Centenary Stage Company brings a diversely eclectic and exciting array of productions to the Lackland Center. CSC is offering award winning plays, cutting edge dramas, family favorites and new developmental works sure to satisfy even the most discerning of audiences. From young to old, experienced theater goer to never having stepped foot in a theater before, there’s something for everyone at CSC this season.
Main Stage Productions:
THE NETHER
By Jennifer Haley
WHEN: October 9–25
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre, Lackland Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
“…unrelentingly suspenseful yet revealing great moral complexity and a subtle subtext of gender fluidity.” —The Hollywood Reporter
“The Nether is a tremendous production, a cold, hard look at human behavior.” —The Huffington Post
According to The New York Times, “Imagine an episode of “Law & Order: SVU,” written by a futurist fiction writer like Ray Bradbury or Iain Banks.” and you have Jennifer Haley’s gripping and critically acclaimed The Nether. Hailed as “mind-bending, ingenious and ethically challenging” Winner of the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and with such critical acclaim from The New York Times, Time Out London, The Huffington Post and Variety (to name a few), The Nether is both serpentine crime drama and haunting sci-fi thriller that explores the consequences of living out our private dreams.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE MUSICAL
WHEN: November 27 through December 13
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre, Lackland Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
Very few plays have become as synonymous with holiday tradition as Charles Dickens’ beloved classic, A Christmas Carol. This season Centenary Stage Company breathes exuberant life into the cherished tale and rings in the holidays with the return of their smash hit Family Holiday.
BECK SHAW
By Gina Gionfriddo
WHEN: February 19 through March 6
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre, Lackland Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
The Pulitzer Prize and the New York Obie Award are two accomplishments that many playwrights can only ever hope to aspire to. As a finalist of the former and a recipient of the later, playwright Gina Gionfriddo has not only reached those pinnacles but made several stops along the achievement ladder, including the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
START DOWN
By Eleanor Burgess
WHEN: April 8 – April 24
WHERE: Edith Kutz Theater of the David and Carol Lackland Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
Technology has so infiltrated our everyday lives, that entire generations find life unfathomable without a “smart” device. So it’s no surprise contemporary playwrights are examining the moral and ethical complications inherent in the rapidly evolving technological landscape. Such is the case with Eleanor Burgess’ cutting–edge Susan Glasspell Award winning Start Down. This provocative look at the rapidly changing face of education, and the impact the introduction of technology potentially has on traditional educational methods garnered an overwhelming response by audiences of CSC’s popular Women Playwright’s Series.
Centenary Stage Company Fringe Festival
Edgy, innovative, unconventional and risky; are just a few terms used to describe a movement of theatre that has gained national and international momentum with festivals popping up all over the country and world, most notably the New York International Fringe Festival. This movement, called Fringe theatre (or Fringe Festivals) provides a forum for experimental theatre artists and celebrates “risky” theater that pushes boundaries in both style and content. Fringe incorporates theatre, dance, music, puppetry, spoken word, film and visual arts. This 2015 – 16 season Centenary Stage Company brings this medley of performing arts to the Skyland’s Region with the first ever Black Box Fringe Festival in the Edith Kutz Theater of the David and Carol Lackland Center.
Chip and Gus: A Ping Pong Play
BY John Ahlin and Christopher Patrick Mullin
WHEN: October 29 through November 1
Innovation is certainly not lacking in Centenary Stage Company Fringe Festival’s first installment. Written and performed by New York City veteran actors, Chip and Gus: A Ping Pong Play is performed over a 90 minute ping pong game and tells the story of two colleagues whom meet for their monthly ping pong game, in the back of a nondescript bar in a nondescript college town. But this meeting is different. Tonight, to the real-time patter of paddles, buried secrets get uncovered, and the two realize that their lives are more entwined than they ever imagined.
Call Mr. Robeson: A Life with Song
Written and performed by Tayo Aluko
WHEN: November 12 – 15
Athlete, actor, singer and activist, Paul Robeson, from Princeton New Jersey was a major force of stage and screen. As an actor, Paul Robeson, was hailed for his performances in Emperor Jones, Showboat, and as the first African American, Othello, to ever tread the boards of American theaters. This roller-coaster journey through Robeson’s remarkable life, highlights how his pioneering and heroic political activism led many to describe him as the forerunner of the Civil Rights Movement. In the tradition of Fringe Theater this inclusive performance piece features fiery oratory combined with renditions of Mr. Robeson’s famous songs, including his staple Ol’ Man River.
Tammy Faye’s Final Audition
By Merri Biechler
WHEN: November 19 – 22
The fringe scene is no stranger to original works and such is the case in CSC’s final installment of their Fringe Festival. Tammy Faye Bakker was the sweetheart of Christian TV in the 70’s and 80’s, until it all came crashing down. As she nears the end of her life, she attempts a comeback. Tammy Faye’s Final Audition is a dreamy exercise wherein she auditions to create one final TV talk show called “Tammy Faye Wins at Life.” Throughout, she interacts with all of the important men in her life. Whether the audition exists as a figment of her imagination or as reality is a determination left to the audience. Tammy Faye’s Final Audition is a production from The Brick Monkey Theater Ensemble, Southeast Ohio's professional theater company.
Centenary Stage Company’s Women Playwrights Series
WHEN: April 13, 20 and 27 at 7:30 PM
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre, Lackland Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
Now in its 24th season, the WPS is a developmental program dedicated to providing a working forum for the unique and underserved voice of women writing for the theatre today. Each season new plays are selected for a collaborative workshop process, with a professional director and actors. At the end of the rehearsal, a staged reading of the play is presented at CSC (50 miles w. of NYC) for our regional audiences, giving CSC audiences larger exposure to new work, as well as, offering the playwright an opportunity to get feedback from the audience during the development process. Women playwrights from around the country will converge in Hackettstown for the three week event. Plays presented in the developmental WPS program are finalists in the Susan Glaspell Award competition, and are under consideration for full production in a subsequent season at the Centenary Stage Company.
