October 15, 2001

Queen of Swords, A New Play by Charlotte Gibson, Is On Stage at Ramapo College

(Mahwah) – Queen of Swords, a work in progress production of a new play by Schomburg Fellow and playwright in residence Charlotte Gibson, will open in the Adler Theater at Ramapo College of New Jersey Wednesday, October 24 at 7 p.m. The play continues on October 25 and 26 at 8 p.m. and October 27 at 2 p.m. Terra Vandergaw, assistant professor of theater, is the director. A question and answer session will follow the October 24 performance. Admission to all performances is free.

Queen of Swords is a theatrical tapestry incorporating elements of drama, music, song and movement. The story begins in January 2001, when the lives of five young women, all in their freshman year, are changed forever with the arrival of their mysterious new roommate.

Charlotte Gibson received a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She performed regionally at Arena Stage, Portland Stage Company and numerous theaters in Minneapolis and St. Paul. On television, she was seen on the ABC daytime drama, Loving, as Tanya Johnson, and on NBC’s Another World. For the last five years, she worked behind the camera as an associate writer for the Emmy Award-winning daytime drama, All My Children. As part of that writing team she received a Daytime Emmy in 1998 for Outstanding Writing Team Drama Series as well as two Writers Guild Awards for Outstanding Script.

As a playwright, Gibson received the Kennedy Center Funds for New American Plays Award and the AT&T On Stage Award for her play Lost Creek Township. Her play, The Temple, won the 1994-95 Theodore Ward Playwriting contest at Columbia College in addition to a nomination as Best New Work by the Jefferson Award Citation Committee and the Black Theater Awards. Dawn and Still Dark won a New Professional Theater Award in 1995.

The music in this production is by Jeremy Wall, choreography by Ariane Anthony, sets and sound by Robert Rutt and lighting by Andrew Zebroski. The cast includes Irene Doudonis of Staten Island, NY, Mallory Hoernig of Wyckoff, Megan Callahan of Woodbridge, Meredith Persson of Denville, Kristyn Grasing of New Milford, Erin Hogan of Princeton, Bianca Kornfeld of Mahwah, Sarah Siering of Forked River, Darragh Cimis of Brick and Kristin Kvalheim of Hazlet.

For more information, please call (201) 684-7888.