(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) presents Fire In The Garden - a new play by Ken Weitzman that stars Sean Astin, which is streaming online for free until June 1st. In the play, A new father records a birthday message for his one-year-old son as he wrestles with the legacy, doubts, and hopes he has for the world that his son will inherit.
In Weitzman’s play, written expressly for Zoom, the intimacy, the home-made immediacy of the medium adds to the power of witnessing this particular new father reaching out to his present and future son.
The production is directed by James Glossman. Click here to view the play.
Sean Astin has demonstrated an innate ability to share his heart with the world through iconic roles such as Mikey Walsh in "The Goonies" (1985), the title character of "Rudy" (1993), Samwise Gamgee in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001-2003), and Bob Newby in "Stranger Things 2" (2017-2019) -- characters who epitomize hope, determination and loyalty. Son of Academy Award winning actress Patty Duke and acclaimed actor John Astin, Sean is also a director, voice artist, and producer. In 2004, Sean authored the NY Times best seller "There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale", chronicling his acting career with emphasis on his experiences filming "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. In television, Sean has appeared in numerous movies and series, including multi-episodic runs in "Jeremiah" (2003-2004), the popular thriller "24" (2006), and Guillermo Del Toro's "The Strain" (2014-2015). Sean attended the Crossroads High School for the Arts and later a master class at the Stella Adler Conservatory in Los Angeles. He graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in History and English. Since "Lord of the Rings", Astin has served on the board of several non-profit organizations, including the National Center for Family Literacy. A vocal advocate for literacy, mental health awareness, bi-polar disorder, civic engagement and other issues, he is an energetic, passionate speaker who promotes a culture of volunteerism to all audiences. Sean has been a long-distance runner since his teens. To date, he has participated in four LA Marathons, the San Francisco Marathon and the Chicago Marathon, among many others. After four decades of captured performances, Sean ventured in front of a live theater audience, first as Joseph Stalin in a theatrical presentation of Shostakovich and the Black Monk: A Russian Fantasy (2018-2019) with the Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet and then as Dr. Moricet in the American premiere of John Cleese's adaptation of a 19th Century French farce, Bang Bang! (2018). Both productions were directed by James Glossman.
James Glossman most recently directed the East Coast premiere of Jeff Daniels' Flint at Shadowland Stages (NY), and DW Gregory's Memoirs of a Forgotten Man at NJRep, where he has also directed (among other projects) Circumference of a Squirrel, Two Jews Walk Into a War, and Tour De Farce. Other recent: American premiere of Bang Bang!, new farce by John Cleese; co-wrote and directed the music-theatre piece Shostakovich and the Black Monk: A Russian Fantasy, with multiple-Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet and a rotating cast including Sean Astin, David Strathairn, Len Cariou, Jay O. Sanders, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Richard Thomas, in concert and festival halls around the world including Tanglewood, Ravinia, Wolf Trap, Los Angeles, and Seoul, South Korea. Adapted/Directed world premieres of Raymond Chandler's Trouble Is My Business (Portland Stage), Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum (Luna Stage), and Jim Lehrer's Kick the Can, The Special Prisoner (with William Schallert), and Flying Crows (available from Dramatic Publishing). Directed East Coast premieres of Jeff Daniels' Guest Artist and Jeffrey Sweet's Bluff (both with John Astin), Los Angeles premiere of Noël Coward's A Song at Twilight (with Orson Bean and Alley Mills), first NYC revival of Sheldon Harnick's Smiling, the Boy Fell Dead (w/ Judy Kaye and Tony Roberts–York Theatre), and productions around the country of The Value of Names with Jack Klugman (opposite Dan Lauria and Liz Larsen, and earlier Louis Zorich and Megan Muckelmann). Earlier this year, James directed a workshop reading of his stage adaptation of Robert Heinlein's science fiction classic, The Door Into Summer (w/ Jeff DeMunn, Evelyn McGee Colbert and Stephen Colbert), and completed his adaptation of three short stories by Tom Hanks. Graduate of Northwestern University, ACT, BADA-Oxford, and Yale School of Drama. Lecturer in Directing, Voice/Speech, and Shakespeare, Johns Hopkins University. Associate Artist, Shadowland Stages.
Plays by Ken Weitzman include Halftime with Don (New Jersey Repertory Company, National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere), The Catch (The Denver Center Theatre Company), The As If Body Loop (Humana Festival), Arrangements (Atlantic Theatre Company), Hominid (Out of Hand Theatre/Theatre Emory/Oerol Festival, Netherlands), and seal boy (Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, upcoming), among others. Ken's short plays Mountaineer and Covenant (or…Bagels and Butchery) were featured in two of NJ Rep's Theatre Brut Festivals and published by Smith and Kraus Publishers. National Awards include The L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Playwriting for Arrangements, TCG Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for The Catch, the Fratti/Newman Political Play Contest Award for Fire in the Garden, and the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company's Generations competition for seal boy. Ken's plays and monologues have been published by Samuel French, Playscripts, Smith and Kraus, Broadway Play Publishing, Blackbird, and Applause. He received his MFA from University of California, San Diego, and teaches at Stony Brook University.
New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theater. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Program support comes from The Shubert Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, The Horizon Foundation of New Jersey, OceanFirst Foundation, Princeton Area Community Foundation, Manasquan Bank, Monmouth County CARES, Investors Bank Foundation, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
