SOPAC Announces Fall 2023 Season

(SOUTH ORANGE, NJ) -- The South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) has announced its Fall 2023 season, featuring new SOMA community events, outstanding artists of a variety of genres, iconic tributes to history's biggest bands, and rising stars in the comedy world.

Here is a look at upcoming events taking place from June 6-12, 2023 along with our featured listings. New Jersey Stage offers previews of events throughout the Garden State as well as select shows in New York City and Philadelphia areas. Click on the title to go to the full preview.

Here is a look at upcoming concerts taking place from June 6 to June 12, 2023 along with our featured listings. New Jersey Stage offers previews of events throughout the Garden State as well as select shows in New York City and Philadelphia areas. Click on the title to go to the full preview.

Here are previews of plays taking place from June 6-12, 2023 including a look at productions starting this week, those continuing this week, and those closing this week. Click on the title to go to the full preview. Be sure to send press releases for your plays to infoatnewjerseystage.com to be included. New Jersey Stage covers Equity, community, college, and high school theatre. Check back every week for the weekly theatre preview.

Black Moon tells the story of members of a Mexican community understanding power structures and learning how to use (or not use) their voices. The story centers around a hardworking housekeeper named Mercedes and her siblings, grandfather, and son, who come together after the death of her father. These characters face individual hardships but come to learn the importance of solidarity. Their family does not have a lot of money, but what they lack in income, they make up for in love for each other and Earth.

The documentary film, Dancing Without Steps: The Art of Improvisation with Margaret Beals, directed by Adriana Davis, focuses on the exploration of artistic improvisation. Margaret Beals and her dance career are showcased along with Keith Jarret, a well-known jazz pianist, accomplished painters Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, and the talented choreographers Martha Graham and Valerie Bettis.  These accomplished improvisational artists take the viewer on an inspiring journey which gives them a sense of personal empowerment, makes them question self-perception, and leaves them with a longing to discover the fulfillment of creativity.

As Tennessee Williams' enchanting The Rose Tattoo begins, you are looking at, are part of, a home in a small town on the Gulf Coast, somewhere near New Orleans in the early 1950s, with people running about. The house is an old, ramshackle building with a large porch and a dirt yard – very 1950s Deep South. It is home for a lower middle-class seamstress/dressmaker, the beautiful but troubled Serafina Delle Rose (Antoinette LaVecchia) and her 16 year old daughter, who is growing older very fast. Around them are friends, other teenagers, a priest, women neighbors, the usual gang of small-town folks in the South.

Lazlo, founder of BlowUpRadio.com (an online radio station based around New Jersey artists), shines a light on some of the many new releases from NJ based musicians each week with this column. This week Lazlo takes a look at releases by Rory D'Lasnow, Baron Praxis, Greg McGarvey & Friends, The Carousers, and retrohaze.

The relationship between women and water is one that has lasted the test of time. From King Arthur’s Lady of the Lake to La Llorona, there seems to be an intrinsic connection between the flowing liquid and the female form. Artist Linda Troeller devoted her life’s work to this link, analyzing the “intimate relationships between water, the female gaze,” and herself. Healing Waters directed by Derek Johnson and Ali Scattergood brings viewers on a tour of Linda Troeller’s artistic body of work, her impact, her findings, and her ongoing journey.  

Here's a look at the top 15 most read articles published at New Jersey Stage from May 28 to June 3, 2023. Each week we publish about 70 articles, including several original columns and features, along with news releases for events happening throughout the state and nearby areas like Philadelphia and New York City. This week's top 15 includes articles from 8 counties in New Jersey (Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union).