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2024 Play
Festival Reading Series

June 6 - 10, 2024

You are invited to the 19th Annual Play Festival Reading Series, featuring the four finalists of the 2024 Premiere Play Festival at the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center.

RSVP to attend
Erik is a middle-aged white male with short, cropped hair. His gray-blue framed glasses match his eyes. He is wearing a purple button up shirt and matching plaid purple tie. He has a tight lipped smile.
  • Thursday, June 6 @ 7:00 pm

The Totality of All Things

Written by
Erik Gernand
Directed by
John J. Wooten

Judith Benson is “teacher-famous” for the award-winning student newspaper she proudly oversees at her small Indiana high school, a program that extols truth and integrity in journalism. But when an anti-gay hate crime occurs one fall, everything Judith believes about inspiring the next generation of reporters, and the definition of truth itself, is called into question.

Craig is a middle-aged white male with gray hair and piercing blue eyes. He is wearing a blue button up with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows.
  • Saturday, June 8 @ 7:00 pm

The Mallard

Written by
Vincent Delaney
Directed by
John J. Wooten

Freya and Gillian are teachers who have offended their school board and lost their jobs. Davis and Reagan are yard sale fanatics in search of a priceless antique duck decoy, the Horace Crandall Mallard. What follows is a fierce, funny and escalating battle over a symbol that has wildly different meanings – intersecting the couple in a journey that far surpasses the quest for treasure.

Alyssa is an Arab-American playwright. She has dark, shoulder length curly hair, brown eyes and is wearing a white button up sweater. She has a bright, welcoming smile.
  • Sunday, June 9 @ 3:00 pm

The Ancestry Play

Written by
Alyssa Haddad-Chin
Directed by
Kate Moore Heaney

Samia never knew her father, and her secretive Lebanese mother is more interested in watching Wheel of Fortune than providing answers. While she’s proud of her Arab American heritage, Samia wishes she knew more about her family history — until her friend does her DNA test without her consent, making Samia confront just how much knowledge about her ancestry she can handle.

Anthony Goss is a young African American male with curly brown hair cut high and tight to his face. He has deep brown eyes and is staring into the camera, his head tilted to one side.
  • Monday, June 10 @ 7:00 pm

Castling

Written by
Anthony Goss
Directed by
Korey Jackson

Workers at a local tire shop in Newark play chess as part of their daily morning ritual. But when their long standing workplace becomes the target of a business takeover, they scramble to avoid being put into the ultimate checkmate. A play about the effects of gentrification and the castles being built all around us, Castling provides a powerful study of loyalty and perseverance.

You're invited!

The Totality of All Things
Thursday, June 6 @ 7:00 pm

The Mallard
Saturday, June 8 @ 7:00 pm

The Ancestry Play
Sunday, June 9 @ 3:00 pm

Castling
Monday, June 10 @ 7:00 pm

To RSVP to attend the readings, please follow the link below and complete the Google Form. You can also RSVP by emailing premiere@kean.edu or by calling the Premiere Stages office at (908) 737-4092.

RSVP today
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