SEASON 2008

Saturday Evenings
March 15, July 26, September 13, November 15
Staged/concert readings of new
plays fresh from the writers!
Meet the playwrights and discuss the plays at the   talkback following each reading.
(New Plays to be announced shortly)

STUART LITTLE, the Musical,
Adapted by Joseph Robinette, Music by Ronna Frank,
Lyrics by Both

This musical version of E.B. White's classic tale about a little mouse born into a normal New York family further enhances the charming story of a determined "underdog" trying to survive in a "real people's world." The many adventures—both big and small—of Stuart Little are brought vividly to life in this story theatre presentation. The acting ensemble plays many human and animal roles in a series of delightful scenes that make up the marvelous maneuverings of a mild-mannered mouse trying to survive in a "real people's world." From melodic ballads to exciting chorus numbers, the score by England's Ronna Frank features such delightful songs as "Paddle Your Own Canoe," "Feed Him Up," "Size," "Stuart Little," "I'm Headed in the Right Direction" and "Nighttime in New York" (sung by a quartet of cats!).
Review--
"Stuart is headed in the right direction . . . funny . . . The 11 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 are terrific as they take on myriad human and animal roles . . .comic. . .One of the highlights of the show is a quartet sung by cats about the joys of "Nighttime in New York . . . marvelous dance sequences . . .a delightful experience for young and old alike. "
                                                                                             THE TIMES HERALD-RECORD

                                               MARCH 15
     TRI-STATE'S NEW PLAYS READING SERIES
     
        What Happens After The War?
              by Susan Austin Roth
                   Admission by Donation
                    The Crescent Theater, 8PM
                    SYNOPSIS      PLAYWRIGHT       CAST                 

                                                                SYNOPSIS
MISSING PAGES tells the story of a contemporary American family haunted by the legacy of war.  Is George--a master spy-catcher during WWII--fighting imaginary battles in his Alzheimer's-afflicted brain, or is he reliving a long-suppressed past?  His adoring daughter Charlotte and his estranged son Andy at first think he is hallucinating, but they soon suspect his ravings are rooted in reality.  When they attempt to discover what their father actually did during the war,  George's and Andy's wars collide in an emotional train wreck that turns the family upside down. Punctuated with unexpected humor, this drama of family reconciliation and the aftermath of war resonates with today's political events. 
 
The playwright based the character of George on  the personality and deeds of her own father, drawing passages in the play from his war-time diary and letters. Andy's experiences in Vietnam are drawn from memoirs of veterans of that conflict.
 
The Playwright
  
Susan Austin Roth is an emerging playwright who earns her living as a non-fiction writer and photographer.  She lives in Washington, D.C.  Her  play, BYE, MOM!--or How Not to Bury Your Mother, was show-cased in NYC in 2005. HOME FOR CHRISTMAS was performed in 2003 at the Common Basis Theater in New York. Other short plays include CUT AND RUN, THE WINDOW, and METRO STOP, a one-minute play.
 
Ms. Roth is a member of the Dramatist Guild, the Authors Guild, the Playwrights Forum (Washington D.C.,) and the Women's Work Writers Group (Washington, D.C..)  She was a Theatre Arts major at Mount Holyoke College for two years and apprenticed as an actor for two summers at Boothbay Theatre in Maine.

                                               MISSING PAGES CAST (Alphabetical Order)
              
                      MARY CLIFFORD*    LISA ANN FRISONE*        IAN LOWE*             PAUL MANTELL*    BRENDAN MULVEY*
                  as Charlotte Armand        as Ludmilla                  as Pierre              as Andy Armand      as George Armand
                                                                                                  
 *denotes member of Actors Equity Association

One of the most famous plays of the modern theatre. A drama of great tenderness, charm and beauty--

Amanda Wingfield is a faded remnant of Southern gentility who lives in poverty in a dingy St. Louis apartment with her son, Tom, and her daughter, Laura. Amanda strives to give meaning and direction to her life and the lives of her children. Tom is driven nearly to distraction by his mother's nagging and seeks escape in alcohol and the movies. Laura, who is crippled, lives in her own illusions. This defect, intensified by her mother's anxiety to see her married, has driven her more and more into herself. The action comes when Tom invites a young man of his acquaintance to take dinner with the family. Jim, the caller, is a nice ordinary fellow who is at once pounced upon by Amanda as a possible husband for Laura.  He and Laura manage to get along very nicely, and momentarily Laura is lifted out of herself into a new world. But this crashes whenJim explains that he is already engaged. The world of illusion that Amanda and Laura have striven to create in order to make life bearable collapses about them. Tom, too, at the end of his tether, at last leaves home.

"Commanding...polished cast...fine acting"   
                                                          --THE TIMES HERALD-RECORD

"Fascinating production...Tri-State Actors Theater of Sussex stages a production that...opts for something new."
                                                         --THE STAR-LEDGER

"The Glass Menagerie's doomed Wingfield family . . . is one of the great representations of the defeated South, forever on the wrong side of history . . . exquisite play . . . worth seeing."

                                                             --NEW YORK MAGAZINE

" American theater's most exquisite mea culpa. . . . it established Tennessee Williams as one of the country's foremost playwrights.  . . . characters who have no intention of hurting one another end up doing so anyway. Their caresses leave scratch marks. . . . [The Glass Menagerie]  is perfectly rendered."
                                                             --NEW YORK TIMES
 

"Fragile and beautiful, in all its facets. . . exquisite . . . Menagerie [is] his most moving and skillful play, one of the signal family dramas of the American theater . . . unerring emotional truth,  . . . trapped between the impulses of self-sacrifice and self-preservation."
                                                             --WASHINGTON POST

"The Glass Menagerie is terrific. . . . one of the legendary playwright's most personal plays."
                                                            --WASHINGTONIAN

                      MAY 17
                        SPECIAL EVENT
THE DELAWARE VALLEY OPERA presents

         

                   


   

E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, often known as "Broadway's social conscience," was born on April 8, 1896 of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, raised in poverty on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and later attended City College of New York where he struck up a lifelong friendship with his classmate, Ira Gershwin. Yip was a master lyricist, poet and bookwriter who was dedicated to social justice.

On Broadway Yip began writing lyrics for multiple revues in the 1930s which included songs that became standards such as "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," the classic anthem of the Depression and "April in Paris". He collaborated with co-lyricist Ira Gershwin and composer Harold Arlen on several works including Bloomer Girl.  He co-wrote the book and wrote the lyrics for FINIAN'S RAINBOW in1947, which won the Henderson and George Jean Nathan Awards for Best Musical Comedy.

Altogether, Yip wrote the lyrics to over 600 songs with a variety of composers. His most famous work was THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939, with Harold Arlen). In this classic, Yip conceived the integration of song and script, wrote the recitative for the Munchkin "operetta," and wrote the lyrics to all the songs, including the Academy Award-winning "Over the Rainbow,  "We're Off to See the Wizard," "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead," "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1932, with Arlen), and "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe" (1943, Arlen, from the film CABIN IN THE SKY). Later, with Lane, he wrote "Old Devil Moon" and "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" The team of Arlen and Harburg also wrote Groucho Marx's signature song, "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" (1939, from AT THE CIRCUS).  Yip Harburg, a unique and major lyricist of 20th century American musical theatre, died on March 5, 1981 at 84 years young.
©2006 yipharburg.com

          





SYNOPSIS     CAST     TICKETS
 

THE STORY-- A fast moving, hilarious comedy, deals with two earnest young men  struggling to put out a "protest" magazine, and the all-American girl who moves in next door and manages to send both of them into a romantic tail spin.

Andy and Norman are two earnest young men using their apartment as a publishing office for a "protest" magazine in San Francisco. Sophie, an Olympic swimmer and all-American girl, moves into another apartment on the same floor.  Her friendliness and charm leave Norman hopelessly smitten. Thereafter love, with him, is a determined madness, with the humor of it heightened by her frantic rejection of him. Meanwhile, his partner is fielding telephone calls from the irate printer who wants to collect the money due him, and distracting the landlady from thoughts of back rent  And while she is convinced that they are editing a dangerously subversive magazine, our heroine soon finds that her real source of annoyance is that the wrong man is pressing his attentions on her. Love and politics blend delightfully in a bubbling series of funny happenings, set forth with the masterly skill and inventiveness that are the hallmarks of Neil Simon.
THE REVIEWS--
 "...charm, brightness, deft inventiveness and capacity for good, honest hilarity..."
                                                                                       ---NY Post.

 "...Mr. Simon can do wonders…with casually tossed-off fantasies that pop up from nowhere and whistle as they go by."
                                                                                       ---NY Times.

JULY 26
NEW PLAYS READING SERIES
TO BE ANNOUNCED
8pm in the Black Box Theater,
Historic Crescent Theater Sussex, NJ
Admission by Donation 
More Info  

August 6-August 23


Adapted by Joseph Robinette,
Music by Charles Strouse
from the book by E.B. White
Call 973-875-2950 or order Tickets Online
synopsis   Tickets

CHARLOTTE'S WEB
Adapted by Joseph Robinette, Music by Charles Strouse
from the book by E.B. White

                                          SYNOPSIS
This exciting, new musical version of Charlotte's Web brings a new dimension to E.B. White's beloved classic. With music and lyrics by Charles Strouse (Annie, 'Bye, 'Bye Birdie) and book by Joseph Robinette (national award-winning children's playwright)  audiences will thrill to a musical score which includes "Eating," Wilbur the pig's humorous yet poignant song about growing up; "Who Says We Can't Be Friends," an enchanting duet between Wilbur and his new-found companion Charlotte; "Welcome to the Zuckerman Barn," featuring all the story's unforgettable animals in a hand-clapping, toe-tapping hoe-down; and "Summer," a haunting, nostalgic chorus number which evokes a time and place from everyone's childhood. Bring the whole family!

Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt
from the Novel by Susan Hill

Call 973-875-2950 or order Tickets Online
Synopsis and Reviews   Tickets
 

Thunderclaps and blood curdling screams are just the beginning in this terrifying Halloween October treat for the Tri-State audience! A haunting tale of mystery and suspicion, The Woman in Black explores the chilling past of Arthur Kipps - a young lawyer hired to sort through the affairs of Mrs. Drablow after she dies. Years later Arthur hires an actor to help him explore his memories and rid him of his demons, but as they delve further they begin to uncover incidents that can not be directly explained--chilling, scary fun!

                                                      Reviews
" . . . charming . . .a shamelessly hokey Victorian ghost story, and it comes complete with misty marshes, an isolated village whose citizens bear a secret, a solitary mansion, a graveyard, spectral sightings, a shriek in the night and a lingering curse."
                                                                --NEW YORK TIMES

". . . frightening. . . a good, old-fashioned ghost story that is virtually guaranteed to scare you."
                                                                               --ABOUT.COM

". . . terror and suspense . . . a genuine, copper-bottomed audience-pleaser. . . . spine-tingling, blood-curdling screams."
                                                               --The STAGE.C0.UK

"Hollywood may be able to generate impressive specters with the sophisticated technology at its disposal, but rarely are its ghosts as persuasive -- or terrifying -- as those conjured from the simple sights and sounds we encounter in darkness and solitude. . . The power of such little things to make spirits real drives The Woman in Black, a terrifically old-fashioned ghost story in the English tradition."
                                                               --AUSTIN CHRONICLE

". . . terror-filled. . . . you'll have to pay for the whole seat, even though you'll rarely use more than the edge."
                                                               --CURTAIN UP,NewYork

AUDIENCES SAY:

". . .the whole audience was blown away. . . Everyone simply has to see this play!!!"
                                                    ---Danielle Klentzeris,  Cardiff 
"I believed it couldn't actually be that scary, but believe me it was!  . . . thinking about it now, makes me shudder! Fantastic"
                                                     ---Holly Tate, Surrey
"Imagine the scariest theatrical production you could ever imagine, multiply this by a gripping horror film and add a night you have spent alone wishing it was morning. . . You'll be sleeping with the light on and running away from shadows for months afterwards."
                                                     ---William Cooper, London
"It is simply a delicious, juicy night of chills and jumps! . . . sound effects that just make you believe you're 'there', the entire event is totally satisfying . . ."
                                                     ---KC, Ireland

                                               NOVEMBER 15
                                  NEW PLAYS READING SERIES
                                          TO BE ANNOUNCED
                                                8pm in the Black Box Theater
                                                     Admission by Donation

DECEMBER, 2008
Purchase Tickets Online!

                                              SYNOPSIS
A holiday treat for the whole family! The great Christmas classic by Charles Dickens: the miserly Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, the ghosts of past, present and future, in this wonderful recreation. Make A CHRISTMAS CAROL part of your holiday at Tri-State!
                                     REVIEWS
". . . here's the "A Christmas Carol" for you . . . charming . . .excellent . . . wondrous delight . . . endearing . . ."
                                              THE STAR LEDGER
" . . . an engaging show . . . electrifying. . . overflowing with a talented and spirited cast, colorful and authentic costumes and special effects in sound and sight  . . . a cheerful glow . . . "
                                               THE TIMES HERALD-RECORD

*[Selection of plays subject to change without notice]