Italian American Reconciliation

The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey’s Dante Hall Theater in Atlantic City will present its first mainstage play of the season, Italian American Reconciliation, written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright John Patrick Shanley.

The play will be the first production by Dante Hall Theater’s in-house production group Ninth Circle Players in collaboration with XYXee Productions, a company started by Stockton graduates Patrick Judd and Sarra Mazur.

Performances are scheduled for March 22, 23, 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. and March 24 at 2 p.m. at Dante Hall Theater, located at 14 Mississippi Avenue in Atlantic City.   

Italian American Reconciliation, described by Shanley in The New Yorker, is a comic folktale that is a “fanciful, lighthearted and zestfully comic exploration of male/female relationships.”  Directed by Jersey-based artist John Anker Bow, the play tells the story of romantically confused Huey Maximilian Bonfigliano who realizes his manhood has been lost and cannot be found until he gets his ex-wife back despite what his current girlfriend thinks. Huey’s desperate efforts force his best friend Aldo to question his own issues with relationships and bring to light how much the two friends actually share.

John Patrick Shanley, born in The Bronx, New York City, is a graduate of New York University. Shanley first came to prominence as a playwright in the late 1980s and remained one of America’s preeminent playwrights winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2005 and the Drama Desk Award for Doubt: A Parable. Also a screenwriter, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for his script of his 1987 film Moonstruck.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Dante Hall Theatre box office at 609-347-2162. To purchase tickets online, visit www.stockton.edu/dantehall. 

Dante Hall Theater: Located in the heart of the historic “Duck Town” neighborhood of Atlantic City, Dante Hall was originally built in 1926 by St. Michael’s Catholic Church. Dante Hall served the community of the neighborhood as a church hall, school gymnasium and community theater until it closed in 1988. In October 2003, Dante Hall re-opened after a complete renovation, funded solely by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA). In 2011, Richard Stockton College acquired the venue allowing it to continue serving Atlantic City and surrounding communities as a home for the performing arts. By providing quality programming and performances to local communities, Stockton College and Dante Hall Theater aim to strengthen New Jersey’s efforts of restoring Atlantic City to a cultural and family destination.