In October 2003, Gary Wien launched Upstage Magazine, a monthly print publication that covered the arts throughout Central New Jersey. The publication ultimately grew to 25,000 copies per month with distribution throughout much of the state. Upstage was well received critically and ultimately earned an Asbury Music Award for Top Music Publication in 2007, becoming the first publication other than The Aquarian to ever win the award. In addition, both the website and Wien picked up multiple Asbury Music Awards (for Top Website and Top Music Journalist) as well. Wien left the publication shortly afterwards, and Upstage ceased publishing a few months later.
In the months that followed, arts groups continued to submit press releases and materials. In 2008, Wien launched NewJerseyStage.com as a hobby to be an online news resource to continue coverage of the arts. Six years later, he decided to return to covering the arts full-time and redesigned the website to become a digital version of the old Upstage Magazine. On May 1, 2014, New Jersey Stage became a full-time resource covering the arts. On July 15, the first issue of New Jersey Stage digital magazine was released.
One year after New Jersey Stage Magazine was launched, Gary Wien was diagnosed with secondary progressive Multiple Sclerosis. He uses the website and magazine as a way of fighting the disease each day. Over 35,000 articles have been posted since New Jersey Stage became official and 75 issues of the magazine were published until the pandemic of 2020 forced it to go on hiatus. Over 550,000 unique visitors come to the website each year.
The website is primary run by Wien, but it benefits from the work of writers like Danny Coleman, Bob Makin, Eric Hillis, Karen Nowosad, Al Nigrin, and Spotlight Central. All of the writers on the site are volunteers - a group who love the arts. New Jersey Stage aims to bring artists, organizations, and art councils together. In addition to regularly publishing original feature articles, interviews, and columns, we encourage organizations to send us press releases. New Jersey Stage considers itself the Garden State's Arts Newswire and home of original arts journalism.
You can follow New Jersey Stage on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky and via our RSS feed
Mailing Address:
NewJerseyStage.com
P.O. Box 811
Belmar, NJ 07719
Email: [email protected]
New Jersey's jazz legacy takes center stage in A Tribute to Count Basie: The Kid from Red Bank. Performed by James Langton's New York All-Star Big Band, this high-energy concert celebrates the unmistakable sound and driving swing of Count Basie - music that still thrills and moves audiences today.
Rick Steves host
New Jersey Symphony
Blue-eyed soul pioneers The Righteous Brothers are back! With a string of #1 clas-sics, including the most played song in radio history, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Fee/in’, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield topped the charts in four decades. After Bobby’s death in 2003, Bill Medley con-tinued to perform to sold-out crowds around the world, but fans and friends pleaded with him to keep The Righteous Brothers alive.
Between 1925 and 1928, Louis Armstrong made a series of influential recordings with a studio group, the Hot Five, that changed the shape of jazz to come. To pay tribute to these legendary sessions, Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon will welcome the dynamic trumpeter and recent Juilliard graduate Andrew Stephens, along with a small group made up of some of New York’s finest traditional jazz musicians.
Rick Steves host
Nicholas Hersh conductor
New Jersey Symphony
"Ale Pak" is a popular, clean, and family-friendly Marathi stand-up comedy special by well-known comedian Mandar Bhide. The show features relatable everyday observations, nostalgia, and lighthearted humor rooted in Maharashtrian culture.
Dunbar Repertory Company presents Ntozake Shange’s FOR COLORED GIRLS Who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, the groundbreaking “choreopoem” – a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women. Directed by Darrell Lawrence Willis, SR.
Amidst the chaos of the Iraq War, the Khachaturian family is trapped in a firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents, and one Marine’s split-second decision devastates the family. Years later, haunted by his time in Iraq and aided by a New Yorker journalist, the Marine seeks to reconcile with the Khachaturian matriarch. Anchored by unforgettable performances from Boyd Holbrook (A Complete Unknown, Narcos, The Morning Show), Hiam Abbass (Succession), and Kenneth Branagh, Atonement is a powerfully human true story about the immeasurable costs of war, exploring universal questions about guilt, redemption, and the nature of forgiveness.
A group of dads building a movement to support their trans and gender expansive kids are forced to make an impossible choice amid a shifting political landscape: stay and fight or flee the country.
A haunting yet life-affirming film about reframing pain and the radical power of choice. It follows grieving mother Iris Haim as she mourns the loss of her son in the aftermath of October 7th and forms an unexpected bond with Dr. Edith Eger—a renowned psychologist, author, and Auschwitz survivor—whose hard-won wisdom guides her toward transformation.
(NEWTON, NJ) -- The Newton Theatre presents Puss N Boots featuring Norah Jones, Sasha Dobson, and Catherine Popper on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 7:00pm.
(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Teaneck International Film Festival (TIFF) has named filmmaker Luchina Fisher the first recipient of the Sandi Klein Creative Woman in Film Award, a new annual honor celebrating an exceptional woman whose work reflects the creativity, curiosity, integrity and commitment to social impact that defined Klein's life and her nearly two decades with the festival. The award includes a $1,000 grant. Fisher will receive the inaugural award at the TIFF screening of her film, The Dads, on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 2:30 pm at Teaneck Cinemas (503 Cedar Lane).
(EDISON, NJ) -- With a new dance studio year now underway for many dancers and families, registration is officially open for the LIT Tap Dance Experience, coming to Edison VFW Post 3117 on Sunday, November 8, 2026. Presented by Taplife Hero Foundation, LIT is a focused one-day tap dance experience built around technique, musicality, artistry, mentorship and community.
(FREEHOLD, NJ) -- Center Players presents It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play with four performances across two Sundays (November 8 and November 15, 2026). Performances are split between the American Hotel and Mattison Crossing.
(ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ) -- After its world premiere at Dances With Films LA (DWFLA), one of the nation's leading indie film festivals, Directors' Commentary will have its New Jersey Premiere at SModcastle Film Festival, hosted by filmmaker Kevin Smith. The film will screen on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 12:00pm.
