(WEST WINDSOR, NJ) -- “Talley’s Folly,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by American playwright Lanford Wilson, will kick off the new year at Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Community College 1200 Old Trenton Road in West Windsor. Presented by PinnWorth Productions, performances begin Friday, January 7 and run weekends through Sunday, January 16. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for students, seniors and children.

The award-winning romantic comedy, directed and produced by LouJ Stalsworth along with producer Kate Pinner — both from Allentown, New Jersey — is set in a dilapidated yet dignified Victorian Boathouse in Lebanon, Missouri. It is a timeless tale that takes place on one enchanted moonlit night when middle-aged Matt Friedman (played by Jack Bathke of Robbinsville) has only one chance to win the heart of Sally Talley (played by Kyla Donnelly of Princeton Junction) – a 31-year old "old maid" from a bigoted Protestant family. After a lifetime of believing they will never truly belong to the world around them, Matt and Sally reawaken one another to love — ultimately finding that they do belong together.

The play has been described by the New York Post as “perhaps the simplest, the most lyrical play Wilson has written – a funny sweet, touching and marvelously written and contrived love poem for an apple and an orange.”

Director LouJ Stalsworth said, “I love this play. It’s a love story told in real time with a running time of 97 minutes, something the character Matt Friedman tells the audience as everyone settles in.”

Stalsworth said, “The year is 1944. Matt is a wandering Jew who has seen the horror of war in Europe. Sally is a fading Southern belle facing life as an old maid.” 

Stalsworth said, “What could possibly go wrong? In a word: everything!”

But things finally turn and go right.

The cast includes John Bathke of Robbinsville as Matt Friedman and Kyla Donnelly of Princeton Junction as Sally Talley.

Set and lighting design is by Company Manager Robert A. Terrano of East Windsor and the Stage Manager is Fabiola Bien-Aime of Hamilton.

Performance dates include: Friday, January 7 at 8:00pm; Saturday, January 8 at 8:00pm; Sunday, January 9 at 2:00pm; Friday, January 14 at 8:00pm; Saturday, January 15 at 8:00pm; and Sunday, January 16 at 2:00pm.

Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the Box Office at 609-570-3333. Please note: For everyone’s protection proof of vaccination or of a negative Covid test no older than 48 hours is required at the door. Masks must be worn in the theater. 

Kelsey Theatre is located on the MCCC campus at 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor Township, New Jersey. The theatre is wheelchair accessible and free parking available next to the theater. Assisted listening devices are available upon request.  

Photo by Robert Terrano