(HOBOKEN, NJ) -- Mile Square Theatre is pleased to announce their Theatre for Family and Young Audiences Production for their 2023-24 season: Show Up, Kids!, directed by Michole Biancosino, which has a four-week limited engagement at Mile Square Theatre from Wednesday, April 24 through Sunday, May 19, 2024. Show Up, Kids! is a semi-improvised comedy where a hapless host uses audience suggestions for the plot, props, characters, and setting of a completely original story.
Says FringeReview of the play, “By the end, the kids are dancing, singing, and laughing. It’s a feel-good show. Even parents will leave with a smile.” The highly acclaimed production is a top family pick from the New York Times and Time Out New York.
The production stars Peter Michael Marino as the host, and Denisse Stefany Mendoza for two Spanglish performances on Wednesday, May 8th and Wednesday, May 15th at 12:00pm.
Show Up, Kids! plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, May 19 - Saturdays at 2:00pm & 5:00pm; Sundays at 11:00am & 2:00pm. Tickets are $24-$35 and available for purchase online. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater a half hour before the performance. Opening Night is Saturday, April 27 at 5:00pm. Running time is 45 Minutes. Mile Square Theatre is located at 1400 Clinton Street in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The production features scenic design by Jen Price Fick and Emmett Grosland and lighting design by Nina Agelvis.
Schools that wish to book field trip performances should reach out to [email protected]. Mile Square Theatre provides $10 tickets for students with chaperones free with every ten student tickets. The show is a perfect educational opportunity for creative, artistic, and visual expression; speech; critical thinking; spatial relations; decision making; and social skills.
BIOGRAPHIES
Peter Michael Marino (Writer/Performer) Pete has worked extensively on 5 continents as a performer, producer, director, writer, and teacher. Since 2018, Pete has performed his acclaimed, interactive, semi-improvised, family-friendly comedy, Show Up, Kids! at NYC’s Kraine Theater, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Complex in Hollywood, Cincinnati’s Know Theater, the Lower East Side’s LUNGS Fest, Stepping Stones Children’s Museum, Playscape in The Battery, and Summer on the Hudson.
Pete is a frequent collaborator with the education departments of The Kennedy Center and The Washington National Opera. He originated the clown/host role of Keeper in the immersive cirque experience “MoonRise” - which played in Brooklyn and Time Square’s Paradise Club for the last 2 years. He’s the resident director for NYC Kids Project which uses puppets to teach kids about inclusion and acceptance. He originated the villainous and idiotic Joules Volter character in the 2019 award-winning, Off-Broadway, immersive family show “Pip’s Island” on 42nd Street. For five years, Pete provided the comic relief in the global smash STOMP both Off-Broadway and internationally. He’s appeared in dozens of Off-Broadway and regional productions, and had been heard on hundreds of voice-overs for important banks, bands & beverages. His production company PM2 Entertainment has presented festivals and original comedy productions from NYC to Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Denisse Estefany Mendoza (Performer) studied at the University of Texas el Paso, Playhouse West: Brooklyn, and the Magnet Training Center. Selected theater credits include Sor Juana in "Primer Sueno" with Repertorio Español, Irene in "Chiquita" at Playwrights Horizon, Elida in "Aztec Pirates: a Latinx Fantasia on National Themes" with Playground Experiment, and Cat in “A Barn Play” with UP Theatre Company. Film credits include “Beyond & Above" by Dir. Chris Harcum, "Seams" by Dir. Sierra Nutkevtic, and "Daddy Hotline" by Michelle D'Angelo.
Denisse Estefany Mendoza (ARTISTA) estudió en la Universidad de Texas, El Paso, Playhouse West Brooklyn y Magnet Training Center. Algunos créditos teatrales incluyen Sor Juana en "Primer Sueño" en el Repertorio Español, Irene en "Chiquita" con Playwrights Horizon, Elida en "Aztec Pirates: a Latinx Fantasia on National Themes" con Playground Experiment, y Cat en "A Barn Play" con UP Theatre Company. Cortometrajes incluyen "Beyond & Above" dirigida por Dir. Chris Harcum, "Seams" dirigida por Dir. Sierra Nutkevtic y "Daddy Hotline" dirigida por Michelle D'Angelo.
Michole Biancosino (Director) is one of the Co-Founding Artistic Directors of Project Y Theatre, a company that has launched world premieres in NYC, regionally, and internationally. Recent collaborations include the award-winning “Planet of the Grapes Live!” with Peter Michael Marino at Edinburgh Fringe, the long-running hit show, “David and Katie Get Re-Married” now playing at Asylum, “Waves of Gravity” with musician Neel Murgai and artist/animator Seema Lisa Pandya at CultureHub/LaMaMa, and Lia Romeo's "Connected" at 59E59 Theaters. As an actor, she currently tours “Yoga with Jillian” by Lia Romeo, which she'll take back to Edinburgh Fringe for the second year in a row to The Pleasance. Before then, it heads to 59E59 Theater's East to Edinburgh Festival. Michole co-created and directed the hit shows, “Trump Lear” and “David Carl’s Celebrity One-Man Hamlet.” MFA in Directing: Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts.
JEN PRICE FICK (Co-Scenic Design) is the Production Manager at Mile Square Theatre, as well as one of the Art Directors for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Previous design credits for Mile Square Theatre include I and You; Bunnicula; The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi (2018 & 2007); You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; God of Carnage; Go, Dog. Go!; several seasons of The 7th Inning Stretch. Film / TV credits: The King of Staten Island (assistant Art Director) Sprout House (Art Director, Universal Kids); Maya and Marty (Associate Art Director, NBC). Jen is a regular designer at Meadow Brook Theatre in Michigan, where she gratefully continues to collaborate with friends and former alum. Jen was recently a printmaking resident at the Peter’s Valley School of Craft, for work in linoprint. Jen is a sometimes drummer, seasonal gardener, and avid reader of chef memoirs. BA: Oakland University; MFA: Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts. Proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.
EMMETT GROSLAND (Co-Scenic Designer) is an artist, an actor, a maker, and an advocate for trans joy. They currently design for Mile Square Theater, The Peddie School, The New School of Drama, Molloy University and others. As an actor, they have worked at Steppenwolf, Berkeley Rep, Tuacahn, The Signature, as well as been seen on NBC’s New Amsterdam, and HBO’s And Just Like That, Love Life and many more. Em received their BFA from Washington University in St. Louis.
NINA AGELVIS (Lighting Designer) is a freelance lighting designer, director, and programmer based in New York City. She graduated with her MFA in Lighting Design & Technology at CCM-University of Cincinnati. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine, BA in Drama and Honors in Lighting Design. Her most recent works: Lighting Designer for “Much Ado About Nothing” at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Lighting Designer for “Club Royal” on the Serenade of the Seas with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (2024) Lighting Designer for Rabbit Summer (2024) and Funny, Like an Abortion at Mile Square Theater (2023) Lighting Designer for Night of the Living Dead: The Remix at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (2022) Lighting Designer for Imagi*Nation Part at The Center at West Park (2022) Associate Lighting Designer for Queer the Ballet (2022) Associate Scenographer for Opera Naples-Festival Under the Stars (2022), and many more. She is currently an Events & Production Lighting Specialist for Google under FIRST Agency at Pier 57. She also works as a lighting director/programmer at Avant Gardener, Nebula, Deluxx Fluxx, The Roof, and various nightclubs throughout the city. She is also the winner of the Next-Gen Parnelli Award in 2023 from the 21st annual Parnelli Awards.
JENNA ARKONTAKY (Stage Manager) is a freelance stage manager based in NYC. Select Theatre Credits include: Use Your Words (SparkFest), Medea the Musical (Green Room 42), Dracula: A Comedy of Terror, Grumpy Old Men, Disaster! The Musical, Annie Warbucks, Something Rotten, State Fair, Steel Pier (Surflight Theatre), The Black I Am (BRAATA Productions) & Must Win (Randomly Specific Productions). Jenna would like to thank her family and friends for all their wonderful support with her career.
Mile Square Theatre (MST) was founded in 2003 as a non-profit professional theatre. The Theatre traditionally engages thousands of people throughout the Greater Hudson County community each year through a dynamic season of new work, gently used pieces, and a robust series of education and community engagement programs performed at Mile Square Theatre’s 116-seat house.
They build transformative education experiences that enhance teacher practice, deepen student learning, and ignite the present and futures of young people through embracing the arts. MST produces and co-presents professional theatre year-round, including shows for young audiences. Upcoming co-productions include John Franklin’s Reality TV Rules (April 27 and 28th), Between Broadway Variety Show (May 11), The Paper Bag Players (May 18th), and a live taping of acclaimed podcast “Parenting is a Joke” (June 14th).
