Playwrights Theatre to Host Play Readings at Fairleigh Dickinson University

Playwrights Theatre has announced that is will host a plethora of new play reading events on the Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University. All readings will begin promptly at 7:00pm. Admission is free; however, reservations are required and can be made online at www.ptnj.org

"This is on opportunity for us to celebrate all of the play development works we do," said John Pietrowski, Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre. "Offerings will include plays from our New Jersey Emerging Women Playwrights Program, the New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest, our Adult Playwriting Workshop, and FORUM Reading Series."

Schedule of Events:

Friday, May 29, 2015 at 7pm - THE NEWSCASTER'S MOTHER by Maryanne Melloan Woods - reading will be at the Barn Theatre on the Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Monday, June 1, 2015 at 7pm - New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival - Elementary and Junior High School Plays - readings will take place at The Barn Theatre on the Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at 7pm - New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival - High School Plays - readings will take place at The Barn Theatre on the Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Thursday, June 4, 2015 at 7pm - Adult Playwriting Workshop will have various readings from Claire Porter, Dania Ramos, Ed Shakespeare, Larry Schwartz and Gregory Cole at The Barn Theatre on the Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Friday, June 5, 2015 at 7pm - Reading of HAPPY YET?? by Joe Sutton, part of the FORUM Reading Series which had to be rescheduled due to snow. This reading will take place at the Barn Theatre on the Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at 7pm - MIDWIVES by Suzanne Trauth - reading will be at the Barn Theatre on the Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Playwrights Theatre's New Jersey Emerging Women Playwrights Project (NJEWP) is part of Playwrights Theatre's larger ongoing effort to provide meaningful support to playwrights through an authentic development process that focuses on the specific and individual needs of the writer. New Jersey has an abundance of talented and committed women playwrights, but there are very few opportunities for these artists to form relationships with organizations that will make a long-term commitment to developing both their work and their presence in the community. The NJEWP puts into place a process that identifies writers, provides a long-term writer-driven development process, and provides connections for the writer to other writers, informed audiences, and the larger theatrical community, both in New Jersey and nationwide. Two of this season's participants (Maryanne Melloan Woods and Suzanne Trauth) will have readings of their plays during the Barn Theatre series. The third NJEWP, Chisa Hutchinson, had a reading of her play THE WEDDING GIFT during the FORUM Reading Series in January 2015.

On Friday, May 29, 2015 there will be a reading of THE NEWSCASTER'S MOTHER by Maryanne Melloan Woods. In this new comedy, Joyce, the owner of a garden center who also runs a popular gardening blog, finds her already chaotic life upended even more when her son, a popular major-market news anchor, gets himself into a highly-visible scandal, and retreats to her home. Long-festering family secrets and resentments surface, and Joyce is forced to confront her role in the mess that is unfolding under the glare of news trucks in the front yard.

The winning plays of the 32nd Annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest will be showcased in a festival. The Elementary and Junior High School plays will be presented on Monday, June 1, 2015, at 7pm and the High School plays on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, at 7pm. The readings will feature professional actors and directors.

In the High School Division (grades 10-12), the winners are:
Pretty Girl by Laura Diorio, Middletown High School South, Middletown
Listen by Jack Kimber, Chatham High School, Chatham
Worn Thin by Gabrielle Poisson, Newark Academy, Livingston
Thanksgiving Surprise by Betsy Zaubler, Newark Academy, Livingston

In the Junior High School Division (grades 7-9), the winners are:
The Angel Side by Evelyn Doskoch, Columbia Middle School, Berkeley Heights
Love Bites by Cathryn Mesce, Union County Academy for Performing Arts, Scotch Plains
Doppelganger by Paige Warnock, Union County Academy for Performing Arts, Scotch Plains

In the Elementary School Division (grades 4-6), the winners are:
Sibling Rivalry by Artha Abeysinghe, Torey J Sabatini School, Madison
Storm in a Cup by Frances Wan, St. Vincent Martyr School
Stitches - Dun, Dun, Dun by Josephine Walker, Torey J Sabatini School, Madison

Playwrights Theatre is reaching out to former winners to find out where their lives have taken them. Many have gone on to pursue careers as published prose and poetry writers as well as playwrights and journalists. Others have become have become lawyers, professors, and comic book illustrators.

On June 4, 2015, a selection of work from participants in Playwrights Theatre's Adult Playwriting Community, a year-round Monday-night Workshop for writers at all levels of experience. This evening's plays will include works by winners of the NJ State Council on the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, past participants in Playwrights Theatre's New Jersey Emerging Playwrights Program, and a Guggenheim Award-winning writer/choreographer.

June 5, 2015 Pulitzer Prized nominated playwright, Joe Sutton, will have a reading of his play HAPPY YET?? Benny, a twenty-something slacker Jersey-Boy suddenly finds himself agreeing to be the mayor of New Corners, New Hampshire. Not knowing exactly what to do, he decides he is going to focus his administration on "The Pursuit of Happiness." His journey brings him across some colorful and unusual characters, both real and imagined, as he bumbles his way towards his goal.

On Wednesday, June 10, 2015, Suzanne Trauth's MIDWIVES will receive a staged reading. In the summer of 1913, at Viareggio, Italy, Eleonora Duse, foremost actress of her day, invited Isadora Duncan, foremost dancer of her time, to recuperate following the deaths of Isadora's two children. In the days following, these towering artists of the early twentieth century engaged in a passionate contemplation of love, motherhood, and art. It would prove to be a transcendent time for both of them.

For more information about Playwrights Theatre, visit www.ptnj.org or call (973) 514-1787.

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