UCC Theater Troupe to Tell of TV's Allure, Power

Cranford theatergoers will get a chance to see the provocative story of the invention of television and its early breakthrough years in the 1950s with "The Ruby Sunrise."

Rinne Groff’s acclaimed drama will be presented by The Theater Project, Union County College’s professional theater company, for three weeks beginning October 1 at the Cranford campus.

Staged several years ago in New York at The Public Theatre to critical acclaim, "Sunrise” is a dramatic story of ambition, drama, and the hope of a brand new age of communication. The fictional drama focuses on Ruby, a poor, self-educated girl who creates the first working photo-cathode tube in her Aunt Lois’ Indiana barn and her struggles to turn her dream of the first all-electrical television into a reality.

The story then fast forwards to 1952 and a television studio in the midst of the McCarthy era’s censorship communist witch hunts as TV writer Tad Rose is looking for a new and exciting idea for a television play. When he meets script editor Lulu, daughter of Ruby, whose own ambition is to tell her mother’s story, all his dreams seem to come true.

“Sunrise” follows the early era of the phenomenon of television. With laughter and pain, the play explores love and integrity, how truth can be compromised and histories revised, and how strong the power of telling great stories truly is.

Directed by The Theater Project’s Artistic Director Mark Spina (of Union), The Theater Project’s cast includes Rick Delaney of Orange, Christine Fall of Manhattan, Noreen Farley of Clinton, Gary Glor of Union, Jaclyn Ingoglia of North Caldwell, Sean McIntyre of Brooklyn, and Jenelle Sosa of Jersey City. The production is produced by Daaimah Talley of Plainfield.

This show is “for those who pine for the long-gone days of ‘must-watch TV’ and would rather not suffer through another spate of forgettable television premieres,” said director Mark Spina. "The delightful tale of Ruby Sunrise’s dreams coupled with her daughter’s desires to have Ruby’s story told on network television is a must-watch.”

Begun in 1994, The Theater Project is known as Union County College’s Professional Theater Company and is celebrating another season of producing new works and contemporary classics. An award-winning Associate Member of the New Jersey Theater Alliance, The Theater Project is recognized for its color-blind casting policy and provocative “actor’s view of theater” seating where the audience literally sits on-stage with the actors where the action is. More information is available at thetheaterproject.org.

The theater is located on the UCC campus at 1033 Springfield Avenue in Cranford. Tickets can be bought through Brown Paper Tickets at (800) 838-3006 and brownpapertickets.com.