Simon SEEZ: Kansas City Swing at the Crossroads Theater, New Brunswick, NJ

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Kansas City Swing at the Crossroads Theater, New Brunswick, NJ

"Kansas City Swing" (through October 27, 2013

Robert Karma Robinson as Satchel Paige

Don't let the title fool you. There's very little Kansas City Jazz in the snappily written new play Kansas City Swing co-written by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan (who also directed) now having its world premiere at the Crossroads Theatre Company. But there are swinging bats as well as fists in this entertaining and enlightening trip back to 1947 in Kansas City. For the complete review please go to CurtainUp.com http://curtainup.com/kansascityswingnj.html

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About Simon

Born, raised, and educated in New Jersey, Simon has remained true to his home state. Recently a widower, he continues to live there where he contributes theater reviews and features to CurtainUp, the print publication US 1 Newspaper, Princeton and his blog SimonSeez. He was married for fifty years to LucyAnn Saltzman, Professor of Speech and Public Speaking in the Theater Department of Drew University.

With a short bow to practicality, Simon studied accounting and business law at Pace College, his heart always belonged to the theater. Even as he attempted to master the laws of debits and credits, he also studied acting and performed at the famed The New York Dramatic Workshop. During a stint of working for producer Saint Subber and passing the SEC/NASD exam he saw his name on a marquee for the first time, as associate producer of Gore Vidal's Weekend at the Broadhurst Theater in 1968. A year later he produced an Off-Broadway show under his own aegis — Frank Gagliano's City Scene starring Raul Julia, Michael Douglas and Lenny Baker. Finding his talents better suited to journalism than producing, Simon began writing theater criticism and features for numerous publications, a calling he pursues expertly and enthusiastically to this day.

Simon is the former President of the Outer Critics Circle. The theater bug has also bitten one of the Saltzman's two married children. Daughter Alice is the Associate Head of Acting Program for NYU students at the Stella Adler Studio. Alice's teenage son Ben has caught the acting/dancing bug with his eye on a theater career. Son James is Manager of Digital Media Service, University of N. Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.