(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- George Street Playhouse has announced its 2023-24 productions. This golden anniversary year will mark the 50th season for the award-winning theater company, with performances at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Brunswick, NJ. The season will include five productions, with three world premieres. Subscriptions are on sale now.
“It is genuinely thrilling that in this landmark season we are able to bring you a trademark of our special theatre: three world premieres by world class artists,” said David Saint, Artistic Director. “Please join us as we bring new and noteworthy works to the canon of the American Theatre repertoire!”
The season kicks off on September 26, 2023 with The Pianist, brilliantly adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright and director Emily Mann. Based on the book of the same name by Wladyslaw Szpilman, The Pianist is Szpilman’s harrowing account of the annihilation of Jewish life in Warsaw during World War II and his remarkable survival through the transcendent power of music.
His memoir inspired an Oscar-winning film – and now Mann has crafted an innovative, immersive play with music that delivers this terrifying and triumphant tale with soul-shaking power and thrilling theatrical immediacy. The play runs through October 22, 2023.
In another work by Mann, Having Our Say is an enthralling full-length play based on the bestselling book by Sarah (Sadie) Delany and Elizabeth (Bessie) Delany. This powerful production revolves around the remarkable lives of the African American Delany sisters, who both surpass the age of 100. Their extraordinary journey unfolds as they share their personal experiences, which include growing up as the daughters of a former slave who became a respected professor, establishing successful careers, and integrating a New York suburb. The play is directed by Laiona Michelle (Little Girl Blue, The Nina Simone Musical).
During its celebrated run on Broadway, Having Our Say captivated audiences and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. Through this powerful adaptation of the Delany sisters' book, audiences are invited to witness a compelling tale that transcends race and gender, offering a profound reflection on American history as seen through the eyes of two unforgettable women. Having Our Say runs from November 28, 2023 through December 17, 2023.
The season continues with the world premiere of Ibsen's Ghost, written by Charles Busch and directed by Carl Andress. Based on a few irrefutable facts, Ibsen's Ghost tells a tall (and hilarious) tale of the legendary Norwegian playwright's wife, Suzannah, the week after the great man’s state funeral. A fierce keeper of the flame, Suzannah is confronted with a series of predicaments: her husband’s long-lost illegitimate son, his former protegee peddling a libelous diary, and an enigmatic rodent exterminator known as the Rat Wife. This is the play Ibsen never wrote but with more laughs and a happy ending.
“My longtime collaborator/director Carl Andress and I are delighted to work with David Saint and premiere my new play at this distinguished theater,” said Busch. “If Henrik Ibsen were alive, I have no doubt he'd be submitting his latest work to the George Street Playhouse.” Ibsen’s Ghost has performances from January 16, 2024 through February 4, 2024.
In an all-new piece written for the stage by #1 New York Times bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian (“The Flight Attendant,” “Hour of the Witch”), The Club will have its premiere engagement at George Street Playhouse from February 27, 2024 through March 17, 2024. It will be directed by longtime GSP Artistic Director David Saint, who marked his 25th year with the theater this past season.
In The Club, three married couples collide in a suburban living room one autumn Sunday – what they think is a refuge from the rock ’n’ roll turbulence outside their neighborhood – only to discover there’s no escape from the era’s cultural upheaval.
Previously, GSP premiered Bohjalian’s critically acclaimed stage adaptation of his novel “Midwives” in 2020.
The play is rich with biting wit and startling twists as it explores racism, marriage, and the lies we tell ourselves daily. And though the play is set in 1968, it’s eerily timely.
A fifth production will be announced in the coming weeks, which will run from April 23, 2024 through May 19, 2024. This autobiographical, audience favorite musical is sure to be the perfect conclusion to the company’s 50th Season!
All performances will take place in the Arthur Laurents Theater at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) at 11 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ. Season subscriptions are on sale now. For information, call GSP Patron Services at 732-246-7717 or visit GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org. Group discounts are available.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint since 1997, George Street Playhouse produces groundbreaking new works, inspiring productions of the classics, and hit Broadway plays and musicals that speak to the heart and mind, with an unwavering commitment to producing new work. As New Brunswick’s first producing theatre, George Street Playhouse became the cornerstone of the revitalization of the City’s arts and cultural landscape. Entering its 50th season, the organization has a rich history of producing nationally renowned theatre. The Playhouse continues to fill a unique theatre and arts education role in the city, state and greater metropolitan region. George Street Playhouse recently announced the appointment of Edgar Herrera as Managing Director, effective June 1, 2023.
Beginning with the 2019-20 Season, George Street Playhouse moved to the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in downtown New Brunswick. Featuring two state-of-the-art theatres -- The Arthur Laurents Theater with 253 seats and The Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater which seats 465-- and myriad amenities, the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center marks a new era in the esteemed history of George Street Playhouse.
Founded by Eric Krebs, George Street Playhouse, originally located in an abandoned supermarket on the corner of George and Albany Streets, was the first professional theatre in New Brunswick. In 1984, the Playhouse moved to a renovated YMCA on Livingston Avenue, and in 2017 took temporary residence in the former Agricultural Museum at Rutgers University during construction of its new home.
The Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway. In 2018, George Street Playhouse was represented on Broadway with Gettin’ the Band Back Together which premiered on the Playhouse mainstage in 2013. American Son, produced by George Street Playhouse in 2017, opened on Broadway in 2018 starring Kerry Washington and Stephen Pasqual, and was seen on Netflix. Other productions include the Outer Critics’ Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger. In 2015, It Shoulda Been You opened on Broadway and Joe DiPietro’s Clever Little Lies opened off-Broadway. Both shows received their premieres at the Playhouse. Others include the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill; and the Broadway hit and Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at the Playhouse during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays.
George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.
