FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
SOUTH CAMDEN THEATRE COMPANY, INC.
Artistic Director Dawn Varava has chosen a fantastic season of shows for all our patrons, past, present, and future, to enjoy. Dawn spoke about her motivation in choosing the four shows. “Beginning in 2015, our country experienced a division unprecedented since, perhaps, the 1850s, when violent clashes in Kansas and beyond existed over whether or not to allow slavery in the new territory. These differences pitted citizens against citizens and families against families, ultimately leading to the Civil War.
Today, we find ourselves in a similar situation, fighting over things that most of us find central to our Democratic ideal. At the core is a type of Xenophobia and racial intolerance being pushed into the minds of many of our countrymen and women. Fear of ‘the other’ seems to have taken hold in a large population segment.
I cannot understand this because, to me, our differences in color, culture, and ethnicity are things to be cherished—things that make life interesting and exotic. Look at all the wonderful variables in nature and imagine how boring it would be if everything were the same.
I have had the good fortune to travel to many places in the world, and the one thing that I have found to be true is that underneath skin color and cultural and ethnic differences, humans are all the same. We all want the same things for ourselves and our families. We all hurt the same way. We all laugh at things that bring us joy. We all are very human!”
Robert Bingaman, our Board President, stated, “As a Company, we believe the four plays we present throughout 2025, our 20th anniversary, will show these things that make us the same. Although the characters in the scripts we’ve chosen are different in appearance, location, and upbringing, they all share the human connection of love and support for family and one another.”
The four productions that are planned for 2025 include:
Hollywood Nebraska by Kenneth Jones is being directed by Connie Norwood. Connie directed another of Kenneth Jones’ plays in 2023, Alabama Story. It was a play about book banning.
Connie is thrilled to be directing this New Jersey Regional Premiere, where two forty-something actresses have returned to their dying hometown in the Great Plains of Nebraska. TV star Jane is in from Los Angeles to check on her ailing mom, Alma. Stage actress Andrea is back from New York City to bury her father. Distracted by two charismatic local men—a handsome widower and a rough-and-ready laborer—the former frenemies confront complicated feelings about career, love, and loss, leading to an overdue showdown between Jane and her mother. Fall in love with a hope-filled, tears-and-laughter comedy about small towns and big dreams, the urge to be creative, the itch to move away, and the ache—and joy—of coming home. Hollywood, Nebraska, is on stage February 28, March 1, 2, March 7, 8, 9, March 14, 15, 16
How The Light Gets In by E. M. Lewis is being directed by returning AEA Actor and Director Damien J. Wallace. Damien returns after his direction for our production of KILL MOVE PARADISE, which opened this season.
Damien directs this beautiful play about a travel writer who never travels. A Japanese architect who can’t figure out how to build a simple tea house. He is a gifted tattoo artist who resists the power of his talents. And a homeless girl who lives under a weeping willow tree in the Japanese Garden. Four lonely people, their stories written on paper, earth, and skin, find each other when one falls apart. Together, they realize the heart is as strong as it is fragile and that the safety of home might be found in the most fearsome explorations. It is a beautiful, haunting, and richly human play. How The Light Gets In is also a regional premiere. The show is on stage May 2,3,4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18
A Good Farmer by Sharyn Rothstein is being directed by returning director, Scott Grumling. Scott directed By The Water, also written by Sharyn Rothstein, in 2018.
This show is a moving drama laced with humor and heartache. It 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 play is about love, friendship, and finding the power to face what divides us. A Good Farmer is on stage September 5, 6, 7,12, 13, 14,19, 20, 21.
Dot by Colman Domingo closes our 20th anniversary season just in time for the holidays. It is directed by Zuhairah McGill, an AEA Actress and director. Z was last seen on our stage in 2012. This is her first time as a director for South Camden Theatre Company.
Dot is a play that will resonate with most who have dealt with family and the issues that arise when we gather. The holidays are always a wild family affair at the Shealy house. But this year, Dotty and her three grown children gather with more than exchanging presents on their minds. As Dotty struggles to hold on to her memory, her children must fight to balance care for their mother and care for themselves. This twisted and hilarious play grapples unflinchingly with aging parents, midlife crises, and the heart of a West Philly neighborhood. Dot is on stage November 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23
We strive in the hope that, in 2025, our beloved America will find its way back to this common humanity. If you haven’t visited South Camden Theatre Company, you’ll want to mark your calendar and plan to attend during our 20th Anniversary Season. Please do your part in helping us eliminate the negative stereotype that still grips so many people about Camden. When we first started doing plays in Camden, many people asked, WHY? They didn’t believe anyone would come to Camden to see a play. As we mark our 20th season, we believe we have proved them wrong.
The Waterfront South Theatre, home to South Camden Theatre Company, is a gem in Camden’s newly designated Waterfront South arts district. It is the first free-standing theatre built in Camden in over 100 years. The Domenica Auditorium seats 96 guests per performance. The Waterfront South Theatre is just one block west of the intersection at Broadway and Ferry Avenue on Jasper Street/Michael Doyle Lane in the Waterfront South historic district of Camden. Our location is convenient to Collingswood, Haddon Township, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Oaklyn, Barrington, Cherry Hill, and many other South Jersey towns.
Learn more about each show and the company on our website here: https://www.southcamdentheatre.org
When you visit our site, please sign up for our email notifications and receive information on special season pass pricing, new events, and more. Tickets and season passes will be available on our website on November 18th, 2024.
## About The Theatre Company
South Camden Theatre Company is proud to call Camden home. When the company was founded in 2005, performances were held in the basement theatre of the Sacred Heart Church. We’re now the proud owners of The Waterfront South Theatre, the first free-standing theatre built for live theatre in Camden in more than 100 years. Learn more here: www.southcamdentheatre.org/history-of-south-camden-theatre-company
## About The Waterfront South Neighborhood
The Waterfront South neighborhood is home to a growing arts community surrounded by small row homes originally built for shipyard workers around the turn of the century. Today, these homes have mostly been rehabbed and are homes to families from all walks of life.
CONTACT: ROBERT BINGAMAN, MARKETING, rallan@southcamdentheatre.org, 609-471-4168