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Hoboken’s Mile Square Theatre Tackles Teen Play

As two teenagers deal with school, parents and life’s deeper meanings, they forge a relationship beyond their years. These themes are at the heart of Mile Square Theatre’s (MST) new production, I and You by Lauren Gunderson which opens Wed, Jan 30, at the company’s Hoboken theater. I and You, which runs through Sunday, Feb. 24, features Simone Grossman and Ronald Lane under the direction of MSTs Artistic Director Chris O’Connor. The play, which kicks off Mile Square Theatre’s 2019 season, is a teenage love story that focuses on Caroline, a homebound student battling a chronic illness, and her classmate Anthony, who visits Caroline to work on a project about the poet Walt Whitman. As the two share their thoughts, feelings and innermost secrets, their poetry project becomes a touchstone to a deeper friendship. Winner of the 2014 Steinberg/ATCA New

Play Award and finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Playwrighting Prize, I and You is a haunting play about the strange and transcendent connections between us all, according to O’Connor, the play’s director. “I’ve rarely been affected by an initial reading of a play as I was with this one,” O’Connor says. “I find this play funny, heartbreaking, and deeply moving. Lauren Gunderson beautifully captures the voice of the post-millennial generation and renders a play that contains a relatable truth that cuts through all generations. I think this production will strongly resonate with the MST audience.” The show’s creative team includes MST resident designers including set designer Jennifer Price Fick (The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi), costume designer Peter Fogel (The 39 Steps), lighting designer Jason Flamos (It’s a Wonderful Life), and sound designer Sean

Hagerty (The Net Will Appear). Mile Square Theatre is supported by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and this program is made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

I and You will be presented Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are $15- $40; $18 for students and seniors and can be purchased at www. milesquaretheatre. org, or by calling 201-683-7014.

If you go Wed, Jan. 30-Sun, Feb. 24 I AND YOU Mile Square Theatre 1400 Clinton St, HOB (201) 683-7014 Milesquaretheatre. org Tix: $15-$40 Seniors/students: $18.

ARTScene

January 2019 Cultural Happenings In & Around Hudson

AT THE GALLERIES

NJCU VISUAL ARTS GALLERY, Visual Arts Building (basement), 100 Culver Ave, JC. (201) 200-2496. Njcu.edu/ center-arts/visual-arts. Gallery hours Mon-Fri, 11 am-5 pm or by appointment. Jan 30-Mar 27: UNCHARTERED SPACE, Gianluca Bianchino. “An Italian- American artist based in Newark and an NJCU alumnus (BFA 2002), Gianluca Bianchino turns the Visual Arts Gallery into an immersive environment consisting of threedimensional sculptures lit internally and externally. The exhibition invites viewers to physically interact with the works to contemplate on their positions in the universe as well as to explore traditional and new media processes employed in Bianchino’s art, such as, metal casting, laser cutting, optics, and hand craftsmanship. Artist Talk and Music Performance by Brian Lawlor on Thurs, Feb. 28, 6-8 pm.”

HAMILTON SQUARE CONDOMINIUMS, 232 Pavonia Ave, JC. Contact: Kristin J. DeAngelis, Curator, (201) 280-4821; kd@107bowersgallery.

com. Now through Apr. 27: SEE SAW. Paintings by Mark Finne inspired by adventures below and above the surfaces of our seas. “ Curated by Kristin J. DeAngelis, SEE SAW is a collection of works focused on the time Finne spent swimming, scuba diving/exploring, bodyboarding, surfi ng and his all-around life adventure. For Finne, it all started with photography...” For more info: finneland.com.

ROTUNDA GALLERY, Jersey City Hall, 280 Grove St, JC. (201) 547- 6921; jcnj.org. Opens Tues, Jan. 8 and runs through Thurs, Jan. 31. Opening Reception Jan. 8, 6-8 pm. Admission: Free. JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY: IMAGE AND NARRATIVE. “Group exhibition highlighting Jersey City’s landmarks, friends and neighbors, art and performance scene, local politics, historic neighborhoods, new development, the famous and infamous, hidden treasures and everyday reality – everything that makes Jersey City a unique place to live and work.”

MANA CONTEMPORARY, 888 Newark Ave, JC.

Manacontemporary. com. Now showing: FRED SANDBACK: SCULPTURE. “The exhibition comprises works by American artist Fred Sandback dating from 1967–1982, including a series of early corner sculptures in metal rod and elastic cord from 1969 and later acrylic yarn works determined by their architectural surroundings. Sandback was known for sculptures that outlined planes and volumes in space, and after using metal wire and elastic cord early in his career, he soon began using stretched yarn to make works that address what he called the “pedestrian space” of everyday life.”

DT 234 GALLERY, 234 York St, JC. (201) 986-6705; dt234gallery. com. Opens Fri, Jan. 25 and runs to Sat, Feb. 23: ASIA STORIES II. Solo show featuring works by artist Frederic Paul. “The delicate and poetic artworks of painter Frederic Paul reference his Asian roots in his expressive and elaborate compositions. Inspired by the bold colors, spices, fl oral diversity and intensity of Asian cities this young, emerging German artist works with a range of media, including torn sections of canvas, rice-paper, acrylics and oil.”

SILVERMAN/The Majestic Theatre Condominiums,

222 Montgomery St, JC. (201) 435-8000. Runs through Feb. 17: THE UNLEASHING OF NATURE, REMEMBERED WORKS ON PAPER AND CANVAS; paintings by Caridad Kennedy. The show features “abstract landscapes - imaginative places where environment becomes a metaphor for sentiment and experience.” Kristin J. DeAngelis curates. (Pictured: Art work by Caridad Kennedy.)

PANEPINTO GALLERIES, 70 Hudson St, JC. Panepintogalleries. com;. Now showing through May 1. SOMETHING BLUE highlights artworks by four artists based in Jersey City and West Orange: Stephen Cimini, Candy Le Sueur, Tatsuro Nishimura and Shari-Beth Susskind. “From symbolism, to psychology, to décor, to art - the most popular color in the world is the color blue. Using various mediums, these four artists bring the magic of ‘Something Blue’ into their art. The artists featured in this exhibition explore the

color blue through an underlying theme of abstraction through the use of oil paint, resin, acrylic paint and photography.”

THEATER

CLUB SCENE

BRIGHTSIDE TAVERN, 141 Bright St, JC. www. brightsidetavern.com. Mon: Jazz Jam Session; Tues & Wed: Karaoke; Thurs: Open Mic Night; Fri: Comedy, Private Parties, Dance, Karaoke, Open Mic; Sat & Sun, Brunch, Private Parties, Dance, Karaoke, Open Mic.