Tuesday, August 30, 2011
It's about jealousy and rage as the classic tragedy takes stage at Madison theater.
“Hamlet” and “King Lear” are among the greatest works of literature in history, but they don’t exactly have characters that are easy to relate to. That’s what Bonnie J. Monte has been focusing on as she prepares to direct another of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, “Othello,” for a run starting Sept. 7 and continuing through Oct. 2 at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison. “I think the biggest thing is that unlike, for example, “Lear” or “Hamlet,” where an audience can certainly watch it and enjoy it for many, many reasons, it’s hard for us to relate individually to the dilemmas of Lear and Hamlet,” Monte said. For those unfamiliar with “Othello,” the title character is a Moor and a general in the Venetian army who has secretly …
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Chatham Community Players' "Jersey Voices" festival in its 17th year.
It’s not easy for a writer to get a play performed on a stage in front of audiences, but every year the Chatham Community Players gives playwrights from New Jersey an opportunity to do just that. The “Jersey Voices One-Act Festival” at the Chatham Playhouse is an annual summer presentation of short plays written by people from New Jersey. Now in its 17th year, the festival is scheduled for July 29 through Aug. 4 and includes five short plays and a dance piece. Bob Denmark, president of the Chatham Players and the producer of “Jersey Voices,” said the idea started when Cliff Odle, the festival’s founder, thought there should be a venue for area playwrights. “At the time we never really did anything in the summer, our theater was dark all …
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Chatham Playhouse
23 N Passaic Ave, Chatham, NJ
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011
For its last show in its longtime home, Playwrights Theater is presenting "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
On the surface, Charles M. Schulz’ “Peanuts” characters are very simple, consisting of a some lines, loops and dots for eyes. But there’s a lot more going on with Charlie Brown, Schroeder, Lucy, Linus and even Snoopy than meets the eye. They’re philosophical. They face adversities and deal with anxieties—lots of anxieties. Linus can’t function without his blanket, Lucy has anger issues and Charlie Brown frets about almost everything. As a result, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” the 1967 musical by Clark Gesner based on Schulz’ legendary comic strip, is deeper in its themes, humor and music than people might expect. “The thing about what Charles Schulz did with ‘Peanuts’ is that on one level, he was addressing a younger audience, but …
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Chester Theatre Group presents a musical about two reclusive relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy.
Recluses who live in a dilapidated house and suffer from mental illness aren’t the stuff of which musicals are often made. So you might think “Grey Gardens,” which is being presented by the Chester Theatre Group, is some sort of dreary affair. But one of the show’s directors says that’s not the case. The musical, running at the Black River Playhouse from July 1 through July 24, is based on the 1975 documentary about a mother and daughter, both named Edith Beale. The older Edith (full name, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale) was an aunt to Jacqueline Kennedy. The two women were both members of high society and ended up living in a rundown mansion in the Hamptons. It doesn’t exactly sound like a toe-tapper, but Jeffrey Fiorello, who’s co-directing …
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Villagers Theatre aims to tap its way into the hearts of musical lovers with a classic.
Howard Whitmore wasn’t much of a theater lover when he found himself auditioning for a high school production of “42nd Street” 22 years ago. He had seen one Broadway musical and played in the orchestra pit for a school show, but didn’t have any kind of theater bug. “A bunch of my friends were auditioning and I was literally at the meeting after school waiting for them,” Whitmore said. “And the director said, ‘Well, if you’re here, you have to audition.’ I sort of stumbled into and I’ve been in theater steadily since then for 22 years.” And now he’s returning to the show that started it all for him, directing “42nd Street” at Villagers Theatre in Somerset through June 26. The show, based on the 1933 movie (which was adapted from a novel), …
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Chatham Community Players presents a family-friendly adaptation of a classic tale
Theaters like to promote their children’s shows as being enjoyable for all ages—and in the case of Chatham Community Players’ staging of “Alice of Wonderland,” the multi-generational goodwill extends to the cast. Actors ranging in ages from 10 to 70-plus will be taking stage in the show, running June 10 through 19. Alice, of course, is played by a child, 10-year-old Anya Gunewardena, but more interesting casting choices came with having 10-year-old Jacqueline Pothier playing the Queen of Hearts and septuagenarian N. Kent Loudon playing the King of Hearts. “I went into the auditions saying anyone from 10 and up can audition, all roles are open to any age, so whoever comes in, I’ll know when I see them that that’s the right person for it,” …
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Chatham Community Players
23 N Passaic Ave, Chatham, NJ
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Bonnie Culver’s play inspired by a 1970s high school shooting takes stage in Somerset.
On Dec. 30, 1974, Bonnie Culver got into her car in a parking lot in Olean, N.Y. and headed back to her home in Port Allegany, Pa. It was about 10 minutes into her drive when an emergency broadcasting system alert came over the radio. Shots had been fired out of Olean High School toward the parking lot from which Culver—then a recent college graduate—had just driven away. The shots were fired by Anthony Barbaro, a 17-year-old student, and the incident is generally acknowledged as the first high school shooting. It is, of course, something that stayed with Culver, who went on to become a writer and teacher. She first tried writing a play about the shooting in the 1980s, put it away and wrote about 10 other plays before going back to it. “…
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Chatham Players finds laughter in romance and psychiatry with Christopher Durang's "Beyond Therapy."
The Chatham Community Players are taking audiences back to the 1980s, and they’re not using a souped-up DeLorean or a hot tub time machine to get there. Instead, the group is closing out its 2010-11 season with Christopher Durang’s Reagan-era comedy “Beyond Therapy” at the Chatham Playhouse through May 21. And while the play’s tale of two people trying to find love is timeless, other elements are steeped in the decade that gave us Huey Lewis, leg warmers and the Rubik’s Cube. Scott Tyler and Tara Cioletti star as Bruce and Prudence, two New York singles who are both in therapy, hoping that it will help them find the right someone. They meet after Bruce’s shrink suggests he place a personal ad in the newspaper. That’s right, an ad in an …
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Chatham Playhouse
23 N Passaic Ave, Chatham, NJ
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148782
/locations/4285200
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
It’s diva time as Dover Little Theatre sets the stage for a campy, backstage musical.
Theater is a strange and wondrous thing because on a stage, anything can be funny, even a murderous child. In “Ruthless! The Musical,” on stage at Dover Little Theatre May 7 through 21, 8-year-old Tina Denmark just knows she was born to entertain. So much so that when another child gets the lead in the school musical, “Pippi in Tahiti,” Tina kills her, setting the stage for a show described as a mix of “Gypsy,” “All About Eve,” and “Valley of the Dolls.” It’s an all female show, featuring a diva mother, a bitter teacher and the sleazy agent, Sylvia St. Croix. By the way, “all-female” refers to the characters, not the cast, as Sylvia is typically played by a man. And the man donning the dress at Dover Little Theatre is Alan George. George …
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Theresa Rebeck’s intense drama gets an in-the-round production.
Stamp-collecting might not sound like an exciting subject for a play, but in the hands of Theresa Rebeck, it makes for real drama. In Rebeck’s 2007 play “Mauritius,” half sisters Jackie and Mary discover a stamp collection owned by their mother, who has recently died. Jackie, the younger sister, took care of the mother and wants to sell the stamps, which may be valuable. Mary thinks the stamps are hers because they were once owned by her grandfather (who isn't Jackie's). As the play opens, Mary has brought the stamps to a dealer who isn’t much interested. But Dennis, who is hanging out at the store, overhears Mary talking and takes an interest. The production features Jill Bormann as Jackie, Carol Holland as Marry and David Romankow as …
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