Remembering Karl Malden

It's not often I use this blog to commemorate a celebrity but I really feel the need to mention the death of Karl Malden. He was the last tie to the original stage production and film " A Streetcar Named Desire" [written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Elia Kazan] and the incredible "On The Waterfront" [also directed by Kazan] as well as countless other works including "Baby Doll' with the still VERY alive Eli Wallach. With his death yesterday at 97, a golden era of theatre has almost now passed. We, the theatre artists of today that truly believe in our work, and we who believe that the art of theatre should always have something to say and something to stand for, have learned greatly from Karl Malden and the other masters I mentioned above.

In a week of more noted celebrity deaths, this man's passing needs to be remembered and respect and "attention needs to be paid".

Karl Malden was a legend. SCTC exists because of work like his.

Guest Bartender Fundraiser at Auld Dubliner

Please join us on Friday, July 17th at our sponsor, Auld Dubliner on Burlingotn Street in Gloucester City, NJ as we have our 2nd "Guest Bartender" fundraiser. Ashley Chambers and I will be tending bar from 8PM - 11PM and all of our tips go directly to SCTC. This past winter we raised over $400.00 at our first event. We will be announcing our next season shortly so come out with us and have a drink, sing a song and just celebrate that all of us are a part of bringing the arts and theatre to Waterfront South. See you then...and remember...tip well!

SCTC now a member of NJ Theatre Alliance

We had a wonderful afternoon this past Friday at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ where SCTC was voted in as an associate member of the NJ Theatre Alliance. We had applied over a year ago and, thanks to the hard work of our Board President Bob Bingaman and our Marketing Director Gus Orr, our application for membership was accepted. This aligns us with all of the other theatres in the state of New Jersey and we are proud to be a part of this group of theatre professionals. I'll keep you informed of our work with the alliance and, as summer is now upon us, go see a show at one of New Jersey's fantastic theatres. More news!! We will be announcing our 2009-10 schedule shortly which will be filled with excitement and surprises. If you are not on our email list yet please sing up for it on our website at www.southcamdentheatre.org.

Hope and the 3rd Floor Rising at 4th and Jasper

It was so exciting to ride past the theatre yesterday and see that work on the third floor has begun. This will be our new rehearsal space on the top floor of the new Waterfront South Theatre. For the first time since my grandfather's bar was torn down you can actually see the structure of the new theatre from pavement to rooftop. I am sure that we feel exactly the same excitement as the original builders and owners of the building saw in the 1860's when the bar was built. Seeing the theatre rise from the ground is a true resurrection of the corner...and...the resurrection of a neighborhood. Doug Wallace from Sacred Heart School and I watched together as the frame was going on the roof. We then started planning both of our seasons;SCTC's as well as the dates for the school's annual Shakespeare production. Camden kids in a real Camden theatre. As soon as we know the dates we will announce them so we can all prepare for 2009-10! Please support us in this goal. And...if you need any proof that Camden IS rising and that "art will save us", take a ride to 4th and Jasper, stand on the corner, and be a part of a dream. The dream of a rebuilt Camden!

Thank You For A Great Fourth Season!!!

I wanted to thank every actor, writer, director, and staff person who worked on this past season at SCTC. I really can't believe we have completed four seasons in Waterfront South! My largest thanks , though, is to every audience member who came to Camden this season to see a play. Without you there is no SCTC. We had over 700 people attend plays this season, our largest year yet! We will be announcing our next season very soon. I can tell you it will be full of both new work to us and some old "friends". Please sign up for our email list on the site so we can send out the new season as soon as it is finalized. We will be getting a better idea of when the new Waterfron South Theatre will be able to open soon and we will let you know the shows and dates at that time which should be mid-June. All the best for a wonderful summer and.....when you have time...go see a play. Theatre only lives and breathes by your participation. Thanks again to everyone. Heal Camden!

And Justice For All - Final Weekend!!!

You have three more chances to see our current production AND JUSTICE FOR ALL five one act plays about political and social injustice. Shows are Friday, Saturday at 8PM and Sunday at 1:30 PM. Over the past two weeks writers have come from to Camden from Boston, Chicago and New York to see their shows and each one has told me after that this festival ranks as highly as any they had seen in the country. These festivals give new writers a voice, directors a place to grow and actors a chance to dig into new material and make it their own. The subjects range from the true incident of three nuns arrested in Colorado for defacing a nuclear missile silo to my own play about the current police shootings in Philadelphia and how they are tearing the justice and police system wide open. Please take the time to see the plays this weekend. After Sunday, we will be taking the summer off and will be letting you know when our next season will open when a schedule is finalized. We will have a better idea next month as the new, exciting Waterfront South Theatre is now under construction. Please email or call us if you would like to help bring a new theatre to Camden! Thank you for all of your continued support for our 4th season. Without you there would be no SCTC.

More Injustice...from Washington

On the floor of the US Congress on Wednesday, Representative Virginia Foxx [R] urged the congress to vote against the hate crime legislation named for Matthew Shepard because his killing was a "hoax". She said his murder was from a robbery and was not because he was gay. This insensitive, bigoted, homophobic woman actually sits in Congress. With statements like that you can see why her party is now out of power and mired in their own civil war. People like her keep lying, feeling that the more the lie is told it will then become the truth. We have already produced "Laramie Nights", my play about the killing, which shows one of the killers as a closeted, conflicted man, full of internal rage that he ends up inflicting on Matthew by beating him and tying him to a fence to die. His motivation has been proven to be actually true. We need this to stop! Please call the congresswoman at 202 225 2071 or 336 778 0211 and tell her that injustice and bigotry will not be tolerated. During our current festival your call could not be timelier.