Two Upcoming Performances Come to Jersey City Theater Center This Month

Jersey City Theater Center has announced a weekend of theater with two dynamic and thought-provoking productions, Verses @ Work by Malik Work (USA) and Down 2nd Avenue by Nobel Prize nominee Eskia Mphahlele (South Africa), performed by South African actor Marcus Mabusela. Both performances will take place on Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27, 2024, at JCTC’s vibrant venue in Jersey City at 165 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302 (Entrance from Barrow Street). For tickets, visit JCTC’s website. This performance is at no cost for JCTC members, but reservations are still required.

Verses @ Work

On Saturday, October 26 at 7:00 PM and Sunday, October 27 at 4:00 PM, Malik Work’s Verses @ Work will take the stage. Actor, playwright, and hip-hop griot Malik Work invites audiences on an exhilarating, autobiographical journey through a transformative era in New York City’s cultural history. Set against the backdrop of gentrification, the rise of hip-hop, and post-9/11 urban renewal, Work’s poetic narrative tackles issues of identity, institutionalized racism, and self-discovery.

With verses that pulse like the beat of the city, Work’s fiercely original, genre-bending performance explores how the pressures of societal expectations and racial stereotypes shape a Black man’s life in America. This one-man show captures the rhythms of hope, loss, ambition, and resilience in the face of structural inequities.

Down 2nd Avenue

Later that evening at 8:30 PM on Saturday, October 26 and at 5:30 PM on Sunday, October 27, Down 2nd Avenue, adapted from Eskia Mphahlele’s 1959 memoir, offers a compelling portrait of life under apartheid. Performed by acclaimed South African actor Marcus Mabusela, the production sheds light on Mphahlele’s early experiences in Marabastad, a poverty-stricken urban area near Pretoria. Raised amid adversity, Mphahlele’s story is one of resistance, resilience, and a deep yearning for justice.

Audiences will be transported into a powerful exploration of apartheid’s cruelty, while witnessing the indomitable spirit that fueled Mphahlele’s fight for dignity and equality. A conversation with Marcus Mabusela will follow the performance for those attending with the Premium Global Arts Passport.

A Weekend of Cultural Exchange

JCTC Executive Producer Olga Levina sees these two performances as a powerful pairing that provides audiences with an opportunity to experience diverse yet parallel stories of social injustice, resilience, and the quest for personal and collective liberation.

“Malik Work’s Verses @ Work and Marcus Mabusela’s portrayal of Down 2nd Avenue take audiences on deeply personal yet universally relatable journeys,” said Levina. “Both productions give voice to the struggles against institutionalized oppression—whether it’s in the context of New York City’s cultural transformation or the harsh realities of apartheid in South Africa. These stories, though rooted in different parts of the world, resonate with each other and with us all.”

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