Luna Stage Company
The mission of Luna Stage is to produce thought-provoking theatre that gives voice to emerging American playwrights and re-examines contemporary and classic plays that speak to our times. As producer, educator and innovator, Luna Stage is committed to collaborating with artists of multiple disciplines and partnering with our community to illuminate the diverse perspectives of our society.
Luna Stage was founded in 1992 by Jane Mandel, Artistic Director, and became an Equity Theater in 1995. For 18 years, the company made its home in Montclair, New Jersey, first in a small space on Walnut Street and then moving into a larger facility on Bloomfield Avenue. In the fall of 2010, Luna Stage moved to West Orange and opened its inaugural season at our new home at 555 Valley Road, right in the heart of the Valley Arts District. The facility features a 99-seat black box theatre, a 40-seat studio theatre, a rehearsal studio, art gallery and administrative offices, and has been specially designed to meet the needs of Luna Stage and its audiences.
Luna Stage believes strongly in the power of the arts to bring vitality and enrichment to communities. The company is proud to be part of a dynamic movement of revitalization and community engagement here in the Valley.
Since its inception Luna has championed both new playwrights and the creative power of theater artists working together to devise illuminating and provoking theater. Luna has produced forty World Premieres and scores of readings of new plays. No new play exemplifies Luna's commitment and expertise in service to emerging American Playwrights more than The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez, which became one of the most produced plays in the United States after beginning life as a 20-minute one-act that was submitted to Luna's then Director of New Play Development, Cheryl Katz, who saw the unique voice in the play and nurtured its development through two years to its World Premiere at Luna. It was fitting in 2013, that Jane Mandel and the Board of Trustees chose Ms. Katz to take on the mantle of only the second Artistic Director in the company's history.
