WEST ORANGE, NJ — As Cheryl Katz prepares to leave her post as artistic director at Luna Stage, Ari Laura Kreith has been working in West Orange to step into the role. Arriving from Theater 167 in New York City, where she was the founding artistic director, Kreith has been working on the 2018-2019 theater season at Luna since she started in February.
At Theater 167, Kreith both conceived and directed the “Jackson Heights Trilogy,” which includes “167 Tongues,” “You Are Now the Owner of This Suitcase” and “Jackson Heights 3AM.” The three plays were written by 18 playwrights and performed by 37 actors playing 93 roles, and spoken in 14 languages, inspired by the diverse Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens. Kreith wants to use her theater expertise and West Orange’s similar diversity to put on shows at Luna.
“With shows like this, we create work that reflects the diversity of the community our theater serves,” Kreith said in a May 10 phone interview with the West Orange Chronicle. “That was what drew me to Luna; we’re in this unique and beautiful situation. We get to be a space for intersection and I’m excited about that.”
Kreith moved to nearby Montclair a few years ago, and met Katz while exploring the theater landscape on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. They went to productions of each other’s plays and tried to find a way to work together.
“I respected the work,” Kreith said of the productions she saw staged at Luna. “She would come to see mine and we were exploring ways to work together. Then this opportunity came up. I think Luna has an extraordinary history and I’m excited to work here.”
The next theater season at Luna is already set. Four new plays will be staged; three are regional premieres and one is a world premiere. First is “Pirira,” by J. Stephen Brantley; that will be followed by “The Assignment,” by Camilo Almonacid. The third will be “Roan @ the Gates,” by Christina Gorman, and the fourth will be “Heartland,” by Gabriel Jason Dean.
One of Kreith’s goals in her new position is to bring new playwrights and works to Luna Stage.
“Over the years, I’ve built relationships with playwrights, and I am excited to bring those artists to Luna,” she said. “In plays, everybody doesn’t look like everybody else.” She added that at Theater 167, “we built plays with a lot of languages. That intersection is what I can bring to Luna.”
Kreith also brings significant directing experience to Luna. In addition to dozens of other shows, she directed a production of “Pirira” at Theater 167, which received the 2014 NYIT Award for Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play, and eventually transferred to an off-Broadway stage. Kreith also sat in the director’s chair for a production of “Mourning Sun,” by Antu Yacob, in addition to the “Jackson Heights Trilogy.”
“I love telling stories,” Kreith said. “I love going deep in expression and sharing that. If you have a chance to share that, that’s what I love.”
She also hopes to make Luna more of a household name in the local West Orange community, as well as in surrounding towns.
“I’m aware that Luna isn’t as physically present as it could be,” Kreith said. “One of my hopes is that we can become part of the fabric of the community. We have this amazing theater that you can walk down the block to. I would love for more people to know that.”
Luna’s incoming artistic director has big plans for theater added by Amanda Valentovic on
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