Taryn McManus, of Maywood, as Old Woman, and Alexander Prezioso, of Maywood, as Old Man.
PARAMUS, N.J. – Bergen Community College’s student-run theater group, Bergenstages, opens its spring lineup with Eugene Ionesco’s landmark play “The Chairs” Friday, Feb. 23 in the Ender Hall Lab Theatre at the College’s main campus, 400 Paramus Road, Paramus.
In “The Chairs,” first performed in Paris in 1952, an aging couple, ‘Old Man’ and ‘Old Woman’, frantically set up chairs in anticipation of the arrival of invisible guests who are coming to hear an orator reveal the old man’s discovery of the meaning of life. Once the couple has convinced themselves that a crowd – realistically, empty chairs – is assembled, they reminisce cryptically about their lives. In the original program notes, Ionesco wrote, “As the world is incomprehensible to me, I am waiting for someone to explain it.”
The show runs from Friday, Feb. 23 to Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Feb. 24 and March 3, matinee performances take place at 2 p.m.
Ticket prices for the general public are $15, with discounts offered to senior citizens, Bergen faculty, staff and students. Guests can purchase tickets by calling (201) 447-7428 or online at tickets.bergen.edu.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017-18, enrolls 14,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
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