By Matt Nelson, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — The pilot episode of a comedy-web series — titled “Tavern on the Lake” — was shot Sunday night at its namesake bar and restaurant, located downtown at 101 N. Main St.
The series is being produced by Act Natural Productions in conjunction with Absolute Entertainment and Outliner Media.
The pilot episode, which was not finished Sunday, is known as “Night 1.”
The finished project for each episode is expected to be 10 minutes long and shown on YouTube every other week. “Night 1” is expected to be shown online in the beginning of the summer.
East Windsor resident Scott Glazer is the producer and director. He said he enjoys the humor he created for this show.
Mr. Glazer said, “Nothing feels better than hearing people laugh at something that you’ve created. There’s no other feeling than bringing the entertainment to an audience.”
The crew also includes Nick Reigota, of South River, William Roman Jr., of Somerset, Mike Dworkin, of Monroe Township, Kelly Huffstutler, of Bayonne, and Drew Donaldson of Bayonne.
Mr. Reigota was the script supervisor while Mr. Roman Jr. served as the director of photography. Mr. Dworkin was the associate producer and onset consultant, Mr. Donaldson was sound mixer, and Ms. Huffstutler was the boom operator.
Mr. Glazer is basing his project on “Cheers,” the television sitcom from the 1980s and 1990s.
Mr. Glazer said there were a lot of laughs, and everybody, including the audience, had a great time. The restaurant opened the bar for Mr. Glazer to shoot a number of scenes for his show.
As script supervisor, Mr. Reigota wrote the script for “Tavern on the Lake,” and it didn’t take long for him to come up with creative ideas.
”A lot of the ideas were a mixture of thoughts that came off the top of my head,” he said. “One of the characters, whose name is Rook, was a stream of consciousness from what I can remember of any massive sports fan I’ve ever known.”
Richie Navares, of Hightstown, originally was cast to play Rook, but since he couldn’t make the shoot, T.J. Walton, of East Windsor, played his part. Mr. Walton also is playing Donnie, a future character in the series.
Mr. Reigota also explained a character, Tinker Bell, being played by Kacey Hunt, of Fords, New Jersey.
He says, “I’ve never seen a girl in a Tinker Bell outfit drinking at a bar, but I have seen them ordering food at a drive-through. Having Kacey play a part where she is drinking at a bar while wearing a Tinker Bell outfit is very funny. It’s what makes projects interesting.”
Ms. Hunt said, “Everybody who was involved in the first episode was really professional, but they’re also interested in having a good time.”
Malcolm Coates, of New Brunswick, is playing No Name. This character is soft-spoken, but he is known as someone who naturally is inquisitive.
Joe, who is a DJ in “Tavern on the Lake,” is played by Felipe Vasco, of New York City. Mr. Vasco is playing a strong leader who is nervous, however, when he is around beautiful women.
Melinda is played by Catherine Kovach, of Monroe Township. Ms. Kovach’s character has feelings for Joe. She is the female lead of the series.
Post Midnight, of Hamilton Township, plays GunJack, a war veteran and an alcoholic in denial.
Keith Nowacki, of East Windsor, filled in for Bryan Gruber, of Hightstown, to play the part of Todd, a secondary character.
Rob Ellis, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, is playing himself. Christopher Poinsett, of East Windsor, also is playing himself.
Bart is being played by Roric Toomey, of Piscataway. Mr. Toomey’s character irritates others in the series.
There are two waitresses in the show. waitress one, who is Felicia, is being played by Natalie Bowden, of Millstone, and waitress two is Jessica Fattibene, of Princeton. Her real name will be revealed in a future episode.
There also are two bartenders. The first bartender, whose name is Janice is being played by Sarah Lightman, of East Windsor, while the second bartender, Charlotte, is being played by Sarah Barrett, of Hightstown.
Ms. Lightman is a fifth-year senior at Temple University in Philadelphia where she is a theater major with a concentration in musical theater. She said she enjoyed playing a waitress.
”I felt very comfortable working with everyone, even people I didn’t know prior to the shoot,” Ms. Lightman said. “Every person in the cast fit their character.”
Mr. Glazer and Mr. Reigota thanked Henry Palumbo and Joan McMahan from Tavern on the Lake in Hightstown for allowing Act Natural Productions to shoot the series. The pair also thanked the crew for the work accomplished in pilot episode.
To find out more information about Act Natural Productions, visit www.actnaturalprod.com, or search Act Natural Productions on Facebook.
To reach Mr. Glazer, contact him at 609-915-9517 or email him at [email protected].
