Lumia offering teens a ticket on ‘theatrexpress’
Program’s aim is to
give teens a place
to tell their stories
By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY Actor Christopher Tomaino, of Tinton Falls, is head of a new theater arts program specifically for teens at the New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch.

Young people navigating the turbulent teen years don’t have a voice in many art forms, and theater offers an outlet for creative expression and a place where teens can find affirmation of their experiences, according to local actor Christopher Tomaino.

"The arts in general, and theater specifically, is really one of the only places where their lives and their experiences are respected and interesting, and worthy of performance and celebration, because they are a great part of society, with all their ups and downs and craziness," said Tomaino, head of a new theater program for teens at Long Branch’s New Jersey Repertory Company.

The Tinton Falls actor can draw on his own early interest in theater in shaping "theatrexpress," an intense, conservatory-like program geared to 13- to 18-year-olds.

"I first started doing theater when I was in high school. I secretly wanted to for many years, but I was a very shy kid. Not until I was 16 did I actually get up the nerve to do it," admitted the Tinton Falls actor.

"I loved theater as a kid. I loved the majesty and mystery of it. So I used to watch old black-and-white movies and musicals on TV. It became a slight obsession," quipped Tomaino. "I knew the lyrics to every musical ever written.

"You know you’ve found what you’ve been looking for all your life when you step into it," he said. "It feels like finally putting on the perfect pair of shoes that you can walk the rest of your life in."

Tomaino immersed himself in musical theater, appearing in community theater productions at The Barn at Thompson Park, where Angela Flynn Knox became his mentor, and at Brookdale Community College, where he currently teaches theater appreciation.

The Deal native didn’t get a chance to try his hand at drama until completing studies at Monmouth University and beginning graduate school.

"I always wanted to do nonmusical things — to be challenged in that way," said Tomaino, who said his experience in graduate school provided a new focus.

"It was like living in this little house and loving it and opening the door and realizing all around were really great things, too," he explained. "I found another interest, and it was like feeling complete. Doing musical theater all those years was wonderful, but something was missing. Being classically trained, doing Shakespeare, was such a huge challenge, it was liberating."

Following grad school, Tomaino moved to New York and worked extensively in touring companies and off-Broadway productions.

When he noticed a call for actors placed by New Jersey Repertory founders Gabor and Suzanne Barabas, Tomaino was curious.

"I wrote to them and asked, ‘Who are you?’ he said. ‘If you are a theater company in Monmouth County, I have to know you. I grew up here and have done theater all my life.’

"I’ve been in the company ever since," continued Tomaino, an original member of the theater company who was cast in NJ Rep’s first staged reading of a play called Maggots.

He has subsequently performed in other readings in NJ Rep’s popular "Script-in-Hand" series and in a production of the drama Octet.

On Friday, Tomaino will open as the lead in Winterizing the Summer House, the world premiere of a drama by Gino DiIorio at the Long Branch theater company’s Lumia Theatre on Broadway.

His character, Stephen, is a photographer who’s had a successful career in the resort community of Martha’s Vineyard but hasn’t gotten the recognition he desires.

"He’s at a frustrating point in his career. He’s had professional success, but he can’t seem to get to the next level in his career," Tomaino explained. "He can’t quite get into the commercial aspect of his work. He can’t seem to sell photos in order to make a living off that."

The up-and-coming photographer, his young photo editor and his down-and-out mentor all converge on a summer house for a final season, as the house has been sold. Each brings dreams, memories and rivalries that are stirred up, and they struggle not to become mired in the passions and regrets of the past.

For Tomaino, who moved back to Monmouth County last year, it’s a case of art imitating life.

"He doesn’t have power over it, much like the acting gig. I left New York and moved back because after 12 years I wasn’t getting where I wanted to be. My last job was understudy in one of worst off-Broadway plays ever written. I thought, This is not where I want to be. I should be doing better, more important work. I should be working with people better than me. I should still be struggling to understand what it’s all about, and I’m not.

"My character is at a very similar place artistically; he’s successful but he hasn’t gotten recognition."

Returning to Monmouth County has given Tomaino the opportunity to take his own experience as a teen interested in theater and translate that into a new theater program for teens based at NJ Rep.

As director of education for the theater company, he is working out the details of theatrexpress, which will sponsor two six-week workshops from mid-February to March, and April to May, during which students will learn all aspects of performance including acting, voice and movement. Scholarships will be available to students in need of financial assistance, he said.

As a teacher at a high school in Somerset, Tomaino is in touch with the fact that teens do not have a voice that is represented in the theater community so the program will incorporate the opportunity to write their own material.

"I’m really fascinated with the point of view of teen-agers because they don’t have a voice in the theatrical community," he explained. "As a teacher, I look at some of them and I think they have a really unique perspective on the world. They have a lot to say, and as I sit and watch them go through their lives I wonder what they are thinking.

"They’re the group that, even though they want to be heard, they’re very reluctant to speak. I really want to nurture their creative expression. I want them to perform their own and each others’ written work."

With prodding from Gabor Barabas, Tomaino began to develop a concept for the program based on his own experience.

" ‘What did you do when you were this age?’ " Tomaino said Barabas asked him. "Nothing. I didn’t have anything," Tomaino said he responded. " ‘Barabas persisted: ‘What would you have liked to have done?’

"In the back of my mind is the question of what kind of program would have really made me interested and excited and participatory. What would it be about for me?

"So that’s kind of in the back of my mind as I go about putting this together," Tomaino observed.

"This program will be about their own personal journey, expressed through every tool — voice, body, mind — they have as actors. It will be an all-around exploratory thing," he said.

Future plans call for an intensive summer theater camp program for the same age group.

"I would love to bring in other theater artists to do mask workshops, stage combat, music, all that stuff," said Tomaino, who is currently exploring funding avenues.

In addition, NJ Rep has assembled a troupe of professional actors who perform theater for young people.

As part of Family Week, an event sponsored by the New Jersey Theater Alliance, the company will present an original rock musical for children titled The Grumpy Giant during the first week of March.

Tomaino can speak firsthand about the affirmative role theater can play in young people’s lives.

"Their experience is important, and the theater is the place to express it. We hear about these tragedies involving kids who never said anything. This is the place they can come with their peers and share their experiences."