(MAPLEWOOD, NJ) -- Four actors play eight characters in twelve monologues showing the faces of eldercare: the families, the caregivers, the cared for, and the neglected. Finishing It Off! by Mary Jane Walsh, will be presented by The Theater Project, a leading incubator for rising talent and a showcase for New Jersey artists. Performances will be at the Burgdorff Cultural Center in Maplewood from July 7-17.
Playwright Mary Jane Walsh (Basking Ridge, NJ) is a member of Dramatists Guild of America. Her plays have been produced in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and South America -- Finishing It Off! was translated into Spanish and performed in Montevideo, Uruguay. That production came to the United States and was performed in the Hispanic Theatre Festival in Arlington, Virginia. Critics in Virginia called the play, “a bittersweet gem, beautifully written,” (Style Weekly), and “a many layered, significantly personal play.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch).
The cast includes Valerie Stack Dodge (Morris Township, NJ), Sue-Ellen Mandell (Nyack, NY), Diane L. Parker (Old Bridge Township, NJ), and Terri Sturtevant (Hillsborough, NJ). The production is directed by Dennis DaPrile (Asbury Park, NJ).
This intimate play will be performed in an intimate space, the Studio Theater at The Burgdorff Cultural Center (10 Durand Road, Maplewood). Masks and proof of up-to-date vaccination are required.
Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8:00pm, Sunday at 2:00pm. Determined to keep live theater affordable, The Theater Project is returning to in-person performances with pre-Covid pricing: $25 for single tickets, with discounts for students, seniors, and groups. Senior Sunday (July 10) tickets for Seniors are $15. Flexpasses allow patrons to see all three plays for $50. Tickets are available for purchase online.
Finishing It Off! will be followed by a play by another New Jersey author, playwright/ novelist/screenwriter Bill Mesce, Jr’s A Jersey Cantata, concerning the lives and loves of the “boys" from an old Italian neighborhood (August 18-28). 5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche, by Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood, is an interactive comedy about a 1950s cooking contest interrupted by a Cold War air raid siren (September 8-18).
