History :

I started Over The Rainbow Productions, Inc. (also known as OTRP) back in February of 1996. I had been working as a free lance Director when some actor friends encouraged me to start my own theatre company. I registered the name and it became a sole proprietorship business.

I named the company after my favorite song from the movie "The Wizard of Oz" because of the multi-talented Judy Garland (who played Dorothy). Miss Garland had given me hours and hours of enjoyment. I wanted to do the same for others.

The first two shows were performed at The Lakeside Manor Banquet Hall in Hazlet, NJ as dinner theatre. This space was not set up for a theater and whenever there was a party booked, our shows were cancelled. Realizing that this was not such a good idea, we went to the Senior Citizens Activity Network out of the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, NJ where we worked out a performance schedule. We did four shows a year out of their community room for two and a half years, until the Mall needed the room back. Once again we were on the road. This time, we found a great restaurant in Red Bank called The Oakland House, where we did three shows which included dinner. We did very well there until the owner sold the restaurant.

Instead of searching for another facility to house OTRP, my husband and I decided it was time to bite the bullet and find a new home. A place where we wouldn't have to move anymore, after all, "there's no place like home." This was how Over The Rainbow Productions, Inc. was born housed at the Eatontown Playhouse (which we built ourselves), in the Tower Market Shopping Center in Eatontown, NJ. Just before we signed our first five-year lease in Eatontown, we incorporated and set out to expand the company with my husband and I at the helm.

We are now in our second five-year lease. We do ten to twelve main stage shows a year, running the gamut from musicals, to comedies, dramas and originals and I am not the only one directing our shows. I now average directing four to six of our shows a year. We also have a youth theatre group called The Children's Entertainment Series of which I am the advisor. This is a group of youngsters between the ages of 5 to 18 that perform, tech and direct most of their own shows. This group's performances include fairy tales and musicals (such as "Aladdin" and "Annie") for children by children. They do about seven to ten shows a year and they are very popular with schools, camps and scout troops. We also do interactive birthday parties for children for entertainment.

We are a very family-orientated theatre company treating our patrons, actors, technical staff, producers, and directors as very special family members. We are very communty-minded and are always donating gift certificates to school auctions and raising money for charitable organizations. We have raised money for Breast Cancer Awareness, Education, 9/11 victims, mentally-challenged adults, Big Sister, and Amnesty International.
As we go into our second five-year lease our goals are not much different. We want to continue to offer children who are interested in the arts a safe place to be involved. We will continue to help charitable organizations meet their goals, to be a stepping stone for play-writers of original work, to bring quality theatre to the community, and to learn and grow as human beings while having fun. Won't you join us either as a volunteer or a patron. Our doors are always open.