EAST BRUNSWICK – Honoring a more than 50-year teaching legacy, the East Brunswick Community Arts Theater has been renamed the Elliot Taubenslag Theater.
Taubenslag was a national and state renowned teacher and drama coach and was a mentor to thousands of students during his career, according to a proclamation issued by Mayor Brad Cohen.
“Dedicating something after someone is a way to keep one’s legacy alive. In East Brunswick, we have named roads after fallen heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice, we have named schools after educators whose influence went beyond the classroom. Tonight it is all but fitting to name a theater after a person whose influence goes beyond the curtain and the stage,” Playhouse 22 Executive Producer and Vice President Adam Neary said.
Taubenslag died on March 26 at age 88. His contributions to the East Brunswick artistic community included founding the East Brunswick Players, which is the forerunner to Playhouse 22, and serving on the board of directors for many years, according to the proclamation.
More than 40 residents attended the ceremony that was hosted by the East Brunswick Community Center on Aug. 28.
Taubenslag founded and directed the nationally recognized and award-winning East Brunswick Children’s Summer Theater Program for 50 years, according to the proclamation.
Cohen said the township rarely has buildings that are named after an individual and said if one is going to be renamed, it has to be for someone extraordinary.
“The arts have to be something we have to support. Today, if you actually look at the idea of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs, which is the way of the future and is providing us with an unbelievable amount of competition throughout the world, even among scientists they recognize that for the United States to prevail the thing that separates us from everyone else is our creativity and our ability to think outside of the box,” Cohen said. “That does not come from learning another formula or from learning another math theorem; it comes from the arts.”
Taubenslag’s passion for theater and performance led him to write and produce off-Broadway productions in New York City, including the award-winning “My Name Is Alice,” according to the proclamation.
His impact on his students and performers was so profound that he was the subject of a film documentary, “My Mentor, the Amazing Mr. T,” and his methods inspired many successful writers, performers and producers in the theater and film industry today, including an Emmy Award winner, a Grammy Award winner and a Tony-nominated lyricist, according to proclamation.
“I am thrilled to be able to stand here today to be part of a dedication to somebody who I think was such an institution for this township that naming an institution for him is fitting,” Cohen said.
Taubenslag’s children, Michael Taubenslag, Nicholas Taubenslag and Debra Taubenslag, helped unveil the theater’s new plaque bearing their father’s name.
Michael Taubenslag said his father was not just a teacher, but a character builder.
“He built self-esteem in kids [and] that is what he was all about. It wasn’t just little kids, it was high school kids, it was senior citizens in Florida. … When he retired in Florida he did a show called ‘Seniorella’ and he had all the seniors get involved and he changed their lives,” Michael Taubenslag said.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Michael Taubenslag said, “People ask me, ‘How did you learn to do [that]?, How did you get into this?’ I had the best teacher in the world, my father. I said I never learned it, I would just do what dad did and it’s a really wonderful feeling to build self-esteem.”
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].