THE BOOKSTORE

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Cast

Creative Team

NJRep Staff

Gabor Barabas, Executive Producer

SuzAnne Barabas, Artistic Director

Evan Bergman, Associate Artistic Director

Dee Dee Irwin, Managing Director

Joel Stone, Literary Manager

Jessica Parks, Production Manager and Resident Scenic Designer

Patricia Doherty, Resident Costume Designer

Jill Nagle, Resident Lighting Designer

Nick Simone, Resident Sound Designer

Brian Snyder, Technical Director and Facilities Manager

Joe Trentacosta, Public Relations

Kristin Pfeifer*, Production Stage Manager

Rose Riccardi*, Production Stage Manager

James Lockhart, Master Electrician

Janey Huber, Artistic Associate & Assistant Lighting Designer

Rachael Malloy, Assistant Stage Manager

Ian Duhart, Running Crew

Karen Wharmby, House Manager and Volunteer Coordinator​​​​​​ 

Donna Stiles, Production and Administration Assistant

David Becerra, Head Custodian

ArtsFMS, Finance Company

Jephens Technology, IT Consultants

John Pocalyko, Head of Finance Committee

Dee Cantalice, Theatre Ambassador

Mare Akana, Gallery Curator

Andrea Phox, Photographer

Gail Winar, Artistic Associate

Blake Robinson, Scenic Artist/Props Assistant

Gisela Nucciarone, Carpenter

Special Thanks

LONG BRANCH FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Kate Angelo

Tonya Garcia

Nekesha Marshall

Meet the Company

QUENTIN CHISHOLM

Spencer

QUENTIN CHISHOLM (he/him) (Spencer). Select acting credits include: Theatre - Almost, Maine (HB Playwrights Theatre); Bulrusher (Dartmouth College), Faith, Hope and Charity (Dartmouth College); TV/Film - West (dir. Micah Stuart), The Sound the Sea Makes (dir. Maria Paula Quesada), Keepsake (dir. Rachel Patrice), as well as an upcoming pilot from Carlos Cardona. Quentin has studied acting at Terry Knickerbocker Studio, HB Studio, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and Atlantic Acting School. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, where he was also a Division-1 soccer player. He would like to give special thanks to his family, as well as the teaching of Celestine Rae, TKS faculty, Brenna Palughi, the Hagen Core faculty at HB Studio, and Bonnie Shumofsky Bloom and Lucius Robinson at Stewart Talent.

ARI DERAMBAKHSH*

Brittany

ARI DERAMBAKHSH (Brittany) Recent Credits: English (The Old Globe), English (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Twelfth Night and The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre), Education: BFA in Acting from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare’s Globe. Ari is bicoastal to NYC and LA. website: arideram.com ; @arideram on Instagram.

ARIELLE GOLDMAN*

Abby

ARIELLE GOLDMAN (Abby) is an actress, writer & filmmaker. She was recently seen on stage in Lincoln Center's world premier play Let's Call Her Patty alongside Rhea Perlman and Leslie Kritzer, as well as in George Street Playhouse’s world premiere of The Pianist adapted by Emily Mann. Arielle’s most recent short film Kiss My Ass, a pro-abortion inter-generational ghost story, won the Team Choice Award at the 2023 Through Women’s Eyes International Film Festival and screened at Bushwick Film Festival and the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival. Her first short film, Day One, was featured in The Future of Film is Female, Nitehawk Shorts Festival, New York Lift Off Festival and NoBudge. She leads the film Consider the Lilies directed by Cristina Spina (Best Short, Rome Film Festival) and Sarah Baskin’s upcoming short I Want To Go To Moscow. Previous television credits include: Genevieve Everidge in The Knick directed by Steven Soderbergh, Fishkill directed by Bob Balaban, and recurring as Eliana on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Arielle received her MFA from the NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program and her BFA from The University of Michigan. She paints in watercolor. www.ariellegoldman.com

JANET ZARISH*

Carey

JANET ZARISH (Carey) New York theater credits include leading roles at The Public Theater, The Roundabout, Primary Stages, Minetta Lane Theater, Harold Clurman Theater, The John Houseman Theatre, The Pearl Theatre, New York Stage and Film, and The Daryl Roth. Regional Theatre credits include Yale Rep, The Long Wharf Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, The McCarter Theatre, Sundance, The Old Globe, ACT Seattle, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, Hartford Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Humana Festival at Actor’s Theatre Of Louisville. Film includes: Brooklyn To Manhattan, Life In Flight, The Zoo, Season Of Youth, The Next Big Thing, Object Of My Affection, Malcolm X, Mystic Pizza, Without A Trace, Danny. Television includes: The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Forever, Law & Order, Mad About You, Seinfeld (Rolling Stone’s “Top Ten Seinfelds” list) The Client, Homicide, NY Undercover, The Webster Report, Lee Halpern on One Life To Live, The Webster Report, Love and War amongst others. She is Head of Acting at NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and directs at NYU, The Juilliard School and Ensemble Studio Theater where she is a member.

MICHAEL WALEK

Playwright

MICHAEL WALEK (playwright). A proud alumni of the emerging writer’s group Youngblood, his play, Have You Met Jane Goodall & Her Mother will premiere at Ensemble Studio Theatre in March 2025. The Bookstore is his first play.

WILLIAM CARDEN

Director

WILLIAM CARDEN (Director) served as Artistic Director of the Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) for 15 years (2007-2022). In 2015 EST was given a Special Drama Desk Award for its unwavering commitment to developing new American plays. At EST he directed productions of Against the Hillside by Sylvia Khoury, The Good Muslim by Zakiyyah Alexander, Please Continue by Frank Basloe, Headstrong by Patrick Link, Lenin’s Embalmers by Vern Thiessen, Pidgeon, PTSD and Zero by Tommy Smith and Lucy by Damien Atkins. He was artistic director of the HB Playwrights Foundation for eleven years where he directed the Off-Broadway productions of Mrs. Klein and Collected Stories starring Uta Hagen. His many other productions there include Horton Foote’s The Habitation of Dragons, Burnt Piano by Justin Fleming and Voir Dire by Joe Sutton. He directed The Dew Point at Summer Play Festival, The Young Girl and the Monsoon at Playwrights Horizons, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Stratford Festival in Canada. As an actor he played leading roles Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Circle Rep, WPA, and EST and also worked at numerous regional theatres including Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, Huntington, Humana Festival, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. On Broadway, he created the title role in the original, award-winning production of Short Eyes by Miguel Piñero.

JESSICA PARKS

Resident Scenic Designer/Props Designer

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.

SUZANNE CHESNEY

Costume Designer

SUZANNE CHESNEY is a Brooklyn based costume designer with two decades of experience in theatre and television. Most recent NYC production: The Christine Jorgensen Show (59 E59th). Suzanne is a member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre where she has designed numerous world premieres including Photograph 51 by Anna Zeigler, Isaac’s Eye by Lucas Hnath, and Travisville by William Jackson Harper. Regional credits include In Every Generation (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley); The Play that Goes Wrong, The Wolves, Talley's Folly, Next to Normal, To Kill A Mockingbird, Blithe Spirit, and Turn of the Screw (Syracuse Stage); Steel Magnolias, Clybourne Park, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Humans, The Glass Menagerie, Between Riverside and Crazy (Pittsburgh Public Theatre); Third, Degage, Chicago and A Christmas Carol (The Hangar Theatre). www.SuzanneChesney.com https://www.michaelmooreagency.com

JILL NAGLE

Resident Lighting Designer

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

Resident Sound Design

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*

Production Stage Manager

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.

RACHAEL MALLOY

Assistant Stage Manager

RACHAEL MALLOY is very excited to be starting their career with NJ Rep. Previous credit highlights include: 7 Deadly Sins NYC with Tectonic Theatre Project (Show Operator) and Northampton Community College’s Summer Theatre (Tech Intern). College theatre: Head Over Heels (Assistant Stage Manager), FAME (Stage Manager), Into The Woods (Assistant Stage Manager), Cabaret (Stage Manager).

BRIAN SNYDER

Technical Director/Facilities Manager

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

Master Electrician

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.

JANEY HUBER

Assistant Lighting Designer

Janey began her relationship at NJ Rep in 2004 as a patron & quickly became a subscriber: “They had me at Whores!” Janey brought close to 30 years of administrative experience to her 5-year role as Managing Director and is thrilled to remain in the NJ Rep family as Artistic Associate. Her previous theater management position was as Operations Director of Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, NJ. Janey has also been a Quality Assurance Consultant in healthcare since 1988 including 18 years at the Reading Birth & Women’s Center in PA and 10 years at the Frontier School of Midwifery in Kentucky. She served as Chief Financial Officer and then Executive Director of the Institute of Midwifery, Women, & Health, and Clinical Site Coordinator of The Midwifery Institute, both at Philadelphia University. She also served as the Director of Patient Services for a large Planned Parenthood affiliate in Pennsylvania for 2 years and for 11 years prior to that, worked at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA as a biology professor; serving as Academic Dean during her last 5 years at the college. Her BA and MS degrees, from East Stroudsburg University, are in aquatic biology.

MCCORKLE CASTING LTD.

Casting Agent

Pat McCorkle, CSA, Jeffrey Dreisbach, CSA McCorkle Casting, Ltd. has handled hundreds of projects in film, television and theater. Founded in 1979 by Pat McCorkle, the company has earned a reputation for energy, creativity, and the keen ability to translate a director's vision into reality. Having cast everything from Hollywood mega-productions to small regional theaters, McCorkle and her staff have developed a vast talent network extending from working stage actors to superstars. The company has also developed a name for bold and unexpected ideas and for the discovery of new talent. Several of McCorkle cast members have garnered SAG, ACE, Tony, and Emmy awards/nominations. A few highlights of McCorkle's track record include an Emmy nomination for "Californication", Linda Hunt's Oscar-winning role in The Year of Living Dangerously; the pool of undiscovered young actors - Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Brendan Fraser, and Chris O'Donnell - selected for Stanley Jaffe's School Ties; and a long list of people who were "tagged" by McCorkle early in their careers, including Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Skeet Ulrich, and Calista Flockhart.

JT PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR/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.

JOEL STONE

Literary Manager

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.

DEE DEE IRWIN

Managing Director

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. Special shout out to the love of her life, her dog Pickle, who you might see roaming the theatre and giving his opinion on, well, pretty much everything.

EVAN BERGMAN

Associate Artistic Director

Over the years Evan has directed over 15 productions for New Jersey Rep, many of them world premieres. He is extremely proud of the body of work and the theaters ability to identify a wide range of talented playwrights deserving to have their plays produced. 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 and was called” A cautionary tale, perfectly realized” by Oscar award winning Director James Ivory. 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 he wrote about the life of Oyster Farmers called Life on the Flats which started principle filming in the fall of 2023.

SUZANNE BARABAS

Director/ Artistic Director, NJRep

SUZANNE BARABAS has been the Artistic Director of NJ Rep for the past 25 years. SuzAnne is a member of Actors Equity Association, the Dramatist Guild, and the Society of Directors & Choreographers.

GABOR BARABAS

Executive Producer

For NJ Rep, he 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.

NJRep Thanks the Following for Their Support

The Shubert Foundation, MacMillan Family Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Stone Foundation of New Jersey, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, OceanFirst Foundation, Manasquan Bank Philanthropic Fund, Investors Bank Foundation, Community Foundation of New Jersey, Jewish Communal Fund, Darien Family Fund, Citizens Philanthropic Foundation, The Smart Family Foundation, NJEDA, The New Jersey Cultural Trust. 

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