Bergenstages 2024-25 Season Spotlights College Talent
PARAMUS, N.J. – Bergen Community College’s student theatre troupe, Bergenstages, will open its 51st season on Friday, October 25 with a production of “Harvey.” Delving into timeless tales with four shows and one musical centered around the world of literature, the troupe will also perform “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” “Lysistrata” and “Nora: A Doll’s House” as part of the 2024-25 season. Special productions of “It Can’t Happen Here” and “Backwards Forward Back” will also take place.
“Bergenstages is one of the leading community college theatre companies in the United States and we couldn’t be more excited to offer such a diverse season for our students, college community and our Bergen County community,” Bergenstages Producer and Professor Jim Bumgardner said. "Everything from classical Greek to contemporary musical; there is something for everyone in the 2024-25 season."
According to Bumgardner, Bergenstages aims to produce shows that respect the original intentions of the playwrights, making the troupe different than many other college theater ensembles. This season, Bergenstages will perform:
· Harvey (by Mary Chase) - The winner of the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for drama centers on an easy-going man who claims to have an unseen - and presumably imaginary - friend “Harvey” (an anthropomorphic rabbit standing over six feet tall). Performances will take place in the Ender Hall Lab Theatre at Bergen’s main campus (400 Paramus Road) on Friday, October 25; Saturday, October 26; Thursday, October 31; Friday, November 1; and Saturday, November 2 at 7:30 p.m. Matinee performances will take place on Saturday, October 26 and Saturday, November 2 at 2 p.m. A special post-show audience talk-back will take place immediately following the Thursday, October 31 performance. Tickets are $18 for general admission, $12 for seniors (ages 65+) and $5 for all students. For seats, visit tickets.bergen.edu or call (201) 447-7428.
· It Can’t Happen Here (by Sinclair Lewis and John C. Moffitt), Sunday, October 27, 7:30 p.m., Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre (400 Paramus Road, Paramus) - In collaboration with the Bergen Alumni Theatre and Ramapo College Theatre program, the reader and theatre performance will focus on the themes of autocratic leadership and the consequences that transpire.
· Backwards Forward Back (by Jacqueline Goldfinger), Tuesday, November 12, 1:45 p.m., S-138, Pitkin Education Center (400 Paramus Road, Paramus) - A one-person play starring Bergen alumnus and award-winning actor Lawrence (LJ) Hickmon, the performance delves into the impact of war, centering on a soldier returning from Afghanistan haunted by the ghosts of his tour.
· The Mystery of Edwin Drood (by Rupert Holmes), opens Friday, December 6, 7:30 p.m., Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre (400 Paramus Road, Paramus) - Based on Charles Dickens’ final unfinished novel, this whodunit invites the audience to solve its mystery by choosing the identity of the murderer.
· Lysistrata (by Aristophanes and adapted by Carolyn Balducci), opens Friday, February 28, 2025, 7:30 p.m., Ender Hall Lab Theatre (400 Paramus Road, Paramus) - Greek women unite in an effort to end the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex from their husbands and lovers - a strategy that ignites a fiery battle between the sexes.
· Nora: A Doll’s House (by Stef Smith after Henrik Ibsen), opens Friday, March 28, 2025, 7:30 p.m., Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre (400 Paramus Road, Paramus) - Nora, a beautiful wife and mother, is haunted by a secret from her past and her life rapidly unravels.
· Theatre Production Workshop, opens Thursday, April 24, 2025, time TBD, Ender Hall Lab Theatre (400 Paramus Road, Paramus) - Students will produce and perform a dramatic work as a culminating class project.
For tickets and information, visit tickets.bergen.edu or call (201) 447-7428.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
Photo caption: Zachary Ingledue, as Elwood P. Dowd, and Gabriella Cornier, as Veta Louise Simmons in “Harvey.”
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