Performance to Benefit Historic Church of the Presidents Restoration

-- Reception and Exhibit will also be held during NJ Rep’s “Exposure Time” --

LONG BRANCH, N.J. (February 2, 2010) – A performance of the play “Exposure Time” will benefit the restoration of the Church of the Presidents – the last remaining building associated with the seven presidents who vacationed here during the country’s Gilded Age.

The benefit performance will be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, February 28, 2010, at the New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway, and will include an intermission reception, featuring a variety of refreshments, and a display of never-before-exhibited photos of historic Long Branch.

In a period when American photography was focused on the Civil War battlefield, “Exposure Time” journeys “across the pond” to take a playful look at the rivalry between pioneer British portrait photographers Julia Margaret Cameron and Charles Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll). Rounding out the cast of characters are Alice Liddell (the muse for Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”) and Alfred, Lord Tennyson (the literary celebrity of his day).

Winner of a 2009 Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, “Exposure Time” is a journey into history where photography was first explored for all the possibilities that modern society has since come to know and continues to discover.

Sponsored by the Long Branch Historical Museum Association (LBHMA), the fundraiser will help to complete the exterior restoration of the Church of the Presidents, including repairs to the masonry foundation and the shingle siding distinguishing the structure. In 2008, most of the tower and the eastern face of the building were painted in the building’s original rustic colors. Funding is required soon to complete the building to ensure paint tone consistency.

Admission to the event is $45 per person. All contributions are tax-deductible. Reservations may be obtained by sending prepayment to LBHMA, P.O. Box 2204, Elberon, N.J., 07740. For more information, call 732-229-2396. LBHMA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

NJ Rep is handicapped-accessible and offers free on-site parking adjacent to the theater’s rear entrance. Easy access is also available from NJ Transit and Academy Bus Lines.

The exhibit photos are on loan from the Long Branch Historical Association.

NJ Rep is a year-round, professional non-profit theater, and is a member of the National New Play Network, New Jersey Theater Alliance, Theater Communications Group, and the Monmouth and Long Branch Arts Councils.

St. James Chapel was built in 1879 and gained fame as the Church of the Presidents because presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Woodrow Wilson attended services there. Owned by LBHMA, the building was deconsecrated and saved from demolition in 1953, and functioned as a museum until instability forced its closure in 1999. It is listed on both the State of New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places. For more information, see www.churchofthepresidents.org.

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