Playwright Celeste Jennings '18 at Northern Stage

Northern Stage's annual January festival of original work, New Works Now, will be taking place January 18 & 19 in White River Junction, VT. This year's festival will include a staged reading of Citrus, a new play by alumna Celeste Jennings '18. Jennings developed Citrus over a two-year period during her time at Dartmouth; the play became the focus of a Senior Fellowship project that culminated with a spring 2018 production in the Bentley Theater. An original choreopoem, Citrus follows the emotional journeys of tribulation, struggle, and resilience among Black women from 1840 to present day; the play explores almost two hundred years of history through movement, costume, and poetry an a powerful and moving homage to Black women of the past, present, and future.

Northern Stage is a LORT-D professional regional theater led by Artistic Director and Dartmouth Professor Carol Dunne; this is the second time that the work of a current or recent Dartmouth undergraduate has been included in their annual offering of new plays. Citrus will be performed on Saturday January 19 @ 7:30 pm; the performance is directed by Jameeka Holloway-Burrell, with a cast featuring current Dartmouth students alongside professional performers.

The 2019 New Works Now lineup of performances also includes a reading of Choices People Make by Jessica Andrewartha on Friday January 18 @ 7:30 pm. Choices People Make was the winner of Dartmouth's 2018 Neukom Institute Literary Award for Playwriting, and was performed as part of the Theater Department's VoxFest program of new works last summer. Northern Stage's performance of the play will be directed by Daniela Varon '80. 

Tickets are FREE but the New Works readings fill up fast, so call 802-296-7000 or email the Northern Stage Box Office TODAY to reserve your seats.