(RAHWAY, NJ) -- American Theater Group (ATG) in partnership with the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC), will present the premiere reading of Sharyn Rothstein's new play The Willows as part of its free Play Reading Series on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at Hamilton Stage in Rahway.  The reading will be directed by Chris O'Connor and begins at 7:00pm.

Set in an assisted living facility after the first hard year of the pandemic, The Willows is a humorous, heart-filled story about mothers and daughters, unexpected friendships, and learning to listen to—and love—the people in our lives we may not agree with.

ATG presented full productions of Rothstein’s Right to be Forgotten in 2023 and A Good Farmer in 2018. She is an award-winning playwright and television writer. Her newest play Bad Books is a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere play and will be produced at theaters across America this year. She was most recently a writer and Co-Executive Producer on SUITS LA, the spin-off of the hit legal drama SUITS, for which she wrote and produced for five seasons.

Sharyn Rothstein

Rothstein was also a writer and Co-Executive Producer on AMC's Orphan Black: Echoes, and has developed shows for Apple, AMC and Bravo. Her Helen Hayes Award-nominated musical adaptation of the beloved film Hester Street (with music and lyrics by Joel Waggoner) was produced in Washington DC in 2024. Her play By The Water was first produced by Manhattan Theater Club and Ars Nova and was the recipient of the American Theater Critic’s Association Francesca Primus Prize. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from Hunter College, and an MFA in dramatic writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she currently teaches television writing.

“Sharyn Rothstein is one of today’s most insightful playwrights and ATG is proud to have championed her work for many years,” noted ATG Producing Artistic Director Jim Vagias. “We are thrilled for the opportunity to premiere her newest play.”

The Willows cast will feature Betty Aberlin (Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood), Helen Farmer (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Rebecca Mozo (American Rep’s Becoming A Man) and Annie McAdams (Broadway: Slave Play).

Director Chris O’Connor, former Artistic Director of Hoboken’s Mile Square Theatre (MST), is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Molloy University/CAP21 BFA Musical Theatre Conservatory. His recent directing projects include Good People, Billy Bishop Goes to War and Two Gentlemen of Verona at Franklin Stage Company. O’Connor produced 19 seasons for MST, including the Off-Broadway transfer of Erin Mallon’s The Net Will Appear.  He conceived and produced MST’s long-running popular 10-minute play fest 7^th Inning Stretch: 7 10-minute plays about baseball, authoring many of the plays, including The Mascots (Smith and Kraus’s Best 10-minute Plays of 2011). As an actor he has performed Off-Broadway and in regional theatres such as Seattle’s A Contemporary Theatre, The Culture Project, Soho Rep, The Ahmanson, Seattle Children's Theatre, and at City Theatre in Pittsburgh.

A Q&A discussion with the director and cast will follow the reading. While the event is free, donations will be gratefully accepted. Hamilton Stage is located at 360 Hamilton Street in Rahway and is independently operated under the governance of Union County Performing Arts Center.

American Theater Group (ATG), founded in 2012, produces new and classic works primarily by American playwrights with an emphasis on the development of new works and the reimagining of undeservedly neglected older ones. The company also focuses on offering quality arts-in-education programming, including its annual Drama Fest workshop for High School students and New Works/New Voices high school play writing program.