Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize JUGGERNAUT by Ciara Ni Chuirc as a Semi-Finalist for the 2022 Premiere Play Festival. JUGGERNAUT rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 35 semifinalists out of 655 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by the play’s heightened theatricality and compelling, complex characters. Our congratulations and thanks to Ciara.

This play lives up to the title—it is a true juggernaut! As a violence and intimacy designer, I am always on the hunt for complex femmes that fight. Female MMA fighters are not a topic usually covered in the theatrical realm, and the carefully constructed conflict builds to a cathartic climax that takes one’s breath away. This play truly “fights” against notions of what it means to be a “good” girl and a “good” fighter. A great play!

A darkly funny play about violence, athleticism, competition, and faith -- full of surprising turns and wonderfully theatrical.