George Street Playhouse Announces 2021-2022 In-person Season
New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse will return to in-person
performances this fall with a newly announced full season line-up.
The season will include four plays, plus the East Coast premiere of the musical A Walk on the Moon, to be presented on the stage of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, 9 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick.
“After well more than a year, it is finally time to welcome our subscribers and ticket buyers back to the theater,” Artistic Director David Saint said. “We need to gather together again and replenish our collective spirit.”
Following a successful streaming season this past year, George Street Playhouse’s 5-play 2021/22 season will begin in October and run through May.
Dear Jack, Dear Louise
By Ken Ludwig
WHEN: October 26 through November 21
For the first production of George Street Playhouse’s long-anticipated re-opening, award-winning playwright and master of comedy Ken Ludwig (Lend Me A Tenor, The Fox on the Fairway) brings New Jersey a new romantic comedy, Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise—a love story set during World War II about a young soldier courting his sweetheart, a young actress on Broadway.
What starts with long distance letter writing ends in a “sweep you off your feet” meeting in Times Square. This funny, touching, patriotic and uplifting story, based on the playwright’s parents, is just the perfect “Welcome Home to George Street Playhouse.” Come fall in love with live theatre all over again.
It’s Only a Play
by Terrence McNally
directed by Kevin Cahoon (George Street’s The Nerd)
WHEN: November 30th through December 19th
Following this year’s critically acclaimed virtual production of
It’s Only A Play by Terrence McNally, George Street Playhouse will
bring this hilarious comedy onto the stage to be seen in-person!
A Tony Award-winner and longtime friend of George Street, McNally left us this past year, and the Playhouse looks forward to celebrating his life with his hysterical comedy set at a Broadway Opening Night Party.
The New York Times called this valentine to the theatre “a
hilarious gold-mining hit.”
George Street’s production features a cast of award-winning
Broadway farceurs who have to be seen in-person to be believed. The return to
George Street Playhouse’s larger stage in the Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater
will be a laugh-filled night to forget your troubles with guffaws!
Her Portmanteau
by Mfoniso Udofia
directed by Laiona Michelle
WHEN: January 18 - February 13, 2022
Next, George Street Playhouse Artistic Associate Laiona Michelle (Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical; American Hero) helms Her Portmanteau, a fascinating new play about Nigerian American immigrants that opens our eyes to the Nigerian culture, especially as it becomes assimilated in America.
Reminiscent of an Arthur Miller family drama, Ms. Udofia’s moving
work, which The New York Times called “extraordinary,” touches on universal
themes of mother-daughter relationships; forgiveness; reconciliation; and the
struggle associated with leaving our countries of origin behind, while still
holding on to the rich cultural heritage.
We are proud to be producing Ms. Udofia’s work directed by Ms. Michelle.
by Jacobo Morales
directed by Julio Monge
WHEN: March 4 through March 27, 2022
Next, George Street Playhouse is honored to welcome the extremely
talented, award-winning Director/ Choreographer Julio Monge, who will helm the
American English-language premiere of a play by iconic Puerto Rican Academy
Award-nominee Jacobo Morales.
Baipás (a byway detour from the main road) presents a magical world in which two very diverse, strong individuals are thrown together into a strange place. Using the legendary sensuous Bolero, they come to choose life and love. As this man and woman dance through the byways of love between clarity and confusion, with a healthy dose of sarcastic humor, they arrive in an unexpected place.
A romantic pas de deux!
A Walk on the Moon
Book & Additional Lyrics by Pamela Gray
Music & Lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman
Direction by Tony-Nominee Sheryl Kaller (Mothers and Sons on Broadway)
Choreography by Tony-Nominee Josh Prince
Musical Supervision by Tony-Nominee Greg Anthony Rassen
WHEN: April 27 through May 22, 2022
After more than a year of anticipation, George Street Playhouse is thrilled to announce that A Walk on the Moon will close our season!
The George Street Playhouse is excited to present the east coast premiere of A Walk on the Moon, a musical based on the film of the same name. Welcome to the iconic summer of 1969 when man walked on the moon, women fought for equal rights, the War in Vietnam raged on, and Woodstock showed America what the new generation stood for. At a Jewish bungalow colony in the Catskills, a young wife and mother, Pearl Kantrowitz, has an affair with the handsome Blouseman. While the affair jeopardizes her marriage and creates pain and turmoil, Pearl is forced to undertake a journey of self-discovery.
A Walk on the Moon is co-produced with Ruth and Stephen Hendel in association with Roy Gabay.
Based on the Miramax and Village Roadshow Pictures/Punch Productions and Jay Cohen motion picture written by Pamela Gray.
Policy Regarding Vaccination Requirements for George Street Playhouse Audiences:
- Proof of full Covid-19 vaccination with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine will be required for entry.
- Guests who are unvaccinated will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance start time, or a negative COVID-19 antigen test taken within 6 hours of the performance start time in order to enter the theater.
- Masks will be required of all audience members, regardless of vaccination status.
About George
Street Playhouse
Under the leadership
of Artistic Director David Saint since 1997, and Kelly Ryman—Managing
Director since 2013, the Playhouse produces groundbreaking new works, inspiring
productions of the classics, and hit Broadway plays and musicals that speak to
the heart and mind, with an unwavering commitment to producing new work.
As New Brunswick’s first producing theatre, George Street Playhouse became the
cornerstone of the revitalization of the City’s arts and cultural
landscape. With its 45-year history of producing nationally renowned
theatre, the Playhouse continues to fill a unique theatre and arts education
role in the city, state and greater metropolitan region.
Beginning with
the 2019-20 Season, George Street Playhouse moved to the New Brunswick
Performing Arts Center in downtown New Brunswick. Featuring two
state-of-the-art theatres -- The Arthur Laurents Theater with 253 seats and The
Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater which seats 465-- and myriad amenities, the New
Brunswick Performing Arts Center marks a new era in the esteemed history of
George Street Playhouse.
Founded by Eric
Krebs, George Street Playhouse, originally located in an abandoned supermarket
on the corner of George and Albany Streets, was the first professional theatre
in New Brunswick. In 1984, the Playhouse moved to a renovated YMCA on
Livingston Avenue, and in 2017 took temporary residence in the former
Agricultural Museum at Rutgers University during construction of its new home.
The Playhouse has
been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway. In
2018, George Street Playhouse was represented on Broadway with Gettin’ the
Band Back Together which premiered on the Playhouse mainstage in
2013. American Son, produced by George Street Playhouse in 2017,
opened on Broadway in 2018 starring Kerry Washington and Stephen Pasqual, and
will appear on Netflix. Other productions include the Outer Critics’
Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger. In 2015, It
Shoulda Been You opened on Broadway and Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little
Lies opened off-Broadway. Both shows received their premieres at the
Playhouse. Others include the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League
nominated production of The Spitfire Grill; and the Broadway hit and
Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was
developed at the Playhouse during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays.
In addition to the
mainstage season, the Playhouse’s education department provides extensive
programming for children, youth and adults. Partnering with
administrators and educators throughout New Jersey, the Playhouse provides
unique education experiences that both reinforce classroom curriculum and
investigate issues such as bullying, diversity, immigration, health and
wellness, and the rising epidemic of opioid addiction.
George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.
