(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- As the World Premiere of Whippoorwill approaches, Centenary Stage Company has announced a talk-back with the playwright, Ruth Kirschner, after the 8:00pm performance on April 1st. This talk-back gives audience members the opportunity to ask the playwright questions and gain a better understanding of Whippoorwill and the process of writing a script to creating a fully realized show.

Performances of Whippoorwill will take place March 31 through April 10 in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Avenue, Hackettstown, NJ on the campus of Centenary University. Tickets range from $25.00-$27.50 for adults with discounts available for seniors, students, and children 12 and younger. For those who are unable to attend in-person, a performance of Whippoorwill will be live streamed on Saturday, April 9 at 8:00pm. Live stream links are available for purchase for $10.00 each. For more information, go to centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company’s box office at (908) 979-0900. 

Day of the Dead – that rare holiday where grief gets exchanged for celebration! It’s never an ordinary day, but for nine-year old Bibi and her mom Francine, their family life in Akron, Ohio is about to forever change. 1: their dog just died. 2: Francine’s nearly broke. 3: their dearly departed are far from dead and buried – they aren’t even dead. So if you’re thinking to cross the Rainbow Bridge, better fasten that seatbelt!

Ruth Kirschner has been a finalist in the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, CulturalDC’s Source Festival, and the Humana Short Play Festival. Her one-act play Fifteen Notes was produced at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, directed by Curt Dempster. Other one-acts have been produced at L.A.’s West Coast Ensemble; the Actor’s Theatre of Santa Rosa; San Francisco’s Cutting Ball Theatre; The San Francisco Fringe Festival (2 Best Play Awards); SF’s Phoenix Theater; The Marin Fringe Festival (2 Best Play Awards). Her full-length play Remember Me was part of Centenary Stage Company’s 2004 Women Playwrights Series, and her play Whippoorwill, also in the WPS in 2019, is now being produced by Centenary Stage Co., opening March 31, 2022. Ruth was sponsored by the Marin Shakespeare Company to work weekly from February 2019 - January 2020 with incarcerated veterans and civilians at San Quentin State Prison. This was an improv & storytelling workshop. On December 16, 2021, the group performed The Field, Ruth’s full-length play based on their stories. The Field is currently nominated for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. 

I once dressed as a Baked Potato for Halloween: tights plus aluminum foil wrapped around an abundance of cotton batting stuffing. All the stuffing kept falling out if I moved. Someone asked, “Are you a robot ballerina?” When I began writing Whippoorwill, I thought I was writing a comedy.   

There’s a saying: No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the audience.  

I wrote Whippoorwill in honor of every mistake anyone ever makes in the name of love. I wrote Whippoorwill in honor of every couple that falls in love and never imagines it could possibly end.  I wrote Whippoorwill because I wanted to explore the whole beautiful, dangerous assignment love gives us, whether we do it or still have an incomplete. (Ruth Kirschner) 

Performance dates and times for Ruth Kirschner’s Whippoorwill are Thursdays, March 31 and April 7 at 7:30pm; Fridays, April 1 and 8 at 8:00pm; Saturdays, March 2 and 9 at 8:00pm; and Sundays, April 3 and 10 at 2:00pm. Tickets range from $25.00 to $27.50 for adults with discounts available for seniors, students, and children 12 and younger, and Thursday evening performances. For those who are unable to attend in-person, a performance of Whippoorwill will be live streamed on Saturday, April 9 at 8:00pm. Live stream links are available for purchase for $10.00 each. 

This event is part of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance 2022 Stages Festival, made possible by support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National endowment for the Arts; Bank of America; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; OceanFirst Foundation; New Jersey Historical Commission. 

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.