(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Everyone wants to belong to the club, but what will it cost you? That's the question in The Club by Chris Bohjalian, which is being presented by George Street Playhouse from February 27 to March 17, 2024. The Club 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.
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.
The Club is getting its world premiere at the George Street Playhouse, #1 New York Times bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian (The Flight Attendant, Hour of the Witch) also premiered his critically-acclaimed stage adaptation of his novel, Midwives, in 2020 at GSP.
Directed by David Saint, the cast includes Grace Experience, Ryan George, Skyler Hensley, Ali Marsh, Samaria Nixon-Fleming, Brendan Ryan, and Frederick Weller.
Tickets start at $25 and are available for purchase online. Performances take place in the Arthur Laurents Theater at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (11 Livingston Avenue) in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
The Club will feature set, projection, and media design by James Youmans (Conscience), costume design by Lisa Zinni (Tales From the Guttenberg Bible), lighting design by Tyler Micoleau (The Band’s Visit), original music and sound design by Scott Killian (A Picasso), and wig and hair design by Tommy Kurzman (I Need That). Rick Sordelet (The Lion King) is the Fight Director and Samantha Flint (Having Our Say) is the Production Stage Manager. Casting is by McCorkle Casting.
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. With its 47-year 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.
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 Pasquale, and appeared on Netflix in 2019. 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.
