Theatre for Everyone: Acting & Improvisation
Inclusive theater studies designed especially for adults with learning disabilities or needing other accommodations
In collaboration with Theatre in Motion, this ten-week fall/winter acting studio course will allow adult students with and without disabilities to explore theater improvisation, acting exercises, music and movement. The course will creatively address and include diverse learning styles and modes of communication. Ideally, students should have the ability to memorize some sentences (lines) and/or a short-written poem. Students should ideally commit to be at all classes. The course will end with a sharing for family and friends.
WHEN: MONDAY nights from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm on: October 7, 21, 28; November 4, 18, 25; December 2, 9, 16, 23
WHERE: Cranford Community Center, 220 Walnut Ave, Cranford, NJ 07016
FEE: Free of Charge - Space is Limited
QUESTIONS? CONTACT Michelle Tempkin at 973-315-1666 or mtempkin@papermill.org
Theatre for Everyone: For Young People with Disabilities, Ages 7 – 21
WHEN: Fridays, October 25, November 1, 8, 15, 22; December 6, 13, 20; 4 – 5 pm
WHERE: New Providence Memorial Library, 377 Elkwood Avenue, New Providence, NJ 07974
FEE: Free of Charge – Registration Ongoing
QUESTIONS? CONTACT Michelle Tempkin at 973-315-1666 or mtempkin@papermill.org
Creative Drama
In collaboration with Theatre in Motion, an organization which provides a wide array of arts programming for children & adults with all types of disabilities, this class will include theatre improvisation, storytelling, music, movement, and some visual art. The series will creatively address and include diverse learning styles and modes of communication. When applicable, a student's attendant, who may be a parent, caregiver, nurse, personal aide, or sign interpreter, is welcome to stay for the class. The course will end with a fun sharing for family and friends. Typical siblings are welcome. (IMAGE at top)
Updated Laser Concerts
Observatory 
So what's not to like? The conceit of a woman disguised as a man is common to several of Shakespeare's plays, but a tiny bit of the woman’s femininity is usually visible under the male clothing—making the clueless Orlando's wooing of Ganymede all the more delicious, for we are in on the joke. In this production, director Paul Mullins and costume designer Nikki Delhomme have dressed the characters in colorful, modern attire, except for Safiya Kaijya Harris (left with Ben Jacobs), who plays Rosalind. When we first meet her at the ducal palace, she wears a lovely burgundy cocktail dress. In the forest, however, she’s donned tweed men’s trousers, work boots, a blazer and a knitted watch cap pulled down over her ears, hiding any hint of femininity. Even more confusing is her donning of a male persona, complete with fist bumps and swagger; where we should see a young woman trying too hard to be manly, she’s too convincing. And her speech fits her appearance; even as she recites Shakespeare's lovely lines, I kept waiting for her to break into Rap. Sometimes, she sounded more like a kid from the 'hood, instead of a well-brought-up, lovely lady trying to connect with her beloved. 
The rest of the cast have no such problems. In fact, several of them double in roles both masculine and feminine. Torsten Johnson is a malevolent, nasty Duke Oliver who tortures his younger brother Orlando by withholding from him any learning or activity that would bring him pleasure; he's also Sir Oliver Martext, the lisping minister Orlando has found to marry him and Ganymede/Rosalind in the forest. Earl Baker, Jr., plays the two dukes: cruel, usurping Duke Frederick (in a no-nonsense pin stripe suit, right) and his kindly brother Duke Senior, whom he has banished from his realm. Roger Rathburn plays the loyal servant Adam and the simple shepherd Corin. And Jonathan Higginbotham wins the prize for the most roles played: He's Charles the wrestler; the lovestruck shepherd William; and a forester. Devin Conway plays the male servant Le Beau and Phoebe, a sassy shepherdess in love with Ganymede and pursued by the steadfast Silvius, played by an earnest Ryan Woods. Elizabeth Colwell gets great laughs for her portrayal of the doltish Audrey, who’s won the heart (for a while, at least) of Touchstone the Fool. 
The actors who play only one part are equally as fine: Ben Jacoby, coming off a three-year run in Broadway’s Beautiful, is winningly attractive as the almost too-good-to-be-true Orlando; he is especially funny when reciting the doggerel he has written to extol his Rosalind's beauty. Nick Corley’s Touchstone, the wise fool, whose motley consists of a vivid plaid shirt, delivers his lines with a wise guy attitude; his great height and stature add to the hilarity of his role, and his expressive face makes his jokes seem like grand philosophical statements. And Anthony Marble (above left, center) as the dour melancholic Jaques is not shy about voicing his distaste for the rustic life and a nagging cynicism; his recitation of the famous and familiar "All the World's a Stage (Seven Ages of Man)" speech is masterful, and he is a great foil to the almost cloying idyllic forest life. 
The aformentioned Safiya Kaijya Harris (right) has the makings of a fine actress, although I believe that Director Mullins has done her portrayal of Rosalind no favors with his choices. Under that cap, it is hard to see the womanly ardor she should attempt to control in the company of Orlando. She's terrific in the opening scenes, regal and cool. As her confidante-cousin, the rather clueless Celia, Sarah Nicole Deaver (right) performs well in a role that takes a back seat to Rosalind; she looks appropriately bored as her cuz extols Orlando's qualities ad nauseum, so that when she falls in love with a now-reformed Oliver, we are glad for her happiness.
Anchoring the evening will be the very popular Jerry Vezza/Grover Kemble Quartet. This dynamic jazz quartet has performed in marquee venues in New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles, and Europe for events, jazz concerts, clubs, and music festivals.
Cara Cooper has many Broadway credits including The Prom, Jersey Boys, Elf, Legally Blonde, The Wedding Singer, All Shook Up, Urban Cowboy and the national tours of 42nd Street, The Who’s Tommy and Spamalot. 
Tom Sellwood has had an extensive career singing and acting across the world, including Broadway and the West End, in productions of Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret and Showboat.
Gay Willis is an award-winning soprano who won world recognition when she performed in the world tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. On Broadway, she has starred as Christine Daae in The Phantom of the Opera, Rapunzel in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, among others. She also completed over 1000 performances as Magnolia in Hal Prince's production of Showboat on Broadway.
This darkly comic work is inspired by Hyon’s childhood as the youngest of four unhappy Korean-American children in suburban Pennsylvania. A lively, interactive experience for curious and adventurous theatergoers, Soo Jin… will be the inaugural performance in the newly-renovated Luna2. 
