Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Two organizations with rich histories will be in residence at the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts.
Breakfast was served at the Burgdorff last Friday to an excited mix of local artists, politicians, and press to witness the mariage of two local professional theater companies. Christened “A New Jersey Treasure,” by TalkinBroadway.com, The Theater Project (previously performing at Union County College) is joining forces with the What Exit? Theater Company, one of the state’s leading comedy platforms. Under the banner, The Theater Project, the new organization will produce main stage productions along with a host of other programming out of the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts in Maplewood. The Theater Project’s Mark Spina will remain artistic director, and What Exit? founder and artistic director Bev Sheehan will take on the …
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-74.27638
Burgdorff Cultural Center
10 Durand Rd, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/the-theater-project-and-whatexit-theater-companies-join-forces
1977675
/locations/6478487
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Austin Bommer, 14, portrayed Liesl in "The Sound of Music" opposite her father as Captain Von Trapp.
Austin Bommer is adjusting to life as a freshman at Columbia High School. However, she pulled off a far bigger transition this August, when she moved to the Kansas City area for a month to play Liesl in a production of "The Sound of a Music." "It was almost like a culture shock, because everyone was so nice there. They made me feel welcome," said Austin, who turned 14 this month and successfully auditioned to replace an 18-year-old actress who was headed to college and had to leave the show at the New Theatre in Overland Park, Kan., early. Austin had spent the beginning of her summer participating in the Paper Mill's Summer Musical Theater Conservatory, and then opportunity knocked. Her father Ron Bommer was portraying Captain Von Trapp in…
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-74.266716
Columbia High School
17 Parker Ave, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/chs-freshman-landed-summer-acting-job-in-kansas-city-2
2997
/locations/84767
Thursday, August 20, 2009
“Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs” plays today.
Probably every kid who has ever heard the story of the Three Little Pigs has thought “what if the wolf wasn’t so big and bad?” Maplewood resident and playwright Jeff Larkin has illustrated how the little pigs' story and others would play out if the wolf in question was a good guy with an interest in environmental construction. “It’s kind of a fun, fractured fairy tale,” Larkin said of his creation “Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs.” The play will be performed today at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Park. It debuted yesterday at 5 at Cameron Field in South Orange. The wolf isn’t the only fairy tale character skewed in the play. “This piece is a mash-up of the Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs story through the conduit …
40.731788
-74.273122
Memorial Park
124 Dunnell Rd, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/fractured-fairy-tale-performed-today-and-tomorrow-in-maplewood-and-south-orange
6760
/locations/63181
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The show will be performed on Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in Cameron Field.
Written by local playwrights Jeff Larkin and Nancy S. Chu, "Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs" is described by its creators as a "fractured fairytale." Playing in both South Orange and Maplewood, the play is a mash-up of several popular children's tales, told with a skewed sensibility. The performances are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Cameron Field in South Orange and Thursday, Aug. 20, at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Park in Maplewood. During Patch's visit, the cast and crew were hard at work the day before the show opened. We recorded video of a run-through of the closing dance number. Check it out.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Running at SOPAC through Sept. 27, 'Menopause' features broad humor and some crowd-pleasing musical numbers.
If audience reaction is any indication, Menopause The Musical, running at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) through Sept. 27, is a smash hit. Even before the performance begins, members of a packed house on a Wednesday evening seem giddy with anticipation, buying “flash fans” from vendors in the aisles and comparing notes on where and how many times they’ve seen the show before. Nearly 11 million people in 250 cities around the world have attended performances of Menopause since it opened in a 76-seat former perfume shop in Orlando in 2001, though some of these are clearly double or even triple dippers. For SOPAC, the production's two-month run will be the longest in the venue’s three-year history. Harold Pinter it ain’t. …
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Performances will be held in Meadowland Park in South Orange and Memorial Park in Maplewood.
- NEWS
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Thursday, August 6, 2009
Performers have been announced for the second offering of "SOPAC Inside Out," a series of free outdoor performances for kids and families at Meadowland Park in South Orange and Memorial Park in Maplewood this month. SOPAC will present an original production of the fractured fairy tale Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs by local playwrights Jeff Larkin and Nancy S. Chu. The cast includes Susan Leone (Mom and Granny), the director of Maplewood’s Jazzberries Kindermusic studio; Orange resident Hernell Gabriel (Flora the Pig); Gregory Omar Osborne (Gregory the Pig), a student at Montclair State University; Newark resident Pete Mars (Wolfgang), an NJ School of Dramatic Arts student; Maplewood resident Emma Leone (Rosie); Maplewood resident…
40.731788
-74.273122
Memorial Park
124 Dunnell Rd, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/free-performances-in-memorial-park-and-sopac
6760
/locations/62782
A dance fight broke out at Town Hall this week.
Shortly before official business commenced at this week's Maplewood Township Committee meeting, representatives from Inspirational Dance on Springfield Avenue hijacked the proceedings—with dance! The performance was a medley of Michael Jackson's songs and signature moves. Songs included "You are not Alone," "Man in the Mirror" and "Smooth Criminal."
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-74.27201
Township Municipal Building
574 Valley St, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/video-town-hall-dance-explosion
3110
/locations/52170
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-74.258598
Inspirational Dance
1634 Springfield Ave, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/video-town-hall-dance-explosion
19805
/locations/52171
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Kids relived the American frontier settler experience.
In conjunction with the forthcoming national tour of the musical Little House on the Prairie to be performed at the Paper Mill Playhouse, the Maplewood Library Children's Department presented an interactive theater experience depicting the life of American settlers during the mid-19th century as told through the character of Laura Wilder Ingalls, author of Little House. Sandy Marino, a theater-teaching artist at the Playhouse, assumed the character of Ms. Ingalls. As Ingalls, she led the audience in a series of role playing, reading and dancing activities to have them experience what life might have been like during the days the settlers moved westward. When first told that over 120 children had signed up to attend the performance, Ms. …
40.729183
-74.275908
Maplewood Memorial Library
51 Baker St, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/video-paper-mills-little-house-on-the-prairie-at-main-library
3620
/locations/51879
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Paper Mill Playhouse brings Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books to life.
Sandy Marino is a teaching artist in the education department at the Paper Mill Playhouse, but she clearly would be right at home performing on stage in any of its theater productions. Marino delighted and enthralled a small but enthusiastic group of children yesterday at the Main Branch of the Maplewood Library as she read from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. But Marino did not have the children sit quietly while she turned the pages: she actively involved the children in the reading process. The children formed a wagon, splashed through imaginary streams, yipped liked coyotes, made Indian war cries (Marino explained to the children that Ingalls Wilder used the term “Indian” to describe Native Americans), banged on drums and, …
40.729183
-74.275908
Maplewood Memorial Library
51 Baker St, Maplewood, NJ
/articles/little-house-on-the-prairie-comes-alive-at-library-2
3620
/locations/51807
Monday, April 27, 2009
Annual Shakespeare festival at Columbia.
- SCHOOLS
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Monday, April 27, 2009
On Friday, April 24, the Columbia High School Shakespeare Festival Club wrapped up the school’s annual weeklong Shakespeare Festival with a full day of performances in the school’s auditorium. Interpretation of the Bard’s work included traditional staging of scenes as well as contemporary interpretative deviations—one performance retrofitted Shakespeare's words into hip hop style. The festival has been held annually at the school since it was founded in 2001 after a grant from the Dodge Foundation.
Risa Lower
8:39 am on Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Don't miss this terrific company's new production of Miss Witherspoon at the Burgdorff; if you are new to The Theater Project/What Exit? you are in for a treat; if you've seen them, you know what I mean! Also there is the "Evening With Sondheim" on Monday, March 5th @ 8 p.m. There may still be some tickets. If there are, don't miss this. This is Broadway in Maplewood with the joy of Sondheim. more ›