JEFFREY SWEET

A founding member of the playwrights ensemble of the Tony-winning Victory Gardens Theater, Jeff saw 13 of his plays produced there and a handful of others premiered in Chicago before productions in New York, regionally and internationally.  New Jersey theatergoers will remember The Value of Names starring Jack Klugman and Dan Lauria, directed by James Glossman at the George Street.  Other shows include Flyovers (with Richard Kind and Michele Pawk), Court-Martial at Fort Devens (New Federal Theater, NY, Audelco Award), The Action Against Sol Schumann and American Enterprise (both winners of ATCA prizes), Bluff (with John Astin), Kunstler (New York and London) and the musicals I Sent a Letter to My Love (co-written with Melissa Manchester) and What About Luv? (co-written with Howard Marren and Susan Birkenhead, with Nathan Lane and Judy Kaye).  He also wrote a lot of TV and books about Second City and the O’Neill Center.  He serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild.  https://jeffreysweetauthor.com/contact

JAMES GLOSSMAN

World premieres at NJ Rep include Michael Tucker’s A Tailor Near Me (with James Pickens Jr and Richard Kind), DW Gregory’s The Other American and Memoirs of a Forgotten Man, John Walch’s Circumference of a Squirrel, Kingsley Day and Philip LaZebnick’s Tour De Farce, among many other projects – most recently the commissioned reading (with David Strathairn, Michelle Wilson & Richard Kind) of Nicky Glossman’s Portrait of A Woman in Repose – previously produced on video in an earlier one-act version with Paula Prentiss and Tony Shalhoub and streamed by NJ Rep; and Sean Astin in Ken Weitzman’s solo video play Fire in the Garden.

Directed many productions, readings, and workshops of plays by Jeffrey Sweet over a quarter of a century, including three productions across the country of Bluff with John Astin; Immoral Imperatives (later re-titled Stay Till Morning) with Malachi Throne & Laura Esterman; Texas Boot (with Jay O. Sanders as LBJ, along with casts including Edward Herrmann, Austin Pendleton, Fritz Weaver, and Eric Tucker); and several productions of The Value of Names with Jack Klugman, first opposite Louis Zorich in both NYC and the midwest, and later opposite Dan Lauria at the George Street Playhouse (NJ), which then transferred to the Falcon (now the Garry Marshall) Theatre (LA).
 

Other projects recent projects include world premieres of Nicky Glossman’s The Road to Jerusalem with Eilis Cahill, Jay O. Sanders, Ken Marks & Adam LeFevre; and of Just Another Day, written by and starring Dan Lauria, opposite Patty McCormack (both at Shadowland Shadowland Stages, NY); a weekend of sold-out benefit readings at the historic Mark Twain House and Museum of Elizabeth Diggs’ Grant & Twain (w/David Strathairn, Tony Shalhoub & Jill Eikenberry); and likewise standing-room-only readings of The Road to Jerusalem with Cahill, Sanders, Joe Morton & David Strathairn (NJ Rep); and with Morton, Cahill, David Rasche, and Judd Hirsch (Shadowland).
 

Just a few weeks ago (June 2026) directed a sold-out benefit performance at Westport Playhouse (CT) of Michael Tucker’s A Tailor Near Me – first produced at NJ Rep – performed by Mr Tucker and Jimmy Smits.

For Shadowland Stages (where he is an Associate Artist) he directed many productions since 1999, including the world premiere of Safe Home, which he co-wrote with Tom Hanks; Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss in All My Sons; Orson Bean and Stephanie Zimbalist in The Price, the east coast premieres of Jeff Daniels’ plays Guest Artist (w/John Astin) and Flint; Orson Bean and Alley Mills in the NY premiere of the original restored version of Noel Coward’s final play, A Song At Twilight (following a previous production at the Odyssey Theatre, LA), and the American premiere of John Cleese’s new farce, Bang Bang! (w/Sean Astin and Scott Shepherd).
 

He was named Best Director the the Year by the New Jersey Star-Ledger for his productions of Death of a Salesman (with Frankie Faison, Luna Stage) and The Gin Game (with William Schallert, Bickford Theatre).
 

As an adaptor/director of novels and stories for the theatre, he has been staging a wide range of work over the past four decades since his productions at the Yale Cabaret adapted from James Joyce, Donald Barthelme, Max Shulman, Raymond Chandler, and F Scott Fitzgerald.  In the years since, he has adapted and directed stories by (among others) Mark Twain, Poe, O. Henry, Eudora Welty, James Thurber, and Damon Runyon; novels including Faulkner’s The Hamlet (St Ann’s); Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum (Luna Stage); Suzanne Berne’s A Crime in the Neighborhood (Cit Lit Theatre, Chicago);  Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (Brown Ledge Stock Co, VT); and the Raymond Chandler double-feature Trouble Is My Business (Portland Stage Company).  In a collaboration over three decades, he adapted and directed award-winning author and journalist Jim Lehrer’s novels Kick the Can, The Special Prisoner, and Flying Crows, as well as Lehrer’s play The Will and Bart Show. 
 

His music-theatre piece Shostakovich and the Black Monk: A Russian Fantasy, co-created with Phillip Setzer, was performed by the multiple Grammy Award winning Emerson String Quartet and a rotating cast including David Strathairn, Jay O. Sanders, Len Cariou, Jeffrey DeMunn, Richard Thomas, and Mackenzie and Sean Astin.  This mix of original text, documentary, and Chekhov has been performed in festival halls from Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Wolf Trap, to Seoul, South Korea.  Flying Crows and his stage version of Twain’s classic The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg are both available from Dramatic Publishing Co.
 

Most recently, he directed Stravinsky’s music theatre piece A Soldier’s Tale (with Christine Goerke and David Strathairn) for the Manchester Music Festival (VT); co-wrote (with composer/lyricist Kingsley Day) the swashbuckling musical Scaramouche, which received its world premiere at Chicago’s City Lit Theatre, and This World of Tomorrow (the latest Hanks & Glossman play) premiered in fall 2025 at The Shed at Hudson Yards (NYC), directed by Kenny Leon with a cast including Hanks, Kelli O’Hara, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Jay O. Sanders.
 

Member: Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC),  Dramatists Guild (DG), and Actors Equity Association (AEA).  Education: Northwestern University, American Conservatory Theatre Advanced Training Program, San Francisco (ACT), British American Drama Academy (BADA), Balliol College, Oxford, and the Yale School of Drama (MFA). 
 

Lecturer, Theatre Arts and Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University; and Director of Drama, Far Brook School, NJ.   Previously taught at University of the Arts (Philadelphia) and St Ann’s School (NYC).

JESSICA PARKS

JESSICA PARKS has been working for NJ Repertory Company since 2003 and has been the resident scenic designer and prop designer since 2010. Set designs at NJ Rep include: The Promotion, Memoirs of a Forgotten Man, Wolf at the Door, The Jag, Swimming at the Ritz, Happy and Broomstick. NYC credits at 59E59 St. Theaters include: Michael Tucker’s Fern Hill, Butler, The Housewives of Mannheim, Jericho and Poetic License. Other credits include: The End of Hester at Theatre Row NYC, Bretch:Call & Response at Paradise Factory Theatre and Dan Lauria's Dinner with the Boys at Theater Row NYC.

ISABELLA ROSSI

ISABELLA ROSSI (they/she) is a multi-disciplined theater artist located in NJ/NY. Fascinated by worldbuilding and personification of character, Isabella enjoys expression through costume design and direction in both theatrical and Opera productions. Exploring worlds of the absurd and dramatic. A recent graduate of Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts 2025, BFA, Theater Arts Concentration in Costume Design. Visit her website at https://www.isabellarossi.net/

JILL NAGLE

JILL NAGLE is the Resident Lighting Designer at NJ Rep. Partial NJ Rep include: Dinner with the Boys, Closure, Butler, Broomstick, Happy, Puma, Night Train, and Noir. Partial NYC designs include: Butler, A Stool at the End of the Bar, Jericho, Poetic License, Housewives of Mannheim, The Man in Room 306, The Dishwashers (59E59), Love Therapy (Daryl Roth), Dinner with the Boys (The Acorn) The Bully Pulpit (Samuel Beckett), Do Not Go Gentle (Harold Clurman), Count Down (Bank Street), In the Parlance (The Pulse), Carrera (La Mama E.T.C.), South Beach Rapture (Dixon Place). Other venues: John Engeman Theatre, Chester Theatre, Luna Stage, Playwrights of New Jersey, Montclair State University, New Jersey City University. www.jillnagle.net

NICK SIMONE

NICK SIMONE has been a performing arts educator in NYC for the past 18 years. He has worked at various music schools for all ages and has been a teaching artist for Roundabout Theatre Company, Apollo Theater, and Sundog Theatre specializing in sound design and musical disciplines. As a musician, Nick plays multiple instruments and has also performed at the renowned Carnage Hall and at the Metropolitan Opera House. Nick has also worked as sound designer and as an audio engineer for many productions such as: US: A Progressive Love Story, The Norwegians, North To Maine, IYOM, Wild Children, Time Travelers Trip To Niagara, The Diorama, Shakespeare's Hamlet at Bryant Park, Extreme Weather, Don’t Dress For Dinner, Villainous Company, Capone, & Romantic Trapezoid. Nick is also affiliated with MTV's production Artist to Watch series as a sound assistant. He is currently the chief audio engineer for Fenix Studios in Staten Island, NY and has credits on multiple albums, films, broadcasts, streaming, music videos and mobile apps. He has worked with up and coming talent and platinum selling artists in different genres from Lorde to Coldplay.

ROSE RICCARDI*

Riccardi has been a NJ Rep Company member since 1998. She has worked on over a hundred productions for the Rep including: The Housewives of Mannheim (Alan Brody), The Little Hours (David Bucknam), Fern Hill (Michael Tucker), Dead Ringer (Gino Dilorio), Naked By The River (Michael Folie), Adult Fiction (Brian Mori), Bookends (Katharine Houghton, Dianne Adams, James McDowell), Whores (Lee Blessing), Donna Orbits The Moon (Ian August), Find Me A Voice (SuzAnne Barabas, Gabor Barabas) Off-Broadway credits include: Songbird by Michael Kimmel and Lauren Pritchard, Butler by Richard Strand, The Violin (Dan McCormick), The Road to Damascus (Tom Dulack), Terms of Endearment (Dan Gordon), Poetic License (Jack Canfora), On A Stool At The End Of The Bar (Robert Callely), A Better Place (Wendy Beckett), Murder In The First (Dan Gordon), Martin Luther on Trial (Chris Cragin-Day), Phoenix (Scott Organ), In The Pocket “A Sideman’s Tale" (James Manos Jr. and Mark Rivera) Rose has also been a proud member of Actors’ Equity since 1999.

IAN DUHART

IAN DUHART is very excited to be a part of this show at NJ Rep. He just finished a run as Sebastian in The Little Mermaid and Gator in Memphis the Musical. He’s honored to be a part of this team, and hopes you all enjoy the show!

BRIAN SNYDER

BRIAN SNYDER has been an artist, carpenter, and prop builder since 2003 for several companies in NY and NJ including The Art Department, PVS, Stone Dog Studios, Two River Theater Company, and NJ Repertory Company. After 4 years of teaching Visual Arts and Stagecraft at Lakewood High School he returned to the world of freelance and made his debut as Technical Director and Master Carpenter here at NJ Rep in 2014.

JAMES LOCKHART

JAMES LOCKHART has the pleasure of working as the Master Electrician for NJ Repertory Company. He is a young, vibrant freelance lighting designer & master electrician that has worked in the tri-state. He has a comprehensive set of skills.

SUZANNE BARABAS

SUZANNE BARABAS is the Artistic Director at NJRep. She has directed the world premiere of Pen Pals in NYC and NJ with a rotating cast that includes Catherine Curtin, Sharon Lawrence, Nia Vardalos, Mary Beth Peil, Kate Burton, Pauletta Washington, Nancy McKeon and Johanna Day. Also in NYC at 59E59 Theaters the NY premiere of What Doesn’t Kill You by James Hindman. For NJ Rep, SuzAnne directed the world premiere of Make Believe, The Two Hander (with Jill Eikenberry and Ella Dershowitz), Find Me a Voice (premiere), North Fork (premiere), Immortal Interlude (premiere), Octet (premiere), Till Morning Comes (premiere), Maggie Rose, Getting in Touch With My Inner B*tch (starring Christine Lavin, premiere), The Adjustment, 10% of Molly Snyder, Romulus Linney’s Klonsky & Schwartz, Apostasy (premiere), Women Who Steal, Apple,(U.S. premiere),The Housewives of Mannheim (premiere), Evie’s Waltz, Dead Ringer (premiere), Steven Dietz’s Yankee Tavern, Puma (premiere), Night Train (premiere), Hummingbirds, Just In Time: The Judy Holliday Story, Bakersfield Mist, Annapurna, Happy, Broomstick (premiere), Lucky Me (premiere), Swimming at the Ritz (U.S. premiere), and The Realization of Emily Linder (premiere). SuzAnne directed productions of The Housewives of Mannheim at 59E59 Theater (NYC), Ensemble Theater of Santa Barbara (CA), and Phoenix Theater (Indianapolis). In addition, she directed regional productions of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, The Fantasticks, The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd, Cabaret, Shaw’s Heartbreak House, A.R. Gurney’s The Perfect Party, Marsha Norman’s ‘Night Mother, Philip Barry’s The Philadelphia Story, Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy, Mark Dunn’s Belles, Lee Blessing’s Down the Road among others. She is a member of Actors Equity Association, BMI, the Dramatists Guild, and SDC.

EVAN BERGMAN

Over the years Evan has directed over 15 productions for New Jersey Rep, many of them world premieres. He has also directed world premieres at many other theater including Ensemble Studio Theater, The Duke, Daryl Roth, Barrington Stage, Jane Street, Playwrights Horizon, Arclight, The Tiffaney and 59E59. His film work includes the recent short film “Day Zero” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival Dig A Hole, Find A Finger, Palm Springs and Newport Beach International Film Festivals and his Documentary for Warner Music Group featuring Roger Daltry (The Who), Philip Bailey (Earth Wind and Fire). Currently he is in pre-production for a new feature film about the life of Oyster Farmers called “Life on the Flats”

JOEL STONE

JOEL STONE was formerly the artistic director of Off-Off Broadway’s The Theatre Asylum. On May 17, 1998, his play Horrors of Doctor Moreau (published by Samuel French, Inc.) became the first script-in-hand reading to debut at New Jersey Repertory Company. The following year, his short play The Age of Miracles premiered at NJ Rep and went on to be a finalist at the Samuel French Short Play Festival. Also in 1999, NJ Rep presented “Written in Stone”, an evening of Joel’s short plays, including The Speck of Dust in Bugsy’s Eye (featuring the late Kim Hunter). In 2001, he co-produced “One Night With You”, a collection of six short plays about Elvis, created exclusively by NJ Rep playwrights. From 2000-2002, he was the Theatre Education Coordinator for the New York City Board/Department of Education. He has written and directed for all four NJ Rep Theatre Brut Festivals, including Prairie Dogs (2004), Abilene (2004), Trouble on the PATH (2005), Seven4Seven (2006), and The Purgatory of Charlie Hustle (2008). In 2012, Joel directed the acclaimed MainStage production of Gino DiIorio’s Release Point. In 2014, Joel was the Director/Mentor of the award-winning NJ Rep Young Playwrights Project, “Shelter From The Storm”, in which local high school students wrote short plays about Hurricane Sandy. For the past three years, he has been an adjunct professor of playwriting at Monmouth University and recently taught the initial playwriting class for New Jersey Repertory Company’s West End Arts Center. Currently, he is the literary manager for NJ Rep. He was recently commissioned by NJPAC to write The Calling, his first full-length play in decades.

JT PUBLIC RELATIONS

Founded by Joe Trentacosta, JT Public Relations is a full-service entertainment public relations firm. For over 20 years, they have handled over 300 projects on Broadway, Off-Broadway, festival productions, industry readings, films in release, film festivals, non-profit organizations, and special events. Current projects include Anthony Rapp’s Without You, Dog Man The Musical, and the international hit Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo. Theater companies include AMT Theater, Houses on the Moon, Royal Family Productions, TheaterWorksUSA, Theater Breaking Through Barriers, and Urban Stages. Joe is currently developing a Broadway-bound musical about the Six Triple Eighth Postal Battalion with Holly Garman and Blair Underwood.

GABOR BARABAS

For NJ Rep, GABOR BARABAS has produced over 80 world premieres including Ends, A World I Never Made, North Fork, Octet, The Girl With the High Rouge, In Search of Red River Dog, Naked by the River, An Unhappy Woman, Immortal Interlude, Getting in Touch With My Inner B*tch, Till Morning Comes, Slave Shack, Panama, Big Boys, Winterizing the Summer House, Piaf in Vienna, The Color of Flesh, Emil, Touch of Rapture, Beyond Gravity, A Child’s Guide to Innocence, The Good Daughter, Apostasy, The Best Man, Tilt Angel, Love and Murder, tempOdyssey, October 1962, Place Setting, And Her Hair Went With Her, Engaging Shaw, Poetic License, The Housewives of Mannheim, Dead Ringer, Exposure Time (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), Character Assassins, The Tangled Skirt (nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America), Puma, Night Train, The Judy Holliday Story, Jericho (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), American Stare, Release Point, Esther’s Moustache, Ants, Noir, Happy, Broomstick, Admit One, A View of the Mountains, Butler (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), Lucky Me, Dinner with the Boys, Angels and Ministers of Grace, and the musicals Immortal Interlude,Bookends, The Little Hours (recipient of and Edgerton New American Plays Award), and Date of Lifetime. His book Miklos Radnoti: The Complete Poetry in Hungarian and English was recently published by McFarland.

DEE DEE IRWIN

DEE DEE IRWIN joined NJRep in 2022, bringing with her almost 30 years of experience in the performing arts and live events industry. Prior to coming east, Dee Dee spent nine years as the Director of Marketing and Communications/Associate Producer for Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA, and 12 years as part of the Broadway in Hollywood team for Nederlander’s beautiful Pantages theatre in Hollywood, CA. Dee Dee can also be found playing with puppets as part of the gang that produces "Brian Henson’s Puppet Up! Uncensored" at the legendary Jim Henson Company Lot. While in Laguna Beach, Dee Dee served as chair for the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance, celebrated the theatre's 100th birthday, and produced much of the virtual programming during the pandemic. Originally from Los Angeles, Dee Dee holds an MA in Humanities, a BA in Theatre, and is a proud member of IATSE 857.