Midtown Direct Rep

05/18/2020

Midtown Direct Rep's Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton, In the Heights) is honored by The Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Virtual Hot Pink Evening on May 20th. MDR' members Steven Tabakin (Executive Producer and Director), Meg Zervoulis (Musical Director), and Norbert Leo Butz (Tony Award-winning performer) are just a few of the many people involved in this one-night-only virtual event.

On May 20 at 7:45pm, BCRF will hold their first-ever Virtual Hot Pink Evening, taking their renowned Hot Pink Party to a new virtual format with a very special live-stream viewing experience.

03/11/2020

Tickets for Listen To Your Mother
Go On sale Today!
10 am
Middirrep.org

03/03/2020

Congratulations to the 7th annual North Jersey LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER cast!

Congratulations to our phenomenal 7th annual LTYM North Jersey cast!

01/23/2020

・・・
2020 AUDITION INFO NOW AVAILABLE!
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Moving into YEAR 7 of the in our SOMA community. It’s a gift in my life every year. Come share your story with us! Details Below ⬇️
Auditions 2/22 & 2/23 in Maplewood, NJ
Email [email protected] to schedule your appt.
Come prepared to read your own 3-5 MIN piece on the topic of Motherhood. ANYTHING GOES. All welcome. No experience required.
Performances will be held on May 16th @ 3 & 7 PM.
www.middirrep.org/LTYM-news

01/21/2020

Listen To Your Mother is BACK! Auditions for the 7th annual LTYM NJ show have been announced. Pen your thoughts, and we'll see you at auditions!

Is this your year? Audition with your original story about motherhood for the 7th annual Listen To Your Mother North Jersey show!

01/06/2020

We're thrilled to have Miguel Cervantes and his beautiful family back home soon. He will join fellow MDR ensemble member Mandy Gonzalez in the Broadway production in a couple months.

The actor returns to the company after a long-running stint as Alexander Hamilton in Chicago.

11/12/2019

Don't miss the exclusive preview reading of NOVEL: An Audio Drama on Sunday, Nov 17th at 7pm at The Woodland in Maplewood, NJ. Book tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/novel-a-new-audio-drama-by-aimee-parrott-and-william-bienes-tickets-80371588585

Midtown Direct and Triple Birch Media present an exclusive preview reading of NOVEL: An Audio Drama Series, created by Aimee Parrott and William Bienes.

11/12/2019

Join us this Sunday at The Woodland (in the parlor) for an exciting first: the first installment from an audio play series. Tickets available in Bio!

11/07/2019

Please join Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) for the first staged reading of its 2019-2020 season, an exclusive preview of NOVEL, an original audio drama created by Aimee Parrott and William Bienes. This unique event marks the first time that Midtown Direct Rep presents original work written specifically as a podcast series.

The cast will feature guest actor Julia Coffey joining Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) ensemble members Sebastian Arcelus, Jenny Bacon, Lucas Calhoun, Dwayne Clark, Brian Corrigan, Danielle Ferland, and Josephine Rose Roberts with local middle school student Rowan Wechsler. MDR’s Terrence Witter is the stage manager.

Suzanne Agins will direct, with live sound design by Shane Rettig.

TICKETS at http://ow.ly/TKk550x46rp

Set in the 19th century, when the Suffrage movement was gaining momentum, NOVEL was inspired by a list of preposterous reasons for which women could be confined to asylums, in particular, “novel reading.”

NOVEL tells the story of a young woman confined to an asylum for the crime of reading novels who uses her wit and her love of books to regain her rightful place in the Suffrage movement. The year 2020 will mark the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women's constitutional right to vote.

This reading is presented in association with Executive Producer Steven Tabakin and Triple Birch Media. NOVEL will also be presented in New York City on Monday, November 18th to an invited industry audience at 4pm at Sunlight Studios (321 West 44th Street, New York, NY). To request an industry or press invitation, contact Tabakin at [email protected].

Stay updated at https://www.facebook.com/noveltheseries/

Midtown Direct Rep (MDR), the resident theater company of Woodland in Maplewood, NJ, is a professional, ensemble-based theater company of over 100 working Broadway actors and theater professionals who call South Orange and Maplewood home. Midtown Direct Rep is dedicated to developing and presenting new plays and musicals focusing on work that reflects our diverse community. Midtown Direct Rep is also the local presenter of the hugely successful event Listen to Your Mother, which showcases local writers and performers each year around Mother’s Day. Company members include two-time Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz, Tony Award-winner Michele Pawk, Tony Award-winner Stephanie J. Block, Tony nominees Megan Lawrence and Christiane Noll, plus Sebastian Arcelus, Joel de la Fuente, Bradley Dean, Megan Lawrence, Charlie Po***ck and many others. Guest actors have included James McDonald, Michelle Hurst, Geoffrey Arend, and Academy Award®-winner Olympia Dukakis. Recent projects include work by Matt Schatz, Kate Moira Ryan, Y York, Jack Canfora, Peter Flaherty, Jeremy Desmon, Chad Hardin, James Hindman, Chisa Hutchison, David Johnston, Kait Kerrigan, Kara Lee Korthron, David Myers, Sandy Rustin, John Walch, Douglas J. Cohen, Zoe Samuel, Mark Kendall, Cheri Steinkellner, Matt Williams, Rob Zellers and others. The Company is led by Interim Managing Director Ondine Landa Abramson and Artistic Advisors Sandy Rustin Fleischer and Steven Tabakin.

This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and administered by the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.

Please join Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) for the first staged reading of its 2019-2020 season, an exclusive preview of NOVEL, an original audio drama created by Aimee Parrott and William Bienes . Sebastian Arcelus , Jenny Bacon and Julia Coffey headline the ensemble cast. This unique

10/18/2019

This weekend, please join us at SouthNEXT19, presented by our friends at SOPAC and Seton Hall University. This annual festival of events, conversations and collisions founded by Village Trustee Steve Schnall is back and BETTER THAN EVER. Sunday's keynote address by the legendary octogenarian labor leader Dolores Huerta is $7 at the door if you mention SouthNEXT -- and all other events are FREE!

Saturday, October 19 at the SOPAC Loft:

12 NOON | LIVING A MINDFUL LIFE
Mindfulness Facilitator, Jean Vitrano, will share how Living A Mindful Life is, in essence, living a life of hope.
1:00PM | LET’S TALK ABOUT DEATH, DIFFERENTLY
Caren Martineau is reshaping how Boomers and successive generations think about aging and mortality.
1:30PM – 3:30PM | DRAWING WITH DIFFICULTY
Join Jason Rulnick for a whimsical, hands-on experience discovering the fundamental elements of art.
2:00PM | HIGHER LEARNING
Join Joel Greengrass for an exploration into the science behind CBD and how to make the best decisions for yourself and your loved ones.
3:00PM | DANGER. WILL. ROBINSON.
Join Danni Michaeli and Peter McClard to explore the question, “As technology takes hold of our daily lives, are we on the cusp of losing our humanity or discovering it for the first time?”
4:00PM | CAN VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE INCREASE SHARED COMMUNITY COMPASSION?
This workshop led by Mary Balkun, will provide discussion-based interactions that will raise questions as to how emerging technologies may be useful to address implicit biases and increase empathy.
5:00PM | REDIRECTING ANXIETY.
This workshop will address anxiety and the role it plays in our lives.
7:30PM | SOMA’S GOT CRAZY TALENT
A talent competition celebrating the exceptional -- and sometimes very unexpected -- talents of individuals in the South Orange and Maplewood community. The event is overseen by MDR founding Artistic Director Jeremy Dobrish and MCs are MDR's fabulous Josehine Rose Roberts and local teenage music phenomenon Ricky Persaud, Jr.
Judges include the Honorable Sheena Collum, producer Mike Griot, and education leader Johanna Wright. Cash bar.

Sunday, October 20 at Seton Hall University:

12 NOON | COUNTER/NARRATIVE
Angela Kariotis will lead SouthNEXT participants in a series of exercises intended to build community, guide the conversation, and encourage a vision that allows for collective joy as the greatest act of resistance.
1:00 – 4:00PM | AN AFTERNOON WITH DOLORES HUERTA
Join us as we explore the life, legacy, and leadership of one of the most iconic labor rights activists in the world, Dolores Huerta, with journalist and multimedia storyteller Alicia Menendez on October 20, 2019, from 1-4 p.m. in the Jubilee Auditorium. ($15 at the door)
4:00 – 5:30PM | ME, THE “OTHER” FILM/COMMUNITY DISCUSSION
The South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race is partnering with co-director and producer Shidan Majidi to open up conversations about “otherness” as we strive for the “oneness” of social justice and equity in our community and in the human family.
5:30PM | SCOTT KETTNER & NATION BEAT TRIO
Scott Kettner will bring listeners on a sonic and visual journey through the music of Brazil, New Orleans, and NYC, contextualizing the cultural and musical similarities that have shaped his drumming and music with Nation Beat.

Click through for more info and to register. Come for as much or as little as you like -- and please spread the word. It's also Parents' Weekend at Seton Hall with all kinds of activities for kids -- and tonight is the Seton Village Food Truck and Beer Fest on Irvington Ave.

Join us on October 19-20 for an eclectic mash-up of art, music, ideas, talks, performances and more - right in our own backyard.