So that we can continue to engage our patrons with cultural experiences, Cape May Stage is dedicated to providing virtual and digital programming until we are able to welcome audiences again.
Our 2020 Virtual Reading and Lecture Series will include a variety of topics and guest readers for our patrons and community members to enjoy individually or together. Our diverse line-up of theatre, Lectures, and Broadway Stars will tickle the fancy of almost anyone. CMS stage is committed to making theatre inclusive for all. We truly believe that creativity flourishes the best when everyone is included. Though our digital programs we are able to provide a platform that allows us to break down the barriers and create a world without labels and celebrate our differences.
Special Digital Events
Victoria's Secrets
With a reign lasting 63 years, you can be sure that Queen Victoria has a few secrets to share… and she is finally letting loose. Written and Performed by Candace O’Donnell, Victoria’s Secrets delves into the less known aspects of Queen Victoria’s Historic life. Filmed on location at the Emlen Physick Estate in Cape May, New Jersey with special assistance from Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture).
All proceeds benefit Cape May Stage!
For many years, Candace O’Donnell juggled teaching English, performing in eight different theaters in Lancaster, PA (most notably the Fulton Opera House) and mothering four children and eight grandchildren. Her favorite role was Driving Miss Daisy, but when she retired from Elizabethtown College, Candace began researching, writing, and performing historic monologues. Perhaps you saw her one-woman Mary Lincoln at the Chalfonte Hotel or her Sarah Bernhardt at Cape May Stage.
Rent Victoria’s Secrets for only $25.00 for a 1 week rental or Purchase for only $40.00 and have it forever.
All proceeds benefit Cape May Stage!
Adam Pascal: “So Far… A Musical Retrospective”
Join us for this intimate acoustic performance with Adam Pascal as he tells the story of his Broadway journey so far. From his first auditions and how he got into musical theatre to his many starring roles on Broadway, Adam shares performances and inside secrets from all of his hit shows. This special “bedroom performance” was created for Cape May Stage and isn’t available anywhere else. This Virtual Event is Available October 2nd but you can Pre-Order it Today.
Rent Adam Pascal: “So Far… A Musical Retrospective” for only $25.00 for a 1 week Rental
Rent this Virtual Event Today!
Adam Pascal: “So Far.. A Musical Retrospective from Cape May Stage on Vimeo.
YOU’RE ALL THE WORLD TO ME: A Musical Travelogue from Porter to Puccini performed by Anna Bergman
YOU’RE ALL THE WORLD TO ME:
A Musical Travelogue from Porter to Puccini
Available Now
ANNA BERGMAN, Vocalist
HOWARD BREITBART, Pianist
BRYAN ASHBY: Videographer
ALEX RYBECK, PHIL HALL, JOSEPH THALKEN,
NATHAN MARTIN, HOWARD BREITBART: Musical Arrangers
JEFF HARNAR, Creative Consultant
ANNA BERGMAN “thrills you with the sheer aural sensation of her voice” (THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL) and has been hailed by THE WASHINGTON POST as “a vocal citizen
of the world who triumphs in everything from Broadway tunes to opera arias and the
sultry innuendoes of the cabaret chanteuse.” She is an acclaimed cross-over vocalist
and an actor who enjoys a career in concerts, theatre, opera, cabaret, with music
festivals, symphony orchestras, on recordings and on television.
Rent this Virtual Performance for only $25.00 for a 1 Week Rental
UPCOMING VIRTUAL READINGS
November 12th at 6:00 PM
Kurt and Jess are waiting to board a train at Grand Central, when Jess says she doesn’t really want to go away for the weekend. Kurt is annoyed. Jess agreed to the trip weeks ago. Why did she wait until now to say something? Finally, Jess admits that it has something to do with her husband.
November 19th at 6:00 PMRene opens her trailer door to her down-and-out sister Cerise, and her niece Gwen. Rene arranges for them both to join her as guards at the female, and children immigration detention center that provides the livelihood for most people in their small town. At first, Gwen shows compassion for the detainees, refuses to sign off on the death-by-neglect of a sick Haitian infant, and struggles to hold on to her humanity. But the threat of losing her place in her family is too great.
Virtual Reading Library
Animals Out Of Paper
When a world-renowned origami artist opens her studio to a teenage prodigy and his school teacher, she discovers that life and love can’t be arranged neatly in this drama about finding the perfect fold.
Poe Reading
Virtual Reading of Poe’s Classic Works
What is Halloween without a little Edgar Allen Poe? Roy performs some of Poe’s classic works: “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Rave
Best of Enemies
Best of Enemies
By Mark St. Germain
Directed by Roy Steinberg
Virtual Reading: October 22nd @ 6:00 PM
Best of Enemies is a full-length drama by Mark St. Germain. Inspired by a true story. In 1971, a high-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan is pitted against an African-American Civil Rights activist over the desegregation of schools. This drama reveals a universal truth: all people, no matter their differences, are capable of change.
Best of Enemies exposes the poison of prejudice and the beauty of friendship. Based on the best-selling book by Osha Gray Davidson, Best of Enemies is the true story about the relationship between C.P. Ellis (a Grand Cyclops of the KKK) and Ann Atwater (an African-American single mother turned civil rights activist) during the desegregation of the North Carolina, schools in 1971. Best of Enemies exposes the poison of prejudice in the hearts of Atwater and Ellis who, by facing each other, are forced to face the worst, and best, in themselves. It is a modern-day parable of transformation, triumph and hope, and a real life example of love’s winning over fear.
Best of Enemies premiered in 2011 at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Since then the play has been produced at professional theatres across the US and has been mounted by colleges and community theatres.
Cast:
C.P. Ellis played by Curt Foy
Mary Ellis played by Jennifer Terrell
Ann Atwater played by Noelle Lusane
Bill Riddick played by Anthony Simone
Radio Announcer played by Roy Steinberg
Stage Directions Mitchell Malnati
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Roy shares some of the articles he found amusing while being cooped during lockdown.
Adored You
Ado
red You
By Rachel Lynett
Directed by Rachel Lynett
Lila and Alex meet in a coffee shop. Over the next three years (in a single day), they try to form a life together, with all the ups and downs that comes with being in love.
Cast:
Stephanie Bignault as Lila
Safiya Harris as Alex
ADRIFT by Richard Alleman
Adrift
By Richard Alleman
Directed By Anthony Newfield
Adrift by Richard Alleman, Featuring two-time Tony nominee Alison Fraser (Secret Garden, Romance/Romance) along with Glauco Araujo, Karen Archer, and Anthony Newfield.
Adrift exposes a day in the life of a wealthy WASP couple trying to escape the horrors of a dystopian world by living full-time aboard an ultra-luxurious cruise ship-turned-condo colony.
Playwright, Richard Alleman says “I’ve been intrigued by the ads for cruise ships that cater to the super-rich who own their accommodations and live on board year-round,” “Like a floating gated community, these ships promise luxurious insulation from the real world outside. But what would it be like living on one–especially in a dystopian world? I tried to explore that possibility in Adrift.”
This short play was originally produced at the 2019 New York Frigid Festival by Poked Bear Theater. Asya Gorovits, writing in Theater is Easy, lauded Alleman in her review of the play’s Frigid Festival run saying that he “uses his various verbal weapons skillfully,” wielding “absurdist horror” to go “mercilessly after the ignorant…. I had a great time, laughing while being simultaneously horrified.”
*This reading is no longer available for viewing*
Cast:
Alison Fraser as Betsy Wentworth
Anthony Newfield as Todd Wentworth
Glauco Araujo as Flavio
Karen Archer as Captain/Narrator
America's Sexiest Couple by Ken Levine
Virtual Reading of America’s Sexiest Couple
By Ken Levine
Directed by Ken Levine
Reading performed by Dee Dee Rescher, Andy Barnicle, and Jeremy Konopka
Stage Directions by Mitchell Malnati
Two actors, who were “America’s Sexiest Couple” on a popular ‘80s sitcom reunite for the first time in 30 years. They face a lifetime of unresolved issues, longings, resentments, and regrets. Plus, the network wants to reboot the show. Career and personal aspirations collide. Professionally and personally, where do they go from here?
American Son by Christopher-Demos Brown
Virtual Reading of American Son
By Christopher Demos-Brown
Directed by Roy Steinberg
The play, which had its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company in 2016, follows a mother engaged in a search for her missing son at a Florida police station in the middle of the night.
Reading Performed by:
Kendra Ellis-Connor……….….……Noelle LuSane
Scott Connor………………..……….Michael Basile
Officer Paul Larkin…..……………..Stephen James Anthony
Lieutenant John Stokes…………….Art McFarland
To View Reading of AMERICAN SON click link below to be directed to Cape May Stage’s Digital Theater on Vimeo!
Constellations
Virtual Reading of Constellations
By Nick Payne
Directed by Roy Steinberg
Nick Payne’s beautiful play, Constellations, explores how even the smallest change in our lives can dramatically alter the course we take. It is a spellbinding exploration of love, science, quantum theory, and infinite possibility for heartbreak or for hope.
To View Reading of CONSTELLATIONS click link below to be directed to Cape May Stage’s Digital Theater on Vimeo!
Freud's Last Session by Mark St. Germain
Freud’s Last Session
By Mark St. Germain
Directed by Roy Steinberg
Freud’s Last Session centers on legendary psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud who invites the young, rising Oxford Don C.S. Lewis to his home in London. On the day England enters World War Two, Freud and Lewis clash about love, sex, the existence of God, and the meaning of life, just weeks before Freud took his own life. Freud’s Last Session is a deeply touching play filled with humor and exploring the minds, hearts and souls of two brilliant men addressing the greatest questions of all time.
Starring:
Joel Rooks as Dr. Sigmund Freud
Mark Irish as C.S. Lewis
Gravediggers by Dan McCormick
Virtual Reading of Gravediggers
By Dan McCormick
Directed By Roy Steinberg
Reading performed by Roy Steinberg and Mitchell Malnati,
Stage Directions by Marlena Lustik
At the onset of the pandemic currently affecting our world, two gravediggers work overtime, wondering how this all started , how it will end, and discover they have more in common than they originally thought. The secret they discover will surprise you.
Happy By Alan Zweibel
In Happy by Alan Zweibel (“SNL,” Curb Your Enthusiasm,” 700 Sundays with Billy Crystal) a baseball fan makes a pilgrimage to the home of a former baseball star who is now a janitor in Delray Beach, Florida and asks him to sign a very special ball. After a fair amount of humor and misunderstanding, the power of baseball to bond fathers, sons and men emerges.
Lines in the Dust by Nikkole Salter
Aired: September 17, 2020
Lines in the Dust tells the story of the lengths a mother will go through to ensure a better future for her daughter and explores the issue of separate and unequal schooling. Denitra, a mother and Newark resident seeks to send her daughter to a better school in Millburn, which seems like a risk worth taking, but may end up requiring a bigger sacrifice than she could have imagined.
Lines in the Dust explores the injustices of a public school system where the quality of your child’s education can depend solely on your street address. Originally commissioned by Luna Stage to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Brown vs Board of Education, the play reveals the persistent racial inequities defining public education in 21st century America.
Cast:
Dr. Beverly Long – Tasha R. Williams
Denitra Morgan – Nicolette Lynch
Michael DiMaggio – Parker Smith
*This Reading is no longer available for streaming*
The Whipping Man By Matthew Lopez
Aired: August 27,2020
The Whipping Man
By Matthew Lopez
Directed by Roy Steinberg
The Whipping Man examines a vital, but not often spoken of period in American history, the post-Civil War South, as former slaves and slavemasters struggled to acclimate to the new emancipated social order. The play is set in Richmond, Virginia in April of 1865. The Confederacy has just surrendered and throughout the South, slaves are being freed and soldiers are returning home. Caleb DeLeon, grievously wounded and starving, returns to his family home in Richmond to discover an empty house. Only Simon, the old family slave, remains. That same day, John, another former slave of the DeLeons’, also returns. The three must navigate their new relationships while settling with demons from the past, culminating in a Passover Seder where former master and slaves must decide where honesty and loyalty will lie.
Two Henrys
Virtual Reading of Two Henrys
By Kenneth Jones
Directed by Roy Steinberg
In the dead of winter, Henry flies from New York to Florida to offer condolences at the funeral of a father figure he never knew. But as the booze flows at the wake, are the surviving widow and her grown daughter ready to raise a glass to the unexpected guest? Set in 2012, somewhere between the dusk of the worst days of the AIDS crisis and the dawn of marriage equality, Two Henrys is a humor-laced drama about guilt and grief, perceptions and prejudices and the urge to find family
Reading Performed by Marlena Lustik, Barry Phillips, and Annie Edgerton
Stage Directions by Mitchell Malnati
*This reading is no longer available for viewing*
A Song at Twilight by Noel Coward
Virtual Reading of A Song at Twilight
by Noel Coward
Directed by Roy Steinberg
Reading Performed by Roy Steinberg, Marlena Lustik, and Mitchell Malnati,
Stage Directions by Mitchell Malnati
A Song at Twilight is a play in two acts by Noël Coward. It is one of a trio of plays collectively entitled Suite in Three Keys, all of which are set in the same suite in a luxury hotel in Switzerland. The play depicts an elderly writer confronted by his former mistress with facts about his past life that he would prefer to forget.
Cape May Stage always looks to support emerging playwrights and their new plays. Through readings we are able to present these brand new plays to the public. We always offer our readings as donation based to allow everyone to enjoy these plays. Any donations can help offset the costs of these readings and allow us to present even more new and exciting plays!
Click Below if you would like to donate to Cape May Stage.
Donate Now!
Virtual Reading is supported in part by Stages Online, a partnership with New Jersey Theatre Alliance to bring theatre content into homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. www.njtheatrealliance.org
Stages Online is made possible by generous funding from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, Bank of America, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, OceanFirst Foundation; the George A. Ohl, Jr. Trust; New Jersey Historical Commission; and Fund for the New Jersey Blind.”
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