(TRENTON, NJ) -- Passage Theatre Company, Trenton’s Barrymore Award-winning professional theatre company, will close its season with Erlina Ortiz’s play Morir Sonyando from May 2-19. The production marks Artistic Director C. Ryanne Domingues’s directorial debut at Passage. In the play, Genesis left her past behind long ago. But her mother’s release from prison forces them both to confront long-buried pain – and to wonder if they can ever become a family again. Erlina Ortiz’s play lovingly illuminates the blood ties that break and bind people.

“I was drawn to Morir Sonyando because it focuses on how we heal after trauma," explained Domingues. "So often, plays, movies, and television shows focus on the abuse itself and never address the work that a family must do to heal and move forward in the aftermath. The family in this play is full of so much love, and it’s important to remember that even families that love each other may be dealing with cycles of trauma that go back generations. Our partnership with Womanspace is a key element to this production, as they will provide our audiences with resources to learn more about this topic at every production. They will be available for those who have questions and may themselves be dealing with issues of violence in their homes. It was important to us that we are not only providing our audiences with a way to talk about this topic, but also to find more active ways to find healing.”

The cast includes Daniel Colón, Maria Peyramaure, and Johanna Tolentino, familiar to Passage audiences from her appearance in The Real Life Adventures of Jimmy de las Rosas earlier this season. Passage will also partner with Womanspace Executive Director, Pat Hart, M.S.W., LCSW to engage patrons and community members in the topic of domestic violence and the process of healing.  

Continuing a long-standing tradition, Passage will host a community dialogue the week before Morir Sonyando opens. “Banding Together: A Panel Discussion on Domestic Violence” will take place on Thursday, April 25 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at Mercer County Community College’s James Kerney Campus. The dialogue is free and open to the public, and will feature representatives from the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Womanspace, Rutgers’ Division of Addiction and Psychiatry, and the NJ Coalition to End Domestic Violence. In addition, Womanspace will staff a table with information about domestic violence at each of the 12 performances.

Performances at Passage Theatre are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm during the first weekend, and Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 3:00pm and 7:30pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm during the second and third weekends. Tickets are $20 - $33 ($38 Saturday night). Student, group and senior discounts available. Morir Sonyando contains mature language. To purchase tickets, call (609) 392-0766, or visit www.passagetheatre.org. The Mill Hill Playhouse is located at 205 E. Front Street, at the corner of Montgomery Street in Trenton, NJ. On-street parking is available.

Passage Theatre’s mainstage season is made possible in part by the N.J. State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the NEA; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; The City of Trenton; WIMG 1300; The Curtis McGraw Foundation; The James Kerney Foundation; PNC Bank; Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Mary O. Borden Foundation; Otsuka Pharmaceutical; The Garfield Foundation; The Bunbury Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation; NJ Council for the Humanities; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; The Shubert Foundation; and Mary G. Roebling Foundation.