By Charles Paolino
originally published: 05/04/2018
Before there was “American Idol” there was “Star Search,” and before there was Carrie Underwood there was Kevin Cahoon.
Cahoon won a singing championship on “Star Search” in 1985, when he was 13, and now he’s directing “The Nerd” for the George Street Playhouse.
A lot happened in the interim.
His most recent project is a play written by the late Larry Shue.
The Nerd, a two-act farce that premiered in Milwaukee in 1981, has had a successful history, including runs on Broadway and London’s West End, and it still turns up frequently in regional and community theaters.
The action swirls around Willum Cubbert of Terre Haute, Indiana, an architect who is designing a hotel for a client whose taste in design tends toward the Soviet.
Although he was a noncombatant, Willum was injured during service in Vietnam and survived only because a wounded GI who came across him dragged him more than a mile to safety.
Willum was not conscious during the ordeal and never met his savior, though he did learn that the man’s name was Rick Steadman, and the two exchanged some greetings through the mail.
But Willum got a little careless with his greetings and issued the kind of invitation that one issues while thinking that it will never be accepted: “If you’re ever in Terre Haute ….”
At a moment when his chronic indecisiveness is muddying both his romantic and professional lives, he gets a phone message to the effect that Rick is in town and is calling in his marker.
Willum is excited at first, but then his visitor arrives—an annoying, nervy, myopic character who offends everyone he meets and creates chaos wherever he goes.
This is the kind of play in which cottage cheese is introduced as a subplot, and Cahoon said that the silliness has to be orchestrated.
“You want to have it build,’’ he said. “You want to make sure there is not too much anarchy too soon. You want to save the peak comedic mayhem for the right moment.’’
At the same time, he said, the audience has to accept what’s happening to the characters on stage as plausible.
“You have to ground it in reality,” he said. “Rick has to be enough of an oddball to make these things real. The character comes in and hijacks their lives, and we should feel that way as we watch the play as well.”
Although it’s a farce, and quite broad at times, Shue gave The Nerd a couple of serious themes—one having to do, as Cahoon put it, with “not being completely consumed with one’s own “sturm und drang” and the other with “doing an unselfish act for another person that, in turn, will be more fulfilling for you.”
“I think this play is accessible to every audience member,” Cahoon said. “It’s hilarious, and it has a big heart.”
This is not Cahoon’s first directing assignment. He has overseen productions at the Bay Area Houston Ballet and Theatre and at the Ars Nova Theatre in New York.
He has a long acting resume on stage, television, and film, including roles in the Broadway productions of Tommy, The Lion King, The Wedding Singer, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
He has also had a career in music, including gigs at many New York venues with his band, Kevin Cahoon and Ghetto Cowboy.
The Houston native began performing when he was very young, appearing in rodeos in Texas and Oklahoma, and he began acting in local theaters when he was 10.
“I have spent my life as part of the arts,” he said.
“My mom saw something in me. I was obsessed with the circus and rodeo—events where people were watching a spectacle. I loved it.
“When I was seven or eight, she said, ‘Let’s put him in a creative-arts summer program and see if that’s an interest. Let’s give him what he wants.’”
Cahoon said his father had appeared in rodeos and his parents met at a rodeo club when they were in high school, so they had a little taste of the sawdust.
“They supported me every step of the way,” he said. “I have been very lucky.”
The Nerd runs through May 20 at George Street’s temporary location, 103 College Farm Road, New Brunswick.
PHOTO: (L to R) Zach Shaffer, Ann Harada, Jonathan Kite, Kevin Cahoon, Colin Hanlon, Hayden Bercy, Stephen Wallem and Kate Reinders. Photo credit: George Street Playhouse.
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It's A Family Affair, The Play
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 3:00pm
Avenel Performing Arts Center
150 Avenel Street, Avenel, NJGet ready to be part of an extraordinary theatrical experience.
PHP, Arts & Entertainment presents It’s a Family Affair—a play like no other, and we want you to be there! 🎉
Fellowship For Performing Arts Presents C.s. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 4:00pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJA battle is being waged for your soul from an office in hell! Witness a fast-paced, tour-de-force performance in this acclaimed adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ satiric masterpiece. This international hit offers a faithful stage adaptation of Lewis’
The Screwtape Letters, following Screwtape, a senior tempter in Hell, as he schemes to capture the soul of an unsuspecting human on earth and reveals spiritual warfare in vivid, humorous and powerful ways.
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when The Rainbow Is Enuf,
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 3:00pm
Middletown Arts Center
36 Church Street, Middletown, NJDunbar Repertory Company presents Ntozake Shange’s
FOR COLORED GIRLS Who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, the groundbreaking “choreopoem” – a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women. Directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, SR.
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/when The Rainbow Is Enuf,
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 8:00pm
Middletown Arts Center
36 Church Street, Middletown, NJDunbar Repertory Company presents Ntozake Shange’s
FOR COLORED GIRLS Who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, the groundbreaking “choreopoem” – a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women. Directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, SR.
It's A Family Affair, The Play
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 7:00pm
Avenel Performing Arts Center
150 Avenel Street, Avenel, NJGet ready to be part of an extraordinary theatrical experience.
PHP, Arts & Entertainment presents It’s a Family Affair—a play like no other, and we want you to be there! 🎉
Fellowship For Performing Arts Presents C.s. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 7:30pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJA battle is being waged for your soul from an office in hell! Witness a fast-paced, tour-de-force performance in this acclaimed adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ satiric masterpiece. This international hit offers a faithful stage adaptation of Lewis’
The Screwtape Letters, following Screwtape, a senior tempter in Hell, as he schemes to capture the soul of an unsuspecting human on earth and reveals spiritual warfare in vivid, humorous and powerful ways.
Lewis Center For The Arts Presents "oratorio For Living Things"
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 2:00pm
McCarter Theatre Center (Berlind Theatre)
91 University Place, Princeton, NJInfusing a classical oratorio with blues, gospel, jazz and soul, this musical and visual journey investigates human experiences of time and memory alongside powerful physical forces that shape the universe. Our exploration emphasizes the significance of the ritual of gathering for live performance in an increasingly screen-focused world.
Featuring the students of the Lewis Center as the cast and crew, this production is the first non-professional performance of this important new work which premiered in 2022 in New York City to great critical acclaim.
Directed by visiting Iranian artist and director Nikoo Mamdoohi, with English to Latin translations by Greg Taubman, Princeton Class of 2006, the professional team includes music direction by Emma Sway, music supervision by Solon Snider Sway, set design by Afsoon Pajoufar, lighting design by Kelley Shih, sound design by Kay Richardson, costume design by Keating Debelak, choreography by Sariel Golomb, and stage management by Milan Eldridge, Princeton Class of 2020. Juniors Lota Alagbe and Peyton McLaughlin serves as dramaturgs.
Lewis Center For The Arts Presents "oratorio For Living Things"
Saturday, November 07, 2026 @ 8:00pm
McCarter Theatre Center (Berlind Theatre)
91 University Place, Princeton, NJInfusing a classical oratorio with blues, gospel, jazz and soul, this musical and visual journey investigates human experiences of time and memory alongside powerful physical forces that shape the universe. Our exploration emphasizes the significance of the ritual of gathering for live performance in an increasingly screen-focused world.
Featuring the students of the Lewis Center as the cast and crew, this production is the first non-professional performance of this important new work which premiered in 2022 in New York City to great critical acclaim.
Directed by visiting Iranian artist and director Nikoo Mamdoohi, with English to Latin translations by Greg Taubman, Princeton Class of 2006, the professional team includes music direction by Emma Sway, music supervision by Solon Snider Sway, set design by Afsoon Pajoufar, lighting design by Kelley Shih, sound design by Kay Richardson, costume design by Keating Debelak, choreography by Sariel Golomb, and stage management by Milan Eldridge, Princeton Class of 2020. Juniors Lota Alagbe and Peyton McLaughlin serves as dramaturgs.
EVENT PREVIEWS
Dunbar Repertory Company presents "FOR COLORED GIRLS Who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf"
(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- Dunbar Repertory Company presents Ntozake Shange's FOR COLORED GIRLS Who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf at the Middletown Arts Center across two weekends from November 7-15, 2026. This is the groundbreaking "choreopoem" – a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women. The production is directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, SR.
It's a Family Affair: A Hilarious Dark Comedy Premieres at Avenel Performing Arts Center Before Heading Off-Off-Broadway
(AVENEL, NJ) -- Retirement was supposed to bring JT Tyler some peace. Instead, the retired fire captain discovers that after 40 years of putting out fires for everyone else, the biggest fire he may ever face is burning right inside his own home.
Trilogy Repertory presents "Clue"
(BASKING RIDGE, NJ) -- Trilogy Repertory presents Clue across two weekends from November 7-15, 2026 at The Sieminski Theater. It's a dark and stormy night. Whodunit? And how? The answer(s) may surprise you.
Bergen County Players presents "The Guys" this weekend
(ORADELL, NJ) -- As September 11 rapidly passes from living memory into recorded history—with well over a third of Americans today knowing that tragic day only through history books—Bergen County Players (BCP) invites the community to meaningfully "never forget" with a special, limited-run Second Stage presentation of Anne Nelson's The Guys.
Center Players presents "It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play"
(FREEHOLD, NJ) -- Center Players presents It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play with four performances across two Sundays (November 8 and November 15, 2026). Performances are split between the American Hotel and Mattison Crossing.
Hunterdon Hills Playhouse presents Christmas at the Playhouse 2026
(HAMPTON, NJ) -- Hunterdon Hills Playhouse presents Christmas at the Playhouse 2026 from November 10 to December 20, 2026. Celebrate the season with this spectacular holiday production filled with the music, memories, and traditions audiences have cherished through the years.
Ferrell Studios presents "Carrie, the Musical"
(PLAINFIELD, NJ) -- Ferrell Studios presents Carrie, the Musical at the Plainfield Performing Arts Center from November 12-15, 2026. Based on the classic novel by Stephen King, the musical poses the question: What happens when someone is pushed too far?
Centenary Stage Company's Fringe Festival presents "Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman"
(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- Centenary Stage Company's Fringe Festival continues with Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman, a captivating one-woman play written and performed by Erica Knight. Running November 12–15, 2026, in the Kutz Theatre at the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University. The production explores the turbulent life and legacy of Ralph Albert Blakelock, one of America's most celebrated yet tragically overlooked nineteenth-century painters.
Fool Moon Theatre Company presents "Love, Loss, And What I Wore" at The Eagle Theatre on November 12th
(HAMMONTON, NJ) -- Fool Moon Theatre Company presents a special, one-night-only presentation of the hit play Love, Loss and What I Wore on Thursday, November 12 2026 at Eagle Theatre. This exclusive event is a benefit for the Funny Farm Rescue & Sanctuary in Mays Landing. Showtime is 7:30pm.
Middlesex College presents "She Kills Monsters"
(EDISON, NJ) -- Middlesex College Visual, Performing and Media Arts presents She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen from November 12-18, 2026 at the Performing Arts Center - Studio Theater in Edison. She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home in Ohio following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly.
