Press Release: Newark-based Yendor Theatre Collaborates with Newark Academy Acting Students on NJPAC Performance of "Down Neck"

The play was performed at the school on Friday, November 17, 2023 and at The Horizon Black Box Theater in the NJPAC Center for Arts Education on Sunday, November 19, 2023.

Intermediate acting students at Newark Academy (NA) — an independent school in Livingston, NJ for grades 6 through 12 — spent several classes workshopping with Andrew Binger, the artistic director of Yendor Theatre and a 2009 alumnus of NA’s theater program in preparation for the performance.

“It’s been such a pleasure for me to work with these young people at NA on Down Neck,” says Binger. “How beautiful and full circle for me to bridge my professional social justice theater-making experience with my alma mater, where I spent so many of my formative years in the theater program.”

The collaboration began as NA’s Director of Theater Arts Rachel Shapiro Cooper looked for ways to teach her students about Newark Academy’s origin city of Newark in honor of the school’s 250th anniversary year. “I wanted to see if we could bring the community together around an artistic experience,” she said.

It just so happened that Yendor Theatre had commissioned writer Pia Wilson to create Down Neck, a play about three families of differing backgrounds navigating Newark’s Ironbound section in the aftermath of the 1967 riots. Shapiro Cooper connected with Binger and the partnership was born. Wilson even joined in on a workshop with the students on October 18, 2023 to discuss the playwriting process.

“How special that the play, Down Neck, captures an important moment in the history of Newark, as NA reflects on its 250th anniversary,” Binger said. “Most importantly, I get to celebrate a talented Black woman playwright and bring her work to a new audience.”