New Jersey Rep Presents WILD HORSES

New Jersey Repertory Company, located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch is proud to present the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Allison Gregory's Wild Horses, February 22 - March 25, 2018.

Set in a Tastee-Freeze-turned karaoke bar in Anywhere, U.S.A. in 1996, the one-woman play is directed by Suzanne Barabas, NJ Rep's Artistic Director, and stars Estelle Bajou, who appeared last season in The Jag. In addition to Ms. Bajou, Wild Horses also features the talents of several local actors, Alli Angelou, James Benner, Debbie Bernstein, Jessica Freeland, Danielle Grosso, Velda Harris, Carl Hoffman, A.J. Melnick, Chris Price, Amelia Vitale, and Heather Welsh who appear as patrons of the bar and perform pre-show karaoke and set the atmosphere for the audience as they enter.

Wild Horses is a coming-of-age story about a time when anything was possible, when the world was full of promise, young love was still a fantasy, and a group of 13 year-olds who recognize injustice can throw caution to the wind and take the initiative to act upon it. A savagely-funny play about a summer that changed an adolescent girl forever, told by her grown-up self. The pathos and hubris of her teenage years, the struggle for identity, independence, and authenticity, and the desire to find one's place in a complicated world - all come rushing at us as she takes us on the ride of her life.

Playwright, Allison Gregory's plays have been produced throughout the country and have been nominated for multiple awards. Wild Horses is her second NNPN Rolling World Premiere. Her plays are published by Playscripts, Smith & Krauss, Dramatic Publishing, and Rain City Press. Theaters participating in the RWP of Wild Horses include Contemporary American Theater Festival (Shepherdstown, WV), CenterStage Theater at the JCC (Rochester, NJ) The VORTEX (Austin, TX).

Performances are Thursdays, Fridays at 8pm (pre-show 7:30pm); Saturdays 3pm & 8pm (pre-show 2:30pm & 7:30pm); Sundays 2pm (pre-show 1:30pm). Opening night with reception is Saturday, February 24 8pm (pre-show 7:30pm). Tickets are $48 (opening night, $62; premium seating +$5). Annual subscriptions are $225 per person. Reservations by phone: 732-229-3166 or online at www.njrep.org.

Estelle Bajou (Actor) is a Drama Desk-nominated Actor and Com­poser. She's French-American, raised in a furniture factory town in the mountains of NC, based in The Bronx. Broadway: Once (Actor/Violinist, First Nat'l Tour). Theater: PS122, Edinburgh Fringe, LaMaMa, 59E59, A.R.T.: Boston, Barrow Street, The New Ohio, HERE Arts, Shadowland Stages, Kennedy Theatre (NC), Under St. Marks, et al. TV: "Boardwalk Empire" (Actor, HBO); Ken Burns' "Prohibition" (Violinist, PBS). Feature Film: Spielberg's The Post (Actor/Violinist, 20th Century Fox); Fireworkers (Composer); Beneath Disheveled Stars (Composer); Chaplin of the Mountains (Actor, Set + Filmed in Iraqi Kurdistan). Short Film: Broke (Actor); Lullaby for Ray (Actor/Co-Composer, Best Short: Toronto Independent Film Fest); Henry Buys a Hat (Actor/Composer, Gold Remi Award: Worldfest Houston Int'l). MFA: The New School for Drama. www.estellebajou.com

ALLISON GREGORY (Playwright) Allison Gregory's plays have been produced all over the country and she has received commissions, grants, and development from Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, The Kennedy Center, Indiana Repertory, the Skirball-Kenis Foundation, ACT, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Geva, and The New Harmony Project. Her play Not Medea (O'Neill, BAPF finalist) received a 2016 National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. Motherland (O'Neill finalist, American Blues Blue Ink Award finalist) was an NNPN Showcase selection. Allison is a Core Member of the Playwright's Center and a member of The Marthas playwright collective. Her plays are published by Playscripts, Smith & Krauss, Dramatic Publishing, and Rain City Press. http://allisongregoryplays.com/

NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK (NNPN) is the country's alliance of non-profit professional theaters dedicated to the development, produc­tion, and continued life of new plays. Since its founding in 1998, NNPN has supported more than 225 productions nationwide through its innova­tive NNPN Rolling World Premiere program, which provides playwright and production support for new works at its Member theaters. Additional programs - its annual National Conference, National Showcase of New Plays, and MFA Playwrights Workshop; the NNPN Annual and Smith Prize commissions; its residencies for playwrights, producers and directors; and the organization's member accessed Collaboration, Festival, and Travel banks and online information sessions have helped cement the Network's position as a vital force in the new play landscape. NNPN also strives to pioneer, implement, and disseminate ideas and programs that revolution­ize the way theaters collaborate to support new plays and playwrights. Its most recent project, the New Play Exchange, is changing the way play­wrights share their work and others discover it by providing immediate access to information on nearly 13,000 new plays by living writers. NNPN's 30 Core and more than 75 Associate Members - along with the more than 225 affiliated artists who are its alumni, the thousands of artists and artisans employed annually by its member theaters, and the hundreds of thousands of audience members who see its supported works each year - are creating the new American theater.nnpn.org

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