When the Growing Stage children’s theater presented its first season of plays for young audiences in 1982, it produced a little-known play called “The Code Breaker” by Patricia Conley.“At the time we were young,” said Stephen Fredericks, Growing Stage’s artistic director. “We weren’t concerned with whether there was audience recognition of a title, we weren’t driven or swayed by that. We were used to having audiences of five or 10 people, that was OK. So we were just thinking we wanted to do the most challenging pieces possible.”The audiences got big enough to keep Growing Stage growing to …

Battle scenes, sex, witchcraft—Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” plays have it all. The three historical plays are among the Bard’s earliest works, and performing them is a risky move because they’re not as well known as “Hamlet” or “Romeo and Juliet.” But the Shakespeare Initiative is promising a rousing night to remember with its staging of “The Wars of the Roses: Henry VI Part I,” running at the Brundage Park Playhouse, Sept. 30 through Oct. 9. Not to make things too confusing but this Part I isn’t Shakespeare’s Part I. It combines “Henry VI Part I” with the first three acts of “Henry VI Part II,” …

While talking about the playwright Richard Dresser, John Pietrowski makes a comparison people often scoff at. But he insists it's true. “I get laughed at about this but I think Richard is our Chekhov, I do,” said Pietrowski, who’s directing Dresser’s “The Last Days of Mickey and Jean” at the Bickford Theatre, Sept. 22 through Oct. 9. “Chekhov is a very realistic writer, we like to think, and if you really look at it, a lot of it’s very funny and a lot of it is very funny social commentary,” Pietrowski said. “I think Richard is doing the same thing.” He adds that both create typical character …

Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” is more than 60 years old, but it’s just as timely today as it’s ever been. It’s a story of war profiteering, about a man who disregarded his morals to make money—and the son who knows of his father’s long-held secret. It’s nearly impossible to not see parallels to today’s world, not only in terms of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the greed that was prevalent in the stories of Bernie Madoff and the mortgage crisis. The play, which is on stage at The Barn Theatre in Montville through Oct. 1, is set during World War II and is about the Keller family. …

If summer’s impending end is starting to get you down, cheer up. Good things come in the fall—apple cider, colorful leaves, school buses, and—most important to this column—theater. Fall is when stages at most theater groups, professional and community alike, start getting busy again, with dramas, comedies and musicals.So as you finish your summer reading list (if you ever really started it), eat the last sweet corn of the season and enjoy those final beach days, look forward to what’s certain to be an exciting theatrical season. Here are 10 productions that look especially enticing—though …

In July of 1969, Pete Fornatale was a young disc jockey working at WNEW-FM in New York when he read his first live commercial–promoting the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.But that job at one of the all-time great rock stations did not lead to three days of peace, love and music for Fornatale. In fact, it meant quite the opposite.“I was new to the station, so three weeks later, when the festival happened, I was going up with some of the other disc jockeys and my program director said, ‘You know, we’re going to need somebody back here to do fill-in work and news reports. You’re elected,’” …

If you love theater, your involvement doesn’t have to end with sitting in the audience and watching a show. Just about every theater company in the area—professional and community alike—is always on the lookout for new volunteers, and with many venues preparing for the upcoming fall season, now is a particularly good time to get involved. No matter what your age, abilities or interests there’s a contribution to be made. Community theaters, of course, are completely (or almost completely) run by volunteers, offering opportunities to get involved in shows, both on stage and backstage. Debby …

Kevin Isola wasn’t familiar with “Accidental Death of an Anarchist” when he was offered a part in the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s production of Dario Fo’s play. But all he needed to accept an offer to star in the play was his character’s name. “When Bonnie [Monte, the Shakespeare Theatre’s artistic director] very graciously offered the role to me, she said the character I would be playing is called the Maniac, and I said yes without reading the script,” Isola said. “I figured, ‘That’s got to be good.’” Isola isn’t the only person involved in the production (running at the Shakespeare …

It's a busy week for the theater scene, with rock shows (including some for kids), plenty of opportunities to thrust yourself into the creative process (possibly with an eye Patch, er, we mean patch), and and merry wanderers doing what they do best (wandering merrily). If you're a theater or music fan, read on for the best of what's coming up locally. We'll be back each week with the On Stage Scoop. ON STAGE SCOOP Next Season at Growing Stage: Season ticket plans for the 2011-12 main stage season at The Growing Stage Theatre in Netcong go on Sale Aug. 1, with individual performance sales …

Finding community actors who can handle Shakespeare seems like a difficult, if not impossible, task. But William Ward says he had no problem casting “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” “It’s not easy to handle, but there are so many talented people in the area, and we have a very strong cast who have all done Shakespeare before,” said Ward, who’s directing the Bard’s beloved comedy at the Pleasant Valley Park Amphitheater in Bernards July 29 through Aug. 5. “In Morris County and Somerset County, there’s a large pool of very, very good actors. We have a very strong cast.” The play is a co-production …

It’s not easy for a writer to get a play performed on a stage in front of audiences, but every year the Chatham Community Players gives playwrights from New Jersey an opportunity to do just that. The “Jersey Voices One-Act Festival” at the Chatham Playhouse is an annual summer presentation of short plays written by people from New Jersey. Now in its 17th year, the festival is scheduled for July 29 through Aug. 4 and includes five short plays and a dance piece. Bob Denmark, president of the Chatham Players and the producer of “Jersey Voices,” said the idea started when Cliff Odle, the festival…

On the surface, Charles M. Schulz’ “Peanuts” characters are very simple, consisting of a some lines, loops and dots for eyes. But there’s a lot more going on with Charlie Brown, Schroeder, Lucy, Linus and even Snoopy than meets the eye. They’re philosophical. They face adversities and deal with anxieties—lots of anxieties. Linus can’t function without his blanket, Lucy has anger issues and Charlie Brown frets about almost everything. As a result, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” the 1967 musical by Clark Gesner based on Schulz’ legendary comic strip, is deeper in its themes, humor and …

You might know about “Hamlet,” Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet,” but if you really want to brush up on your Shakespeare, you have a chance to see one of the Bard’s least-performed plays. That’s because the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey is presenting “Timon of Athens” at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre in Madison for run starting July 6 and continuing through July 24. According to Brian B. Crowe, the director and adapter for this staging, the play is widely considered difficult to stage, partly because its two halves are very different in styles and tone, with the beginning being …

If you’re missing the 1970s and long for the days when “The Carol Burnett Show” and “All in the Family” kept America laughing, then Pax Amicus Castle Theatre has just what you need. The theater in Budd Lake is offering a production called “T.V. Classics” for a run of Saturday-night performances from June 25 to July 16. The show features staged versions of sketches from Burnett’s variety show and two episodes of “All in the Family.” Director Stan Barber said it’s a mix guaranteed to have audiences laughing. “When you take the best of Carol Burnett and the best of ‘All of the Family’ and you …

Howard Whitmore wasn’t much of a theater lover when he found himself auditioning for a high school production of “42nd Street” 22 years ago. He had seen one Broadway musical and played in the orchestra pit for a school show, but didn’t have any kind of theater bug. “A bunch of my friends were auditioning and I was literally at the meeting after school waiting for them,” Whitmore said. “And the director said, ‘Well, if you’re here, you have to audition.’ I sort of stumbled into and I’ve been in theater steadily since then for 22 years.” And now he’s returning to the show that started it all …

There must have been a lot of phonies walking around in 17th-century Paris because the main character in Moliere’s “The Misanthrope” is fed up with them. Alceste has had enough of people who act all friendly in front of others, only to criticize and gossip about them behind their backs. He hates insincerity, and as the play opens, he’s admonishing his friend Philinte for the warm greeting he extends to someone he barely knows. Soon he’s eschewing an offer of friendship from Oronte and telling Oronte that the poem he’s so proud of is trash. What would Alceste and Moliere make of today’s world…

On Dec. 30, 1974, Bonnie Culver got into her car in a parking lot in Olean, N.Y. and headed back to her home in Port Allegany, Pa. It was about 10 minutes into her drive when an emergency broadcasting system alert came over the radio. Shots had been fired out of Olean High School toward the parking lot from which Culver—then a recent college graduate—had just driven away. The shots were fired by Anthony Barbaro, a 17-year-old student, and the incident is generally acknowledged as the first high school shooting. It is, of course, something that stayed with Culver, who went on to become a …

The Chatham Community Players are taking audiences back to the 1980s, and they’re not using a souped-up DeLorean or a hot tub time machine to get there. Instead, the group is closing out its 2010-11 season with Christopher Durang’s Reagan-era comedy “Beyond Therapy” at the Chatham Playhouse through May 21. And while the play’s tale of two people trying to find love is timeless, other elements are steeped in the decade that gave us Huey Lewis, leg warmers and the Rubik’s Cube. Scott Tyler and Tara Cioletti star as Bruce and Prudence, two New York singles who are both in therapy, hoping that it…

Theater is a strange and wondrous thing because on a stage, anything can be funny, even a murderous child. In “Ruthless! The Musical,” on stage at Dover Little Theatre May 7 through 21, 8-year-old Tina Denmark just knows she was born to entertain. So much so that when another child gets the lead in the school musical, “Pippi in Tahiti,” Tina kills her, setting the stage for a show described as a mix of “Gypsy,” “All About Eve,” and “Valley of the Dolls.” It’s an all female show, featuring a diva mother, a bitter teacher and the sleazy agent, Sylvia St. Croix. By the way, “all-female” refers …

Stamp-collecting might not sound like an exciting subject for a play, but in the hands of Theresa Rebeck, it makes for real drama. In Rebeck’s 2007 play “Mauritius,” half sisters Jackie and Mary discover a stamp collection owned by their mother, who has recently died. Jackie, the younger sister, took care of the mother and wants to sell the stamps, which may be valuable. Mary thinks the stamps are hers because they were once owned by her grandfather (who isn't Jackie's). As the play opens, Mary has brought the stamps to a dealer who isn’t much interested. But Dennis, who is hanging out at the…