Did you know that New Brunswick, N.J. is the only place in the country where you can see live, world-class jazz every week for free? You can thank the New Brunswick Jazz Project. We recently sat down with the NBJP team at Tavern on George, where most of their events take place. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com) , where articles and videos als...
Feb 20, 2020•19 min
It’s been called the perfect romantic comedy. Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night" begins with sister-brother twins losing each other in a shipwreck, leading to a high-spirited tale of gender-bending and mixed-up love affairs. Director Sara Holdren recalls falling in love with Shakespeare at a very early age, and the creative fun of interpreting his plays. Hint: Sara’s making the most of the music in the production, collaborating with the band and theater collective, The Lobbyists. “Twelfth Night” is o...
Jan 16, 2020•18 min
This Sunday, the New Jersey Youth Symphony will perform two "Nutcrackers" side by side – bouncing Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s 1960s arrangements off of Tchaikovsky’s original compositions. Listen in as we talk to the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of NJYS and Director of the NJYS’s Jazz Orchestra about putting this ambitious project together to challenge their students and celebrate the season. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcas...
Dec 06, 2019•21 min
Hannah Arendt is a philosopher for our times, and the unlikely title character in a new play “Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library.” Jenny Lyn Bader's gripping play is inspired by the true story of how Arendt, a 26 year-old married Jewish woman at the beginning of her career as a philosopher, was arrested with her mother in Nazi Germany in 1933. Arendt, who’s married name is Stern, is best known for her writings on fascism, totalitarianism, and the nature of power and evil. "Mrs. Stern ...
Nov 07, 2019•17 min
The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour is coming to town. It’s the latest live tour from "Mystery Science Theater 3000," the classic television show in which a spaceship janitor and his homemade robot friends are subjected to a cruel experiment by mad scientists - meaning they are forced to watch the worst movies ever made until they go insane. Creator and original host Joel Hodgson (and company) will be doing two shows at the State Theatre in New Brunswick October 26. He spoke with us earlier this ...
Oct 25, 2019•15 min
Emily Mann is a triple threat: an award-winning playwright known for her “theater of testimony,” a sought-after director, and the artistic director of one of America’s preeminent regional theaters, the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. She is stepping down as artistic director after the 2019-2020 season, her 30th at the McCarter. In this special edition of the Jersey Arts Podcast, producer Susan Wallner talks with Mann about her career, her future projects, and her final season, ...
Sep 04, 2019•28 min
We recently spoke with artist and designer Molly Hatch, whose signature style is currently on display in a large-scale ceramics installation at the Newark Museum called Repertoire. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com) , where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vibrant arts and entertainment scene. Discover Jersey Arts is presented by Ar...
Aug 29, 2019•18 min
Artist Dion Hitchings just opened a new solo exhibit at the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft. The show, "Dion Hitchings, Portraits on Recycled Consumer Boxes," be on view until September 18. Christopher Benincasa recently sat down with Hitchings to talk about the exhibit, outsider art, and migrating from St. Louis to New York City to rural Milford. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Di...
Aug 20, 2019•9 min
"A Jazzy Nutcracker" is Lustig Dance Theatre's new take on the beloved classic, performed with a six-piece jazz band and guest appearances from high school marching bands. Choreographer Graham Lustig talks with producer Susan Wallner about growing up in London in the 1960s and how it inspired his production, with the Nutcracker re-imagined as the Boy Next Door. LDT performs December 6 at SOPAC and December 12 & 13 at Monroe Performing Arts Center. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jerse...
Aug 14, 2019•11 min
Suzzy Roche is the youngest of the influential trio The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre. In addition, she has a solo career, is an author, and does the occasional bit of acting. On August 15, she'll be appearing at The Minstrel at the Folk Project in Morristown with her daughter, Lucy Wainwright Roche, singing songs off their recent album "Fairytale and Myth." Lucy's father is Loudon Wainwright III, and her half-siblings are Martha and Rufus Wainwright, all well-known singer/songwrite...
Aug 13, 2019•12 min
In Princeton and New Brunswick, art by women from the Middle East is opening eyes and challenging stereotypes. Susan Wallner talks with Iranian Parastou Forouhar and Nigerian Fatimah Tuggar, two of the many artists involved. Both women grew up in political families and openly address political and social themes in their work. Exhibitions and events that are part of The Fertile Crescent: Gender, Art, and Society continue through January 2013. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Pod...
Aug 05, 2019•12 min
Susan Wallner talks to playwright, director, and artistic director Emily Mann. Mann is celebrating her 20th anniversary season at the Tony Award-winning McCarter Theatre with a restaging of "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years." Times have changed since its first production -- as Mann says, "People came with different expectations in 1995 to this play about these two extraordinary black women." Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast pl...
Jul 25, 2019•19 min
Tina Sloan is best known for her 26 years as Nurse Lillian on “Guiding Light.” CBS just canceled the show, but, as producer Susan Wallner finds out, Tina already has a new gig: starring in a play based on her life as a soap star, mother, daughter, wife, former mountain climber and, as she puts it, “lady who lunches.” “Changing Shoes” is at Cape May Stage August 17, 2009. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one med...
Jul 25, 2019•17 min
State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa meets up with actor Matthew Arkin at New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse to talk about his role in the Obie Award-winning play Sight Unseen. He plays Jonathan Waxman, an art-world super-star wrestling with an unexpected identity crisis. The play runs through February 15th. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts ...
Jul 24, 2019•17 min
Seven years ago, opera singer Scott Altman and his wife Lisa decided to settle in Princeton with their young kids, and start a brand new opera company. Today, Opera New Jersey is getting consistently rave reviews. In Feb 2009 they perform Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus featuring opera superstar Ruth Ann Swenson. Producer Eric Schultz chats with Opera New Jersey co-founder and artistic director Scott Altman. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast playe...
Jul 24, 2019•13 min
Philip Pearlstein’s current exhibition at the Montclair Art Museum has been designated an “American Masterpiece” by the National Endowment for the Arts. Pearlstein is known for his precise, larger-than-life nudes. Producer Susan Wallner talks to the artist about his extraordinary career and to curator Patterson Sims who says that Pearlstein, now in his 80s, is making “the best paintings of his life.” Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The ...
Jul 24, 2019•13 min
Simone Dinnerstein’s self-produced CD of Bach’s Goldberg Variations topped the classical music charts and propelled her into a career as a top international soloist. The Brooklyn native will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in a series of upcoming concerts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Producer Eric Schultz meets Dinnerstein, who describes how the Goldberg Variations changed her life. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. Th...
Jul 24, 2019•10 min
“Is it possible to make a photograph of New Jersey regardless of where you are in the world?” This is the premise of an exhibit featuring over 1,000 images by more than 180 artists from 18 countries at The Pierro Gallery of South Orange through May 25th. NJN producer Susan Wallner spoke to guest curator Laurel Ptak about where she got the idea for the show and why it’s proven to be so popular. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey ...
Jul 24, 2019•15 min
During the era of Jim Crow, black singers were played on black radio stations, and white singers on white ones. Famously, Elvis Presley adopted the bluesy style and songs of black performers, shocking white audiences. Rose Marie McCoy wanted to be a singer, but became one of the best songwriters of the time, working on both sides of the color barrier with hits by Ike and Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, James Taylor, and Sarah Vaughn among others. At the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck on July 26, "...
Jul 18, 2019•20 min
On stage through July 20, "Summerland" is a work of historical fiction based on a real case that involved William H. Mumler – a man who claimed to be able to photograph spirits, and whose clients included First Lady of the United States Mary Todd Lincoln. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com) , where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vi...
Jun 27, 2019•12 min
In the age of Instagram, food is a visual obsession. “The Shared Meal,” an exhibition at Artworks in Trenton, dives deeper, exploring the meaning of food through the work of nine visual artists. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com) , where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vibrant arts and entertainment scene. Discover Jersey Arts is p...
May 16, 2019•11 min
From April 25-28, NJSO presents Xian Conducts Mozart, with classical music super-star Simone Dinnerstein performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. Hear from Dinnerstein on her take on the timeless genius of Mozart’s music. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com) , where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vibrant arts and entertainment sce...
Apr 25, 2019•9 min
Video games, music, and pizza form the cultural undercurrent of "Band on the Run," a new play by Chris Saglimbene featured in this year’s Stages Festival. A playwright, actor, vlogger, gamer, artist, and all-around talented guy, Saglimbene has cerebral palsy but, as he says, “it doesn’t have him.” Actors from Premiere Stages at Kean University join Saglimbene in a staged reading on March 23 at the Schonhorn Arts Center at Matheny Medical and Education Center in Peapack. Producer Susan Wallner ta...
Mar 21, 2019•16 min
The Alan Parsons Live Project plays Bergen Performing Arts Center on Friday, February 22. Rock icon Alan Parsons took a moment during his non-stop touring schedule to chat with us about getting his start working with The Beatles and Pink Floyd at Abbey Road Studios, the analog approach he took in producing his new album “The Secret,” and finally winning a Grammy Award a few weeks ago after being nominated 13 times over four decades. The first one was for his engineering work on Pink Floyd’s clas...
Feb 21, 2019•16 min
Composer John Morton has created interactive installations using sound in Central Park, Governors Island and now the Morris Museum, where two of his pieces can be “played” through February 24. “Fever Songs” uses audio gathered from different religious traditions, and “The Voyage Out” is a collaboration with figurative artist Jacqueline Shatz. Producer Susan Wallner talks to both of the artists about the latter work — a ship with three keys that initiate both movement and sound – which was inspir...
Jan 29, 2019•15 min
At the age of 75, singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys continues to rock. The Brooklyn native got his start in New York City’s club scene in the mid-60s, and had a breakout hit in the 70s with the single “Wild in the Streets.” He met his best friend Lou Reed while studying art history at Syracuse University, and he recorded with The Velvet Underground’s co-founder John Cale before striking out on his own. In 1977, the year his album “Ghost Writer” was released, Rolling Stone pronounced him Best Ne...
Dec 20, 2018•11 min
Drummer, leader, and composer Terri Lyne Carrington made history as the first woman to win a Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz for her album “Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue.” Now, she brings her interpretation of Duke Ellington’s “Money Jungle” to the TD James Moody Jazz Festival at NJPAC on November 11, 2018, as part of a program called “Jazz Vinyl Revisited.” Producer Susan Wallner talks to Carrington about her connections to the jazz greats Clark Terry and Max Roach; her newest project, th...
Nov 08, 2018•15 min
Tonight, Tuesday, October 30, at Douglass Library at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, a mother and her daughter – one an artist, the other a scientist – will have a public conversation about where, why and how their fields intersect. Thanks for listening! Subscribe to The Jersey Arts Podcast in your favorite podcast player. The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com) , where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vibrant arts and ent...
Oct 30, 2018•23 min
The Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest poetry event in North America. Paterson-based poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan will be reading on Thursday and Friday of the four-day festival taking place October 18-21 in Newark. Maria is the force behind the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College, and the author of more than 20 books of and about poetry. Her poems are about her life, including her strong memories of childhood in Paterson’s Italian immigrant community. She likes to talk about the ...
Sep 20, 2018•15 min
Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Broadway musical "Bright Star" has come to Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven. The comedian and the songwriter created the show after collaborating on a Grammy-winning bluegrass album called "Love Has Come For You." "Bright Star" is set in the American South in the 1920s and '40s, and it’s on a similar musical wavelength. We recently spoke with Surflight’s Artistic Director Steve Steiner, actor Adrianne Hick and director Elizabeth Lucas about bringing "Bright Star"...
Sep 04, 2018•10 min
