THE UNWITTING MAGICIAN Will Come to Union Arts Center
Playwright Jeremy Dobrish's new work comes to the Maplewood-area stage
American Theater Group (ATG) will once again present The Unwitting Magician, a special work in development by Jeremy Dobrish, on May 16th and 17th at the DMK Black Box Theater at the Union Arts Center in Union, NJ. The piece was successfully presented last December as part of ATG's Free Monday Night Play Reading Series.
The Unwitting Magician is a unique theatrical and magical one-night-only experience. A lone actor steps onto a bare stage—armed with little more than a music stand and a sealed manila envelope. Inside: a script they have truly never seen, its contents a complete mystery. The actor has no idea what sort of play or theatrical experience may unfold. As the actor reads the script to the audience and he (or she) is swept into a whirlwind of impossible feats and playful surprises, becoming an unwitting magician and inviting the audience to question who is truly in control—the performer, the script, or something more magical still? Performances are 7pm on Saturday, May 16th and 2pm on Sunday, May 17th at the DMK Black Box Theater, located at 1980 Morris Avenue in Union, NJ. Presented as a “pay-what-you-wish” event, the minimum donation is $5, with a suggested one of $20; tickets can be purchased online. Due to the donation pricing, tickets must be purchased one at a time.
The Saturday performance will feature Eric William Morris, whose Broadway credits include King Kong, Coram Boy and Mamma Mia! Morris frequently collaborates with writer Joe Iconis, starring in Be More Chill (Original Cast Recording, Two River Theatre), Hunter S Thompson Musical (Signature - 2026 Helen Hayes Nomination for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role), Things to Ruin (OCR, 2nd Stage) and Bloodsong of Love (Ars Nova). His TV and Film roles include: Fleishman is in Trouble, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Only Murders In The Building, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the recent feature film Pinball (Hulu).
Sunday's performance will feature Stephanie Kurtzuba, best known for her roles in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman as well as Fly Me to The Moon opposite Channing Tatum. She has recently appeared in the HBO Series TASK as Donna, as well as Apple TV's Your Friends and Neighbors as Diane Miller. She played Capt. McNicols on the CBS Series Blue Bloods for three seasons and Clara Truisi on Paramount's Tulsa King. Kurtzuba's Broadway credits include The Boy From Oz, Mary Poppins and Billy Elliot. She will soon be seen in Animal Friends, an animation/live action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds.
Jeremy Dobrish is a director, playwright, artistic leader, creative director, and teacher whose focus has been developing and directing new plays and musicals. He has directed at Second Stage, MCC, Joe's Pub, The Promenade, The Variety Arts, The Century, Actor's Playhouse, etc. His productions have received several Lortel and Drama Desk nominations. Regionally, he has directed at The Old Globe, Barrington Stage, North Shore, The O'Neill, New York Stage and Film, Goodspeed and The Village Theatre. He is a 9-time published playwright who founded Adobe Theatre Company as well as co-founded Midtown Direct Rep, in Maplewood, NJ. He has taught at NYU, Juilliard, The National Theatre Institute, The New York Film Academy and Fordham. He is currently a Senior Creative Director at Proscenium where he writes and directs creative elements for some of the world's biggest brands.
The state-of-the-art Union Arts Center is located at 1980 Morris Avenue in Union, with its primary entrance on Morris Avenue. The Arts Center includes the DMK Black Box Theater, the Union Art Gallery curated by Les Malamut, Union TV and podcast studios, classrooms, and The Center Café. Please visit https://www.uniontownship.com for more information.
American Theater Group (ATG), founded in 2012, produces new and classic works primarily by American Playwrights with an emphasis on the development of new works and the reimagining of undeservedly neglected older ones. It also provides quality arts-in-education initiatives, including its New Works/New Voices playwriting program for high school students and its PlayLab program for BIPOC and queer playwrights. ATG is currently in residence at the DMK Black Box Theater at the Union Arts Center, Hamilton Stage in Rahway and the Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge. More information can be found at www.americantheatergroup.org.
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