Green
On NJN’s State of the Arts

Friday, October 17 at 8:30 pm; and Wednesday, October 22 at 11:30 pm

STATEWIDE – State of the Arts goes Green for the premiere episode of its 27th season – from a new musical based on a cult eco-horror classic, to a photographer who spent ten years documenting the people and places of the Meadowlands, to a poet who achieves his dream of a “greener pasture.”  Green airs on Friday, October 17 at 8:30 pm, with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, October 22 at 11:30 pm.  Beginning with Green, the State of the Arts series will broadcast all of its new programs in high definition (HDTV), joining an increasing number of programs that may be viewed on NJN’s digital channel. 

• The Toxic Avenger
“He was 98 pounds of solid nerd until he became… The Toxic Avenger.”  A new musical based on the 1986 cult classic film opens New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse’s 2008-2009 season, running October 1 through November 2, 2008.  It’s the story of an everyday weakling who, after being thrown into radioactive waste, is transformed into a superhero who fights crime and corruption in Tromaville, a fictitious and extremely polluted New Jersey town.  Along the way, he falls in love with a noble blind librarian.  The play is set to new music and lyrics by founding Bon Jovi member David Bryan.  Through interviews with Bryan, director John Rando and writer Joe DiPietro, State of the Arts Producer Christopher Benincasa goes behind the scenes of this eccentric production, and delves into the myth behind one of the Garden State’s pop-culture icons – Melvin Ferd the Third, aka The Toxic Avenger. 

• Meadowlands
The Meadowlands is a 32-mile stretch of marshy wilderness that sits between New Jersey and New York.  To some it seems a vast wasteland full of landfills.  To photographer Joshua Lutz, it is a far more beautiful and poignant place than might be imagined.  For ten years Lutz has documented the people and places of the Meadowlands, from empty landscapes to revealing portraits.  They are now collected in a book, the newly published Meadowlands, and show this often overlooked area as a place of compelling contrasts.  State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner goes with Lutz and his large  format camera on a shoot in the Meadowlands, and finds out why he has been drawn to this area’s geography and characters.  Lutz, who graduated with an MFA in photography from Bard College/The International Center for Photography in 2005, was named one of the top thirty emerging photographers by Photo District News Magazine in 2004.  His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Newsweek, ArtNews, and Time.  Photographs from Meadowlands will be exhibited by ClampArt Gallery in New York City from September 18 through October 18, 2008.

• Joe Weil
State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa follows poet Joe Weil from his home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey to this fall’s Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, where is he a featured poet.  Weil was born and raised in Elizabeth and has been described by The New York Times as personifying that town: "working-class, irreverent, modest, but open to the world and filled with a wealth of possibilities.”  Through interviews with Weil and poet Jim Haba, who is the Director of the Dodge Poetry Program, viewers discover how Weil transitioned from a blue collar, inner city life to the “greener pasture” of the Dodge festival — a place that a younger Weil thought was out of his reach.  His new book Painting the Christmas Trees will be released this month (September 2008).  Weil is currently an instructor of writing at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton, but previously had found work in factories in New Jersey.  The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival was held September 25 through 28, 2008 at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, New Jersey.

State of the Arts, the 29 time Emmy award-winning, half-hour arts magazine airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm.  All new State of the Arts programs will be broadcast in high definition (HDTV) on NJN’s digital channel.

The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net.  Individual stories are available to view following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts.  Selected State of the Arts stories can also be seen on YouTube (look for NJN’s Arts & Culture Channel).

Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.  The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow.

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communications. NJN: community-based, community-focused, community-supported.

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