Women Playwrights Series at Centenary Stage Co

The annual Centenary Stage Company Women Playwrights Series returns to the Hackettstown this month with a non-stop line-up of new plays, discussions, a narrated tour and a writing class, with activities each day from Wed., Apr 21 through Sunday, Apr 25 in Hackettstown.

This year’s festival of plays features the finalists in the Centenary Stage Company Susan Glaspell contest, which offers the winner further development support worth $30,000 in a full production on the CSC professional Equity main-stage, as well as a cash payment to the author.

This year’s finalists include “Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver” by Merri Biechler, about a young women who returns from her acting career in L.A. to care for her ailing father, who has developed a growing fascination with the Sci-Fi Channel and wants nothing more than a chance to meet Courtney Cox. “Confessions… “ will be presented on Thurs, Apr 22 at 7:30 PM. An inside glimpse into to the streets of 19th century London, when Jack the Ripper prowled the night is the stuff of Aoise Stratford’s new play “The Unfortunates” which will be presented Friday, Apr 23 at 7:30 PM. When Faith agrees to be a surrogate for her brother and his wife, she couldn’t possibility have imagined what would happen next, in San Francisco playwright Michelle Carter’s “How to Pray,” which will be presented on Saturday, Apr 24 at 7:30 PM. The Iraq war and its ghosts come home with Lt Andy Cirko in Mary Humphrey Baldridge’s “Land Warrior”, which will be presented on Sunday, Apr 25 at 2:30 PM.

The CSC Women Playwrights Series offers emerging playwrights a chance to work with professional directors and actors in a short rehearsal period, followed by a staged reading of the work in front of a live audience, with audience feedback and discussion. Each presentation features refreshments for all, and lively “talk-backs” with the playwright and cast following the performance.

This year’s festival will also include the 2nd annual “Mastodon Project” which will begin with a narrated tour of the site where the “Harvard Mastodon” was discovered in the swamps north of Hackettstown in the mid-19th century. The Mastodon Tour will be followed by an evening of short plays inspired by “anything-mastodon”, on Wed., Apr 21 , beginning at 7:30 PM.

A free playwrighting class will be offered for the public on Saturday, Apr 24th in the afternoon, for which reservations are required. And the annual “Dine & Dish” dinner with the playwrights will take place on Sunday, April 25 at 12 :30 PM. The fee for the dinner will be $20, and advance reservations are required.

Admission to the Festival is by donation, and reservations are requested for all events.

The CSC Women Playwrights Series is dedicated to providing a working forum for the unique and underserved voice of women writing for the theater today.

For reservations, a schedule of events and information, contact the Centenary Stage Company at 908-979-0900, or log-on to www.centenarystageco.org.