December 2002 - January 2003 Edition

Actress Fair Lawn's Karol Shveytser (shown with costar at left) was nominated recently for a Lead Actress award.  The nomination was for NJ Theater's Perry Award, not exactly a Tony or an Emmy, but pretty darn impressive, nevertheless. Shveyster said "Although I did not win, it really was such an honor just to be nominated. Especially since this was my first lead role in a theatre production. I can honestly say that it was such a surprise and I was thrilled" Shveytser has lived in Fair Lawn for 14 years. Her very first show was Play On at Memorial Junior High School. She was in the High School's Drama Club, the Masques. After graduating in 1994,  she majored in English at Rutgers University, and it was there that she rediscovered her love for acting. Shveytser said "I took an acting class my senior year and haven't looked back since." She works part-time outside of the theatre as a transcriber and she also does Murder Mystery events as an actress and stage manager.  Shveytser has performed All in the Timing at Fair Lawn's Old Library Theatre. "The play was so much fun to perform, and the rest of the cast and crew were just incredible. That is the only show I have done in Fair Lawn so far, although I do hope to do more soon. Fair Lawn does have a good amount of people who are interested in the art. There are two great theatres in Fair Lawn, the Old Library Theatre and the Radburn Players. And many people that I personally know in Fair Lawn are great fans of the theatre, even if they are not necessarily in the arts themselves. I believe it also helpful that we are in such close proximity to New York City. It makes it that much easier for those of us here pursuing a career in the arts to find auditions and jobs." Shveytser said "Pursuing acting as a career can often be difficult and the hours can be grueling. But I think persistence and hard work do pay off. And the Perry nomination just reinforced my belief that if you work hard and believe in what you are doing, people will notice."