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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 Ebenezer Scrooge's Big Jersey Christmas Show

Saturday, December 06, 2025 @ 7:30pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901




 

George

George Street Playhouse presents Ebenezer Scrooge's Big Jersey Christmas Show

Saturday, December 06, 2025 @ 2:00pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901



A

A Christmas Carol

Saturday, December 06, 2025 @ 1:00pm
Grunin Center - Main Stage
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754



OCC

OCC Concert Band: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Saturday, December 06, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Grunin Center - Main Stage
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754



Vivid

Vivid Stage presents "A Very Special Special"

Saturday, December 06, 2025 @ 8:00pm
Oakes Center
120 Morris Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901







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


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.


Soulful documentary Cathy & Harry screens at the Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 28

by Emma Hackbarth
published 2025-09-22

Artists Catherine Murphy and Harry Roseman are featured in Marta Renzi and Daniel Wolff's documentary Cathy & Harry in the midst of exhibitions, producing new work, and living together. They complement each other in their styles and concepts—Cathy in her representational painting and realism and Harry in his shapeshifting material pieces. Both are known for a meticulous, drawn-out work ethic and their love of each other. Shown in their home studios, galleries, public works and daily lives, we are given a glimpse of the process behind the product. The couple each tote prolific careers.



Art doc Cathy & Harry screens at the New Jersey Film Festival on Sunday, September 28!

by Morgan Kalmbach
published 2025-09-25

In their documentary film, Cathy & Harry, Marta Renzi and Daniel Wolff present the works and uniquely dynamic personalities of Catherine Murphy and Harry Roseman, two award-winning, notable artists, as well as a married couple. The film centers on Murphy and Roseman, while showcasing their artworks and stories as well as their relationship to one another and their views on life, each other, and the world around them. The film is unique in its less formal approach, taking its time to connect with the characters and enter their world, rather than them telling us who they are. This, alongside the inclusions of art and unique locations, cement Cathy & Harry as a poignant portrayal of two artists who seek to question, create, and connect.



Illuminating doc Chœurs Atlantiques screens at the Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival on Friday, October 3!

by Jack Bolton
published 2025-10-01

There is an idea within the current political sphere, mostly among the right-wing, that we shouldn’t talk about slavery. This idea is supported by such talking points as “we don’t want white kids to feel bad for being white” or “this only matters to black people". For example, the French government had, a few decades ago, created the slogan, “We were all born in 1848”, the year they abolished slavery. To people like Emmanuel Gordien, it implied that slavery never existed. However, the horrors of the past will not stay silent. Safoi Babana-Hampton’s Chœurs Atlantiques | Tales from the Atlantic Beyond is a tribute to the victims of slavery that, in the words of Gordien, “Find all our ancestors,  understand all their history… and finally, to honor them”.



Arden Theatre Company presents "The Mountaintop" by Katori Hall

(PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- Arden Theatre Company presents The Mountaintop, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall, and directed by Barrymore Award-winning director Brett Ashley Robinson. Running October 30 through December 14, 2025 on the Arcadia Stage, the 90-minute reimagining of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final night, invites audiences into a deeply intimate and human portrait of one of the most iconic leaders of the 20th century.