The Children's Theater of New Jersey

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until i hit the stage

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[Music]

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[Music]

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what's up everybody this is another

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episode of greetings from the garden

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state podcast i'm mike ham we're here in

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net kong new jersey at the growing stage

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the children's theater of new jersey

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with steven frederick steven welcome to

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the show thanks a lot appreciate the

00:53
opportunity i'm excited to be here so we

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were just walking through so this

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building like you told me before this

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has been here since 1919 right that's

01:00
correct yeah and walking through there

01:01
with the murals and everything it's like

01:03
this is a really cool place so yeah it

01:05
you know and uh it wasn't always doesn't

01:08
didn't always look the way that you see

01:09
it today yeah um when we purchased the

01:11
building back in 1995

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we uh

01:15
we were in looking for a theater our

01:17
first uh 13 years as an organization was

01:20
in chester where i grew up as a kid

01:22
um and when i came back from college and

01:25
started the growing stage i you know

01:27
started to write my own hometown yeah

01:30
but it soon became apparent that we had

01:31
kind of outgrown that space it was an

01:33
old school it was actually the school

01:36
that i had graduated eighth grade from

01:37
that they had kind of the town had kind

01:40
of abandoned and now was looking towards

01:42
building a new facility so we were there

01:45
for 13 years and in desperate need of

01:47
finding our own home and one of our

01:50
board members was a real estate agent

01:51
who said you know i'm not sure if you

01:53
want to look at this or not it needs a

01:55
lot of work

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so

01:57
we drove up here and uh

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i immediately fell in love with the

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space i don't know no it was

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such disrepair we bought it from a

02:06
moving and storage company that had gone

02:08
bankrupt so from the front door to the

02:11
to the backstage area it was nothing but

02:13
garbage yeah

02:14
um and so

02:16
the fly system which is the really tall

02:18
part in the back of a theater had no

02:21
roof the only thing living in the space

02:23
was about 60 pigeons

02:25
i mean it was just

02:27
budweiser should have sponsored the

02:28
project because of all the empty beer

02:30
bottles we

02:31
had to pick up right so it really was

02:34
like yeah we can fix this and i don't

02:35
know

02:36
what the heck i was thinking at the time

02:38
yeah but it worked and um

02:40
and so now 25 years later

02:43
you know the building has been able to

02:45
be uh saved

02:47
first couple of years was removing

02:49
garbage i mean she removed 15 30 yard

02:52
debris

02:53
uh dumpsters of debris out before we

02:56
even started renovating

02:58
all right i mean it was insane it tells

02:59
you everything you need to know yeah

03:01
well and like even you know this there's

03:03
this bizarre thing about in theater that

03:05
you always have to sweep the stage yeah

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we had we had set up uh

03:10
share our palace pride days

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and so the community could come in once

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every saturday once a month on saturdays

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to help us pitch in and clean the space

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out sure and it was my father and i and

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everybody else had already left for the

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uh of the community volunteers and i

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decided i'm gonna sweep the stage

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so i swept the stage and my leg went

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through the stage i pulled my leg out

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and then i realized oh my god we have a

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basement we didn't even realize we had a

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basement because of all the debris right

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and i you know pulled my leg out and

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then i saw oh yeah there's a there's a

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basement that would be here now we have

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to figure out how the heck to get down

03:45
there yeah right just keep chopping away

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yeah you know right so whatever works so

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yeah it became a tremendous uh community

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project and and that was we gave

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t-shirts out to volunteers that showed

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up on those saturdays and share our

03:59
palace pride

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um and we had

04:03
we had 90 something volunteers show up

04:06
one saturday from the community yeah

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they had no vested interest in the

04:10
growing stage prior to that time but

04:12
they saw the opportunity to save

04:15
a part of their own local history sure

04:17
it meant something to them and yeah and

04:19
from that we just continually build and

04:22
build um and brought the theater to a

04:24
really unique venue for families right

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um and now thankfully the uh

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the space is uh

04:32
which just celebrated its 100th birthday

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um it was re built in 1919 is now on the

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historic register national register of

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historic places

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on the the national the county and the

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state levels oh wow so it's totally

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protected in the future but uh yeah it

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all started from that right yeah that's

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crazy so when when you started it uh

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originally you said chester chester's

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word started yeah it came back from

04:59
college um

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and what was like the driver behind that

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did you have like a background in

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theater or did you was there not

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anything like you you didn't have

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something like that you wanted to kind

05:08
of give back to that community well

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honestly it was i i was a student a

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theater student at arizona state

05:16
university okay and i took a class in uh

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theater for young audiences thinking it

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was gonna be an easy egg

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i was a business management major i had

05:27
a theater you know i was double majoring

05:30
it with theater and business management

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because the only place that had an

05:34
actual uh theater management

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program arts management program at the

05:39
time

05:40
was in wisconsin okay and i don't ski

05:43
and i i don't have a particular fondness

05:45
for cows or dairy so i figured you know

05:49
when would i ever have the opportunity

05:51
to go back to go to arizona you know so

05:53
why not give it a shot

05:55
so i i went out there um and uh

05:59
i took that class and i immediately like

06:02
realized that

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the power that theater could have

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being so much more than just you know

06:10
the applause or at the end of a show or

06:13
a good review from a critic right but

06:16
that you could actually make a

06:17
difference in somebody's life through

06:20
theater and and that just really

06:23
appealed to me to because it meant so

06:25
much more than just you know

06:27
creating something that

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you know would be with somebody for a

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short period of time while they watch

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the show and then they go off to do

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something else sure

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so

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you know the more and

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after that class i became very involved

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in the program yep

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the professor of that class

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is now 90 years old and continues to be

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a mentor for me all through these years

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we just communicated just a few months

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ago

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um and and so when i came back home um i

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i kind of

07:00
figured out tried to figure out what i

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wanted to be when i grew up you know

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right we're all still figuring that out

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yeah yeah i just celebrated 64 years man

07:09
so and that's still an open question

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exactly

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um

07:14
but uh so

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you know

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then i'm so you know what i can't find

07:18
what i'm looking for so i'm gonna start

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it myself yeah and so i took uh 1500

07:24
that i had left put aside thanks to my

07:27
folks for graduate school because that

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was on the table

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i went my last uh

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interview at mason gross school for the

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arts for the directing program

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for an mfa

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and the professor said well we're going

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to accept you without any problem but

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what do you want to do when you get this

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after you get this degree and i

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described

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in a kind of a skeleton form the growing

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stage and his response was well degree's

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not going to help you at all but so why

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don't you just start it yeah so driving

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home from that interview in new

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brunswick to chester where i lived at

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the time

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um talked about it thought about it

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got home talked to my parents about it

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and they said yeah it's go ahead yeah

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and that's uh

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that's how the growing stage started

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back in uh

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1982. right yeah so let's talk just so

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that we can kind of define it just a

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little bit further yeah i went all the

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way around the block yeah right so like

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the growing stage so let's let's talk

08:23
about like what you guys do here sure

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it's the children's theater of new

08:26
jersey like we just mentioned so i think

08:28
that is a dead giveaway of like what you

08:30
guys do right but like talk about like

08:32
maybe the programs and all that kind of

08:33
stuff that you guys do here well you

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know what's what's what's really special

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is it used to be the first name of the

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theater was the growing stage theater

08:40
for young audiences

08:42
just really clean yep and and and then

08:45
in 2010 the new jersey state senate um

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designated us as being the children's

08:52
theater of new jersey because we're the

08:54
only theater in the state that has its

08:56
own facility that's solely dedicated to

08:59
young people and their families through

09:01
the arts right we have the the main

09:04
stage program which is professional uh

09:07
productions that we we mount each year

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we do between five to uh six productions

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per season

09:13
we do an all youth uh studio series

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which gives young people the opportunity

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to try out some really new challenging

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work

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um that really kind of speaks to some of

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the things that

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that

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that are really impact them on a daily

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basis and and yet still gives them an

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opportunity to to learn and creatively

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engage in the arts okay

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then we have a creative arts academy

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and that is for who has three semesters

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throughout the school year for students

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that preschool through high school

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we do specialized um

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workshops for one day shot workshops for

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high school students uh but we've got

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like uh ten two ten week sessions and

10:02
and then a

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six-week session in the spring

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we have a summer arts day camp that runs

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five weeks here in the summer

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um and then

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one of the things that's a real

10:14
connection to the theater that you know

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all of our staff members and our artists

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really appreciate and love

10:20
is that we also have a new play reading

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festival

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um and that helps us to play a role uh

10:28
nationally and internationally in the

10:30
development of uh new works for young

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audiences right

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that was a program that started um

10:38
11 years ago

10:40
uh our first time we had the festival we

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had six entries

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primarily from the new jersey area

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now we average over 150

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um and have received scripts from new

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zealand

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from

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iran

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from

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south korea

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from uh brazil

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uh canada um from all around the world

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right in addition to i think that we by

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this time now we've hit all 50 states

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last year we had entries from hawaii so

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i mean we've it's it's well beyond um

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our own backyard here in the state

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and then this past year

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while we were dealing with navigating

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the whole covert thing

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you know we we stopped and said you know

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the ones that are being impacted the

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most by this

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are the young people that we serve i

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mean you know you think about it and the

11:39
kids their social activity is that

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school

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you know and reaching out and being

11:45
engaged with their fellow students and

11:47
friends and everything else and they're

11:49
locked away from that everything's their

11:51
bedroom right and a computer screen

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right and doing that kind of uh

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virtual learning

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and so what we did was you know let's

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give them a little bit of a voice as

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well yeah so this year we had a young

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writers festival

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um and that just was

12:09
that just

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energized not only the young people that

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we have the you know the privilege to

12:15
work with um it's just the staff

12:18
everybody that was involved in it

12:20
the people that we brought in as mentors

12:22
for these young playwrights

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the

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the panel that we had put together to

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read through these scripts and to

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recommend which ones should be advanced

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and and not

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into the process

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the young people that participated in

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the scenes that we did and the young

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directors

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um that we utilized to direct those

12:43
scenes it was just like

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yeah we we can do this again yeah right

12:48
right exactly you know it's such an

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interactive activity i mean everything

12:52
you got

12:53
everything about theater what makes it

12:55
so special

12:56
is the connection sure it's the

12:58
connection between the the playwright

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and the and the directors and the

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production team it's the connection

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between the production team and the

13:06
artist

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and then it's inevitably the connection

13:09
between the artist and the audience

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right

13:12
to kind of reestablish those connective

13:14
links um in a live experience

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and within the theater uh

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it was just i didn't expect it to impact

13:23
me and make you know i got shivers shut

13:26
my spine but from going back there and

13:28
doing didn't realize how much i missed

13:30
it

13:31
um especially after 40 years you know

13:33
that everybody just really uh

13:36
kind of rekindled the fire and got

13:38
everything going but that's everything

13:40
that's

13:41
that's the growing stage in addition to

13:43
that we also do school residencies

13:46
um and bring our program to schools and

13:49
we hope after covid and we get past the

13:52
pandemic we'll be able to resume that

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once again sure oh yeah 100 so before we

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get into our first break my last

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question in this segment would be

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i mean you're talking about all these

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things like all these programs and how

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you're getting scripts from all over the

14:04
world and yeah it's reaching just beyond

14:06
netcon new jersey um yeah did you ever

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we're better known outside of necco

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right sometimes i think the guy down the

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street cutting his lawn right what do

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you guys do this year exactly what is

14:16
that place what is that but did you ever

14:18
like when you started this did you ever

14:19
think that it would reach this did you

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ever have like any vision that it was

14:22
going to get to this point or is this

14:24
something beyond what you could have

14:25
imagined when you first started um yeah

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that's a really good question you

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you know what matt i've never had the

14:32
time

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or given myself the kind of time to just

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stop and reflect

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you know i i am one of the blessed

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that doesn't have to go to work

14:43
but has the mindset that i get to go to

14:45
work

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because i get to go to a work that i

14:48
love yeah and it makes a difference and

14:51
means something to me

14:53
so that for me it's

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you know i never expected it it was just

14:58
all right this has to get done

15:00
let's do this yeah and then build off of

15:02
that success all right well if we were

15:04
able to accomplish this and have

15:07
you know 10 kids participate in this

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program

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what are we doing so that we can make it

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even and reach even more sure and it's

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been that mindset that i've attempted to

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share with our staff

15:18
um and our board of trustees so we're

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always looking we're always moving

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forward right and never just stopping

15:25
and settling well we we hit our goal

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let's just relax yeah awesome no i love

15:30
that um all right so we're gonna take

15:32
our first break sure uh we're gonna take

15:33
a short break here this is the greetings

15:35
from the garden state podcast we're here

15:36
at the growing stage the children's

15:38
theater of new jersey and netcon new

15:39
jersey with steven fredericks i'm mike

15:41
hamm we'll be right back

15:46
it is time for today in new jersey

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history on november 8 1975 actress tara

15:51
reed was born in wykhoff new jersey reed

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is best known for a recurring role of

15:55
vicky in the american pie film series

15:57
and that is today in new jersey history

16:05
and we're back this is the greetings

16:06
from the garden state podcast i'm mike

16:08
ham we're here at the growing stage at

16:09
children's theater of new jersey at net

16:11
kong new jersey with steven fredericks

16:12
uh so steve in the beginning of this we

16:14
kind of went through the whole

16:15
background of the growing stage and its

16:18
start in chester now here in nekong

16:20
um so one of the things that i was meant

16:23
to ask in the first segment we went a

16:25
little bit long so i want to ask in this

16:26
segment before we start this part is as

16:28
we as you moved from chester into this

16:31
building and once you're able to clear

16:32
out all the crap that was in here and

16:35
get started um did you see did the

16:37
growth and all the you know positive

16:39
things that were happening for the

16:40
growing stage did you see those things

16:42
kind of increase exponentially as you

16:43
started here yes absolutely and one of

16:46
the attractions to of the building was

16:48
not neces not only that it was a theater

16:51
space originally right and it had like a

16:53
distinct history that we could

16:55
we could also add to the marketing

16:57
scheme that we were doing um and

17:00
providing young people with an actual

17:02
like jewel box type of setting um

17:06
eventually um was the fact that where

17:09
nekong is uh situated yeah right off of

17:12
route 46 route 206 route 80. so for for

17:16
people to be able to get to the facility

17:19
was going to be a lot easier

17:21
um you know we loved our time in chester

17:24
it was but it was it was kind of a rural

17:26
setting sure um and so that this

17:29
allowed us to

17:31
not only expand the things that we had

17:34
dreamed that we wanted to do at the time

17:36
back in 95

17:37
but it also gave us an opportunity to

17:39
expand our audience

17:42
and really

17:43
create a reach

17:44
well beyond just morris county but

17:47
throughout northern new jersey yeah and

17:49
i don't know that we would have been

17:50
able to do that had we had stayed at in

17:53
chester right and so it's interesting

17:55
too that you mentioned like the you know

17:56
the unique history so this you told me

17:59
before we even started this was like a

18:00
silent movie theater at one point yeah i

18:02
mean it's been here for over a hundred

18:03
years so obviously it has some cool yeah

18:06
you know it was some really cool things

18:08
that you know we only found out

18:10
afterwards and we're still con

18:11
continuing to learn yeah because we

18:14
really have made

18:15
um not only uh

18:17
a part of our mission that that we're

18:19
serving young people through the

18:21
performing arts but also that we have a

18:23
stewardship in protecting the history of

18:26
this facility um because of the gift

18:28
they gave back to us

18:30
and allowing us to actually create a

18:32
theater home

18:33
it was built in 1919 by a group of local

18:37
businessmen

18:38
that realized that the the school in the

18:40
area had no place for the kids to um

18:44
have their graduations or do school

18:46
plays in yep so they were gonna that was

18:49
their first uh inspiration for building

18:52
the space

18:53
and so then in order to pay the bills

18:56
for the space

18:57
they did they became part of a

18:59
vaudeville line they showed silent films

19:02
um and then they allowed the community

19:05
to utilize the facility for you know

19:07
different fundraising events the local

19:09
firemen things of that nature

19:12
and then in the mid 30s the hapacon

19:16
broadway players which were actual new

19:18
york stars

19:20
from broadway who would vacation out to

19:22
lake capaccon

19:24
would would come out here for several

19:26
summers and try out new material

19:30
in the theater

19:31
and ironically

19:33
the

19:34
the main director

19:36
for that program was a woman by the name

19:39
of pauline frederick

19:41
no relation whatsoever to me but it was

19:43
just like this really eerie connection

19:46
thing

19:46
um

19:48
then in the uh 1939

19:52
it became uh

19:54
primarily a movie theater

19:57
as cinema when the talkies really

19:59
started to

20:00
blossom

20:02
and there was a cinema

20:04
right up until i believe it was like 75

20:08
76 i i don't know the exact year it

20:10
stopped becoming a cinema it had several

20:13
different ownerships over the years

20:15
became really difficult to compete with

20:17
the mall cinemas

20:19
with the 12 plexes and all of that um

20:22
thankfully it never divided the theater

20:25
like some of the older houses um what

20:28
had happened to them but i do know that

20:30
orca the killer whale was the final film

20:33
shown here okay um they did prior to

20:37
orca being shown they did try for a very

20:41
brief period of time it was only uh

20:44
about a year

20:46
where it was a x movie theater

20:48
um and so thankfully that wasn't the

20:51
last film that was shown here you know

20:54
oh now it's a children's series yeah

20:55
right

20:56
that's what happens when you show

20:57
progress yeah

20:58
history baby history history it's all

21:00
history um and uh so they're probably

21:03
all r-rated movies now anyways right

21:05
yeah um but uh but yeah it had a so

21:08
people can't you know constantly say oh

21:10
it's not the old

21:12
the old uh you know triple x theater no

21:15
yeah it was but that's just like a

21:17
snippet of his history exactly

21:19
thankfully we've totally outshone that

21:21
right so yeah thankfully but uh yeah it

21:23
was uh it got on the national register

21:25
of historic places because of the uh the

21:28
ornate tin ceilings that we have in the

21:30
theater

21:31
which we highlight um in the

21:34
interior design that we've done in the

21:36
space

21:37
and then also uh it was one of the first

21:40
five buildings in the nation built with

21:42
uh poured concrete forms

21:45
wow so because of the steel shortage

21:47
after world war one so there was this

21:49
local

21:51
myth going around that uh

21:53
the the

21:54
immigrants that were here that net kong

21:57
is pretty was evenly divided between the

21:59
irish community and the italian

22:01
community well the irish immigrants

22:04
worked on climbing ladders and pouring

22:06
buckets of concrete and anything else

22:09
that they could go into the mix and

22:10
there was this whole thing like yeah

22:12
yeah they used to give them uh fifths of

22:14
whiskey to congratulate them when they

22:16
hit a certain goal yeah it's like oh

22:19
that's that's that's lovely

22:21
we'll include that in our history too

22:23
right right until and then when um

22:27
we uh we took the uh balcony seating

22:30
that was on the upper part of the

22:32
theater right and we leveled that off

22:34
and made it an art gallery um

22:37
and a reception area um

22:40
so that we could utilize that space and

22:42
as we were lifting up the boards we

22:44
found empty bottles fifths of whiskey

22:47
from 1919. yeah so i think i got one on

22:50
my shelf yeah they're up there on my

22:51
shop

22:52
but uh so so you know it's it's it's

22:54
incredible and especially with nikon

22:57
netcong has just been i mean has been a

22:59
gift unto itself right the community has

23:02
been so responsive the um

23:05
the town council throughout the past 25

23:07
years regardless of who's been in charge

23:11
has always

23:12
shown a real active appreciation

23:15
for what the theater has meant

23:18
to not only the community of nikon but

23:20
also the region and we're a stone throw

23:23
from sussex county yeah um

23:26
and other than the newton theater that's

23:27
up there right there really is no other

23:30
arts professional arts organization

23:32
around so we're serving these this this

23:35
region um and thanks to route 80 and

23:38
those other highway connections it

23:41
really has then networked all the way

23:43
throughout yeah all the way to

23:46
hudson county into staten island into

23:48
the poconos the growing stage serves

23:50
that community yeah which is awesome so

23:53
um we're gonna get more into the

23:54
community our second segment or our

23:55
third segment i mean so for this uh

23:58
before we wrap up this one one of the

23:59
things that i was curious to know is you

24:01
know we talked a little bit about the

24:02
programs and everything and a little bit

24:04
about how um you navigated the last year

24:07
and a half or so uh with covid and all

24:10
that um were there any things that you

24:12
did over the course of that you know uh

24:15
pandemic time frame that you think were

24:18
things that you might take into the

24:19
future and kind of implement for you

24:22
know uh permanently into what you guys

24:23
do here absolutely i mean the whole zoom

24:26
thing

24:27
um

24:28
which we had to go right into yeah so we

24:31
on march uh 15th in 2020 we stopped our

24:34
production we had a production of

24:36
pinkalicious

24:38
which is a very popular piece

24:40
for young people

24:42
we had rehearsed for six weeks we had

24:45
three performances of it and it was it

24:47
was scheduled for the whole month

24:50
of march and we had to stop it right

24:52
after that first weekend

24:54
so after a couple of weeks and we kind

24:56
of like what's what's happening what's

24:58
really all about you know who's telling

25:01
us what because you were hearing all

25:03
different things all different things

25:04
and nobody really even knew themselves

25:06
and you know we're

25:07
we're seemed to be getting on the same

25:09
page but at that point in time it was a

25:11
whole book we were dealing with oh yeah

25:13
so we we went right into and created

25:17
our director of

25:18
education

25:20
lori lawrence and uh danny campos who is

25:23
our marketing director and our

25:25
production manager um uh cara scalera

25:28
the three of them

25:30
right away got together and created tgs

25:33
tv

25:34
so we had that once a week we had a

25:36
program that we were making available

25:38
for free on facebook yeah and that was

25:41
interactive for young people so that we

25:44
they maintain that connection to the

25:46
organization

25:47
um so the whole virtual thing is

25:50
something that is a whole component now

25:52
that we're going to be adding in and

25:54
making available right now our

25:56
programming in the for the classrooms um

25:59
whether in schools and such that can be

26:03
put on broadcast on a in a classroom

26:06
um

26:07
on a screen either to the whole school

26:10
or to a classroom yeah so that again now

26:12
expands our reach well into south jersey

26:15
oh for sure and around the country for

26:18
as a matter of fact so uh that's really

26:20
a very exciting element right the whole

26:23
thing though too is the challenge of all

26:25
right your live theater

26:27
how do you make that whole connectivity

26:30
still real and and sustain that yeah

26:34
while you go into this different you

26:36
know area

26:37
of uh production

26:39
so what we'll do is and we've decided is

26:42
that after we do a performance then

26:44
we'll do a live zoom with the artist

26:46
okay so that the students and the

26:48
artists can still have that

26:49
communication yeah and have that you

26:51
know talk back moment uh so that they

26:54
can then take it to another level within

26:57
that classroom right and that's really

26:59
the goal of all of our educational

27:01
programming is making sure that

27:04
it's not just for a moment that we're

27:06
creating but it's like it's not only

27:09
it's not only a moment or a memory that

27:11
we're creating but it's something that

27:12
they can utilize

27:14
in their daily life yeah no i love that

27:16
and that's you know definitely a

27:17
positive thing that i would assume

27:19
that's come out of a lot of negatives

27:21
and it's just good to see like what a

27:22
lot of these people that we've had on

27:24
the show what they've done kind of over

27:26
that time you know make

27:28
lemon lemonade out of lemons well you

27:30
know the whole component of having your

27:32
your uh your board meetings i mean for

27:34
non-profit organizations one of your

27:37
greatest challenges is getting effective

27:39
board members right well

27:42
driving and schlepping down to netcon

27:44
on an evening

27:46
during the week when you know you've

27:47
been busy at work or you know doing

27:50
whatever you do during the day in your

27:51
professional life yeah you really don't

27:53
have the time or you know

27:55
now we do our board meetings uh via you

27:58
know virtual

28:00
um platform and i we have a board member

28:03
in bergen county in hudson county in um

28:06
in camden county yeah so our at somerset

28:09
county so we are our board is truly

28:11
represents the entire state right now

28:13
yeah which is like is is great yeah

28:16
because that way that we can meet the

28:18
challenges that they face in jersey city

28:21
right as much as we can now in camden or

28:25
nikon yeah exactly which is awesome all

28:27
right so so far this episode has been

28:29
amazing uh we're gonna take our second

28:31
break our last break of this episode uh

28:34
this is the greetings from the garden

28:35
state podcast i'm mike ham we're here at

28:36
the growing stage the children's theater

28:38
of new jersey in netcon new jersey with

28:40
steve frederick uh we'll be right back

28:47
it is time for new jersey fun fact of

28:48
the day did you know the first submarine

28:50
ride took place in the passaic river new

28:52
jersey inventor john phillip holland

28:54
successfully launched his holland boat

28:56
number one into the passaic river at

28:58
patterson back in 1878

29:00
and that is your new jersey fun fact of

29:02
the day

29:03
[Music]

29:08
all right we're back this is our last

29:10
segment here at the growing stage the

29:12
children's theater of new jersey in

29:13
nikon new jersey uh where this is the

29:16
greetings from the garden state podcast

29:17
i'm mike cam he's steve fredricks uh so

29:19
we've gone through the background of the

29:21
theater we've gone through your

29:22
background we've gone through a lot of

29:23
stuff that you've kind of gone through

29:24
over the last year and a half but the

29:26
one thing that we always like to do in

29:27
these last segments is tie it back to

29:29
the community so we've touched on it a

29:31
couple times over the course of this

29:32
episode um so

29:35
talk to me about the i mean you

29:36
mentioned it in the last segment but

29:37
talk to me about the importance of the

29:39
relationship between you guys here in

29:41
this space with the surrounding

29:43
community at large of net kong and

29:45
beyond sure well you know that was

29:48
that's always been key to us as far as

29:50
making sure we have that connectivity

29:52
and engage our immediate community as

29:55
well as reach out beyond it yeah because

29:58
we we just realized how vital and

30:00
important it is

30:01
to give back right you know a non-profit

30:04
organization is constantly asking for

30:06
help

30:07
but the same token the non-profit

30:09
organization can't survive unless it's

30:11
fully engaged with the community it

30:13
serves

30:14
to that end um you know the new jersey

30:17
uh the nikon community has a

30:19
self-improvement district

30:22
at the netcom community partnership

30:24
which is with local business and

30:25
government that's working to improve the

30:28
business district here in town

30:30
i currently have served like almost 10

30:33
years now as its president

30:35
so we're actively involved in net kong

30:38
within that community right um our

30:40
business manager uh stephanie kingsbury

30:43
uh currently serves as the secretary

30:45
treasurer of the skylands rotary club so

30:49
again she's out there she's getting

30:51
not only representing the growing stage

30:54
but also engaged in helping and serving

30:56
the rest of the community a little bit

30:59
beyond our immediate community right to

31:01
that end too danny campos who is our

31:05
marketing director that i spoke of

31:06
earlier uh danny also serves on the

31:09
sussex county chamber of commerce um as

31:13
well as is actively involved in new

31:15
jersey theater group excuse me new

31:16
jersey uh theater uh uh

31:20
why am i forgetting it's the name

31:21
danny's behind the camera

31:23
yeah absolutely danny help me here

31:25
the alliance thank you i apologize it's

31:27
okay i used to be their president too

31:30
now you know why it's used to be um but

31:33
um

31:34
but yeah and they they serve the entire

31:36
uh the all the professional theaters

31:38
within the state of new jersey so

31:40
we're actively involved as a staff yeah

31:43
um we have board members that are

31:45
actively serve the community and other

31:47
aspects as well and we try to bring that

31:49
collaborative spirit

31:50
um throughout uh the entire

31:53
organization right what about also like

31:55
community

31:56
outreach and what i mean by that is like

31:59
do you do things and programs and shows

32:02
maybe i don't know beyond the walls of

32:05
this building do you take that into like

32:07
you know events festivals different

32:08
things like that yeah we do as much as

32:10
we can that the schedule allows sure um

32:13
because of all the production schedules

32:15
it's not always easy to take you know a

32:17
show and bring it to

32:19
others

32:20
to that end we always make sure that we

32:22
have complementary tickets available for

32:24
other not-for-profit organizations that

32:27
serve children

32:28
you know we've been recognized by the

32:30
big brothers big sisters by domestic

32:33
abuse by in sussex county because we

32:36
always have these complimentary tickets

32:38
available for their clients and their

32:39
associates so that they can then come

32:41
and enjoy the professional performing

32:44
arts right um at no cost um and then

32:47
we're also in the process right now of

32:49
reviving a program that we once had that

32:52
we're bringing back which is called

32:54
sharing the spotlight

32:55
and what that does is allow other

32:57
not-for-profit organizations to

33:00
participate in one of our productions

33:02
provide us with

33:04
three to five volunteers per performance

33:06
for a show yeah and then we and we allow

33:09
them to set up a table in our lobby to

33:11
promote their work

33:13
um and then give uh five percent of our

33:16
ticket gross back to that organization

33:19
as a fundraiser yeah so in that way too

33:22
it's again it's collaborative

33:24
and it allows um

33:26
both organizations to to develop you

33:30
know more of an audience a an awareness

33:33
about what their work is all about yeah

33:35
what about the the other way too you

33:37
know like talk to me about maybe the

33:38
community and its involvement here

33:40
because one of the things you mentioned

33:41
in the beginning uh in the first segment

33:43
was you know how basically saving this

33:46
space has kind of endeared yourself

33:48
almost to the community around here sure

33:50
obviously it's a historic building and

33:52
all that right um do people get involved

33:54
as volunteers here absolutely yeah we

33:57
have we have a very vibrant uh volunteer

33:59
staff here um that helps us on our

34:02
production days you know we're here when

34:04
we have school shows um to help us get

34:07
the kids off the bus and you know hand

34:09
out play bills and things of that nature

34:11
yeah we have a

34:12
concession

34:13
we will one day resumed having a

34:15
concession area right um and um us like

34:19
a theater store

34:21
that our volunteers operate and um

34:24
and manage for us

34:26
um and and the town itself the county um

34:31
has been incredibly responsive

34:33
financially as well

34:35
a good part of our restoration of this

34:38
building

34:39
this is a property again going back to

34:42
the aspect of the building itself this

34:44
was a building that we bought the day

34:46
before it went on sheriff's sale for a

34:48
hundred thousand dollars as is

34:50
and as i said it was

34:52
it was as is

34:54
in all its beauty and glory right it's

34:56
now a property that's worth valued at at

34:59
over uh 2.5 million dollars wow

35:03
one of our biggest supporters in that

35:06
aspect there have been two

35:09
is the morris county historic

35:10
preservation trust fund

35:12
that has created us the funding that

35:15
allowed us to really restore the front

35:18
facade of this facility put a main roof

35:20
over our heads

35:22
repair that fly system that's out there

35:25
right now

35:27
and

35:28
it's just been uh

35:29
they've been

35:30
incredible with regards to their support

35:33
of our organization

35:34
and then we've had uh you know folks

35:36
like the the lorry foundation the uh the

35:39
r r family foundation uh the stone

35:42
meadow fund these are organizations that

35:45
have been with us for

35:47
almost

35:48
30 years

35:49
um and that have made such a significant

35:52
impact um that it's really a

35:55
generational change that they've been

35:56
able to create right through their

35:58
support yeah which i think is great

36:00
because i mean i mean we had as i

36:02
mentioned to you before one of our first

36:04
episodes that we ever did was the mayo

36:05
performing arts center which is also a

36:07
non-profit that's right and they i mean

36:08
rely heavily on the community because

36:10
the community is basically what saved

36:12
that theater that's right the community

36:14
theater was a very similar story but a

36:16
bit larger scale yeah for sure which i

36:18
think is just great because i think that

36:19
like things like this as when you tie

36:22
them back into the community and what

36:23
what a community needs to be a community

36:25
right you know and i think especially

36:27
also you were talking about um

36:29
uh you know serving on

36:31
the business development and all that

36:33
kind of stuff it within the uh within

36:35
netcon sure if they're trying to

36:36
revitalize businesses and downtown areas

36:39
like this is a spot that could help do

36:41
that you know i mean that's that's what

36:43
happens in morristown that's what

36:44
happens in a lot of places you know mike

36:47
what we're not is an island right right

36:49
it's not an island where everybody's

36:51
connected

36:52
and so that if you don't take it not not

36:54
take advantage but if you don't realize

36:57
that fact yeah and build bridges all

37:00
around from our organization to yours

37:02
for your community to ours um from your

37:05
family

37:06
to our family of artists and teaching

37:08
artists and uh professionals

37:11
then then it's a big fail right and and

37:13
what we've also tried to do

37:15
and convey to our funders

37:17
our funding partners is that they're not

37:19
just giving us money they're making an

37:22
investment of course they're making an

37:24
investment in our mission they're making

37:26
an investment in our community and as a

37:28
theater for young audiences

37:30
they're making an investment on the

37:32
young people that we have the

37:34
opportunity and privilege to serve right

37:36
because you know all the statistics all

37:39
the information that they have about the

37:41
impact that the arts can have on a young

37:42
person's life and helping them

37:45
successful into adulthood

37:47
being able to convey their thoughts

37:50
their ideas being able to see the world

37:52
globally as opposed to just within their

37:54
four walls right to ways to be able to

37:57
uh solve problems

37:59
um and invite learning um and to take

38:02
challenges i mean those are all key

38:05
things that

38:07
lord knows we need more of these things

38:09
for sure yeah and you constantly need

38:11
yeah and so these are these are not just

38:14
gifts

38:15
though they're appreciated as if they

38:17
are right the reality is there are

38:19
investments

38:21
and we try to treasure those investments

38:23
and um

38:25
and make sure that everything is every

38:27
dollar every cent is being spent

38:29
appropriately and as directed yeah which

38:32
i think is great um all right so people

38:34
need to learn more about the growing

38:36
stage maybe how to get involved where

38:38
are some website you know social handles

38:40
where can they go to get more sure we're

38:42
on all the social media aspects

38:45
but

38:46
growingstage.com

38:48
is our is the main hub as far as your

38:51
information it has information about the

38:53
organization about our ongoing

38:55
productions about our classes about our

38:57
school programming um and if you want to

39:00
become an investor

39:02
you can also do it through that

39:05
always got to plug that too but or a

39:07
volunteer volunteer absolutely

39:09
everything kind of funnels through that

39:11
website it's a great design and it's

39:13
easy to navigate and to use um

39:16
and and that or just give us a phone

39:18
call by you know calling 973-347-4946

39:24
awesome and you know i think that also

39:26
when i was talking to danny before we

39:28
even uh got up here and started

39:29
recording this i think when this episode

39:31
drops in i think it's gonna air in

39:34
november okay um and i think that's

39:36
right around the time that you guys are

39:37
coming back with your first show

39:39
post pandemic basically right yeah you

39:41
know it's um

39:43
it wasn't the original design we had

39:45
hoped to be able to open in october but

39:47
because of the delta variant we decided

39:49
you know what let's hold off yeah

39:51
um

39:53
and and this is going to sound really

39:54
schmalty and everything else but i think

39:56
this it's that we're reopening

39:59
our our programming the day after

40:02
thanksgiving

40:03
okay so i mean i to me we're starting

40:06
our 40th season

40:07
and and bringing back live theater to

40:10
our families um

40:12
right after a day of giving thanks and

40:14
and it's there's not going to be any

40:16
more meaningful opportunity for us to

40:18
give thanks for the opportunity to still

40:20
that we survived of course um the past

40:23
18 months and that we're still here yeah

40:25
amazing um and then also just for you

40:28
know reference the address

40:30
sure the building is the the the pat

40:32
we're located in the palace theater on

40:34
seven ledgewood avenue on route 183 in

40:38
netcom awesome awesome all right well

40:40
steve this has been

40:42
incredible like i appreciate you having

40:43
me come down here and and see the space

40:45
and talk to you and all the stuff that

40:47
you guys are doing i think it's

40:48
phenomenal um and i really appreciate

40:50
that so thanks mike i really appreciate

40:53
the opportunity as well absolutely shout

40:55
out paula bruckner for connecting us

40:56
that's right and getting this on there

40:58
um but uh but yeah so i'll make sure

41:00
that i put all the growingstage.com the

41:02
phone number the social handles i'll put

41:04
those all those in the show notes um

41:06
greetings from thegardenstate.com is our

41:08
website in case you want to go through

41:09
me maybe to get more information on the

41:11
growing stage you can do that um but uh

41:14
but yeah so

41:15
steve thank you again everybody else

41:17
thank you for listening this has been

41:18
the greetings from the garden state

41:19
podcast i'm mike hamm he was steve

41:21
fredricks this is the growing stage the

41:23
children's theater of new jersey in

41:25
netcon new jersey thanks for listening

41:27
and we'll catch you next time

41:34
[Music]

41:34
[Applause]

41:36
[Music]

41:42
[Music]

42:00
you