Premiere Stages To Produce Compelling True Story

UNION, N.J. - Premiere Stages, celebrating its seventh year as the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, announces the premiere of Follow Me to Nellie's, by Dominique Morisseau.

In Follow Me to Nellie's, we head down the road to the infamous Nellie Jackson's, where a hopeless blues singer is looking for a way out, a brave freedom fighter is looking for a way in, and a house of downtrodden women are looking for a new day. In 1955 Mississippi, during the reign of segregation, the price of attaining their dreams may cost them everything they have. The play takes a harrowing look at those who risked everything so that all Americans could be afforded the opportunity to vote. Follow Me to Nellie's opens Thursday, July 14th, in the Zella Fry Theatre and continues through Sunday, July 31st. The exceptional cast features veterans of Broadway, off-Broadway, television and film, including Lynda Gravatt in the title role.

The production will include an interactive lobby display and patrons will have the opportunity to register to vote at all performances.

Follow Me to Nellie's is the winner of the 2011 Premiere Stages Play Festival and was selected from more than 300 submissions. The Festival features "a uniquely accelerated process" in which the region's most promising new plays are developed and fully produced within a year of submission. Playwrights are also afforded the opportunity to retain the coveted "world premiere" brand.

"In many professional theatres the time span between meeting a writer, staging a reading and producing the play can be years," notes artistic director John Wooten. "When we discover a dramatist we believe in, our play festival process allows Premiere Stages to fully commit the time, talent, and resources necessary to share that writer's work with a broad regional audience."

Standard tickets are $25 with special rates for seniors, students, Kean alumni, groups and patrons with disabilities. The Premiere Package (a new subscription series) saves patrons up to $30.00 and includes discounts on restaurants and free admission to staged readings and other special events. For reservations (highly recommended) or to receive a brochure, please call the Kean University Box Office at (908)-737-SHOW (7469), or visit Premiere Stages online at www.kean.edu/premierestages

All performances take place on the Kean University campus, located at 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, N.J. in Kean University's Zella Fry Theatre in the Vaughn Eames Building. Saturday and Sunday matinee performances begin at 3 p.m.; Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening performances begin at 8 p.m.

Premiere Stages offers affordable prices, air-conditioned facilities and free parking close to the theatres. Premiere Stages provides discounted tickets to patrons with disabilities and provides facilities that are fully accessible. Please call for a list of sign-interpreted, audio-described or open-captioned performances. Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available upon request. Publications are available with advanced notice in alternate formats.

Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Provident Bank Foundation, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance and through the generous support of individual patrons.

For information about special events, please call Clare Drobot at (908)-737-4092.

For group and dinner theatre packages, call Paul Whelihan at (908)-737-4077.

For specifics of the season, please contact Artistic Director John Wooten at jwooten@kean.edu or 908-737-4360.