(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- New Jersey Repertory Company presents the world premiere of The Forest by Lia Romeo from March 17 through April 10, 2022. Directed by SuzAnne Barabas, The Forest stars veteran actor of stage, screen and television, Jenny O'Hara, along with Dana Brooke, most recently seen at NJ Rep in Multiple Family Dwelling, Armando Acevedo and Christopher Grant, both new to NJ Rep's company.
What to do when life gives you lemons? – Build a forest in your living room. A play about life, love, and fairytales. Juliet (Brooke) is going through a messy divorce and finds herself back home with her eccentric mother (O'Hara), who is going through a crisis of her own. Add to the mix a single dad, who is a former actor, now a caregiver (Acevedo), and a senior High School student (Grant) trying to find his way, and you get a play that is funny, poignant, and magical. The Forest will grow in your hearts.
Please be advised, in order to maintain a safe space for the audience and their staff, they ask that all patrons provide proof of vaccination, and masks must be worn. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays at 8:00pm; Saturdays at 3:00pm and 8:00pm; Sundays at 2:00pm, March 17th through April 10th. Tickets are $55.00 and available for purchase online or by calling 732-229-3166.
New Jersey Repertory Company is located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1997 by SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas. 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 140 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.
ABOUT THE CAST & CREW
Jenny O'Hara, is delighted to be a part of this wonderful new play at NJ Rep. She is a veteran of both stage and film with credits spanning five decades. Some of her recent television appearances include recurring roles on Transparent, The Mindy Project and The King of Queens, as well as guest starring roles on Perry Mason, The Good Doctor, This is Us, The Kids are Alright, Chicago Fire, and American Housewife to mention a few. She has starred on Broadway in The Odd Couple (female version), The Iceman Cometh, Promises, Promises, The Kid, and The Fig Leaves are Falling. She made her Broadway debut in Dylan with Alec Guinness. Her film credits include Killing Eleanor, just released on Amazon and Apple TV+, Devil, Matchstick Men, Mystic River, Angie, Career Opportunities and Heartbeat. She is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre in NY and Ensemble Studio Theatre LA. So far, so good!
Armando Acevedo, is happy to be joining the New Jersey Repertory Company in their world premiere of Lia Romeo's The Forest after participating in several readings of the play at Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota. He recently appeared as Pablo in Native Gardens at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, as Bill in Mamma Mia! at American Stage in the Park in St. Petersburg, and as Amir in Gable Stage's acclaimed production of Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer-winning Disgraced in South Florida. He has also played multiple doctors, lawyers and detectives on Telemundo and Univision. The Miami native received his graduate degree in theatre from the California Institute of the Arts and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.
Dana Brooke, Select New York credits: Baby on a Train (with Mike Birbiglia), Venecia (with Chita Rivera), Claudia Laszlo (with Reed Birney), Vacuum (Cherry Lane), Love of a Pig (Cardinal Group), as well as work with The Journey Company, The Lark, New Circle Theatre Company, The NOW Collective, NYC Fringe. For B Street Theatre (Company Member): Constellations, Ironbound, Venus in Fur, Other Desert Cities, Last Train to Nibroc (Trilogy), Outside Mullingar, The Realistic Joneses, God of Carnage. Additional regional credits: George Street Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, New Jersey Repertory Company, Florida Repertory Theatre, Playhouse on Park, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, NNPN's National Showcase of New Plays. Television credits: FX's Damages, NBC's Ed, Fox's Canterbury's Law. Dana was awarded best actress at the 2017 Reno Tahoe International Film Festival for the feature film Laura Gets a Cat.
Chris Grant, is an up-and-coming actor who is enrolled in the Equity Membership Candidate Program and has recently obtained a Bachelor of Arts Theatre degree at Kean University. Notable on-stage credits include: Darnell King in Premiere Stages' Brick City. He also played many roles at his alma mater Kean University as Lucius in Jesus Hopped The A Train and Lucien in Boys Next Door. He had recently won Premiere Stages' Senior Endeavor Award for writing and wished to continue creating great work and inspiring the masses.
Lia Romeo (Playwright), is a playwriting fellow at the Juilliard School. Her play The Forest was developed at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Her play Sitting and Talking, starring Dan Lauria and Wendie Malick, premiered at Mile Square Theatre, and has subsequently been presented by Laguna Playhouse, New Jersey Rep, Seven Devils New Play Foundry, and other companies. Other plays have been produced off-Broadway at 59E59 and regionally around the country. Four of her plays have been recognized by the Kilroys List. She was the winner of City Theatre's National Short Playwriting Award, and has been a nominee or a finalist for the Heideman Award, the L. Arnold Weissberger Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Kesselring Prize, and the Steinberg Award. Her plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Playscripts, Dramatists Play Service, and Smith Kraus. She is the associate artistic director with Project Y Theatre Company, and she teaches playwriting at Primary Stages/ESPA and in the M.A. program in creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She earned her B.A. from Princeton and her M.F.A. in playwriting from Rutgers/MGSA.
SuzAnne Barabas (Director/Artistic Producer), has been the Artistic Director of NJ Rep for the past 23 years. SuzAnne is a member of Actors Equity Association, the Dramatist Guild, and the Society of Directors & Choreographers.
The production team for The Forest includes: SuzAnne Barabas (Director), Rose Riccardi (Production Stage Manager), Patricia E. Doherty (Costume Design), Nick Simone (Sound Design), Jessica Parks (Scenic Design), Jill Nagle (Lighting Design), Rachael Malloy (Assistant Stage Manager), Janey Huber (Assistant Lighting Design/Assistant Director), James Lockhart (Master Electrician), Brian Snyder (Technical Director).
NJ Rep 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, Linda Mitchell, Caroline Huber.
