Playwrights Theatre to be in Residence at Fairleigh Dickinson University

Playwrights Theatre has reached an agreement with Fairleigh Dickinson University to present its New Play Development programming in residence on the College at Florham in Madison.

Programming will begin with Playwrights’ Forum Reading Series, which consists of concert readings of 19 plays between Nov. 29 and Dec. 18. Full productions of new works will occur during the summer months, with two plays scheduled for June and August 2012.

For this residency, Playwrights Theatre has developed a program that will include majors from FDU’s celebrated theater department in all aspects of production, including performance, stage management, and technical theatre. Students will have opportunities to work alongside professional actors and designers, earning college credits for their work on plays, as well as “points” towards their membership in Actors Equity, the Union of Professional Stage Performers.

In addition, they will be able to work with professional teaching artists in schools and community-based organizations on Playwrights Theatre’s arts education efforts, including the statewide New Jersey Writers Project and Poetry Out Loud Programs (both partnerships with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts), as well as its local efforts on the Madison Young Playwrights Program and The Creative Arts Academy.

Students will also perform roles in the annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival, which presents 15 plays written by New Jersey students, grades 4-12. FDU Theatre faculty will be working with Playwrights in directing, performing, and designing capacities as well.

“This arrangement could not be better for the overall mission of Playwrights Theatre, which is the development of new works for the stage and arts education,” said John Pietrowski, Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre. “While we have programming for students pre-kindergarten through twelfth grades as well as adults, we have a gap in our services to those in college. We think this kind of hands-on practical work with professional artists will round out the excellent training students are receiving at FDU. And Playwrights will be able to continue to serve over 25 writers of new plays in a larger, refurbished, and highly accessible theatre. We are also very excited about possible connections with the other academic departments at FDU.”

“This will present a wonderful opportunity for our students,” says Professor Stephen Hollis, Director of FDU’s Theater Program, “as not only will they have the benefit of working alongside professional actors and directors but also work toward gaining their Equity membership, a unique situation within a BA program.”

Up until August 2011, Playwrights Theatre was in residence for 25 years at the Green Village Road School in Madison.

“We have been working with FDU students and faculty for over 15 years, with FDU Faculty designing and directing some of our productions. I have been teaching there as an adjunct for over a decade, and students were involved with us back stage and on stage,” added Pietrowski. “The imminent sale of the Green Village Road School property presented us an opportunity to put together a more formal arrangement.”

In anticipation of the sale last year, Playwrights Theatre reached an agreement with the Borough of Madison to site its administrative offices at the Madison Civic Center in exchange for providing cash-saving services to the borough, including the presentation of the annual Summer Recreation Musical. Playwrights Theatre will remain in those offices. It will also continue its public classes, The Creative Arts Academy, in classrooms of schools in the Madison School District. Playwrights Theatre will maintain the Madison Young Playwrights Program, which teaches playwriting as an after-school program at the junior and elementary schools (including St. Vincent’s), and during school at Madison High School.

Plans for the two plays to be performed in June and August are ongoing. Playwrights Theatre plans to announce the titles in January 2012. Playwrights Theatre recently presented its first show of the season, The Last Days of Mickey & Jean, in a co-production with The Bickford Theatre at The Morris Museum.