For more information about RCT, please email:

rc-theatre@comcast.net

Board Members - 2012	Position
Rob Nonni	President
Tom Johnston	Treasurer
Dennis Johnson	VP - Membership
Joe Systo	VP - Production
Joanne Vinciguerra Paul deWolfe  Emily Bengels    Michele Meehan Riley John Kunka	Board Secretary VP - Volunteer Services VP - Publicity VP - Properties VP - Sponsorship

Group starting theater in Readington

(Courier News, Nov. 26, 2007)

By WALTER O'BRIEN
STAFF WRITER

READINGTON -- A group of local actors, writers and directors have joined forces to bring community theater to Hunterdon County.

The Readington Community Theatre company members have spent many years together and separately entertaining audiences in Central Jersey and beyond.

Founder and President Rob Nonni, an independent software consultant by day, has acted and directed musical theater with the Our Lady of Lourdes Church Theater in Whitehouse Station for 15 years. He thought it was time to bring the church's popular productions to a wider audience.

"All my life, I've enjoyed theater and music," Nonni said. "We felt that what we were doing with the church was really good, but we were limited to the church community. The impetus for this new group was to reach out into the community at large."

Nonni said a family can spend a lot of money buying Broadway show tickets these days, even though there are nearly 50 active community theaters across the state.

"We thought there was a void in this area and that the local populace would respond well -- and they have," Nonni said.

Joining Nonni on the group's board of directors will be veterans of local theater, including some from the Lourdes Players.

Joe Systo, of the Lourdes Players, will supervise set production and technical systems for the company. Tom Johnston, an area financial adviser and accountant with a long history of acting and advising in community theater, joins the board as treasurer. Suzanne Vitale, board secretary, has directed and produced several school dramas and musicals over the years.

Marlene Asher Cocchiola, a former professional actress, published writer and publicity coordinator for the Friends of the Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton Town, will handle publicity. Dennis Johnson, another Lourdes veteran who has been in several musical productions in New York community theater, rounds out the board.

Nonni started looking around for venues for the group's performances when he happened upon the Bouman-Stickney Farmstead Museum on Dreahook Road in the Stanton section of Readington.

"I approached Mayor (Gerard) Shamey about using the barn for our productions, and he was instantly positive and supportive," Nonni said. "He had the same vision for the property, and then he told me more about its history."

The farmstead, built in 1741, was purchased in 1935 by famous Broadway playwright and producer Howard Lindsay to share with his wife, Broadway actress Dorothy Stickney. So having a theater company working there is, appropriately enough, kismet.

"There's no heat or air conditioning in that barn, so our first big musical show will probably be in a place like Hunterdon Central auditorium," Nonni said. "It will be a big, ambitious production, and we expect to follow that with a comedy, and the third might be a murder mystery party."

Readington Community Theatre is planning to debut in the fall of 2008, but they have at least one sneak preview planned for local theater lovers.

"Scrooge and the Gang," a short musical comedy written and directed by Cocchiola, will be performed by the troupe for the Readington tree lighting ceremony, set for 7 p.m. Dec. 14 at the township municipal building. There will be a special guest actor in the role of Tiny Tim -- the mayor himself.

Prospective sponsors and anyone interested in becoming a volunteer for Readington Community Theatre should contact Nonni by calling (908) 507-6133 or by e-mailing rc-theatre@comcast.net.

Walter O'Brien can be reached at (908) 707-3163 or wobrien@gannett.com.