Kean University Looking for the "Write Stuff"

To borrow from Hamlet, Kean University's inaugural "Liberty Live" program is out to prove that "the play's the thing". Thanks to the Westfield Foundation, Westfield will take a starring role.

Liberty Live is a pilot program, funded this year by the Westfield Foundation, that is dedicated to giving aspiring and established playwrights from any New Jersey town the chance to submit new one-act plays to Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University. The winning writer will earn $1,000 and have his or her script developed and produced for November's Premier Stages Play Festival at Kean University’s Liberty Hall Museum.

One goal for the Liberty Live program is to dramatize the history that shaped the Garden State. Each year, the contest will require that the plays focus on a particular New Jersey town; the inaugural event means Westfield will become the center of the playwright's action.

“We are extremely pleased to expand our new play development programs to include Liberty Live,” said John Wooten, producing artistic director of Premiere Stages.  “The project empowers local dramatists to create compelling plays about how New Jersey has evolved.  And Liberty Hall Museum is the perfect partner to help bring these stories to life.”

Interested New Jersey writers must submit their plays by March 15. There is no entry fee; email premiere@kean.edu for guidelines or visit kean.edu/premierstages for more information. 

Premiere Stages receives additional funding from The New Jersey State Council on the Arts / Department of State, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Northfield Bank, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance and generous support from individual patrons.For 2012, Westfield will be the star of Liberty Live. Through a partnership with the Westfield Historical Society, workshops and staged readings will be held in Westfield before the final staging is performed at Kean's Liberty Hall Museum in November.  Question-and-answer sessions with noted historians and guided tours of the Museum will be offered as part of the event. 

A panel of judges — Clare Drobot, resident dramaturg of Premiere Stages; TerryGolway; A member of the Westfield Historical Society; William Schroh, director of the Liberty Hall Museum; Diane Genco, Executive Director of The Network for New Jersey's Afterschool Communities — will select the winning play.

The Premier Stages Play Festival has developed more than 25 plays. The most recent works include the 2011 hit Follow Me to Nellie’s by Dominique Morisseau, James Christy’s Egyptian Song (2011 Runner-Up and a current National New Play Network nominee), and 2010 winner The Good Counselor by Kathryn Grant, which was named as the runner up for the prestigious 2011 American Theatre Critics Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award.