A Completely Original Musical in Four Weeks

The day begins at 9 a.m.

Twenty-five students begin warming up their bodies, voices, and imaginations by playing theatre games like Tree Chop. One student raises his arms up, making himself tall like a tree, while letting out a guttural “hah.” Two students on either side of him echo the sound while making a chopping motion. This action is repeated as it is passed across and around the circle. It’s simple, fast-paced and a lot of fun.

After these high-energy warm-ups, students dive headfirst into their work: creating, rehearsing, designing, and performing an original musical in only four weeks. This is the inherently ambitious and seemingly impossible task of Young M Company,
George Street Playhouse Summer Theatre Academy’s four-week class for teens.

Every year, this creation and development process begins with introducing studentsto source material, which serves as the springboard for their script. This year, they

are using poems from Shel Silverstein’s book of poetry, Where the Sidewalk Ends.Giant sheets of white paper line a wall of the rehearsal space. One sheet is titled“The Editing Room Floor” and it is covered in different colored sticky notes, each one an idea for an element of the play. Another sheet is focused on the process of musical theater creation, and it has three questions written on it: “How can music

help us tell this story?” “What are all the various ways we can use music?” and“What can music help us achieve that we couldn’t achieve otherwise?” The students have worked on their own, in small groups, and as an ensemble to turn the ideas they’ve generated into a foundational outline for their story.


Today, Milo, Eowyn, Diane, and Richard are on their feet, embodying characters and improvising actions and dialogue. This small group is expanding what was written earlier in the week into a cohesive scene. They stop only for a moment to write it all down and review what they have produced so far. Rachel and Kayla, two longtime Academy students, sit in the corner together poring over their work. Rachel is diligently writing and rewriting lyrics as Kayla plays her guitar, plucking her way to the perfect melody. Every few minutes you can hear them singing quietly together, trying out the new lyrics and finding harmonies. Everyone is devoting all of their energy to the telling of their original story: the tale of one girl, her notebook, and the

Just before they break for lunch, each small group presents what they have been working on to the ensemble. New characters and scenes are shared, and Rachel and Kayla introduce their song. The song is met with thunderous applause. There is an instant and collective understanding that it will be a highlight of the play. While the students know there will be much more to do after lunch, the room is buzzing with excitement. The play is finally taking shape.


Over the next few weeks, the new scenes will be staged, the songs will be fine tuned, and everything will be rehearsed. Students will also meet with the design team to discuss lighting, sets, costumes, and props. In one of the writing groups, students have been working on a scene involving a mythical creature. Eowyn is sure that this creature must to be a puppet, but what it looks like and how it operates is still under great debate. The design meetings will be the time to solve this problem. The entire process - creation, rehearsal, design, and performance - is founded in collaboration, compromise, and communication. These young artists not only learn to work and create together, but to support and respect one another, and build their greater
collective imagination.


On the last day of Summer Theatre Academy, family and friends stream into the theater to watch the culmination of the students’ hard work and dedication. The lights dim and a hush falls over the crowd as the ensemble anxiously waits backstage for their cue. The moment everyone has been working toward is here...
lights up on Girl With Epic Notebook.

posted by Christa Cillaroto, Manager of School Based Programs

Tony Nominated Play Opens 2014 Season

The first show of our season here at George Street Playhouse is a play about love. But this particular theatrical romance isn’t your typical love story.

John Patrick Shanley, who received a Tony Award nomination this past season for Outside Mullingar, is writer of the Oscar-winning screenplay for the romantic comedy Moonstruck, as well as the multi award-winning (including the Pulitzer Prize) Doubt, presented on the George Street stage seven years ago.

Reminiscent of Moonstruck, Shanley has provided us with a love story with punches of laughter and a healthy dose of Irish farm life, grit and mysticism instead of hearts and flowers. Artistic Director David Saint, explains why he chose to start the season with this not- so-sentimental story. “I like to begin the season with something very ‘up,’ whether it’s a big comedy or a musical or a love story.”

In addition to his trademark comedic techniques utilizing the humor of everyday life, Shanley goes back to his personal ethnic roots and employs mystical elements of folklore to further the unique quality of this modern day romance.

Saint elaborates - “He delves into the land of the mystical like many Irish poets or Irish writers… It is the element of the supernatural that has been a part of Irish culture for centuries. I was just knocked out by the combination of the wit and the lyricism and the fairytale quality to it and the notion that there is always hope for love in someone’s life.”

The pervasive feeling of Celtic mysticism and humble whimsy touches audiences on a fundamental level where our childlike wonder still resides, even if buried deeply.

“Any great story, like a great fairytale, is universal to all cultures,” Saint asserts. The story is not limited to a particular culture or location or even time period, “…it takes place anywhere where the imagination is ripe enough for a writer to concoct a tale.”

When you really think about it, isn’t every love story actually a fairly tale? The fact that two compatible people out of the estimated seven billion in this great wide world could find each other and fall in love is really quite magical. Outside Mullingar teaches all of us that there is hope that love can, and, most assuredly, will happen. “Keep your heart open to love at any age.” This is what Saint feels is the fundamental theme of the play. It’s never too late to fall in love. It’s a beautiful lesson of hope and perseverance for the sake of joy.

Continues Saint, “I think this play [makes] people leave the theatre feeling great about life and that is a great way to start the season”

Now or Never!

written by Charles Paolino, for Asbury Park Press

The name of the play is “Your Biggest Fan,” but it could be called “It’s Now or Never.’’

That’s because the playwrights – Winnie Holzman and her husband, Paul Dooley – began the comedy-drama in 1985 and finished it 25 years later when, as they put it, they literally had nothing else to do.


Now “Your Biggest Fan” is to have a run at the George Street Playhouse from Jan. 28 to Feb. 23 with the couple portraying all four of the characters they created.


The play concerns Frank Maxwell, who has played a doctor on a TV soap opera for decades and now believes that he is being written out of the show. Emily, his longtime girlfriend, reassuring him that he has a future, tries to make him answer fan mail he has been ignoring. One of the letters is from Heather, an overweight, socially isolated woman, who loves “Dr. Dan” but gets no love in her own life, not even from her irascible father, Edgar.


The story explores the unforeseeable impact these four lives have on each other.
This play emerged from an experience Dooley and Holzman had shortly before they married.
“I had a pile of fan mail,’’ Dooley recalled. “I’m not a soap opera star, so I had about 15 letters, but I had them for about six months. They were on my desk.


“She said, ‘Why don’t you throw those out?’ I said, ‘Well, they’re from fans.’ She said, ‘Why don’t you answer them?’ I said, ‘There’s no deadline.’ ’’


“It was like he couldn’t do either,’’ Holzman interjected. “He couldn’t throw them away, and he couldn’t answer them. I thought it was an interesting beginning for something.’’
They answered the mail together and found themselves making fun of some of the fans who were unintentionally amusing.


That found its way into the play, as Frank dismisses the folks who wrote to him.
This reaction, Dooley believes, is a symptom of self-loathing.


“He diminishes the people who wrote to him because he thinks, ‘Ahhh, they’re stupid. If they knew me, they’d hate me, like I do.’ … And the dichotomy is that actors go into it because they need love, and then, when they get too much of it, they ask themselves, ‘Am I really that good?’ ’’

And, Holzman added, “even though we’re writing about an actor, I maintain that it doesn’t have to do with an actor so much as what it’s like for anyone. Can you accept the love that’s being offered in your life? Can you really feel it, or is it something you don’t want to open, so to speak – a letter you don’t want to open.’’
So, motivated by a pile of mail and their dream of creating a play they could perform together, the couple began to write, but that’s all – they began.


“It was just a few pages,’’ Dooley said, “and it was on onion skin – with Wite-Out. That’s how long ago it was.’’


And then what?


“Well, let’s put it this way,’’ Holzman said. “When you’re married, and you’re not retired, a project that you’re doing together gets short shrift. Everything else becomes more important.’’
“Because,” Dooley added, “they’re paying you.”


Fast forward to October 2012. Holzman and Dooley, who live in Los Angeles, were in Manhattan when superstorm Sandy struck the city and they were stuck indoors.


“So there was this feeling,” Holzman said, “that … if we can’t work on it now, we’re never going to do this. … I recommend to anyone that if they’re having a problem getting a project done, being stranded in a hotel room is very helpful.’’


Holzman and Dooley both said that the passage of time probably contributed to the quality of the play since both matured as writers while the play was dormant.


Dooley has an extensive acting and writing resume; among his achievements was creating and writing for the children’s television series “The Electric Company.” In 2007, he appeared at the George Street Playhouse with Jack Klugman in “The Sunshine Boys.” In 2000, he was nominated for an Emmy for a role on “The Practice.”


Holzman created the television series “My So-Called Life,” and her writing for the show got her an Emmy nomination in 1995. She has written for many television shows and for the stage – including the book for the Broadway musical “Wicked.”


Holzman and Dooley performed their new play for six weeks at a theater in Los Angeles, and they have continued to refine it during rehearsals for the George Street run.
The engagement brings them a sense of satisfaction.


“It’s a part of getting older,” Holzman said, “that you start to look at the things you promised yourself you would do. Now, you’re not going to do all of them, but some of them are important. I think we both felt that it would be a loss if we didn’t do this, if we didn’t at least try.”

Rave Reviews for Clever Little Lies

Jim Stanek, Greg Mullavey, and Marlo Thomas; photo by T. Charles Erickson

"A first rate cast...Genuinely funny.
Marlo Thomas effortlessly handles the script's dry humor...it's poignant
ending is particularly affecting"
-The New York Times

“…be prepared for some extraordinarily good theater…” – Asbury Park Press

“…audiences should not miss an opportunity to see this jewel of a performance!”-broadwayworld.com

 “[DiPietro] crafts a neat stage quartet, which is brilliantly led by Marlo Thomas…”
- The Star Ledger

 "Once again, David Saint does what he has done going on two decades -- finding great new works, casting the best actors one could imagine and directing with amazing skill.  No wonder George Street has become a breeding ground for successful Broadway productions." - NJ Hills
“Don’t miss it!”  - Out in Jersey

“…playwright Joe DiPietro avoids easy answers and provides entertainment as well as food for thought.” 
- The Star-Ledger

“An outrageously funny comedy, "Clever Little Lies" offers more than just laughs.”

-newjerseystage.com

“A hit!  Clever Little Lies is a beautifully written and performed story of secrets and confessions of love, marriage and fidelity.”  -Examiner.com

“Marlo Thomas headlines the four-person cast, shouldering the heft of the play with graceful strength and a biting sense of humor. “  - theatermania.com

“Marlo Thomas gives a sparkling performance.”  - njartsmaven.com

“…clever, insightful comedy…” – alternativepress.com

“Marlo Thomas delights in world premiere Clever Little Lies.” – talkinbroadway.com

“With this play, George Street has produced yet another winner in what is sure to be a banner 40th-anniversary year.” – The Princeton Packet

Broadway Legends Fashion Show Held October 27

 Friends and supporters of New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse will be donning costumes from legendary Broadway shows in a special event, Sunday, October 27 at 5 pm.  The “Broadway Legends Fashion Show” will feature a number of local celebrities sporting the extraordinary, eye-popping costumes from hit shows such as Evita, Hairspray, Mame, Man of La Mancha, Camelot, Phantom of the Opera and others.   It’s costume cacophony as this unique event marks a rare opportunity for audiences to see these costumes up close and personal –all on the same stage!

In addition to the costumes on the runway, patrons attending the show have the opportunity to purchase auction bids for evening bags promoting “a night on the town,” decked out with theatre tickets, restaurant gift cards and hotel stays – and one lucky winner will take home a diamond cocktail ring, valued at $1500.

The Broadway Legends Fashion Show and the evening bag raffle will take place Sunday, October 27 at The Heldrich, located on Livingston Avenue, directly across the street from George Street Playhouse.  Tickets for this benefit event are $100 for adults, $50 for youth aged 11-17.  Tickets are available through the George Street Playhouse Box Office, 732-246-7717 or via the GSP website.  All proceeds of the event will benefit George Street Playhouse’s mainstage and educational programming.

George Street Playhouse Artistic Director David Saint serves as Master of Ceremonies.  Local residents scheduled to strut the catwalk are: Patrick Albanesius; Karen Barnes of Woodbridge;  Karl Chase of New Brunswick; Lucy Devlin; Alice DeVoe and Gordon DeVoe  of New Brunswick;  Macie Fuscaldo; Betsy Garlatti of New Brunswick; Daniel Giannascoli; Rev. John Graf of Bedminster;  Liz and Suzen Hance of Monroe Township; Molly Holtz; Carol, Dominic and Juliana Menniti of East Hanover; Lisa Moro and Emma, Grace and Luke Voorhees of Bedminster; Kirby Mosely; Tracey O’Reggio; Faelen Paladino of Skillman; Jack and Doris Paster of Red Bank; Sam Schwartzman Patrick; Elizabeth Schwartzman; Jocelyn Schwartzman of East Brunswick; Sophia Schwartzman; Robin Suydam of Somerset; Lora Tremayne of Piscataway; Gabrielle Vajtay of Somerset; and Michele Wolansky of Warminster, PA.