(UNION, NJ) -- Premiere Stages, the professional theatre in residence at Kean University, is now accepting submissions for the 2019/2020 Liberty Live Commission, a biennial commissioning program for New Jersey playwrights in partnership with Kean’s Liberty Hall Museum. Now in its fourth incarnation, Liberty Live culminates with a professional Equity production of a new play that celebrates New Jersey history. Past winners include Talking to Westfield by E.M. Lewis (2012), At Liberty Hall by James Christy (2013/2014), My Lord, What a Night by Deborah Brevoort (2015/2016) and Black Tom Island by Martin Casella (2017/2018), which will be fully produced this October.  ... READ ON

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Chimera Productions presents its 13th production, The Other Place by Sharr White, in Princeton, New Jersey on July 19, 20 and 21, 2018, in conjunction with The Arts Council of Princeton. The play, presented in the intimate 60-seat theater inside Princeton’s Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, is a fast-paced, witty, powerhouse of a drama about a scientist on the brink of a revolutionary discover, who’s also contemplating divorce and trying to revive her relationship with her estranged daughter.... READ ON

(DOVER, NJ) -- Tri-State Actors Theater will present two readings of To Trample The Dragon, a new work by by Peter Mitsopoulos. The readings will take place June 28-29 at 8:00pm in the Dover Little Theatre.  This is a play that touches the loss we have all known, and the love that helps us survive.  Admission is by donation.... READ ON

(RED BANK, NJ) -- Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, has announced a special one-day professional development program for educators on Tuesday, July 17 from 9:30am-4:30pm. “Examining the Work of T. Thomas Fortune and August Wilson” is being presented as a collaboration between Red Bank’s T. Thomas Fortune Foundation and Two River Theater, in compliance with the New Jersey Amistad Commission. The program will focus on the work of T. Thomas Fortune (writer, journalist, social justice crusader, and editor of the New York Age Newspaper) and the theatrical work of playwright and poet August Wilson (August Wilson’s American Century Cycle).... READ ON

(OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ) -- Extra! Extra!!  There are only six more chances to catch the high-energy professional production of “Disney's NEWSIES the Musical” at Axelrod Performing Arts Center. A bona-fide Broadway hit, “NEWSIES” was inspired by the real-life Newsboys’ Strike of 1899. Performances continue Wednesday, June 13 through Sunday, June 17. ... READ ON

The International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) has announced its 2018 50/50 Applause Awards, honoring theaters that produce plays written in equal measure by women and men. At the same time, the Centre finds that the vast majority of theaters around the world are coming up short in terms of gender equity. The Centre received 103 nominations and only 62 qualified for the award.  The awards list includes two New Jersey theatre companies: Centenary Stage Company in Hackettstown and New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch.... READ ON

(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Thinkery & Verse presents William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing from June 14 through July 7th at Assembly Hall at St John the Evangelist in New Brunswick. In the play, Benedict and Beatrice, Shakespeare’s whip-smart and quarrelsome lovers, must choose sides when their friends against each other over a young woman’s perceived infidelity. They are presenting this classic play with a modern edge in a historic building. Following this run, the play will then tour throughout the tri-state region.... READ ON

 (CAPE MAY, NJ) -- The award-winning Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company's popular "Tales of the Victorians" returns for its twenty-ninth year!  Take tea at a lovely venue, indulge in tantalizing treats, and listen to stories by famous American authors like O. Henry, Zora Neale Hurston, and Mark Twain read by ELTC performers and friends, for only $12.00. Children are always welcome, and ages 12 and under are free.  ... READ ON

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton Summer Theater kicks off its 2018 season with Tick, Tick...Boom! which opens June 21st and runs until July 8th. Tick, Tick…Boom! by Jonathan Larson tells the autobiographical story of a composer searching for his big break. Fueled by Larson’s brilliant rock and pop score, this intimate show pulls back the curtain on the man whose breakthrough would change American musical theater forever in an inspiring appeal to follow your dreams.... READ ON

(Cranford/Union, NJ) -- After more than ten years in Cranford, The Theater Project is replicating its very popular young people’s summer theater program in Union Township.  Both programs will run from late June to early August and culminate in a weekend of performances for friends, family and the community. Along the way, students 8-18 will act, sing, build confidence in themselves, make friends and have a wonderful time. Sign-up deadline for both the Union and Cranford programs is Monday, June 18.... READ ON