Jersey City Freeholder Bill O’Dea recently sold out the house with his production of “Therapy,” a play that he says he hopes he can get a network to pick up as a sitcom.
“I was very happy with the turnout,” he said. “We sold out every show.”
In fact, there was standing room only for the production in a New York City club, and it seemed to generate interest in several areas. While Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham was away on vacation during the limited schedule, the show drew an interesting mix of political and entertainment figures, including state Sen. Ray Lesniak – whose legal firm served as one of the show’s sponsors, and former New York Mayor David Dinkins.
Lesniak, however, walked out of the show early, raising some humorous speculation as to whether or not this constituted a political divorce.
“He just didn’t like one of the comics that was on before my play,” O’Dea later explained. “He called me later to apologize.”
The show also brought out a curious collection of Hudson County politicians, such as Freeholder Al Cifelli – whose stance in the freeholder chambers often clashes with O’Dea – and Jersey City Councilman Steve Lipski. Members of the cast of the HBO hit series “The Sopranos” also came to view the show. Members of the cast included actor and Jersey Journal reporter Ron Leir as the Pizza Guy and Milkman, and PSE&G spokesman Richard Dwyer, not to mention numerous veterans of the stage and screen.
O’Dea put together the stage performance as a vehicle for a possible television production, something he said may be possible now that the play did so well.
“We’ve changed producers and we’re hoping to film it as a pilot to sell it to one of the regular or cable networks,” he said.
O’Dea said in moving on to a new medium, he has been forced to make some cast changes.
Compulsive
“Therapy” is a play and sitcom exploring compulsive behavior, featuring characters obsessed with gambling and other issues.
“Originally, we had [the characters] as neighbors,” he said. “Now these will be members of one dysfunctional family. This creates some complications, since one of the original characters was an African-American. With the situation changed, we can’t have an African-American in that part.”
O’Dea said the video version should be finished being shot by October, and after a few weeks of postproduction, ready to be shopped around.
“We’re going to try to do some local showings,” he said.