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About Us

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 25,000 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, Charles Paolino, Eric Hillis, Bruce Chadwick, 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, and via our RSS feed

Mailing Address:
NewJerseyStage.com
P.O. Box 811
Belmar, NJ 07719

Email: [email protected]





FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.

George

George Street Playhouse presents An Old-Fashioned Family Murder

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 @ 7:30pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901




 

Shakespeare

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey presents "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Shakespeare Theatre Of NJ - F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre
36 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940



Visiting

Visiting Writers Series with Blake Butler

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 @ 4:30pm
Monmouth University - The Great Hall
400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ 07764



Aaron

Aaron Lewis and the Stateliners: American As It Gets Tour

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC)
100 South Street, Morristown, NJ 07960



George

George Street Playhouse presents An Old-Fashioned Family Murder

Thursday, October 23, 2025 @ 2:00pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901







EVENT PREVIEWS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.

Showing all results: From 1 to 10


Two amazing shorts screen at Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 7!

by Morgan Kalmbach
published 2025-09-03

One of the most interesting facets of art is how different artists can choose to represent the same themes based on their experiences in feelings. Oftentimes, subjects or ideas can manifest in different ways for certain artists, creating differences in how they depict them. One may represent a subject through a faster-moving and vibrant work, while another may portray it as gloomy and stoic.  Despite these two depictions being vastly different, they both represent the subject and how the artist connects and views it. Two great examples of this contrast of portrayals within the theme of loss are Martin Gerigk’s Prayer of the Sea and Sasha Alexander Vorobyev’s What a Surprise. These works differ greatly in their story and look, but both experiment with color and shot size to explore the complex theme of loss.


Leslie Odom, Jr. to Return as Aaron Burr in "Hamilton"

(NEW YORK, NY) -- Tony and Grammy Award-winning, three-time Emmy and two-time Academy Award-nominated performer Leslie Odom, Jr. will make a highly anticipated return to Broadway this fall in his critically acclaimed, Tony Award-winning role as Aaron Burr in Hamilton. The original star is set to reprise his wildly successful and iconic portrayal of Aaron Burr, which comes nine years after he took his final bow in July 2016.



SoHo Playhouse presents World Premiere of "(un)conditional" by Ali Keller

(NEW YORK, NY) -- SoHo Playhouse, in association with Hannah Jade Vickery, proudly presents the world premiere of its 2024 Lighthouse Series winner, Ali Keller's (un)conditional, directed by Ivey Lowe, running Off-Broadway September 19 – October 26, 2025 for 33 performances in a limited 6-week engagement at SoHo Playhouse, located at 15 Vandam Street in New York City.



Heartwarming short Pierre West screens at the Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 21!

by Evelyn Reese
published 2025-09-15

A beautiful, heartwarming story of two people whose past struggles prevented their love in their youth, finding their way back to each other in the end. From emotional voiceovers that evoke shared experience and connection, to characters whose personality is so clearly depicted they seem to be jumping out of the screen "Pierre West" is a short film that balances heartbreak, hope and love as perfectly tripodal as it could.



Tony Tedesco & Friends at Belmar Arts Center

by Gary Wien
published 2025-09-24

(BELMAR, NJ) -- "Are you going to write about the show?" I was asked at the Belmar Arts Center. To be honest, I hadn’t gone to the show planning to write about it. The show was billed as "Tony Tedesco & Friends" and featured Tony with Keith Monacchio and Lou Montesano - three guys you might have been able to see each week at The Saint 20 years ago.