Seeking participants for New Project Kick-off
Circle of Sparks - Playback Theatre company formation
Culture Connection Theater announces Circle of Sparks, a new community building project that combines storytelling and improvisational theater.
We are seeking about 10 individuals interested in forming an improvisation company. Actors, musicians, theater teachers and drama therapists are encouraged but no theater training is required and all are welcome! Come to an Open House to learn more!
The project’s mission is to foster connection between people through improv theater. Enacting the stories of others provides an opportunity to increase understanding of one another. Theater allows us to move beyond talking and get into action.
Beginning in May 2019, we aim to meet once a week as a company to learn how to use theater techniques to explore the stories of our lives. Our goal is to host our first public storytelling event in June where we will invite audience members to tell stories which we will enact on the spot and discuss afterward.
About Us
Actor and musician Laura Hoffman and director and producer Elaine Molinaro have trained at the Centre for Playback Theatre to learn this improv method from company founders Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas who were inspired in part by the psychodrama work of Jacob Moreno.
Playback Theatre has been used as a forum for the exchange of diverse experiences including racial conflict and reconciliation, incarcerated men and women, immigrant and refugee experiences, youth concerns with bullying or interactions with the police, diversity and conduct in the workplace and more. In their Circle of Sparks project Laura and Elaine hope to explore these themes and others.
Open House
Attend a Circle of Sparks Open House on Thursday, April 11th at 7pm or Sunday April 14th at 4pm to learn more about participating in the project. The open houses will be held at The Culture Loft, Culture Connection Theater’s beautiful theater space at 13 Montclair Ave., Montclair, NJ.
Please RSVP for one of the open houses to:
CultureConnectionTheater1@gmail.com
What's happening at Culture Connection
"Writing the Short Play" Workshop
Taught by Gwen Orel
Do you have an idea for a play and have wondered where to start? Culture Connection Theater announces our Playwriting Workshops for youth and adults. Write a 10-minute play you can submit to competitions. No Experience or Play Ideas Necessary! Workshop ends with a Reading. We will provide the actors.
Gwen Orel is a multiple-time produced playwright (The Theater Project; Secret Theater: National Playwrights' Retreat; Apricot Sky) with a PhD in Theater and the Montclair Local Culture Editor who has a lot of experience to bring to leading this workshop!
Workshop Cost:
$60 for adults
$30 for children and teens
Time: Sundays
3:30-5pm for adults and teens
5-5:45pm for children 7-12 years old (must be reading)
Workshop Dates: 6 sessions
2/10 start, session 1
2/17 no session due to President’s Day
2/24 session 2
3/3 session 3
3/10 session 4
3/17 no session due to St. Patrick’s Day
3/24 session 5
3/31 session 6
4/7 Readings (not obligatory)
Location: The Culture Loft
13 Montclair Ave., Montclair, NJ
For more information, email cultureconnectiontheater1@gmail.com
To register for the workshop, click on the Donate/Payments button below and enter amount.
We look forward to having you join us!
Calendar of Events 2019-2020
January
"Castle in Sweden" reading
February - April
Playwriting workshops
Adults - "Writing the Short Play"
Youth - "Young Writers"
Residency at Charles H. Bullock Elementary School
"Bullock's Got Talent" for K-5th graders
plus:
Spring - Playback Theater improv nights
Fall - Mainstage production
"Castle in Sweden" by Francoise Sagan
Spring 2020 - World premiere
"Performance of Love" by Gwen Orel
About Us
Mission Statement
Culture Connection Theater has the mission to foster connection between people of different countries and between people of different cultures at home. Culture Connection Theater produces collaborations between artists of different cultures in order to break down barriers of racism, sexism and prejudice, to allow American audiences to experience other cultures, to shed light on our own culture and to engage, comment and ask questions about world events.
Elaine Molinaro, Artistic Director
Elaine founded Culture Connection Theater (CCT) in 2004. In NJ, Elaine has directed for CCT, the Theater Project, Luna Stage, Dreamcatcher Rep., Centenary Stage, Apricot Sky Productions, Nutley Little Theater, UCC Players, Intersections International, Montclair Early Music and George Street Playhouse. In NY - Lincoln Center, Peculiar Works Project, The Cell, HERE, New Georges, Voice & Vision, Ping Chong and Co. Elaine is President of the Montclair Arts Alliance, Immediate Past Chair and member of the Montclair Arts Advisory Committee to the Montclair Town Council. She is an officer and women’s play contest coordinator of the Women and Theatre Program for the Association of Theatre in Higher Education. Elaine has a Masters of Fine Arts in theater directing.
Gwen Orel, Producer, Playwright in Residence
Gwen is a playwright. She serves as the Features editor of the Montclair Local; formerly arts editor, The Montclair Times; publications include New York Times, Wall Street Journal, American Theatre, Village Voice, Time Out New York. Dramaturgy includes literary manager, Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Peculiar Work Project. Gwen has had plays produced at: ThinkFast Festival; Apricot Sky Productions; Montclair Arts Festival; National Winter Playwrights Retreat, Creede, Colorado. Outer Critics Circle voter, PhD in theatre, AEA stage manager.
Past Productions
Space In-Between
One-acts by French female playwrights:
"Savannah Bay" by Marguerite Duras
"Over Nothing at All" by Nathalie Sarraute
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
at Luna Stage,
West Orange, NJ
Tidings Brought to Mary
by Paul Claudel
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
at Union Congregational Church, Montclair, NJ
Roar
by Betty Shemiah
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
at Where Eagles Dare Theater,
New York, NY
Opera Buffoonia
by Ivan Tairzacra
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
at the Play Outside Festival,
New York, NY
Couples Therapy One-Act Festival
"News" by Gwen Orel
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
Apricot Sky Productions
at Grove Street Theatre,
Montclair, NJ
Think Fast One-Act Festival
"Graveyard Shift"
"Casting Away"
by Gwen Orel
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
The Theater Project
at Burgdorff Arts Center,
Maplewood, NJ
Dream on Church Street
written by Chuk Obasi
in collaboration with company of
Uniform Justice Montclair
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
A devised project on police-community relations
with Intersections International
at Glenfield Middle School and
Union Congregational Church
New Moon Short Play Festival
“ASK ZSUZANNA - Single Motherhood at 50”
by C.J. Ehrlich
“The Bar Mitzvah of Jesus Goldfarb”
by Andrew Heinze
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
at Luna Stage
*above: playwrights at post performance talkback
Tongue of a Bird
by Ellen McLaughlin
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
at Union Congregational Church
Montclair, NJ
Youth Programs
Productions
“St. George and the Dragon”
Traditional English Mummers Play
Directed by Elaine Molinaro
at the Montclair Arts Festival
and the Montclair Early Music
Winter Concert
Workshops
Young Writers workshop
taught by Gwen Orel
organized by Andreina Botto-Rover
at the Culture Loft
School Residency
“Bullock's Got Talent”
run and directed by Elaine Molinaro
and Lindsey Sag annually in February
performances by 130 students in
K-5th grade
at Charles H. Bullock
Elementary School