Two River Theater
Encyclopedia
Two River Theater Company is a professional, not-for-profit theater, regional theater company providing plays and educational programs for audiences of central New Jersey
and beyond. It houses two theaters: a 350-seat main stage theater, and a 99-seat black box. On its main stage, Two River Theater Company produces a five-play subscription season and a family holiday show.
The company received “Theatre of the Year” awards from the New Jersey Theatre Alliance in 2006, and from The Star-Ledger
in both 2006 and 2008. At the July 2009 meeting of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts
, Two River Theater Company was designated as a Major Impact Organization.
Two River Theater Company is supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Dept. of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and contributions from hundreds of local and national corporations, foundations, businesses and individuals. Two River Theater Company is a member of LORT (League of Resident Theatres
), Theatre Communications Group
and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
Two River Theater Company was founded in 1994 by Joan and Dr. Robert Rechnitz who sought to establish a high-quality professional theater in Monmouth County
.
In 2005, Two River moved to its current home in Red Bank, New Jersey. Prior to the construction of this theater, Two River Theater Company performed at the Algonquin Theater in Manasquan, and before that at Monmouth University
, where it got it was first established.
Under the guidance of founder and executive producer Robert M. Rechnitz, and founding artistic director Jonathan Fox, Two River Theater Company quickly rose to prominence, and became a full member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance after just one season as an affiliate member: the first time in NJTA’s history that a theater was granted full membership so quickly. Operating under the Actors’ Equity Associationsstandard Small Professional Theatre contract and employing professional directors and designers, Two River produced a three-play first season in the spring of 1995 to immediate critical and popular acclaim.
Two River was the subject of lead editorials in the Asbury Park Press
, in 1996 praising the work of the company and its service to Monmouth County, and in 1998 supporting the development of the new facility. In 1999, Two River Theater Company joined Theatre Communications Group
(TCG), the national association of regional theaters.
Two River Theater Company celebrated the theater’s grand opening on May 5, 2005, with an inaugural performance of You Can’t Take It With You, directed by founder Robert M. Rechnitz.
The 2005/2006 season was the theater’s first full season in the new building. The season opened to rave reviews with an adaptation of the film Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a play where every word is set to music. Umbrellas of Cherbourg was directed by Jonathan Fox, Two River’s first managing director. Fox went on to serve at artistic director from 1999-2007.
Aaron Posner came on board to helm the organization as artistic director in 2007. Posner directed 3 plays in that 8 play season, including a production of Macbeth co-directed by Teller
of the Vegas illusionist duo Penn and Teller. Teller and Posner’s Macbeth went on to perform an extended run at the Folger Shakespeare
Theater in Washington, DC. Aaron Posner cemented his reputation for innovative Shakespearian productions as director of Two River ’s 2009 A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Posner’s contemporary adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was met with critical acclaim, and was extended due to popular demand.
In July of 2010, John Dias—producer, dramaturg, and a leading advocate for bold new American plays was appointed as Two River Theater Company's new Artistic Director. At New York's Public Theater Dias worked under Artistic Directors George C. Wolfe
and Oskar Eustis
, as a Broadway Producer, as a Founder and Artistic Director of Playwright’s Realm, an off-Broadway theater company dedicated to producing new plays by emerging artists, and as a Founder and Principal of Affinity Collaborative Theater, a production company dedicated to bringing daring new works from around the world to New York. John Dias has been a Tony Award
nominator, a consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts
and numerous other organizations, and has taught and lectured at New York University
, Yale University
, and Columbia University
.
The building was designed by New York architect Stewart Jones, of Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer & Associates, who also designed the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
. The main Rechnitz Theater seats 350 patrons, and features a modern lighting system. Centered around a thrust stage, the theater was built so as the furthest seats would be no more than 36 feet (11 m) from the performers.
The facility also includes the Marion Huber Theater - a fully convertible, 99-seat black box space, that hosts more experimental works, readings, classes, and rehearsals, and provides an even more intimate experience for audience members.
Two River Theater contains a fully functioning costume and prop shop, as well as a production warehouse where all sets are made on location.
by Quiara Alegría Hudes
, author of the Broadway musical In The Heights
, which was co-produced with Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, MD. Two River Theater Company then co-produced William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with California Shakespeare Theatre, directed by Two River Theater’s Artistic Director, Aaron Posner. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
, based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz
, came next over the holiday season. In February, co-founder and executive producer Robert M. Rechnitz directed Neil Simon
comedy, Barefoot in the Park
. Following Barefoot was the World Premiere production of Euripides
' Orestes: A Tragic Romp adapted by Anne Washburn and directed by Posner. Orestes was Two River Theater Company's second co-production with Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. Concluding the 2009-2010 season was Steve Martin
's comedy, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Two River Theater Company announced its 2010-11 season at a season announcement party on April 6, 2010. The video of this announcement is posted here.
26 Miles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Charlie Brown, Barefoot in the Park, Orestes, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
2008/2009
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Garden of Earthly Delights, Art, Heartbreak House, A Year with Frog and Toad, ReEntry, Mary’s Wedding, Melissa Arctic, Private Lives
2007/2008
Bad Dates, Our Town, The Charlatan’s Séance, Mere Mortals, The Ghost’s Bargain, Macbeth, The Glass Menagerie, A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage
2006/2007
Accomplice, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Tartuffe, The Pavilion, True West, The Underpants
2005/2006
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Visiting Mr. Green, All My Sons, Waiting for Godot
2004/2005
Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Syringa Tree, You Can’t Take It With You
2003/2004
The Tragedy of Carmen, Abigail’s Party, Miss. Julie, A Life in the Theater
2002/2003
Old Wicked Songs, Spunk, Salome, Stinkin’ Rich
2001/2002
A Delicate Balance, Cookin’ at the Cookery, Peer Gynt, The House of Blue Leaves
2000/2001
Arms and the Man, La Bệte, American Buffalo, The Heiress
1999/2000
Blood Wedding, Uncle Vanya, The Fantasticks, Light Up the Sky
1998/1999
The Real Thing, Thieves’ Carnival, Hedda Gabler, Noises Off
1997/1998
The Dining Room, The Glass Menagerie, Machinal, The Importance of Being Earnest
1996/1997
A View from the Bridge, Reckless, Betrayal, Blithe Spirit
1995/1996
Nora, The Illusion, The Curse of the Starving Class, All in the Timing
1994/1995
The Cocktail Hour, The Heidi Chronicles, Misalliance
. Bon Jovi
performed a two-hour set at the theater in 2005. Jackson Browne
(joined by special guest Bruce Springsteen), performed a benefit concert at the theater in summer 2007. Rusted Root
performed in the fall of that same year.
Two River Theater Company has hosted a number of luminaries and award winners including Olympia Dukakis
and Edward Albee
. Most recently Two River has welcomed comedian Stephen Colbert
and Academy Award winner, Philip Seymour Hoffman
. In November 2009, Colbert joined his longtime friend Aaron Posner on stage to take part in a fundraiser titled "I Am Stephen Colbert (And So Can You)."
Two River Theater Company’s Metro Scholar program is an exploration of professional theater for advanced students. This highly competitive program offers a unique opportunity for high school juniors to play a significant role in the life of Two River Theater Company. Selected students receive two free subscriptions, take workshops in various aspects of professional theater, complete assistantships with Two River artists and staff, and work with other creative students from all over New Jersey.
PlayBack is a program in which selected high school students work with Two River Teaching Artists who guide them in the creation and performance of their own original play inspired by, in response to, and in conversation with a production on the theater’s main stage. This is an intensive twelve-week program, which culminates with performances on the set of that production.
Summer Ensembles is a three-week summer program offered to students from first to twelfth grade. Teaching artists channel students’ natural energy and vitality into creative thinking, team work, and performance skills through theater games, songs and devising original material. Not only do students get the opportunity to perform for their peers, they are able to see the inner-workings backstage with the Two River production staff.
Young Voice’s 732 is an educational project to collect stories from those that work, live or play in the 732 area code, and offer those stories back to the community in a variety of ways. In June 2010, Young Voices 732 created a play using real dialogue by middle schoolers called Life in the Middle, directed by KJ Sanchez and starring local students.
and Marine Corps
line leaders, combat veterans, caregivers, and their families.
In September 2008, Two River mounted Martha Clarke
's performance piece The Garden of Earthly Delights, which then played a very successful run at New York's Minetta Lane Theatre.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and beyond. It houses two theaters: a 350-seat main stage theater, and a 99-seat black box. On its main stage, Two River Theater Company produces a five-play subscription season and a family holiday show.
The company received “Theatre of the Year” awards from the New Jersey Theatre Alliance in 2006, and from The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
in both 2006 and 2008. At the July 2009 meeting of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts
New Jersey State Council on the Arts
The New Jersey State Council on the Arts was founded in 1966 to support artistic activities in the state of New Jersey. It is funded by the New Jersey State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts ....
, Two River Theater Company was designated as a Major Impact Organization.
Two River Theater Company is supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Dept. of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and contributions from hundreds of local and national corporations, foundations, businesses and individuals. Two River Theater Company is a member of LORT (League of Resident Theatres
League of Resident Theatres
The League of Resident Theaters is the largest professional theater association of its kind in the United States, with 76 member Theaters located in every major market in the U.S., including 29 states and the District of Columbia...
), Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group is an organization dedicated to the promotion of non-profit professional theatre in the United States. TCG has over 450 member theatres located in 47 states; 17,000 individual members; and a growing number of University, Funder, Business and Trustee Affiliates...
and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
Mission statement
“To perform from the world body of dramatic literature, including new works, those plays which most richly direct our gaze to the life of the human spirit in all its shifting modes, its thought, its suffering, its passion, its joy and laughter; to educate and thereby create of its audience a community of theatergoers who will learn to cherish the experience of theater as an intimate one which is enriched and deepened to the extent it is shared with a community.”History
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
.
In 2005, Two River moved to its current home in Red Bank, New Jersey. Prior to the construction of this theater, Two River Theater Company performed at the Algonquin Theater in Manasquan, and before that at Monmouth University
Monmouth University
Monmouth University is a private university located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States.Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956, and later Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its charter....
, where it got it was first established.
Under the guidance of founder and executive producer Robert M. Rechnitz, and founding artistic director Jonathan Fox, Two River Theater Company quickly rose to prominence, and became a full member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance after just one season as an affiliate member: the first time in NJTA’s history that a theater was granted full membership so quickly. Operating under the Actors’ Equity Associationsstandard Small Professional Theatre contract and employing professional directors and designers, Two River produced a three-play first season in the spring of 1995 to immediate critical and popular acclaim.
Two River was the subject of lead editorials in the Asbury Park Press
Asbury Park Press
The Asbury Park Press is a daily newspaper in Monmouth and Ocean counties of New Jersey and has the third largest circulation in the state...
, in 1996 praising the work of the company and its service to Monmouth County, and in 1998 supporting the development of the new facility. In 1999, Two River Theater Company joined Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group is an organization dedicated to the promotion of non-profit professional theatre in the United States. TCG has over 450 member theatres located in 47 states; 17,000 individual members; and a growing number of University, Funder, Business and Trustee Affiliates...
(TCG), the national association of regional theaters.
Two River Theater Company celebrated the theater’s grand opening on May 5, 2005, with an inaugural performance of You Can’t Take It With You, directed by founder Robert M. Rechnitz.
The 2005/2006 season was the theater’s first full season in the new building. The season opened to rave reviews with an adaptation of the film Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a play where every word is set to music. Umbrellas of Cherbourg was directed by Jonathan Fox, Two River’s first managing director. Fox went on to serve at artistic director from 1999-2007.
Aaron Posner came on board to helm the organization as artistic director in 2007. Posner directed 3 plays in that 8 play season, including a production of Macbeth co-directed by Teller
Teller
Teller may refer to:* Teller * Teller , of Penn & Teller* Bank teller** Automated teller machine* Teller * Teller, Alaska* Teller County, Colorado* Teller Amendment* Teller mine...
of the Vegas illusionist duo Penn and Teller. Teller and Posner’s Macbeth went on to perform an extended run at the Folger Shakespeare
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...
Theater in Washington, DC. Aaron Posner cemented his reputation for innovative Shakespearian productions as director of Two River ’s 2009 A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Posner’s contemporary adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was met with critical acclaim, and was extended due to popular demand.
In July of 2010, John Dias—producer, dramaturg, and a leading advocate for bold new American plays was appointed as Two River Theater Company's new Artistic Director. At New York's Public Theater Dias worked under Artistic Directors George C. Wolfe
George C. Wolfe
George Costello Wolfe is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical, Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk.-Early life and...
and Oskar Eustis
Oskar Eustis
Oskar Eustis is the artistic director at the Public Theater and has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the country.-Career:...
, as a Broadway Producer, as a Founder and Artistic Director of Playwright’s Realm, an off-Broadway theater company dedicated to producing new plays by emerging artists, and as a Founder and Principal of Affinity Collaborative Theater, a production company dedicated to bringing daring new works from around the world to New York. John Dias has been a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominator, a consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
and numerous other organizations, and has taught and lectured at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
The Building
The architecture of Two River Theater’s new building calls for an immediate theatrical experience upon walking through the front doors. The futuristic lobby features 40 feet (12.2 m)-high glass walls with a sweeping roof evoking the wave in the Two River Theater logo.The building was designed by New York architect Stewart Jones, of Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer & Associates, who also designed the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
. The main Rechnitz Theater seats 350 patrons, and features a modern lighting system. Centered around a thrust stage, the theater was built so as the furthest seats would be no more than 36 feet (11 m) from the performers.
The facility also includes the Marion Huber Theater - a fully convertible, 99-seat black box space, that hosts more experimental works, readings, classes, and rehearsals, and provides an even more intimate experience for audience members.
Two River Theater contains a fully functioning costume and prop shop, as well as a production warehouse where all sets are made on location.
Current Season
The 2009-2010 season featured 26 Miles26 Miles
-Musical:*Sean Watkins – Guitar, Piano, Guitar , Guitar , Vocals, Producer, Engineer, Harmony Vocals, E-Bow, Sequencing, Drum Samples*Sara Watkins – Fiddle, Vocals...
by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Quiara Alegría Hudes
Quiara Alegría Hudes is an American playwright and author best known for writing the book for the Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights.-Personal life:...
, author of the Broadway musical In The Heights
In the Heights
In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights....
, which was co-produced with Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, MD. Two River Theater Company then co-produced William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with California Shakespeare Theatre, directed by Two River Theater’s Artistic Director, Aaron Posner. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts...
, based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
, came next over the holiday season. In February, co-founder and executive producer Robert M. Rechnitz directed Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
comedy, Barefoot in the Park
Barefoot in the Park
This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...
. Following Barefoot was the World Premiere production of Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' Orestes: A Tragic Romp adapted by Anne Washburn and directed by Posner. Orestes was Two River Theater Company's second co-production with Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. Concluding the 2009-2010 season was Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
's comedy, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Picasso at the Lapin Agile is a play written by Steve Martin in 1993. It features the characters of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, who meet at a bar called the Lapin Agile in Montmartre, Paris...
Two River Theater Company announced its 2010-11 season at a season announcement party on April 6, 2010. The video of this announcement is posted here.
Production history
2009/201026 Miles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Charlie Brown, Barefoot in the Park, Orestes, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
2008/2009
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, Garden of Earthly Delights, Art, Heartbreak House, A Year with Frog and Toad, ReEntry, Mary’s Wedding, Melissa Arctic, Private Lives
2007/2008
Bad Dates, Our Town, The Charlatan’s Séance, Mere Mortals, The Ghost’s Bargain, Macbeth, The Glass Menagerie, A Murder, A Mystery, & A Marriage
2006/2007
Accomplice, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Tartuffe, The Pavilion, True West, The Underpants
2005/2006
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Visiting Mr. Green, All My Sons, Waiting for Godot
2004/2005
Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Syringa Tree, You Can’t Take It With You
2003/2004
The Tragedy of Carmen, Abigail’s Party, Miss. Julie, A Life in the Theater
2002/2003
Old Wicked Songs, Spunk, Salome, Stinkin’ Rich
2001/2002
A Delicate Balance, Cookin’ at the Cookery, Peer Gynt, The House of Blue Leaves
2000/2001
Arms and the Man, La Bệte, American Buffalo, The Heiress
1999/2000
Blood Wedding, Uncle Vanya, The Fantasticks, Light Up the Sky
1998/1999
The Real Thing, Thieves’ Carnival, Hedda Gabler, Noises Off
1997/1998
The Dining Room, The Glass Menagerie, Machinal, The Importance of Being Earnest
1996/1997
A View from the Bridge, Reckless, Betrayal, Blithe Spirit
1995/1996
Nora, The Illusion, The Curse of the Starving Class, All in the Timing
1994/1995
The Cocktail Hour, The Heidi Chronicles, Misalliance
Special Guests
The theater opened in April 2005 with a live taping of VH-1's Storytellers featuring Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
. Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
performed a two-hour set at the theater in 2005. Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
(joined by special guest Bruce Springsteen), performed a benefit concert at the theater in summer 2007. Rusted Root
Rusted Root
Rusted Root is a band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania known for their unique fusion of acoustic, rock, world and other styles of music, with a strong percussion section that draws from African, Latin American, Native American, and Indian influences...
performed in the fall of that same year.
Two River Theater Company has hosted a number of luminaries and award winners including Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance in Moonstruck...
and Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
. Most recently Two River has welcomed comedian Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
and Academy Award winner, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
. In November 2009, Colbert joined his longtime friend Aaron Posner on stage to take part in a fundraiser titled "I Am Stephen Colbert (And So Can You)."
Education Programs
Two River Theater Company has a dynamic, integrated approach to engage the artist within every student. Two River offers theater arts programs to students from 1st through 12th grade.Two River Theater Company’s Metro Scholar program is an exploration of professional theater for advanced students. This highly competitive program offers a unique opportunity for high school juniors to play a significant role in the life of Two River Theater Company. Selected students receive two free subscriptions, take workshops in various aspects of professional theater, complete assistantships with Two River artists and staff, and work with other creative students from all over New Jersey.
PlayBack is a program in which selected high school students work with Two River Teaching Artists who guide them in the creation and performance of their own original play inspired by, in response to, and in conversation with a production on the theater’s main stage. This is an intensive twelve-week program, which culminates with performances on the set of that production.
Summer Ensembles is a three-week summer program offered to students from first to twelfth grade. Teaching artists channel students’ natural energy and vitality into creative thinking, team work, and performance skills through theater games, songs and devising original material. Not only do students get the opportunity to perform for their peers, they are able to see the inner-workings backstage with the Two River production staff.
Young Voice’s 732 is an educational project to collect stories from those that work, live or play in the 732 area code, and offer those stories back to the community in a variety of ways. In June 2010, Young Voices 732 created a play using real dialogue by middle schoolers called Life in the Middle, directed by KJ Sanchez and starring local students.
Co-Productions
Macbeth (Folger Theatre), 26 Miles (Round House Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (California Shakespeare Theater), Orestes (Folger Theatre)Transfers to New York
In January 2009, Two River Theater Company produced the world premiere of associate artistic director KJ Sanchez's ReEntry, co-written by Emily Ackerman, which followed with a month long run at New York’s Urban Stages. In May 2010 ReEntry was performed at the Navy-Marine Combat Operational Stress Control Conference in San Diego for NavyNavy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
and Marine Corps
Marine corps
A marine is a member of a force that specializes in expeditionary operations such as amphibious assault and occupation. The marines traditionally have strong links with the country's navy...
line leaders, combat veterans, caregivers, and their families.
In September 2008, Two River mounted Martha Clarke
Martha Clarke
Martha Clarke is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. She is the creator of plotless, dreamlike works that are perhaps described by the term "moving paintings. Her work frequently emphasizes striking...
's performance piece The Garden of Earthly Delights, which then played a very successful run at New York's Minetta Lane Theatre.