(UNION, NJ) -- American Theater Group (ATG) will present a talkback session in partnership with The Newark Museum of Art following the Friday, October 16, 2026 at 7:00pm performance of Destroying David at the DMK Theater at the Union Arts Center. The event will be moderated by ATG Producing Artistic Director Charlotte Cohn who will be joined by Museum employees and playwright Jason Odell Williams who is also starring in the production. All are welcome to attend and reservations are not necessary.
Participating in the event from The Museum will be: Fran Garrido (Manager of Family Programs & Early Childhood Education), Elena C. Muñoz-Rodriguez (Assistant Curator of Latinx & Latin American Art), Monisha Bernard (Curatorial Assistant) and Darryl Dwayne Walker (Manager of Community Engagement). In addition to a panel discussion, there will be a Q&A with the audience.
Destroying David is a thrilling, funny and heartfelt solo show about the power of art to help us through our darkest hours. Over the course of 75 minutes, a tour guide at the Galleria dell’ Accademia in Florence, Italy shares the fascinating history and precarious physical condition of Michelangelo’s most famous statue. But the story becomes more personal as the guide slowly reveals the real reason he has organized this private tour – to destroy the David. Destroying David is being presented at the DMK Theater at Union Arts Center from October 9-18 and at the Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge from Oct 23-25, 2026. Tickets are available at: americantheatergroup.org.
“We are so pleased to be able to partner with a major, respected arts institution like The Newark Museum for this talkback,” noted Charlotte Cohn. “Destroying David is a beautiful ode to the beauty, resilience, and power of art as it relates to the human condition and we look forward to exploring this theme with professionals from the art world.”
Jason Odell Williams is an award-winning playwright, television producer and novelist. His play Church & State was nominated for Best New Play by the Off-Broadway Alliance and L.A. Ovation Awards and won the 2019 Henry Award for Best Play. It ran for over 100 performances off-Broadway at New World Stages and went on to have over 80 productions and counting nationwide. As an actor, Williams has performed in numerous venues Off-Broadway and across the regions including Baltimore Center Stage, Washington DC’s Studio Theatre, B Street Theatre and NJ Rep.
The Union Arts Center is located within the new, state-of-the-art Public Library at 1980 Morris Avenue in Union. The Arts Center includes the DMK Black Box Theater, the Union Art Gallery curated by Les Malamut, Union TV studios, classrooms, and The Center Café. Please visit https://www.uniontownship.com for more information. Performances of Destroying David will be Friday, October 9 and 16th at 7:00pm, Thursday. October 15th at 7:00pm. Saturday, October 10th and 17th at 7:00pm and Sunday, October 11th and 18th at 2:00pm. Tickets are priced from $25 (student) to $60 (including fees) and are available for purchase online.
The Newark Museum of Art (NMOA) was founded with the belief, radical among museums in 1909, that art and learning are for everyone. Today, New Jersey’s largest fine art museum is a vibrant center for the arts and community and places special emphasis on public programming that engages local artists and audiences.
As a leading cultural institution for more than a century, NMOA stewards collections of more than 300,000 artworks and artifacts in science and natural history, the 12th largest museum collection in the nation. Known as the first institution to give sustained support to modernism in America, NMOA continues to pursue new definitions of cultural innovation and is among the 3% of U.S. museums that are nationally accredited.
The Museum’s 3.1 acre campus offers a range of settings to explore, wonder, and create, including the National Historic Landmark Ballantine House (1885); the Ward Carriage House (1860); the Old Stone School House (1784); the Dreyfuss Memorial Garden; the Dreyfuss Planetarium (1954), New Jersey’s first planetarium. NMOA partners with our community to preserve and advocate for the arts, history, and culture, and to host special events such as the Newark Black Film Festival, the longest-running Black film festival in the United States, and the Newark Arts Festival, a four-day catalyst for the collaborative power of the arts in the city.
NMOA puts the people of Newark, their creativity, and strength at the center of its work, responding to the evolving interests of diverse audiences and critically examining its responsibility to equity.
American Theater Group (ATG), founded in 2012, produces entertaining, thought-provoking theater. It champions new work, create memorable experiences and strengthen communities through storytelling. It also provides quality arts-in-education initiatives, including its New Works/New Voices playwriting program for high school students and its PlayLab program for BIPOC and queer playwrights.
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