(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- George Street Playhouse presents their 2025 Gala Benefit on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 4:30pm, beginning with a champagne reception and dinner at Stage Left/Catherine Lombardi followed by a cabaret and awards presentation at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The gala celebrates the 90th birthday of former Governor of New Jersey, Thomas H. Kean, and salutes former Artistic Director David Saint for his 27 remarkable years of artistic leadership.
Performers will include Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”), Tony Award winner Andre De Shields (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Tony Award winner Roger Bart (Back to the Future: The Musical), six-time Emmy Award winner Tyne Daly (It Shoulda Been You), and Bobby Conte (A Bronx Tale). Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro (Memphis) and actress, author and philanthropist Marlo Thomas (Clever Little Lies) will also make an appearance at the event.
Trustees Ronald Bleich and Norman Politziner will be honored with the 2025 Thomas H. Kean Arts Advocacy Award at the event. The Thomas H. Kean Arts Advocacy Award was instituted by the George Street Playhouse Board of Trustees and management in 1989 as an annual tribute to an individual, corporation, or foundation whose dedication to the arts enhances the cultural life of our state. The inaugural award was presented to the Honorable Thomas H. Kean, who as governor and private citizen has had, and continues to have, a lasting and profound impact in making New Jersey a national model of excellence in the arts.
George Street Playhouse is now offering tickets for the performance and awards program only (excluding dinner and reception), starting at $99. Tickets for the full evening, including dinner and show, begin at $600. Tickets are available for purchase online.
For more than 50 years, George Street Playhouse has produced 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 52nd season, the organization has a rich history of producing nationally renowned theatre.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint (1997-2025) the Playhouse filled a unique theatre and arts education role in the city, state, and greater metropolitan region. George Street Playhouse announced the appointment of Edgar Herrera as Managing Director, effective June 1, 2023. Effective January 1, 2025, Herrera became Executive Director.
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 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. Other productions include the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League Award-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.
