(MADISON, NJ) -- The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey has announced the plays for this year's Lend Us Your Ears Reading Series which offers audiences the opportunity to join Shakespeare Theatre directors, actors, and artistic staff as they explore diverse and compelling plays. The script-in-hand readings by members of The Shakespeare Theatre’s esteemed company of actors are followed by a talk-back discussion with the director and cast, a chance for the audience to provide feedback and discuss the play’s potential for future production. Readings will take place on July 18th and September 19th at 7:30pm.
The 2016 Series kicks off with The Lady’s Not For Burning by Christopher Fry. Penned in 1948, this verse play, set in the 15th century, is a language lover’s dream. Fry’s creation of a piece that harkens back to the dramatic form and verse style of early Elizabethan drama, poses existential questions that are all resoundingly modern, but are presented by characters from almost five centuries ago. The Lady’s Not For Burning will be presented on July 18th at 7:30pm.
THE AFRICAN COMPANY PRESENTS RICHARD III by Carlyle Brown is an interesting companion piece to both Red Velvet and Richard III, two shows that are a part of our Main Stage season. In 1821, forty years before slavery was abolished, the first black theatre in America, the African Company of New York, was staging plays in downtown Manhattan. Much to the chagrin of the white theatre owners, the productions were well-attended by both black and white audience members. This play gives us the imagined account of one of the most pivotal events in the company’s history when an act of repression gives birth to as seminal moment of creativity, and the artists’ defiant spirits prevail. THE AFRICAN COMPANY PRESENTS RICHARD III will be read on September 19th at 7:30pm.
Single tickets to each reading are $18. For more information about Lend Us Your Ears, visit ShakespeareNJ.org or call the Box Office at 973-408-5600.
Tickets are now on sale for The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s 2016 Main Stage Season, which began in late May and will continue through December. The Theatre’s 54th Season features a number of extraordinary classical masterworks and contemporary plays, including Noël Coward’s A Song At Twilight, Shakespeare’s intense political drama Coriolanus, Eugene Ionesco’s masterpiece Exit the King, the New Jersey premiere of award-winning British playwright, Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet, followed by Richard III in conjunction with the First Folio exhibit, and concludes with the return of A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Purchase a 3, 4 or 5-pack Main Stage subscription and obtain significant discounts off single ticket prices and great subscriber benefits including guarantee of the seats of your choice every time you attend! Individual tickets range from $25 to $75.
