Spring 2022
The Spitfire Grill
March 31 – April 3, 2022
Thursday – Saturday at 7:30 pm
Sunday at 2:00 pm
Directed by Ellie Mooney
Walter K. Gordon Theater
Rutgers–Camden Theater celebrates spring with a heartwarming musical, The Spitfire Grill, opening on March 31. It tells the story of Percy Talbott, a feisty parolee who follows her dreams to a small town where she finds herself working at the local diner. It is an inspirational tale of redemption, perseverance, and family that The New York Times calls “a soul-satisfying work of theatrical resourcefulness.”
The show is directed and choreographed by Ellie Mooney, part-time lecturer of theater and dance; the musical direction is by Chris Burcheri, who regularly conducts the musicals at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre. The cast of Rutgers–Camden students is headed by sophomore theater major Taylor Eccles as Percy.
Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors, alumni, and Rutgers employees, and $8 for students; admission is free for Rutgers students with ID. Tickets can be purchased at the theater box office one hour prior to showtime, in advance at the Impact Booth in the Campus Center, or online.To book online: https://our.show/rutgerscamdentheater
All attendees must comply with current Covid protocols. For updates: coronavirus.rutgers.edu
Past Productions:
At Rutgers–Camden, we have a long-standing history of staging diverse, significant works of theater for the benefit of our students and audiences. Here are some of our most recent productions:
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE
by William Shakespeare, Directed by Damon Bonetti
Born Yesterday
The show’s plot, centered on political corruption, is as relevant today as it was when the show originally opened on Broadway in 1946. Harry Brock, a disreputable multi-millionaire junk dealer, arrives in Washington D.C. with his naïve girlfriend, Billie Dawn, to cut a crooked deal with a U.S. senator. With the help of an idealistic reporter, Paul Verrall, Billie wises up and fights back to end the corruption.
“What ultimately makes the play work is its optimism, the notion that informed citizens really can make a difference,” according to the director, Kenneth Elliott, an associate professor of theater and chair of Visual, Media and Performing Arts. “It is a joy to watch Billie’s journey from apathy to activism.”
The cast of 12 Rutgers–Camden Students is led by Shaheera Hussein as the ex-chorus girl Billie Dawn, Josh Louis as Harry Brock, and Keith Schlapffer as Paul Verral. Sean Tomasetto is Brock’s drunken lawyer. JaRell Johnson and Sydney Johnson play the corrupt senator and his wife.
The set designer is James Mobley, an assistant teaching professor of theater; the costume designer is Millie Hiibel, a part-time lecturer of theater.
The Student-Directed Summer Fest
June 25 through 11:45 pm on June 27
The program consists of four one-act comedies: “3 AM Wake-up Call” by E. R. Schultz, directed by senior Rachel Aspen of Deptford; “Poison Control” by Rebecca Gorman O’Neill, directed by senior Chase Dannelly of Tuckerton; “You’re In My Thoughts” by Scott Haan, co-directed by seniors Alexa Nieves of Sicklerville and Ranielle Rudica of Marlton; and “The Vent Button,” also by Scott Haan, directed by junior JaRell Johnson of New Brunswick. The production is produced by Doaa Ouf, a part-time lecturer in theater and a 2020 Rutgers–Camden graduate who has directed three one-acts for the department in previous years.
“I’m happy to be part of bringing more theatre back to the world. This is the first time Rutgers is producing the one act festival in the summer and I think there’s something special to each of these four comedies.” said Ouf.
Costume design is by 2021 graduate Austin Ginsberg of Cherry Hill. Eilis Skamarakas of Bellmawr is the stage manager and Katia Tonczyczyn of Berlin is assistant stage manager.
Rutgers–Camden students in the cast include: Taylor Eccles of Colonia, Sean Tomasetto of Cherry Hill, Syd Johnson of Kinnelon, Josh Louis of Cherry Hill, Jennifer Calay of Philadelphia, and Sonñet Holley of Haddon Township. Two recent Rutgers–Camden alumni, James Ferrell of Camden and Hunter Smith of Medford Lakes, are also in the cast. The cast also features Rowan student Josh Rosenzweig of Deptford, and Illinois Wesleyan University student Ryan Domalewski of Randolph.
Anything Goes
Directed by Kenneth Elliott
“Anything Goes” is a rollicking shipboard romantic comedy with a sparkling score featuring classic tunes such as “I Get a Kick Out of You” and “You’re the Top.” The music and lyrics are by Porter, and the original book is by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse. The new book is by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman.
The cast is picking up where they left off over a year ago. The show was slated to open at Rutgers–Camden in the spring of 2020, but was shut down just three weeks into rehearsal due to the pandemic. Most of last year’s cast has returned for this virtual production, filmed in front of a green screen on the stage of the Walter K. Gordon Theater.
“It’s been a real challenge to put this together while observing COVID-19 protocols,” says director Kenneth Elliott, an associate professor of theater and chair of the Department of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts. “It’s totally different than performing in front of a live audience, but it is still a great experience for the students. They get the opportunity to work in front of a camera and learn an entirely new skill set.”
The film crew is organized by Robert Emmons, an assistant teaching professor and head of the filmmaking program at Rutgers–Camden, staffed with students from his “Advanced Video and Film Production” class. Choreography is by Marissa Barnathan, a part-time lecturer in dance. Stefán Örn Arnarson, an assistant teaching professor and head of the music program, and Soyeon Bin, a part-time lecturer in music, are co-music directors. The myriad period costumes are by Millie Hiibel, a part-time lecturer in theater. Scenic elements and lighting are by James Mobley, an assistant teaching professor of theater. The stage manager is Regina Carson of Collingswood, a 2020 theater alumna.
The cast of 18 Rutgers–Camden students is led by Jenna Guy of Millville as Reno Sweeney, a glamorous evangelist turned tap-dancing nightclub chanteuse. Reno has a crush on Billy Crocker, a young Wall Street broker played by Cory Yhap of Franklin Township, but Billy is in love with debutante Hope Harcourt, played by Shaheera Hussein of Plainsboro. In turn, Hope is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, a wealthy Englishman played by Jarred Sokolowski of Berlin. The cast also includes James Dippold-Ferrell, a 2020 alumnus from Camden as Moonface Martin, “Public Enemy Number 13,” and Rachel Aspen of Deptford as his accomplice, Erma.
She Kills Monsters
She Kills Monsters is a comic adventure into an imaginary world of demon queens and lords of the underworld! Agnes, an average cheerleader, is thrown into the world of cos-play and Dungeons and Dragons as she searches for her lost sister. This version of the play, specifically adapted for our current Zoom world, is full of visual inventiveness and dazzling sword play. She Kills Monsters is a funny and moving play about acceptance and understanding, friendship and heartbreak and learning that you have the power within yourself to fight those very real monsters that hold us back from being fully human.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Directed by Damon Bonetti
Called home from university to find his life turned upside down, his mother remarried and his uncle on the throne, Hamlet must avenge his father’s murder but is paralyzed by the prospect. This classic tragedy of indecision is the story of the most famous, and perhaps the greatest character of western drama.
The Student-Directed One-Act Play Festival
Film, family, and felonies, this year’s Student-Directed One-Act Play Festival has it all—including the premieres of two student-written works.
List of Plays:
Film Appreciation
By David Susman
Directed by Doaa Ouf
The Dinner
By Starla Blatcher
Directed by Courtney Miller
Murder by Midnight
By Jeff Goode
Directed by Doaa Ouf
The Walk
By Matt Fulton
Directed by Hunter Smith
Top Girls by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Paul Bernstein
Hilarious and haunting, Caryl Churchill’s feminist masterpiece, set in Maggie Thatcher’s England, is a wildly innovative play about a country divided by its own ambitions. Marlene has reached the pinnacle of success as the head of the Top Girls Employment Agency—but at what price?
Spring 2019 – The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by Bruce Norris
Music and Lyrics by William Finn
Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Conceived by Rebecca Feldman
Additional Material by Jay Reiss
Originally directed on Broadway by James Lapine
Directed and choreographed by Ellie Mooney
Spring 2019 – Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
Fall 2018 – The Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
The Individuality of Street Lamps by Anna K. Gorisch
Directed by Doaa Ouf
The Lifeboat is Sinking by Shel Silverstein
Directed by Matt Giacomelli
Scheherazade by Emily Roderer
Directed by Brittany Onukwugha
Chow by Katrina Hall
Directed by Katrina Hall
Electric Roses by David Howard
Directed by Jenna Sharples
Fall 2018 – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Adapted by Austin Tichenor
Directed by Damon Bonetti and Charlotte Northeast
Spring 2018 – Avenue Q by Jeff Whitty
Directed & Choreographed by Ellie Mooney
Watch videos of the cast in rehearsal!
Spring 2018 – Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo
Directed by Professor Damon Bonetti
Fall 2017 – The Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Directed by Rutgers—Camden students Eric Zavadksy, Kimmie Starts, Kelsey Brown, John Patouhas, Jenna Sharples, and Hunter Smith
Fall 2017 – The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Professor Paul Bernstein
Spring 2017 – Proof by David Auburn
Directed by Professor Damon Bonetti
Winter 2017 – Twelve Angry Jurors – by Reginald Rose, Adapted by Sherman Sergel
Directed by Professor Paul Bernstein
Fall 2016 – Little Shop of Horrors – Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Music by Alan Menken
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Spring 2016 – Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Winter 2016 – The Shape of Things by Neil LaBute
Directed by Professor Damon Bonetti
Fall 2015 – The Student Directed One-Act Play Festival
Directed by Rutgers–Camden Students Alexis Cabrera, Bill Epstein, and Alex Scheinberg
Fall 2015 – The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
Directed by Jesse Bernstein
Spring 2015 – Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest
A Trivial Comedy for Serious People
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Winter 2015 – The Student Directed One Act Play Festival
Directed by Rutgers–Camden Students: Alexis Cabrera, Katrina Hall, Michael Hess, André Pajarillo, and Alex Scheinberg
Fall 2014 – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Professor Paul Bernstein
Filmic Design by Professor Robert A. Emmons Jr.
Fall 2014 – Hand Me Down the Silver Trumpet
A Red-Hot New Musical which celebrates the legacy of great African-American recording artists of the 1920s and 30s.
Directed and Written by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Music Arrangement and Direction by Professor Stefán Örn Arnarson
Choreography by Sammy Reyes
[SlideDeck2 id=30919]Spring 2014 – Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen
Singing, Dancing, and Revelery inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Musical Direction by Dr. Julianne Baird
Conducted by Prof. Stefán Örn Arnarson
Photo Credits: Bryan Park – Copyright 2014
Winter 2014 – Nickel and Dimed by Joan Holden
Based on Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Eherenreich
Directed by Prof. Aaron Oster
Fall 2013 – You Can’t Take It with You by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Spring 2013 – The Actor’s Nightmare & Other Comedies by Christopher Durang
A Series of One Act Plays Directed by Rutgers–Camden Students Cooper Gorelick, Jake Hufner, & Sean Quinn
Faculty Advisor – Aaron Oster
Winter 2013 – The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Fall 2012 – Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Spring 2012 – A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Fall 2011 – The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Spring 2011 – Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Fall 2010 – Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Spring 2010 – Franz Kafka’s The Trial
Directed by Prof. Paul Berstein
Fall 2009 – Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Spring 2009 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Fall 2008 – Moliere’s Tartuffe
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Spring 2008 – Angels in America, Part I: Millenium Approaches by Tony Kushner
Directed by Dr. Kenneth Elliott
Fall 2007 – Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Technical Direction & Design by Prof. James H. Mobley,
Filmic Depiction by Prof. Robert A. Emmons Jr.
Spring 2007 – The Importance of Being Earnest
Directed by Prof. Larry Biren
Technical Direction by Prof. James H. Mobley
Theater Program – Spring Festival: Student Works
(Original and Student generated theater works, musicians in concert,
some dance, some video, a surprise special guest, an alumni blast
from the past and more.)
Fall 2006 – The Madwoman of Chaillot
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Spring 2006 – Theater Program – Spring Festival
Ensemble Marathon
Spring 2006 – Once Upon a Mattress
Directed by Prof. Larry Biren
Fall 2005 – As You Like It
Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Spring 2005 – Theater Program – Spring Festival
Ensemble Marathon
Spring 2005 – The Passenger List
Written and Directed by Prof. Paul Bernstein
Fall 2004 – Nunsense
Directed by Prof. Martin Dillon
Fall 2004 – A Slight Ache
Directed by student Kyle Jakubowski (senior project)
Spring 2004 – Something’s Afoot
Directed by Prof. Martin Dillon
Fall 2003 – Equus
Directed by student Mat Wright (RUT)
Spring 2003 – Noises Off
Directed by Prof. Larry Biren
Fall 2002 – 110 In The Shade
Directed by Martin Dillon