Posts Tagged Scotch Plains

The date is December 29, 1940.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt has just been re-elected to an unprecedented third term in office.  But the world is in a crisis.  Nazi Germany has blazed the path of destruction across Europe, and America may soon be drawn into war.

Watch this famous moment come to life, as you meet with the President (portrayed by Neill Hartley) just prior to his delivery of the famous “Arsenal of Democracy” speech. Learn what President Roosevelt was thinking, and listen to his plea for the support of our Allies.  Experience first-hand the history that shaped our nation.

Neill Hartley is Franklin Delano in this fully staged historical presentation that will entertain and educate audiences   Following the presentation, there will be time for comments and questions from one of the most influential presidents of all time.

Actor, Director, Spokesperson and Teacher, Neill Hartley earned a Master of Fine Arts from Temple University in Acting and was a faculty member there 1989-2000.  Since 1994 he has been teaching Speech & Voice at the University of the Arts and is a speech and dialect coach for several professional theaters.  As an actor he has performed with Arden Theater, InterAct Theatre and the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, among others.  Mr. Hartley won a Barrymore Award for Ensemble for 1812 Productions’ Batboy, The Musical.  Neill is also a busy director for theaters, which include Philadelphia Young Playwrights, University of the Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Arcadia University, Isis Productions, the Brick Theater, and the Luna Theater.  He is the Artistic Director of Acting Without Boundaries, which provides large-scale musical opportunities for physically disabled teens and young adults.  Neill also works in commercials, feature films and is a member of AFTRA/SAG/CORE.  Venues that have produced his one-man shows include the Tweeter Center, Academy of Music, Act II Playhouse, Walnut Street Theater Studio 3, Congress Hall, Smithsonian Institution and   the American Glider Council.  Now, thanks to funding by the Horizons Speakers Bureau of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Neill Hartley will preform as FDR for the Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood at our October 27th meeting.

Come to this very special meeting that is open and free to everyone. Hear President Roosevelt plead, “We must be an arsenal of democracy.” This program is extremely timely given the situation with wars in the middle east, eastern Europe and events in the South China Sea as well as the greatest refugee crisis since World War II.

This monthly meeting of the Historical Society of Scotch Plains takes place Tuesday evening October 27th, 2015.  It will be held at the Fanwood Train Station on North and Martine Avenues in Fanwood, NJ. It begins at 8:00PM.  Fellowship and refreshments follow this program, which is produced by the American Historical Theatre and funded by the Horizons Speakers Bureau of New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

For more information about this event, contact Connie Klock at 908-232-9489.

Captain David C. Pierson and Private Newton Church both served in the American Civil War. However, they have very different memories of those years that reveal untold truths regarding our country and its struggles from 1860 to 1865.  George C. Pierson, a relative of Captain David C. Pierson, will use stories gathered from their diaries and letters home to tell the two men’s point of view at the monthly meeting of the Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood on Tuesday evening May 26th.  George Pierson is a member of the Historical Society as well as a Professor of Communication Studies at Kean University.  He has long time interests in New Jersey history and genealogy.

This informative program is free. Please join us on May 26th at 8:00PM at the Fanwood Train Station on North & Martine Avenues to “hear” long ago combatants’ stories of the American Civil War. Fellowship and refreshments follow the meeting.

For more information about this event, contact Connie Klock at 908-232-9489.

Author, historian and storyteller Bob Mayers will lift the veil and revive forsaken local locations at the monthly meeting of the Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood on Tuesday evening February 24th.  He will discuss his latest book, “The Forgotten Revolution”.  Lesser-known facts about NJ Revolutionary War battles, encampments and troop movements, critical evens will surprise you.  He will revive the forgotten locations of The Short Hills, Pompton, Jockey Hollow, Bound Brook and the march to Yorktown through this area in 1781 with fresh research from original military records and onsite visits.

Bob Mayers is an active member of  A former Human Resources executive he is a graduate of Rutgers University and was an adjunct professor Seton Hall University.  Mayers served as a combat officer in the Navy and Marine Corps.  Besides his new book The Forgotten Revolution, Mayers has a previous published book, “The War Man”, the biography of Corporal John Allison, who fought all eight years of the Revolutionary War.  Mayers’ also authored the Allison/Mayers Family History—The portrait of an American Family that covers 600 years of the family’s history.

Please join us to hear Bob Mayers at this informative meeting. It is free and open to everyone.  The meeting takes place at the Scotch Hills Country Club on Plainfield Avenue and Jerusalem Road in Scotch Plains,  on Tuesday evening, February 24 at 8:00PM. Fellowship and refreshments follow the meeting.

Contact Connie Klock at 908-232-9489 for further information or write to us.