MOTHER (and Me)
written and performed by Melinda Buckley
WHEN: Thursday, October 19, at 7:30 pm; Friday, October 20, at 8:00 pm; Saturday, October 21, at 8:00 pm; and Sunday, October 22, at 2:00 pm.
WHERE: Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center of the Centenary University campus at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown
TICKETS: range from $22.50 – $27.50 for adults with discounts available for Students & Children on select performances. Thursday evening performances also feature “Buy One Get One” ticket night starting at 5:30 in person at the box office.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit centenarystageco.org or call the box office at (908) 979-0900.
This 75-minute autobiographical solo play tells the story of a Broadway performer shimmying into middle age as her Hungarian ‘Mama Rose’ is waltzing into dementia. While the subject matter is delicate, Melinda handles it with, showbiz pizzazz and most importantly, with a healthy dose of humor. It’s a story about stepping up and into your own light that is intended to move the audience, make them laugh and in the end, make for an uplifting night of theater.
MOTHER
(and me) originally premiered in the FringeNYC Festival at the Celebration
of Whimsy where it won Best of Fest. Barbara Whitman, Tony Award-winning
producer of "Fun Home" and “Strange Loop,” then took it
under her wing. Kimberly Senior, director of the Tony Award-winning play "Disgraced"
soon joined the team, and the production began its developmental journey at
theatres such as Chicago Shakespeare, off-Broadway's Second Stage Uptown and
Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY. In 2016, the show premiered in Chicago in
the Greenhouse Theater's 'Solo Celebration,' followed by an enormously
successful 3-week run at Geva Theatre. More recently, the play was presented to
audiences at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, NY, at the Martha's Vineyard
Playhouse, the Cape Playhouse, the Cotuit Center for the Arts and at
Provincetown Works, as a fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Family Support Center
of Cape Cod.
To
learn more about the show, visit the play's website at: https://www.motherandmetheplay.com/
Melinda
Buckley has appeared on Broadway and in the National tours of several
shows, including Crazy for You, A Chorus Line and Bob Fosse's revival of
Sweet Charity. She performed improv and sketch material with
Gotham City Improv and Chicago City Limits, and appeared as a stand up at
Caroline's, Stand-up NY, and Gotham Comedy Club.
She
has written and performed several solo shows, her latest being MOTHER
(and me). On the other side of the table, highlights include
directing Town Hall's hit musical series, Broadway by The Year, which
featured a Tony Award winning cast, and choreographing Paramour, which starred
Len Cariou and premiered at the Old Globe Theatre. For the big screen,
she choreographed the musical sequences for Columbia Pictures', “Stuart Little
I and II” with Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie and Jonathon Lipnicki, the independent
film 1999, starring Amanda Peet and Jennifer Garner, and assisted Pat Birch on
Working Girl as well as several episodes of Saturday Night Live. Other TV
credits include, choreographing the daytime drama “One Life to Live” and an
award-winning promo for the CBS Fall Lineup. Most recently, she
choreographed a CBS promo for “Girl Power” which aired during Super Bowl 2019
and was named one of the top ten ads by Paste magazine. She assisted
Lonny Price (as SDC Fellow) in the filming of Company at the NY
Philharmonic, which starred Neil Patrick Harris, Patti Lupone, Stephen Colbert,
Martha Plimpton, and Jon Cryer.
Melinda
has written, directed, and choreographed numerous commercial and corporate
productions for such clients as Fox, ESPN, WE tv, Sesame Street, McDonald's,
Microsoft, Pepsi, IBM, American Express and Audi. She is a proud member
of AEA, SAG-AFTRA and SDC.
The box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ. Centenary Stage Company can also be found across social media platforms; Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. Like and follow to receive the latest in CSC news and special offers.
The 2023-24 Season of Performing Arts events at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the generous support of the NJ State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, the John and Margaret Post Foundation, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, the CSC corporate sponsors, including Platinum Season Sponsor the House of the Good Shepherd, Silver Sponsors, Heath Village, Visions Federal Credit Union, Explore Warren, and Fulton Bank, and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.
