Arts Guild Deploys 'Preemptive Strike!' Today

More than 30 Asbury Park artists are coming to Arts Guild New Jersey to show northerners how to be civilized at the Jersey Shore.

The 'Artists' Flea' Show Curates Unique Handcrafted Items

Just a hop, skip and jump from Woodbridge, the 'Artists' Flea Show' in Rahway looks like an upscale experience not to be missed this Saturday.

One of the more unique handicraft festivals in central New Jersey is right next door to Woodbridge. In your travels this weekend, you might want to swing by the 'Artists' Flea' show, a curated market of handmade and one-of-a-kind wares, right over in Rahway. The Rahway Arts District is sponsoring the event, to be held on Saturday, April 20, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Rahway YMCA at 1564 Irving Street. Admission is free. The market will be offering an interesting array of items, including original fine art, crafts by local artisans and designers, jewelry, clothing, and accessories, as well as vintage, antique, and upcycled/recycled products. You can turn it into a day for the whole family, since gourmet foods will also be offered to entice …

• Photos (4)

A Spanish Festival is Coming to Woodbridge

The Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre of Fords will be celebrating the traditions and festivals of Seville at the Parker Press Park.

The Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre will be holding a festival celebrating Spain on Sunday, April 21, at the Parker Press Park. “Feria de Sevilla en Woodbridge” is free and will be held from 3 pm to 6 pm (the raindate is April 28.) The family festival includes live music and dance featuring the Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre, Spanish food and drink, as well as arts and crafts, flamenco workshops for children and adults, and costumed characters dressed in 19th century Spanish garb. Now located in the Fords section of Woodbridge, Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre was founded in 1965 by flamenco dancer Maria Alba and achieved recognition for its classical Spanish dance-drama in North America. With its year-round concerts and teaching residencies…

• Photos (1)

Edison Valley Playhouse Donates Costumes to Middle School

An Edison middle school play dealing with bullying and acceptance is benefiting from the EVP donation.

By Alex Silady The Edison Valley Playhouse (EVP) has donated its props and costumes to Woodrow Wilson Middle School’s (WWMS) upcoming stage production of “Honk, Jr., the Musical.” The play, a modern adaptation of the fable of “The Ugly Duckling,” deals with themes of bullying and acceptance in a whimsical farmyard setting. An EVP volunteer arranged for the donation after contacting WWMS theater director Pam Luckenbaugh and realizing the need for costumes and set pieces. The EVP’s staff recognizes the tragic lack of funding for arts programs in schools today. EVP president Bill Seesselberg has previously helped high schools in Edison and South Plainfield with loans of costumes, props, and equipment, and feels that one of the duties of a …

• Photos (1)

Gladys Knight is Coming to New Brunswick

The 'Empress of Soul' performs at the State Theatre on Wednesday, April 24. Tickets are now on sale.

Gladys Knight, the “Empress of Soul”, will be at the State Theatre on Wednesday, April 24, at 8 pm. The program will include Knight’s hit songs such as “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” and more. Knight has been performing for most of her life. She started her singing career at the age of four as a member of the gospel choir at Mount Mariah Baptist Church. After winning the grand prize on the television show Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour in 1953, Knight soon formed The Pips, whose members consisted of her brother Bubba, her cousins William Guest and Edward Patten, and friend Langston George. In 1960, when Knight was just 16, the group’s first album was released; after that, …

• Photos (1)

Deadline Approaching for Senior Art Entries

The 34th annual Woodbridge Senior Art Show is accepting artwork on April 22

The deadline for entry into the Woodbridge Senior Art Show - April 22 - is fast approaching. Township residents aged 60 or over, professional and newbies, are invited to enter up to three works of art into the competition, for which this is the 34th year it's been held. Budding artists and professionals must complete an entry form (which can be found at this link) and drop off their ready-to-show works at the Barron Arts Center in Woodbridge or the Evergreen Senior Center in Colonia on April 22 between 10 am and 2 pm. All artwork must have a form affixed to the back that describes the work and the artist (that form can also be found at this link.) Works in oils, acrylics, watercolors, and pastels are all welcome, as are printmaking, …

• Photos (1)

Woodbridge Sponsors Child Actor Training

Kids as young as 7 years old can be actors for a $100 fee at township-sponosred Saturday workshops.

Woodbridge Township continues to branch out into new creative spheres. The township is sponsoring weekly theatre sessions for kids who've been bitten by the acting bug. The cost for the training is $100 per child, and the classes meet on Saturdays at the Woodbridge Middle School from April 6 through June 1. Children as young as 7 years old are being recruited for the classes, taught by Ana Barokova, who has a liberal arts degree from Rutgers and has 20 years of performing arts experience. The classes are supposed to focus on "training skills such as concentration, confidence, reading text with comprehension, physical plasticity and balance and expressive imagination." Two classes will meet each Saturday. The first, for children from ages …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Woodbridge Students' Work at the BAC

Artworks from students at the township's three high schools will be showcased in a Barron Arts Center exhibit starting April 1

The artwork of Woodbridge high school students will be showcased at an exhibit entitled "Student Works," to be shown at the Barron Arts Center. The show will be on view starting April 1, and running through April 18, with a closing reception on the 18th from 7 pm to 9 pm. “Student Works” challenges Woodbridge Township students from all three high schools to create a work of art that expresses their individual points of view. The exhibit will include work in 2D or 3D. All mediums of expression will be explored in the show. The Barron Arts Center is located at 582 Rahway Avenue in Woodbridge. Gallery hours are Monday thru Friday, from 11 am to 4pm; Saturday and Sunday, from 2 pm to 4 pm.  Follow Woodbridge Patch on Facebook, Twitter and …

• Photos (1)

Post-9/11 Muslim Play is "Unveiled" in April

Tickets for "Unveiled" are on sale for the April 24 - 28 production at the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick.

Five Muslim women sip tea, and in the course of conversation, talk about their lives in a post-9/11 world.  That's the premise of "Unveiled," a play written by Rohina Malik that got its 2009 world premiere in Chicago and will be opening at the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick on April 24. A Muslim playwright of Pakistani descent, Malik was born in London but moved to the United States with her family at the age of 15, according to a Chicago Tribune article.  'Unveiled' - which can either be played with five women, or as it's been performed, by Malik herself as a one-woman show - is a discussion by modern Muslim women on racism, hate crimes, love, culture, language, life, and Islam. Tickets to all performances are $50. For a list of …

• Photos (1)