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New Jersey Repertory Company presents "Popcorn Falls"

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originally published: 12/07/2022

(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- New Jersey Repertory Company (NJRep) presents “Popcorn Falls” by James Hindman and directed by Rose Riccardi. The play stars James Hindman and Tom Souhrada. The production runs from January 12 through February 12, 2023. Welcome to Popcorn Falls, a small American town whose only claim to fame – their namesake waterfall – has dried up.

Now bankrupt, their last chance to save themselves is a large grant that can only be used if the town produces a play in a week. One big problem: no theatre. Another problem: no play. Led by the Mayor and the local handyman, the enterprising townsfolk try to rise to the challenge. Two actors play over twenty roles in a world of farce, love and desperation, proving once and for all that art can save the world.

The production team for “Popcorn Falls” includes Rose Riccardi (Production Stage Manager), Jessica Parks (Scenic Design/Props), Patricia E. Doherty (Costume Design), Jill Nagle (Lighting Design), Nick Simone (Sound Design), Rachael Malloy (Assistant Stage Manager), Janey Huber (Assistant Lighting Designer/Assistant Director), James Lockhart (Master Electrician), Brian Snyder (Technical Director), Donna Stiles (Scenic Design Assistant), Blake Robinson (Props Assistant).

Performances take place Thursdays and Fridays 8:00pm; Saturdays 3:00pm & 8:00pm; and Sundays at 2:00pm. Patrons can purchase tickets by visiting www.njrep.org or calling 732.229.3166.

New Jersey Repertory Company is  located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch, New Jersey.

 

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

JAMES HINDMAN (Playwright, Cast) After premiering his one-man show, What Doesn't Kill You, here at NJ Rep, the show was recently produced at The International Gay Dublin Theatre Festival where it received a 5-Star review in the Irish Times and was nominated for three Oscar Wilde Awards. He was co-creator and director of NJRep’s recent musical, The Pin Up Girls and his play Multiple Family Dwelling was produced here in 2018. As a writer, Off-Broadway credits include: Popcorn Falls directed by Tony Award Winner Christian Borle, Pete 'n' Keely (Outer Critics Award nomination, two Drama Desk nominations), The Audience (Drama Desk nomination), Being Audrey (Transport Group, NEA Grant recipient), The Gorges Motel (NY Fringe Festival). A Terrance McNally Award finalist, his plays have been performed and developed at The Vineyard Theatre, Second Stage, Long Wharf, Walnut Street, Goodspeed, Denver Theatre Center, New Jersey Rep and Papermill Playhouse. Co-Writer: A Christmas Survival Guide, The Rat Pack Lounge (Carbonell nomination), The Bikinis, and most recently, Now Comes The Fun Part at Penguin Rep. As an actor he’s performed on Broadway in: Mary Poppins, The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1776, City Of Angels, A Grand Night For Singing and Once Upon A Mattress. Some film and television: HBO’s “The Gilded Age”, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, Marvel’s “Iron Fist”, “The Report”, “Oceans 8”, “The Americans”, Steven Spielberg’s “Public Morals”, “Madam Secretary” and “The Sopranos”. He is thrilled to be working with this wonderful team at New Jersey Rep! IG: James_Hindman_nyc

TOM SOUHRADA (Cast) Broadway & National Tours: Mary Poppins, Kinky Boots, Evita, My Fair Lady, The King & I, CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce and The Boy Friend (Directed by Julie Andrews) Off-B’way: Popcorn Falls (Directed by Christian Borle), Desperate Measures (New World Stages), Liberty (Theatre 80), The Kid Who Would Be Pope(Ars Nova), Mardi Gras/The Last Word (York), Broken Hands (NY Fringe Festival Award of Excellence), The Mystery of Irma Vep, Tony and Tina’s Wedding. Regionally, Tom has performed at many of the top theatres across the country, such as Goodspeed, St. Louis Rep, Gateway, Ogunquit, Cincinnati Playhouse, FL Rep, etc. TV & Film: “Law & Order,” “The Good Fight,” “Submissions Only,” “Marry Me” and as Prof. Ed M. Ology and Mimi on the children’s YouTube series “The Hello You! Show.” Graduate of NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. IG:tsouhrada

ROSE RICCARDI (Director) has been a NJRep Company member since 1998. She has worked on over a hundred productions for the Rep including: The Housewives of Mannheim (Alan Brody), The Little Hours (David Bucknam), Fern Hill (Michael Tucker), Dead Ringer (Gino Dilorio), Naked By The River (Michael Folie), Adult Fiction (Brian Mori), Bookends (Katharine Houghton, Dianne Adams, James McDowell), Whores (Lee Blessing), Donna Orbits The Moon (Ian August), Find Me A Voice (SuzAnne Barabas, Gabor Barabas). Some Off-Broadway credits include: Songbird by Michael Kimmel and Lauren Pritchard, Butler by Richard Strand, The Violin (Dan McCormick), The Road to Damascus (Tom Dulack), Terms of Endearment (Dan Gordon), Poetic License (Jack Canfora), On A Stool At The End Of The Bar (Robert Callely), A Better Place (Wendy Beckett), Murder In The First (Dan Gordon), Martin Luther on Trial (Chris Cragin-Day), Phoenix (Scott Organ), In The Pocket: A Sideman’s Tale (James Manos Jr. and Mark Rivera). Recently, she was delighted to be a part of IDGTF - The International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival with Jim Hindman’s What Doesn't Kill You. Rose has also been a proud member of Actors’ Equity since 1999.

Popcorn Falls is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

The New Jersey Repertory Company (NJREP) was founded in 1997 by SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas. Its current central headquarters is the Lumia Theater located on lower Broadway in Long Branch. The theater’s mission is to develop and produce new plays and to make a lasting contribution to the American Stage. Over two decades NJ Rep has produced 150 plays of which 125 have been world premieres. The theater has the additional distinction of having had many of its plays produced by other theaters around the country totaling over 200 subsequent productions in the U.S. and overseas. In 2012 and 2018 NJ Rep was the recipient of a National Theater Company Grant from the American Theater Wing that sponsors the annual Tony Awards for Broadway in recognition of its contribution to the repertoire of the American Stage. Only seven theaters have had this distinction. In addition, the theater has presented over 400 developmental readings as well as introduced 136 new works through its Theatre Brut Short-Play Festivals that focus on visionary and avant-garde works. In May 2016, NJ Rep acquired a new property, a 28,000 square foot school situated on 2 ½ acres and located just five minutes from its Main Stage Lumia Theater and two blocks from the Jersey Shore. The theater plans on gradually transforming the school in stages into a cultural center that will house additional performance spaces, an art cinema, an art museum, a rooftop café, an arts education wing, and residences for out-of-town actors and playwrights. When completed, the center will present a wide array of programs in acting, playwriting, art, sculpture, poetry, music, and photography and will serve as a catalyst for economic development and as the foundation for the cultural renaissance of the community.

NJRep thanks the following for their support: The Shubert Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, SBA Shuttered Venues Program, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, New Jersey CRF, NJEDA, JENNJOE Fund, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, OceanFirst Foundation, Princeton Area Community Foundation, Manasquan Bank, Community Foundation of New Jersey, Monmouth County CARES, Investors Bank Foundation, Jewish Communal Fund, Darien Family Fund, Vasi Laurence, Caroline Huber, Caryl Sills and Linda Mitchell.