Summer Theatre in New Jersey

In between looking for work I took time to get together with 3 college friends to see the Grateful Dead at the Nassau Coliseum on May 6, 1981.
I thought it was a pretty good show and later it was made into a selection of the “Dick’s Picks” series of CDs.

http://www.amazon.com/Dicks-Picks-Vol-13-Uniondale/dp/B00005V8PM

You can buy it and check it out for yourself.
Another show that I went to back in 1977 was made into Volume 34 of the series and I would also recommend that you give it a listen.

http://www.amazon.com/Dicks-Picks-34-Community-Rochester/dp/B001W2FDOI

I was surprised to see a photo in the liner notes that could be me, it really is too small to tell, but I like to think it is me standing there grooving to the Dead at the show in Rochester.

Although I enjoyed working at Theatre Three I needed to look for a better paying full-time job.
I landed a job designing the sets and lights for three summer productions at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.
The job was just for the summer but they were also looking for someone to take over full time in the fall so I jumped at the chance to go there.
The productions were the musical Candide, Shadow of a Gunman by Sean O’Casey and Da by Hugh Leonard.

I had worked on the first play of the summer, Candide, five years before at Gateway Playhouse so I was familiar with the play but I was not ready for the fact that it was a true Theatre-in-the-Round.
Quickly I had to learn how to design both sets and lights in the round.
It was typical Summer Theatre with limited money, crew and time but it went well and I was happy with the results.

The school had arranged a room in a local home own by an old Polish lady who had been renting rooms to young college men since the early 1950’s.
I was told that the room I had in the attic had once been rented to local New Radio DJ “Cousin Brucie” back when he was in school or working  but his bio says he went to NYU, so I really do not know.
In any case he was once one of the most powerful DJs in America and was the man who introduced the Beatles at their first Shea Stadium concert in 1965.

Unlike in New Hampshire, my assistant actually worked with me even though he too had a part in the first play.
There were also a couple of young interns and the production manager who helped from time to time.
It was a nice place to work mostly in part because it was not minus 20 outside.

The cast and crew were a friendly group and we ended many days at one of the local restaurants, most often “Bunny’s Pizza and Booze” which is still there, but they dropped the “Booze” part of the name.

 http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS355US356&wrapid=tlif129574825140310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=bunny's+pizza+south+orange&fb=1&gl=us&hq=bunny's+pizza&hnear=South+Orange,+NJ&cid=17215325486080447497

Being a Catholic University there were not too many naked people running about as had happened in previous theatres, but somehow we still managed to have a good time that summer.

As with most of my experiences working in Theatre, I have fond memories of working at Seton Hall that summer and some stories about what happened both on and off stage to follow soon.




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