Periwig Brings Award-Winning Comedy & Drama to Lawrenceville

Lawrentians can’t get to the theatre, so the Periwig Club is bringing theatre to them! Both the critically acclaimed comedy ensemble Baby Wants Candy (BWC) and two-time Obie Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins will share their art with Lawrentians this weekend via Zoom. (Current students, faculty, and staff should check their email for links.)

On Nov. 6-7, beginning at 7:30 p.m., Periwig will present (via zoom) “Everybody” by Jacobs-Jenkins as part of the School’s Jean S. Stephens Play Reading Series. Jacobs-Jenkins, a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship awardee, will participate in a Q&A (moderated by Bernice Hightower ’21) immediately following Saturday’s performance. The playwright’s best known works include “An Octoroon” (OBIE Award for Best New Play) and “Appropriate” (OBIE Award for Best New Play, Outer Critics Circle nominee), “Neighbors,” and “Gloria.” His plays been performed internationally and his honors include the Paula Vogel Award, a Fulbright Arts Grant, a Helen Merrill Award, the Dorothy Strelsin playwriting fellowship, and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award. He is a graduate of Princeton University, holds an MFA in Performance Studies from New York University, and is a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard.

BWC takes the (Zoom) stage on Sunday at 2 p.m. Named a New York Times “Critics’ Pick” and Chicago Magazine’s “Best Improv Ensemble,” the ensemble has performed more than 3,000 completely improvised musicals to thousands of fans around the globe. They’ll team with Lawrenceville’s own Impulse Comedy Troupe for an afternoon of much-needed laughter. BWC cast and alumni include Aidy Bryant (“Saturday Night Live”), Jack McBrayer (“30 Rock”), Peter Gwinn (“Colbert Report”), Thomas Middleditch (HBO's “Silicon Valley”), Lauren Conlan Adams (“The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), Jessica McKenna (“Party Over Here”), Nicole Parker (‘Elephaba” in “Wicked” on Broadway) and many more. They are based in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.  

For additional information, please contact Lisa M. Gillard Hanson, director of Public Relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.