“Waiting for Lefty” on the corner of 4th and Jasper Street

Walt's Cafe (photo courtesy of the South Camden Theater Company)

Back in the 1930s through the 1960s, on the corner of 4^th and Jasper Street in Camden, NJ, there was a bustling saloon called Walt’s Café, where thousands of workers from the local shipyards went to quench their thirst.

Today, in place of Walt’s Cafe is the New Waterfront South Theater, where the South Camden Theatre Company is taking us back in time for a three-week production of Waiting for Lefty. The play, written in 1935 by Clifford Odets, will be directed by Joseph M. Paprzycki.

“Waiting for Lefty, Clifford Odets’s first produced play, is set during the 1930’s as taxi drivers contemplate a strike against their employers.  The play is broken in vignettes showing what life was life during the Great Depression that eerily mirror our current economic landscape,” says Papryzycki.  “I selected this play due to its continued relevance to our American society and the fit to our season’s theme ‘The Past in the Present is Our Future.’ Our production will take the play from the 1930’s and bring it all the way to 2011. It is a play that expresses the anger and frustration of working people towards their employers and their situations in their daily lives.”

With Waiting for Lefty, Papryzycki and the South Camden Theater Company are quenching a thirst of a different kind, bringing back live theater and leading the revitalization of a historic area in New Jersey.

~Melissa
The Jersey Girl

Performances will be held Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. from February 2^nd through February 20^th at the Waterfront South Theatre located at 400 Jasper Street in Camden, New Jersey.

Tickets can be purchased for $15 online at http://www.southcamdentheatre.org, by calling 1-866-811-4111, or at the door.

To learn more about the South Camden Theater Company, visit their links below:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SouthCamdenTheatre
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SouthCamdenTheatreCompany
Twitter: http://twitter.com/artwillsaveus
Blog: http://art-will-save-us.blogspot.com

Happy New Jersey Day!

Happy New Jersey Day, everyone!
Today is December 18th – and it’s the day, that in 1787, New Jersey became the third state of the Union.

(I have to do my homework a little, to see when this holiday officially began, but you know that I’m sure happy to celebrate it!)

My own week here in New Jersey, preparing for the holidays, has been great – a little cold, but great!

A definite highlight this week was my trip to McCarter Theater in Princeton to see A Christmas Carol.  The show runs through December 26th, so if you haven’t bought your tickets yet, there’s still time!

I’m off to brave the roads and malls for some last-minute holiday shopping…

~Melissa
The Jersey Girl