TRIAL AND TREASON to Play Hunziker Black Box Theatre, 12/3-14

The winner of the 11th Annual New Jersey Playwrights Contest-Play Series, Trial and Treason by S.W. Senek, will be presented at William Paterson University in Wayne from December 3 to 14 in the Hunziker Black Box Theatre on campus.

Based on the novel See No Evil by Cristina Guarneri, Trial and Treason is a comedy/political drama about the President of the United States, who is taken hostage by an underground society that accuses him of trying to destroy the party system on which the country was built. The secrets and insights revealed make Trial and Treason a timely and thought-provoking piece in this age of the never-ending election process.

Starring in this new production is New York actor Ben Jörgensen, whose acting credits include feature films including The Break and The Basketball Diaries. He won Emmy and GLAD awards for his portrayal as Kevin Sheffield in All My Children and had a featured role in As The World Turns. His theater credits include A Season in the Congo at La Mama and most recently the ghost in Hamlet.

He began his career as a ten-year-old Children's Express reporter. He covered the 1980 Republican and Democratic conventions, interviewed Ted Kennedy, appeared on 60 Minutes and did a special segment on The Today Show with Congressman Claude Pepper about the diminishing relations between young people and the elderly. Jorgensen studied film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts; he has served as an editor on The Man from Hope about Bill Clinton, on the Peabody Award-winning documentary Vote for Me, and on Michael Moore's TV Nation. Other cast members are: Larry Kaiser of Fair Lawn, Jeremy Minagro of Astoria, N.Y., Lionel Ruland of Parsippany, Erin Zapcic of Nutley and Justin Zimmerman of Allendale.

Playwright S.W. Senek of West Orange won the New Jersey Playwrights Competition in 2006 for End of the World Button and in 2004 for 9 months: Inside Out. His work Fool Circle was the 2005 winner of the Oglebay Institute Towngate Theatre National Playwriting Competition. His play 12 Rounds was nominated for the 2005 NYIT award for Best Original Short Script. Senek earned a B.F.A. in theatre from Youngstown State University and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.

Trial and Treason is directed and co-produced by Edward Matthews, professional staff member; Shari Selke, professional staff member, is co-producer and production stage manager. The staff also includes Bill Motyka of Blairstown, set designer; Brian Collins of Bloomfield, lighting designer; Carol Sherry of Jamaica, N.Y., costumer designer; and Todd Erwin of Haledon, sound designer.

A preview performance of Trial and Treason will be held on December 3 at 7 p.m.; all tickets are $10. Additional performances are scheduled for December 4, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 13 at 7 p.m. and December 7 and 14 at 3 p.m. An author reception will follow the December 5 performance; a Meet-the-Author session will be held immediately following the December 7matinee. Tickets are $18 for the general public, $12 for seniors, William Paterson University alumni, faculty and staff, and $10 for William Paterson University students with valid ID. For additional information or to purchase tickets, please call the Shea Center Box Office at 973.720.2371 or visit WP-Presents.org.

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