(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- New Jersey Repertory Company (NJ Rep) continues its 28th season with Neil LaBute's Comfort, directed by Evan Bergman. The production runs from April 17 to May 11, 2025, with opening on April 19, 2025, at NJ Rep's intimate theater in Long Branch. The new play follows the complicated, love-hate relationship between a mother and son as they barrel towards the unknown, battling over ownership of a treasured manuscript.
Comfort stars Jordan Baker (Regional Theater: Lucas Hnath’s solo play Dana H; Film: Steven Spielberg’s The Post with Meryl Streep; Created the role of “C” in Three Tall Women) and Rudy Galvan (Netflix’s His Three Daughters, 2025 Independent Spirit Award). The creative team includes set design by Jessica Parks, lighting design by Jill Nagle, technical direction by Brian Snyder, costume design by Patricia E. Doherty, sound design by Nick Simone, and the production stage manager is Rose Riccardi.
“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Neil LaBute’s Comfort to NJ Rep as part of our 28th season. LaBute’s fearless storytelling and razor-sharp dialogue make for an electrifying theatrical experience, and we are honored to present his latest work,” said NJ Rep Artistic Director, SuzAnne Barabas.
(LEFT) Jordan Baker (RIGHT) Rudy Galvan
Tickets are available for purchase online. New Jersey Repertory Company is located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch, New Jersey.
NEIL LABUTE (Playwright) is a writer and director for theater, television, and film. Some of his work includes In the Company of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors, Some Velvet Morning, Bash, The Shape of Things, Fat Pig, Reasons to Be Pretty, This Is How It Goes, Ten X Ten, and Billie & Bill.
EVAN BERGMAN (Director) Over the years Evan has directed over 15 productions for NJ Rep, many of them world premieres. He is exceptionally proud of the body of work and the theater's ability to identify a wide range of talented playwrights deserving to have their plays produced. He has also directed world premieres at many other theaters including Ensemble Studio Theater, The Duke, Daryl Roth, Barrington Stage, Jane Street, Playwrights Horizon, Arclight, The Tiffaney, and 59E59 Theatres. His film work includes the recent short film Day Zero, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was called “A cautionary tale, perfectly realized” by Oscar award-winning Director James Ivory. Dig A Hole, Find A Finger, Palm Springs and Newport Beach International Film Festivals and his Documentary for Warner Music Group featuring Roger Daltry (The Who), and Philip Bailey (Earth Wind and Fire). Currently, he is in pre-production for a new feature film about the life of Oyster Farmers called Life on the Flats which starts principal filming in the fall of 2025.
CAST BIOS:
JORDAN BAKER recently performed Lucas Hnath’s solo play Dana H at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Crow’s Theatre (Toronto), directed by Les Waters. She created the role of Fran in the American Premiere of Andrew Bovell’s Things I Know to be True directed by Mark Clements at the Milwaukee Rep and Arizona Theatre Company. She appeared in Steven Spielberg’s The Post with Meryl Streep and in Netflix’s, The Land of Steady Habits with Ben Mendelsohn. She is best known for creating the role of “C” in Edward Albee’s 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Three Tall Women and received a Theatre World Award for Best Broadway Debut in Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly, Last Summer. She is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AA), Smith College (BA), and Rutgers University: Mason Gross School of the Arts (MFA). She is married to the actor, Kevin Kilner. Teaches at AMDA NY.
RUDY GALVAN (He/Him) makes his NJ Rep mainstage debut after appearing in the Salon Readings of Wipeout and Cincinnatus. New York: Stutter (Staged Reading with Roundabout Theatre), LAByrinth Theatre’s Barn Series, You Should Be Worried (Loading Dock’s Forklift Series), Stubborness and Bone (Arthouse Productions). Chicago: Uncle Bob, American Buffalo (Mary-Arrchie Theatre), Lord of the Flies (Steppenwolf Theatre), Private Lives, The Gentleman Caller (Raven Theatre), United Flight 232 (The House Theatre), A Life Extra Ordinary (The Gift Theatre) and many others. Regional: Sweat (Asolo Rep), Almost, Maine, and The Mousetrap (Next Act Theatre). Film/TV: His Three Daughters (Netflix), Chicago PD (NBC), Search Party (Max), Slice (A24), Shameless (Showtime) and the infamous Megan is Missing—representation: DDO Artists Agency, WEG Talent.
NEW JERSEY REPERTORY COMPANY (NJ Rep) 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 152 plays, of which 128 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 US and overseas. In 2012 and 2018, NJ Rep received 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.
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.
NJ Rep thanks the following for their support: The Community Foundation of New Jersey, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, and The Stone Foundation of New Jersey.
