Friday, October 31, 2014

GSP's Educational Touring Theatre, Brittany Sambogna in the Spotlight

Brittany Sambogna as Dee Dee in IRL

Brittany Sambogna, a member of George Street Playhouse's Educational Touring Theatre company, is profiled in this week’s issue of the Pascack Valley Community Life newspaper.

Sambogna, of Westwood, N.J., is a 2008 graduate of Westwood High School. She is one of four actors in the company who, along with a stage manager, travel to many schools throughout New Jersey to perform four issue-oriented productions that are seen by more than 40,000 students during the academic year.

A recent graduate of Montclair State University with a BFA in acting and a minor in musical theater, Sambogna’s previous credits include Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire and Insula – both of which earned her American College Theater Festival nominations. Other roles include Winnifred in Once Upon a Mattress, Kate in Kiss Me Kate, and Sonia in Godspell.


Pascack Valley Community Life/NorthJersey.com: For Westwood actress, social issues are her stage


The Educational Touring Theatre is the centerpiece of George Street Playhouse's educational programming. The program commissions and produces first-class productions with relevant themes for young audiences, such as respect, cyber-bullying, conflict resolution, health and wellness, climate change and empathy. These plays are performed at schools with a four-person cast and stage manager, and are followed by a post-play discussion providing excellent starting points for engaging classroom conversations that can be used to fulfill New Jersey Common Core State Standards.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint, George Street Playhouse has become a nationally recognized theatre, providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Kelly Ryman was appointed Managing Director in 2013. Founded in 1974, the Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway – including the Outer Critics’ Circle Best Musical Award-winning The Toxic Avenger; the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League-nominated The Spitfire Grill; David Auburn’s Tony® and Pulitzer Prize-winning Proof, which was developed at GSP during a two-week workshop in 1999; and It Shoulda Been You, directed by David Hyde Pierce and starring Tyne Daly, which opens on Broadway in spring 2015 after a 2011 debut at GSP.

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