(MILLBURN, NJ) -- Paper Mill Playhouse has announced in-person dining is back at Paper Mill Playhouse beginning this Wednesday. The Carriage House Restaurant at the F.M. Kirby Carriage House will be open for outdoor dining, in addition to curbside pickup, with live cabaret on Saturday nights.

The Carriage House Restaurant will be open from 5:00pm Wednesday – Saturday for prix fixe dinner, as well as high-top seating for small plates and cocktails. Brunch is available on Sunday from 11:00am-2:00pm.  “Paper Mill Playhouse is situated on a beautiful campus along the brook. We are fortunate to have a perfect setting to provide patrons an elegant al fresco dining and entertainment experience in an area vast enough to comply with state guidelines on social distancing for outdoor dining safety,” said Mike Stotts, Managing Director. 

Brookside diners will enjoy listening to recordings of musical theater favorites each night with live performance on Saturday nights beginning with Brookside Cabaret with Susan Speidel and Joe Regan scheduled for June 20, June 27 and July 4 and July 11 at 7:00pm. “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to provide live musical performances once again. Paper Mill Playhouse has been bringing audiences live theater for 83 years and we will continue to do so by adjusting to what this means in the face of the current pandemic.” Mark S. Hoebee, Producing Artistic Director. Rain dates for live entertainment are the following Sunday nights. Additional live performances to be announced.

The brookside dining prix fixe two course dinner is $40 per person Wednesday-Friday, and $65 per person on nights with live entertainment. Small plates and cocktails are available at the high-top tables with a $30 minimum per person on nights with live entertainment. Sunday brunch is $30 per person including fresh fruit salad and a choice of entrée. For additional information, to make reservations, order curbside pickup and to learn more about our safety protocols visit papermill.org/restaurant.

Susan Speidel served for 20 years as the Director of Education at Paper Mill, where she founded the Rising Star Awards and the Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory.  During that time, she also appeared on the Paper Mill stage in The Student Prince, Jesus Christ Superstar, and numerous concerts and Humanities Symposium events.  As a performer she has presented cabaret shows at Judy’s Chelsea, The Duplex, Broadway Baby Bistro, Bob Egan’s Cosmopolitan Club, the Stockton Inn, Odette’s, and the Tennessee Williams Theatre in Key West.  She has been a soloist with the Seattle and Portland Symphonies, the Orchestra of St. Peters by the Sea, and the Key West Pops Orchestra.  With the Pops, she played the title role in Hello, Dolly, directed by Lee Roy Reams, and also appeared as Stella Deems in Follies.  Other regional credits include Rose in Gypsy, Rev. Mother in Nunsense, Mama Morton in Chicago, Gooch in Mame, Saraghina in Nine, Ruth in The Pirates Of Penzance, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and Emma Goldman in Ragtime.  She directed over 100 professional, community, university, and high school productions, and teaches as an adjunct in the Theatre Conservatory at Kean University. She holds a BA in English and Theater from Montclair State, an MA in Arts Administration from NYU, and earned a Doctorate in Liberal Studies at Drew University.  She also studied at HB Studios in NY and the Globe Theater in London.  She is a recipient of the NJ Governor’s Award for Theatre Education, the NJ Theatre Alliance’s Applause Award, and was inducted in the NJACT Hall of Fame for her contributions to arts education.  

 Joe Regan is a fixture on the cabaret scene in the Metropolitan area, appearing in piano bars and cabaret rooms, as well as on international river cruises and at various resorts.  He performs on Tuesday nights at Don’t Tell Mama in NYC, on Thursday and Sunday nights at 16 Prospect in Westfield, and can currently be seen online on Virtual Piano Bar on Friday nights at 6 PM.  He opened for Steve Ross at the 75th Anniversary of the Chrysler Building, and has been nominated numerous times as Outstanding Piano Bar Instrumentalist by the Manhattan Association of Cabaret.  He is also a teaching artist for the Education Department at Paper Mill and the Performing Arts School at The MAYO Performing Arts Center in Morristown.

PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE, a not-for-profit arts organization under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee (Producing Artistic Director) and Michael Stotts (Managing Director) and recipient of the 2016 Regional Theater Tony Award, is one of the country's leading regional theaters.  Paper Mill Playhouse programs are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Paper Mill Playhouse is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the Council of Stock Theatres, and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.