As we make our way down Toms River NJ’s historic Washington Street towards Main Street this gorgeous summer evening, we can palpably feel the excitement of a downtown which is revitalizing itself from the inside out.
Mandoli’s Bakery is a new confectionary shop which offers delicious custom cakes and cupcakes.
Refresh Your Pallet is a cool new paint and sip lounge — a BYOB environment which offers do-it-yourself classes in painting and crafting.
As we near Main Street, we see a colorful mural that invites potential patrons to turn the corner and check out another tasty new business in town — The Island Creole Kitchen.
Once we do, we can’t help but notice the iconic round hot pink Exit 82 sign — along with the pride flag proudly waving in the breeze — which signals our arrival at the new Exit 82 Theatre Company Studio Theater located on the second floor above the restaurant.
Named for the Garden State Parkway exit number for Toms River — the town where the group was originally founded — The Exit 82 Theatre Company is currently in the midst of celebrating their 10th year of operations.
A non-profit organization, the group previously produced shows at a number of venues around Ocean County. Their very first production of On the Town was performed in the Toms River Intermediate School East auditorium back in 2009 for 1300 audience members. The company continued their string of successful performances with shows including Grease, Legally Blonde, and Young Frankenstein at Ocean County College’s Grunin Center of the Arts, with their rendition of Rock of Ages at Toms River High School North winning two Broadway World Awards.
Their most recent production, 2017’s Be More Chill, was presented at The Strand Center of the Arts located in Lakewood, NJ, and was attended by 4800 musical theater lovers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Brazil!
As we climb the stairs to the second floor of 73 Main Street to the new Exit 82 Studio Theater — excited to experience a dress rehearsal in the troupe’s new performance space — we are warmly greeted by the company’s co-founders, Keely Davenport and Billy Cardone.
Says Davenport, “To celebrate our 10th anniversary, Exit 82 Theatre Co. wanted to return to our home base of Toms River; as a result, we created the Exit 82 Studio Theater right here on Main Street. Our goal is for it to be a venue of creativity and acceptance — a space that will showcase local talent as well as inspire a new wave of artists.”
Adds Cardone, “Working toward what we started 10 years ago, we wanted to bring it back home. We are Exit 82 Theatre Company — we have to be off that Parkway exit!” before acknowledging, ‘We’ve come full circle and now we’re home again.”
As we look around this creative space, we can see exactly how patrons will be able to experience community theater from a new perspective as we watch the group rehearse in their new home for their debut production — The Drowsy Chaperone.
Unlike a show which is presented on a traditional proscenium stage, Exit 82’s rendition of The Drowsy Chaperone is performed in this three-dimensional space which has seats arranged in two rows around much of the perimeter of the room.
Ironically, there are 82 of them!
The detailed set extends beyond the seats on the long ends of the viewing area with a living room and bedroom area on one side and a kitchen on the other.
There is no curtain to rise at the beginning of the show. Following a welcome announcement, all of the theater lights go dark before the action ensues.
State-of-the-art sound and lighting illuminate the whimsically-costumed characters as they bring a show to life that surrounds and envelopes the viewer with just a minimal amount of moving set pieces.
The closeness of the actors draws theatergoers into the plot in a way that a more traditional theater set-up cannot duplicate.
It keeps viewers engaged because they feel they are a part of the action with a cast of characters that energetically sings and dances right at their toes!
Enjoying theater in this way is intimate and empowering and makes it easy for patrons to follow the invitation that Exit 82 has stenciled on their exterior window facing Washington Street: “Open your eyes to the passion of our community. Open your ears to the performance of growing artists. Open your mind to new perspectives. Open your heart to the power of creativity.”
Reveals Cardone, “For this, our 10th anniversary, it’s not just about Exit 82 Theatre Company putting on shows — it’s much bigger than that. We’re putting the ‘unity’ back in community theater. We want this to be a place of acceptance, a place that is open to all possibilities. A place where young and old who relate to musical theater can find comfort in something that’s creative.”
Davenport further notes that in addition to this performance space, Exit 82 also has studio space across the street on 34 Main Street. There, as she explains, “we run our Creative and Performing Arts Academy for young thespians,” revealing that, this year, the Academy will present a “high school/college student production of Fame, the Musical” as well as “a summer camp rendition of The Little Mermaid, Jr.”
Here, in their new studio space, The Drowsy Chaperone will run for the entire month of July. The show is directed by Sean Openshaw and features a cast of 14 talented actors and a production team of 15 — a troupe which Cardone characterizes as having “great persistence and dedication.”
“The Drowsy Chaperone is the perfect first show for our new space,” explains Cardone. “It’s about a show within a show which takes you away for awhile — and gives you something to sing about in your heart.”
Davenport agrees, commenting, “With this show, we’re tapping into the creativity of Toms River,” noting that “Exit 82’s mission is to expand creative opportunities right here in town.”
“We’re still in the planning stages for future programming,” she adds, “but our vision is to include comedy nights, interactive musical celebrations, as well as additional theater productions” — notably Exit 82’s upcoming presentation of Little Shop of Horrors here in October.
As we prepare to leave tonight’s rehearsal and take an elevator back down to the corner of Washington and Main, we say our goodbyes to Davenport and Cardone. We wish them well on their innovative and bold endeavor to utilize the power of the arts to inspire artistic development, educate as well as entertain, and bring people together — all while helping to revitalize the creative duo’s hometown.
Concludes Cardone, “We’ve been given this responsibility for a reason. We’re learning that creating theater can help to build a community.”
The Drowsy Chaperone has performances on Friday, July 13, July 20, and July 27 at 8pm; on Saturday, July 14, July 21, and July 28 at 8pm; and on Sunday, July 15, July 22, and July 29 at 2pm at their new Exit 82 Studio Theater located at 73 Main Street in Toms River, NJ. For tickets, please go to exit82theatre.tix. For more information, please click on exit82theatre.com.
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