Passage Theatre Opens New Season With World Premiere of THE SUMMER HOUSE 10/30

Passage Theatre, Trenton's premiere professional theater company, will open its new season with the world premiere of The Summer House, written by Amber Kain, October 30 through November 23 (press opening: Saturday, November 1). The production, directed by Jade King Carroll, will be performed in Trenton's historic Mill Hill Playhouse (Front and Montgomery Streets).

The Summer House is a comic thriller that serves an excess of love on the rocks - with a new twist.  Kennedy Sommer, of the wealthy, cultured and inscrutable Manhattan Sommer family, pursues a rushed marriage to a charming stranger she met online.  Oddly, she invites her parents to join her and her new husband on their honeymoon at the family summer house in the Catskill Mountains, and when Kennedy's husband goes missing, the climate turns explosive. 

Playwright Amber Kain was born into a family of poets and theater veterans. Her father, poet Gylan Kain, is a founding member of the seminal performance troupe The Last Poets; her mother is acclaimed film and theater costume designer Karen Perry. An actress since childhood, Amber began writing screenplays after studying film at NYU's TischSchool of the Arts and has worked with such artists as Sam Waterston, Karl Malden, Sam Rockwell and Gregory Hines. Her acting credits include the film Mercy by Richard Shepard (The Matador) as well as NBC's Law & Order, Playwrights Horizons' The Heliotrope Bouquet and UNREQUITED: An Evening of Shakespeare at The Public Theater. Writing credits include numerous screenplays, children's stories & a teleplay for Sex & the City. The Summer House is Ms. Kain first play.

Director Jade King Carroll's directing credits include After Adam (Playpenn), Contents of a Book and Life as a Balloon (McCarter Youth Ink Festival), White Baby (Passage Theatre), Like Father (The Producer's Club), The Adoration (The Chocolate Factory Theatre), and White Trash (The Players Theatre). She has directed workshops and readings for McCarter Theatre, New Dramatists, Second Stage Theatre, and The Time Warner New Play Festival at Second Stage Theatre, New Jersey Rep., and Clockwork Theatre at Theatre Row. As an Assistant Director she has worked with Michael Greif, Les Waters, Rebecca Taichman (Second Stage Theatre); Michael Kahn (The Shakespeare Theatre); Gary Griffin, Lisa Peterson (McCarter Theatre); Lou Bellamy (Signature Theatre); Ruben Santiago-Hudson (A.C.T, Signature Theatre, and McCarter Theatre); among many others.  She is the daughter of Baikida Carroll, a pivotal figure in the music world as both a composer and trumpeter.

Jade Carroll met costume director Karen Perry while working on a production of August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean at McCarter Theatre. Perry mentioned that her daughter, Amber Kain, had written a play and felt that Ms. Carroll would be the ideal director for it. The project was then brought to the attention of Passage Theatre Artistic Director June Ballinger by literary manager Clare Drobot (a friend of Ms. Carroll's) and the rest is history.

"All the stars were aligned," said Passage's June Ballinger, "There was there no way we could pass up this opportunity to produce this fascinating new work. Amber has written a bold and daring play; one that I know will really grab our audience."

For over 20 years, Passage Theatre has developed and showcased new work by emerging and established playwrights. As a key participant in the revitalization of urban Trenton, Passage presents outstanding plays that celebrate experiences common to all and transcend culture and race.

Performances take place in the historic Mill Hill Playhouse, an intimate 115-seat theater in the heart of downtown Trenton adjacent to the beautiful Mill Hill district. Security-guarded on-street parking is available on S. Montgomery St., Ernie Kovacs St., E. Front Street and in the Artworks parking lot.

For tickets, membership or directions, please call (609) 392-0766 or visit online at www.passagetheatre.org. 

Tickets can be purchased at the Passage Theatre Office: 219 East Hanover Street in Trenton, Monday through Friday from 12:00 pm -5:30 pm or at the box office, one hour before each performance at the Mill Hill Playhouse, Front and Montgomery Streets, Trenton.

Accessibility

Passage Theatre is committed to ensuring that all individuals have access to the joy of the performing arts. Passage is dedicated to being a leader in the education and assistance of all organizations, working towards making our programs and services accessible to people with disabilities. For more information, please call (609) 392-0766.

Passage Theatre Company is a member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, ArtPride New Jersey, Theatre Communications Group, MTAACC (Metropolitan Trenton African-American Chamber of Commerce, GMCCC (Greater Mercer County Chamber of Commerce), and the newly formed Arts and Business Council of Greater Trenton.