LONG BRANCH – Brian O’Halloran (A.K.A. Dante) will be appearing live in the world premiere drama, “The Good Daughter”, at the New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway, Long Branch October 9 – November 16.

Poets and songwriters may well look upon years gone by or life on a farm as a simpler place and time where cares and worries are few. Such romantic notions bear little resemblance to the very realistic portrayal of life in the American Midwest conjured by D.W. Gregory’s epic drama, “The Good Daughter,” which begins performances at New Jersey Repertory Company on Oct. 9.
Here Gregory creates a simple, yet noble everyday hero who struggles against the changing times of pre-World War I America, the threatening ebb and flow of the Missouri River and the whims and passions of his three grown daughters.
A pious farmer, Ned Owen’s desires are few. His greatest wish is to care for his family the only way he knows how. Unfortunately, in the early decades of the 20th century, that meant finding each woman a suitable husband who could provide food and shelter, if not love.
But Owen has his work cut out for him as each of his daughters presents a unique challenge. His eldest, Cassie, is beautiful and rebellious. Esther is obedient, but having been born with a birth defect, not very marriageable, and then there is Rachel, the baby of the family, a curious young woman who looks at the world with wonder.
Owen is determined to marry Cassie to a neighboring farmer, Rudy Bird (played by Brian O’Halloran), but Cassie is not ready to commit to a marriage with a man she doesn’t love. Her wandering eye leads her to the town agitator, a man who wants to bring about change in a town steeped in tradition.
Add to this mix the impending war and the aftermath, and the unpredictable Missouri River, and you get an epic story of love, loyalty, defiance, and the choices that forever change a family’s destiny.
“The Good Daughter” previews at 2 and 8 p.m. on Oct. 9. The show continues through Nov. 16 with additional performances at 8 p.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Preview tickets are $20; all other seats are $30. Discounts are available for students, seniors, and groups.
New Jersey Repertory Company, located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch, is completely wheelchair accessible and provides assistive listening devices and large-print programs on request. There is convenient, on-site, free parking and easy access from NJ Transit; for additional information, visit www.njrep.org or call the box office at 732-229-3166.
The New Jersey Repertory Company is a member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, the association of professional theaters of New Jersey, the Monmouth County Arts Council, the National New Play Network, the Long Branch Arts Council and Theatre Communications Group. This program is made possible in part by funds from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sunfield Foundation, the Gannett Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation.