Family life is changing, and playwright Patricia Cotter knows all about it. In a smart comedy about blended families, desire, motherhood, social class, and sexual politics, Cotter’s The Surrogate examines how much can be asked of friends, parents, and spouses, and whether it’s possible to get any important life decisions right in this new age.

Winner of the 2016 Susan Glaspell Award and finalist at the 2016 O’Neil National Playwrights Conference, The Surrogate will make its world premiere at Centenary Stage Company, running February 17 through March 5 in the Sitnik Theater at the Lackland Performing Arts Center.

Developed through Centenary Stage Company’s Women Playwrights Series, The Surrogate is a multi-generational blend of Modern Family and All in the Family. When Billy and Sara ask their best friends Margaret and Jen to be the guardians of their precious Tallulah and yet-to-be-born baby Carroll, lives change and friendships are tested. When Sara’s mother, a colorful New Zealand vineyard owner, blows into town for an “ankle replacement,” the definition of what makes a modern family is hilariously rewritten.

An alumna of the famed Groundlings sketch comedy theatre in Los Angeles, playwright Patricia Cotter is an Emmy Award-winning author who brings her sense of comedy and contemporary issues to much of her writing.  Cotter has received the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Richard Rodgers Award for musical theater, as well as the L.A. Stage Ovation Award.

Cotter will be in residence at CSC during the play’s development, and a special Talkback with the Playwright will be held on Sunday, Feb. 19, following the 2 p.m. matinee performance.

Featuring a cast of new and returning Centenary Stage Company favorites, including Katrina Ferguson, Susan Barrett, and CSC’s own Catherine Rust, The Surrogate will be directed by Shelley Delaney.  Delaney heads the performance program at the Ohio University School of Theater.  Her career spans a wide variety of professional theatre experiences, including directing projects at famed Monomoy Theatre in Massachusetts and the 78th Street Theater Lab/Drilling Company in New York City, as well as extensive theater acting credits.

The Surrogate runs February 17 through March 5. Performances are Thursdays Feb. 23 and March 2 at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays Feb. 17, 24, and March 3 at 8 p.m.; Saturdays Feb. 18, 25, and March 4 at 8 p.m.; Sundays Feb. 19, 26, and March 5 at 2 p.m., and Wednesdays Feb. 22 and March 1 at 2 p.m.

Tickets for The Surrogate range from $17.50 to $27.50 with discounts available for students, Centenary alumni, and children under 12.  Buffet matinees are available for groups of 25+ on Wednesdays Feb. 22 and March 1. Call the box office for more information. Thursday evenings are Family Night. Enjoy a two for one rush ticket special when tickets are purchased in person at the CSC box office as early as two hours prior to performance time.  Rush ticket offer is not valid for advance ticket sales.

For more information or to purchase tickets for this or other events, visit centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979-0900. The box office is located in the Lackland Center at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown. The CSC box office is open Monday through Friday from 1-5 p.m. and two hours prior to every performance.