solitude and safe haven are threatened when the City decides to remove the community from their homes to create the world-renowned Central Park.
HALFTIME WITH DON
by Ken Weitzman
WHEN: Sunday, March 22, at 3 PM
Retired NFL player Don Devers has had over thirty surgeries, experiences violent outbursts, and relies on a blizzard of yellow Post-It notes to offset his ravaged memory. When a longtime fan appears at his doorstep, Don seeks to salvage his life with a single act of heroic self-sacrifice.
Premiere’s 11th Annual Spring Reading Series is part of The New Jersey Theatre Alliance’s Stages Festival, a statewide program offering free and discounted tickets to performances, workshops, classes and events at the state’s professional theatres, partner performing arts centers, as well as libraries, schools, senior centers and museums. The Stages Festival is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional program sponsors are Bank of America, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, PSE&G Foundation, and The Smart Family Foundation. Additional program support has been provided by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Prudential Foundation, F.M. Kirby Foundation, Springpoint Senior Living Foundation, and The George A. Ohl, Jr. Trust Foundation. For more information on the Stages Festival, please visit www.njtheatrealliance.org or www.stagesfestival.org.
