'Screwball' Comedy Opens
Centenary Stage Company Season! 

"Everyone is in love with someone…
just not the right one!"

Pictured L-R: Amanda Maxfield, Neva Rae    Powers, Warren Jackson, Avocado Pitt (back),    Laine Bonstein (front in faint)       [View Large Copy]

Money (and the lack of it), love and marriage (or the hope of it) make a tempestuous brew in the Centenary Stage Company’s upcoming production of the comic romp, The Clandestine Marriage, which opens Oct 2 at the Centenary Theatre in Hackettstown, NJ.

Set in the "roaring 20’s," this lively entertainment tells the story of a down-on-his-luck upper-class patriarch, desperate to raise some cash through his nephew’s marriage into a wealthy businessman’s family. Meanwhile the nephew has actually fallen in love with another, a young lady who is in love with a penniless assistant. With an interfering aunt, a jealous sister, a social climbing father, an aging ‘Casanova’ and his calculating nephew, The Clandestine Marriage develops into a wild farce where everyone is in love with someone – just not the right one.

Playwrights   
David Garrick and George Coleman

From the Director
Director Carl Wallnau calls The Clandestine Marriage by David Garrick and George Coleman "something of a neglected masterpiece." With celebrated revivals starring Alaster Sims in 1974 and Nigel Hawthorne in 1998 and a film starring and produced by Hawthorne with a surprisingly delightful Joan Collins as Mrs Heidleberg, the play seems to be seldom revived. "This is unfortunate," Wallnau opined, "since the basic premise is as timely today as when it was written in 1767."

"The play so skewers the pretensions of the upper classes as well as blue bloods," Wallnau s, "as to rival the best screwball comedies of the 1930's, hence our decision to move the play into the "jazz age". This is a play where everybody is in love with someone, just the wrong someone, and the chaos that results from all the misunderstanding gives it the energy and the wit of the "Roaring 20's."

Pictured L-R: Steven L. Barron, Neva Rae Powers,    Amanda Maxfield, Leon Hill (back) , Rachael Goerss    (partial), Laine Bonstein, Roland Johnson (in red cap),    Nick Ardito (back), Avocado Pitt (back) , Warren Jackson,    Not visible on far left Andrew Clateman (behind Steven L.    Barron)   [View Large Copy]

 
 
The Cast
The cast of The Clandestine Marriage boasts an abundance of New Jersey talent, including CSC favorites Steve Barron (Metuchen) and Roland Johnson (Leonia) – whom audiences will remember from last season’s "Laughing Matter," (which was not-coincidentally a play about the life of The Clandestine Marriage author, David Garrick). Hackettstown actress Neva Rae Powers, recently returned from several years on the European stage in Austria, will portray Mrs. Heidleburg. Brooklynite newcomer Laine Bonstein (originally from Chester, NJ) will play Fanny Sterling, and Kevin Sebastian, who recently won "Best Actor" award for his portrayal in the American Globe Theatre’s New Play Festival, will be seen as John Melvil. Amanda Maxfield (Oldwick) will play the jealous older sister, Betsy Sterling. Also included in the cast will be Warren Jackson (Jersey City) as "Lovewell," Andrew Clateman as "Canton," Avocado Pitt (Rockaway Twp) as "Betty," Scott C. Avery (Califon, NJ) as "Traverse" and Leon Hill, Nick Ardito, Jon Bodi, Rachel Goerss and Samantha Santana.

Additional Production Photos:

Schedule
Performances of The Clandestine Marriage, which will run through October 18, will be Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, and Sundays at 2:30 PM, with an additional preview matinee on Friday, Oct 2 at 2:30 PM, and a Wednesday matinee on Oct 7th at 2:30 PM.

School Matinee / Family Night
As a service to regional schools, a special discounted School Matinee performances will be offered on Oct 13 & 14 (Tues. & Wed) at 10 am, which may be booked through CSC’s Group Sales program. To ensure that theatre remains accessible and affordable to all, every Thursday evening is "Family Night" with two-for-one "rush" tickets available at the door only.

Oct. 2009 - The Clandestine Marriage
Tues. Stu.Mat. 10am	Wed. Stu.Mat. 10am	Wed. Mat. 2:30pm	Thurs. Eve. 7:30pm	Fri. Mat. 2:30pm	Fri. Eve. 8pm	Sat. Eve. 8pm	Sun. Mat. 2:30pm
				2	2	3	4 "First   Sundays"
x	x	7	8 Family Night	x	9	10	11
13	14	x	15 Family Night	x	16	17	18 Access- ibility

Flexible Subscription Offer
A special flexible subscription value is available for all theatre performances at CSC, which includes all three premiere performances for the total price of $45. The Flex-plan allows for the exchange of tickets for alternate dates (based on availability) when conflicts arise.

Subscription Values        (Review the Full Schedule) - Subscription Events)
Centenary Stage Company is often referred to as "the best deal in the state." This event can be purchased as a part of a discounted season subscription purchase. Centenary Stage Company offers several subscription plans for its season with the mission of making arts affordable for all. Patrons. You may choose:

About the David and Carol Lackland Center

Sitnik Theater of the    Lackland Performing Arts Center

The Centenary Stage Company has found its new home with construction the Carol and David Lackland Center (located at 715 Grand Ave, Hackettstown), completed in August, 2010. With a 22,000-square-foot performance space, the facility is the most sophisticated performing arts venues in northwest New Jersey. The center includes a new state-of-the-art 500-seat theatre (Sitnik Theater), a black box theater (The Edith Bolte Kutz ’42 Theater), a dance studio, scene shop, a costume shop, green room and dressing rooms. In addition to housing the theatre, the 68K square foot Lackland Center is home to a variety of cultural activity, and including WNTI, the College's listener-supported public radio station, CCTV, Centenary's Comcast-licensed television studio, and gallery space for visual artists.

Named in honor of Carol Burgess Lackland, A Centenary graduate (Class of 1954), and her husband, David A. Lackland, a Centenary College Trustee, The David and Carol Lackland Center, has been designed to enrich student life and bring new cultural opportunities to northwest New Jersey.             ...more (including photos, progress reports, and 'Tour Lackland with Carl')

The complete CSC entertainment season also includes 11 concert events, and 9 musical theatre productions by the acclaimed Young Performers Workshop, the educational arm of the Centenary Stage Co. For a full schedule and more information, visit our Upcoming Events page or print our Print Copy Schedule.

www.centenarystageco.org           boxoffice@centenarystageco.org
Mailing Address: 400 Jefferson St., Hackettstown, NJ 07840       908-979-0900
Lackland Center Physical Address: 715 Grand Avenue
Copyright © 1999-2010 Centenary Performing Arts Guild. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 17, 2010
SR Web Resources