Theater Project to Stage Three Plays in Three Weeks

After its summer hiatus, The Theater Project comes roaring back to life with Three Plays in Three Weeks, an entire season of entertainment delivered in less than one month. The professional theater company at the Burgdorff Center in Maplewood allows theatergoers to experience a mini theater season over three weekends -- and save money if they buy a three play package for $45. Artistic Director Mark Spina said, "By offering three different plays, we give new patrons a menu of choices, and create an opportunity to see our current fans more often - which is always a pleasure." The shows will run Sept 24 - Oct 18, Thursdays through Sundays, at the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood, NJ. Actors greet the audience after each performance, and talkbacks are held every Friday night.

The menu includes:

TEACHER IN THE HOUSE (Sept 24 - Sept 27), about the challenges facing a teacher assigned to home school children, will be performed by its author: character comic Susan Jeremy, who has toured the US, Canada and Europe with one-woman shows about her experiences as a teacher. Jeremy returns to Maplewood after presenting A TEACHER GROWS IN BROOKLYN with The Theater Project last year.

FOR WHOM THE SOUTHERN BELLE TOLLS and other theater parodies by Christopher Durang (Oct 1 - 4) satirizes the classic plays of Tennessee Williams, such as The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desire.Director Mark Spina says, "You will never see these stories again in quite the same way after you see what has been done to them by Christopher Durang." (Durang, called "one of the funniest playwrights alive" by The New Yorker, is the author of the recent Broadway hit VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE.) The cast includes Gail Lou of Englewood, Gary Glor (Union,) Barbara Guidi (Scotch Plains), Will Budnikov (Woodbridge) and Dennis DaPrile (Spring Lake).

BUYER AND CELLAR (October 9 -- 12) by Jonathan Tolins, a one-man show about an out-of-work actor who lands a job as the "curator" of Barbra Streisand's basement, was a hit in New York and New Brunswick. Jason Gillis (Springfield) plays all the characters and David Christopher (Cranford) directs.

At the door admission is $30 adults, $15 students. Special discounts are available when buying tickets prior to Sept 21: purchase tickets to see three plays for $45, two plays for $40, or one play for $25. Tickets: TheTheaterProject.org. Information:908 809-8865.

The Theater Project, now in its 22nd year, presents its main stage season at the Burgdorff Center in Maplewood. It also offers programs such as a playwrights workshop, new play presentations, and classes for kids in theater, juggling and music, in Essex and Union Counties. All are on display at their web site: TheTheaterProject.org

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