(MAPLEWOOD, NJ) -- interACT Theatre Productions presents the East Coast Premiere of The Graveyard Girls by Tommy Jamerson across three weekends from October 9-24, 2026 at The Burgdorff Center for The Performing Arts. Every Halloween, besties Lauree, Sydney and Nancie have made a tradition of sneaking into an abandoned graveyard and attempting to outscare each other with a series of campfire tales packed with premium spookage...
But when Nancie’s love interest joins in on the fun, the girls’ night is thrown out of sorts, and long-buried ghosts from the past begin to rise from the grave once more. Briskly-paced, highly-theatrical and threaded with heart, humor and three of your favorite scary stories to tell in the dark, The Graveyard Girls is guaranteed to give audiences goosebumps!
The cast includes Maki Iman (Lauree), Melissa Mugica (Sydney), May Riekenberg (Nancie), Michael McBride (Jack), Jerry Narciso (Hook Hands/The Presence), Nat Gennace (Guy in Tux/The Guest), Joe Miceli (Headless Ghost/The Father), Botond Ekler-Szabo (Young Man), Ruth Rooney (Grandmother), Joel Redmount (Grandfather), Andre Fleming (Maitre d'/Visitor), Addie Kriegel (Astrid), Arielle Waller (Mia), Emily Martin (The Stepmother), Christine Melina (Freya), Jillana Kucey (Crystal/The New Mother), Sophia Rounsavill (Nicole), and Lital Knoll (Rachel).
Directed by Nicholas J. Clarey, the production features original music by Edward A Bean.
Performances take place Friday, October 9 at 7:30pm; Saturday, October 10 at 7:30pm; Sunday, October 11 at 3:00pm; Friday, October 16 at 7:30pm; Saturday, October 17 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm; Sunday, October 18 at 3:00pm; Friday, October 23 at 7:30pm; and Saturday, October 24 and 2:00pm & 7:30pm. Tickets are available for purchase online. The venue is located at 10 Durand Road in Maplewood, New Jersey.
The complete Production Team includes Playwright - Tommy Jamerson; Director/Set Design - Nicholas J. Clarey; Assistant Director - Ricky Cortez; Stage Manager - Tommy Barbara; Assistant Stage Manager - Ellie Schuckman; Producers - Serena Marie Smith, Brittany Reese, Tommy Jamerson; Technical Director - Douglas Reese; Incidental and Scene Change Music Composer - Edward A. Bean; Fight Director - Craig Hill; Intimacy Director - Amanda Castro-Conroy; Costumer - Leila Tai Brown; Costume Asst - Annette Friend; Lighting Designer - Danny Viola; Sound Design - Alex Post; Program Design- Mark Aquilino; Props Designer/SFX Props Creator - Johanna Hill; Props Director - Lisa Tasch; Social Media Director - Sabrina Santoro; Box Office Manager - Dawilla Madsen; and Production Photographer - Gabrielle Williams.
Playwright Tommy Jamerson was born in North Carolina and raised in Northwest Indiana. He graduated from Indiana State University with a concentration in playwriting and directing. While there, he was presented with the Angel of the Year: Humanitarian Scholarship, wrote for Indiana’s Gender Hate and Violence Conference, and served as a judge for the Midwest High School Playwriting Competition. His children's plays, The Big, Bad Bullysaurus, Princess Pigface, Choose Your Own Oz, Once Upon a Pine: The Adventures of Pinocchio and Alice the Brave & Other Tales from Wonderland, have all received numerous productions around the globe. Other notable works include his one-act campy comedy, Rags to B***hes: A Battle of Wits & Wigs, which originally starred RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, Alexis Michelle. His full-length comedy, Eternal Flamer! The Ballad of Jessie Blade, played at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre in the West Village, and his piece love/fantasy won the Buckham Alley Theatre of Michigan’s Award of Excellence and was named Audience Favorite during the 17th annual Downtown Urban Arts Festival in NY, NY. Tommy holds an MFA in Playwriting from the University of New Orleans and resides in Caldwell (NJ) with his husband, Mark, and their dog, Darby. Tommy is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.
interACT Theatre Productions is a theatre of the community in South Orange, NJ that was founded in 2009. interACT is committed to building strong ties within the community by producing thought-provoking plays and musicals that challenge stereotypes and prejudices.
Their mission is to create a community theatre that is both inclusive and accessible to its participants and audiences while maintaining high quality productions.
The mission of inclusivity and accessibility is a cornerstone of each and every activity in which they engage. They draw people together from different towns, different backgrounds, and different ages to be part of this exciting endeavor. On the productions side, they reach out to the broadest possible array of performers, and strive to create as many opportunities as possible for community members to take part in live theater.
Since bringing home the Gold and Silver medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Laurie Hernandez has gone on to win the coveted Mirror Ball trophy on “Dancing with the Stars” Season 23 and her first book titled “I Got This: To Gold and Beyond” chronicling her journey thus far was published in 2017, hitting the New York Times Best Sellers list. In 2018, she released a children’s picture book “She’s Got This,” also a New York Times Best Seller, while serving as a Literary Champion to promote readership as a path to leadership, and Mattel created Laurie Hernandez “Shero” Barbie to honor her.
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