(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- Centenary Stage Company’s Women Playwrights Series returns this spring with three brand-new play readings. Readings will take place on Wednesdays throughout April at 7:30pm in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University. The Women Playwright Series readings are free to attend with donations welcome, advanced reservations have a $5.00 fee. Centenary Stage Company will also offer a live streaming option accompanying the in-person performances. Live stream access is free to participate with donations appreciated.
The 2021-22 Women Playwrights Series selections include:
Apartment 3F by Sarah Vander Schaaff, A tiny New York apartment is the scene for the collision of humans brought together by a bewildering and frightening circumstance. When a Chinese food delivery man is struck by a car outside Rebecca and Rob’s apartment, it sets off a sequence of events no one could have imagined. How they care for each other and respond in a time of need reveals the best and worst of our natures, with a touch of grace and humor to boot. Apartment 3F will be presented on Wednesday, April 13 at 7:30pm.
The Buddha’s Wife by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin, Are they so different? 2500 years disappear as the lives of the Princess Yasodhara and PhD Candidate Diane Brewster interweave seamlessly, telling a timeless story of romantic love, of motherhood, and of dreams-on-hold, revealing the very real world of challenges and choices women face throughout time, alongside revelations of the deeper meaning of love and friendship. The Buddha’s Wife will be presented on Wednesday, April 20 at 7:30pm.
Off the Map by Christine Foster, Denny and Claire have retired to the wilds of Central America, where they quickly discover that things are not as they were expecting, neither in their relationship, nor in their new property, where a mysterious Mound is discovered by a pair of archaeologists who arrive on the scene, making a shattering discovery which will challenge all their beliefs about what is ever truly real and what is imagined. Off the Map will be presented on Wednesday, April 27 at 7:30pm.
Centenary Stage Company’s Women Playwrights Series has featured the work of more than 80 emerging playwrights. The program has also taken 19 plays to full production from the series. Led by program director Catherine Rust, the Women Playwrights Series offers playwrights the opportunity to work with professional actors and directors in a workshop rehearsal process, and to hear their work in front of a live audience – a critical part of the development process. Lively talkbacks with the playwright and cast follow each presentation, and one play is selected each year as the winner of the Susan Glaspell Award and receives a full production in the following main-stage season with CSC.
The Centenary Stage Company box office is open Monday through Friday from 1:00pm – 5:00pm and two hours prior to all performances. The box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ.
Centenary Stage Company remains committed to the health and safety of our community and adheres to all requirements set forth by the State of New Jersey. For more information regarding CSC COVID-19 policies and policy updates, visit centenarystageco.org/faq.
The 2021-22 season of performing arts events at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, the John and Margaret Post Foundation, and CSC corporate sponsors, including Platinum Season Sponsor The House of the Good Shepherd, Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Medical Center Atlantic Health System, Home Instead Senior Care (Washington), and Fulton Bank, Visions Federal Credit Union and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.
