(RAHWAY, NJ) -- American Theater Group (ATG) will present the premiere reading of Paul Marsh's new comedy The Waiting Room as part of its free Monday Night Play Reading Series on February 10, 2025 at Hamilton Stage in Rahway, NJ. The cast will feature Broadway's Brenda Braxton (Smokey Joe's Café – Tony Award nomination; Chicago) and Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll and Hyde – Tony nomination; Les Miserables) along with Jennifer Smith (Anastasia, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder). Showtime is 7:00pm.
It's Super Bowl Sunday, and the attendants in the Goldstein Waiting Room at Plymouth Community Hospital in Plymouth, MA assume they are in for a quiet evening of rooting for the Patriots. But when the Blooms arrive, waiting for emergency surgery, followed shortly by The Waiting Room’s donor and his pregnant movie star wife, all hope of a relaxing night watching football is lost. Throw in a clueless security guard, an overworked ER doctor and a drug-seeking burglar, and the night turns downright chaotic. Through it all, characters will learn there is a time to wait patiently, a time to stop waiting and take action -- and that sometimes what you are waiting for has been with you all along.
Rounding out the cast will be Jamiel Burkhart, Gina Naomi Baez, Stephanie Rosenberg, Jeffrey Williams, Brendan Walsh and Kari Nicholaisen.
Playwright Paul Marsh is a resident of Dover, MA, who has spent most of his theater career as an actor, only recently turning his attention to writing. His first three plays were all one acts (A Final Shabbos, Unfinished Masterpiece and First Day of School), with A Final Shabbos having been performed by the TBD Westwood Players. Marsh’s fourth play, The Waiting Room is his first full length play, as well as his first comedy. The first draft received a reading by The Walpole Footlighters.
Award-winning Director Jonathan Cerullo will helm the reading. His numerous Broadway/NYC credits include: choreographic consultant: Say Goodnight, Gracie, assistant director and/or choreo: Band In Berlin, Anna Karenina, The Three Musketeers, original cast: Legs Diamond, choreographer, Big Apple Circus’ Carnivale! & Picturesque (Lincoln Center). Directed/author, A Lotta Night Music Benefit Concert Honoring Patricia Birch and Len Cariou, (Amas Musical Theatre 55yr Gala), Off-Broadway: produced/directed, Legs Diamond Reunion Concert (Feinstein’s/54 Below & NYPL Lincoln Center), directed and/or choreo, The Flip Side and No Foolin’ (Amas Music Theatre), TV/Film: created and directed; “Dear Mr. Gershwin” (CBC TV), choreo, “Evening At Pops”, assistant director, Donny Osmond's, “This Is The Moment”, “Natalie Cole’s Christmas Special” all for Great Performances. Film: The First Wives Club and The Stepford Wives. Cerullo has worked at top regional theaters, including: Denver Center, Goodspeed, Arena Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival and Geffen Playhouse.
A Q&A discussion with the director and cast will follow the reading. While the event is free, donations will be gratefully accepted. Hamilton Stage is located at 360 Hamilton Street in Rahway, NJ and is independently operated under the governance of Union County Performing Arts Center.
American Theater Group (ATG), founded in 2012, produces new and classic works primarily by American playwrights with an emphasis on the development of new works and the reimagining of undeservedly neglected older ones. The company also focuses on offering quality arts-in-education programming, including its New Works/New Voices high school play writing program.
ATG programming is made possible in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Made possible by the Somerset County Cultural & Heritage Commission, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
