IN THE WORKS
GRACELAND TOO
GRACELAND TOO
GRACELAND TOO
Director. Inspired by a true story, Graceland Too: The Building Elvis Never Left is a bluesy, tragic tale about the galaxy’s number one Elvis fan, Paul MacLeod, and his antebellum home-turned-Elvis shrine in Holly Springs, Mississippi. As Paul gears up for Elvis Week with the help of former prisoner, Dwight Taylor, two very different worlds collide and Graceland Too will never be the same again.
Graceland Too was presented as part of the 2023 New Jersey Theatre Alliance Stages Festival. A 2024 summer development workshop is scheduled with hopes of a production in the coming year.
SON OF ZEUS
GRACELAND TOO
GRACELAND TOO
Producer. Son Of Zeus, written and performed by James Georgiades. A wonderful story about one man’s journey into the struggles and legacy of his family. It is a journey fraught with excessive male dominance and abuse. As the son of a violent Greek immigrant who abused his mother, and the stepson of a mobster incarcerated for armed robbery and manslaughter, can Jimmy exorcise the demons and forge his own path? None of the men Jimmy sees are anything like the man he wishes to be. Can Jimmy escape following both his father’s and stepfather’s footsteps into a life of violence? Sometimes the answers you need are right there, written in the stars.
A workshop of James Georgiades' solo show was staged in 2019 & 2023 at Hudson Theatre Works. Son Of Zeus will see an Off-Broadway run in the near future.
RECENT productions
BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY
Broadway
2022 - 2023
Helen Hayes Theater
Associate Director. City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed — and the Church won’t leave him alone. For ex-cop and recent widower Walter “Pops” Washington and his recently paroled son Junior, the struggle to hold on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests, and a final ultimatum in this Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy from Stephen Adly Guirgis. For Pops and Junior, it seems the old days are dead and gone — after a lifetime living Between Riverside and Crazy.
“It’s a dizzying and exciting place to be!” hails The New York Time
23RD ANNUAL BARN SERIES
January - February 2023
LAByrith Theater Co | 59E59 Theaters
Director. Diary Play by Madeline Barr (2/1/23) A one woman show constructed almost entirely of old diary entries from the playwright's teenhood interwoven with current day reflections. Through looking back, the playwright is able to answer questions about why she is the woman she is today and create a newfound sense of hope for the woman she might eventually become in the future.
Producer. LAByrinth's free reading festival of new plays. A critical and exciting step in the development of new work. Many of LAB's world premieres have come from the Barn Series, giving audiences a sneak peak into the artistic process, and a chance to see plays before they are the next hot ticket.
YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS
YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS
December 2022
Hudson Theatre Works
Producer. Remember the good old days of radio—when people had to use their imaginations—when the mind was a stage? Those days are back—only better! Andrew J. Fenady has written two of his award-winning productions as RADIO PLAYS where you can SEE as well as HEAR radio programs. The movie of the week starred Richard Thomas, Katharine Isobel, Charles Bronson and Ed Asner. A young girl writes a letter to the editor of the New York Sun. "Dear Editor, I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says if you see it in the Sun, it's so. Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?" Ed Mitchell, the editor, assigns Frank Church—a reporter on the verge of self destruction—the task of answering Virginia's question. Church's quest and reply have become one of the world's most quoted and beloved editorials.
10 MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL
YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS
December 2022
Hudson Theatre Works
Director / Producer. Hudson Theatre Works is back with its yearly fundraiser of new ten minute plays. Featuring new work by John Patrick Shanley, Sarah T Schwab, Joanne Hoersch, and more...
WELCOME
October - December 2022
Hudson Theatre Works
Director. A patient carrying a terrible weight seeks to unburden themselves, though the therapist they’ve chosen has a few secrets of their own— not least of which is their newest student who seems far, far too quiet…
ELLIOT & ME: A MUSICAL
2021 - 2022
Chagrin Valley Little Theatre
Hudson Theatre Works
Streamed on demand at Laguna Playhouse & Sonoma Arts
Producer. Elliot & Me is a musical comedy based on the lives of songwriter Elliot Willensky and his younger brother Steven. Elliot and Steven both reflect on the volatile ups and downs of their shared experiences: from their raucous “wonder years” growing up in Bayonne, NJ; to the painful conflict when Elliot defies the expectations of his traditional middle-class Jewish family and drops out of medical school to write pop songs; to Elliot’s rise to stardom writing hits for Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston and Steven’s starry-eyed admiration for his Hollywood lifestyle; and eventually to their role reversals when Elliot’s career hits a few bumps in the road and he needs to rely on Steven for help. Elliot & Me is filled with humor, colorful personalities, unexpected situations, and uplifting musical moments.
DOUBLE BLIND
May - June 2022
Theatre Row
Producer. A Young psychiatrist discovers that her supervisor is experimenting on a mental patient. She tries to save the patient with the help of her lawyer boyfriend.
TALES FROM SAM SHEPARD
May 2022
Hudson Theatre Works
Director. Tales from Sam Shepard's Cruising Paradise. A reading of rarely heard pieces by one of America's most important writers.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actor, ex-cowboy, and musician Sam Shepard now stands revealed as a storyteller of dazzling artistry. Bleak and wildly funny, touching but stringently unsentimental, these stories give readers a most intimate view of the writer who has become synonymous with the landscape of America. Some of these pieces are beautifully constructed, fully realized short stories, while others are short bursts of dialogue, meditations, diary entries, letters, monologues, phone calls and plaints. Still others seem like myth and lore gleaned from old texts or barrooms. All are strong voice pieces--no surprise from a major playwright.
LAB LOVE"S THE 90's FUNRAISER
May 2022
Joe's Pub / The Public Theater
Producer / Production Manager
CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS
May 2022
Hudson Theatre Works
Producer. Curse of the Starving Class honors Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard, who passed away in 2017. Living a stagnant, unhappy existence in rural California, the struggling Tate family is desperate for change, but every family member has a different way of trying to improve their station in life.
THROUGH THE FIRE
January - February 2022
59E59 Theaters | LAByrith Theater Co
Streamed on demand March 2022
Producer. Inspired by a near-death experience during the peak of the pandemic, Through The Fire follows Victor from his childhood in the DR through moving to NYC, gang life, drug life, identity struggles, love & joining the marines. A story of survival and self-forgiveness directed by Liz Canavan & driven by Victor's original Hip-Hop music.
HUGHIE
February 2022
Hudson Theatre Works
Role of the Night Clerk. In one of Eugene O'Neill's last works, high-rolling gambler Erie and Hughie, the credulous night clerk at a single-occupancy hotel, were confidants. Hughie admired Erie for his bold lifestyle and Erie considered Hughie his good luck charm. When Hughie dies unexpectedly, Erie's luck changes for the worse and he finds himself in dire straits.
Hudson Theatre Works mounts an ambitious and fulfilling Eugene O’Neill Festival. Both shows succeed beyond expectations. The two men in “Hughie,” command and embody their roles to near perfection. -Jim Testa, NJ Arts
Weehawken's Hudson Theatre Works captures the essence of O’Neill’s late little gem with impressive precision... In some ways, the night clerk in “Hughie” must be the most boring role for an actor in all of American theater. Stand there and listen. Interject a few observations ever now and then. But there is more here, a substance that Wattenmaker locates and allows to emerge. It is no mean feat to find the room necessary to allow this character to evolve, but Wattenmaker’s night clerk does so skillfully. - Patrick Maley, Star Ledger
