Pushcart Players to Perform at Rutgers-Camden

Pushcart Players, New Jersey's Emmy nominated and award-winning touring theater for young audiences presents "Stone Soup...and other stories" at 10:00 am at the Gordon Theater, Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts.

"Stone Soup..." is a charming musical compilation of short literary favorites from Africa, India, Eastern Europe, and the United States of America. Filled with exuberant music, fantasy, and comic plot lines, each tale introduces the spirit and customs of these unique cultures. In so doing, the production provides a springboard for reading and subsequent literacy-related activities.

"The play gently raises universal value clarification issues," said Ruth Fost, Pushcart's founder and co-author of the play. "Family audiences will be delighted by the show. Then they'll find themselves discussing why certain characters made certain choices, and how outcomes would have differed with different behavior. That being said, the show is still a fun-filled romp through delightful stories."

The cast of "Stone Soup...and other stories" includes: Oscar Castillo, Stacie Gogo, Phebe Taylor and Paul Whelihan (who also directed the production) Orchestrations are by Tony Award-winner, Larry Hochman. Choreography is by Susie Paplow.

Oscar Castillo, a graduate of Kean University with a BFA in theatre, co-founded The Theatre Project and performs frequently throughout NYC with Peculiar Works Productions. Stacie Gogo is a graduate of Wilkes University with a B.A. in Musical Theatre and a Minor in Dance. Gogo appeared Off-Broadway as a Kit Kat Girl in "Cabaret" at The Players Theatre, as Penny Pingleton in "Hairspray" at the Westchester Broadway Theatre, in the ensemble of "Grease!" at the Surflight Theatre, and in international tours.

Phebe Taylor has been a Pushcart Player since 2004. She was recently seen flying around as Peter in "Peter Pan" at Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre. A company member of the Heartland Actors' Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis, she appears in their summer Shakespeare productions, and is a frequent performer at Indianapolis' Phoenix Theatre, in such shows as "Urinetown," "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson," "The Zippers of Zoomerville," "Boston Marriage," "Peter and the Starcatcher," and the National New Play Network's "Rolling World Premiere" of "End Days".

Paul Whelihan is Pushcart's producing artistic director, who directs, stage-manages and performs off-Broadway (47th Street Theater, 59 East 59 Theatres, NY Fringe Festival, 54 Below) and regionally (Royal Poincianna Playhouse, Broward Center for the Arts, Centenary Stage, The Bickford Theatre, The Growing Stage, Luna Stage Company, Forum Cultural Arts Center, Quillo Arts Center, Premiere Stages, Dreamcatcher Rep) in musicals, dramas, and original works. He has appeared in locally produced television, film, and web series projects.

Larry Hochman is the Tony Award-winner for orchestrations for "She Loves Me" (2016 revival) and Tony and Drama Desk award-winner for "The Book of Mormon." He received Tony nominations for "The Scottsboro Boys," "Monty Python's Spamalot," (Hochman also received Drama Desk nominations for both), "Fiddler on the Roof" (2004 revival) and "A Class Act." Larry was the orchestrator for the recent "Hello, Dolly!" revival starring Bette Midler, and composed additional music for Disney's "Little Mermaid,' for Stephen Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" and for numerous celebrity concerts. Hochman's other awards include the ASCAP Award for Musical Theater ("One Man Band"), 4 Emmy Awards for "The Wonder Pets" television series and a Bistro Award for composing "One Man Band."

Pushcart Players is the award-winning professional touring theater company specializing in arts education for children. Twice nominated for an Emmy©, Pushcart is the recipient of numerous state and private awards for excellence and innovation. A social-profit organization founded in 1974, 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 6 million miles nationally and abroad, from the rural red schoolhouse to nation's White House.

Pushcart Players addresses social studies, literature, history, the Autism spectrum, special educational needs, and values clarification for young people, their families, and their educators. All performances by professional artists (Actors' Equity Association) are supported by study guides, post-performance assessments and other supplemental materials, and adapt to any location with innovative scenery, lighting and sound systems.

The Walter K. Gordon Theater is a 650-seat proscenium theater with state-of-the-art lighting, sound, and video/multimedia capability and luxurious seating with no obstructed views. Rutgers-Camden Department of Fine Arts stage plays and choral performances throughout the academic year. The theater serves as the performance venue for Rutgers - Camden Center for the Arts which has been designated a "Major Arts Organization of New Jersey" by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State. It is the performance home for Symphony in C -- one of three professional training orchestras in the United States. Throughout the year, primary and secondary school students from the City of Camden and surrounding region sing, dance and celebrate graduation days on the Gordon Theater stage.

Gordon Theater is located at 314 Linden Street / Camden, NJ 08102. Single tickets are $10, with discounted tickets of $8 for Camden, NJ residents. Reservations are required, and can be made by calling 856-225-6202, or emailing Miranda Powell (Miranda.powell@rutgers.edu). For further information on this or any Pushcart Players program, visit the website www.pushcartplayers.org or email information@pushcartplayers.org.

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