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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

This Weekend: TWO ELIZAS at Luna Stage (In Person!)

 

 


 

 

 

Join us for a FREE reading and post-play conversation with playwright/actor Jenny Mercein

Friday, April 1, @ 8 pm
Saturday, April 2, @ 8 pm
Sunday, April 3, @ 2 pm

 

 

Admission is free but reservations are strongly encouraged as seating is limited. Our theatre is equipped with MERV-11 filters throughout our HVAC system, as well as MERV-18 air purifier units and sanitizing stations. Proof of vaccination and masks are required.

 


 

About Two Elizas

A new solo show by Jenny Mercein, Two Elizas explores women's rights, motherhood, and loss. The piece juxtaposes the true story of Mercein's ancestor Eliza Mercein Barry's 1847 U.S. Supreme Court case Barry v Mercein regarding the custody of her daughter with Mercein's own complicated journey to motherhood. Two Elizas candidly explores the taboo topics of mental illness and miscarriage, aiming to spark conversation around women's rights, intergenerational trauma, and loss. Though separated by over 150 years, both women experience the pressure on women to marry, the pain of losing a child, and the resilience required of and inspired by motherhood.

 

 

 


 

 

About the Artist

JENNY MERCEIN is an actor, teacher, director, and writer currently living in New Orleans, where she is an Assistant Professor at Tulane University. She is proud a producer of Roleplay, a play and documentary film project exploring student perspectives on love, sex, power, and consent. The Roleplay script is now available from Dramatic Publishing. The documentary film of the same title is currently in post-production and was part of the 2021 Gotham Documentary Feature Lab (formerly IFP). Her short play Auld Lang Syne was published in the 2020 anthology Alone, Together. Along with KJ Sanchez, Jenny is the co-creator of the acclaimed docudrama X's and O's, about football and traumatic brain injury (Berkeley Rep, Baltimore Center Stage). Directing credits include Grýla- Not For Children (RVK Fringe Festival, Iceland, KC Fringe, Kansas City), Gratitude Assignment (Tulane), The Metromaniacs (Tulane), Dancing at Lughnasa (Tulane-Big Easy Nomination for Best University Production), Too Much Water (UCSB), and Heathers the Musical (Out of the Box Theatre, Santa Barbara). Acting credits include “Your Honor,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” "30 Rock," "Blue Bloods," "Unforgettable," "Law & Order" and extensive theater credits spanning the country, including three previous solo shows. A proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA, Jenny received her B.A. in Theater Studies and the History of Art from Yale and her M.F.A. in Acting from The University of Washington.

 

Two Elizas is part of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance 2022 Stages Festival, made possible by support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; Bank of America; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; OceanFirst Foundation; New Jersey Historical Commission.