Urban Agenda Magazine - Fall 2016

Fall 2016 URBAN AGENDA MAGAZINE

ON YOUR MARK...GET SET...RUN MARATHONS AND HALF MARATHONS FA L L

FIRST SMACKDOWN: WHERE THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL EXPERIENCE BEGAN

2016

ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S NEW JERSEY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS FASHION ILLUSTRATOR MEAGAN MORRISON TOP-FLIGHT NEW JERSEY THEATERS THE GERALDINE R. DODGE POETRY FESTIVAL

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Get Organized for Fall

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FALL 2016 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lynn Adams Smith CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jorge Naranjo

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art DIRECTOR Jeffrey Edward Tryon GRAPHIC DESIGNers Matthew DiFalco Erica Cardenas CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ellen Gilbert Donald Gilpin Wendy Plump Sarah Emily Gilbert Taylor Smith ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Robin Broomer ACCOUNT MANAGERS Jennifer Covill Kendra Broomer Charles R. Plohn Monica Sankey Erin Toto OPERATIONS MANAGER Melissa Bilyeu URBAN AGENDA magazine Witherspoon Media Group 4438 Route 27 North Kingston, NJ 08528-0125 P: 609.924.5400 F: 609.924.8818 urbanagendamagazine.com Advertising opportunities: 609.924.5400 Media Kit available on urbanagendamagazine.com Subscription information: 609.924.5400 Editorial suggestions: editor@witherspoonmediagroup.com

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Urban Agenda Magazine All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. To purchase PDF files or reprints, please call 609.924.5400 or e-mail melissa.bilyeu@witherspoonmediagroup.com. ©2016 Witherspoon Media Group

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contents

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On Your Mark...Get Set...Run Marathons and Half Marathons

BY Taylor Smi th

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First Smackdown: Where The American Footbal l Experience B egan By wendy plump

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Making It Happen: The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

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by donald gi lpi n

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“The Play’s The Thing” for a Host of Top -Flight New Jersey Theaters and Their Audiences

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by donald Gi lpi n

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University Presidents Look Ahead BY ellen gi lbert

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Alexander Hamilton’s New Jersey— From Elizabethtown to Weehawken

BY Taylor Smi th

FALL 2016

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40

The Art of Making it Big: Fashion Il lustrator Meagan Morrison BY sar ah emi ly gi lbert

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46 ———

Calendar

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A Wel l-Designed Life 52

Cover Image: 2015 TCS New York City Marathon (Courtesy NYRR).

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On Your Mark...

Get Set...Run this Fall:

October 9 NYRR Staten Island Half Marathon Staten Island, NY www.nyrr.org

Tri - State Marathons and Half Marathons

by Taylor Smith

Area runners who train through the heat of the summer have lots of options to choose from among the marathons and half marathons being staged this fall. Whether you are interested in racing 13.1 miles or the full 26.2 miles, these area events will be worth the preparation!

September 18 Newport Liberty Half Marathon Jersey City, NJ www.newporthalfmarathon.com

September 25 OCNJ Half Marathon & 5K Ocean City, NJ www.ocnj.us

October 1 Hamptons Marathon & Half Marathon Southampton, NY www.hamptonsmarathon.com

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October 1 Fall Foliage Half Marathon & 5K Rhinebeck, NY http://fallfoliagehalf.com

October 2 Long Island Divas Half Marathon & 5K East Meadow, NY www.runlikeadiva.com

NEWPORT IMAGE COURTESY OF QUINN; ROCK N ROLL BROOKLYN PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN BETHKE; TRENTON PHOTO BY CHARLES R. PLOHN; OTHER IMAGES COURTESY OF SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

October 8 Rock n’ Roll Brooklyn Half Marathon Brooklyn, NY www.runrocknroll.com/brooklyn/

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October 16 Halloween Half Marathon & Relay Morristown, NJ http://superheroracing.com/events/halloween-half-marathon/

November 6 – Princeton Half Marathon Princeton, NJ https://princetonhalfmarathon.com

November 6 TCS New York City Marathon New York, NY www.tcsnycmarathon.org

October 16 Brooklynite Bay Ridge Half Marathon Brooklyn, NY https://nycruns.com

October 29 Trenton Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, and Kids Run Trenton, NJ www.trentonhalf.com

October 23 Atlantic City Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K and 5K Atlantic City, NJ www.acraceseries.com November 12 Queens Falling Leaves Half Marathon & 10K Queens, NY https://nycruns.com October 16 Seaside Half Marathon & 5K Seaside Heights, NJ www.orcseasidehalf.com

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FALL 2016

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THE FOOTBALL GAME THAT STARTED IT ALL

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"This depiction of the Rutgers-Princeton game of 1869 was painted by William Boyd, Rutgers College Class of 1932. Since photographs of the game were not taken, Boyd's painting has become the standard representation of the first intercollegiate football game and appears in many accounts of the history of American football."

T

BY WENDY PLUMP | IMAGES COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES.

he game was held on a November afternoon, so the ground must have been wicked hard. They played without shoulder pads or shin guards. They played without helmets. There were no officials and no referees. The rules of play were adopted that very morning based on the home team’s wishes, and presumably on its strengths. There were uprights at each end of the field but there were no crossbars. There was a fence that onlookers used as bleachers, but two team members collided with it in a late play and it came crashing down along with everyone sitting on it. And with 25 players on each team the field was crowded; packed, in fact, with grit and muscle and an unholy amount of testosterone. A later Arnold Friberg painting of the game portrays a scrum of swarthy, burly, bloodied men who look more like pirates than college students.

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Composite of the individuals from Rutgers who participated in the 1869 contest with Princeton. “The appearance of the Princeton men was very different from that of our own players,” reported the Rutgers newspaper, The Targum, in November 1869. “They were almost without exception tall and muscular, while the majority of our twenty-five are small and light, but possess the merit of being up to much more than they look.”

Welcome to the first collegiate football game in America. It was played between Princeton and Rutgers on a frosty afternoon in 1869 on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick. By all accounts, it was no place for buttercups.

There is much that is debatable about the game. Some claim it was not proper American football at all. Some claim it looked more like soccer than football, and others that it looked more like rugby than soccer. Some argue the first gridiron rules game was actually played between Tufts and Harvard several years later. There was a Rutgers graduate who repeatedly boasted that he had been a member of that team, but was not. No one alive can name Princeton’s 25th player, and no one at the time identified the nation’s first ignominious Wrong Way Corrigan, who enabled a goal for the opposing team.

But you cannot deny that there was a game. And you cannot deny that it was a primitive forerunner of football. And you cannot deny that, in the words of sportswriter Allison Danzig describing that colonial rivalry many years later in The New York Times: “It was responsible for the turning loose of hordes of tigers, lions, wildcats, bulldogs, rams, leopards, owls, hawks, bobcats, panthers, bears, eagles, terriers, cougars, bisons, bulls, buffaloes, muskateers, generals, gentlemen, presidents, commodores, raiders, and about every other species except the man from Mars.”

So who, in the end, wants to be a stickler for details? It is more satisfying to simply imagine the excitement as the teams gathered in the autumnal weather, hunkering down on the field off College Avenue, the captains chosen, the clothing shucked, the ball handed onto the field of play, and someone whose name is forever lost to history sounding the opening charge.

“It’s technically not the first football game. Football as a game goes all the way back to the Greeks,” says Steve Greene, a 1979 Rutgers graduate who is researching the history of the Rutgers football program for a longterm project. “But if you go to this year’s Super Bowl and reverse the flow of dominoes all the way back, you’re gonna end up right there on Nov. 6, 1869.

There are other dominoes scattered earlier in time, but none that initiated the American football experience. Of the traditional top four major American sports, only football developed directly out of intercollegiate play.”

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A SPARSE FIRST SEASON

William J. Leggett, ‘72, elected by his teammates as captain of the 1869 Rutgers team. Leggett and his counterpart from Princeton, William S. Gummere ‘70, met prior to the starting time of the game to discuss and agree upon the rules of the game. Both men went on to distinguished careers, Leggett as a Reformed clergyman, and Gummere as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Three games were scheduled for the 1869 season, all of them between Princeton and Rutgers; or more precisely, between the College of New Jersey, not yet named Princeton, and Rutgers College, previously Queens College and not yet named Rutgers University. Princeton and Rutgers were both among the first colleges in the nation.

There was a fierce The tradition of wearing some sort of uniform began with the first rivalry between them game, when the Rutgers players appeared donning scarlet turbans and even before the Nov. kerchiefs for team identification. This custom soon spread to include 6 game. But there was a more consistent shape, such as the Rutgers cap above. At the end of also a bond born of the each contest players would exchange caps with their opponents, similar to the exchange of shirts witnessed by millions at the conclusion of the shared experience of World Cup Soccer matches. being the first college students in New Jersey.

On the side of commonality, the two schools nearly merged in 1793, with a consolidated Board of Trustees proposed. The idea was that Rutgers would serve as a preparatory school and Princeton as a college. The proposal was defeated by just one vote. When Rutgers was founded in 1766, its curriculum was based in part on Princeton’s classical template. Just 20 miles separates the two campuses, and that distance was easily bridged in the late 19th

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century by train travel. In addition, several of Rutgers’ first tutors were Princeton graduates.

On the side of rivalry, however, there was the fact that the town of Princeton had successfully outbid New Brunswick in 1753 for the final location of the College of New Jersey. There was the award of the state’s Land Grant status to Rutgers in 1864, which Princeton had coveted for itself. There was a baseball game in 1866 in which Rutgers was thoroughly annihilated by Princeton. And there was the matter of the cannon wars, in which a disputed Revolutionary War cannon was repeatedly stolen and re-stolen by Princeton or Rutgers students vying for permanent possession. (The cannon today rests on Princeton’s campus, sunk into several feet of concrete.)

While the Nov. 6, 1869 game attracted about 100 fans, it was insufficiently noteworthy to draw any of the great newspapers of the day. The sole remaining accounts of the game spring from three sources. Among them The Targum, the Rutgers newspaper that began publishing in January of 1869, carries the fullest report. A local New Brunswick newspaper, The Daily Fredonian, had an article in its Nov. 9 issue. The remaining accounts, according to Greene, came from members of that original team harkening back to it decades later. Most histories written about the first football game base their own stories on these early reports.

According to Princeton University’s 250th Anniversary book, the game originated with a proposal from one William S. Gummere, a member of Princeton’s Class of 1870. Serving as team captain, Gummere offered to bring his men up to Rutgers for a football match, after which Rutgers would

make its own visit to Princeton for a second game the following weekend.

A third game would follow shortly thereafter. Together, these three contests would comprise the season of 1869.

A COIN TOSS AND THEN BEDLAM Rutgers University archivist Tom Frusciano, who researched the game for his 2008 book Rutgers University Football Vault, describes a casual, comradely air among players on the morning of Nov. 6. The Princeton team arrived in New Brunswick by train accompanied by scores of Princeton students.

They sauntered around New Brunswick, surveyed the college, and were treated to a fine lunch—with billiards—by the Rutgers team. The players, says Frusciano, took to the field by 3 p.m. Gummere was Princeton’s captain.

Rutgers’ captain was William J. Leggett.

“It probably was fierce,” says Frusciano. “From what we have, it sounded like a fairly rough game.”

It had been agreed that the rules would be based on those of the London Football Association. Each score counted as a “game.” Once the score reached 10 games, the contest was over. The ball could not be carried or thrown, but had to be kicked or batted forward until it went through the uprights. Among the 50 men assembled on the field were future clergymen, a state senator, a future chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, several veterans of the Civil War—both Confederate and Union soldiers— and a finalist in the first U.S. Open Tennis Tournament. Most were said to

On Saturday, November 6, 1869, twenty-five young men from the College of New Jersey and their supporters boarded a train in Princeton and traveled one-hour to New Brunswick for a friendly match of "foot-ball" against twenty-five students from Rutgers College. Playing a game that resembled "mass soccer," Rutgers won the first intercollegiate contest, 6 goals to 4.

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(LEFT) Princeton University Stadium, Football Game, 1888.

(BELOW) View of Princeton University’s Palmer Stadium during a game.

Photographs provided by the Collection of the Historical Society of Princeton.

have been excellent athletes. The Princeton team members were larger; the Rutgers team members more agile.

Rutgers, Frusciano says, won the coin toss.

Princeton got the ball and kicked it off to the side where the Rutgers’ players swarmed around it. Using the game’s earliest “flying wedge,” they moved the ball up the field and scored the first goal within five minutes. The second play was dominated by Princeton’s J.E. “Big Mike” Michael, who through sheer weight and size broke apart Rutgers’ wedge and paved the way for his own teammates. Princeton scored the second goal.

The Targum captured the mayhem in its November 1869 article: “To describe the varying fortunes of the match, game by game, would be a waste of labor for every game was like the one before. There was the same headlong running, wild shouting, and frantic kicking. In every game the cool goaltenders saved the Rutgers goal half a dozen times; in every game the heavy charger of the Princeton side overthrew everything he came in contact with.”

The game proceeded with each team making almost alternate goals.

The seventh goal, won by Princeton, included the notorious wrong-way play by an unidentified Rutgers student. The game was tied after the eighth goal.

Rutgers scored the ninth goal and the tenth, and the game was over, with Rutgers winning six to four.

THE REST IS HISTORY

explains, faculty members from each college complained that the sport was interfering with academics.

With the season ending in a default 1-1 tie, the National Collegiate Athletic Association posthumously awarded the championship for 1869 to both Rutgers and Princeton.

Rutgers football did not defeat Princeton again until 1938. During the Sept. 27, 1969 centennial re-match, Rutgers won 29-0. It should be noted that the 150th anniversary of that first game arrives in 2019 – just three years away. Seems like a good time for another rematch.

One week later, Princeton hosted the season at its own campus. They routed Rutgers 8-0 deploying, in particular, their kicking skills to rule the day. The third game was never played, apparently because, as Frusciano

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MAKING IT HAPPEN at the LARGEST POETRY FESTIVAL in NORTH AMERICA BY

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DONALD GILPIN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY T. CHARLES ERICKSON

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N

In Praise: Music and Poetry, Newark Boys Chorus, Marilyn Nelson, Saturday, October 25th, 2014.

Poetry makes nothing happen,” wrote W.H. Auden in his elegiac poem “In Memory of W.B. Yeats,” but Auden, who died in 1973, 13 years before the first Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival, may have just been born too soon.

The Festival has been making something happen for the past 30 years, and from October 20 to 23, in its 16th biennial celebration, it will be filling performance venues throughout the downtown Newark arts district.

Auden, writing in 1939 on the eve of World War II, wondered what place poetry could possibly have in a world where the daily headlines brought news of mounting fear, horror and strife throughout the world.

As our own summer of animosity and discontent gives way to fall and

Election Day approaches with few signs of idealism or optimism, it would be easy to share Auden’s doubts about the purpose and power of poetry. But don’t suggest that to the Dodge Festival poets and their thousands of fans.

“We need poetry now more than ever,” says Martin Farawell, Dodge Poetry Director. “These days we don’t have to look very far to be bombarded with language that is ugly and thoughtless. Just spend a few minutes searching the Internet or watching television: someone or some group is always insulting or bullying another. Poetry reminds us that our incredible gift of speech is also there to connect us. Poets invite us, complete strangers, inside their most private thoughts. I have never witnessed people experiencing this more powerfully than at the Dodge Poetry Festival.”

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With headquarters at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), this year’s festival will feature readings, performances and conversations with dozens of leading voices in contemporary poetry including poet laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, musical artists and more: nearly 60 performers from contemporary published writers to performance poets and slam champions.

On hand will be current U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera; former poets laureate Billy Collins, Kay Ryan and Robert Hass; Pulitzer Prize-winner Gary Snyder and Pulitzer finalist Elizabeth Alexander, inaugural poet for President Barack Obama in 2009; National Book Award winner Mark Doty, Martin Espada, Jane Hirshfield, Marilyn Nelson, Alicia Ostriker and Claudia Rankine.

These writers and many others will be participating in special reading and discussion sessions on such topics as “The Work to be Done: Poetry and Social Justice;” “Silence is Become Speech: The Emergence of Women’s Voices;” “Masks and Masculinity: Poetry and the Rituals of Men;” “Who Is It Can Tell Me Who I Am: Poetry and Identity;” “Tribute to Galway Kinnell;” “Celebration of Amiri Baraka;” “Poetry and Storytelling;” “Poetics of War: Writing the Military Experience;” and “Poetry and Pride.”

“We’ve invited poets who are very genuine in their poetry—reflecting on issues that need to be written about and discussed, a very good representation of where America is right now and some of the things that America is talking about and thinking about,” says Ysabel Gonzalez, poet and central coordinator for the Festival. “They’re trying to work through a process and America is too. It’s exciting to see poets talking to each other and commenting on each other. Poetry for me is now. I feel it’s returning back to the hands of the people. I love hearing these conversations going on from one poet to another through the vehicle of the poem.”

As this seemingly endless campaign season, with its relentless bombardment of distorted and harsh language, draws to a close, perhaps poetry, whether it makes something happen or not, can provide a perspective, a sort of healing, a way forward. The line-up of poets and events is a dramatic indicator that this Festival is bound to make something happen—for its performers and their audiences.

Farawell emphasizes connections between the often-quiet art of poetry and the most profound aspects and happenings in life. “It’s natural that poets throughout history have addressed the issues of their times. Contemporary poets are no exception. Most people throughout history have felt that poetry is the art that addresses the things that people care most profoundly and deeply about. When there’s a death in the family, a wedding, a christening, people bring poems. We understand that certain things are so important, so powerful that this is one of the few ways we can begin to address them or talk about them.

“Social causes or political causes, social justice, racism, violence—all the things that are part of our everyday world that concern people–that’s a

personal thing. That’s not just theoretical politics. That’s everyday life and the most immediate, personal way to talk about these things is through poetry.”

Writing on the Dodge Festival blog, poet and Festival participant Anne Waldman goes a step further in accentuating the power and relevance of poetry amidst the dispiriting current news cycle. “Poetry can be the true news,” she observes. “The tragedies of war, violence, and ever more palpable sufferings are elucidated, mourned, through poetry. And transformation can occur. One can still see light through the darkness. Beyond sentimentality.

And I mean both the reading and writing of poetry.”

VIBRANT CONTEMPORARY SETTING The city of Newark with its “exciting and powerful energy” and its “immediacy,” has according to Farawell, proven to be an ideal venue for this Festival that celebrates the vital role of poetry in the contemporary world.

When Farawell became Dodge Poetry director in 2009, the organization was in transition. Waterloo Village, a 19th century restored village on the banks of the Musconetcong River in Sussex County, where the Festival had been held for most of its first two decades, had gone bankrupt, and the Dodge Foundation was suffering from the effects of the 2008 stock market crash. An announcement that the Festival could not continue in its current form brought a surge of support, including calls and letters from organizations, towns and cities all over the state offering help. Nine cities submitted formal proposals to host the event, Newark was chosen, and the Festival has taken place there every other year since 2010.

Farawell describes the physical and spiritual shift that took place in moving from bucolic Waterloo Village to urban Newark. “One of the things that shifted by moving it to New Jersey’s largest city is a vitality added to the festival and this awareness among the poets and in the audience that contemporary poetry is happening in a contemporary setting—a key feeling that poetry is a part of everyday life,” he says. “I loved the Waterloo experience removed from everyday life, in a bucolic setting, immersed in a poetry retreat, and I valued it immensely. But in Newark the poetry becomes very much a part of our modern world, and it has a new energy and vitality to it. It’s hardwired into our everyday experience, a vital part of the modern world, and that immediacy makes for exciting and powerful energy.”

In addition to NJPAC with its massive Prudential Hall (2,800 capacity) and other performance spaces, the Dodge Festival will be taking advantage of Newark’s rich cultural and historical resources, all within walking distance.

Other venues include Military Park, the Center for Arts Education, New Jersey Historical Society, Trinity and St. Philip’s Cathedral, First Peddie Baptist Memorial Church, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark Museum and North Star Academy.

The largest poetry event in North America takes place in multiple venues, including the First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church. More than 4000 high school students from around the country attend each Festival

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Martin Farawell, director of the Dodge Poetry Festival.

Poet Gary Snyder reading at the 2014 Festival.

Poet Jane Hirshfield (right) signing autographs at the 2012 Festival.

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Current U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera reading and the 2012 Festival in Newark.

“A HOUSE WITH MANY ROOMS” Attendance at the four-day festival has grown steadily since a drop-off after the initial move from Waterloo Village to Newark, and Farawell states that building audiences is a priority. “We want to give more and more people this experience, expose them to poets they might not have heard of, maybe change their minds a bit about what poetry is and what it can be. We want them to see poetry as a way to enrich their lives and understand themselves and other people.” Over the years, many thousands of poetry lovers from all over the country, including almost 50,000 high school students, have attended the Festival.

Prices for a weekend pass are $60 with discounts at $54 for seniors and teachers, and $30 for students and Newark residents. Four-day passes, Thursday through Sunday, are $100 with discounts for seniors and teachers at $88 and students and Newark residents at $50. Tickets are available at www.njpac.org or by phone at 1-888-GO-PAC. For further information visit www.dodgepoetry.org.

Farawell emphasizes that poetry readings can provide for audiences “the same kind of personal connection they feel when they’re at a great play or a great concert. You have this very powerful connection with the performer and a very powerful connection with the people in the space sharing the experience with you. That’s been part of the experience of poetry for most of human history and we’re hoping to introduce more and more people to that experience.”

Recalling a comment at the Festival several years ago by the late, much loved poet Lucille Clifton, Farawell points out the universal appeal of great poetry and of the Festival, “‘Poetry is a house with many rooms,’ she said, ‘and everyone is welcome. I might not want to spend that much time in your room, and you might not want to spend that much time in mine, but we all know we’re welcome into the room.’ That was also her feeling about the Dodge Festival itself. And that’s how I feel about it. There’s all different schools of poetry and types of poetry, but everybody’s welcome under the tent, under the roof.”

W.H. Auden, despite his suggestion that “poetry makes nothing happen,” would undoubtedly find a compatible room or two of poetry at the Dodge Festival in Newark. His poem of 77 years ago, as it continues, strikes a timely, resonant chord that would put him right in tune with the Dodge Festival and its poets, promoters and poetry lovers:

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AND THE LIVING NATIONS WAIT, EACH SEQUESTERED IN ITS HATE; FOLLOW, POET, FOLLOW RIGHT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE NIGHT, WITH YOUR UNCONSTRAINING VOICE STILL PERSUADE US TO REJOICE; IN THE DESERTS OF THE HEART LET THE HEALING FOUNTAIN START, IN THE PRISON OF HIS DAYS TEACH THE FREE MAN HOW TO PRAISE. As Farawell concludes, “poetry has always invited us into someone else’s experience, someone else’s mind, someone else’s heart, and we need that as people and as a culture. It’s going to be a great festival!” U

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McCarter Theatre Center: The Mousetrap (Jessica Bedford and Adam Green, photo by T. Charles Erickson.)

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“The Play’s theThing”

For a Host of Top-Flight New Jersey Theaters and Their Audiences by donald gilpin | photos courtesy of respective theaters

With new Internet and computer technologies springing up every week to offer interactive, personalized entertainment at your fingertips; the TV and film industries going strong, and the glamor of Broadway and varied fascinations of off-Broadway just through the tunnel or across the bridge, who goes to live theater in New Jersey anymore?

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n fact, live theater in New Jersey is booming, and the more than 30 active professional theaters in New Jersey can show you why.

For one thing, there’s no substitute for the live human interaction—the coming together in a gathering of people to bear witness—that theater provides. As English director, writer and actor Simon Callow observed, “To enter a theatre for a performance is to be inducted into magical space, to be ushered into the sacred arena of the imagination.” American playwright and essayist David Mamet emphasized the importance of the individual’s personal involvement in the group experience: “When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, ‘We’re all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.’ If you’re not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that.”

Callow and Mamet would applaud New Jersey theaters’ many rich and diverse offerings as the fall season gets underway, and their potential to provide magical spaces and art that transcend mere entertainment.

Producing theater in the shadow of New York City does have its disadvantages, of course; at any given time New York offerings include at least 40 Broadway shows and more than 100 off-Broadway productions, with many of the greatest actors, directors and designers in the world. But there are also advantages.

New Jersey theaters can draw on the rich pool of theater professionals who live in the city and surrounding suburbs. Convenience and price can make local New Jersey theaters irresistibly attractive to audiences. Not only do some loyal NJ theatergoers wonder why anyone would choose to leave the suburbs to undergo the expense and inconvenience of a trip to the city, parking and Broadway ticket prices that might be double or triple the price of NJ theater tickets—but sometimes NJ theater is so good, they wonder why city residents don’t head out to NJ more often to see first-rate shows at Paper Mill in Millburn or McCarter in Princeton, George Street Playhouse or Crossroads in New Brunswick, Two River in Red Bank, The Shakespeare Theatre in Madison, or any of dozens of other competitive producing theaters in NJ. Whether your tastes are for drama or music, comedy or tragedy, new play, revival, period piece or classic, the diverse array of New Jersey theater offerings can provide exciting and rewarding theater experiences that are well worth a trip down the Turnpike, the Parkway or Route 1.

The theaters mentioned below are among the North Jersey venues where you’re most likely to see memorable, high quality theater. More adventurous theater-goers are urged to look beyond this list for smaller professional and non-professional theaters, like colleges and universities, and community groups, to seek out that magical theater experience.

The Big Players A PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE in Millburn * Opened in 1934 (active for 77 years) * 1200 seats * 2016 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater * Officially designated “State Theater of New Jersey” in 1972 * Produces five main shows a year (about 90 percent musicals) * Winner of Jersey Arts 2016 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Theater to See a Musical * About 22,000 subscribers, nearly doubled in the past ten years

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Recent highlights: 2012 premiere of Newsies, which is now on a national tour after its long Broadway run; last February premiere of Chazz Palminteri’s doo-wop musical A Bronx Tale, directed by Jerry Zaks and Robert De Niro, headed to Broadway this fall.

Upcoming Season: The Producers, The Bodyguard, A Comedy of Tenors, Million Dollar Quartet, Mary Poppins.

B MCCARTER THEATRE CENTER in Princeton * Opened in 1930 * 1072 seats (Matthews Theatre), 373 seats (Berlind), 70 seats (The Room) * 1994 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre *Both a professional producing theater and a major presenter of the performing arts (over 200 performances each year) *Produces new plays, musicals, revivals, classics—six main shows a year *Winner of Jersey Arts 2016 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Theater to See a Play “McCarter enjoys a unique position among arts organizations in New Jersey,” states McCarter artistic director Emily Mann. “We are the only place to produce a full theatre series in addition to presenting dozens of visiting artists each year.

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“Paper Mill has become an incubator for Broadway and beyond,” says Press and Public Relations director Shayne Miller. ”It gives us great pride that Paper Mill is a first level exporter of art in NJ—something NJ can be proud of. This is Broadway in your backyard.”

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“At Two River Theater,” says Literary Manager Anika Chapin, “all of our productions are determined by one question: ‘Does this excite us? Whether it’s a classic play we’ve been dying to bring back, a musical we adore, or a new play by an emerging writer we can’t wait to share with our audiences, we work with the best and brightest theater artists to bring work to our stage that is moving, daring, hilarious, enlightening, and everything in between.”

We take great pride in creating a theater program that offers a rich diversity of stories and styles, bringing plays that are in conversation with each other and encourage discussion on and off stage. In our next season, McCarter will feature some of the finest playwrights in the contemporary American theater, three of whom (Nilo Cruz, Ayad Akhtar, Lynn Nottage) are Pulitzer Prize winners, one of whom (Ken Ludwig) is a Tony and Olivier-award winner, and all of whom call McCarter an artistic home. It is an ambitious line-up, marked by the quality and variety that defines all we do.”

Upcoming Season: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (August Wilson), The Lion in Winter, A Very Electric Christmas, Hurricane Diane, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Women of Padilla, The Ballad of Little Jo, The Way Back Home.

Recent highlights: Last season included Tennessee Williams’ Baby Doll, adapted

by Pierre Laville and Emily Mann, A Comedy of Tenors by Ludwig, The Piano Lesson by August Wilson, The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, and All the Days, a new play by Sharyn Rothstein. The world premiere of Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike opened at McCarter in the fall of 2012 and went on to a successful Broadway run, winning the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play and becoming one of the most frequently produced plays in the country .

F THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE in Madison *O pened in 1963 in Cape May, moved to the campus of Drew University in 1972 * 308 seats and 500 seats for its outdoor stage *L ocated in the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre on the campus of Drew University in Madison for its main stage season, May through December, and on the College of St. Elizabeth campus in nearby Florham Park for its summer outdoor stage production

Upcoming Season: Bathing in Moonlight (Cruz), Disgraced (Akhtar), A Christmas Carol, Bedlam: Hamlet & Saint Joan, Murder on the Orient Express (Ludwig adaptation of Agatha Christie), Intimate Apparel (Nottage).

* Longest running Shakespeare theater on the east coast

Four Most Established, Popular Venues

According to the Shakespeare Theatre website, “The Company’s dedication to the classics and commitment to excellence sets critical standards for the field.

Under the leadership of artistic director Bonnie Monte since 1990, the company, through its productions and education programs, strives to illuminate the universal and lasting relevance of the classics for contemporary audiences.”

C GEORGE STREET PLAYHOUSE in New Brunswick * Opened in 1974 * 375 seats

Upcoming Season: Red Velvet, Richard III, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised).

* Producing five main-stage shows each year Recent highlights: Joe DiPetro’s Clever Little Lies premiere starring Marlo Thomas Dec. 2013, went on to successful off-Broadway run last fall; It Shoulda Been You 2011 premiere by Barbara Anselmi and Brian Hargrove, directed

by David Hyde Pierce went on to Broadway last fall and was featured at the Tony Awards.

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Managing Director Kelly Ryman emphasizes that George Street in its five-play mainstage season frequently produces new plays and musicals. “It’s a chance to see a show before it moves to new York,” and she emphasizes the convenient location in downtown New Brunswick, “where so much is happening—fantastic restaurants, great theater—an affordable evening of theater with top writers and designers doing their work here in New Jersey.”

Worth a Trip for the Right Production

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G AMERICAN THEATER GROUP in Rahway * 199 seats *O perated by Union County Performing Arts Center on their new Hamilton Stage

Upcoming Season: Mama’s Boy, Daddy Long Legs, American Son, Bad Jews.

*N ew and classic musicals and plays primarily by American writers, with an emphasis on the development of new works and the re-discovery of undeservedly neglected older ones.

D CROSSROADS THEATRE in New Brunswick

H BICKFORD THEATRE in residence at the Morris Museum

* Opened in 1978

* opened in 1970

* 307 seats

* 312 seats

* 1999 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre

* 3 shows each year

Recent highlights: Last year’s premiere production of Repairing a Nation became part of this season’s televised “Theater Close-Up” series on WNETTHIRTEEN. Fly, revival last April (the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American Air Force fighters), premiered at Crossroads in 2009.

* Only museum in New Jersey with a professional theater

Crossroads embraces the vision that African-American theater is intended for a broad-based, diverse audience. “Our audiences come here seeking an experience they won’t find elsewhere, whether it is to witness the birth of new works by some of the country’s most promising artists or to broaden their own perspectives through drama, “said associate producer Amie Bajalieh. “But most of all they come to be entertained, and we don’t disappoint them.”

I CENTENARY STAGE COMPANY at Centenary College in Hackettstown

Upcoming season: Single Black Female by Lisa Thompson; Black Nativity by Langston Hughes; Harriet Tubman: I See Freedom by Keisha Spence; Sarah Sings a Love Song by Stephanie Berry.

Upcoming Season: Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, Mary Poppins, The Surrogate.

E TWO RIVER THEATER in Red Bank

Upcoming Season: Old Jews Telling Jokes, Ravenscroft, Clever Little Lies.

* 4-5 main stage shows each year, plus a fringe festival (3 plays last year) in the fall * 485-seat Lackland Center Theater, along with a 120-seat black box theater opened in 2010

J DREAMCATCHER REPERTORY THEATRE at Oakes Center in Summit

* Opened in 1994, moved to its current home in 2005

* “Ensemble theatre with humor and heart,” according to the Dreamcatcher website

* 349 seats

* 3 mainstage productions each year

* Producing seven or eight plays each season.

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Premiere Stages: People Before the Park

Two River Theatre: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

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P PREMIERE STAGES at Kean University in Union

“Dreamcatcher,” says artistic director Laura Ekstrand, presents a season of contemporary works with the goal of building community with the audience. Our season, which includes mainstage plays, improvisational comedy, cabaret, play readings and educational and outreach programs, focuses on connecting through the experiences and relationships that make us human. For the past 21 years, Dreamcatcher has told life-affirming stories in an intimate environment while providing a place where audiences can build a creative community together.”

* Emphasis on new plays * 2 mainstage productions each summer “We exclusively produce plays that have either never seen a professional production before, or may have been produced elsewhere but are new to New Jersey audiences,” says director of audiences Heather Kelley. “We are particularly interested in plays that are topical, explore themes of social justice, and lend themselves to vibrant, collaborative partnerships with service and advocacy organizations in our immediate community. It’s very important to us that our plays reflect and engage our neighbors, telling stories that are meaningful and relevant to them.”

Upcoming Season: The How and the Why, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment, Things Being What They Are. K GARAGE THEATRE GROUP in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University * founded in 1993 * 2-4 shows each year

Q PUSHCART PLAYERS in Verona

“The shows that comprise The Garage Theatre Group season,” according to their website, “are challenging as well as entertaining, reflecting our belief that theatre is an open dialogue between the playwright, the performer and the audience.”

* Founded in 1974

L THE GROWING STAGE: THE CHILDREN’S THEATRE OF NEW JERSEY in Netcong

* Twice nominated for an Emmy Award

*A touring theater company, Pushcart brings substantive musical theater, workshops and residencies to young people and their families in schools and theaters nationwide. The company has traveled more than two million miles nationally and abroad. ”The artistic philosophy of Pushcart Players,” according to their website, “is rooted in the belief that the arts—‘an inseparable part of the human journey’—are an essential component of the educational process in that they help children grow intellectually, socially and emotionally and provide a powerful tool in reaching one’s unique potential.”

* founded in 1982 * 4 mainstage productions each year Upcoming Season: Peter and the Starcatcher, A Christmas Carol: the Musical, The Box of Stories, The Neverending Story (Atreyu and the Great Quest), Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat. M LUNA STAGE in West Orange

*Upcoming Season: Alice in Wonderland, A Season of Miracles, Stone Soup and Other Stories, The Last, the Very Last…Butterfly, Ellis Island: Gateway to America and Peter and the Wolf.

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* f ounded in 1992 in Montclair, relocated to West Orange in 2010 *h as contributed to the development of over 50 new works

R WRITERS’ THEATRE OF NEW JERSEY in Madison * founded in 1986

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*w orld premieres have gone on to be produced in New York and across the country Luna Stage described its mission: “to develop and produce thought-provoking theatre that gives voice to emerging American playwrights and new life to contemporary and classic plays that speak to our times. Luna Stage is a home for the adventurous theatre goer. Our work is resonant and responsive, sometimes daring and always challenging.”

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* formerly Playwrights Theatre of NJ * “ d edicated to developing and nurturing the dramatic imagination of artists, students and audiences New Play Program includes The New Jersey Women Playwrights Program and the Literary Artist Fellowship Program, which sponsor readings, workshops and productions for professional writers with audience participation and feedback. *Their New Jersey Writers Project, Poetry Out Loud, New Jersey Young Playwrights Contest and Festival, and Creative Arts Academy work with thousands of students each year.

N NEW JERSEY REPERTORY THEATRE in Long Branch *A ll productions are new works. Many move on to larger venues. * 6-7 mainstage productions each year * 62 seats “Why go into Manhattan and pay exorbitant prices for parking, dinner, theater tickets,” says director of marketing and communications Adele Sammarco, “when you have professional live theater right here in your own home state!

Many of our patrons have summer homes and rentals on the Jersey Shore and visit us all year round because we offer professional, regional theater in our own backyard.”

Upcoming Season: Iago, Mad Love O PASSAGE THEATRE at the Mill Hill Playhouse in Trenton * founded in 1985 * 2 mainstage productions each year, plus “Solo Flights,” three weekends of solo shows Passage Theatre is “committed to the creation and production of socially relevant new plays and community devised arts programming that transforms the lives of individuals and community,” according to their website.

Upcoming Season: Out of the City, Fixed, also Solo Flights: Miracle in Rwanda.

George Street Playhouse: Clever Little Lies (Marlo Thomas)

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Crossroads Theatre: FLY

Pushcart Players: Stone Soup and other stories

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre: Sister Play (Photo by David Miceli)

McCarter Theatre Center: Baby Doll (Dylan McDermott and Susannah Hoffman photo by Richard Termine) FALL 2016

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UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS LOOK AHEAD

BY ELLEN GILBERT

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the National Endowment for the Humanities. Photography by Chris Flynn, NEH

Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust

“T

Aerial of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Courtesy of Shutterstock.com.

The words “initiative,” “new,” “positive,” and “mentor” figured prominently in a recent interview with him. He’s clearly excited about what’s going on at this smaller liberal institution with a distinguished history; like Johns Hopkins it was founded in the late 19th-century on the model of German research university and is known as the only American university visited by Sigmund Freud during his 1909 trip to this country.

Clark’s Liberal Education and Effective Practice program (LEEP) is key. LEEP was set in motion at Clark several years ago, and its apparent success as a different kind of approach to education has only accelerated Angel’s determination to implement it. “Momentum is great at Clark right now,” he says.

An important premise of LEEP is that experience in the classroom is directly connected to experience in the world. Angel points to a recently revamped art history class for undergraduates as a good example. Looking at slides is out. Instead, an art history professor and curator from the Worcester Art Museum challenge students to participate in every aspect of designing and curating a professional exhibit at the Museum. The final project in a pilot initiative proved the point when the student-driven exhibition won a rave review in the New York Times, soon followed by a $620,000 grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation to incorporate similar teaching/experiential practices into the rest of Clark’s curriculum.

Social justice and student projects abroad and at home where Clark has achieved noteworthy success in engaging with the neighborhood surrounding the campus are also critical, says Angel. Tapping into the connections and know-how of Clark alums, and acknowledging different

here is always a crisis.” —Andrew Delbanco in College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be.

Enduring Symbols As she began her speech to the Harvard undergraduate class of 2016 last spring, Faust even went beyond the vicissitudes of everyday life on campus to wonder about the apparent world horrors reflected in recent headline news. “It’s as if we are being visited by the Four Horsemen,” she mused, citing terrorist attacks, racial strife, famine, and the Zika virus.

How are university leaders addressing “these [academic] matters” (much less evidence of the Apocalypse)? Faust encouraged her audience at Harvard to contemplate two “enduring symbols” on the campus of “this magnificent institution” visible to them at that very moment: Widener Library and The Memorial Church. “We have been here before,” she said recalling earlier eras threatened by the clouds of war, financial crises, epidemics, and more.

Anchored by their buildings and traditions, she suggested, the Harvard “model,” a long-lived “vehicle for veritas,” will prevail.

photo courtesy of clark university

The cover story on a recent issue of Consumer Reports went straight to the point: “I kind of ruined my life by going to college,” it quoted a heavily indebted recent graduate. Her current balance due is $152,000, and she’s definitely not alone: according to recent reports some 42 million people owe $1.3 trillion in student debt.

Skyrocketing tuition fees are just one of the many challenges currently faced by American colleges, and Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust readily acknowledges them. “There are undoubtedly many important issues confronting higher education, including tackling sexual assault on college campuses, expanding financial aid to lower income families, and arresting the decline of enrollment in the humanities,” she said in a recent email. “University leaders are working together with faculty, students, alumni and each other to address these matters.”

“Teaching is a messy process,” observes Harvard University English Professor Louis Menand, author of The Marketplace of Ideas. “There are more than 4,000 institutions of higher learning in the United States, more than 18 million students, and more than 1 million faculty members,” he reports, citing the Digest of Education Statistics. “We can’t reasonably expect that all of those students will be well educated, or that every piece of scholarship or research worthwhile.” Yet, he says, “we want to believe that the system, as large, as multitasking, and as heterogeneous as it is, is working for us.”

Clark’s leep Less than 50 miles west of Cambridge in the edgier city of Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University President David P. Angel has other ideas.

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learning styles are important, too. “We are utterly convinced that this is the way to approach education,” Angel says. Educator Ken Robinson, whose TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talk on creativity and education ranks among TED’s most watched events, agrees. “What David Angel is doing at Clark is a particularly refined version of what every head of a school should be aiming to do: honing and reshaping the school as necessary to fit the evolving needs of students and society,” Robinson writes in his book, Creative Schools.

“The Most Exciting University in the World”

OU Images/John Cairns

Photo courtesy of shutterstock.com.

“I came to New York University (NYU) because I think it is the most exciting university in the world,” says Andrew Hamilton, who recently became president of the Greenwich Village-based campus. “What I’ve learned from serving as the University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann head of a European university [Oxford] for several years and as a provost of an American university [Yale] before that is that while every university is unique, the issues facing all universities—and all university presidents—are more alike than different.”

Hamilton’s approach is more inferential than Angel’s. “Campuses today can sometimes feel like a crucible, having to confront national issues in a very intense and concentrated way,” he says.

“But I believe that it is part of the academic and social values that we instill in our students, which they in turn, take with them to the world beyond.”

Although he did not cite specific initiatives in his emailed comments on NYU’s achievements and challenges, Hamilton also spoke of the place of the university in the world at large. “More than ever, 21st-century colleges must prepare students for a global future with global challenges,” he says, The University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia. noting that NYU is “the U.S. university with the largest number of international students and the Those concerned with the future of higher education may also be university that sends the greatest number of students to study abroad.” interested in a conference being sponsored by the Hannah Arendt Center and Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College on October 20 and 21.

Penn’s Compact 2020 and “Real Talk: Difficult Questions About Race, Sex, and Religion” promises to address some heavy-duty, hot-button issues. “Is Title IX a positive way “Real Talk” at Bard forward in addressing sexual discrimination?” its promotional material asks. “Can we balance the right to practice one’s religion with the desire University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann has pointed to “Penn for inclusiveness? Are micro-aggressions the kinds of speech that should Compact 2020” as a new initiative that “builds on the past decade of progress. be disciplined? Does civility require limits on our right and obligation . . It is a far-reaching vision that outlines next steps to increase access to to speak our minds?” and, “should colleges and university campuses Penn’s exceptional be safe spaces?” The coordinators say that they are asking, “above intellectual resources; all,” how college “can be a safe and inclusive space for asking hard and integrate knowledge uncomfortable questions essential to our democracy?” across academic Hamilton has high hopes for new initiatives at NYU. “Whether it is disciplines with designing an admissions policy that treats those who have run afoul of the emphasis on innovative criminal justice system fairly, or piloting a program to allow undocumented understanding and students from New York state to get scholarship aid on an equal footing, discovery; and engage or creating an affordability task force that identifies new approaches to locally, nationally, and addressing the cost of college, we are building a community that teaches globally to bring the our students—both inside the classroom and out—to be prepared for a set benefits of Penn’s of challenges that are global in nature and can transcend borders,” he says. research, teaching, and And while Harvard perceives itself to be anchored by august service to individuals buildings and traditions, it too is looking to the future. “Universities play and communities at an indispensable role in society. . . harnessing technologies to expand home and around the access to knowledge, discovering new medical treatments and scientific world.” There will approaches, and equipping future generations to be citizens in a world be an opportunity to where their leadership will be greatly needed,” notes Faust. learn about “the power “University presidents have a responsibility of leadership,” says Angel. and promise of Penn ‘There are tremendous challenges and you need insight, a sense of mission Compact 2020” when and the responsibility to make a difference in the lives of your students.”

Gutmann and Penn This includes, he says, “a profound commitment to diversity; the ability students lead a series to conduct ‘difficult conversations,’ making decisions about ‘reasonable’ of live conversations financial investments, and a “guiding sense of values.” beginning Thursday Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger expressed some of evening, September 14.

New York University President Andrew Hamilton

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Photo courtesy of shutterstock.com.

The campus of New York City's Columbia University

these values in a recent New York Times op-ed piece (“Affirmative Action Isn’t Just a Legal Issue. It’s Also a Historical One”): “The Supreme Court’s decision this week in Fisher v. University of Texas is a profound relief, and a cause for celebration among those of us in higher education who have long insisted that affirmative action is vital to our schools’ missions and to society as a whole.”

Alumni Sensibilities Besides questions about affordability, college administrators also face financial challenges in maintaining alumni support as campus environments evolve. “Alumni from a range of generations say they are baffled by today’s college culture,” reported New York Times writer Anemona Hartocollis in an August 4 article. Citing Amherst College, she described alumni who perceive students as being “too wrapped up in racial and identity politics,” taking “too many frivolous courses,” and repudiating “the heroes and traditions of the past by judging them by today’s standards, rather than in the context of their times.” Schools like Princeton and Brown, where students have challenged the continued use of buildings named for people whose politics are now deemed morally offensive, know this very well. (Presidents Christopher Eisgruber of Princeton; Christina Paxson of Brown; Lee Bollinger of Columbia, Amy Gutmann of Penn, and Peter Salovey of Yale were unavailable for comment.)

Passion helps, of course. “We are a community like no other, united in love for our great University and proud to do together what we cannot do alone,” Gutmann has been quoted as saying. “This is our Penn.”

“When the time comes for me to pass the baton on to my successor, I suspect that I will share the words that John Sexton [Hamilton’s predecessor] shared with me,” says Hamilton, “That despite its size, its complexity and all the messiness and challenges that can come with it, in order to lead NYU, you must love NYU.” Angel is both passionate and, not surprisingly, perhaps, pragmatic about being president of Clark University. As a faculty member who was

The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, which announced on April 4, 2016 that it was keeping its controversial name.

identified for his leadership potential several years before he actually became president, Angel appreciates the focused mentorship he received.

Understanding “the deep sense in our community that we want to steward and continue our values,” he says, has enabled him to make a “rigorous and honest assessment” of Clark’s needs.

Menand would be likely to applaud this “ongoing inquiry into the limits of inquiry. It is not just asking questions about knowledge,” he writes, “it is creating knowledge by asking the questions.”

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By Taylor

Smith

Alexander Hamilton’s New Jersey 40

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“Hamilton” has become something of a phenomenon.

The play won 11 Tony Awards, including best musical, as well as a Pulitzer Prize for drama and a Grammy Award for best musical theater album. Additional awards include the Kennedy Prize for Drama and a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. For the musical’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has freestyled for President Obama.

A national tour is set for 2017.

What New Jersey residents might not know, is that Alexander Hamilton has many connections to the state. Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography, Alexander Hamilton, details Hamilton’s journey from the West Indies to New Jersey and New York.

When Hamilton first arrived in America, he resided in Elizabethtown (currently Elizabeth, New Jersey) and studied at Elizabethtown Academy in hopes of pursuing a degree at Princeton University, which was then known as the College of New Jersey.

Hamilton met with the Head of School, John Witherspoon, in September of 1772. Unfortunately, his acceptance was later revoked due to his desire to pursue an accelerated degree in less than four year’s time. In contrast, James Madison and Aaron Burr had both been permitted to complete accelerated degree programs.

Having been snubbed by his first choice, Hamilton entered King’s College in 1774 (now Columbia University). He embraced New York, finding Manhattan to be a city of immigrants like himself was, as John Adams put it, “the bastard brat of a Scotch peddler.” Orphaned at 12, he sought to establish roots in North America and quickly acclimated to life in early New York.

The victory at the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, distinguished Hamilton in a Continental Army that gained a new found hope in fending off the British (Wikimedia Commons).

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As a student at King’s College, Hamilton pursued studies in mathematics and became involved in politics. Committed to the revolutionary cause, he gave speeches in praise of the Boston Tea Party and wrote pamphlets and handouts in support of The Continental Congress.

In 1775, when an angry mob stormed King’s College searching for the school’s loyalist president Myles Cooper, Hamilton diffused the situation by delivering a lengthy speech, giving Cooper time to flee on a British frigate.

Following graduation, Hamilton joined the Revolutionary army as an artillery officer and his company was used in strategic areas throughout New York and New Jersey, including Trenton, Princeton, and Morristown.

On December 25, 1776, Hamilton was with General George Washington and his troops as they rowed across the Delaware River. The conditions were icy and dangerous, but Washington felt that catching the Hessians off-guard was their best hope for victory.

The Battle of Trenton occurred the following morning, when Captain Hamilton’s artillery companies were stationed at King Street and Queen Street in downtown Trenton.

Hamilton was with Washington when he embarked on what was to become known as The Battle of Princeton, a victorious win for the Revolutionary Army. Legend has it that Hamilton fired cannons at the remaining British soldiers in Nassau Hall.

Following the winning battles of Trenton and Princeton, Hamilton was invited to join Washington’s staff as an aide-de-camp.

As Washington’s chief staff aide, Hamilton penned letters to Congress, drafted orders from Washington, and participated in intelligence and diplomatic duties amongst the Continental Army’s most high-ranking officers.

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Original 1776-1777 Map of the Battles in New Jersey.

During the course of The Battle of Monmouth Courthouse in Freehold, Hamilton bravely rallied fleeing American soldiers, once again proving his worth to the Revolutionary War effort.

Now a Lieutenant Colonel, Hamilton then spent two winters in Morristown, New Jersey. During this time, Hamilton met and began to court Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of General Philip Schuyler, a wealthy New Yorker of Dutch descent. The couple married on December 14, 1780 at the Schuyler estate near Albany, New York.

Hamilton resigned from Congress in July 1783 and began to practice law in New York. In 1784, he founded the Bank of New York, which stayed in business for over 220 years before merging with the Mellon Financial Corp. in 2007. Severely damaged during the war, King’s College was restored as Columbia College, with Hamilton playing a key role in the restoration.

In 1791, Hamilton formed the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures on the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey. The goal was to use the Great Falls to create a thriving industrial community. Although the project eventually closed, Paterson went on to become a center for textile and silk production.

The famous duel between Aaron Burr and Hamilton took place at dawn on July 11, 1804 on a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey. Hamilton was mortally wounded by Burr and taken to the Greenwich Village home of his close friend William Bayard Jr., where he died. He was eventually buried in Trinity Churchyard in Manhattan.

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CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS Friday, September

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Thursday, September

27th Annual Maritime Festival at the East End Seaport Museum and Marine Foundation in the historic village of Greenport, NY. Celebrate the unique nautical history of the East End of Long Island (through September 25). www.eastendmaritimefestival.org

Saturday, September

24

“Curious George: Let’s Get Curious” exhibit opens at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ. The exhibit presents key concepts for children in science, math, and engineering (through January 2017). www.lsc.org

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Harvest Fest 2016 at Skylands Stadium in Augusta, NJ. The event includes fine wine and specialty beer selections, gourmet tastings from fine local restaurants, raffle prizes, and live entertainment. http:// skylandsstadium.com

Friday, September

30

Cocktails for a Cure 2016 at The Bowery Hotel in New York City. Partake in an evening of food, drinks, and music to benefit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. http://yplc2016.eventscff.org

Ales ‘N Tails Oktoberfest at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, NJ. In addition to traditional music and beers there will be local craft and food vendors on site. Funds raised at Ales ‘N Tails Oktoberfest support the Essex County Parks Foundation. http:// alesntails.com 11th Annual Hackensack Street Festival in downtown Hackensack, NJ. Attractions include street games, food vendors, and Columbian salsa music. www.hackensack.org

Sunday, October

2

New Jersey VegFest 2016 at the Hyatt Regency in Morristown, NJ. Connect with fellow Garden State vegans and vegetarians. http://www.njvegfest.com Intrepid Museum’s “The Star Trek Experience.” Become a cadet at Starlet Academy and check out the overnights, too (through October 31)! www. intrepidmuseum.org

Wednesday, October

5

Olympic Gold Medalist and 4-time World Cup Winner Lindsey Vonn signs copies of her new book, Strong is the New Beautiful at Bookends Bookstore in Ridgewood, NJ. www.book-ends.com Shakespeare’s Richard III opens at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison (through November 6). www. shakespearenj.org

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9/30 9/23 9/25

Sunday, September

Saturday, October

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New Balance Bronx 5K in Bronx, NY presented by the New York Road Runners Association (NYRR). www.nyrr.org FestiFall in Westfield, NJ. Explore over 300 vendors including artists, crafters, music, children’s rides, and activities. http://www.westfieldtoday.com

Wednesday, September

28

Rails Locals Night at Rails Steakhouse in Towaco, NJ. Enjoy a limited-time, seasonally-inspired “locals” menu. www. railssteakhouse.com

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Run the Hamptons at the Hamptons Marathon and Half Marathon in Southampton, NY. This is a popular training run for the TCS New York City Marathon. www.hamptonsmarathon.com The Pound Ridge Fine Arts Festival in Pound Ridge, NY. Over 40 professional artists will exhibit a varied array of original fine art, jewelry, mixed media, fabric art, and photography (also on October 2). www.poundridgefinearts.com Jersey Fresh Grand Harvest Wine Festival at Fosterfields Living Historical Farm in Morristown, NJ. Enjoy tastings from 16 premier New Jersey wineries, live bands, great foods, craft vendors, kids’ activities, and wine seminars. www. newjerseywines.com

10/2

Linden photo courtesy NYRR. Cinnamon Snail photo courtesy New Jersey VegFest. The Star Trek Experience, courtesy of www.intrepidmuseum.org. Additional photographs courtesy of Shutterstock.com and WikiMedia Commons.

SEPTEMBER

Desiree Linden, who represented the U.S. in the marathon at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finished sixth at the NYRR New York Mini 10K on June 11, 2016.

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Thursday, October

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New York Comic Con 2016. The Javits Center plays host to New York City’s largest pop culture convention with multiple floors of comics, graphic novels, toys, anime, manga, video games, movies, and television (through October 9). www.newyorkcomiccon.com

Saturday, October

8

Rutgers University football vs. University of Michigan at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, NJ. www. scarletknights.com Farm Food Truck Festival at Allaire Community Farm in Wall Township, NJ. Come on out for a day of pumpkinpicking, decorating, facepainting, food vendors, beer garden, hayrides, and petting zoo. http:// allairecommunityfarm.org

Friday, October

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Thursday, October

Pick-your-own pumpkins at Demarest Farms in Hillsdale, NJ. Enjoy breathtaking scenery while choosing your favorite pumpkin from fields of surrounding acres. http:// demarestfarms.com The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. The tri-state area’s biggest, most electrifying Halloween event returns with more pumpkin power than ever before! Meander through an historic, 18th century riverside landscape and discover a breathtaking display - all made of jack o’ lanterns! www. travelhudsonvalley.com

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Tiger Woods Foundation 20th Anniversary Event at the New York Public Library. Hosted by Tiger Woods, this high-profile event aims to help students attend college through scholarship programs. www. tigerwoodsfoundation.org

Friday, October

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Musical group Old Dominion performs at The Stony Pony in Asbury Park, NJ with special guest Steve Moakler. http:// stoneponyonline.com

10/14

Tuesday, November

1

Steve Miller Band performs at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ. www. countbasietheatre.org

Thursday, November

3

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) – Zhang conducts Beethoven and Haydn at Bergen Performing Arts Center. www.bergenpac.org

Sunday, November

6

TCS New York City Marathon 2016.

This race is the largest marathon in the world with a course that travels through all 5 boroughs of New York City. www. tcsnycmarathon.org New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. http://www.giants.com

The Chicago-based jazz vocalist Sam Fazio performs at Feinstein’s/54 Below in Manhattan. https://54below.com

11/6

11/3

10/30

Sunday, October Xian Zhang with the NJSO 2016 - credit Fred Stucker. NYCC-Cosplay-Deadpool. Martin and Short courtesy of www.njpac.org.

New Jersey VegFest. The Star Trek Experience, courtesy of www.intrepidmuseum.org. Additional photographs courtesy of Shutterstock.com and WikiMedia Commons.

Saturday, October

9

Adrenaline inducing Haunted Scarehouse in Morris County, NJ. This all-indoor haunted attraction is New Jersey’s largest haunted house (through October 31). http://hauntedscarehouse.com

Thursday, October

13

Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival. There’s something for everyone at 100 events including more than 20 intimate dinners with some of the world’s best chefs. http://nycwff.org

15

River Horse 2016 Oktoberfest at River Horse Brewing Co. in Ewing, NJ. Tour the warehouse and learn about the brewing process. Costumes and traditional German attire are encouraged! www.riverhorse.com

Tuesday, October

18

The Skin Cancer Foundation 2016 Gala at the Mandarin Oriental New York.

This year, they will honor Perry Robins, MD, President and Founder of the Foundation, and Dr. Marcia RobbinsWilf, a longstanding supporter of the Foundation. Guests will enjoy a cocktail reception and a seated dinner during the award presentations. http://www. skincancer.org

Sunday, October

Longtime comedians and Saturday Night Live co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short reunite for a one-night only performance of stand-up, film clips, and musical numbers at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ. www.njpac.org

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9

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10/6

LUNGevity Foundation’s Celebration of Hope Gala in New York City. The event brings together leaders, philanthropists, and policy makers to support lung cancer research. www.lungevity.org

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The Art of

Making It Big

BY SARAH EMILY GILBERT | PHOTO CREDIT: MEAGAN MORRISON @TRAVELWRITEDRAW

How artistic talent and social media are bringing fashion illustrator, Meagan Morrison to the top “Photography can be very literal, but for me the artwork touches on emotional components that extend beyond a photograph and into the surreal.

It’s the imagination; it’s the feeling behind the experience.”

A

Armed with markers, a sketchpad, and a little support from her 138K Instagram followers, Meagan Morrison is slowly taking the fashion world by storm.

Through her blog, Travel Write Draw the Canadian-born, New Yorkbased artist shares her illustrations of everything from street style to international cuisines.

While her blog’s popularity has allowed Morrison to claim a place as a world traveler and online presence, it’s her fashion illustrations that are getting the most attention.

With a few sweeping strokes of her hand, Morrison transforms her travel experiences into jumper prints, the dresses she draws into billowing clouds of color, and the models wearing them into complex subjects.

In short, Morrison is changing the way the digital generation appreciates fashion.

The marriage of Morrison’s passions, fashion and illustration, began at the epicenter of style: New York Fashion Week. While sketching models during an Oscar de la Renta fashion show, Meagan discovered her artistic niche.

“When I was still a student, I went to the runway show to document it through drawing. It was the first time I’d tried it. I found that it honestly informed my illustrations to be at the shows, to hear the music, and to feel the mood of the collection based on the conversations I’d have with the designers. It really interested me to try to convey that in my work.”

Morrison’s illustrations are unique within the photosaturated fashion industry, but she’s really using time-honored techniques.

“Capturing runway shows actually started with illustrators. They had more access to them than the photographers.” According to Morrison, “This is the beginning of a revival. I saw this growing interest in traditional art, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

Since illustrating Oscar de la Renta’s show, Morrison has partnered with numerous fashion heavyweights like Calvin Klein, Jeremy Scott, and Anna Sui. In addition, her blog’s continued recognition gets Morrison commissions to create works of art based on her travels with touring companies from Russia to Thailand. She explains how illustration portrays these experiences better than other mediums: “Photography can be very literal, but I think for me, the artwork touches on certain emotional components that extend beyond a photograph, and into the surreal. It’s the imagination; it’s the feeling behind the experience.”

It turns out that people are also interested in the fashion-forward woman behind the illustrations. Her “personal style,” she says, “has been picked up by my clients who originally came to me for art, but now want me to wear their products. They call it less of being a blogger, but more of an influencer.” Morrison’s selfpromotion on social media also makes her a model entrepreneur for 2016, when grit, a steady hand, and a good username seem to be the keys to success in the art world. “I think people connect to you on a very personal level on social media. You’re not the glossy editorial that you’d see in a magazine. You’re a real person, a trusted voice, someone people can relate to.”

Despite her success, Morrison remembers to stay grounded. “This is all the product of really, really hard work. I hope that I stand as an example, especially for young illustrators, that things don’t come easily; you have to make them happen, but if you work hard, your dreams really can come true.”

Meagan Morrison shares some of her most memorable fashion illustrations with Urban Agenda Magazine:

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“ When I saw this picture, it was so amazing. It was animated and dynamic. I really wanted to play off the motion of the jacket and take it out of the literal and into more of the surreal with splashes of color.”

“ I saw this jacket and thought it was interesting how it could be interpreted in a few strokes. It’s just all these stripes that inform her silhouette. It really interests me how you can interpret an outfit this way and still get a feel for the garment.”

“I did this illustration in anticipation of going to Buenos Aires and Rio, but I was able to take it so much further coming back from the trip when it became more conceptual.

I think it speaks to the whole reason why I advocate for [my blog] ‘Travel Write Draw.’ It shows how seeing the world for yourself informs your artwork.”

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“Ipanema Beach was one of the elements that most inspired me on a trip to Brazil and Argentina, so I made it the aerial shot running through her jumper. One side is the beach with all these colorful umbrellas. The other side is the gorgeous water with heads bopping out of it. She’s wearing her environment in her print.”

“This was for the incredible hat designer, Gigi Burris. She had a presentation at the McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea and its 1920s mood snuck in. I think the model played off of that vibe. I love the attitude, the dynamic, and the position of her shoulder compared to the hat.”

“I love playing off the print in the skirt and making it into something a bit more lyrical having the sunflowers surround her with the dress.

It takes you into the fantasy behind fashion.”

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“This is from a magazine photograph of Coco Rocha. It just had this incredible motion to it. She’s sort of leaping in air, and the jacket is caught mid-drop with this striking print and colors. I love how stiff Rocha is in the air, but how everything else is sort of billowing around her.”

“This is a postcard I did for my trip to Argentina. I went to see the tango dancers there, and I was so inspired by the sensuality of the city; it’s part of its culture, and I wanted to capture that in this illustration.”

This was from an incredible Chanel show that had this sort of feminist revolution happening.

There was an evolution of the show that began with suits, then the colors became freer, and finally, they had these signs, and this was one of them. For whatever reason, this image has really resonated with my audience.

It’s not a precious interpretation of the collection; it’s much more abstract.”

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Currey & Company destination chandelier; price upon request gasiorsfurniture.com Painted regency bedside table; price upon request modernhistoryhome.com

Mottahedeh Imperial Blue teacup; $69 michaelcfina.com Prada flat velvet bow mules, blue: $650 bergdorfgoodman.com

Dian Austin Couture Home pieced Gatsby throw with ruched velvet sides; $875 neimanmarcus.com

Dove Gray button chair; $597 abchome.com

Marble top side table; $439 horchow.com

John Robshaw Steed pillow; $228 anthropologie.com

Jaime Hayon silhouette rug; $236 per square foot; therugcompany.com

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French Heritage Passy Wing Gold Eastern King bed; $5,665 frenchheritage.com

PRODUCT SELECTION BY LYNN ADAMS SMITH

A WELL-DESIGNED LIFE

URBAN AGENDA MAGAZINE

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