Center Players Production Opens Off-Broadway After Freehold Run

FREEHOLD, NJ — A production by the Center Players will soon have a wider audience as "A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx" makes its off-Broadway debut Dec. 2.

The drama by playwright/novelist Gary Morgenstein opens at the Chain Theater in New York City on Friday, Dec. 2, for a limited engagement through Dec. 17, a publicist for the company said.

This comes after a successful premier of the play in Freehold this spring, and the two leads of the play will perform in the New York run.

The play premiered at Center Playhouse on South Street in downtown Freehold in April 2022 and was a hit not only with audiences but with the greater community theater world.

Center Players Artistic Director Bernice Garfield-Szita of Manalapan will once again direct the play, which was named Best Original Play at the 2022 Perry Awards by the New Jersey Association of Community Theaters.

The New York production will feature the same two original leads, Jackie Kusher of Monroe and Andrea Bell Wolff of Holmdel, who are members of Actors Equity. The rest of the cast is new, and comprised of New York-based actors, said publicist Mafalda Cavanaugh.

Celebrating its 21st season at Center Playhouse, Center Players is an award-winning organization, presenting high quality productions featuring local talent in downtown Freehold.

"A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx" is set in a working-class neighborhood of the Bronx during the racial and political unrest of the 1960s. The multi-generational play portrays the dysfunctional family dynamics between married couple Sammy and Eleanor and her overbearing parents Harry and Gladys, who live in the apartment next door.

When the couple's rebellious teenage son Elliot gets mugged, it triggers Sammy’s desire to defy his powerful father-in-law and move to Long Island to claim his share of the American Dream.

The cast features Jackie Kusher as patriarch Harry; Andrea Bell Wolff as Gladys; Mike Roche as Sammy; Holly O'Brien as Eleanor; Marina Rebecca Chan as Realtor Madeline; and Spencer Neumann as Elliot. Wolff was named 2022 Perry Award Winner, Best Actress.

The production’s New Jersey contingent includes Bernice Garfield-Szita, Wolff and Kusher, the publicist said in a news release.

“Although the play takes place during 1968, a particularly tumultuous year, these richly identifiable and flawed characters confront many of the same social issues that we face today, struggling to communicate, connect and love each other. Their hopes, fears and dreams belong to any family, and to any age,” said Garfield-Szita.

“We were so proud to discover and present this new work at Center Playhouse this past spring, and are beyond thrilled to have the unique opportunity to bring it to off-Broadway and expose it to a greater audience in New York City,” she said.

Morgenstein’s plays include the BroadwayWorld.com award-winning play "A Black and White Cookie" and "Free Palestine." The author is based in Brooklyn.

His seven novels include a dystopian political trilogy culminating with "A Dugout to Peace," soon to be published by BHC Press.

"A Tomato Can't Grow in the Bronx" runs at the Chain Theater, 312 W. 36th St., 4th floor, from Friday, Dec. 2 through Saturday, Dec. 17.

The performance schedule is as follows:

• 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 2, 3 (Friday and Saturday), 8, 9, 10 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), 16 and 17 (Friday and Saturday).
• 2 p.m. matinees Dec. 4, 11 (Sundays), 14 (a Wednesday).

All tickets are $25 and are available at: https://atomatocantgrowinthebronx.brownpapertickets.com/.

In addition to their signature plays, the Center Playhouse also sponsors free play reading events and offers dinner and theater packages with several local restaurants. More information is available at: www.centerplayers.org.