CSC Women Playwrights Series Continues With WHIPPOORWHIL By Ruth Kirschner

Three generations of women form the centerpiece of the Centenary Stage Company 2019 Women Playwrights Series' second presentation, "Whippoorwill" by San Francisco playwright Ruth Kirschner, to be presented Wednesday, Apr 17 at 7:30 PM at the Lackland Performing Art Center.

In this lyrical story, 9-year old Bibi and her mother have made a good life for themselves in suburban Ohio, but Bibi is determined to get to the bottom of what really happened with her missing father, about whom her mother tells a different story each time she asks. "Whippoorwill" will be presented Wednesday, Apr. 17 at 7:30 PM in the Lackland Center.

Bay Area playwright Ruth Kirschner has been a finalist in the National Playwrights Conference, the Source Festival, and the Humana Festival. Her plays have been produced at New York's Ensemble Studio Theatre (Fifteen Notes), L.A.'s West Coast Ensemble (Wabi Sabi), The Actor's Theatre of Santa Rosa (Spotlight), San Francisco's Cutting Ball Theatre (Winter Song, Best Short Play), The San Francisco Fringe Festival (Backlight, Best of Fringe), San Francisco's Phoenix Theater (Nightlight), and The Marin Fringe Festival (Flashlight, Best Play), (Wabi Sabi, Best Play). Her play Remember Me was presented as part of Centenary Stage's 2004 Women Playwright's Series. A member of the Dramatists Guild and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Ruth has frequently presented at San Francisco's Marsh Theater. She is a regular participant in Will Dunne's monthly Story Workshops and her work has been seen at The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez. Most recently she's developed work with the great, wild Ann Randolph. Ruth's work also includes music composition and production for film and electronic arts, including three years writing and doing animation for HensonAssociates.

Led by Catherine Rust, the CSC Women Playwrights Series celebrates its 28th year in 2019, having featured the work of more than 78 emerging playwrights in the developmental WPS process, and having taken 18 plays to full production from the series, including "Hitlers Tasters" by Michelle Kholos Brooks, which transitioned to New York in the fall of 2018, and is on its way to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer, "The English Bride" by Lucile Lichtblau, which later transferred from CSC to a sold-out run at 59E59 Theatres in New York City, and "The Unfortunates" by Aoise Stratford, which was later featured in the NY Fringe Festival. The WPS program offers playwrights the opportunity to work with professional actors and directors in a workshop rehearsal process, and to hear their work in front of a live audience - a critical part of the development process. Lively talk-backs with the playwright and cast follow each presentation, and one play is selected each year as the winner of the Susan Glaspell Award, which promises a full production in the main-stage season at CSC and a monetary award for the playwright.

Admission to the WPS is by donation and reservations are suggested, as seating is often limited. For information and reservations, call the CSC box office at 908 979 0900, or log on to www.centenarystageco.org.

The WPS receives support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Zonta Club of Morristown, with additional support from Grand Producer the House of the Good Shepard, and Season Sponsor Heath Village.

The final WPS will be held on Apr 24 @ 7:30 PM:

· "Across the Aisle" by Alyssa Haddad: A young interracial couple hosts their traditional families for Thanksgiving and drops the bomb that they are engaged, igniting the challenging and often hilarious question of how one creates a future with someone from an entirely different past.

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