Centenary Stage Company To Present Talk-back With WHIPPOORWILL Playwright Ruth Kirschner

As the World Premiere production of Whippoorwill by Ruth Kirschner approaches, Centenary Stage Company announces a talk-back with the playwright, Ruth Kirschner, after the 8:00 pm performance on April 1. Performances of Whippoorwill will take place March 31 through April 10 in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Avenue, Hackettstown, NJ on the campus of Centenary University.

Tickets range from $25.00-$27.50 for adults with discounts available for seniors, students, and children 12 and younger. For those who are unable to attend in-person, a performance of Whippoorwill will be live streamed on Saturday, April 9 at 8:00 pm. Live stream links are available for purchase for $10.00 each. For more information, go to centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company's box office at (908) 979-0900.

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Ruth Kirschner has been a finalist in the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, CulturalDC's Source Festival, and the Humana Short Play Festival. Her one-act play Fifteen Notes was produced at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, directed by Curt Dempster. Other one-acts have been produced at L.A.'s West Coast Ensemble; the Actor's Theatre of Santa Rosa; San Francisco's Cutting Ball Theatre; The San Francisco Fringe Festival (2 Best Play Awards); SF's Phoenix Theater; The Marin Fringe Festival (2 Best Play Awards). Her full-length play Remember Me was part of Centenary Stage Company's 2004 Women Playwrights Series, and her play Whippoorwill, also in the WPS in 2019, is now being produced by Centenary Stage Co., opening March 31, 2022. Ruth was sponsored by the Marin Shakespeare Company to work weekly from February 2019 - January 2020 with incarcerated veterans and civilians at San Quentin State Prison. This was an improv & storytelling workshop. On December 16, 2021, the group performed The Field, Ruth's full-length play based on their stories. The Field is currently nominated for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

I once dressed as a Baked Potato for Halloween: tights plus aluminum foil wrapped around an abundance of cotton batting stuffing. All the stuffing kept falling out if I moved. Someone asked, "Are you a robot ballerina?" When I began writing Whippoorwill, I thought I was writing a comedy.

There's a saying: No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the audience.

I wrote Whippoorwill in honor of every mistake anyone ever makes in the name of love. I wrote Whippoorwill in honor of every couple that falls in love and never imagines it could possibly end. I wrote Whippoorwill because I wanted to explore the whole beautiful, dangerous assignment love gives us, whether we do it or still have an incomplete. (Ruth Kirschner)

A talk-back with playwright, Ruth Kirschner, will take place after the 8:00 pm performance on April 1. This talk-back gives audience members the opportunity to ask the playwright questions and gain a better understanding of Whippoorwill and the process of writing a script to creating a fully realized show.

Performance dates and times for Ruth Kirschner's Whippoorwill are Thursdays, March 31 and April 7 at 7:30 pm; Fridays, April 1 and 8 at 8:00 pm; Saturdays, March 2 and 9 at 8:00 pm; and Sundays, April 3 and 10 at 2:00 pm. Tickets range from $25.00 to $27.50 for adults with discounts available for seniors, students, and children 12 and younger, and Thursday evening performances. For those who are unable to attend in-person, a performance of Whippoorwill will be live streamed on Saturday, April 9 at 8:00 pm. Live stream links are available for purchase for $10.00 each.

For more information, or to purchase tickets visit centenarystageco.org org. The Centenary Stage Company box office is open Monday through Friday from 1 - 5 PM and two hours prior to all performances. The box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ. Centenary Stage Company can also be found across social media platforms; Facebook, Tik Tok, Twitter and Instagram. Like and follow to receive the latest in CSC news and special offers.

This event 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. www.njtheatrealliance.org/stages

Centenary Stage Company remains committed to the health and safety of our community and adheres to all requirements set forth by the State of New Jersey. For more information regarding CSC COVID-19 policies and policy updates, visit centenarystageco.org/faq.

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