Thanks to all crazy cats who braved the oppressive heat both outside and inside the Burgdorff theater for our first Jetpack Jones audition. Our second one will be in the air-conditioned room next door on Saturday September 8, 2-4 pm, so if you couldn’t make it out last night, make sure to pop on over then!
Few things are as exciting and nerve-wracking as finishing the first draft of your show, holding it in hand for a few brief seconds, and then letting the rest of the production team read through it for the first time.
Whenever we hand the script to our actors for the first time we always remind them that this script is a blueprint, anything can change – plot lines can be enhanced or removed, lines made funnier, entire scenes retooled and characters swapped.
Our scripts are a work in progress right up until the final curtain call of the final performance, but they always start with this – the final product of 3 months of writing, built on a foundation of another 3 months of brainstorming.
We already can’t wait for you all to see this show, and all it is right now is words on paper. Our journey really begins tonight.
– Ridley.
Join Jetpack Jones and his trusty alien sidekick Mitch Meridian on a British-style Pantomime adventure that’s out of this world!
We are looking for fun, outgoing personalities ages 11-111 to help cast our latest all-new, completely original, British-style Pantomime performed in Maplewood, NJ in January 2019.
All levels of acting experience accepted, ability to have fun essential.
Suburban Legend has teamed up with Rocket Improv to present Jersey ‘Prov – A night of improv at the Burgdorff.
3 brilliant improv troupes in 2 hilarious one-of-a-kind interactive, hyperactive shows! Brought to you by Suburban Legend and Rocket Improv!
The first show features “Teenage FBI”, and is a family-friendly show. 7-8pm. Tickets are $10.
The second show features two adult Improv troupes, “Whatever, Dad” and “Mission Control” and may contain adult language and situations. 8.30-10pm. Tickets $15.
OR you can get tickets for both shows at the special price of only $20!
Teenage FBI is New Jerseys ONLY all teen improv troupe. Which may or may not be true. But probably is. They will be performing long-form, a more theatrical style of improv as well as short-form, improv games that rely on audience suggestions to inspire characters and scenarios. Improvised comedy BY teens and FOR teens, and anyone else who wants to come of course.
Improv troupe Whatever, Dad seeks audience for warm personal short-term relationship. Enjoys walks on stage, occasional family dysfunction and being laughed at. Reply in confidence to box office.
Mission Control consists of a mix of some of New Jersey’s hottest improvisers from improv institutions such as Upright Citizens Brigade, The Peoples Improv Theater, Second City, Gotham City Improv. This is a rare opportunity to see veteran improvisers create on-the-spot theater in your own backyard!
All tickets are available through JerseyProv.BrownPaperTickets.com, or at the door from 6.30pm.
It’s official! Our preview night of Ghosts of Ghastly Manor played to a sold out audience in Maplewood, NJ on Saturday night and tickets for our official run are going fast, so don’t delay, click the link on the right and get your tickets today!
Suburban Legend launches its 4th season with an original show called The Ghosts of Ghastly Manor at the Burgdorff Center on January 6th at 7:00pm. This play, which is in the British Pantomime style was written by Chrissy and Ridley McIntyre and directed by Ridley McIntyre. The show is produced by Kathleen and Edward Ash-Milby and Chrissy McIntyre.
The show is set in the English village of Piddleswick, 1929. Ghastly Manor is falling into ruin and the only thing that could save it is for its young heir, Cuthbert Ghastly, to marry his wealthy cousin Marcy. But she doesn’t want to marry him, and he doesn’t want to stay anyway. When the arrival of a new valet coincides with the appearance of five mischievous ghosts, everything changes for the Lords, Ladies and their servants of this stately home. Not to mention the Vicar’s trousers!
This annual production has become a holiday staple in Maplewood, NJ. Show producer Edward Ash-Milby said, “I look forward to it every year. We all love the silly humor and all the fun that’s part of staging a play.”
This family friendly play features all the classic British Panto tropes that our regulars know and love. The Dame is always played by a man in drag, the Principal Boy is always played by a woman, the audience calls back and forth with the actors (It’s behind you!), and there’s singing and dancing. It also has original music with lyrics by Ridley McIntyre and a score by cast member Brian Lebovitz. Lebovitz said, “This has been a wonderful opportunity to meet people of all ages and be part of bringing such fun and laughs to the SOMA community.”
Cast member David Wren-Hardin confirms that sentiment. “It’s all about community,” he said. “A bunch of us coming together to have fun, put on a show for our neighbors and give back to the broader community. And fart jokes. It’s all about the fart jokes. Actually, forget the community thing, I’m just in it for the fart jokes.”
Once again, proceeds from the show will go directly to local charities. Suburban Legend is happy to donate profits collected to support St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ and Bridges Outreach which has a few locations in our area.
“I love the whole process of putting on this production,” says writer and producer Chrissy McIntyre. “From writing to the casting dinner to all the rehearsals and finally the show, it’s amazing to see everyone work together and have fun. This experience is a pure joy.” Cast member Katy Chapman agrees. “I adore the comradery between cast members, both onstage and off. I come back every year to do the panto because the cast and crew are my family and I love them all.”
Tickets are on sale at ghastly.brownpapertickets.com. There are only 7 performances so come and see all the hijinks and hilarity that this holiday tradition will bring to your life.
Burgdorff Center, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood NJ 07040, January 6, 12-14 and 19-21 2018.
Image copyright (c) 2018 by Joy Yagid.
The Ghastly Manor teaser trailer has finally arrived! Are you as excited as we are? We hope so, because as you can tell from the rehearsal footage we’re having a blast.
Can’t wait for you all to see our new show in January! Tickets at ghastly.bpt.me
Chrissy and Ridley McIntyre were featured in the November 2017 issue of Soma Living Magazine, where they discussed Chrissy’s art, Ridley’s writing and photography, and spoke extensively about bringing British Pantomime to the United States. Article reprinted with permission, photography by Jamie Meier.
Kent Place School’s Upper School Theater Department is pleased to present the play, Gadzooks! on November 17 and 18 at 8:00 p.m. in the school’s Hyde and Watson Theatre, 42 Norwood Avenue, Summit, NJ.
This is the first time a high school has staged this production.
Admission is free and open to the public of all ages.
Gadzooks! is a British pantomime written by Maplewood-based playwrights Chrissy and Ridley McIntyre of Suburban Legend, LLC.
When King Arthur’s arranged marriage to Guinevere goes awry because of the cunning designs of Morganna and her son Mordred, an array of crazy antics (involving Batman, pesky fairies, a lip-sync battle and a joust) ensue to restore order.
“I’m thrilled that the art of British pantomime is gaining ground in the Upper School at Kent Place,” stated playwright Chrissy McIntyre. “Ridley and I have had such fun writing these and we couldn’t be happier that Kent Place decided to produce our play.”
“I chose this play for the Kent Place Upper School students to perform because it exposes them to an international theater tradition,” added Dr. Brent Whitted, Kent Place Theater Department Chair and director of the production. “Learning about British pantomime is useful for students because of the opportunities and challenges presented by audience interaction, participation, breaking the fourth wall, larger than life characters and comedic timing. The play is also a lot of fun!”
More details via the link below.
We are super excited that Kent Place School has decided to run one of our shows and we can’t wait to see their production. If you are in the area this weekend, please head on up there and be loud!
Howdy everybody!
Huzzah! Our 2017 show GADZOOKS! A Very Arthurian Pantomime was a huge success! We were able to donate $4,400 to Bridges Outreach and St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center and it’s all because of you! The hard work of our volunteer cast and crew and our marvelous audience combined to make kick off a very special 2017. We at Suburban Legend would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you all for donating your time and coming to seeing our show. Next year we are hoping to make things even bigger, even better and even more fun and this is where you can help.
We are partnering with Bonfire.com in the month of March to help raise funds for our next show. For a simple donation of $20-35 dollars, you can buy a high-quality shirt featuring our heroic Suburban Legend Bear Jouster design in sunrise yellow against a variety of cool colors. By purchasing this limited-edition one of a kind shirt ONLY AVAILABLE THIS MONTH you will be directly helping to fund next year’s show, and with a larger budget we will be able to donate more of our ticket and concession sales to our charities.
Did I mention this offer is ONLY AVAILABLE THIS MONTH? Because it’s ONLY AVAILABLE THIS MONTH. After March 24th, this fundraiser will be over.
Here’s how it works.
Bonfire.com isn’t just a tee shirt printing company like Custom Ink or Zazzle. Bonfire.com began as a crowdfunding site, but instead of offering a series of increasingly impossible to distribute prizes or vaporware codes, it offered premium quality tee shirts. We chose Bonfire because they are committed to causes and to community. What Bonfire is not, however, is a print-on-demand company: we need to sell a minimum order of 5 tee shirts in order to get our fundraiser up and running (if we don’t sell 5 shirts, then anyone who did buy a shirt gets their money back and the campaign ends with no one getting a shirt), and our goal is to sell 50 tee shirts to fund our show – and that’s where you come in. The more tee shirts we sell, the more Bonfire will give us per shirt. It’s that’s simple!
Hit this link to go to Bonfire.com and take a look at our selection, grab a shirt and help our show. It’s that easy!
When you’re done, share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, or whatever it is these crazy kids are using these days…
Once you’ve completed those steps, as long as we sell more than 5 shirts, we’ll all be Suburban Legends.
Yee-haw!