George Street Playhouse is a theatre company in New Brunswick, New Jersey in the city's Civic Square government and theatre district. It one of the state's preeminent professional theatres committed to the production of new and established plays. Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint and Managing Director Kelly Ryman, George Street Playhouse is a nationally recognized theatre, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists. Founded in 1974 by Eric Krebs, the Playhouse has been represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway – recent productions include the world premiere of The Trial of Donna Caine by Walter Anderson, Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical, a revised version of I Love You, You're Perfect Now Change, An Act of God with Kathleen Turner, American Son by Christopher Demos-Brown, Lewis Black's One Slight Hitch, Gettin' The Band Back Together, and Joe DiPetro's Clever Little Lies. The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof by David Auburn, was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays. In addition to its mainstage season, GSP's Touring Theatre features issue-oriented productions that tours to more than 250 schools in the tri-state area, and are seen by more than 30,000 students annually. When founded, the theatre was located on George Street and moved later to its current location on Livingston Avenue. In 2017, the playhouse moved to an interim location in the former Agricultural Museum on Cook Campus at Rutgers University In the fall of 2019 George Street Playhouse moved back to the Livingston Ave location into a new mixed-use building, the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.
Production history
1994: Swinging on a Star, a revue of the works of Johnny Burke, premieres at GSP, then moves to Broadway.
1996: And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank is commissioned by GSP for the Touring Theatre Company and is subsequently produced worldwide
2000: Down the Garden Paths by Anne Meara, directed by David Saint and starring Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, premieres at GSP and moves to Off Broadway.
*Syncopation by Alan Knee, which premiered at GSP in 1999, receives Best New Play Award from the American Theatre Critics Association and opens around the country.
*The Spitfire Grill, a new musical by James Valcq and Fred Alley and directed by David Saint, premieres at GSP and moves to Off Broadway
2004: Arthur Laurents updates and directs his Tony Award-winning musical Hallelujah, Baby! starring Ann Duquesnay and Suzzanne Douglas. Following an acclaimed run at George Street Playhouse, the co-production moved to Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Miss Duquesney is awarded the Helen Hayes Award for her performance.
*Academy Award nominee Amy Irving stars in the world premiere of Charles Evered’s period romp Celadine.
