(UNION, NJ) -- Premiere Stages’ production of Gino Diiorio’s powerful new play Scab will begin performances this week on Thursday, September 8 in Kean University’s Bauer Boucher Theatre Center (Vaughn Eames Hall, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J.). Selected as a finalist from the 2020/21 Premiere Play Festival, Scab features actors John Anthony Torres and Monica Wyche. John J. Wooten, producing artistic director of Premiere Stages, directs.

In Diiorio’s highly topical story, Gilda, a middle-aged woman, has to train Eduardo, a young Mexican man, how to be a shop foreman when her factory plant moves to Mexico. Over the course of a week, they discover that their assumptions regarding personal expectations and cultural differences are not always correct.

The design team for Scab includes scenic design by Bethanie Wampol, costume design by Karen Lee Hart, lighting design by Zack Gage, sound design by Nathan Leigh and props by Shannon White. Dale Smallwood is the production stage manager.

Scab runs September 8-September 25 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center on the Kean University main campus in Union, New Jersey. Performances take place Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm.  

Tickets are $35 standard, $25 for senior citizens and Kean alumni and staff, $20 for patrons with disabilities and $15 for students. Significant discounts for groups of ten or more apply. To make reservations or to order a season brochure, please call the box office at 908-737-7469 or visit Premiere Stages at premierestagesatkean.com.

Assistive listening devices and sign-interpretation are available upon request; please call 908-737-4077 at least two weeks prior to your desired performance.

Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Carole Shaffer-Koros and Robert Koros and ExxonMobil Foundation, The Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Foundation, The Northfield Bank Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, Investors Foundation, The Union County HEART Grant and through the generous support of individual patrons and local organizations. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State. 

ALL PHOTOS: John Anthony Torres and Monica Wyche in Scab

Premiere Stages is committed to producing topical plays and interactive programs that reflect people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, national origins, nationalities, ancestry, religious groups, gender expression or identities, sexual orientation, political beliefs, ages, abilities and disabilities. 

Created in 2004, Premiere Stages is the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University. Through its unique partnership with Kean, Premiere’s play development programs, educational initiatives, and professional development opportunities actively embrace the university's academic curriculum while expanding the scope, accessibility, and prestige of the professional programming on campus.

Founded in 1855, Kean University is one of the largest metropolitan institutions of higher education in the region, with a richly diverse student, faculty and staff population. Kean continues to play a key role in the training of teachers and is a hub of educational, technological and cultural enrichment serving more than 16,000 students. The University’s six undergraduate colleges offer more than 50 undergraduate degrees over a full range of academic subjects. The Nathan Weiss Graduate College offers six doctoral degree programs and more than 80 options for graduate study leading to master’s degrees, professional diplomas or certifications. With campuses in Union, Toms River, Jefferson and Manahawkin, New Jersey, and Wenzhou, China, Kean University furthers its mission by providing an affordable and accessible world-class education.