George Street Playhouse Education Department To Host Spotlight on Cyberbullying

(New Brunswick, NJ) – George Street Playhouse will host a conference on an ever-increasingly important topic – cyberbullying – on Monday, January 10, beginning at 9:30 AM.  The purpose of the event is to provide parents, teachers, guidance counselors and school administrators with effective strategies to recognize and address this growing problem in the lives of students.  The day begins with a performance of IRL: In Real Life, by R.N. Sandberg at 10:15.  Following the performance, participants will take part in an interactive workshop that looks at how to develop positive strategies to address cyberbullying with students.  Following a break for lunch (provided by George Street Playhouse), there will be a panel discussion on the topic.  Scheduled to participate on the panel are:

• IRL:  In Real Life playwright and Princeton University professor R.N. Sandberg;
• Aram Sinnreich, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, Rutgers University;
• Kelly Paredes, School Counselor, Westwood Regional Middle School.

The panel will be moderated by Jim Jack, Director of Education and Outreach at George Street Playhouse.

Participation in the conference is FREE; reservations are required, and may be made by calling the GSP Box Office at 732-246-7717 or registering online at www.GSPonline.org

R.N. Sandberg's IRL:In Real Life was commissioned by George Street Playhouse through a grant from the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in 2007.  It is the story of four ninth graders who face the consequences of shared text messages, exploited secret photos and threatening online conversations, that all students need to face.  Directed by Jim Jack, it features the talents of MaameYaa Boafo, Annie Rutherford Lutz, Andrew Saunders, and Ananias J Dixon.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint, George Street Playhouse has become a nationally recognized theater, presenting an acclaimed mainstage season while providing an artistic home for established and emerging theatre artists.  Founded in 1974, the Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway – recent productions include the Outer Critics' Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger, the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill and the recent Broadway hit and Tony® and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at GSP during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays.  George Street Educational and Outreach programs are made possible in part through the generosity of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, and The Karma Foundation.  George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by its lead season sponsor Johnson & Johnson.  Continental Airlines is the official airline of George Street Playhouse.