In just two years, the NJ Stage Awards have developed quite a following throughout the Garden State arts community. Designed to help shine a spotlight on arts organizations throughout the state, the complete list of winners for 2016 were announced in New Jersey Stage magazine. New Jersey Stage will be highlighting the winners of each category until the end of the year. This article takes a look at the Best Place For Live Comedy category.
“The Stress Factory Comedy Club received our gold award as the best place for live comedy,” said Gary Wien, publisher. “They have been bringing top comedians to New Brunswick for over 20 years. Some of the names to grace their stage include Dave Attell, Jim Breuer, Denis Leary, Drew Carey, Richard Lewis, Chris Rock, Ralphie May, and Andrew Dice Clay."
The silver award for second place went to The Comedy Shoppe, which boasts "the best comedy line up in North Jersey, period."
Earning the bronze was Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, which regularly features great comedy performances among its busy schedule of shows.
Awards were chosen by the public via a month-long online vote to find the best places to experience art in New Jersey. Categories included art, comedy, dance, film, music, theatre, and best town for an arts night out. Over 10,000 votes were cast.
“The public was allowed to vote once a day per IP address,” explained Wien. “This allowed the smallest of arts organizations the same opportunity as the largest. We saw venues push voting on their websites, social media pages, and at the venues themselves.”
The top 3 vote getters for each category were listed in New Jersey Stage magazine and on a permanent page of the NewJerseyStage.com website. In addition, the website features a rotating graphic highlighting one winner at a time and linking back to their website (the graphics will run until the 2017 NJ Stage Award winners are announced). Individual press releases for each genre will also point a spotlight on the top 3 winners in each category.
For the complete list of 2016 NJ Stage Award winners click here.
