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.
Over the course of his three-decade reign in Country music, MULTI-PLATINUM hitmaker Trace Adkins has emerged as a full-fledged icon whose reach spans far beyond the genre’s borders.
Grandiloquent is Gary Gulman’s hilarious new show about insecurity, empathy, self-acceptance and how a thoughtful boy learned to use humor, reading and writing to cope with the consequences of his parents’ blunders. Learn why a seemingly confident middle-aged man feels most comfortable in a large room where a thousand strangers are laughing at him.
International pianist Ching-Yi Lin presents “Heroic Journey,” a program that explores transformation, struggle, and triumph through music. From the dramatic intensity of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue to the brilliance of Chopin’s Heroic Polonaise, the program is anchored by Beethoven’s Eroica Variations and the transcendent final sonata, Op. 111, tracing a powerful emotional arc from conflict to resolution.
Broadway comes to Rahway! Shoshana Bean won the 2026 Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony Award for her performance in “The Lost Boys” musical, currently at New York City’s Palace Theatre. Prior to that she starred in Alicia Keys’ hit Broadway musical, Hell’s Kitchen. Her portrayal of ‘Jersey’ earned her a Grammy Award, her second Tony Award nomination, a Drama League Award nomination, and a Drama Desk nomination. Her performance in the Public Theater’s Hell’s Kitchen Off-Broadway production earned her a Lucille Lortel Award nomination.
A writer and an AI software designer battle to create the next great play in this cautionary tale about the impending intersection of technology and creativity.
Celebrate MPAC’s season opening with Jessica Vosk, known for her electrifying roles on musical theater and concert stages, including Wicked, Hell’s Kitchen, and most recently, the Broadway adaptation of Beaches.
Raised in Brooklyn, NY by a musically gifted family, Alexis P Suter was infused with the passion and the belief that music is to be an emotional and spiritual experience. Miss Suter brings abundant love and energy into each of her performances. At an Alexis P. Suter Band show, the audiences dance and sing along to rollicking roots songs or funky blues numbers; then a few songs later are wiping tears stirred by an awe-inspiring version of "Let it Be" or other songs that touch deeply.
The 45th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 4-October 4, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Almost all the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person shows when both are offered. This program is available Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7PM. This in-person screenings will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ.
Join us for an unforgettable evening with legendary saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, an internationally acclaimed artist known for blending jazz, classical, and Latin traditions into a vibrant and dynamic musical voice. A multiple Grammy Award winner, D’Rivera brings unparalleled musicianship and storytelling to the stage, drawing on a career that spans decades of innovation and collaboration.
