Founded in 1974, George Street Playhouse is one of New Jersey's preeminent professional theatres committed to the production of new and established plays. With a staff of 50 artists, technicians and administrators, George Street Playhouse develops innovative theatre that encourages the growth of the theatrical art form, while reflecting and addressing the needs of our community. Through our Main Stage Series and education and outreach initiatives, the Playhouse reaches an ever-growing cross-section of the diverse New Jersey community, and contributes to the development of the American theatre repertory. Annually, the Playhouse serves an audience of approximately 140,000.

The mission of George Street Playhouse is to enrich people’s lives by producing world-class theatre.

To accomplish our mission, we seek:

• to produce the highest quality of intellectually and emotionally challenging new works, re-imagined classics, and educational programming that speak with relevance to society;
• to serve as a vital cultural institution in New Jersey and a creative force nationally;
• to positively shape and be shaped by the diverse character of our community; and
• to create a nurturing home for the highest level of professional in the arts.

Adopted June 28, 2004

Historical Highlights of George Street Playhouse

2005

• The Spitfire Grill, which was developed and premiered at George Street Playhouse in 2000, achieves the impressive milestone of having been produced at over 100 theatres throughout US, Canada and the Caribbean. The count includes productions at regional theatres large and small, Equity and non-Equity companies, summer stock, dinner theatres and community theatres as well as colleges and high schools.

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.
• The new touring play 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.

2003

• American Theatre Magazine reports that three of the top 15 plays being produced in regional theatres nationwide were developed at GSP.
• After premiering as a 45-minute touring production, a full-length version of The Last Bridge by Wendy Kesselman premieres on GSP’s mainstage.

2002

• Ain Gordon’s Public Ghosts – Private Stories, the culminating play of the three-year New Brunswick Community Bridge Project, debuts featuring community residents in a professional production about New Brunswick. A Home News Tribune editorial states that “New Brunswick has no better partner than the eminent little theatre on Livingston Avenue.”
• The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation awards a $1 million Challenge Grant to build an Endowment Fund for GSP.

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.
• Award-winning playwright Wendy Kesselman is commissioned to write a new Holocaust-themed drama for the Touring Theatre Company.

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.

1998

• Award-winning Director and Associate Artistic Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, David Saint, is appointed Artistic Director of GSP.
• The New Brunswick Community Bridge Project is launched. David Auburn’s Proof is developed in workshop at GSP, moves on to a hugely successful New York run, and later wins theatre’s highest honors: the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play.
• The Diva Project in-school artist residency is launched.

1997

• Voices in the Dark, directed by Christopher Ashley 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 world-wide.

1994

• Swinging on a Star, a revue of the works of Johnny Burke, premieres at GSP, then moves to Broadway.

1993

• Fields of Ambrosia, a new musical, premieres at GSP starring Joel Higgins, then re-opens in London.

1988

• The Touring Theatre Company is launched.

1984

• As the first producing organization of the New Brunswick Cultural Center, the Playhouse moves to its current home on Livingston Avenue (the former New Brunswick YMCA).

1978

• With special funding from the Comprehensive Education Training Act, George Street Playhouse is instrumental in the development of Crossroads Theatre Company, which becomes an independent theatre organization in 1978.

1974

• George Street Playhouse is founded by Eric Krebs in an abandoned Acme Supermarket on Albany Street. GSP becomes New Brunswick’s first professional theatre, with a budget of less than $50,000 and a subscriber base of only 100.

George Street Playhouse Facts
(as of July 2005)

Organizational Facts

• George Street Playhouse is a professional, non-profit Regional Theatre founded in 1974. It currently operates under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint (since 1998) and Managing Director Todd Schmidt, and a 36-member Board of Trustees.
• Each season George Street Playhouse engages world-class talent, including three to five directors, up to twenty-four designers, and twenty or more actors to direct, design and perform our mainstage offerings. They are members of, respectively, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, United Scenic Artists, and Actors’ Equity.
• The company employs 18 full-time (year-round) staff members who work in the following departments: artistic, education, finance and administration, marketing and public relations, and fundraising.
• An additional 20 seasonal staff members who work from 30 to 35 weeks a year in the company’s technical shops (scenery, paints, props, costumes, electrics and sound), on the stage crew, and in company and house management. Most are members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
• There are 10 members of the Touring Companies (2 stage managers, 8 actors).
• Over 25 other individuals are hired on a part-time or short-term basis, to work in our box office and concessions, in the telemarketing department, and as general office support. Another 80 or more individuals are employed as “overhire”, to assist with production load-ins and strikes and to assist in our technical shops.
• George Street Playhouse celebrated the opening of its 30th anniversary season in September 2003.

Programs

• The Playhouse produces 5 Main Stage plays each season from October through April and a Next Stage Festival of new works in May.
• GSP has approximately 4,500 subscribers with a Main Stage audience that exceeds 60,000 annually.
• The theatre’s seating capacity is 375; each show runs for a minimum of 4 weeks (32 performances), for a total capacity of 12,000.
• The theatre and lobby spaces are rented to other organizations and individuals when available.
• Each season, George Street Playhouse produces 4 to 5 issue-oriented plays that tour to over 270 schools in the Tri-State area, reaching over 80,000 students annually. All touring productions are followed by an age-appropriate, issue-oriented, interactive post-play discussion with the students.
• The George Street Playhouse Academy offers theatre classes that serve hundreds of students of all ages each year.
• The Playhouse also teaches New Brunswick area students through “The Diva and Gentle Men Project” and other in-school residency programs.

Facilities

• George Street Playhouse rents the theatre building and office space located at 9 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ from the New Brunswick Cultural Center.
• The company also rents a large warehouse that houses the George Street Playhouse scene shop and storage on Jersey Avenue.

Affiliations

• GSP is a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and ArtPride, NJ.
• George Street Playhouse currently operates under a LORT "C" contract with Actors' Equity Association, United Scenic Artists and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. The company also operates under a contract with IATSE.