(WEEHAWKEN, NJ) -- Hudson Theatre Works presents the World Premiere of Jackson Is Gone, a serio-comic play by Joanne Hoersch.  The play was a 2012 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant Winner for playwriting.  The production runs November 4 through November 21 at the Theater at Weehawken High School (53 Liberty Place) in Weehawken, NJ.  The play stars Hollis McCarthy, Mark McCarthy, Ryan Scott, Michael Lasry, and Hudson Rhotenberry.

 

In Jackson Is Gone, Natalie and Sam Grayson are out for a quiet Sunday morning walk when they find themselves embroiled in an argument with a stranger who kidnaps their dog, Jackson. They report the incident to the police, and their case is assigned to a friendly but vaguely threatening sergeant who insinuates himself into the most hidden parts of their lives. The play examines the nature of irreparable loss, the consequences for our lives, and the slow disappearance from the world of the ancient touchstones we have always relied on for comfort and sustenance.

 

Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00pm.  Tickets are $25.  Students with Student ID and seniors 65 and older tickets are $15.  Weehawken residents with proof of address can get $15 tickets every Wednesday and Thursday.

 

JOANNE HOERSCH (Playwright) is a recipient of a 2012 grant from the NJ State Council on the Arts for her play, Jackson is Gone, which was also selected for a roundtable reading at the Lark Theatre. Her play Starring Elizabeth was part of Hudson Theater Works 2013 PlayWorks series and was also part of New Jersey Playwrights Theater 2014 reading series. Her one act Bunnies, based on her experiences as a Playboy Bunny, was part of the 2015 PlayWorks series.  Prior to becoming a playwright, she was a fiction writer. She received a Woolrich fellowship for fiction from Columbia University, was a semi-finalist in the Heekin Foundation’s national short story contest, and was a 1998 grantee from the NJ State Council on the Arts for her short story, Josie Going Places.  She is a 2014 honorable mention in Glimmertrain for her short story Lilacs.  She is currently working on a new play about the Romantic poet Percy Shelley.

 

HOLLIS MCCARTHY (Natalie Grayson)  Has worked Off-Broadway, at Regional theaters and well as TV and film.  She is also the narrator of many books and can be found at Audible.com.  Off-Broadway:  Eternal Equinox, 59E59 Theatres; Shatter, Urban Stages; Gabriel, Atlantic Theatre (understudy). Regional: Cornelia, Old Globe; Good People, Shadowland Theatre; Ghost-Writer, Florida Studio; Sylvia, Delaware Theatre Company; Betrayal, Capital Rep; Count of Monte Cristo, Richard III, Henry VI, Alabama Shakespeare; Indian Blood, Buffalo Studio Arena; Tartuffe, Two River; Helen, Next Theatre; Love’s Labours Lost, Chicago Shakespeare; Sherlock’s Last Case, Drury Lane Oakbrook; Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Colorado Shakespeare; Much Ado..., Taming of the Shrew, Notre Dame Shakespeare; As You Like It, Macbeth, Portland CenterStage; Things We Do for Love, Organic; Dancing at Lughnasa, Kansas City Rep, And Give Us the Shadows, Schoolhouse Theatre;  Film: Road to Perdition, Behind the Waterfall, Last Call, Jenny’s Wedding.  TV: House of Cards, The Good Wife, Think Tank, Dead Before Dawn, Across Five Aprils. 

 

MARK MCCARTHY (SAM GRAYSON) is a veteran of Regional Theater having appeared at the Denver Center Theatre Company: The Rivals, Portland Center Stage: The Rivals, Macbeth, As You Like It, Notre Dame Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Tennessee Shakespeare Company: Taming of the Shrew, Nebraska Rep: Making God Laugh, Mrs. Mannerly. Shadowland Theatre, The Seafarer, Dangers of Electric Lighting, llinois Theatre Center: Moonlight and Magnolias, Heart of America Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Kansas City Rep: Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Imaginary Invalid, Romeo and Juliet.

 

Scenic and lighting design is by resident designer John Shimrock. Sound and music design is by resident musician Donald Stark, costumes by resident designer Ann Lowe, stage manager, produced by Gregory Erbach, a founding member of HTW.

 

Hudson Theatre Works is a not for profit, equity theatre committed to ensemble collaboration as well as artistic risk through its work with its permanent company, guest artists, partner institutions and the surrounding community.  It is dedicated to a rugged aesthetic and seeks to tell stories, both new and old, classic and contemporary, which reflect our lives, relationships and world today. 

 

This program is made possible in part with funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of state, A partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, Thomas A. DeGise, County Executive, and the Board of Chosen Freeholders. 

 

This program is also made possible by the City of Weehawken and Mayor Richard Turner and Weehawken School District.