Center Players will open its 2017-18 season on Oct. 13 at Center Playhouse, 35 South St., Freehold Borough, with a production of the play that won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
William Inge’s drama “Picnic” will kick off the season and run from Oct. 13 through Nov 12. The play will be directed by Ray Parnese, according to a press release.
“Picnic” takes place on Labor Day weekend in the joint backyards of two middle-aged women.
One house belongs to Flo Owens, who lives there with her two young daughters, Madge and Millie, and Rosemary, a boarder who is a spinster school teacher. The other house belongs to Helen Potts, who lives with her elderly invalid mother.
Into this all-female environment enters a handsome young man named Hal Carter, whose animal vitality upsets the entire group, according to the press release.
“Lovers and Other Strangers” by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna will follow, running from Feb. 9 through March 11, directed by Michael Tota. The play is comprised of four untitled comedic one-acts.
The first deals with the lead-up to a seduction, the second with a married couple’s quarrel, the third with a groom getting cold feet the night before his wedding and the fourth with a father and mother struggling to help their son be confident about his marriage.
Dale Wasserman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will run from May 4 through June 3, directed by Dave McGrath. The drama centers around Randle Patrick McMurphy as he is transferred for evaluation from a prison farm to a mental institution.
While McMurphy assumes it will be a less restrictive environment, he soon discovers Nurse Ratched runs the psychiatric ward with an iron fist, keeping her patients cowed through abuse, medication and sessions of electroconvulsive therapy.
The battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the inflexible Nurse Ratched soon affects all the ward’s patients, according to the press release.
Rounding out the season will be “Dinner with Friends,” written by Donald Marguiles and directed by Leslie Hochman, running from July 27 through Aug. 26.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores the complexities of marriage and friendship, focusing on the relationship between two married couples: food writers Gabe and Karen, whose apparent domestic bliss is demonstrated as they prepare gourmet meals, and artist Beth and hotshot lawyer Tom whose marriage is breaking up due to Tom’s infidelity.
“We are pleased to offer another well-rounded season of award-winning plays, featuring outstanding local actors and directors,” Center Players President Sheldon Fallon said. “And we look forward to supplementing the season with play readings, workshops and other special events.”
Most performances run Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are priced from $25 to $27 and are available online at www.centerplayers.org or by calling 732-462-9093. Season ticket subscriptions are available by calling the box office by Nov. 12.