George Street Playhouse

George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick, NJ

George Street Playhouse is a theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, one of the state's preeminent professional theatres committed to the production of new and established plays.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint, George Street Playhouse is a nationally recognized thrust theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Founded in 1974 by Eric Krebs, the Playhouse has been represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway – recent productions include Anne Meara's Down the Garden Paths, the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League-nominated production of The Spitfire Grill - musical, and the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. In addition to its mainstage season, GSP's Touring Theatre features five issue-oriented productions that tours to more than 250 schools in the tri-state area, and are seen by more than 80,000 students annually.

When founded, the theatre was located on George Street and moved later to its current location on Livingstone Avenue.

Production history

• 1994: Swinging on a Star, a revue of the works of Johnny Burke, premieres at GSP, then moves to Broadway.
• 1996: And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank is commissioned by GSP for the Touring Theatre Company and is subsequently produced worldwide
• 2000: Down the Garden Paths by Anne Meara, directed by David Saint and starring Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, premieres at GSP and moves to Off Broadway.
  • Syncopation by Alan Knee, which premiered at GSP in 1999, receives Best New Play Award from the American Theatre Critics Association and opens around the country.
  • The Spitfire Grill, a new musical by James Valcq and Fred Alley and directed by David Saint, premieres at GSP and moves to Off Broadway
  • Ancestral Voices by A.R. Gurney, directed by David Saint and starring among others Tim Daly, Amy Van Nostrand, Paul Rudd and Fred Savage
• 2001: All box office records in the history of GSP are broken with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill starring Suzzanne Douglas as Billie Holiday.
• 2004: Arthur Laurents updates and directs his Tony Award-winning musical Hallelujah, Baby! starring Ann Duquesnay and Suzzanne Douglas. Following an acclaimed run at George Street Playhouse, the co-production moved to Arena Stage in Washington DC. Miss Duquesney is awarded the Helen Hayes Award for her performance.
  • Academy Award nominee Amy Irving stars in the world premiere of Charles Evered’s period romp Celadine.
  • Wasted by OBIE Award-winner Kirsten Childs premieres. This play about substance abuse was funded with a major grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• 2005: Inspecting Carol, a comedy by Daniel Sullivan from the Seattle Repertory Theatre, starring Dan Lauria and Peter Scolari, becomes the highest grossing play at GSP.
  • The West Wing's Richard Schiff stars in Underneath the Lintel, a play by Glen Berger, sets a new record for per-performance attendance.
• 2006: Jack Klugman stars in The Value of Names by Jeffrey Sweet with Dan Lauria and Liz Larsen.
• 2007 Artistic Director, David Saint celebrates his 10th Anniversary Season with the opening of The Sunshine Boys starring Jack Klugman and Paul Dooley
  • Rosemary Harris stars in Oscar and the Lady in Pink by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, directed by Frank Dunlop
• 2008: Tony Award Winner Idina Menzel performs a one night only solo concert as the opening of her I Stand Tour.
  • Roger is Dead, a new play written and directed by Elaine May with Marlo Thomas debuts.
• 2010: Kathleen Marshall directs the musical Calvin Berger.
• 2011: David Hyde Pierce directs the musical It Shoulda Been You written by Brian Hargrove and Barbara Anselmi, starring Tyne Daly, Harriet Harris, Edward Hibbert, Richard Kline, and Howard McGillin

External links

• George Street Playhouse Home Page