FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7 — SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2020

Abigail/1702  A Twice Told Tale by Roberto Aquirre-Sacasa — A REGIONAL PREMIERE!

In this tale of New England witchery, Abigail/1702 is ten years after the harrowing and tragic events of the Salem witch trials. Abigail Williams—the lead accuser who sent twenty people to their doom as a young girl—now lives under an assumed name on the outskirts of Boston, quietly striving to atone for her sins. When a handsome stranger arrives claiming to be a sailor in need, Abigail takes him in, and long-dormant passions awaken within her. Love starts to grow between the two—an unlikely flower cracking through salty earth. But their contentment is short-lived, for someone else is coming for Abigail, someone who has been looking for her since she danced in the weird woods of Salem. The Devil is demanding Abigail’s soul, and a debt will be paid—but first, Abigail must make peace with the woman she most wronged.

“Aguirre-Sacasa’s skillful expression of religion and depiction of a woman’s struggle for her soul is mesmerizing.”

— Times Herald-Record

“ABIGAIL/1702 is literary brain food…not so much a sequel to The Crucible, but instead a unique retelling of Faust…full of heart and conviction.”

— Poughkeepsie Journal

This show was postponed until our 2021 season due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

Terminus, By Gabriel Jason Dean — A REGIONAL PREMIERE!

Terminus tells the story of Eller, a white matriarch, and her mixed-race grandson, Jaybo, who live together in a ramshackle house down by the railroad tracks in rural Georgia. Their unique love has seen them through, but when Eller’s mind begins to fade with dementia, her violent past in the segregated South haunts her from the very walls of the old family home. As she descends terrifyingly closer toward a horrifying truth, Jaybo’s capacity to love his grandmother is put to the test. This award-winning drama metaphorically asks, how are white Americans haunted by and continually complicit in the sustained trauma against black Americans?

“Of sprawling imaginative power, yet focused in delivery, it takes on a tremendous weight—the intractable problem of race in the United States—and conveys something both gripping and original, marshaling with near-flawless mastery a bevy of time-honored stage techniques.”

— www.blogcritics.org

“A tale of Southern Gothic horror where fantasy and reality, past and present, freely intermingle.

— The New York Times

This show was postponed until our 2021 season due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

A Good Farmer by Sharyn Rothstein — A REGIONAL PREMIERE!

A moving drama, laced with humor and heartache, A Good Farmer is the story of two women—a farm owner and her unlikely best friend, an illegal Mexican immigrant — fighting to survive in a small town divided by America’s immigration battle. This is a play about love, friendship and finding the power to face what divides us.

“…outstanding…brings the much-needed sense of humanity to the issue of immigration and addresses many of the moral questions we face…This is an important piece of theatre…[a] gem of a show…”

— BroadwayWorld.com

“…more timely than ever…emotionally powerful…”

— NJArts.net

“Sharyn Rothstein has artfully managed to reveal the humanity behind some of today’s contentious political issues.”

— BestThingsNJ.com

This show was postponed until our 2021 season due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney — A Contemporary tale

The Brothers Size takes us to the Louisiana bayou, big brother Ogun Size is hardworking and steady. Younger brother Oshoosi is just out of prison and aimless. Elegba, Oshoosi’s old prison- mate, is a mysterious complication. A simple circle defines a world that begins in ritual and evolves into a tough and tender drama of what it means to brother and be brothered. Flights of poetry, music, dance and West African mythology combine in a contemporary tale that explores the tenuousness of freedom and the need to belong somewhere, to something, to someone.

“The greatest piece of writing by an American playwright under 30 in a generation or more.”

— Chicago Tribune

“With his original and singular voice, McCraney crafts an intense story about the unbreakable bond between brothers, a bond that is equal parts love and despair.”

— Miami Herald