(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- The Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) staff have transferred the remaining programs scheduled for its 2022 New Play Festival to an online format. Due to COVID-19 affecting some team members, productions taking place during Week 3 (Thursday, May 19, 2022) and Week 4 (Thursday, May 26, 2022) can now be accessed via Zoom at www.jctcenter.org.
“COVID has become an element of our world that forces us to take extra precautions to protect our supporters,” said Olga Levina, artistic director of JCTC. “Our team wants to ensure that all of our producers, patrons, and performers remain safe while concluding our Festival with quality virtual presentations. We encourage attendees who were planning to visit us in person to join us on Zoom to experience our final performances, both of which we’re extremely proud to premiere. Until we can guarantee a safe reopening of our Theater, we’re committed to maintaining our daily operations through online and hybrid formats.”
Centered on the timely theme of STRENGTH, the Festival– which commenced on May 5, 2022 and will continue until Thursday, May 26– kicked off with five short plays presented online. The virtual plays were supposed to be followed by three full weeks of live performances at JCTC Studios, including the final two full-length plays that will now be presented online. In total, the festival will showcase 10 new plays by 11 emerging playwrights who, together, represent the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, and Romania. All events include a Q&A and discussion with the playwrights; admission is free with a suggested $25 donation.
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.
The remaining shows taking place online include the following:
2022 New Play Festival Week Three: Short Series - Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 7:30pm. Online: Click Link Here. The New Play Festival Week Three showcases a series of short plays directed by Lynne Marie Rosenberg and Michelle Chan. A Q&A and discussion will follow the performance.
A Universal Question by Kathleen Maule Holen (United States, Hays, KS)
Two Lovers and a Bear by Tjaša Ferme (Slovenia and United States, New York, NY)
The Men from the Mechanical Age by Ioana Cosma (Romania, Pitesti, Arges)
Unconventional by Kristin Cotts (United States, Washington, D.C.)
2022 New Play Festival Week Four: Little Did I Know by Doc Andersen-Bloomfield - Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 7:30pm. Online: Click Link Here. The 2022 New Play Festival concludes with the full-length play, Little Did I Know, written by Doc Andersen-Bloomfield (United Kingdom, Oxford and United States), and directed by Jessica Silsby Brater, Ph.D. A Q&A and discussion will follow the performance.
Told from Yarl’s Wood Detention and Removal Centre (for Women Asylum Seekers) in England, Aaneseh recounts her horrendous and sometimes amusing journey as a teen refugee, pretending to be a boy, and all those she meets along her journey from Syria to England. Little Did I Know is a realistic drama about the difficult lives refugees must deal with in seeking freedom from war, terror, dictatorship. It focuses on the horrific and sometimes even humorous journey of one young girl, pretending to be a boy, in order to secure freedom and peace for her family. She finally reaches England, only to be detained in a Women’s Detention and Removal Centre for Asylum Seekers.
Find more information and reserve tickets at www.jctcenter.org and www.seetickets.us/jctcenter. Accessibility accommodations for these events are available upon request.
Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) arts organization committed to inspiring conversations about important issues of our times through the arts. Co-founded by Executive Producer Olga Levina, an immigrant from Belarus, Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) produces and presents universal yet locally relevant works, emphasizing social justice and human rights.
Since 2006, JCTC has provided a platform for all artistic voices to be heard. When we share stories through the arts, we spark meaningful dialogue that leads to greater understanding and respect. And, as a result, we build better communities together.
