(MAPLEWOOD, NJ) -- The Maplewood Strollers presents Private Lives across two weekends from March 12-22, 2026. When a divorced couple accidentally find themselves honeymooning with their new spouses in adjacent rooms, sparks fly in this classic comedy of manners by the witty and wry Noël Coward!
Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, meet by chance, reignite the old spark and impulsively elope. After days of being reunited, they again find their fiery romance alternating between passions of love and anger. Their aggrieved spouses appear and a roundelay of affiliations ensues as the women first stick together, then apart, and new partnerships are formed.
The production is directed by Jay Stephenson. The cast includes Stacey Lawrence (Amanda Prynne), Danielle Levitt (Sibyl Chase), Ron Richardson (Elyot Chase), Jere Williams (Victor Prynne), and Kimberley Stephenson (Louise).
Performances take place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at 8:00pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online. The theater is located at 10 Durand Road in Maplewood, New Jersey.
The Strollers are supported by The Maplewood Division of Arts and Culture, and are a 501(c) nonprofit organization.
Private Lives premiered on August 18, 1930 at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh, directed by playwright Noël Coward and starring Coward as Elyot, Gertrude Lawrence as Amanda, Laurence Olivier as Victor and Adrianne Allen as Sibyl. The play debuted on Broadway at the Times Square Theatre on January 27, 1931 with Coward, Lawrence and Olivier reprising their roles and Jill Esmond, who had married Olivier a few months earlier, as Sibyl.
Noël Peirce Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 12, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was the controversial The Vortex (1924), which featured themes of drugs and adultery and made his name as both actor and playwright in the West End and on Broadway.
During the frenzied 1920s and the more sedate 1930s, Coward wrote a string of successful plays, musicals and intimate revues including Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925), Easy Virtue (1926), This Year of Grace (1928), and Bitter Sweet (1929). His professional partnership with childhood friend Gertrude Lawrence started with Private Lives (1931), and continued with Tonight at 8.30 (1936).
During World War II, he remained a successful playwright, screenwriter and director, as well as entertaining the troops and even acting as an unofficial spy for the Foreign Office. His plays during these years included Blithe Spirit, which ran for 1997 performances, outlasting the War (a West End record until The Mousetrap overtook it), This Happy Breed and Present Laughter (both 1943). His two wartime screenplays, In Which We Serve, which he co-directed with the young David Lean, and Brief Encounter, quickly became classics of British cinema. However, the post-war years were more difficult. Austerity Britain – the London critics determined – was out of tune with the brittle Coward wit. In response, Coward re-invented himself as a cabaret and TV star, particularly in America, and in 1955 he played a sell-out season in Las Vegas featuring many of his most famous songs, including "Mad About the Boy," "I’ll See You Again" and "Mad Dogs and Englishmen."
In the mid-1950s he settled in Jamaica and Switzerland, and enjoyed a renaissance in the early 1960s, becoming the first living playwright to be performed by the National Theatre when he directed Hay Fever there. Late in his career he was lauded for his roles in a number of films, including Our Man In Havana (1959) and his role as the iconic Mr. Bridger alongside Michael Caine in The Italian Job (1968). Writer, actor, director, film producer, painter, songwriter, cabaret artist as well as an author of a novel, verse, essays and autobiographies, he was called by close friends "The Master."
His final West End appearance was Song at Twilight in 1966, which he wrote and starred in. He was knighted in 1970 and died peacefully in 1973 in his beloved Jamaica.
Established in 1932, The Strollers strive to provide an opportunity for artistic and dramatic education and enjoyment for its members and the community. Each year they produce a season consisting of two plays, one musical, as well as a children's theater production in midwinter.
The Strollers welcome anyone with an interest in the arts and a willingness to work toward a common goal, whether onstage or behind the scenes. Their diverse body of performers and patrons includes people of all ages and from all walks of life. Whether you have always been a theater person or just enjoy the fun of working on a creative project, The Maplewood Strollers welcomes you.
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