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]
Doors: 6 PM – Before the movie, have a seat at our craft table and make something fun to take home!
Film: 7 PM
A beloved musical based on Charles Dickens' timeless novel, Oliver! tells the story of a young boy searching for home and belonging. Featuring unforgettable songs like "Food, Glorious Food," "Consider Yourself," and "As Long As He Needs Me," this classic remains a moving and uplifting theatrical experience.
Bronx-born and raised Chazz Palminteri wrote A Bronx Tale in 1988. The powerful one-man stage play depicted his bruising childhood which included witnessing a gangland killing when he was nine years old.
From the Tony Award-winning producers of Hadestown comes A Beat of Our Own — a brand-new musical comedy that pulls you straight into the pulsating rhythms, kaleidoscopic colors and raw energy of competitive bhangra dance.
The original Broadway sensation returns to STNJ! Celebrating 20 years—Jersey style!
There’s trouble in River City when a fast-talking salesman gets his heart stolen by the town librarian. Meredith Willson’s six-time, Tony Award-winning musical comedy THE MUSIC MAN follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian, the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain’s fall. Featuring songs such as “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Ya Got Trouble,” “‘Till There Was You,” “Pick-a-Little” and “Gary, Indiana,” THE MUSIC MAN is a family-friendly story to be shared with every generation.
Concert pianist Lyndon Ji enjoys a diverse performing career in solo and chamber settings, with a particular enthusiasm for introducing lesser-known works to audiences of all backgrounds. This afternoon program will explore modernist French music from Fauré to Lili Boulanger to Murail, as well as the mystic sound world of Scriabin through a selection of études and the ineffable Fifth Sonata. Lyndon currently serves as staff pianist at Rutgers, Artistic Director of the Bay Area International Piano Competition, and appears in concert regularly throughout the East Coast.
Effa Manley manages the Newark Eagles, a team she wants to take all the way to the Negro League World Series. Effa battles the press, coaching staff, segregation, and sometimes herself to win at the business of the game she loves most of all. She doesn’t worry about what it will cost her, even if it’s everything. Effa Loves Baseball is about the first woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Disfruta una experiencia unica llena de salsa e ritmos latinos con los éxitos que están conquistando Youtube. Viaje Tropical – Tony Succar con Mauricio Mesones.
Written by and Starring Kathryn Grody
Directed by Timothy Near
A Radical, Rollicking Rumination on the Optimism of Staying Alive
(NEWTON, NJ) -- Comedian Pete Correale will perform at The Newton Theatre on Friday, October 16, 2026 at 8:00pm. Pete is the funniest guy at the party who somehow snuck onto the country's biggest comedy stages.
(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Audiences worldwide recently rediscovered Homer's timeless heroes from The Odyssey in movie theaters this year. Mosaic Dance Theater Company continues that theme in October with the world premiere of Cassandra: An Ongoing Tragedy, a bold reinterpretation of ancient Greek mythology through the lens of modern tragedy.
(UNION, NJ) -- American Theater Group (ATG) will present a talkback session in partnership with The Newark Museum of Art following the Friday, October 16, 2026 at 7:00pm performance of Destroying David at the DMK Theater at the Union Arts Center. The event will be moderated by ATG Producing Artistic Director Charlotte Cohn who will be joined by Museum employees and playwright Jason Odell Williams who is also starring in the production. All are welcome to attend and reservations are not necessary.
(BOONTON, NJ) -- Get ready to do the Time Warp again! Lomotion Live is bringing a live, immersive shadowcast experience of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to the Parsippany Arts Center on October 16, 2026 at 8:00pm, with doors opening at 7:30pm.
(FAIR LAWN, NJ) -- Old Library Theatre presents The Hello Girls across two weekends from October 16-25, 2026 at the George Frey Performing Arts Center. From New York to Paris, from ragtime to jazz, this musical chronicles the story of America’s first women soldiers in this new musical inspired by history.
