YOUTH IN AMERICA AT RUTGERS

For the first time SCTC took one of our plays to the Walter K. Gordon Theatre at
Rutgers University in Camden. The shows went extremely well and we are
grateful to the staff and faculty at Rutgers (especially Graziella and
Stefan)and to all of the students who came out to see YIA. It was
fantastic to see members of the audience who never came to a SCTC play
before and we hope you will follow us back to our own theatre in
Waterfront South for more shows. We will be having our opening night on
our stage in the basement of Sacred Heart Church this Friday, October
17th at 8PM where will have a full two week run. Please come and see
these plays. You can go to our website at http://www.southcamdentheatre.org/ to
reserve seats. These plays show how difficult it is for young people
today to grow up in America and we hope you will support us. The
Rutgers response was incredible! Also, new ways for you to help us are
coming as well as the new theatre so keep an eye out for us!!

See you at Youth In America!

WALLS OF HOPE

Yesterday as I drove to the neighborhood for a rehearsal of our new play, "Youth In America", I happened to see five very large construction vehicles working on the new Waterfront South Theatre being built at the site of my grandfather's old saloon. I actually got to see the workers pouring concrete into the frames that would now be the foundation walls...the actual pieces that will hold up this new stage of dreams for theatre and hope for Waterfront South. It was especially fitting that at the same time the students of Sacred Heart Elementary School were being dismissed and walked out of school and into a street where such hope a rebirth were directly in front of them. They watched in awe as concrete filled the narrow frames from a large truck and , at the same time, saw their neighborhood being rebuilt in front of their very eyes. These walls will not only be holding up the theatre but also their future and dreams for a city that once again will be safe with the voices of school children in the late afternoon. There are plenty of opportunities for all to be involved either by sponsoring a seat in the new theatre or by contributing to SCTC. Please go to our new website at www.southcamdentheatre.org for instructions on how to donate. And...in the spirit that we all possess, the new website was created and generously donated by Bob Bingaman, owner of R Allan and Associates, who now also has been captivated by this project that is beyond all of us in its scope and vision. Please help if you can....to quote from Tony Kushner's epic play "Angels In America', "The great work begins".

Groundbreaking and groundwater......

We have finally begun the work of bringing the Waterfront South Theatre to life. As hope for the rebuilding of the neighborhood sprang forward, unfortunately so did groundwater that we did not anticipate. We are still working, but now more work must be done before the pouring of the foundation can happen. We hope the pouring will be happening very soon.

What has not been delayed, though, has been the rehearsal of our new play 'Youth In America". These plays produced seprately in NY and Philadelphia and as a full evening this past February at Rowan University show the disturbing situation that today's teenagers have growing up in modern America. It was incredibly well recieved and reviewed and we are truly excited to bring it to you to open our fourth season.

We are also excited to join with Rutgers University Camden in sharing the play with their students. We will do two shows at the Gordon Theatre on Ocotober 10th and 11th for the students and then a full two week run at our own home in Sacred Heart basement. Please come out to these plays and I urge you to bring younger members of your family.

While this is tough material and subject matter, the response from the students who have seen it has been powerful. These are THEIR stories and YIA gives them a chance to see their own generation onstage. For parents and older audience members these stories give us insight into a world much different from the one we grew up in.

Construction, LA, etc....

It's been a few busy weeks. First, we should be pouring concrete at the new theatre in the first week of August. We FINALLY received the permit and Pepe Piperno is raring to go!!! Look for work to start this week at the site with the pouring of the foundation happening next week. If you did not receive our Summer Newsletter via email please email me at joep@southcamdentheatre.org to receive it!

I also had the honor of being in Los Angeles last weekend for weekend performances of Howard Zinn's "Marx In Soho". I hope you got a chance to see this great play when we produced it twice over the past two years. Bob Weick , as always, was fantastic and the play is a true gem. I was there to finally meet Howard Zinn face to face as I have converted his great play into a screenplay with his blessing and approval. We are hoping to have a film made over the next year. Please e mail if you want more details. Thanks to producer [and Camden born and bred] Michael McAteer for his great production and hospitality.

We open in October with Youth in America. See you then!

Call for plays

SCTC is now seeking one act plays for its “And Justice For All – four plays about social and political injustice” festival to be produced in the spring of 2009. We seek plays that are two to four character, single set pieces that show injustice in America in a unique and telling way.

For consideration please send script and SASE to:

South Camden Theatre Company, Inc.
c/o 318 Hudson Street Gloucester City, NJ 08030
Attn: Joseph M. Paprzycki, Artistic Director
Deadline for submissions December 1, 2008.
A stipend will be paid.

Meeting Martin Sheen

On Friday, June 13th, I was especially honored to be invited by Msgr. Michael Doyle to join him and a small group as he was visited by the incredible actor and humanitarian, Martin Sheen. Martin (as he told us to call him) toured the church, greenhouse and oven area and then honored us all by going into the hole in the ground that was the basement of my grandfather's bar, Walt's Café, and do an incredible performance of a poem that he cherishes. We then sang, prayed and had an incredible dinner together where he told us stories about his career and life. I told him about "the play that is rebuilding a corner" and he was kind enough to take my play "Last Rites" with him on the plane home.

On the following Thursday you can imagine how shocked I was when he called my cell phone and we had a long conversation about the play, Camden and the future of the theatre. He gave me two wonderful critiques which have pushed me back into a rewrite (after 12 years). This is an incredible man and his generosity and advice will never be forgotten. He said to me "you now have a RESPONSIBILITY to write and to work at my craft".

I will remember these words always and I will fall back on them as I work into the future. Thank you Martin Sheen and a huge thank you to Fr. Doyle for making is all happen!

Comcast Newsmakers Interview - Joseph Paprzycki - April 2008