NJPAC - September_October_November_December 2021

avo! 

Christian McBride brings 

The Movement Revisited, 

a tribute to the icons of 

the Civil Rights movement, 

to the 10th annual 

TD James Moody 

Jazz Festival. 

sep/dec 2021

your shortcut to the 

performance programs 

Click below to access: 

21 Kathleen Madigan 

Friday, December 10, 2021 | 7 & 9:30PM 

24 The Nutcracker 

The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine 

Saturday, December 11, 2021 | 3PM 

33 Greg Gutfeld: The Plus Tour 

with special guest Tom Shillue 

Sunday, December 12, 2021 | 3PM 

35 Mannheim Steamroller 

Wednesday, December 15 | 7:30PM 

37 The Hip Hop Nutcracker 

with special guest MC Kurtis Blow 

Saturday, December 18, 2021 | 2 & 8PM 

Shine Studio Portrait 2018 

greetings, friends! 

John Schreiber 

President & CEO 

You’re here! At last. Everyone at NJPAC is thrilled to 

welcome you back to your Arts Center. 

If you’re anything like me, one of the many difficult 

restrictions of the past year was going without 

live performances. 

Music, dance, theater — they may not be essential in 

quite the same way that groceries are. But they are 

essential to the human spirit all the same. 

Sure, television was there like it always is; there were 

stacks of books to read. But the special magic of live 

performance, of hearing an artist sing or play right in front 

of you, with no screen between you and the music, 

is irreplaceable. That very particular experience was not 

something that could be reproduced digitally, no matter 

how hard we tried. 

While NJPAC produced hundreds of exciting, engaging 

virtual events during the pandemic, this, what you’re about 

to witness, is what we couldn’t wait to share with you again: 

The emotion and passion of a live audience, and a 

performer in the spotlight responding to the energy of the 

crowd. I’m so glad that we are able to present these 

concerts again, and that you’re here to see one of your 

favorites doing what they do best: Enchanting us all. 

Things may not have returned entirely to our old normal. 

You’re reading this letter on a screen instead of in a program 

book that was handed to you by one of NJPAC’s ushers, for 

example. And you’re wearing a mask while you’re in the 

theater, just to be sure we all stay as safe as possible. 

But you’re here in the theater, and a world-class artist is 

about to walk out onto either the Betty Wold Johnson Stage 

or the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Stage, and that is worth 

celebrating. So welcome back. I hope you find this 

performance, which for many will be their first since the 

pandemic began, especially moving after so many months 

of streaming on the couch. 

May what you see and hear tonight lift your spirits, as the 

performing arts always do. And we hope to see you back 

again very soon. 

All good wishes, 


3

Jazz — present, past, 

and future 

The 10th annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival 

offers a showcase of “America’s classical music,” 

from its early days to its newest stars 

By Jay Lustig 

This year’s 10th annual edition of the 

festival — its name honors one of 

the all-time-great jazz saxophonists, 

the late James Moody, who was 

raised in Newark — brings ample star 

power in the form of Prudential Hall 

concerts headlined by singers 

Chaka Khan (Nov 6), Dianne Reeves 

(Nov 13), Maria Schneider (Nov 21) 

and trumpeter Chris Botti (Nov 12). 

But that’s just the start. There are lots 

of other events, unique to the festival 

and eagerly awaited by jazz fans. 

These include the Sarah Vaughan 

International Jazz Vocal 

Competition — which pays tribute to 

Newark’s own “Divine One,” the 

dazzling Vaughan, and has been a 

part of the festival since its start. This 

year’s competition takes place Nov 14 

at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater and will 

be hosted by McBride, who will 

also play bass for Reeves during a 

musical segment. Past winners of this 

competition who have gone on to big 

things in the jazz world include Cyrille 

Aimée and Jazzmeia Horn. 

McBride will also present his big band, 

a gospel choir and guest orators in the 

New Jersey premiere of his ambitious 

The Movement Revisited: A Musical 

Portrait of Four Icons — an epic 

composition inspired by the legacies 

of Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad 

Ali and the Rev. Martin Luther 

King Jr. — Nov 11 at Prudential Hall. 

Poets Sonia Sanchez, Willie Perdomo 

and John Murillo and actor Dion 

Graham will read the words of those 

Civil Rights heroes. The Last Poets, 

a veteran group of poets and 

musicians whose performances laid 

the groundwork for the emergence 

of hip hop, will open the evening. 

The Maria Schneider Orchestra 

will play two shows Nov 21 at 

the Victoria Theater; Schneider’s 

last album, Data Lords, a musical 

exploration of the contrast between 

(continued on next page) 

Dianne Reeves 

The number of concerts on its schedule 

isn’t the only thing that makes NJPAC’s 

TD James Moody Jazz Festival 

New Jersey’s most notable celebration 

of the music — it’s the remarkable 

diversity of the offerings that makes 

this month-long event really stand out. 

Some of its events are large; others 

are intimate. Some are ticketed; 

others free. Some look back at the 

storied past of “America’s classical 

music;” others give a glimpse of 

its future. Countless different styles 

of jazz are represented. 

“It’s hard not to be diverse,” says 

Christian McBride, NJPAC’s Jazz 

Advisor. “When you’re talking 

about presenting jazz, there are so 

many different branches of this huge 

tree. You’ve got to bring in different 

flavors and different inflections of 

the language.” 

Chris Botti 

FOR A FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS, VISIT NJPAC.ORG OR CALL 1.888.MY.NJPAC 

5

jazz — past, present, future 

there’s a big chance that they came 

under the tutelage of George Wein. 

And that includes (NJPAC president 

and CEO) John Schreiber as well.” 

Chaka Khan 

Django Festival Allstars 

Maria Schneider 

our digital lives and the natural 

world, was DownBeat’s Jazz Album 

of the Year and the NPR Jazz Critics 

Poll Album of the year. Schneider 

herself is an NEA Jazz Master. 

Tony®-winning actress Lillias White 

will pay tribute to Vaughan with Divine 

Sassy, a cabaret show at NJPAC’s 

Chase Room, Nov 14. And saxophonistclarinetist 

Anat Cohen will lead a 

tribute to the legendary concert 

promoter George Wein, Nov 20 at 

the Victoria Theater, with guests 

including McBride, pianist Kenny 

Barron, trumpeter Randy Brecker, 

saxophonist Lew Tabackin, 

bassist Peter Washington and 

the vocal trio Duchess. 

Wein, who passed away in September, 

three weeks shy of his 96th birthday, 

founded the Newport Jazz Festival 

in 1954 and remained one of the jazz 

world’s hardest working and most 

well known impresarios for decades. 

McBride says he considers Wein one 

of his mentors, and added that he 

“has really been a mentor to almost 

everyone (in jazz). He literally has 

created a universe. Anyone who’s 

behind the scenes in jazz, doing 

any level of producing or curating... 

Among the festival’s many other 

offerings are the Django Festival 

Allstars (playing the music of 

legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt), 

Nov 5 at the Chase Room; bassist 

Buster Williams in a Jazz Vespers 

concert, Nov 6 at Bethany Baptist 

Church; saxophonist Don Braden’s 

Septet in a family-friendly afternoon 

of music and jazz education, Nov 7 at 

the Victoria Theater; a screening of the 

documentary The WBGO Story: Bright 

Moments from Newark to the World, 

Nov 13 at Bethany Baptist Church; 

pianist Cyrus Chestnut in an intimate 

brunch show hosted by Newark’s 

First Lady of Jazz, Dorthaan Kirk, 

Nov 14 at NJPAC’s NICO Kitchen + Bar. 

Asked what he is most excited about, 

McBride responds, “I hate to sound 

selfish, but I’m really excited about 

playing The Movement Revisited. But 

I’m also very excited about having our 

great friend, Dianne Reeves, coming 

back. I’m excited about Chaka coming 

back. I’m excited about my old friend 

Chris Botti coming back. The tribute 

to George Wein will be very special. 

“Everybody, I think, is itching to 

go back out and hear live music 

again. There have been a few 

opportunities, here and there. A 

few places have opened up slowly. 

But to have our full festival... we’re 

very much looking forward to that. 

And I think we’ve also done a very 

good job of keeping cautious and 

trying to make sure everyone is safe, 

before bringing them back.” • 

A musical 

homage to Civil 

Rights icons 

McBride’s The Movement 

Revisited salutes social 

justice heroes, in a 

New Jersey premier of 

the performer-composer’s 

‘magnum opus’ 

It has been called Christian 

McBride’s magnum opus: 

The Movement Revisited: 

A Musical Portrait of Four Icons, 

which the GRAMMY®-winning 

bassist, composer and educator will 

present at NJPAC’s Prudential Hall, 

Nov 11, in its New Jersey premiere. 

The Montclair resident, who 

serves as NJPAC’s Jazz Advisor, 

will perform the musically varied 



7

a musical homage... 

epic with his Christian McBride Big 

Band and the Voices of the Flame 

gospel choir, plus poets Sonia 

Sanchez, Willie Perdomo and John 

Murillo and actor Dion Graham 

reading the words of Rosa Parks, 

Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, the 

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and 

Barack Obama. The words of these 

icons serve as prologues to musical 

segments that reflect their spirit. 

McBride, who has called The Movement 

Revisited his “tip of the cap” to the 

heroes of the Civil Rights era, hasn’t 

presented it live since 2015. He says he 

feels that this year’s TD James Moody 

Jazz Festival is “the right time… and 

the right place” to perform it again. 

“I’m very much looking forward to it,” 

he says. “The mood of the concert is 

one of hope and promise. You hear the 

words that these people spoke. And if 

Christian McBride 

you start listening closely to the words 

and if you get, not a sense of pride, but 

a sense of what to do — a course of 

action — I think it makes you feel good.” 

He explains further: “It’s inspirational. 

At least for me, I hope you don’t listen 

to these words and listen to the music 

and sort of get this sense of pride of, 

‘Look what these amazing people 

did so that we might have a better 

life,’ and then kind of fist bump your 

chest and feel good about what 

they’ve done. No, they’re telling you 

that we need to do something.” 

McBride was born in 1972 and first 

learned about Civil Rights figures as a 

student growing up in Philadelphia, and 

by reading old copies of Ebony and Jet 

magazines that his grandmother saved. 

“I’m so deeply moved that our dear 

brother, Christian, would do this piece, 

because... many people are, in a sense, 

ignoring that history and herstory 

that is so important,” says Sanchez, 

who first earned national attention as 

a poet and activist during the ’60s. 

As necessary as it may seem for this 

moment in our country’s history, The 

Movement Revisited has existed, in 

different forms, for more than 20 years. 

McBride wrote the first version in 1998, 

including excerpts from speeches and 

writings of Parks, Malcolm X, Ali and 

“So, if The Movement 

Revisited can 

propel awareness 

of not just today’s 

issues, but our 

history, while 

pleasing people 

musically, then it 

has done its job.” 

– Christian McBride 

King. A decade later, he expanded it 

with words by and music inspired by 

Barack Obama, who had just become 

the country’s first African-American 

president. McBride’s new, celebratory 

final section was titled “Apotheosis: 

November 4th, 2008.” The date 

refers, of course, to the day on which 

Obama was first elected president. 

McBride kept the Four Icons in the 

subtitle instead of changing it to five. 

In a 2013 interview with JazzTimes, 

McBride said the new fifth movement 

was “more like a 4A, like a carryover 

from the King movement. I thought 

that moment — the night of his election — 

was bigger than him. It seemed to me 

that his election was an apotheosis of 

what happened in the ’60s and ’70s. 

(The movement) consists of the four 

voices — Parks, King, X, and Ali — reading 

Obama’s victory speech that night.” 

In 2013, McBride presented 

The Movement Revisited at the University 

of Maryland, with Harry Belafonte 

reading King’s words. In February 

2020, The Movement Revisited was 

released for the first time in album 

form, on the jazz label Mack Avenue. 

“What’s going on with our society 

right now is that we’re picking up the 

struggle over civil rights — human rights, 

really — where we left off at an earlier 

time in our culture, while also fighting 

some new battles,” said McBride at 

the time of the album’s release. “So, if 

The Movement Revisited can propel 

awareness of not just today’s issues, 

but our history, while pleasing people 

musically, then it has done its job.” 

Before McBride’s piece is performed, 

the evening will begin with a performance 

by The Last Poets, featuring Abiodun 

Oyewole, Umar Bin Hassan, and Babadon 

Babatunde. This pioneering group of 

poets and musicians formed in 1968; 

their work, always devoted to raising 

African-American consciousness, laid the 

groundwork for the emergence of hip hop. 

This presentation of The Movement 

Revisited is supported through NJPAC and 

Rutgers-Newark’s City Verses: Elevating 

Voices Through Jazz and Poetry initiative, 

funded by the Mellon Foundation. • 


9

Dining out, at last 

Healthy options, indulgent treats, patio vibes — 

and the best fries in Newark — are on 

Nico Kitchen + Bar’s new menu 

Like so many people did during 

the pandemic, Andy Watterson, 

Executive Chef at Nico Kitchen + Bar 

on the NJPAC campus, and James 

Hampson, the restaurant’s General 

Manager, took a pause in their 

work to pursue healthier living. 

They ate more vegetables, got 

into running together; Andy recalls 

running a recent race at an eightminute-and-two-second-per-mile 

pace. (“Not bad for 45!” he laughs.) 

Top: Signature sandwich, a towering fried chicken extravagance topped with 

aioli and spicy hot honey with Swizzle Fries. Left: Nico Kitchen + Bar patio. 

Right: Andy Watterson; Executive Chef and James Hampson, General Manager. 

But when they came back to the 

restaurant in early June, to prep for 

the reopening of the restaurant — 

which was closed for a total of 451 

days and a few hours, Andy notes — 

they looked at each other and said: 

“Hey, let’s make some fries!” 

“I think we all have both those 

impulses right now,” Andy muses. 

“During the whole shutdown, a lot of 

us looked inward, made a decision 

to pursue a healthier lifestyle. At the 

same time, though, now that we’re 

out, we’re celebrating with comfort 

foods, we’re looking for the things 

we couldn’t make for ourselves.” 

“And not a lot of people have 

deep fryers at home, so...” 

Those two post-pandemic impulses — 

staying healthy, and giving way to 

indulgence — both have a place in the 

new menu at Nico, which Andy and 

James spent weeks refining ahead of 

the restaurant’s late-June reopening. 

So there’s a new, entirely vegan grain 

bowl topped with veggies — but there’s 

also a new signature sandwich, a 

towering fried chicken extravagance 

topped with aioli and spicy hot 

honey. Made with a cutlet marinated 

in buttermilk and spices and then 

deep-fried, it’s decadence on a 

bun — and within the first month of 

the restaurant’s reopening, Andy 

was making a dozen every night. 

And then there are the fries. 

Dubbed “swizzle fries,” they’re as 

unlike the fast-food variety as you 

can imagine: Ridged, an inch thick 

or more across, and twisted into 

curving waves — the better to hold 

the cheese, bacon and scallions 

they’re topped with for an appetizer. 

“They’re spun-cut — it’s a newer 

technique,” says Andy. “They’re 

heartier, more...potato-ey? I want 

to say they’re ‘meaty’ even 

though they’re not meat.” 

Like all the offerings on Nico’s newly 

slimmed down, simplified menu, 

they were designed with outdoor 

eating in mind. For the mid-summer 

reopening, the restaurant expanded 

its patio to accommodate more 

outside diners, adding broad orange 

umbrellas to make eating al fresco 

more comfortable. And the menu is 

geared to a relaxed, warm-weather, 

people-watching pace as well. 

“We wanted to offer very simple 

but very elegant food,” said James, 

who came to Nico just months 

before the shutdown after a 

long career at Bonefish Grill. 

“For the summer, our focus was on 

that patio meal and being outside 

and having a nice, chill, relaxed vibe, 

with a trimmed-down, relaxed menu.” 

By August, it was evident that the 

approach was working: Even with 

a limited series of performances 

on NJPAC’s stages, the restaurant 

hummed with activity. During 

Sounds of the City performances, of 

course, the patio was packed with 

patrons — but even during quiet nights 

at the Arts Center, Nico bustled. 

“What’s surprised us is how many 

people have moved into this 

neighborhood now,” says James, 

“and those locals are returning to 

the restaurant frequently. We have 

regulars now, which wasn’t something 

we necessarily had before.” 

“That’s a really promising sign, to 

me — when people are coming 

back again and again, it means 

you’re doing something right!” 

For the fall, the menu will lean 

into heartier, more sustaining 

comfort fare — but healthy options 

will be a constant presence on 

the ever-evolving lineup. • 


11

calendar of events oct — jun 2021 

babyface 

nov 21 

oct 30 

christian 

mcbride 

nov 11 

chris 

botti 

nov 12 

sarah 

brightman 

nov 27 

frankie valli and 

the four seasons 

nov 19–20 

dianne 

reeves 

nov 13 

chaka 

khan 

nov 6 

oct 2021 

Thu Oct 14 7:30PM Boney James 

Fri Oct 15 8PM Havasi 

Fri Oct 15 7:30PM Tierney Sutton & Ann Hampton Callaway — In Technicolor 

Sun Oct 17 7PM Los Tigres del Norte 

Fri Oct 22 7:30PM Parsons Dance 

Fri Oct 22 8PM 90’s All-Star Dance Concert 

featuring Robin S., CeCe Peniston, Black Sheep, Ten City, 

Lumidee, George Lamond, Lisette Melendez, Aly-Us, 

Nardo Ranks, Marshall Jefferson, Strafe, 

Rochelle Fleming and Boriqua Posse 

Sat Oct 23 8PM Ledisi with special guests Musiq Soulchild & Kenyon Dixon 

Fri Oct 29 8PM Gilberto Santa Rosa 

Sat Oct 30 2PM Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows TM Part 1 In Concert 

with the NJSO 

nov 2021 

Fri Nov 5 8PM John Waite 

Fri Nov 19 8PM Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons 

Sat Nov 20 8PM Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons 

Sun Nov 21 7PM Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds 

Fri Nov 26 8PM Thanksgiving Comedy Fest 

with Earthquake, Luenell, Capone, Smokey 

and hosted by Tony Rock 

Sat Nov 27 8PM Sarah Brightman — A Christmas Symphony 

Sat Nov 27 8 & 10PM Chris Distefano 

TD James Moody Jazz Festival 

Fri Nov 5 6 & 8:30PM Django Festival Allstars featuring Samson Schmitt, 

Ludovic Beier, Pierre Blanchard, Doudou Cuillerier 

& Antonio Licusati 

Sat Nov 6 6PM Jazz Vespers: Buster Williams 

Sat Nov 6 7PM Nimbus Dance 

Sat Nov 6 8PM Chaka Khan with special guest Leela James 

Sun Nov 7 2PM WBGO Kids Jazz: Don Braden Septet 

Thu Nov 11 7:30PM Christian McBride’s The Movement Revisited: 

A Musical Portrait of Four Icons 

Fri Nov 12 7PM Divine Sass: Lillias White Sings Sarah Vaughan 

Fri Nov 12 8PM Chris Botti 

Sat Nov 13 8PM Dianne Reeves plus Artemis featuring Renee Rosnes, 

Anat Cohen, Ingrid Jensen, Nicole Glover, 

Noriko Ueda and Allison Miller 

Sat Nov 13 2PM The WBGO Story: Bright Moments from Newark 

to the World 

Sun Nov 14 11AM & 1PM Dorthaan’s Place: Cyrus Chestnut 

Sun Nov 14 3PM Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition 

Sun Nov 21 3 & 7PM Maria Schneider Orchestra 

Artists, dates, times, locations and programs subject to change at any time. 


13

calendar of events oct — jun 2021 

the 

nutcracker 

dec 11 

ana 

gabriel 

jun 10 

the princess bride 

an inconceivable 

evening with 

cary elwes 

dec 3 

paw patrol live! 

dec 31 & jan 2 

alivin ailey 

american 

dance theater 

may 6–8 

johnny 

mathis 

jun 24 

dec 2021 

Wed Dec 1 7:30PM Neil deGrasse Tyson — 

The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries 

Fri Dec 3 7:30PM The Princess Bride — An Inconceivable Evening 

with Cary Elwes 

Sat Dec 4 7PM Richard Thompson 

Tue Dec 7 8PM Earth, Wind & Fire 

Wed Dec 8 8PM Earth, Wind & Fire 

Thu Dec 9 7:30PM Jane Lynch — A Swingin’ Little Christmas! Live in Concert 

Fri Dec 10 7 & 9:30PM Kathleen Madigan — Do You Have Any Ranch? Tour 

Sat Dec 11 3PM The Nutcracker — State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine 

Sun Dec 12 3PM Greg Gutfeld: The Plus Tour with special guest Tom Shillue 

Wed Dec 15 7:30PM Mannheim Steamroller — Christmas 

Sat Dec 18 2 & 8PM The Hip Hop Nutcracker with MC Kurtis Blow 

Fri Dec 31 10AM & 2PM Paw Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure 

Sun Jan 2 10AM & 2PM Paw Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure 

jan 2022 

Fri Jan 14 8PM Kashmir 

Sat Jan 15 7 & 9:30PM Tom Papa — Family Reunion Tour 

Sat Jan 15 8PM Stephanie Mills & The Whispers 

Fri Jan 21 8PM George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic 

Sun Jan 23 7PM Mariza — The 20th Anniversary Tour 

Sat Jan 29 7:30PM Celebrating the Theater Songs of Leonard Bernstein 

Featuring Bill Charlap and the Bill Charlap Trio 

author Jamie Bernstein and host Ted Chapin 

feb 2022 

Sat Feb 5 2PM Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company — Year of the Water Tiger 

Sun Feb 6 2PM Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company — Year of the Water Tiger 

mar 2022 

Fri Mar 4 7PM Recycled Percussion 

Sun Mar 6 3PM Seong-Jin Cho 

Sat Mar 12 3 & 7:30PM Peking Acrobats 

Sat Mar 19 3 & 8PM Candice Guardino’s — Italian Bred 

Fri Mar 25 8PM Vic DiBitetto 

Sat Mar 26 8PM Vic DiBitetto 

apr 2022 

Fri Apr 1 7:30PM Tom Segura — I’m Coming Everywhere World Tour 

Wed Apr 13 7PM Disney Princess: The Concert 

Sun Apr 24 3PM The Doo Wop Project 

may 2022 

Fri May 6 8PM Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 

Sat May 7 8PM Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 

Sun May 8 3PM Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 

jun 2022 

Fri Jun 10 8PM Ana Gabriel — Por Amor a Ustedes 

Fri Jun 24 8PM Johnny Mathis with special guest Gary Mule Deer 

Fri Jun 24 8PM Welcome to Night Vale: The Haunting of Night Vale 




15

Bringing 

mission 

front and 

center 

saturday 

performing arts 

programs 

NJPAC’s new Cooperman Family Arts Education and 

Community Center will be a home for innovative 

artistic initiatives — and a base for community 

programming throughout Newark. 

band • hip hop 

jazz • theater 

Programs start at $50 

Sign Up! 

Visit njpac.org/education for more information. 

New Jersey audiences already know 

NJPAC as a wonderful place to see 

their favorite artists from all over the 

world perform in a beautiful theater. 

What many audience members don’t 

realize, however, is that the Arts Center 

is also one of the nation’s largest nonprofit 

arts education organizations. 

NJPAC offers arts training classes on 

its campus, performing arts residencies 

in schools across the state and 

professional development workshops 

for teachers from across the country. 

NJPAC also offers hundreds of 

free events in Newark outside 

its theaters — from Books on the 

Move literacy workshops for 

preschoolers, to Pearls of Wisdom 

panel discussions between elders 

and young people and Jazz Jam 

concerts for music lovers — through 

its Community Engagement 

department. These educational 

and community programs reach 

tens of thousands of children 

and families in a typical year. 


17

inging mission front and center 

All of that work will move front 

and center on the Arts Center’s 

campus with the construction of the 

Cooperman Family Arts Education 

and Community Center, which is 

slated to open at the corners of 

Center and Mulberry Streets in 2024. 

The project’s development was 

launched by an extraordinary $20 

million gift from Leon and Toby 

Cooperman and the Cooperman 

family. This new facility will put the 

Arts Center’s work that supports 

kids, families and performing artists 

“...we hope to make 

free, effective arts 

programming 

available to 

everyone in the 

city, removing the 

barriers of cost, 

distance and 

transportation.” 

 

– Eyesha Marable 

in NJPAC’s “front yard,” directly 

across the street from the theaters. 

The Cooperman Center will be a 

purpose-built home for NJPAC’s 

arts education and community 

engagement programs. As you 

might expect, this new building 

will house classrooms for existing 

arts training programs and a fullyfunctioning 

black box theater 

for student performances, and 

spaces — from outdoor gathering 

spots to indoor rooms with 

technology that allows programs to 

be shared digitally — for community 

engagement programs such as film 

screenings and panel discussions. 

But the Center will also offer so 

much more, including an initiative 

to develop new arts education 

programs and to train teachers — 

from New Jersey, and from across 

the country — to integrate the arts 

into daily classroom activities. 

A whole floor of the Center will be 

devoted to professional rehearsal 

spaces, where visiting artists and 

performance groups can come 

to rehearse and develop new 

work — while interacting with NJPAC 

students and the community. 

“The Cooperman Center will be 

where all are invited to create — 

where staff and teaching artists 

can invent curricula and pedagogy 

grounded in trauma-informed care, 

where artists can create work that is 

responsive to our community, where 

students find their voice through 

art-making, and where elders can 

celebrate and reflect on Newark’s rich 

artistic history,” says Chelsea Keys, 

NJPAC’s Director of Special Projects. 

These arts education programs will, at 

the Cooperman Center, grow beyond 

what NJPAC currently offers to include 

programs for preschoolers, elders 

and even workforce development 

programs, where young people 

can learn about technical and 

administrative careers in the arts. 

There will even be a children’s arts 

reading room, curated in conjunction 

with the Newark Public Library, which 

features books written specifically for 

youngsters about artists in all genres. 

The Cooperman Center will create an environment where new methods of teaching 

the arts are developed, tested and shared, both in person and digitally. 

A new series of programs created 

around the idea of marrying the 

performing arts with wellbeing — think 

art therapy classes, or dance movement 

workshops that include presentations 

by nutritionists — will also be offered 

at the Cooperman Center. 

In conjunction with the opening of 

the Cooperman Center, NJPAC will 

also launch an effort to expand 

its community engagement 

programming through all five wards 

of the city. The Arts Center has 

long offered free events at parks, 

churches, schools and libraries. But 

historically, most of these programs 

were held in Newark’s Central 

Ward. Distance and transportation 

concerns often kept Newarkers in 

other wards from taking part. 

The expectation is that predictable, 

free and accessible NJPAC 

programming at the Cooperman 

Center and at satellite locations 

across the city will bring strength 

to strength, and organically 

support even more community arts 

access in every neighborhood. 

“With more events in every 

corner of Newark — produced by 

either NJPAC, or by our partner 

organizations — we hope to make 

free, effective arts programming 

available to everyone in the city, 

removing the barriers of cost, distance 

and transportation,” says Eyesha 

Marable, Assistant Vice President of 

Community Engagement at NJPAC. 

“What we envision is a collaborative 

relationship between NJPAC 

and the Cooperman Center, our 

partners, and the community 

itself, that will serve to illuminate 

the whole city,” says Marable. 

These new initiatives will likely 

launch in September 2022, ahead 

of the Cooperman Center’s 

opening in the fall of 2024. • 


19

enhance your 

experience 

victoria theater 

lizzie & jonathan tisch stage 

Friday, December 10, 2021 

7 & 9:30PM 

Become a Member! 

Starting at just $75 for a full year, 

your exclusive benefits include: 

Ticket pre-sales – secure your 

seats before the general public 

Discounts on select performances – 

20% throughout the year 

15% discount at NICO Kitchen + Bar 

Parking perks (at the Advocate level) 

Exclusive Member events and more 

NJPAC presents 

Kathleen Madigan 

Join today: 

At the NJPAC box office 

Online at njpac.org/membership 

Or call 973.297.5809 

As a nonprofit organization, NJPAC relies 

on our community to help fund the world 

class performance, arts education, 

and community engagement programs 

that brighten and enhance your life. 

your perks 

are waiting... 

As a courtesy to the performers and fellow audience members, please be sure to silence all mobile devices. 

The use of recording equipment and the taking of photographs are strictly prohibited. 

This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, 

a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

21

meet the artist 


Comedian Kathleen Madigan’s 

32-year comedy career is showing 

no signs of slowing down. Madigan has 

been touring 250 nights a year on the 

road and has risen from performing 

in comedy clubs to performing in 

marquee theaters with sold-out shows. 

She’s squeezed in over 40 appearances 

on late night talk shows and multiple 

comedy specials airing on Netflix, 

Comedy Central and HBO. She also 

recently joined Jerry Seinfeld on his 

Netflix show Comedians in Cars Getting 

Coffee and made the most of the 

pandemic by launching a podcast, 

Madigan’s Pubcast, on all streaming 

outlets. Recently asked if her career was 

planned, she said, “No, like that guy in 

the Joy of Painting used to say, it was a 

happy accident. This whole thing just 

started out as a reason to drink and 

wow, what a great drinking accident.” 

special and will be her third special to 

be available on Netflix. “I love working 

with them. They’re the young people. 

Network TV will need to adapt quickly 

to even have a chance to stay in the 

game. Netflix gets it and makes it so 

easy for us. Instead of it being a battle 

of content and rules, it’s just fun. 

What it’s supposed to be,” she says. 

Her album of the Bothering Jesus special 

was the highest selling comedy album 

and most played comedy album on 

streaming services since 2014. 

Discussing her latest endeavor, 

Madigan said of her podcast, 

“During COVID it was so strange 

to be home. I’ve haven’t been off and 

home for more than three weeks in 

32 years so it was odd. Once it was 

clear we weren’t going out on the road 

anytime soon, I decided a podcast 

would be a fun way to stay in touch with 

people. I’d have never had the time with 

the road being kind of all-consuming. 

I plan to keep doing now just 

because it’s been so much fun 

and something different.” 

So how is it, the Detroit Free Press 

asks, “that Madigan has yet to be 

cast as the wise cracking a) best friend 

b) office worker or c) martini-swilling 

mother-in-law in any of countless 

sitcoms? We’re thinking it’s because 

she’s so irreplaceable on the stage. 

She’s described as the funniest woman 

doing standup right now but no gender 

qualifier is necessary. Along with 

Lewis Black, Brian Regan and 

Jim Gaffigan, she’s one of the funniest 

standup comedians of her generation.” 

a sitcom or in a TV commercial. 

Those things never ever crossed my 

mind,” Madigan says. “For a few of 

us working, telling jokes was our main 

goal. I don’t have any more goals. 

Can’t you ever have a goal, reach it 

and enjoy it? Our society is being 

driven by type-A lunatics who say 

you have to set more goals. 

Well maybe they do but we all 

don’t. Have a seat, grab a drink 

and enjoy the fact you achieved 

the goal. Maybe that’s the Irish in 

me talking though.” 

After a recent performance at the 

Chicago Theater, the Chicago Tribune 

wrote, “She has all but perfected the art 

of crafting and delivering a perfect joke. 

That singular dedication to the craft 

shows in both the evolution of 

her material over the years and way 

she can make a complicated joke with 

a hidden nub of wisdom seem both 

effortless and offhand.” 

Madigan has performed internationally 

at festivals in theaters in Ireland, 

England, Hong Kong, Australia and 

has filmed seven Montreal Gala Shows 

at the Montreal Comedy Festival for 

CBC TV. “I never realized how 

Middle America I am until performing 

overseas. It all works but needs some 

tweaking when the crowd isn’t all 

Americans. It’s a good challenge and 

made me a better comedian.” 

She also has joined numerous USO 

trips to entertain troops around the 

globe, including Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“The USO shows are the best. Trust me, 

no crowd is as appreciative and fired up 

to see any entertainer. I’m glad I have 

the chance because God knows I don’t 

want to have to do their job!” 

She’s won the American Comedy 

Award for Best Female Comedian 

and the Phyllis Diller award for Best 

Female Comedian. She has written 

and produced for Lewis Black’s 

Root of All Evil on Comedy Central. 

Madigan is an advocate and 

fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis and Autism. 

Madigan originally hails from 

St. Louis, Missouri. 

Her most recent special Bothering 

Jesus is her fifth hour-long standup 

“I just want to tell jokes. I didn’t start 

doing open mics to become an actor on 


23

prudential hall 

betty wold johnson stage 

Saturday, December 11, 2021 

3PM 


The State Ballet Theatre of Ukraine 

P. Tchaikovsky 

The Nutcracker 

Ballet – Fairy in Two Acts with an Epilogue 

Libretto by 

Marius Petipa 

General Director of the Theatre 

Konstantin Pinchuk 

Production by 

Andrey Litvinov 

Adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story 

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King 

Edited by 


Choreography by 

Marius Petipat, Lev Ivanov, Olexander Gorsky, 

Vasil Vanonen, Anatoly Yemelyanov 

Set design by 

Olena Gavdzynska 

Artistic Director of the Ballet 


Costume Design by 

Nadya Shvets 





cast 

President Sidberhaus ................................................................................................................Igor Kasian 

Mrs. Sidberhaus, his wife ..........................................................................................Darya Dubrovina 

Marie, their daughter .........................................................................................................Alina Veretina 

Fritz, their son........................................................................................................................Sergei Badalov 

Drosselmeier, the councilman ....................................................................................Eygenii Kuchvar 

Nutcracker, the prince .......................................................................................................Sergii Zdanskii 

Nutcracker, the toy ......................................................................................................Dennis Kovalenko 

Mouse King.....................................................................................................................................Vlad Surdu 

Colombina Doll.................................................................................................................. Olga Pasternak 

Harlequin ......................................................................................................................................... Vlad Surdu. 

Chocolate (Spanish Dance) ................................................Luminita Bivol, Dmitryiy Sitkevich 

French Dance ..............................................................................Maria Lolenko, Alexandr Litvinov 

Coffee (Arabian Dance) ...................................................................Iona Baetler, Alexey Churich 

Tea (Chinese Dance) ............................................................. Elena Badalova, Denis Kovalenko 

Candy Canes (Russian Dance) ........................................... Olga Pasternak, Sergeii Badalov 

Waltz of the Flowers ................................................Ide Umeko, Daria Dubrovina, Ulya Bilan, 

Marina Gulega and ballet troupe of 

State Dnipro Opera and Ballet Theater, Ukraine 

program 

Prologue 

A toymaker named Drosselmeyer is preparing gifts for President Sidberhaus’ children 

in his room. There is a nutcracker — a toy for cracking nuts — and the Mouse King 

among them. Drosselmeyer does not like the Mouse King toy and leaves it at home. 

ACT I 

Scene 1 

President Sidberhaus is having a 

Christmas Eve reception. The children 

look forward to seeing the Christmas 

tree and the Christmas gifts. 

Finally, the moment comes and 

Drosselmeyer, disguised as a magician, 

enters the room and amazes everyone 

with his art. A puppet show is presented 

in front of the children. The show is 

about the Nutcracker, who defeats the 

Mouse King while protecting the Princess. 

Drosselmeyer presents two wind-up 

toys: the Harlequin and the Pink Doll. 

President Silberhaus puts them away 

for safekeeping so they would not be 

broken by the children. 

The President’s daughter Marie is upset 

to see the dolls being taken away. 

Drosselmeyer soon gives Marie another 

doll — a clumsy and funny Nutcracker, 

but her brother Fritz purposely breaks it. 

Drosselmeyer chases the nuisance away 

and wants to fix the doll. Marie cradles 

the toy she likes so much. 

The adults come back from 

the neighboring room. They perform 

a ceremonial dance called Grossfater 

and leave. 


25

program 

meet the composer 

Scene 2 

Drosselmeyer comes home and 

sees a lonely toy left behind — 

the Mouse King. The toy suddenly 

stops obeying Drosselmeyer and 

runs away. Drosselmeyer chases it. 

Scene 3 

Marie sleeps in an armchair near 

the Christmas tree. The Mouse King 

sneaks into the room and hides 

under the tree. Drosselmeyer enters. 

The clock strikes midnight. 

Drosselmeyer waves his wand and 

everything around him changes. 

The walls move, the Christmas tree 

starts growing and the toys come alive. 

All of the sudden, mice come out of 

the fireplace led by the Mouse King. 

The dolls are terrified. The smart and 

brave Nutcracker saves them by 

taking the tin soldiers to fight against 

the mice army. However, the forces 

are not equal. The Nutcracker remains 

the only soldier fighting against the 

Mouse King and his mice. To help her 

favorite toy, Marie takes a shoe off her 

foot and throws it at the Mouse King. 

The mice are terrified and retreat. 

Then, a miracle happens. The ugly, 

funny-looking toy transforms into a 

handsome prince. He thanks 

Marie for saving his life. 

Scene 4 

The tracery made by frost on 

the windowpanes turns into a 

magic winter forest. The prince 

and Marie are moved into the 

“Waltz of the Snowflakes.” 

INTERMISSION 

ACT II 

The magic trip continues. 

Drosselmeyer takes the prince and 

Marie to a fairy tale castle. The lights 

are on and Christmas toys come alive 

and greet the couple. All of the sudden, 

the Mouse King appears with his mice. 

The prince goes into battle and wins. 

Everyone celebrates the prince’s 

victory over the Mouse King. 

Chocolate performs a Spanish 

dance, Coffee performs an Arabian 

dance and Candy Canes perform 

a Russian dance. French lollipops 

present the “Dance of the Reed 

Flutes.” At the height of the festivities, 

Drosselmeyer presents the prince 

and Marie with a basket of pink 

flowers. They are happy. 

However…it is just a dream. 

Christmas Eve is over and a new 

day dawns. Marie is near the 

Christmas tree and her beloved 

toy Nutcracker is beside her. 

meet the composer 

Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky was the author of 

some of the most popular themes in all 

of classical music. While he did not strike 

out any new paths or compositional 

methods and sought few innovations 

in his work, the power of Tchaikovsky’s 

best music elevates it to classic status. 

It was Tchaikovsky’s unique melodic 

charm that could make the music sound 

familiar upon the first hearing. 

Tchaikovsky was born into a family 

of five brothers and one sister. He began 

taking piano lessons at age four and 

showed remarkable talent, eventually 

surpassing his own teacher’s abilities. 

By age nine, he exhibited severe nervous 

problems, not least because of his overly 

sensitive nature. The following year, 

he was sent to St. Petersburg to study 

at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence. 

The loss of his mother in 1854 dealt a 

crushing blow to the young Tchaikovsky. 

In 1859, he took a position in the Ministry 

of Justice, but longed for a career in 

music, attending concerts and operas 

at every opportunity. He finally began 

studying with Nikolai Zaremba in 1861, 

and enrolled at the St. Petersburg 

Conservatory the following year, 

eventually studying composition 

with Anton Rubinstein. 

In 1866, the composer relocated to 

Moscow, accepting a professorship 

at the new conservatory, and shortly 

afterward released his first symphony. 

However, he suffered a nervous 

breakdown during its composition. 

His opera The Voyevoda came 

in 1867-1868 and he began another, 

The Oprichnik, in 1870, completing it 

two years later. In 1869 Tchaikovsky 

entered into a working relationship 

with composer Mily Balakirev, 

leader of The Five; resulting in 

Tchaikovsky’s first recognized 

masterpiece, the fantasy-overture 

Romeo and Juliet. Other works 

were appearing during this time, 

as well, including the First String Quartet 

(1871), Symphony No. 2 (1873) and 

Swan Lake (1875). 

In 1876, Tchaikovsky traveled to 

Paris with his brother Modest, and 

then visited Bayreuth, where he met 

Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. By 

1877, Tchaikovsky was an established 

composer. This was the year of Swan 

Lake’s premiere and the time he 

began work on the Symphony No. 4 

(1877-1878). It was also a time when 

he married Antonina Milyukova, an 

obsessed admirer, and their disastrous 

union lasted just months. The composer 

even attempted suicide. Near the end 

of that year, Nadezhda von Meck, 

a woman he would never meet, 

became his patron and frequent 

correspondent. The period of subsidy 

by Madame von Meck was abundantly 

productive for Tchaikovsky with a 

spate of outstanding compositions, 

including the Serenade for Strings (1881), 

1812 Overture (1882) and Symphony 

No. 5 (1888). In both 1888 and 1889, 

Tchaikovsky went on European tours 

as a conductor, meeting Brahms, 

Grieg, Dvŏrak, Gounod and other 

notable musical figures. The Sleeping 

Beauty was premiered in 1890, 

and The Nutcracker in 1892, 

both with success. 

Throughout Tchaikovsky’s last years, 

he was continually plagued by anxiety 

and depression. In 1893 he finished 

Pathetique, his sixth symphony, 

which successfully premiered in 

October the same year. Ten days after 

the first performance of the new work, 

Tchaikovsky died of cholera in St. 

Petersburg on November 6, 1893. 

Creation of The Nutcracker 

The third and last ballet of 

P.I. Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker was 

completed only a year before the 

composer’s death. This ballet ingeniously 

combines the straightforward, 

openhearted joy of a child with the 

philosophical reflection of the composer 

on life, death and beauty of the jest 

in the name of love and happiness. 

The libretto for The Nutcracker 

comes from Marius Petipa based 


27

meet the artists composer 

about the company 

about the company 

on the literary material of the novel by 

the German romanticist E.T.A. Hoffmann. 

In his creation, Tchaikovsky followed 

the treatment of Marius Petipa, but he 

grasped and put into music a much 

deeper meaning of the fairy tale. 

The composer created a symphonic 

poem about a young, innocent girl 

standing at the threshold of the world, 

dreaming about happiness and 

defeating evil. The music paints a vivid 

picture of a child’s world — their joyful 

games and magical dreams, which 

are sometimes quite uneasy and 

sometimes full of happiness. 

The first production was performed by 

gifted choreographer Lev Ivanov in 1892 

in the Mariinsky Theater. Tchaikovsky 

was present at the premiere and 

afterwards wrote in his letter to his 

brother about the great success of the 

performance. In Moscow, the ballet was 

staged for the first time only in 1919 by 

the choreographer Aleksandr Gorsky. 

The production of The Nutcracker 

by Vasili Vainonen in 1934 was the 

third theatrical version of the ballet. 

This production was staged with 

consideration of the experience and 

mistakes of the previous two. 

Vainonen wrote, “Tchaikovsky’s music 

is so graphic, dancelike and emotional, 

that I could not resist the temptation 

of recreating it in movement.” 

The year 1923 was a milestone in the 

history of the Dnipro Opera Theater 

when its ballet company staged an inhouse 

production of Swan Lake for the 

first time ever. The press called it 

“the first attempt to create a real 

ballet performance in the history of 

the City Theater”. 

The ballet was staged by the ballet 

master Robert Balanotti. Swan Lake 

was followed by The Little Humpbacked 

Horse, Coppélia and Le Corsaire. 

In 1926, Kasyan Goleizovsky came to 

Odessa. His groundbreaking approach 

to choreography had an immense 

effect on the future of the Dnipro 

ballet troupe. His ballets Joseph the 

Beautiful, In the Sunlight and “Polovetsian 

Dances” from the A. Borodin opera 

Prince Igor immediately won the hearts 

and minds of the Dnipro audience. 

Theater.Club.Cinema Magazine referred 

to Goleizovsky’s productions as a 

“contemporary ballet factory” and 

“Dnipro, the ballet Hollywood.” 

By the end of the ’20s and in the ’30s, the 

repertoire of the theater grew rapidly 

and had new ballet productions to show 

for it: La Carmagnole by the Odessa 

composer Femilidi, as well as classical 

ballets Don Quixote and Giselle. 

At that time, renowned choreographers 

such as Pavel Virsky, Aleksander 

Terekhov and Mikhail Moiseyev, who 

participated in the Russian Seasons in 

Paris as part of the Sergey Diaghilev 

Ballet Company, were working at the 

theater. Out of 19 ballets staged by 

Moiseyev in the Dnipro City Theater, 

12 were world premieres, including 

Raymonda and La Fille mal gardée. 

Tatyana Dempel, Klavdia Salnikova, 

Vladimir Lesnevsky, Yevgeniya Steynberg 

and Ivan Balayev graced the stage of 

the Dnipro City Theater with marvelous 

performances.In 1940, the ballet troupe 

was headed up by Vronsky Nadiradze. 

Just before the war broke out, he staged 

La Esmeralda and began working on 

Lileya by Konstantin Dankevich based 

on the literary works by T.G. Shevchenko. 

However, this project had to be put on 

hold for four years. The theater would 

remain open during wartime, though 

part of the troupe left for Krasnoyarsk, 

where it continued working in 

extremely harsh conditions. 

On April 10, 1944, during the Swan 

Lake performance in Krasnoyarsk, 

the conductor stopped the music and 

addressed the audience: “Just now 

they said on the radio that our troops 

have freed Dnipro.” 

The very first ballet production in 

the victorious year of 1945 was Lileya. 

And right after that — yet another 

comeback of the undying classic, 

Swan Lake, the ballet this story 

began with. 

The theater had survived the war, and 

finally the golden age of the ballet 

company began. The theater began 

hosting touring ballet star Marina 

Semenova, who’s every performance 

was a full house. On stage, she was 

a “queen.” In 1949, the great Galina 

Ulanova graced the Dnipro stage. 

The legendary Maya Plisetskaya, 

at the meridian of her glory, 

mesmerized and conquered the 

audience in Dnipro with her unique 

manner of “drawing” 

the dance. 

In the ’50s, the creative input of the 

chief choreographer Nikita Tregubov 

added many new names to the theater’s 

playbill. The most favorite productions 

of the audiences were Laurencia by 

A. Crain (1952), Peer Gynt by Edvard 

Grieg (1959), Spartacus by Aram 

Khachaturyan (1962) and The Great 

Waltz by J. Strauss (1959). 

Contemporary trends emerged in the 

productions of “Scythian Suite” from 

Ala and Lolli by Sergei Prokofiev (1967) 

and Your Name… by Francis Poulenc 

(1968). In the ’70s, Igor Chernyshev took 

up the reigns in the ballet company. 

New productions, such as Wedding of 

the Candle by the Odessa composer 

Yuri Znatokov (1974), combining 

modern musical material with Ukrainian 

expression, turned into positive 

experiences for the choreographer. 

In the ’80s, The State Ballet Theatre of 

Ukraine was headed up by the 

choreographers Natalia Ryzhenko 

and Vcitor Smirnov-Golovanov. It was 

the time of large-scale productions, 

such as Anna Karenina by 

Rodion Shchedrin (in collaboration 

with Maya Plisetskaya, 1976) and 

Masquerade by Aram Khachaturian (1982). 

Production of one-act ballets, 

such as Dances for Isadora to the 

music of Frédéric Chopin (libretto and 

choreography by José Limón, 

revised by Natalia Ryzhenko, 1988) 

was an innovative experiment 

of the troupe. 


29

meet about the artists company 

meet the artists 

In the end of the ’90s, Andrey Litvinov 

took charge in the ballet company. 

He restored the classical ballets 

The Sleeping Beauty (1998) and 

Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky (1999), 

La Bayadére by Minkus (2000), 

The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky (2008) 

and many others. 

From 2009 through 2016, The State 

Ballet Theatre of Ukraine was led 

by the Honored Artist of Russia, 

Yury Vasyuchenko, who staged 

Paquita, Faust (Walpurgis Night), 

The Secret of the Vienna Woods to the 

music of Gustav Mahler and Jhann 

Strauss, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, 

Chipollino, dances in the Gala Nureyev 

Forever as well as dances in the opera 

productions Turandot, Don Giovanni, 

Aida, Prince Igor and many others. 

Since 2017, Andrey Litvinov has served 

as the Artistic Director of The State 

Ballet Theatre of Ukraine. Litvinov is the 

People’s Artist of Ukraine and Moldova. 


Konstantin Pinchuk (General Director 

of the Theatre) is the General Director 

of the Dnipropetrovsk Academic Opera 

and Ballet Theater, and an Honored 

Art Worker of Ukraine. From 2000- 

2005, he served as a faculty member 

of Culture and Arts at Kherson State 

University, and he previously served 

as a faculty member of Economics at 

the Dnepropetrovsk Mining Academy 

from 1992-1997. In 2001, he created 

Classical Bolshoi Ballet, the first theater 

in Ukraine dedicated to classical dance. 

The theater was made to support the 

tradition of classical art in Ukraine. 

He organized many successful concerts, 

theater performances, sporting events 

and festivals, including the Extravaganza 

of the Dnieper — an all-Ukrainian festival 

of theater with attendees from all over 

the world. As a director, he created an 

exclusive program of gala concerts titled 

World Ballet Stars, with the participation 

of world-famous dancers like Ilze Liepa, 

Elena Filipyeva, Feton Miotsi, Oksana 

Bondareva, Ivato Marihiro, 

Natalya Matsak, Jessica Mezei and 

many others. As a production designer, 

he worked on the plays Romeo and 

Juliet, My Carmen, The Nutcracker, 

The Snow Queen, Swan Lake, 

The Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and 

the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella in 

tandem with famous directors like 

Alexander Sokolov, Yuri Chaika, 

Andrey Litvinov, Vladimir Troshchenko, 

Eugene Kaygorodov and Carlo Antonio 

De Lucia. He takes an active part in 

the creative and educational work of 

the Dnipropetrovsk Choreographic 

School and the cultural life of the 

Dnipropetrovsk region. 

Andrey Litvinov (Artistic Director of the 

Ballet) is the Chief Choreographer and 

Artistic Director of the Dnipropetrovsk 

Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. 

He began his career as a ballet dancer 

in 1986 at the Maria Biesu National 

Opera and Ballet Theater in the Republic 

of Moldova, where he has performed 

since 1991. He holds the status as Premier 

of the Ballet, dancing in leading roles 

of the company’s repertoire, including 

the Prince in Swan Lake, The Sleeping 

Beauty, The Nutcracker, Basil in Don 

Quixote, Prince Albert in Giselle, 

Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and more. 

Since 2005, he has combined his ballet 

career with an active teaching career. In 

2007, he is appointed the theater’s Chief 

Choreographer. As the choreographer, 

he staged the following productions: 

The Nutcracker, Snow White and the 

Seven Dwarfs, The Sleeping Beauty, 

Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Spartacus, 

Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella. 

He enjoys authority in the ballet 

world, as evidenced by his 

constant participation in the jury 

of the international choreographic 

competitions: Terpsichore (Greece), 

Dance Power (Moldova), Junior Ballet 

Fest (Lvov), Crystal Swan (Bucharest) 

and Riga Spring (Latvia). He is a 

member of the CID International Dance 

Council at UNESCO in France. He is a 

professor at the National Choreographic 

College of the Republic of Moldova. 

The success of his students confirms 

his authority as a choreographer and 

highly professional teacher. In 2019, 

his students Sergei Zdansky and 

Ivan Bryakhna became laureates 

of international choreographic 

competitions and received the Grand 

Prix; today, they are leading ballet 

dancers at the Dnipropetrovsk 

Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. 

His awards include a diploma for 

the Best Partner at the International 

Competition of Ballet Dancers in 

Constanța, Romania; a diploma from 

the Russian Cultural Charitable Fund, 

Diaghilev’s House; a nominal medal of 

dancer Yuri Grigorovich and the Golden 

Badge of Honor, “Antioch Cantemir.” 

Maria Lolenko (Prima Ballerina) 

was born in Pavlograd, Ukraine on 

July 10, 1990. In 2008, she graduated 

from the choreographic school at the 

Dnepropetrovsk Academic Opera 

and Ballet Theater and in 2014, 

she graduated from the Theater and 

Art College. In 2005 she was admitted 

to the ballet troupe of the theater, and 

in 2012 she received the position of a 

soloist of the Dnipro Ballet.As both a 

member of the theater and the ballet 

troupe, she has been on tour in France, 

Germany, Spain, Poland, Italy, Romania, 

Switzerland and the U.S.A. Her repertoire 

includes Scheherazade in One Thousand 

and One Nights, Juliet in Romeo and 

Juliet, Odette, Odilia, pas-de-roix, 

big swans and brides in Swan Lake; 

the Fairy of Tenderness, Fairy of Gold 

and ladies-in-waiting in The Sleeping 

Beauty; Masha, Spanish, French and the 

Russian doll in The Nutcracker; girlfriends 

and a street dancer in Don Quixote, 

Medora and Gulnara in Le Corsaire, 

the Stepmother Queen in Snow White 

and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella in 

Cinderella. She has also performed parts 

in the following author’s ballets: Mary 

Magdalene in Jesus, Oksana in The 

Night Before Christmas, Princess Olga in 

Princess Olga and Olga in Big Waltz. 

Alina Veretina (Principal Dancer) 

was born in Dnipro, Ukraine on 

November 8, 1988. She graduated from 

the Dnipropetrovsk Choreographic 

School where she studied under the 

tutelage of T. Omelchenko. In 2004, 

she was accepted into the troupe of 

the Dnipropetrovsk Opera and Ballet 

Theater, where she danced her first 

solo part at the age of 13. At age 20, 

she became a leading ballerina at 

Dnipro Opera. She has toured in France, 

Switzerland, Romania, Italy, Spain, 

China and Germany. She has received 

three awards at the Ukranian 

Sicheslavna Festival of Theatres. 

Her repertoire includes Kitri in Don 

Quixote, Giselle and pas-de-deux insert 

in Giselle, Masha in The Nutcracker, 

Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Snow White in 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Odile 

and pas-de-trois in Swan Lake, Aurora 

and Princess Florina in The Sleeping 


31


Beauty, Lisa in In Vain Precaution, Olga 

in The Big Waltz, one of the sisters 

in Cinderella and performed in the 

contemporary ballet Degazhe. 

Ilona Baytler (Principal Dancer) was 

born in Dnipro, Ukraine on January 

27, 2002. She is a fourth year student 

at the Dnepropetrovsk Theater and 

Art College and will graduate from the 

Dnepropetrovsk School of Classical 

Dance this year. She has been a member 

of the Dnepropetrovsk Academic Opera 

and Ballet Theater since 2020. As a 

member of the theater and ballet troupe, 

she has toured in France, Germany, 

Switzerland and Poland. Her repertoire 

includes the pas-de-trois and “Dance of 

Little Swans” in Swan Lake, the Chinese 

doll and Russian doll in The Nutcracker, 

the Fairy of Courage in The Sleeping 

Beauty, Cupid in Don Quixote and the 

Summer Fairy in Cinderella. Her awards 

and accolades include first place at the 

2015 Best Fest competition in Kharkov, 

second place at both the 2017 and 2018 

Thought-Stream competition in Kiev, first 

place at the 2018 Slobozhanske Kolo 

competition in Kharkov and first place 

at the 2021 Ballet Seasons in Odessa 

competition in Odessa. 

Alexander Litvinov (Principal Dancer) 

was born in Chisinau, Moldova on 

July 4, 1993. In 2012, he graduated from 

the Moldavian National Choreographic 

College. From 2012-2015, he worked 

at the Maria Biesu National Opera 

and Ballet Theater. From 2018-2019, 

he worked at a private ballet company 

in Sibiu, Romania. In 2019, he was 

admitted to the Dnepropetrovsk 

Academic Opera and Ballet Theater 

troupe. As a member of the theater 

and ballet troupe, he toured in France, 

Germany, Spain, Poland, Italy, Romania, 

Switzerland, the U.S.A and Canada. 

His repertoire includes Skylar in 

Le Corsaire, Tybalt in Romeo and 

Juliet, Jaeger in Snow White and the 

Seven Dwarfs; Siegfried, pas-de-trois 

and Spanish dance in Swan Lake; 

the Spanish and French dolls in The 

Nutcracker and the prince in Cinderella. 

Sergei Zdansky (Principal Dancer) 

was born in Chisinau, Moldova 

on January 11, 2000. He is a 2019 

graduate of the National College of 

Choreography. In 2017, he was admitted 

to the ballet troupe of the Chisinau 

Theater. In 2019, Sergei moved to the 

city of Dnipro in Ukraine and received 

the title of Leading Ballet Soloist. 

He made his debut as Siegfried in 

Swan Lake. As a theatrical and national 

ballet company member, he has toured 

in France, Germany, Spain, China, Italy, 

Sweden and Switzerland. His repertoire 

includes the prince, a Frenchwoman 

and the Spanish doll in The Nutcracker; 

Prince Dazir and a gentleman in 

The Sleeping Beauty, Basildon in Don 

Quixote, Ali’s slave in Le Corsaire and 

the prince in Snow White and the Seven 

Dwarfs. His awards and accolades 

include the Grand Prix at the Riga Spring 

international competition, second 

place at the Vienna International Ballet 

Competition, first place at the Romania 

Crystal Swan Ballet Competition and 

first place at the Italian International 

Ballet Competition. 




Sunday, December 12, 2021 

3PM 

Greg Gutfeld: 

The Plus Tour with special 

guest Tom Shillue 






33


Prior to joining Fox, Gutfeld was a staff 

writer at Prevention and editor-in-chief 

of Men’s Health magazine. He later 

became editor-in-chief of Stuff Magazine 

in the U.S. and Maxim Magazine in 

the U.K. He was also a contributor to 

The Huffington Post, where he became 

legendary for his “inspired, lunatic 

ridicule of his leftwing fellow Huffers.” 

He’s been published in countless 

magazines, has appeared in too 

many profiles to mention and was 

only fingerprinted once. 




Wednesday, December 15 

7:30PM 

In his free time Greg contributes to 

his own digital community, The Gutter, 

where he covers every lifestyle topic 

imaginable with his unique comedic 

conservative-libertarian perspective. 

Mannheim Steamroller 

Greg Gutfeld has been called 

“outrageous and outspoken,” neither of 

which he denies. 

A libertarian, political satirist, 

humorist, magazine editor and author, 

he is perhaps best known as the co-host 

of the daily hit show The Five and as the 

former host of the legendary Fox News 

Channel programs The Greg Gutfeld 

Show and Red Eye where he covered 

a variety of topics, including news, 

entertainment, sports and gossip. 

He is the author of nine books, 

among them, five New York Times Best 

Sellers, The Joy of Hate, Not Cool, 

How to be Right, The Gutfeld Monologues 

and most recently The Plus: Self-Help for 

People Who Hate Self-Help. 

The Weekly Standard calls him “the most 

dangerous man on television.” 

The late journalist Andrew Breitbart 

once said, “Trust me, you don’t want him 

setting his sights on your hypocrisy and 

public failings. Consider yourself warned.” 

Greg is also now host of the number 

one-rated late night show GUTFELD! 

on the Fox News Channel, where he 

parodies current events and converses 

on key issues with his trademark 

humor on a nightly basis. 






35


In 1984 Mannheim Steamroller released 

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, 

an album that revolutionized the holiday 

music industry. Already a multi-platinum 

recording artist through its Fresh Aire 

series, founder Chip Davis decided 

to record an album of Christmas music 

combining the group’s signature 

mix of renaissance instruments 

with rock & roll beats. 

meet the producer 

Chip Davis is the genius behind 

Mannheim Steamroller and the driving 

force of American Gramaphone, 

the largest independent record label in 

thecountry. His now-classic Fresh Aire 

series and unmatched Christmas album 

sales have brought him international 

renown. Chip combines the dynamics of 

musical mastery and technical wizardry 

to create a style often described as 

“18th century rock-n-roll.” He named the 

band Mannheim Steamroller for the 18th 

century musical technique that we know 

today as the crescendo. To date he has 

19 gold, eight multi-platinum and 

four platinum certified records, placing 

him among an elite group of artists such 

as Jay-Z and U2. 

While Chip no longer performs as a 

member of the band due to cervical 

The resulting album was a runaway hit 

and propelled Mannheim Steamroller 

to become the #1 Christmas music 

artist in history. This is the group’s 36th 

annual Christmas tour, the longest 

running tour in the music industry. The 

nationwide tour has become a holiday 

tradition along with decorating the tree, 

exchanging presents and spending time 

with friends and family. 

disc damage, he continues to have 100 

percent involvement in the Christmas 

concerts including creative and 

production direction of the entire tour. 

Between the two bands Mannheim 

Steamroller is bringing their renowned 

holiday tradition to 74 cities and 80 

performances this year. 

Often characterized as a Renaissance 

man, Chip is the author of several 

children’s books and just released his 

latest children’s/YA book, The Wolf and 

The Warlander. The trilogy is the story 

of two unlikely friends, Seti the Wolf 

and Ghost, the Warlander Horse, two 

of the many animals on his 150-acre 

farm just outside Omaha, NE. His farm 

also houses a number of other horses, 

an additional timber wolf, a family of 

ducks along with other natural critters 

throughout the surrounding woods. 

His three children all have a variety of 

musical talents. His youngest daughter 

has performed as a lead singer in 

several bands and is featured on the 

Mannheim Steamroller LIVE album. 

His oldest daughter is a special 

performance vocalist and works in the 

competitive equestrian arena. Chip’s 

son, an accomplished guitarist, has 

performed on record tracks. 

dance series 

Directing Fellow 

Ashleigh King 

Company Manager 

Rebecca Easton 

Social Media Marketing 

Biz Chica Media 



Saturday, December 18, 2021 

2 & 8PM 

NJPAC and Executive Producer Eva Price present 

Adapted by 

Mike Fitelson 

Based on The Nutcracker by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

Lighting Designer 

Brandon Stirling Baker 

General Manager 

MEP 

with Special Guest MC 

Kurtis Blow 

Produced by 

New Jersey Performing Arts Center 

John Schreiber, President & CEO 

David Rodriguez, Executive Producer 

Simma Levine, Producer 

Associate Director & 

Choreographer 

Randi Freitas 

Production Stage Manager 

Sarah Goshman 

Tour Marketing 

Allied Global Marketing 

Video Designer 

Moe Shahrooz 

Exclusive Tour Direction 

Broadway & Beyond Theatricals 

Directed & Choreographed by 

Jennifer Weber 

Featuring freestyles by the Company 

Powered by bbbbbbbbbbb 

Originally produced by the United Palace of Cultural Arts 

Mike Fitelson, Executive Director 

Original Beats & Remixes 

DJ Boo 

Stylist 

Laurien De Munck 

Press 

Tellem Grody PR 






37

cast 

Maria-Clara ......................................................................................................................Ann-Sylvia Clark 

The Nutcracker .............................................................................................................. Gabriel Emphasis 

Mom ........................................................................................................................................................ Lily Frias 

Dad .................................................................................................................................... Bryan Longchamp 

Drosselmeyer .................................................................................................Lisa “L-BOOGIE” Bauford 

Mouse King/Ensemble ....................................................................................Randi “Rascal” Freitas 

Toy/Ensemble .............................................................................................. Anthony “Omen” Cabrera 

Tea/Ensemble ........................................................................................................ Jackie “JK-47” Agudo 

Toy/Ensemble ...........................................................................................................................Zuce Morales 

Russian/Ensemble ........................................................................................Seth “REAKTION” Hillard 

Chocolate/Ensemble ...........................................................................................Jon “Gifted” Jimenez 

Flute/Ensemble ...............................................................................................Dustin “D-Payne” Payne 

Swing ...............................................................................................................................................Ethan Evaro 

Violinist ...................................................................................................................................Jarvis L. Benson 

Performance DJ .....................................................................................................................................DJ Boo 

place 

production staff credits 

Exclusive Tour Direction 

Broadway & Beyond Theatricals 

Tracey McFarland, Barbara Cooley, Robin Mishik-Jett 

Social Media Marketing 

BIZ CHICA MEDIA 

Tracy Chapman-Nolan, Krystle Carmona, Mauricio Urquilla, 

Kelly Chapman, Khomari Flash, Gilesa Thomas 

Tour Marketing 

ALLIED GLOBAL MARKETING 

Andrew Damer, Jennifer Gallagher, Scott Praefke, 

Hayden Anderson, Jessica Cary, Amenkha Sembenu 

Physical Therapy 

NEURO TOUR Physical Therapy, Inc. 

New Year’s Eve – Uptown, USA 

The Hip Hop Nutcracker will be performed with one 20-minute intermission. 

production staff credits 

Dance Captain ........................................................................................................................ Randi Freitas 

Associate Lighting Designer ...........................................................................Coby Chasman-Beck 

Moving Light Programmer .........................................................................................Dalton Hamilton 

Production Manager .........................................................................................................Shane Cassidy 

Assistant Company Manager/ 

COVID Safety Manager ..............................................................................................Brynn Grambow 

Wardrobe Supervisor ......................................................................................................... Katy Freeman 

Wardrobe Consultant .....................................................................................................Cambria Chichi 

Original Company Associate Director/ 

Choreographer ...............................................................................................................................Taeko Koji 

Original Costume Design .............................................................................................Whitney Adams 

Additional Casting .............................................................................Meisha Lee and Janet Langer 

Physical Therapist ............................................................................................. Natalie Farah, PT, DPT 

Director of People & Inclusion ........................................................................................Colette Luckie 

Creative & Production Services ...............................................................Allied Global Marketing 

General Management 

MEP 

Eva Price, Carl Flanigan, Josh Altman, Casey McDermott, 

Eric Emauni, Avram Freedberg, Mary Beth Dale 

program 

Act I 

During the annual Uptown holiday 

street party, Maria-Clara is upset 

by her parents’ constant bickering. 

The mysterious Drosselmeyer appears, 

bringing magical toys to the party. 

Drosselmeyer then introduces 

Maria-Clara to a street vendor selling 

roasted nuts, who catches her eye 

because he is different from the other 

boys on the block. After the party 

breaks up, Maria-Clara heads home, 

but on her way, she runs into the 

menacing Mouse Crew. The Nutcracker, 

aided by a magic pair of sneakers, 

defeats the Mouse King and the 

couple enjoys the romance of 

winter’s first snowfall. 

Act II 

Drosselmeyer meets Maria-Clara 

and the Nutcracker and takes them 

back in time to the Land of Sweets 

nightclub on New Year’s Eve, 1984. 

Invisible, the couple watches the 

party-goers show off the dance styles 

of the day. Suddenly Maria-Clara 

realizes she is witnessing the night 

her parents first met and is overcome 

by how they were once deeply in love. 

Back in the present, and with a little 

more magic, Maria-Clara and 

The Nutcracker help mom and dad 

reconcile. The community joins 

them in the celebration. 


39



Kurtis Blow (Special Guest MC) is one of 

the founders and creators of recorded 

rap. A timeless artist and hip hop legend, 

Kurtis blazed the trail for early hip hop 

artists and continues to carry the torch 

for hip hop music in new arenas. 

Kurtis is credited with many accolades, 

and was the first rapper to ever be 

signed to a major label, release a 

certified gold rap album (The Breaks), 

tour the United States and Europe, 

record a national commercial (Sprite), 

use the drum machine, sample and 

sample loop, release a rap music video 

and become a millionaire. 

In 1979, at the age of 20, Kurtis Blow 

became the first rapper to be signed 

by a major label. He released Christmas 

Rappin’, which sold over 400,000 copies 

and became an annual classic. Its gold 

follow-up, The Breaks, helped ignite an 

international “rap attack,” solidifying 

the new art form. He released 10 albums 

over 11 years and his early projects 

made him an instant success at home 

and across Europe. Pioneering records 

like Party Time introduced the fusion of 

rap and go-go. Hit songs like “8 Million 

Stories,” “AJ” and “Basketball” were 

simply ahead of their time, and still get 

spins by DJs today. Fellow rap legend 

Nas debuted at number one on 

the Billboard charts with a cover of 

Kurtis’ “If I Ruled the World” in 1997. 

Beyond his own hits, Kurtis contributed 

to the success of The Fat Boys and 

Run DMC. In fact, Run began his career 

billed as “The Son of Kurtis Blow.” 

Among countless others, 

Wyclef Jean, Lovebug Starski, 

Sweet Gee, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 

Full Force and Russell Simmons all have 

been produced by or have worked with 

Kurtis in the past. Kurtis’ multidisciplinary 

skillset has taken him across the country 

and overseas to score, produce and 

act in various films. Most notably, 

he played a large role in the 

production of the hit film Krush Groove. 

The New York Daily News called his 

cinematic works a “noteworthy, 

dynamic presence.” Kurtis Blow’s reach 

transcends that of your typical 

entertainer. He has completed multiple 

world tours since the turn of the new 

millennium, and continues to work on 

other creative endeavors. His innate 

ability to reach people is evident in his 

work as an activist, radio personality, 

and most recently, an ordained minister 

and leader of the Hip Hop Church. 

Artists still pay their respects to Kurtis’ 

trailblazing in a number of ways. 

His influence has been mentioned in 

seemingly every important hip hop film 

in the past decade, from Get Rich or Die 

Tryin’ to Notorious and Straight Outta 

Compton. He has a prominent presence 

on television as well, with his music 

appearing on shows such as Dancing 

with the Stars and SportsCenter. He 

also was an associate producer on the 

Netflix hit series The Get Down. Outside 

of music, Kurtis has long been a very 

spiritual man. He went back to school to 

become an ordained minister, and has 

been preaching at churches around 

the world. His work with The Hip Hop 

Church has helped bridge the gap 

between the art form and the church. 

Education has long been important 

to Kurtis. He has been a champion 

of higher education, and advocates 

for bringing hip hop culture into the 

curriculums of our institutions. The rap 

pioneer has given talks at schools such 

as Berklee College of Music in Boston 

and CalArts in California, and plans 

to continue to carry the culture into 

the classroom. 

For more information, visit Kblow.com. 

Ann-Sylvia CLark (Maria-Clara) 

was born and raised in Norway. 

She started out as a gymnast at an 

early age, but later on focused her 

interest more toward dance. She studied 

dance at Flow Dance Academy (DK). 

She performed with Snoop Dogg 

and Pharrell Williams at the 2006 

MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) in 

Denmark. Since moving to New York, 

Ann-Sylvia has toured the U.S. and the 

United Kingdom. She has also performed 

on television shows including Good Day 

New York on Fox 5, CBS, PBS, ESPN, 

Telemundo and Fake Off on TruTV. 

She has also performed in music videos 

for artists such as Alicia Keys, Styles P, 

JBalvin and Ben L’Oncle Soul. TV viewers 

can find her in commercials for the 

US Open, Samsung, Verizon, 

Digicel and Reebok. 

Gabriel Emphasis (The Nutcracker) 

Born in the Dominican Republic, 

Gabriel’s passion for the arts started 

at an early age. In 2005, he discovered 

breaking, the street dance that inspired 

him to pursue a career in dance. 

Fascinated by the acrobatics and 

stylish movement, his drive to develop 

this passion led him to NYC, a mecca to 

many artists. There, his passion caught 

the eye of many companies, agents and 

producers, who got him to collaborate 

with many artists from different 

backgrounds. Having never taken a 

dance class before, these opportunities 

inspired him to explore new ways 

of movement, which along with his 

dedication lifted his career to what it is 

now. Today, his career has allowed him 

to bring his love for the arts to more than 

20 countries around the world, and has 

given him countless opportunities to 

work for productions, brands and artists 

he could have only dreamed of as a kid. 

Lily Frias (Mom) Born and raised in 

Mexico, Liliana (Lily) Frias has been 

dancing for 13 years and is currently 

working as a professional dancer in 

Los Angeles. Beginning her career as 

a technical dancer, Lily found her true 

calling when she mastered the hip hop 

styles and the art of freestyle, specifically 

the styles of waacking and popping. 

She has been featured in a variety of 

productions, including So You Think You 

Can Dance (Season 12), America’s Best 

Dance Crew (Season 7), Cirque du Soleil, 

dance battles, national commercials and 

Red Bull BC One 2018. She is also known 

for teaching and performing in the 

U.S., Europe, Latin America and Japan, 

individually and as a part of her crew 

known as Femme Fatale. 

Bryan Longchamp (Dad), 

Brooklyn native, has danced 

professionally for over a decade in 

styles ranging from hip hop to Krump 

and popping. Bryan is a core member 

of the dance company iLuminate, 

known as Team iLuminate on popular 

television show America’s Got Talent. 


41



With the company, he has traveled and 

performed in countries such as Mexico, 

Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Bahamas 

and Saudi Arabia to name a few. 

He has also performed on some of the 

biggest Broadway stages right here 

at home. You may have seen Bryan in 

music videos such as “Can You Hear 

Me” by Omarion or “Tout et Goure” 

by Luz and the Yakuza or even in his 

performances on The Tonight Show with 

Jimmy Fallon. As a dance educator, 

Bryan has been teaching for over seven 

years, and trains both children and 

adults to fall in love with dance 

and be the best that they can be! 

Lisa “L-Boogie” Bauford (Drosselmeyer) 

is an LA-based dancer, choreographer, 

writer, actor and educator who hails 

from St. Petersburg, Florida. Lisa is 

currently in production on a Las Vegas 

residency at The Stratosphere with 

iLuminate. Lisa recently completed her 

second year with the national tour of 

The Hip Hop Nutcracker as Drosselmeyer, 

which also features hip hop legend 

Kurtis Blow. In 2012, Bauford signed 

with Flipz Entertainment and appeared 

off-Broadway for iLuminate, a company 

that fuses dance and technology, 

in the Artist of Light series at Duke 

Theatre, and later at New World Stages. 

Performing as Starlight Jones, 

the character Lisa created for Artists of 

Light, Bauford appeared in a CBS March 

Madness commercial, which she 

choreographed. Lisa has also 

appeared in Google’s “Made with Code” 

commercial, on the Wendy Williams 

Show, Good Morning America and on 

America’s Got Talent. She is a member of 

iLuminate’s World Tour corporate cast as 

an educator, performer and dance 

captain, roles which have taken her 

to China, Egypt, France, Germany, 

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, 

Mexico, New Zealand, Samoa, Saudi 

Arabia, Switzerland and Uzbekistan. 

Randi “Rascal” Freitas (Associate 

Director-Choreographer/Dance Captain/ 

Mouse King/Ensemble) is a dancer/ 

choreographer living in Los Angeles, 

California. Randi has toured Japan 

performing in a theater show called 

The Battle. She just came off set filming 

for the upcoming Christmas musical 

Spirited, starring Will Ferrell and 

Ryan Reynolds. She has performed on 

shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, 

The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The AMAs, 

The Kids’ Choice Awards and 

The GRAMMY® Awards, with companies 

such as Nike, Toyota and AT&T, 

and artists such as Justin Timberlake, 

SZA, Travis Scott and Kaytranada. 

Randi is still active in the underground 

scene as well. She was a finalist at the 

U.S. National Finals for Red Bull BC One 

2021. She has taught in multiple cities 

around the U.S., as well as in countries 

such as France, Belgium, Thailand, 

Canada and Mexico. Randi teaches hip 

hop at University of Southern California 

and CalArts. Most recently, she has 

begun her own training company, 

OMEGA Flow Floorwork, which trains 

dancers around the world. While her 

training program is not exclusive to 

women, it stands as a space of 

integrity for them to learn and grow. 

Anthony “Omen” Cabrera 

(Toy/ Ensemble) was born on 

November 7, 1983. A vivacious child, he 

always loved to dance — it didn’t matter 

if it was a family gathering or a large 

party. While growing up in Boston and 

the Dominican Republic, he discovered 

hip hop and breakdancing (B-boying) 

through television, but it wasn’t until 

his high school years that he started 

training in B-boying. Soon after, 

he realized his natural ability for dancing 

and improved rapidly. With the body 

awareness to control the acrobatic 

elements of B-boying and the creativity 

to develop an original style, Omen was 

quickly recognized by peers and 

established B-boys of the dance 

community. Currently, Omen is part of 

the world-renowned B-boy crew based 

out of New York City, Supreme Beingz. 

In addition to winning numerous solo 

and group competitions at both the 

national and international level, 

Anthony has contributed to the dance 

community by sitting on judging 

panels and conducting workshops. 

As a performer, he is part of both 

G-Force Entertainment and Raw Miami 

Entertainment. When he is not on board 

a Carnival cruise ship as a performer, 

Anthony keeps busy performing for 

music artists, corporate parties, clubs 

and street shows. His other professional 

interests include modeling and acting. 

Jackie Agudo (Tea/Ensemble) 

aka B-girl JK-47 of Diamonds In The 

Rough, Supreme Beingz and sponsored 

dancer for Monster Energy, can serve 

as a role model for multi-talented, 

hardworking artists everywhere. 

A recognized international competitor, 

she took top prize at Red Bull’s very first 

BC One Camp USA B-Girl Cypher in 

2018. In addition, she has performed on 

a plethora of stages and is now currently 

on tour with The Hip Hop Nutcracker. 

She tours throughout the U.S. and the 

world as a workshop facilitator teaching, 

encouraging and inspiring people of all 

ages with her love and passion for the 

culture and art of street dance. 

Ethan Evaro (Swing). A San Diego, 

California native, moved to Los Angeles 

to pursue a career in the entertainment 

industry while getting an education. 

He graduated with a BFA in 

Commercial Dance from Hussian 

College in Studio City, Los Angeles 

in 2021. Though specializing in break 

dancing, Ethan has trained extensively 

in a variety of dance styles and prides 

himself on his versatility. He recently 

completed a Europe and United 

Kingdom tour for the renowned drag 

queen, Vanessa “Vanjie” Mateo, and 

has also performed in Janet Jackson’s 

Unbreakable tour. Along with these 

accomplishments, Ethan has also 

performed and worked at a variety 

of charity events including A Salute 

to Teachers and The Natural High 

Anniversary. Ethan strives to bring 

his break dancing roots and a calm, 

hardworking attitude into all his 

professional endeavors. 

Zuce Morales (Toy/Ensemble) was 

born and raised in Puebla, Mexico, 

where she began her formal dance 

training at the age of 15, and moved 

to Los Angeles in 2016 when she was 

19 years old in order to pursue her 

dreams as a professional dancer. She is 

trained in hip hop, waacking, popping, 

house and other dance forms but her 

specialty is locking. While she trained 

at the legendary Debbie Reynolds 

Dance Studios, Movement Lifestyle 

and Millennium, she attended Glendale 

College where she got two certifications: 

one in Dance Teaching and another in 

Choreography and Dance Technique 

Studies. Currently, Zuce is focused on 

making the locking dance community 

grow in Los Angeles by teaching 

at professional studios and hosting 

free community sessions called 


43



“Let’s Lock!” Her goal is to give 

opportunities to the new generation 

of dancers who care and respect 

the legacy of the street dance OGs. 

Seth “Reaktion” Hillard 

(Russian/Ensemble) attended Toledo 

School for the Arts where he crafted 

his love for dance and choreography. 

At a very young age Seth fell in love 

with hip hop culture, paying special 

attention to the element of B-boying. 

Combining uncanny flexibility, 

imaginative versatility and meticulous 

musicality he made a name for himself 

as B-boy Reaktion (rÄ“ËˆakSHÉn), 

winning Midwest and National B-boy 

competitions. While evolving his craft 

in dance, Seth also developed other 

skills in tumbling, skateboarding and 

martial arts like Capoeira. In 2012 he 

packed up his dream and moved to LA 

to pursue a career in dance. Within a 

matter of a few months Seth landed his 

target agency, booked his first audition 

and was working as a professional 

dancer. Michael Jackson’s video, 

“Love Never Felt So Good” and 

Nick Cannon’s video, “Looking For 

A Dream” are just some of the work 

Seth has on his blooming resume. 

Featuring in commercials for Pepsi, 

Men’s Warehouse and a VH1 Super 

Bowl spot, the extremely humble and 

always smiling Seth has grown fast in 

the entertainment industry. He credits 

his advances in dance to working 

with top choreographers such as 

Chuck Maldonado, Tone & Rich, 

Oth’than Burnside and many more. 

“A dancer’s job is to turn an audible 

art form into a visual art form. 

As dancers we translate music for 

people to physically see. We are 

all artists and our only job is to 

follow our dreams.” 

Dustin “D-Payne” Payne 

(Flute/Ensemble) is very humbled and 

excited to join the cast of HHN for his 

3rd year. Since starting his dance 

journey with his church’s Praise Dance 

team at age 12, Payne has been 

featured on Season 15 of So You Think 

You Can Dance as part of top 10 men 

and represented World of Dance 

as a judge and dancer. His recent 

adventures include, but are not limited 

to, live performances and music videos 

with artist DaBaby, as well as his first 

national commercial with Starbucks. 

Payne is looking forward to creating a 

memorable experience for the audience 

again this holiday season. 

Jarvis L. Benson (Violinist) comes 

from a family of musicians and covers 

a lot of musical ground in the artistic 

world. The classically-trained 

New York-based musician has had 

the opportunity to collaborate with 

many major artists — most notably 

Solange, Chris Martin, Regina Carter, 

Why Don’t We and many others. 

He was part of the Emmy-winning 

production of Jesus Christ Superstar: 

LIVE featuring John Legend, and also 

part of the GRAMMY®-winning album 

Gumbo Unplugged by PJ Morton. 

He currently serves as principal violist/ 

violinist, Managing Director and Music 

Supervisor for Rootstock Republic, 

a string production company 

based in New York City. 

DJ Boo (Original Beats & Remixes/ 

Performance DJ) is a New York-based 

Fil-Am DJ/musician who has shared 

the stage with Ghostface Killah, 

DJ Kool Herc (The Godfather of 

Hip Hop), KRS-1, Snoop Dogg and 

Common. He has backed wordsmiths 

like Eternia, The Juggaknots and 

Omar Offendum. In 2014 he served as 

a cultural ambassador for the U.S. in 

Nepal, Mozambique and Swaziland 

where he performed and conducted hip 

hop workshops alongside The Nomadic 

Wax Collective as part of the American 

Music Abroad Tour. He has also had the 

honor of performing at Jacob’s Pillow 

backing Brooklyn-based hip hop dance 

company, Decadancetheatre. 

Jon “Gifted” Jimenez (Chocolate/ 

Ensemble). Born in El Paso and raised in 

Dallas, Texas, Jon grew his movement 

artistry in the heart of the Dallas 

metroplex, becoming one of the most 

influential leaders in the community. 

He now shares his knowledge, love 

and experience for dance and how it 

contributed to his mental health along 

his path. Providing insight into the culture 

while exposing the depths of where 

movement can ignite the human spirit. 

Fun Fact: Jon does a lot of interesting 

voices — sometimes funny. 

Jennifer Weber (Director & 

Choreographer) is an Olivier and 

Emmy Award-nominated artist based 

in New York City and Los Angeles. 

She made her West End debut as 

the choreographer of & Juliet (Olivier 

Award Nomination), a new musical 

featuring the songs of Max Martin 

currently playing at the Shaftesbury 

Theater in London. Weber made her 

film debut as the choreographer for 

the Disney Channel Original Movie, 

Zombies 2. Her choreography for the 

music videos from that film have been 

viewed online over 500 million times. 

She recently choreographed Petrushka 

Reimagined for the virtual series, 

A New Stage, presented by CLI Studios 

and starring NYC Ballet principal dancer 

Tiler Peck, international ballet star 

Brooklyn Mack and hip hop icon 

Lil Buck. Off-Broadway choreography 

credits include KPOP (Upcoming 

Broadway Transfer/Lortel Nomination), 

Teenage Dick (The Public/Ma-Yi Theater 

Company) Cruel Intentions (LPR/US 

National Tour) and Stockholm (U.S. 

premiere). Her concert dance work 

has been performed at Jacob’s Pillow, 

New York City Center, The Apollo, 

The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, 

Southbank Center and The Stanislavski 

Music Theatre, Moscow. 

Mike Fitelson (Writer/Co-Creator) 

is the executive producer at the United 

Palace, the 91-year-old wonder theater 

in Washington Heights and Manhattan’s 

4th largest theater. In 2014, as the 

executive director of the nonprofit 

United Palace of Cultural Arts (UPCA) 

he co-created The Hip Hop Nutcracker 

with Jennifer Weber, adapting the 

story and supplying the images for the 

scenery and produced its premiere. 

Fitelson has worked to build the 

Northern Manhattan arts community 

for 18 years. He co-founded the annual 

arts festival, the Uptown Arts Stroll, 

in 2003; served in every capacity of 

the Manhattan Times, the bilingual 

community newspaper of Washington 

Heights and Inwood, from 2002-2011 

and helped found the nonprofit Northern 

Manhattan Arts Alliance in 2006. 

Brandon Stirling Baker 

(Lighting Designer) is an award-winning 

lighting designer for theater, opera 

and dance. His work can be seen on 

stages throughout the country and 

abroad including Lincoln Center, 

Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert 

Hall, Guggenheim Bilbao, New York City 

Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Hong Kong 

Ballet, Opera Philadelphia, 


45



Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 

Miami City Ballet, Boston Ballet, 

Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pacific 

Northwest Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, 

Semperoper Dresden, Staatsballett 

Berlin and many others. Recent 

collaborations include new works by 

Justin Peck, Sufjan Stevens, 

Savion Glover, William Forsythe, 

Anthony Roth Costanzo, Shepard Fairey, 

Benjamin Millepied, Jamar Roberts 

and Daniel Buren. In 2019 Baker 

received the prestigious Knight of 

Illumination Award for Dance. 

Sarah Goshman (Production Stage 

Manager) is thrilled to be touring with 

The Hip Hop Nutcracker for the first time. 

Favorite credits include Another Rose 

(Virgin Voyages), Disaster!, Kinky Boots, 

The Addams Family (Weathervane), 

A Chorus Line (Reagle Music Theatre), 

RENT (John W. Engeman Theatre), 

I See London, I See France (NYMF) and 

several national tours with Flamenco 

Vivo. Proud member of AEA. 

Ashleigh King (Directing Fellow) 

is a DC-area performer, Helen Hayes 

award-winning choreographer and 

teaching artist. Most recently, 

she served as Assistant Director to 

Moritz Von Stuelpnagel and Movement 

Coordinator for Teenage Dick at Woolly 

Mammoth. Her work has been seen 

in Working: A Musical with the Labor 

Heritage Foundation at Black Lives 

Matter Plaza, Fairview at Woolly 

Mammoth, Second City’s Love Factually 

at the Kennedy Center, ArtsCentric, 

Adventure Theatre MTC and Toby’s 

Dinner Theater. Her performance credits 

include multiple productions at 

The Kennedy Center, Olney Theatre, 

Ford’s Theatre, Studio Theatre and 

Signature Theatre. 

Laurien De Munck (Stylist) 

A young female from Belgium, Laurien 

transitioned from being a dancer to 

pursue her passion for styling. Since the 

beginning of her journey in this field, 

her dedication to the work and 

motivation to grow has led her to 

exceptional projects and experiences. 

She took her time to explore a 

combination of collaborations, 

commissioned work and side projects. 

Throughout her career, she’s had the 

great fortune to work on some truly 

inspiring projects, while meeting many 

influential and creative individuals 

along the way. Laurien believes in 

working together to create a whole 

that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

She has worked and styled for multiple 

magazines and brands such as 

Dolls Kill. Her personal touches for 

individuals in the industry have changed 

careers and have helped booked 

numerous jobs. Laurien will continue to 

strive to link personal happiness from 

the inside to radiating a personal beauty 

on the outside, whilst always respecting 

the soul and energy of the clientele. 

Rebecca Easton (Company Manager) 

is an arts manager and producer 

working in dance, theater and circus 

around the world. As a company 

manager, she has worked in over 30 

countries and across the United States 

with companies including Cirque 

du Soleil, Pilobolus, Lincoln Center, 

Inbal Pinto & Avshalom Pollak Dance 

Company and the Guthrie Theater. 

As a producer, she has developed 

workshops and full productions with 

companies such as Loom Ensemble 

(Vermont, NYC, Dubai) and Band of 

Toughs (Denver and Boulder, Colorado.) 

She also has a background in directing, 

dramaturgy and teaching, and she 

graduated from Columbia University’s 

School of the Arts in 2008. She is thrilled 

to join Maximum Entertainment for this 

year’s tour of The Hip Hop Nutcracker. 

Allied Global Marketing 

(Tour Marketing) is a full-service 

integrated marketing agency working 

with the world’s largest entertainment, 

sports, consumer and lifestyle brands, 

including 75+ Broadway shows over 

two decades. Current Tours: Ain’t Too 

Proud, Charlie/Chocolate Factory, 

A Christmas Carol, Hadestown, 

Mean Girls, The Play That Goes 

Wrong, Pretty Woman, RENT and Tootsie. 

Biz Chica Media (Social Media) is a 

Black and woman-owned full service 

digital marketing agency founded 

14 years ago by Tracy Chapman-Nolan. 

Select clients include: Disney Theatrical 

Touring: Frozen and The Lion King, 

The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical 

A Strange Loop (Broadway 2022), 

Wicked, Jagged Little Pill, Tina: The Tina 

Turner Musical, MJ: The Musical, Disney/ 

ABC Television Group, The Theatre 

Leadership Project, Black Theatre 

United, Google, The RLJ Companies, 

The McBride Sisters and Williamstown 

Theatre Festival. bizchica.com. 

MEP (General Manager) is a producing, 

developing and management company 

founded by Avram Freedberg, 

Mary Beth Dale and Eva Price; and 

is joined by Managing Director/ 

General Manager Carl Flanigan. Select 

Broadway, off-Broadway and touring 

credits include What the Constitution 

Means to Me (National Tour 2021); 

August Wilson’s Jitney (National Tour 

2019-20); Cruel Intentions: The ’90s 

Musical; Small Mouth Sounds; Frankie 

Valli and the Four Seasons on Broadway!; 

The Hip Hop Nutcracker; The Lion; Verso; 

Black Light; Born for This (LA and Boston); 

50 Shades! The Musical; Ivy + Bean the 

Musical; Voca People and Colin Quinn: 

Long Story Short. maximumcompany.com 


(NJPAC), located in downtown 

Newark, NJ, is America’s most diverse 

performing arts center, and the artistic, 

cultural, educational and civic center of 

New Jersey, where great performances 

and events enhance and transform 

lives every day. NJPAC brings diverse 

communities together, providing access 

to all and showcasing the state’s and 

the world’s best artists while acting as 

a leading catalyst in the revitalization 

of its home city. Through its extensive 

Arts Education programs, NJPAC is 

shaping the next generation of artists 

and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has 

attracted nearly 10 million visitors 

(including over 1.7 million children) since 

opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures 

meaningful and lasting relationships 

with each of its constituents. 

Eva Price (Executive Producer) is an 

ACLU honoree for her commitment to 

works spearheaded by female creatives 

and people of color, and a Crain’s 2020 

Notable LGBTQ Leader and Executive. 

She is a three-time Tony Award-winning 

producer of over 18 Broadway plays, 

musicals and concerts, a member of 

The Broadway League’s Executive 

Committee and on the producing team 

of Level Forward — a new studio venture 

founded by Abigail Disney and 

Killer Content. Current and notable 

productions include: Alanis Morissette’s 

Jagged Little Pill (two Tony Awards), 

Oklahoma! (two Tony Awards, Best 

Musical Revival), What the Constitution 

Means to Me (two Tony nominations, 


47


National Tour 2020), Angels in America 

(Tony-winning Broadway revival 

starring Nathan Lane and Andrew 

Garfield), Dear Evan Hansen 

(six Tony Awards), On Your Feet! 

(the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan), 

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on 

Broadway!, Peter and the Starcatcher 

(five Tony Awards) Colin Quinn: Long 

Story Short (directed by Jerry Seinfeld), 

Annie (Tony-nominated musical 

revival), The Merchant of Venice 

starring Al Pacino (Tony-nominated play 

revival), Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking, 

The Addams Family (starring Nathan 

Lane and Bebe Neuwirth) as well 

as several solo shows and critically 

acclaimed concerts starring 

The Temptations & The Four Tops, 

Kathy Griffin, Lewis Black and Hershey 

Felder. Recent off-Broadway projects 

include Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical 

(le Poisson Rouge, National Tour), 

the Drama Desk-nominated Found 

(Atlantic Theater Company and 

Philadelphia Theatre Company), 

Benjamin Scheuer’s award-winning 

The Lion (Drama Desk winner, off-West 

End winner for Best Musical) and 

Bess Wohl’s critically acclaimed Small 

Mouth Sounds. International and touring 

credits include: The Magic School Bus, 

Live!; The Climate Challenge and Ella, 

a bio musical about the life and music 

of Ella Fitzgerald. Eva is the host and 

creator of the new podcast My First 

Show. For five years Eva worked as an 

assignment editor and coordinating 

producer for special projects at ABC 

News, spending her last year producing 

and reporting on stories relating to 

Broadway for abcnews.com. 

stephanie mills 

& the whispers 

jan 15 

standing in 

solidarity 

monthly events promoting racial equality 

Visit njpac.org/stand for more information 

FOR A FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS, VISIT NJPAC.ORG OR CALL 1.888.MY.NJPAC

At NJPAC, our dedicated supporters 

are behind all that we accomplish. 

Their generosity brings exhilarating 

performances to our stages and 

inspirational arts education programs to 

more than 110,000 students, teachers and 

families each year. Their contributions 

enable us to share the arts with audiences 

throughout our community. 

njpac shining stars 

New Jersey Performing Arts Center reserves special accolades for its Shining Stars — the generous 

visionaries, luminaries and great dreamers who make everything possible. This list includes contributors 

whose cumulative giving to NJPAC totals $1 million and above. As of August 31, 2021. 

Dreamers 

$10,000,000 & above 

Anonymous (2) 

The Chambers Family and 

The MCJ Amelior Foundation 

City of Newark 

Stewart and Judy Colton 

Toby and Leon Cooperman 

Essex County 

Betty Wold Johnson+ 

New Jersey State Council on the Arts 

Prudential/The Prudential Foundation 

Estate of Eric F. Ross 

State of New Jersey 

Victoria Foundation 

Women@NJPAC 

Luminaries 

$5,000,000 & above 

Bank of America 

The Joan and Allen Bildner 

Family Fund 

CIT 

The Horizon Foundation for New 

Jersey/Horizon Blue Cross 

Blue Shield of New Jersey 

Merck Foundation 

Katherine M. and Albert W. Merck+ 

NJ Advance Media 

PSEG Foundation/PSEG 

Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch 

Wells Fargo Foundation 

The Weston Family 

Visionaries 

$1,000,000 & above 

ADP 

Alcatel-Lucent 

American Express 

AT&T 

BD 

Randi and Marc E. Berson 

Casino Reinvestment 

Development Authority 

Chubb 

Joanne D. Corzine Foundation 

Jon S. Corzine Foundation 

Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation 

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation 

Edison Properties Newark 

Foundation/The Gottesman Family 

Anne Evans Estabrook DBA 

Elberon Development Co. 

Ford Foundation 

Gibbons P.C. 

Veronica M. Goldberg 

The Griffinger Family 

Harrah’s Foundation 

Hess Foundation, Inc. 

Jaqua Foundation 

Johnson & Johnson Family 

of Companies 

JPMorgan Chase 

Kresge Foundation 

The Blanche and Irving 

Laurie Foundation 

Arlene Lieberman/The Leonard 

Lieberman Family Foundation 

A. Michael and Ruth C. Lipper/Lipper 

Family Charitable Foundation 

William J. and Paula Marino 

McCrane Foundation, Inc., 

care of Margrit McCrane 

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 

New Jersey Cultural Trust 

Panasonic Foundation 

Dr. Victor Parsonnet and 

Jane Parsonnet+ 

Pfizer Inc. 

Michael F. Price 

PwC 

Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. 

Charitable Trust 

RWJBarnabas Health 

The Ryan Family 

The Sagner Family Foundation 

Schering-Plough Corporation 

The Walter V. and Judith L. 

Shipley Family Foundation 

Sills Cummis & Gross, PC 

The Smart Family Foundation/David 

S. Stone, Esq., 

Stone and Magnanini 

John Strangfeld and 

Mary Kay Strangfeld Foundation 

Michael and Jill Tanenbaum 

Morris and Charlotte Tanenbaum 

TD Bank/TD Charitable Foundation 

Turner Construction Company/ 

Pat A. Di FilippoTurrell Fund 

United Airlines 

Diana and P. Roy Vagelos 

Verizon 

Robert and Mary Ellen Waggoner 

Wallace Foundation 

njpac leadership As of August 31, 2021 

Board of Directors 

Co-Chair 

Steven M. Goldman, Esq. 

Managing Partner 

PBM Capital Group 

Co-Chair 

Barry H. Ostrowsky 



Treasurer 

Marc E. Berson 

Chairman 

The Fidelco Group 

Assistant Treasurer 

David Jones 

Co-Founder, President & CEO 

Castle Oak Securitites, LLC 

Secretary 

Michael R. Griffinger, Esq. 

Director 

Gibbons P.C. 

Assistant Secretary 

Alma DeMetropolis, CFA 

Managing Director 

The Private Bank JPMorgan Chase 

Founding Chair 

Raymond G. Chambers 


Director Emeritus 

& Chair Emeritus 

John Strangfeld 

Retired Chairman & CEO 

Prudential Financial 

Chairs Emeriti 

William J. Marino 

Retired Chairman, President & CEO 

Horizon BCBS of New Jersey 

Arthur F. Ryan 

Retired Chairman & CEO 

Prudential Financial 

Honorary Counsel 

Donald A. Robinson, Esq. 

Partner 

Robinson & Miller LLC 

Lara Abrash 

Marsha I. Atkind 

Lawrence E. Bathgate II, Esq. 

James L. Bildner 

Daniel M. Bloomfield, M.D. 

Linda M. Bowden 

Modia “Mo” Butler 

Jacob S. Buurma, Esq. 

Nancy Cantor, Ph.D. 

Regina Carter 

Mindy A. Cohen 

Kevin P. Conlin* 

Matthew Connor 

Wayne Cooperman 

Pat A. Di Filippo 

Robert H. Doherty 

Patrick C. Dunican, Jr., Esq. 

Debbie Dyson 

Shereef Elnahal, M.D. 

Anne Evans Estabrook 

Christine C. Gilfillan 

Savion Glover 

Yan Gu 

Ryan P. Haygood, Esq. 

William V. Hickey 

Jeffrey T. Hoffman 

Ralph Izzo 

The Hon. Thomas H. Kean 

Scott A. Kobler, Esq. 

Mitchell Livingston 

Charles Lowrey 

Ellen B. Marshall 

Christian McBride 

D. Nicholas Miceli 

Victor Parsonnet, M.D. 

Eva Reda 

Christopher R. Reidy 


Richard W. Roper 

Philip R. Sellinger, Esq. 

The Hon. Clifford M. Sobel 

Gary St. Hilaire 

David S. Stone, Esq. 

Michael A. Tanenbaum, Esq. 

Rishi Varma 

Carmen S. Villar 

Robert C. Waggoner 

Amrit Walia 

Nina M. Wells, Esq. 

Josh S. Weston 

Karen Young 

Ex Officio 

The Hon. Ras J. Baraka 

The Hon. Mildred Crump 

The Hon. Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr. 

Elizabeth A. Mattson 

The Hon. Elizabeth Maher Muoio 

The Hon. Philip D. Murphy 


John Strangfeld 

Faith Taylor 

The Hon. Tahesha Way 

Directors Emeriti 

Dennis M. Bone 

Barbara Bell Coleman 

Albert R. Gamper, Jr. 


Judith Jamison 

A. Michael Lipper 

Diana T. Vagelos 

Women@NJPAC Board of Trustees 

President 

Faith Taylor 

Environmental, Social, 

Governance Leader 

Tesla 

Co-Executive Vice President 

Margarethe Laurenzi 

Chief Philanthropic Officer 

Community Foundation 

of New Jersey 

Co-Executive Vice President 

Sonia Luaces 

Partner 

PwC LLP 

Vice Presidents 

Deborah Q. Belfatto 

Community Leader and 

Philanthropist 




Suzanne M. Spero 

Executive Director 


Treasurer 

Lisa Osofsky 

Partner, Private Client Services 

Practice Leader 

Mazars USA, LLP 

Secretary 

Christine Pearson 



Immediate Past President 

Marcia Wilson Brown, Esq. 

Vice Chancellor for External and 

Governmental Relations 

Rutgers University – Newark 

Farah N. Ansari 

Rana Peterson Barclay 

Audrey Bartner 

Adenah Bayoh 

Sherri-Ann P. Butterfield, Ph.D 

Patricia L. Capawana 

Alejandra Ceja 

Patricia A. Chambers* ** 

Sally Chubb* ** 

Mary Lynn Clark 

Barbara Bell Coleman** 

Michellene Davis, Esq. 

Antoinette Ellis-Williams 

Catherine J. Flynn 

Christine C. Gilfillan 

Tenagne Girma-Jeffries 

Aisha Glover 

Veronica M. Goldberg* ** 

Shané Harris 

Zenola Harper, Esq. 

Tammye T. Jones 

Sheila F. Klehm** 

Ruth C. Lipper** 

*Founding Member 

**Trustee Emerita 

• retired 

+ deceased 

FOR A FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS, VISIT NJPAC.ORG OR CALL 1.888.MY.NJPAC 51

njpac leadership As of August 31, 2021 

Women@NJPAC Board of Trustees 

continued... 

Dena F. Lowenbach** 

Marlie Massena 

Gabriella E. Morris, Esq.* 

Ferlanda Fox Nixon, Esq. 

Lori Spoon 

Mary Kay Strangfeld** 

Mikki Taylor 

Diana T. Vagelos* ** 

Nina Mitchell Wells, Esq. 

Nicole D. Wescoe 

Council of Trustees 

Val Azzoli 

Michael F. Bartow 

Rona Brummer 

John M. Castrucci, CPA 

Elizabeth G. Christopherson 

Susan Cole, Ph.D. 

Robert S. Constable 

Irene Cooper-Basch 

Anthony R. Coscia, Esq. 

Andrea Cummis 

Samuel A. Delgado 

Steven J. Diner, Ph.D. 

Benefactor 

$1,000,000 & above 




Leadership Circle 

$200,000 & above 

ADP 

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 

Anonymous 




The Horizon Foundation for 

New Jersey/Horizon Blue Cross 







Co-Chair Circle 

$100,000 & above 


BD 



Andrew Dumas 

Dawood Farahi, Ph.D. 

Curtland E. Fields 

Albert R. Gamper 

Bruce I. Goldstein, Esq. 

Renee Golush 

Paula Gottesman 

Sandra Greenberg 

Kent C. Hiteshew 

Patrick E. Hobbs 

John A. Hoffman, Esq. 

Lawrence S. Horn, Esq. 

Reverend M. William Howard, Jr. 

Reverend Reginald Jackson 

Howard Jacobs 

Robert L. Johnson, M.D. 

Marilyn “Penny” Joseph 

Donald M. Karp, Esq. 

Gene R. Korf 

Rabbi Clifford M. Kulwin 

Ellen W. Lambert, Esq. 

Paul Lichtman 

Kevin Luing 

Joseph Manfredi 

Antonio S. Matinho 

Bari J. Mattes 

F.M. Kirby Foundation 

The Healthcare Foundation 

of New Jersey 

Investors Bank/Investors 

Foundation, Inc. 

Mars Wrigley 

Matrix Development 



Director’s Circle 

$50,000 & above 

Anonymous 

Atlantic, Tomorrow’s Office 

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. 

Deloitte LLP 

Edison Properties Newark Foundation 



M&T Bank 



PNC 

PwC 

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 

Rutgers, The State University 

of New Jersey 

Santander Bank, N.A. 

John E. McCormac, CPA 

Catherine M. McFarland 

Joyce R. Michaelson 

Edwin S. Olsen 

Richard S. Pechter 

Daria M. Placitella 

Jay R. Post, Jr., CFP 

Steven J. Pozycki 

Marian Rocker 

David J. Satz, Esq. 

Barbara J. Scott 

Marla S. Smith 

Suzanne M. Spero 

Joseph P. Starkey 

Sylvia Steiner 

Arthur R. Stern 

Andrew Vagelos 

Richard J. Vezza 

Kim Wachtel 

Constance K. Weaver 

Elnardo J. Webster, II 

E. Belvin Williams, Ph.D. 

Gary M. Wingens, Esq. 

njpac contributors—business partners 

NJPAC is deeply grateful to the following corporations, foundations and government agencies 

for their generous annual support of artistic and arts education programs, the endowment fund, 

nd maintenance of the Arts Center. For more information, please contact Valerie Blau, 

Corporate Giving Manager, at 973.297.5135. As of August 31, 2021 

Steinway and Sons 

Turrell Fund 


President’s Circle 

$25,000 & above 

Bloomberg Philanthropies 

CastleOak Securities, LP 

Chubb 

Gibbons P.C. 

Greenberg Traurig, LLP 

Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment 

Johnson & Johnson Family 

of Companies 

L + M Development Partners Inc. 

Lowenstein Sandler LLP 

McCarter & English, LLP 

The Nicholas Martini Foundation 

NJM Insurance Group 

Turner Construction Company/ 

Pat A. Di Filippo 


Valley Bank 

Verizon 

Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP 

njpac contributors—business partners 

Composer’s Circle 

$10,000 & above 

Boston Consulting Group 

Brookdale / Newark ShopRite 

Chiesa Shahinan & Giantomasi, PC 

Coca-Cola Refreshments 

EpsteinBeckerGreen 

Genova Burns LLC 

HLW Architecture LLC 

The Hyde and Watson Foundation 

Jacobs Levy Equity Management 

Landmark Fire Protection 

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation 

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton 

& Garrison, LLP 

The Provident Bank Foundation 

SP+ 

Whole Foods Market 

Encore Circle 

$5,000 & above 

Arnold & Porter 

Berkeley College 

Berkshire Hathaway 

Specialty Insurance 

Brach Eichler LLC 

J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, Inc. 

Davis & Gilbert LLP 

DeWitt Stern Group 

E.J. Grassman Trust 

EisnerAmper LLP 

Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation 

Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. 

Gateway Security, Inc. 

Gilbane Building Company 

Hansome Energy Systems 

Inserra Supermarkets 

Jewish Federation of Greater 

MetroWest NJ 

KPMG 

njpac contributors—vanguard society 

Langan 

Linden Cogeneration Plant 


Mercury Public Affairs 

Michael Rachlin & Company, LLC 

New Jersey Resources 

NFP Insurance Brokerage 

Peapack-Gladstone Bank 

Pennoni 

PS&S 

Ronald McDonald House 

Charities New York Metro 

Sherman Atlas Sylvester 

& Stamelman LLP 

SILVERMAN 

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill 

Structure Tone 

Thornton Tomasetti, Inc. 

U.S. Title Solutions 

Union Foundation 

Ware Malcomb 

Willis Towers Watson 

New Jersey Performing Arts Center is deeply grateful to the following individuals and families for their 

generous annual support, which makes it possible for NJPAC to maintain its world-class venue, fill it 

with star-studded, diverse performances, and carry out its arts education programs that transform 

New Jersey’s children. For more information, please contact Joshua Adler, Director of Major Gifts, 

at 973.297.5821. As of August 31, 2021 

Leadership Circle 

$200,000 & above 





William and Joan Hickey 






Co-Chair Circle 

$100,000 & above 

Anonymous 


The Smart Family Foundation/ 

David S. Stone, Esq., Stone 

and Magnanini 

Director’s Circle 

$50,000 & above 

Anonymous 

Jennifer A. Chalsty 


David and Renee Golush 

Kaminsky Family Foundation 




President’s Circle 

$25,000 & above 


Sally Chubb 

Mindy A. Cohen and David J. Bershad 

The Hon. Jon S. and Sharon Corzine 


Mr. and Mrs. Warren Grover 

Don Katz and Leslie Larson 

Dana and Peter Langerman 

McCrane Foundation, Inc., 

care of Margrit McCrane 

Bobbi and Barry H. Ostrowsky 

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie C. Quick, III 

Marian and David Rocker 

Steven and Beverly Rubenstein 

Charitable Foundation 

The Sagner Family Foundation 

David S. Steiner and Sylvia Steiner 

Charitable Trust 

Walsh Family Fund of the 


of New Jersey 

Nina and Ted Wells 

Composer’s Circle 

$10,000 & above 

Bruce and Jean Acken 

Anonymous 


Lawrence E. Bathgate, II 

and Michelle Bengue 


Family Fund 

Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation 

Dennis and Denise Bone 

Ann and Stan Borowiec 

Rose Cali 

Edwan and Alexis Davis 

Linda V. Della Corna & 

Enrico A. Della Corna 

Patrick C. Dunican, Jr., Esq. 

Debbie Dyson 

J. Andres Espinosa 

Nancye and Robert Falzon 


Alice Gerson Goldfarb 

Phyllis and Steven E. Gross 

Gary St. Hilaire 

Meg and Howard Jacobs 

The Honorable Thomas H. Kean 

Scott and Susan Kobler 

A. Michael and Ruth C. Lipper/ 

Lipper Family Charitable Foundation 

Amy and William Lipsey 

The Harold I. & Faye B. 

Liss Foundation 

Mitchell A. Livingston 

Charles F. Lowrey Jr. and 

Susan T. Rodriguez 

The Lester and Grace Maslow 



Harold and Donna Morrison 

Richard S. and Kayla L. Pechter 

James and Nancy Pierson 

Eva Reda 



• retired 

+ deceased 

53

njpac contributors—vanguard society 

Composer’s Circle continued... 

Christopher R. Reidy 

Karen and Gary D. Rose 

Philip R. Sellinger 

Karen Sherman 

Cliff and Barbara Sobel 

Alexine and Warren Tranquada 

Carmen Villar 

Amrit Walia 

Thomas C. Wallace 

Joyce and George Wein Foundation 

Helene and Gary Wingens 

Mr. and Mrs. Edward D. Zinbarg 

Encore Circle 

$5,000 & above 

Margaret Anadu 

Anonymous 

Daniel Bloomfield and Betsy True 

Candice R. Bolte 

Linda M. Bowden 

The Hon. Jon M. Bramnick 

$1,000,000 & above 





State of New Jersey 


$250,000 & above 

ADP 




The Horizon Foundation for 

New Jersey/Horizon Blue Cross 






$100,000 & above 




Audible, Inc. 

Anonymous 

BD 




The Healthcare Foundation 

of New Jersey 



Modia Butler 

Nancy Cantor and Steven R. Brechin 

Norman L. Cantor 

Austin G. Cleary 

The Colbert Family Fund of Coastal 

Community Foundation of SC 

Sylvia J. Cohn 

Matt and Susan Connor 

Alma DeMetropolis, CFA 

Robert Doherty 

Gregg N. Gerken 

Lawrence P. Goldman and 

Laurie B. Chock 

Yan Gu 

The Huisking Foundation 

Karen and Ralph Izzo 

Ralph and MartyAnn LaRossa 

Judith Lieberman 

Barry and Leslie Mandelbaum 

Ellen Marshall and Jim Flanagan 

Mr. and Mrs. D. Nicholas Miceli 

Duncan and Alison Niederauer 

njpac premier donors and sponsors 

Mars Wrigley 

M&T Bank 


PwC 


The Smart Family Foundation/ 

David S. Stone, Esq., Stone 

and Magnanini 



Tanenbaum Keale, LLP 







$50,000 & above 


Randi and Marc E. Berson/ 

The Fidelco Group 


Family Fund 

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. 

Jennifer A. Chalsty 

Chubb 

Mindy A. Cohen and David J. Bershad 

Deloitte, LLP 

Edison Properties Newark Foundation 

Mimi and Edwin Feliciano 


Gibbons P.C. 


Laurence B. Orloff and Deanne Wilson 

Jean and Kent Papsun 

Judith and Kenneth Peskin 

Roberta and Richard E. Polton 

Rob and Nora Radest 

Richard N. Ross 

Susan Satz 

Virginia McEnerney and 


James and Sharon Schwarz 

Stephen and Mary Jo Sichak 

Paul and Denise Silverman 

Rosemary and Robert Steinbaum 

Robert and Sharon Taylor 

Bruce A. Tucker 

RIshi Varma and Pooja Khanna 

Robert and Mary Ellen Waggoner 

Thomas Wisniewski 

Karen and Bill Young 

NJPAC is deeply grateful to the institutions and individuals whose aggregate contributions 

(gifts, grants, sponsorships and events) for the year total $50,000 or more. August 31, 2021 

Investors Bank/Investors 





NJM Insurance Group 


PNC Bank, N.A/The PNC Foundation 

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 

Rutgers, The State University 

of New Jersey 

Santander Bank, N.A. 

The Walter V. and 

Judith L. Shipley 

Family Foundation 

Steinway and Sons 

Turrell Fund 





• retired 

+ deceased 

njpac muse society 

NJPAC’s Muse Society recognizes those visionary friends who include the Arts Center in their financial 

planning through bequests, charitable gift annuities, insurance and other deferred gifts. We are deeply 

grateful to the following friends who have included the Arts Center in their estate plans and made known 

their future gift. For more information or to notify NJPAC of your intent to include it in your estate planning, 

contact Amy Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Development, at 973.297.5822. As of August 31, 2021 


Lawrence E. Bathgate, II 

Judith Bernhaut 

Andrew T. Berry, Esq.+ 



Family Fund 

Candice R. Bolte 

Edmond H.+ and 

Joan K. Borneman 

Ann and Stan Borowiec 

Raymond G. Chambers 


Fred Corrado 

Ann Cummis 

Mr. and Mrs. James Curtis 

Harold R. Denton 

Richard DiNardo 

Charles H. Gillen+ 

Bertha Goldman+ 


Renee and David Golush 

njpac members 

Sustainer 

$3,000 & above 

Sinead and Christopher Bennett 

Patricia L. Capawana 

Eleonore Kessler Cohen and 

Max Insel Cohen+ 

Margaret J. Cunningham 

Donna and Kenneth Eberle 

Herbert and Karin Fastert 

Lauren and Steven Friedman 

Geremia Helou 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Kuchner 

Ellen and Donald Legow 

Tim Lizura 

Edwin S. and Catherine Olsen 

Robin and Leigh Walters 

The Honorable Alvin Weiss 

Patron 

$1,250 & above 

Anonymous (2) 

Bryan Adams 

Ronald K. Andrews 

Brian Archer 

Marsha I. Atkind 

Wendee Bailey 

Joseph and Jacqueline Basralian 

George and Jane Bean 

Barbara and Ed Becker 


Phyllis and Steven E. Gross 

Mr. and Mrs. Warren Grover 

Opera Link/Jerome Hines+ 



Jackie and Larry Horn 

The Meg and Howard Jacobs 

Family Foundation 

Rose Jacobs+ 

Gertrude Brooks Josephson+ and 

William Josephson in Memory of 

Rebecca and Samuel Brooks 

Kaminsky Family Foundation 

Adrian and Erica Karp 

Gail and Max Kleinman 

Joseph Laraja, Sr.+ 

Leonard Lieberman+ 

Ruth C. Lipper 

Amy C. Liss 

Dena F. and Ralph Lowenbach 


Joseph and Bernice O’Reilly+ 

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ostergaard 

Maria Parise+ 

Dr. Victor Parsonnet and 

Jane Parsonnet+ 


Marian and David Rocker 

Estate of Eric F. Ross+ 

Bernice Rotberg+ 

The Steven and Beverly Rubenstein 

Charitable Foundation 


Ethel Smith+ 

Leonard R. Stern+ 

Paul Stillman Trust 

John Strangfeld and Mary Kay 

Strangfeld Foundation 


Carolyn M. VanDusen 

Diana and P. Roy Vagelos 

Artemis Vardakis+ 


Judy+ and Josh Weston 

+deceased 

New Jersey Performing Arts Center gives special thanks to the following Members who help meet 

the Arts Center’s annual financial needs with gifts of $650 to $4,999. For information on becoming a 

Member, please call 973.297.5809. As of August 31, 2021 

Lisa and Scott Braustein 

Jeri Burt and Michael Merlie 

Patricia and Anthony R. Calandra 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Chapin, III 

Nancy Clarke 

Kevin and Linda Conlin 

Vaughn E. Crowe 

Trayton M. Davis 

D’Maris and Joseph Dempsey 

Linda H. Dunham 

Drs. Brenda and Robert Fischbein 

Thomas P. Giblin 

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Gilfillan 

Carolyn Gould 

Thomas L. Green 

Susan and Mark Halliday 

Kitty and Dave Hartman 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Henry 

Joan Hollander 

Alan and Carrie Holtz 

Adrian and Erica Karp 

Irvin and Marjorie Kricheff 

Amy and Steven P. Kruvant 

Dr. Marlene E. Lengner 

Mark and Gayle Lerch 

Susan Lippa 

Dena and Ralph Lowenbach 

Kevin and Trisha Luing 

Lana Masor 

Massey Insurance Agency 

Edward Moran 

Gabriella E. Morris 

Jack and Ellen Moskowitz 

Bruce Murphy and MJ Lauzon 

Judith Musicant and Hugh A. Clark 

Helene and Martin Myers 

Joseph and Sheila Nadler 

Jeffrey S. Norman 

Wayne C. Paglieri and Jessalyn Chang 

Dr. Kalmon D. Post and 

Linda Farber Post 

Samantha Pozner and 

Andrew Hickman 

Caroline and Harry Pozycki 

Chali Prasper 

Cecile and Trevor Prince 

Jonathan and Bethany Rabinowitz 

Lawrence A. Raia 

Brent N. Rudnick 

Jeremy and Tony Saccente 

Barbara Sager 

Mr. and Mrs. Newton B. Schott 

Rita and Leonard Selesner 

Mr. and Mrs. Flody Shapiro 

Diana and Laurence Smith 

Kate S. Tomlinson and Roger Labrie 

Mr. and Mrs. R. Charles Tschampion 


55

njpac members 

Patron continued... 

Mr. and Mrs. David S. Untracht 

Kathryn Vermilye 

Richard and Arlene Vezza 

Drs. Radha and Rao V. Vinnakota 

Lisa Webber 

Dr. Joy Weinsteun and 

Dr. Bruce Forman 

Lloyd Williams 

Mr. and Mrs. Pat Wood 

Gary and Wendy Young 

Richard Zaborowski 

Supporter 

$650 & above 

Lara Abrash and Gary Guth 

Cheryl Adams 

Rana and Andrew Barclay 

Nadine Brechner 

James and Sharon Briggs 

Eloyd O. Britt 

Dr. Kimberly Brown and 

Parkway Eye Care Center 

Marcia Wilson Brown 

Calvin Carver 

Eileen Clifford 

Arthur Connolly 

Andrea Cummis and Renard Fiscus 

Martha Cybyk 

Maryanne and David R. Dacey 

Aliah Davis-McHenry and 

Brian McHenry 

Elizabeth DelTufo 

Suzanne Deluca-Warner 

Walter Douglas 

Eleanor and John Dunn 

Carylmead Eggleston 

Sybil Eng and Tad Roselund 

Michael Etkin 

Edward W. Fagan 

Sanford and Zella Falzenberg 

Laura Fuhro 

Dr. Ronald Gandelman and 

Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell 

Claudia and Kenneth Louis Gentner 

Maureen and Subhendu Ghosh 

David H. Gibbons , Jr. 

Clifford and Karen Goldman 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Goodfellow 

Donna Grant 

Mary and Bradford Graves 

Wayne and Catherine Greenfeder 

Lonnie and Better Hanauer 

Ryan P. Haygood, Esq. 

Richard and Cindy Johnson 

Mary and David Jones 

Leah and Rich Kabrt 

Marwa Kamel and Dr. Shereef Einahal 

Dr. and Mrs. John W. Kennedy 

Andrea and Jason Kimmel 

Courtney Koch and Patrick DeWald 

Joan M. Kram 

Nancy Laird 

Mark and Sheryl Larner 

Deborah Lashley and Harrison Snell 

Dorothy Litwin-Brief 

Janet Lonney 

Edward Mafoud 

Santa and Michael R. Mallon 

Howard and Peggy Menaker 

Ray Merchant 

Hector Mislavsky and Judy Martinez 

Drs. Douglas and Susan Morrison 

William and Patricia O’Connor 

Monica Padovano Casiello 

Mark Pentelovitch 

Doren Pettiford 

Charles M. Piscitelli 

Jay R. Post, Jr. CFP 

Douglas and Susan Present 

Amy and Reginald Pretto 

Gusta A. Pritchett 

Oliver B. Quinn 

Charity Quinn and Mark Yecies 

Bidisa Rai 

Frank Rand 

Nogah Revesz 

Diane Ridley-White 

William A. Robinson 

Ina and Mark Roffman 

Richard W. Roper 

Joel Rosen 

Jeffrey and Regina Roth 

Suzanne and Richard Scheller 

The Schiffenhaus Foundation 

Drs. Rosanne S. Scriffignano 

and Anthony Scriffignano 

Karen and Roger Shults 

Latoya Singleton 

Richard Sodon 

Marilyn and Leon Sokol 

Linda and Brian Sterling 

Beverly and Ed Stern 

Stanley and Sharon Streicher 

Linda Tancs 

Jill Tarnow 

Lola Tate-McGhee 

Marilyn Termyna 

Marva Tidwell 

Louise and David J. Travis 

Jon Ulanet 

Paul and Sharlene Vichness 

Dr. Deborah and Peter Vietze 

Susan D. Wasserman 

Jacqueline Williams 

Diane C. Youg, M.D., P.A. 



• retired 

+ deceased 

enter to win 

a VIP guest experience at 

njpac from 

• Two box seats at any NJPAC-produced 

event through June 30 

• Free premium parking in Lot A 

• Backstage meet & greet with artists * 

• Free appetizer and drinks at 

NICO Kitchen + Bar 

Text VIP to 1.877.331.1720 

*Pending artist consent 


Irish music sensation 

Celtic Woman presents an 

a l-new Ancient Land Tour 

strike up the bandwidth 

of your advertising! 

Let your dining experience 

take center stage. 

bravo! 

on March 24. jan/feb/mar 2019 

bravo! 

Trevor Noah, the host of 

Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning 

The Daily Show, returns by popular 

demand Sep 7-8 with an evening 

of hilarious stand-up! 

summer 2018 

bravo! 

NJPAC’s glossy guide to each performance to read, enjoy 

and keep as a souvenir by hundreds of thousands of 

theatergoers each season. Programs are packed with eye 

catching special features, including background info about 

current performances and lively articles. 

More than 500,000 customers viewed BRAVO! at about 

550 performances, events and programs during the 

2018-19 season. Thirty-two percent of that population 

reports an average household income of over $125,000 

In addition to the printed publication, all paid advertising 

will appear in NJPAC’s digital spaces: 

NJPAC Website Simply click to each full issue of BRAVO! 

(1.2 million unique visitors to njpac.org during the 2018-19 season). 

Email NJPAC performance reminders, emailed to ticketholders 

approximately 5 days before the event, include a link 

to each issue of BRAVO! 

Mobile App Tap to each issue of BRAVO! via the NJPAC Mobile 

App, available at the Apple Store and Google Play. 

Advertise in NJPAC’s program book today! 

To reserve ad space or request a media kit, please contact: 

Victor M. Nichols, D.M.C. Publishing, LLC 

Ph: 862.216.0579 • vnichols@dmcpublishingllc.org 

Whatever you’re in the mood for… you’re in the mood 

for NICO. Hang out on our outdoor patio. Indulge in 

our craveworthy American menu. Or unwind from the 

grind at our friendly neighborhood bar. It’s nothing 

but good times and delicious vibes here at NICO. 

• 

n1co 

kitchen+bar 


One Center Street, Newark, NJ 

973.642.1226 I njpac.org/nico

women@ 

Platinum Channel 

Surfer Dinner Committee 


and David J. Bershad 

Gibbons P.C. 

Nina Mitchell Wells and 

Theodore V. Wells, Jr 

Gold Live 

Streamer Dinner Committee 

ADP 


RWJF Special Contributions 

Fund of the Princeton Area 


SP+ 

The Smart Family 

Foundation/David S. Stone, 

Esq., Stone and Magnanini 

TD Bank 


Platinum Advocates 

Anonymous 

Friends 

Dini Ajmani 

Beverly Baker-Jackson 

and Thomas Jackson 

Sherrie-Ann Butterfield 

Barbara Bell Coleman 

Catherine Flynn 

Lawrence P. Goldman and 

Laurie B. Chock 

Margarethe and 

Mark Laurenzi 

Judith M. Lieberman 


Lawrence E. Bathgate II 

NJCU 



Timothy Roof 

Chubb Corporation 


Julie Stone 



Willis Towers Watson 

NJPAC and Women@NJPAC are profoundly thankful for these 

supporters of last year’s 2020 Spotlight Gala @ Home. 

lead sponsor 

underwriters 

The MCJ Amelior 

Foundation 

hometown heroes (aka vice chairs) 

Toby and Leon G. 

Cooperman 

List as of September 24, 2020 

Paula and Bill Marino 


Silver Remote 

Controller 

Bloomberg Philanthropies 

BNY Mellon 

Boston Consulting Group 

Deloitte, LLP 

Alma DeMetropolis 

Edison Properties, LLC 

Fidelco Group/ Randi and 

Marc E. Berson 

Greenberg Traurig LLP 

Joan and William Hickey 

Jones Lang LaSalle 

Americas 

The Honorable 

Thomas H. Kean 

McCarter & English, LLP 

PNC Bank, N.A. 

Robin Cruz McClearn and 

Cameron McClearn 

One Theater Square 

Donald A. Robinson, Esq 

Kate S. Tomlinson 

and Roger P. Labrie 

Gold Advocates 

Deborah and Joseph 

Belfatto 

Newark Alliance 

Mary Kay Strangfeld 

Faith and Gary Taylor 

Silver Advocates 


Chiesa Shahinian & 

Giantomasi PC 

After Party Sponsors 

Atlantic Health System 

Whole Foods Market 

Full-page Ad 

Sponsors 

Audible 

Meg and Howard Jacobs 


Panasonic Corporation of 

North America 

Half-page Ad 

Sponsors 

Genova Burns 

In-kind Donations 

Country Club Transportation 

Newark Working Kitchens 


Arthur F. Ryan 

Lizzie and 

Jonathan Tisch 


season funders 

njpac staff & administration As of September 1, 2021 

New Jersey Performing Arts Center is grateful to the following partners for their 

commitment and investment in NJPAC’s mission. As of August 31, 2021 

Official Sponsors: 

Major support provided by: 

The Chambers Family and The MCJ Amelior Foundation, Stewart and Judy Colton, Toby & Leon Cooperman, 

Betty Wold Johnson+, Panasonic Foundation, John Strangfeld and Mary Kay Strangfeld Foundation, 

Victoria Foundation, The Weston Family 

Additional support provided by: 

Audible, Inc., Joan and Allen Bildner Family Fund, Edison Properties Newark Foundation, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, 

The Griffinger Family, JPMorgan Chase, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, William J. & Paula Marino 

McCrane Foundation, Inc., care of Margrit McCrane, PNC, The Ryan Family, 

The Smart Family Foundation/David S. Stone, Esq., Stone and Magnanini, Steinway & Sons, Michael & Jill Tanenbaum 

Turrell Fund, John & Suzanne Willian/Goldman Sachs Gives, New Jersey Cultural Trust 

+deceased 

women@ 

for your information 

NJPAC values the safety of our audiences, artists,and 

staff. It regularly updates its COVID protocols and 

procedures based on CDC, federal, state, city, and 

other scientific data. NJPAC reserves the right to alter 

safety protocols at any time and at its sole discretion 

including but not limited to social distancing, vaccines/ 

testing, masks, food service limitations, venue capacity, 

and entrance requirements as it deems appropriate. 

For more information, visit njpac.org/health 

As part of our Enhanced Safety Program, the following 

items are prohibited upon entry into Prudential Hall, the 

Victoria Theater, and all public spaces of NJPAC: 

backpacks, large pocketbooks, shopping bags, suitcases, 

briefcases, weapons, animals (except service animals). 

Late Seating Policy: Latecomers and persons 

leaving the theater midshow will be seated/ 

re-seated at the discretion of the management. 

Camera and Recording Equipment is Prohibited: 

The use of recording equipment and the taking of 

photographs of any performance or the possession 

of any device for such use without the written 

permission of the management is strictly prohibited. 

Parking Facilities: Easy parking is available in the 1,100-car 

garage under Military Park, directly across from NJPAC. 

Safe and secure surface parking is also available. 

Smoking and/or vaping is prohibited 

throughout all indoor spaces of NJPAC. 

Official Airline of NJPAC Official Imaging Supplier of NJPAC Official Soft Drink of NJPAC Media Sponsor 

Lost and Found: Any found items should be returned 

to NJPAC Security or Guest Services staff. If you 

believe you have lost an item, call (973) 297-5868. 

Found clothing items will be held for 30 days after 

which they will be donated to a local shelter. 

Mobile Device Courtesy Reminder: Please 

respect performers and fellow audience members 

by ensuring that all cellular phones and mobile 

devices are turned off during performances. 

Newark Light Rail: NJTRANSIT’s Newark Light Rail offers 

frequent service in Downtown Newark that includes a 

station stop at NJPAC, offering a convenient alternative 

to driving to a performance or event. This service is an 

extension of the Newark City Subway and connects all rail 

lines served by Newark Penn and Broad Street Stations. 

Other popular destinations served by the extension 

are The Newark Museum of Art and Broad Street area 

businesses. For more information, visit njtransit.com/nlr. 

Disabilities: All Tiers of Prudential Hall and Victoria 

Theater are wheelchair accessible. Open captioning is 

provided at select performances. Sennheisser Infraport 

infra red audio receivers are available free-of-charge 

from an NJPAC Guest Service staff member. 

NJPAC welcomes children of all ages to its 

family events, but adult performances are not 

recommended for children 5 years old 

and younger. 


NJPAC, One Center Street, Newark, NJ, 07102 

Administrative: 973.642.8989 

Box Office: 1.888.466.5722 

njpac.org 

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 

John Schreiber** 


Christopher Frascogna 

Executive Assistant to the 


Chelsea Keys 

Director, Special Projects 

David Rodriguez* 

Executive Vice President & 

Executive Producer 

Kira M. Ruth**** 

Senior Manager 

Programming Operations 

Warren Tranquada** 

Executive Vice President & COO 

Valerie Fullilove 

Senior Administrative Assistant 

Timothy Lizura 

Senior Vice President 

Real Estate & Capital Projects 

ARTS EDUCATION 

Jennifer Tsukayama* 

Vice President, Arts Education 

Meggan Gomez 

AVP Faculty & Creative Practice 

Mark Gross* 

Director, Jazz Instruction 

Rosa Hyde* 

Senior Director, Performances & 

Special Events Operations 

Jennie Wasserman 

Project Director, City Verses 

Victoria Revesz* 

Senior Director, 

Arts Education Operations 

Erica Bradshaw 

Director of Theater Arts 

Sheikia “Purple Haze” Norris* 

Director, Hip Hop Arts & Culture 

Roe Bell 

Senior Manager, School and 

Community Programs 

Ashley Mandaglio 

Assoc. Director 

Professional Learning & Programs 

Danielle Vauters 

Senior Manager, Programming 

and Performances 

Becca Grek 


CRM & Business Operation 

Kristine Mathieson 

Manager, In-School Programs 

Daniel Silverstein 

Manager, Onsite Programs 

Kimberly Washington 

Manager 

Marketing, Sales & Recruitment 

Randal Croudy 

Coordinator 

Arts Education Performances 

Steven Hayet 

Coordinator, Business Operations 

Antonella Sanchez 

Coordinator, Program Operations 

Joe Swift 

Project Coordinator, City Verses 

Natalie Dreyer 

Arts Integration Faculty Lead 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 

Eyesha Marable* 

Assistant Vice President, 

Community Engagement 

Najiyyah Bailey 

Associate Producer 

Community Engagement 

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP 

MANAGEMENT 

Hassab Gebremedhin 

Senior Director, CRM 

Rolston Cyril Watts 


Development Operations 

Thomas Mellott 

Gift Processing & 

Database Associate 

DEVELOPMENT 

Amy Fitzpatrick 

Vice President, Development 

Sarah Rosen 

Managing Director 


Joshua Adler 

Director, Major Gifts 

Jenifer Braun 

Director, Editorial Content 

Roseanne Evans 

Director 

Foundation & Government Funding 

Deborah Purdon 

Director 

Research & Prospect Management 

Christine Walia 

Director, Events 

Valerie Blau 

Corporate Giving Manager 

Harris Cabrera 


Foundation Relations 

Gabrielle DeGaetano 

Membership Manager 

Lauren Siegel 

Manager, Major Gifts 

Imani Frederickson 

Development Coordinator 

FINANCE 

Lennon Register* 

Vice President & CFO 

Yolanda Doganay 

Assistant Vice President 

& Controller 

Mary Jaffa**** 

Assistant Vice President, Finance 

Manuela Silva**** 

Senior Accountant, Payroll 

Monique Cook 

Senior Financial Analyst 

Wali East 

Staff Accountant 

Geraldine Richardson*** 

Staff Accountant, 

Accounts Payable 

PEOPLE & ORGANIZATION 

Beth Silver 

VP & Chief People Officer 

Ginny Bowers Coleman**** 

Director, Volunteer Services 

Taheerah Smiley 

Human Resources Generalist 

Ashanti Hargrove 

People & Organization Coordinator 

Donna Walker-Kuhne* 

Senior Advisor, Diversity, Equity 

and Inclusion 

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 

Ernie DiRocco*** 

Chief Information Officer 

Carl Sims**** 

Director, Network Infrastructure 

Rodney Johnson*** 

Network & Help Desk 

Support Analyst 

MARKETING & 

COMMUNICATIONS 

Katie Sword* 

Vice President, Marketing & 

Communications 

Fallon Currie* 

Administrative Assistant 

Jason Paddock 

Senior Director, Marketing 

Yesenia Jimenez**** 

Director, Loyalty Services 

Charlene A. Roberts* 

Director, Performance Marketing 

Patricia Ryan 

Creative Art Director 

Tina Boyer* 

Director, Creative Services 

Latoya Dawson* 

Manager, Marketing 

Katie Stein 


Digital Marketing & Content 

Doris Ann Pezzolla**** 

Senior Graphic Designer 

Allison Calabro 

Lead Graphic Designer 

Matthew Cherry 

Digital Marketing Manager 

Alexis Green 

Digital Marketing Coordinator 

Ashlee Nolan 

Coordinator, Creative Services 

April Jeffries 

Coordinator, Group Sales 


63

Nicola Alexander 

Assistant, Creative Services 

Daryle Charles** 

Priority Customer Representative 

Jerome H. Ennis 

Consultant 

Herbert George Associates 

Angela Thomas 

Consultant, Performance 

Public Relations 

OPERATIONS 

Chad Spies*** 

Vice President, Operations 

& Real Estate 

Anthony Rosta 

Facility Manager & 

ADA Coordinator 

Meredith Hull 

Administrative Assistant 

Todd Tantillo**** 

Chief Engineer 

J. Dante Esposito**** 

Assistant Chief Engineer 

Brian Cady** 

Maintenance Engineer 

Sherman Gamble*** 


Mariusz Koniuszewski** 


James McMorrow 

Director, Security, Parking 

& Traffic Operations 

Thomas Dixon**** 

Safety & Security Manager 

Robin Jones*** 

Senior Director 

House Management 

Jerry Xenos 

House Manager 

Kathleen Dickson**** 

Senior Head Usher 

Lamont Akins**** 

Head Usher 

Jerry Battle** 

Head Usher 

Edward Fleming**** 

Head Usher 

Cynthia Hamlett-Robinson*** 

Head Usher 

Tracey Robinson 

Head Usher 

George Gardner Jr.**** 

House Painter 

PRODUCTION 

Chris Moses*** 

Senior Director, Production 

Christopher Staton* 

Senior Production Manager 

E. Kevin Jones 

Production Manager 

Crystal Cowling* 

Associate Production Manager 

Rachel Macleod* 

Production Coordinator 

William Worman**** 

Head Carpenter 

Mario Corrales**** 

Assistant Head Carpenter 

Bryan Danieli*** 

Assistant Head Carpenter 

Barbara Guerra 

Apprentice Carpenter 

Hugo Munoz-Campos* 

Apprentice Carpenter 

Jacob Allen*** 

Head Electrician 

John Enea* 

Assistant Head Electrician 

Adam Omeljaniuk**** 

Journeyman Electrician 

Marion Pinckney**** 

Journeyman Electrician 

Gumersindo Fajardo**** 

Assistant Head Electrician 

Paul Allshouse*** 

Head Audio 

John DiCapua* 

Assistant Head Audio 

John Finney*** 

Assistant Head Audio 

Richard Edwards**** 

Specialist Carpenter 

George Honczarenko*** 

Specialist Carpenter 

Joseph Hunt*** 

Journeyman Carpenter 

Naheem Wright** 

Journeyman Carpenter 

Amere Jenkins** 

Specialist Audio 

Daniel Pagan* 

Specialist Video 

Allison Wyss**** 

Senior Artist Assistants 

Melvin Anderson** 

Artist Assistant 

Lowell Craig*** 


Rachel Dresner 


Loni Fiscus 


Daniel Ovalle* 


Sindy Sanchez Virto 


MJ Santry 


Suzanne Santry 


PROGRAMMING 

Evan White*** 

Assistant Vice President, 

Programming 

Simma Levine 

Producer, Special Projects 

Craig Pearce* 

Producer, Festivals & Performances 

Kitab Rollins*** 

Senior Director Performance & 

Broadcast Rentals 

William W. Lockwood, Jr.**** 

Programming Consultant 

SPECIAL EVENTS 

Austin Cleary*** 

Assistant Vice President 

Sales & Planning, NJPAC Events 

Lauren Vivenzio***** 

Senior Director 

Internal & External Events 

Hernan Soto**** 

Senior Supervisor 

Operations Support Staff 

Francisco Soto* 

Supervisor, 

Operations Support & Services 

Kemar Brown 

Assistant Supervisor 

Operations Support & Services 

Tyrone Boyd 

Delbert Green 


David Martina* 


TICKET SERVICES 

Erik Wiehardt*** 

Director, Ticket Services 

Stephanie Walker**** 

Associate Director, 

Ticketing System 

Nicole Craig**** 

Associate Director, Box Office 

Robin Polakoff* 

Ticketing System Specialist 

Veronica Dunn-Sloan** 

Box Office Manager 

Darren DeBose 

Box Office Manager 

Jana Thompson* 

Box Office Representative 

Belva Moody* 

Box Office Representative 

Service Recognition 

(as of 9/1/2021 ) 

* * * * 20+ years 

* * * 15+ years 

* * 10+ years 

* 5+ years

NJPAC - September_October_November_December 2021

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?