Final two performances for A TUNA CHRISTMAS are tonight and Saturday - and then the wild gang goes back into the J CITY vaults for another year!

There are still tickets available for tonight...but Saturday is almost sold out!

Tickets available at www.jcity.org

Tonight is our Two For Thirty special.

Buy two tickets for a total price of $30.00. (A $10.00 savings.)

Hope to see you there!

This is the final week for J CITY Theater's A TUNA CHRISTMAS.

Final four performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm.

Hope to see you there!

www.jcity.org

An email from one of last night's audience members:

"I woke up this morning singing Christmas Carols - Tuna, Texas style. What a great fun show - Bravo!"

Other comments from last night:
Wow - we laughed til our sides hurt.

I'm finally in the Holiday Spirit! Tuna always means the holidays have begun!!

I don't know how you all do it. I'm glad you do...but there were literally times when I could not figure out how that was done!

Come on down to J CITY and see what folks are talking about!

Reminder -
Tonight is our TWO FOR THIRTY THURSDAY special.

Get two tickets for a total of only $30.00!

Hope to see you there!

Tonight is opening night!

It's been so much fun getting this Tuna up and running.

Vera is all decked out.
Didi is locked and loaded.
Charlene is a frantic mess.
Joe-Bob is throwing a fit.
and The Christmas Phantom has us all in an up roar.

Come on down to see the gang of A Tuna Christmas!

Tonight at 8pm -
252 9th Street between Jersey Ave and Erie.

Tickets:
www.jcity.org

A TUNA CHRISTMAS opens this Wednesday! Come on out for some outrageous Christmas comedy!

252 9th Street
Between Erie and Jersey Ave

December 7th thru 17th
Wednesdays through Saturdays
8pm

Tickets: $20.00
Buy tickets: www.jcity.org


And take advantage of our Dinner and Show Packages with
The Embankment and The Hamilton Inn.

A great night of fun theater and wonderful restaurants!

It's Tuna Time!

Back by popular demand - J CITY Theater announces the opening of our wild holiday tradition: A Tuna Christmas.? This is our 5th annual production and this year we are excited to announce a new cast member!? Ron Nummi, last seen in our production of RACE - has risen to the high-heeled challenge of being one half of the crazy town of Tuna, Texas.?

A TUNA CHRISTMAS has become a not-to-be-missed holiday addiction in downtown Jersey City.? This year the "big-haired" wigs are bigger and the high heels are higher.? Having grown every year, we are now at the level of outrageous spectacle.


?Roared with laughter. An outsized creation. Sandy Cockrell knows how to get all the juice from this comedy!?
Peter Filichia
The Star Ledger


Are you a Tuna Virgin?? Well, here's the plot:
A TUNA CHRISTMAS is a marathon Christmas comedy of southern madness.? The Christmas yard display contest is heating up in the small town of Tuna, Texas as neighbor fights neighbor for the most outrageous display of lights, Santas, Baby Jesus' and Rudolphs.? This year, however, there is a Christmas Phantom on the loose, spreading vandalism and havoc.? With quick-change zaniness and quicksilver one-liners, two incredibly talented actors introduce us to 22 of the wildest citizens in Tuna, Texas.?

For those of you who are Tuna addicts - we've been told that some of you wait to plan your holiday travel around the performance schedule... so here it is:

December 7th thru 17th.? Wednesday's thru Saturday's - 8pm.
Tickets: $20.00
Special Deal: 2 for Thirty Thursdays - buy 2 tickets for total of $30.00!

Location: 252 9th Street - between Erie Street and Jersey Ave.
Tickets available at: www.jcity.org


And don't forget about our great Dinner and A Show Packages.

Option 1:
Just as in the past, The Embankment Restaurant is offering their $30.00 prix fixe meal (3 courses!) for those seeing the show later that night. Just tell your waiter you are seeing the show after the meal.

Option 2:
Hamilton Inn is offering 10% off your entire bill (that's right - not a typo: the entire bill) for those seeing the show later that night. Not to be combined with other specials.

Two great ways to support your local restaurants, see a great show, and save money!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Just a reminder - tonight is our 2 for Thirty promotion.

Buy 2 tickets for only $30.00 total. A savings of $10.00.
Only a few tickets left - so I suggest buying them online to insure you get to see the show.

These are the final 3 performances - we close on Saturday.
Time: 8pm
Location: 252 9th Street, between Jersey Ave and Erie Street.
Tickets: www.jcity.org


A comment from an audience member last night:

"Wow. This is the best theater I've seen all year."

This is our final week of performances for RACE - tickets are going fast but are still available.
Performances run Wednesday through Saturday - 8pm.

Here is what audiences are saying:

"Wow - I didn't want it to end."

"When I come to J CITY - I EXPECT to be impressed - and each time my expectations are exceeded. J CITY just keeps getting better and better."

"Jersey City is lucky to have a theater like this."

Be sure to catch one of this week's performances - I suggest getting your tickets online to avoid possible sold out shows.

Don't forget our Dinner and A Show packages with local restaurants:


Option 1:
Just as in the past, The Embankment Restaurant is offering their $30.00 prix fixe meal (3 courses!) for those seeing the show later that night. Just tell your waiter you are seeing the show after the meal.

Option 2:
Hamilton Inn is offering 10% off your entire bill (that's right - not a typo: the entire bill) for those seeing the show later that night. Not to be combined with other specials.

Two great ways to support your local restaurants, see a great show, and save money!

Tickets still available for tonight's performance!

Opening weekend was our most successful opening - EVER.

We are thrilled with the response our audiences have for this great show. Typical comment: "I'm coming back. I have to see this show again - Wow!"

Which means....tickets are going fast! Don't wait until the last weekend - Be sure to get yours today - this is one show you don't want to miss!

We start back up tomorrow - RACE runs Wednesday's through Saturday's 8pm.

Tickets available at www.jcity.org

J CITY Theater in the NY TIMES

Check out the Metropolitan section of the NY TIMES -
we've got our picture in the theater listings!!

Thanks to everyone for last night - our biggest and most successful opening night ever!

So good to see old friends and meet new friends and neighbors!

Overheard in the lobby:

"Wow - our first time here - we'll be back!"

"What a high quality production - so glad we came."

"Our group is still debating all the issues brought up - we are heading over to the Hamilton Inn and hash it all out."

"We were on the edge of our seats. Riveting. Amazing job"

Don't miss out - the show continues tonight and Wednesday through Saturday until October 22nd.

Hope to see you there!

Opening night is tonight!
Nothing like opening a new show - and what a great roller coaster ride this one is. Sure to keep the audiences debating long after the show ends.

J CITY Theater presents RACE by David Mamet - 8pm.

And don't forget our Dinner and A Show packages with local restaurants:


Option 1:
Just as in the past, The Embankment Restaurant is offering their $30.00 prix fixe meal (3 courses!) for those seeing the show later that night. Just tell your waiter you are seeing the show after the meal.

Option 2:
Hamilton Inn is offering 10% off your entire bill (that's right - not a typo: the entire bill) for those seeing the show later that night. Not to be combined with other specials.

Two great ways to support your local restaurants, see a great show, and save money!

Hello Everyone!

It's finally here - J CITY Theater opens the NJ Premier of David Mamet's RACE this Friday, Octobery 7th. We are thrilled to invite you to this great production.

RACE, is a legal drama / detective story that follows three lawyers who find themselves defending a rich, white businessman accused of a crime against a young African-American woman. Issues of class, shame, sex, gender, guilt and of course race are all provocatively stirred together in classic ?Mamet? style. As one of America?s leading playwrights, Mamet is doing what he does best: choosing an incendiary topic and then asking more questions than he answers. Race has the quick banter of Mamet?s Glengarry Glen Ross, the gloves-off approach of his Speed The Plow and provocative subject matter of Oleanna.

As the playwright wrote in a recent essay about his work, ?Race, like sex, is a subject on which it is near impossible to tell the truth.? But ?truth? is exactly what the court system demands, which makes a perfect conflict for great theater. Audiences are sure to be debating the issues addressed in Race - long after the curtain has fallen.

"Sizzles with Energy" - The Wall Street Journal

"High Voltage Melodrama" - Bloomberg News

"Scalpel-Edged Intelligence" - The New York Times

RACE runs this week Friday and Saturday - and then Wednesday's through Saturdays until October 22nd.
Time: 8pm
Location: 252 9th Street between Erie Street and Jersey Ave.
Tix: $20.00
To get more information or to purchase tickets - go to www.jcity.org

Anybody know what just happened - 1pm.
Really loud alarm / alert.

Just a reminder -
Jersey Shorts is this Friday, 8pm.

It's a free event - great story telling and wonderful
musical performances by local musicians.

Hope to see you there!

Clay

252 9th Street
Between Jersey Ave and Erie Street.

Hello Everyone,

J CITY Theater opens their 6th Season on Friday - September 9th with Jersey Shorts!
Theme of the event: Guy's Night Out! Celebrating the men in our lives.
It's a FREE event.
8pm
252 9th Street
Jersey City, NJ

JERSEY SHORTS is a wonderful evening of music and story telling. Modeled after National Public Radio?s ?Selected Shorts at Symphony Space?, J CITY brings together prominent local figures for readings of funny and inspiring short stories, and for good measure they throw in the best of the best of local musical acts. The resulting mix is a fantastic night of laughter and song. And it?s Free!

Scheduled readers are:
Michael Gates
Brian Richardson
John Wiggins
Walt Boraczek
Nathan Sambul
Jim Bonalsky


Musical performances by David Jacobsen, Jeff Humphreys and
the divine Dujuana Sharese & Spacious Curtis

Come on down for a great night!
Here?s all the information:

Date: Friday September 9th
Time: 8pm to 10pm
Location: 252 9th Street. Just off Hamilton Park.
Price: FREE

More info at www.jcity.org

Bump. Auditions are tonight.
7pm to 9pm.

(Sorry to keep bumping this up - it's just after every show I have so many actors say they want to audition but never hear about when auditions are. )

Have to agree.
We used Basil to rebuild our bathroom wall. He was professional, affordable and did an amazing job with a complicated project.

Over the past 10 years - I think we have hit every bad contractor there is. (And there are a lot of them.)

I didn't think contractors like Basil existed.
I can't recommend him enough.

Clay Cockrell
J CITY Theater
www.jcity.org

Auditions are this Thursday night. Hope to see you there. See below.

Also - if you would like to volunteer and be a part of J CITY Theater - come on down and see us Thursday night. We'd love to talk with you about how you can participate.

Thanks!
Clay

J CITY Theater will be holding open call auditions for Equity and Non-Equity actors - for their upcoming production of Race, by David Mamet. Details below.

Date: Thursday, August 4th.
Time: 7pm to 9pm
Location: 252 9th Street - St. Michael's Church
(between Jersey Ave and Erie Street.)

Casting:
?
Role of Henry Brown - Male, Late 40s - early 50s.? African American. Skilled in language and the adventure of argument. Ensemble work and exploration a plus!

Role of Charles Strickland - Male, Late 40s - early 50s. Caucasian. Articulate in the 'language of wealth' and a willingness to fight. Ensemble work and exploration a plus!

Role of Susan - Female, Late 20s. African American. Ivy League training and caught in the steep learning curve of her first job. Ensemble work and exploration a plus!
?
Prepare one 2-minute monologue: language driven, reflective of the piece.

Rehearsals held week day evenings & Saturday mornings.
Rehearsals begin August 27th.?

Production Dates: October 7th - 22nd.
?
Equity & Non-equity to be seen.
Equity members will be given special appearance contract - $200.00 per week.
Non-equity members will be given travel stipend.
?
All rehearsals & performances are in Jersey City - near PATH train,
easy transport from NYC.

J CITY Theater is an equal opportunity employer. All races, genders are strongly encouraged to audition.
More info: www.jcity.org

J CITY Theater, located at 252 9th Street in the Hamilton Park area of Downtown Jersey City - is seeking volunteers for their upcoming season.

This is a wonderful opportunity to be part of a growing arts organization that has recently been featured in The New York Times and The Star Ledger. We are very excited about our upcoming 6th season and have several opportunities for volunteers - which include:

House Manager
Technical Director
Set Design and Construction
Publicity / Graphic Design
Costumes
Lighting Design and setup
Concessions
and more.

If you are interested in becoming part of the J CITY Family - please contact me at Clay@jcity.org.
Thanks,
Clay Cockrell
Executive Producer
J CITY Theater
www.jcity.org

Congratulations to Sam Pott and Nimbus Dance on a great article in the NY Times. Nimbus Dance is real artistic treasure in Jersey City. Be sure to check out their show this week!

NEW YORK TIMES
Dancing on a Cloud, Over Jersey City
By TAMMY LA GORCE

JERSEY CITY

SAMUEL POTT named his dance company Nimbus Dance Works, he said, because he liked the idea of forming an atmospheric cloud ? a nimbus ? of dance, and also because of its definition as ?sort of an enigmatic aura that surrounds something.?

But a more important consideration was that the troupe not bear his own name.

?I wanted to make it clear that I?m directing this company, but that the company has an idea and a mission that?s bigger than me,? Mr. Pott, 35, said before a recent rehearsal at Grace Church Van Vorst here.

That mission, which can be summed up as a commitment to interacting with the community at large instead of the more cloistered modern dance community, is behind a global pastiche of dance the company will perform from Thursday through Saturday for its annual spring series at the church.

In a four-part show each evening, Nimbus will present a premiere of a work in the Cuban danz?n style by the Latin choreographer Pedro Ruiz; the martial-arts-inspired ?Butterfly Dream,? by the Taiwanese choreographer Xiao-xiong Zhang; a percussive dance called ?Priye Ginen,? by the Haitian-American choreographer Jean Paul Jr., a member of Nimbus; and Mr. Pott?s ?Bloodlines 1944,? which traces the memories of a World War II soldier.

The audience for modern dance ?is largely other dancers,? said Mr. Pott, who currently takes no salary from Nimbus and pays the bills as a dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. ?But I?ve always felt that?s not a very healthy situation,? which is why the nonprofit Nimbus, now in its seventh season, goes out of its way to involve those who are not necessarily savvy about dance.

While Nimbus participates in high-profile events like the Jacob?s Pillow Dance Festival, in which it performed last summer, for example, it has also recruited local seniors with no dance experience to participate in some shows.

And a signature piece, ?Memo,? calls on audiences to share in the creative process by writing down, in five words or fewer, something they never want to forget. The troupe then reads the memories ? ?which are sometimes very poetic,? Mr. Pott said ? during the dance. In a different twist on ?Memo,? the company works with the writers of the memories, all nondancers, to craft a more personalized version of the dance, involving them in the choreography.

Since 2006, when Nimbus first started performing for audiences of up to 120 on Grace Church Van Vorst?s makeshift stage, spring shows have consisted mostly of modern works by Mr. Pott, with contributions from an occasional guest choreographer, he said.

The cross-cultural focus this year has its roots in an ethnic dance program in the Jersey City public schools, Mr. Pott said. That program will be this year?s installment of the Nimbus project ?JC Grooves,? which presents a work by the troupe and a small group of middle-school volunteers to seventh-graders in Jersey City each spring; four performances took place at the Frank R. Conwell Middle School No. 4 last week, with four more scheduled for this week.

?But we?re more of a contemporary dance company, and we don?t do ethnic dance the way it?s normally conceived of, in terms of dance that is specifically linked historically to a culture,? Mr. Pott said. His solution was to present the work of three other choreographers ?all linked to different dance traditions, even though they all consider themselves contemporary choreographers.?

Mr. Pott said the project gave rise to interesting questions, like, ?Is this ethnic dance, even though it?s made by 21st-century citizens?? He sees these as ?really valuable questions for students in the 21st century in Jersey City, since they?re exposed to kids from all different backgrounds all the time,? he said.

As for Mr. Pott?s own background, he spent his childhood in Manhattan and went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he did not intend to study dance.

?I was really into sports and visual arts when I was growing up. But then I saw a performance by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and that was kind of my initiation,? he said. He signed up for a dance class and soon found that ?dance has a way of taking over people?s lives,? he said.

After a few years of dancing with the Oakland Ballet in California, Mr. Pott returned to the East Coast and joined the Princeton-based American Repertory Ballet. He was a member of that troupe when he formed Nimbus in 2005.

?We started very informally,? said Mr. Pott, who is married to PeiJu Chien-Pott, also a dancer with Nimbus and Martha Graham; they live in Jersey City and have a baby daughter. He and some other American Repertory Ballet dancers wanted ?to create work, and we had some off time in the schedule, so it was just something casual,? he said.

In 2006, they developed ?Memo,? as well as a relationship with Grace Church Van Vorst. Nimbus?s opening-night performance on Thursday will be followed by a reception honoring both the church and Michelle de Fremery, a Nimbus dancer and board member who is planning to move to Washington.

Many of the 10 Nimbus dancers, all of whom are from New Jersey or New York, are friends from Martha Graham and the American Repertory Ballet, he said. ?But the type of dancer who gravitates toward Nimbus, and the ones I?m interested in, have to be top-notch technically and also want to use dance as a vehicle for promoting a larger dialogue.?

Myssi Robinson, 20, of New Brunswick, is one of them.

?What I like about Nimbus is that it comes from a place that isn?t fake,? she said while stretching on the wooden church floor before the ?Bloodlines, 1944? rehearsal. ?It?s never just movement for movement?s sake. There?s a lot of kindness and integrity in this company.?

Nimbus Dance Works performs Thursday through Saturday at Grace Church Van Vorst, 39 Erie Street, Jersey City. Tickets cost $18 ($10 for students and seniors). Tickets to the Thursday opening night celebration, including the performance and a Champagne reception, cost $45. For tickets: brownpapertickets.com. For information, (201) 377-0718 or nimbusdanceworks.org.

Tonight is your last chance to catch this amazing show! Tickets are going fast - so I would recommend getting your tickets online. www.jcity.org

Clay

Tonight is our 2 for $30 discount night. Buy one ticket and get your second ticket half off!

Come on down and add a little mystery to your life.

Quote from an audience member last night:

"Amazing! This rivals anything I've seen in New York or any of the larger regional theaters in the area. Great job!"

It's not over!

You're not too late!

J CITY Theater's final 4 performances of Private Eyes, begins tonight.

This has been J CITY's most successful show EVER! And tickets are going fast - so be sure to order yours online at www.jcity.org

Don't miss the show that is breaking records!

Here's what folks are saying:

"Your best show yet! I've seen every production and I think this one is the best!"

"Loved it! J CITY always makes me think. Always makes me laugh. I wouldn't miss it. Once again, I'm impressed."


Final four performances are tonight through Saturday - 8pm.

Hope to see you there.

Check out our great review from Baristanet!

Nothing is as it seems in ?Private Eyes,? a witty Steven Dietz knockoff of Tom Stoppard, in production at the J City Theater in Jersey City. What starts out as an arrogant director auditioning an actress for a part turns into something very different when he repairs next door for lunch, and something very different again when another director appears on the scene.

Before long, we?re asking ourselves: OK, is this the play within the play, or is there another layer? Are we watching something real, or a dream or a cuckolded husband?s revenge fantasy or a rehearsal? And what?s real anyway, given that we are in a church basement off Hamilton Park, craning our necks around support columns to see the action?

Because nothing is quite as it seems at this theater, either.

The setting would suggest a kind of bargain basement entertainment. But the company, in which nearly everyone seems to be wearing multiple hats, pulls off a very stylish entertainment. You have to like a show where everybody in the cast wears sunglasses indoors at some point.

Sandy Cockrell directs with verve and plays Lisa, the leading lady with a fine actressy bravado and insecurity. Her real-life husband Clay Cockrell is her stage husband Matthew, believable as both petty tyrant and sad sack making stuff up for his therapist. Clay is also executive producer for J City.

Vincent Ticali manages to be both prissy and virile as a visiting artist, a British director on the prowl for new conquests. And Eileen Gaughan is flat-out hilarious in multiple roles, especially, in fedora and, naturally, sunglasses, a Jersey-inflected private investigator. ?I prefer ?dick,?? she informs a somewhat awed Matthew.

Steven Dietz is a rare playwright, one who?s managed to make a living without much in the way of New York productions. The folks at J City are doing justice to one of his better-known works.

?Private Eyes? continues this weekend and next at J City Theater at St. Michael?s Church, 252 Ninth Street, Jersey City.