From Midtown Direct Rep and SOPAC:
Midtown Direct Rep (MDR), SOPAC, co-directors/producers Deborah Goldstein (Publisher, Village Q), Brooke Lefferts (Writer, Associated Press, NBC Today), Sandy Rustin (Playwright, Rated P … for Parenthood, The Cottage, Struck) will present Listen To Your Mother: North Jersey this Saturday, May 7, 2016.
Listen to Your Mother 2016 cast (credit Matt Yeager)
This 3rd Annual North Jersey production will have performances at 5pm (Mainstage) and 7:30pm (Loft Theater) at The South Orange Performing Arts Center (One SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ, 07079). Open auditions were held in late January, and 13 writers were selected to join the movement of “giving motherhood a microphone.” The 2016 cast will feature some of North Jersey’s most talented writers and bloggers including: Lois Gallt Accardi, Ralph Buchalter, Moira Deziel, Laura Epstein, Brie Latini, Pam Lobley, Allyson Murphy, Doreen Oliver, Pat Ostrander, Joy Peskin, Otise Schuk, Carrie Schwartz, and Elizabeth Trundle. To get a great sense of the show, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/LTYMShow
Tickets are $35-$45 and are available at www.sopacnow.org or by calling 973-313-ARTS (2787).
Listen to Your Mother is a national series of original live readings about motherhood, presented in 41 cities across the United States and Canada with the mission of taking the audience on a well-crafted journey that celebrates and validates motherhood (in all of its complexity, diversity, and humor) in the form of original readings performed live on-stage by their authors.
Listen To Your Mother is sponsored nationally by BlogHer, along with several local North Jersey sponsors including: ALIGN WELLNESS STUDIO, AMERICAN JIU JITSU OF MAPLEWOOD, BAKER STREET YOGA, BLOW IN BLOW OUT, CEDAR RIDGE CAFÉ, COLORMATICS, CKO KICKBOXING MAPLEWOOD, D & I FITNESS SOUTH ORANGE, EVENTAGE, KIMAYA KAMA, MACARONI KID, SUMMIT SHORT HILLS SOMA, MATT YEAGER PHOTOGRAPHY, MAPLEWOOD ARTIST COLLECTIVE, MEATBALL OBSESSION, MIDTOWN DIRECT REP, RETAIL THERAPY, SOUTH ORANGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, SOUTH MOUNTAIN YMCA, SPA LADY SOUTH ORANGE, STUDIO B, SWEET LIFE BY DESIGN, THE VANESSA POLLOCK REALTY TEAM OF KELLER WILLIAMS AT MIDTOWN DIRECT, THEATRE ARTS PT, TRACEY DIAMOND DESIGNS, TRAILWORKS; THE ART OF JENNIE TRAIL SCHAEFFER, WILD HONEY CATERING, and YONI KREGER SALON.
Listen to Your Mother aims to support motherhood creatively through artistic expression, and also financially, through contributions to non-profit organizations supporting families in need. The North Jersey show will donate 10% of ticket proceeds to COPE Center, Inc.
COPE is a nonprofit agency dedicated to providing quality behavioral health-care, prevention, and outreach services that are affordable, accessible, and responsive to individual, family, and community needs. Founded in 1968 by the Junior League of Montclair and Newark and the United Way of North Essex as a committee to fight the growing problems of drug abuse, COPE became an independent not-for-profit agency in 1971. Since then, COPE has continuously expanded its programs to accommodate a growing range of issues faced by individuals of all ages in the complex times in which we live. Information on any of COPE’s programs is available by calling 973-783-6655 or by visiting the COPE web site.
About Midtown Direct Rep
Midtown Direct Rep (MDR) is a professional, ensemble-based theater company in residence at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) in South Orange, NJ. The company includes 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 through its Theater in the Loft series, focusing on work that reflects our uniquely diverse community. Midtown Direct Rep is also the local presenter of the hugely successful annual event Listen to Your Mother: North Jersey, 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-nominees Stephanie J. Block, Megan Lawrence, and Christiane Noll, plus Sebastian Arcelus, Joel de la Fuente, Bradley Dean, and many others. Guest actors have included James McDonald, Michelle Hurst, Geoffrey Arend, and Academy Award®-winner Olympia Dukakis. Recent projects include work by John Walch, Y York, Jack Canfora, Peter Flaherty, Jeremy Desmon, Chad Hardin, James Hindman, Chisa Hutchison, David Johnson, Kara Lee Korthron, David Myers, Sandy Rustin, Douglas J. Cohen, Zoe Samuel, and others. The Company is led by Managing Director Aliza Wassner, Artistic Producer Steven Tabakin, Literary Manager Marni Raab, and Artistic Advisor Sandy Rustin. For more information, visit https://www.middirrep.org.
