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]
Shemekia Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. The multi-GRAMMY nominee is beloved and honored worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humor of her revelatory songs, as well as for her winning, engaging personality. The Chicago Tribune says, “Copeland is the greatest female blues vocalist working today. There’s no mistaking the majesty of her instrument, nor the ferocity of her delivery.”
Annie Minerva Turnbo Pope Malone is the Mother of the African-American Hair Care and Beauty Industry. Against rampant racism and sexism, she built an international enterprise in St. Louis, Missouri, in the early 20th century. By 1920 she was one of the wealthiest women in America. At the height of her success she employed an estimated 75,000 agents, mostly women, including Madam C. J. Walker. Her amazing but largely forgotten story comes to the screen in Annie Turnbo Malone: The Untold Story
It’s a night of humor and heart with preacher Dante Gebel — also known as “PresiDante.” The inspirational speaker, author, TV host, comedian and spiritual leader imagines what it would like to be president for a day. With an equal mix of comedy and raw emotion, he delivers “a journey to the heart and soul.” You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll see our world through new eyes! Hear Gebel’s powerful and unforgettable message on his farewell tour.
“Why see a show when you can BE the show!”
Art Garfunkel is known and celebrated as the “Voice of Generations” in entertainment history. He is an 8x Grammy Award winner including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, he is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and Rolling Stone Magazine names him one of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Always Jovi is a Tribute Like No Other, featuring Million-Selling New Jersey Rock Legend, Steve Brown – known for his work with Trixter, Def Leppard, and Ace Frehley. With his powerhouse vocal delivery, electrifying stage presence, and deep-rooted connection to the Jersey rock scene, Brown leads this all-star lineup in delivering the timeless hits that defined a generation.
Shanghai Ballet presents The Butterfly Lovers, a beloved classic often described as China’s Romeo and Juliet. This sweeping tale of love and sacrifice combines classical ballet with elements of Chinese aesthetics and storytelling. With sumptuous design, expressive choreography, and an impeccably unified ensemble, the production showcases the company’s technical strength and emotional depth.
Join pianist Margarita Rovenskaya for a program of solo piano works spanning a range of characters and countries. The music will include Schubert’s winding melodies, Schumann’s imaginative character contrasts, Beethoven and Prokofiev’s fiery energy. The program will end with Ukrainian composer Ilya Aizberg’s Hebrew Rhapsody, a piece that pays tribute to his Jewish heritage.
Suzanne Vega will perform a career-spanning show including favorites like “Tom’s Diner”, “Luka”, “Marlene On The Wall”, and many more, plus songs from her latest album, Flying with Angels, which was released in May 2025 to critical acclaim. She will be joined on stage by her longtime guitarist, Gerry Leonard (of David Bowie fame), and cellist Stephanie Winters.
Widely regarded as one of the foremost songwriters of her generation, Suzanne Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk revival of the early 1980s. Accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, Vega sang what has been called contemporary folk or neo-folk songs of her own creation in Greenwich Village clubs. Since the release of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has given sold-out concerts in many of the world’s best-known venues. Known for performances that convey deep emotion, Vega’s distinctive, “clear, unwavering voice” (Rolling Stone) has been described as “a cool, dry sandpaper-brushed near-whisper” by The Washington Post, with NPR Music noting that she “has been making vital, inventive music” throughout the course of her decades-long career. Bearing the stamp of a masterful storyteller who “observes the world with a clinically poetic eye” (The New York Times), Vega’s songs have tended to focus on city life, ordinary people and real-world subjects. Notably succinct and understated, her work is immediately recognizable—as utterly distinct and thoughtful as it was when her voice was first heard on the radio over 40 years ago.
RENTAL EVENT - Join acclaimed vocalist Chris Pinnella and the 14- Piece Big Band Project for an extraordinary evening of music benefiting The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Trenton Diocesan Council—an unforgettable concert that helps support the important work of serving individuals and families throughout our community.
(TEANECK, NJ) -- The Teaneck International Film Festival, a project of The Puffin Foundation, Ltd., will celebrate its 21st anniversary November 5–12, 2026 with a lineup of documentaries, narrative features and shorts focused on the festival's enduring theme, "Activism: Making Change." The eight-day festival will bring filmmakers, actors, activists, producers and community leaders to venues throughout Teaneck and Fort Lee for screenings, filmmaker conversations and special events.
(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- Centenary Stage Company's annual Fringe Festival returns this November with three intimate, unconventional, and thought-provoking theatrical experiences. Featuring Too Fat for China, Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman, and Unseen, this year's festival explores adoption, art and mental illness, and the often-unseen people who make the magic of theater possible.
(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Speranza Theatre Company presents Petticoat Patriots by Jennie Contuzzi at the Museum of Jersey City History from November 5-7, 2026. In September 1780, Jane Tuers crossed the Hudson River to sell eggs and vegetables in British occupied New York. She returned with something far more dangerous: a warning about Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.
(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- Centenary Stage Company launches its annual Fringe Festival with comedian, comic storyteller, and professional Jew Phoebe Potts and her acclaimed one-woman show, Too Fat For China, running November 5–8, 2026, in the Kutz Theatre at the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University.
(WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- The Beatles' groundbreaking 1966 album Revolver, a major turning point in the band's recorded career, will take center stage November 5-8, 2026, at the second annual Everything Fab Four Fest happening at Monmouth University and the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music.
