During the course of directing six shows at Paper Mill Playhouse, director Casey Hushion fell in love with the place and it became her favorite theater to work in, and now the Maplewood resident has taken on the role as Paper Mill’s associate artistic director.
Hushion brings years of theater experience – from Broadway to national tours to regional theater and artistic leadership – to her new job, where she is now working with Producing Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee, who hired Hushion after a national search.
“Casey is a gifted director and a generous collaborator,” Hoebee said, when announcing Hushion’s appointment. “She knows Paper Mill and our audiences, and as a member of our community, she understands the important role this theater plays here. I couldn’t be more excited to have her beside me as we shape Paper Mill’s next chapter.”
Hushion, who began her job in September, shares Hoebee’s enthusiasm for the work and for what’s to come at Paper Mill.
“I just feel so lucky and grateful to be making a more permanent home here and to be anchored to this institution that I love so much and that gives so much back to our community,” she told the Village Green in an interview. “It’s just about as good as it gets.”
Casey Hushion
Hushion has deep roots in the New York theater community and also served for 10 years as Artistic Director of North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh. At Paper Mill, she directed six productions: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Murder on the Orient Express, Mystic Pizza, Clue, Beehive, and A Jolly Holiday: Celebrating Disney’s Broadway Hits. On Broadway, she served as assistant or associate director on such productions as In the Heights, Mean Girls and The Prom.
As a resident of Maplewood for the last 16 years, she’s also been part of the local Broadway commuting community.
“That sense of community has been unbelievable, the way everyone supports each other and looks out for each other,” she said. “And the idea that you could finish a show and get on the train and run into 20 people you know coming home after work at night – it’s so remarkable that exists in our community.”
Hushion and her husband, Marc Kessler, a Maplewood Middle School math teacher who also directs the MMS musical, moved with their children to Maplewood from Manhattan after discovering the town through theater friends who had moved to Maplewood earlier.
“It’s so unique what has happened in Maplewood with the theater community living here,” she said, adding that when they moved here, Maplewood felt like Utopia. “We moved out to join our friends here. Over the years, I cannot get over the number of families that work in theater that have gathered in this one area – Maplewood, South Orange, West Orange.”
And she sees that local theater community as a boon to Paper Mill Playhouse.
“How incredible that we have this all this unbelievable Broadway talent right here in our backyard— and that we can connect it to Paper Mill,” she said. “So many of these artists have come to work at Paper Mill and become part of its story. There’s something really special about being able to share a piece of Broadway right here in our own community.”
In her new role, she will be working closely with Hoebee and Christopher Slavik, Paper Mill’s associate producer, focusing on all aspects of Paper Mill’s productions.
“We’ve got our hands in lots of different departments,” she said, including season planning, evaluating scripts and new works to develop. “We look for the best new artists we can find. We identify creative teams and designers for each production and we build ongoing relationships with those artists.”
Hushion first started working at Paper Mill just as “we were coming out of the pandemic,” she said. “And it became a creative home for me pretty quickly, and that was because the staff here is so incredible, the audiences and the community support are so singular, and there’s such a high level of integrity here.”
Paper Mill Playhouse is a nationally renowned not-for-profit theater and has been a New Jersey arts institution since 1938. Several Paper Mill productions have gone on to Broadway and launched national tours, including The Great Gatsby, Disney’s Newsies, Bandstand, Honeymoon in Vegas, A Bronx Tale, and Les Misérables (25th Anniversary production). The theater is also the home to an award-winning center for musical theater education and artist training.
“They care so much about the quality of theater that they produce and about how the patrons are treated and about how the artists are treated. You know, there’s a reason why it quickly became my favorite theater to work at,” Hushion said. “ The artists are so supported and you’re given the tools to do the very best work that you’re capable of doing. It’s so professional, it’s so high level, but there’s a real generosity of spirit and a real kindness around this place. It’s a really special place.”
Lilah Gottesman is an 12th grade Columbia High School student, who is working with Village Green as a paid freelancer through a grant from the NJ Civic Information Consortium
Editor Laura Griffin contributed to this story.
