About Park Performing Arts Center

The mission of the Park Performing Arts Center is to entertain, educate and energize our local community and beyond, especially children, with the best in the performing and visual arts.

We believe that the opportunity to be entertained, educated and inspired by the performing arts should be available to all, regardless of an individual’s economic standing.  We work in partnership with community artists, schools, businesses, foundations, governments and other organizations to make that opportunity a reality.

Bart Erbach (chair)

Joseph Burt

Dominick D’Agosta

Gregory Erbach

Stephen P. Gallo

Carl Gonzalez

Michael Novak

Diana Punales-Morejon

Robert E. Perry

Edward Reuter

Lissa Roy

Alex Trillo

Bart Erbach (chair)

Bart Erbach is president/creative director of Erbach Communications Group (ECG), a full-service, award-winning advertising and marketing firm based in Hoboken.

Winner of many Summit Creative Awards, including a Gold for multi-media campaign, and an Apex Award of Excellence, ECG specializes in health care and education marketing.

A former newspaper reporter and editor, Bart was the associate producer of "New York Works" on WNYC-AM. He founded and was publisher of Hudson County Magazine, winner of an Ozzie award for best design of a new regional magazine. An authority on strategic communications and marketing, Bart studied design at the Parsons School of Design and graduated magna cum laude from Saint Peter's College in Jersey City.



Bart has served on many community boards, including the United Way of Hudson County, the 200 Club of Hudson County and the Northern New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is past president of the Hudson County Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and the Mount Carmel Guild Behavioral Health Advisory Board. He currently serves on the board of Christ the King Prep in Newark, a Cristo Rey network school. (return to top)

Joseph G. Burt

Joseph Burt is Vice President for Development at Hoboken University Medical Center. He is responsible for all fundraising activities at the Hospital including securing support from individuals, corporations and foundations.  In addition, he manages several fundraising events and provides the leadership for the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.  Prior to this position he served as Vice President for Advancement at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. 

Joe serves as a Trustee for the Hoboken Charter School and previously served on the board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey.  A graduate of the University of Dayton, he has completed graduate studies in Public Administration at Fairleigh Dickinson University.  Joe and his wife Margaret reside in Jersey City with their five year-old son Charles and two year-old twins, Joseph and Maryanne.  (return to top)

Gregory Erbach

Greg Erbach has been a stagehand and electrician at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City since 1997.

Prior to the Met, Greg worked as a Production Manager, Technical Director, Set Designer and Lighting Designer for a broad range of Broadway, Off-Broadway and television productions. Beginning in 1983, Greg's technical direction credits include productions at the American Place Theater, the John Houseman Theater, Equity Library Theater and American Jewish Theater in New York City, Newark Symphony Hall in Newark, NJ, Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT, and HBO Films' Spic-O-Rama and Mambo Mouth.

Greg has served as Stage Manager at the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar and the West Side Arts Theater; Lighting Designer at the Pelican Theater in New York; and Set Designer at Circle Rep Lab, all in New York.

Greg has worked as Master Carpenter at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, IL, and as a Scenic Carpenter at CBS Scenic Studios for the CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, the Dana Carvey Show, Cosby and the 1998 Winter Olympics.

In addition to his technical expertise, Greg studied theater at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and has appeared in many Off-Broadway, television and film productions. Greg is a member of Actors Equity, the Screen Actors Guild and IATSE (International Association of Theater and Stage Employees), Local 1. (return to top)

Stephen P. Gallo

Steve Gallo is a CPA, Personal Financial Specialist and a partner in U.S Financial Services, LLC. He has spent over 30 years advising closely held business owners and high net worth individuals in the areas of Estate Planning, Taxation, Business Management and Life Planning.

Steve is the founder and Chairman of the Brian A. Caminiti Memorial Golf Outing, which benefits the Tomorrow’s Children Fund, has served as a member of the Advisory Board of Broad National Bank and Independence Community bank. (return to top)

Carl Gonzalez

Carl Gonzalez is an award-winning playwright, director and educator. An enthusiastic promoter of arts education, Carl teaches drama at the Arts School in Newark.

Carl's plays have been produced across the United States since 1989 when he received the Hasselfree award for his first play, The 1990 Suburu Jettison Station Wagon. His plays have been produced Off- Broadway at the Arena Stage, American Place Theatre, The Kraine, Love Creek and Samuel French.

Carl earned his BA in English Literature at Saint Peter's College and an M.A. in Communications and Theatre at Montclair State University. He studied playwriting under Neal Bell at Playwrights Horizons and Lonnie Carter at New York University. Carl is a member of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA), the Dramatics Guild and Drama League of New York. (return to top)

Michael Novak

Michael Novak is the President of Atlantic Environmental Solutions, Inc. based in Hoboken NJ. Mr. Novak has directed over $15 million in environmental projects at over 1,000 client locations across 45 states.

In addition to his leadership role at the Park Performing Arts Center, Michael is deeply involved in a wide range of community organizations. He was a member of the 2009 Hudson County Arts Master Plan Advisory Board, Past President of the Hoboken Rotary Foundation, and serves on the boards of the North Hudson YMCA, Jubilee Center of Hoboken and the 200 Club of Hudson County. (return to top)

Diana Punales-Morejon

Diana Punales-Morejon is Director of the Psychological Center at the City College of New York and Director of Training and Attending Psychologist at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. An expert in multicultural competence in psychology and psychiatry, Diana works in Washington Heights with high-risk populations that are impoverished and underserved. (return to top)

Robert E. Perry

As a counselor, advocate and mentor for minority students, Robert has been at the forefront of creating many new programs to assist minority students and has supervised state- and federally-funded college programs for low-income and first generation students.

Robert Perry has served as Director of Minority Affairs, co-coordinator for the Institute for the Advancement of Urban Education and Associate Director of the Public Policy Program, all at Saint Peter's College.

Robert holds a B.A. in Sociology from Catholic University and a M.Ed. in Urban Education from Howard University, both in Washington, D.C., a M.A. in Urban Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA, and a Juris Doctorate from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C.
Prior to Saint Peter's, Robert worked as program director of the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council in New York and as a Fellow at the Farmworkers Legal Services of New York where he advocated on behalf of indigent migrant farmworkers.
Robert has also worked tirelessly in the community in a number of roles. He was Chair of the Jersey City Board of Education and a member of the Board of Trustees for Kenmare High School (an alternative high school for girls). He has served as a member of the board of directors for the Hudson Repertory Dance Theater and Chair of the "Read to Me" conference sponsored by Jersey City Head Start and the Turrell Fund. (return to top)

Lissa Roy

Lissa Roy is vice president at Team Resources, Inc. an award- winning commercial and industrial real estate firm specializing in the sale or lease of warehouse and commercial space in Northern New Jersey and Central New Jersey. (return to top)

Alex Trillo

Alex Trillo, Ph.D. is the Latin American and Latino Studies Program Director and Associate Professor of Sociology at Saint Peter's College. Alex is also a semi-professional dancer working with several groups in the NY/NJ area. (return to top)

The area just across the Hudson River from New York City is the most urbanized region of New Jersey. It has always been home to a wide range of ethnic communities and is still a destination for many new immigrants. The population of Union City, where the Park Theatre is located, is currently more than 75% percent Hispanic — a trend that began in the late 1960s when large numbers of Cuban émigrés settled here, making Union City the city with the largest Cuban population in the U.S. after Miami. Over the past twenty years people from many countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America have turned Union City into a thriving center of Latino culture. Hudson County also includes many more ethnic groups, among which are Filipino, Guajarati Indian, Italian, Chinese, Irish, Polish, and African-American. Approximately 3.1 million people live in the five surrounding counties of Hudson, Essex, Bergen, Passaic, and Union. 552,000 people live in Hudson County alone.

With many families in our area facing significant economic hardship, Park PAC fills a critical gap in the Hudson County area for access to affordable arts programming.  We meet this need by presenting a full schedule of productions in our 1,400-seat theater celebrating our area’s wonderful diversity, as well as a thriving arts education program in our 6,000-square-foot education center.

The Park Performing Arts Center (Park PAC) is recognized by both Hudson County and the State of New Jersey as “the only institution in the county solely dedicated to the performing arts.” Located in Union City and serving northern Hudson County, a diverse urban area, Park PAC has a distinguished history of presenting high quality arts education classes and performances that allow our patrons to experience the transformative power of artistic expression.

The center’s history began in 1932 with the construction of the Park Theater, originally built to house a local parish’s presentation of “The Passion Play.” Many people who grew up in Hudson and Bergen counties remember coming to PPAC as children for their first theatrical experience. With the Park Theater as its centerpiece, the Park Performing Arts Center was incorporated in 1983 as a private, not-for-profit arts center dedicated to presenting and producing programs for Hudson County’s diverse communities. It is identified as the only institution in the County solely dedicated to the performing arts by the Hudson County Urban Complex Strategic Revitalization Plan, produced for the County and endorsed by the State Planning Commission in January 1999.

Reflecting the unique character of our service area, we also encompass The Northeast Folk Arts Center, presenting classes and performances as well as exhibits that reflect and preserve the heritage of the many cultures here in Hudson County. Our exhibit “The Cultural Thread/El Hilo Cultural” on the history and art of the embroidery industry as expressed by multiple waves of immigrants won the Governor’s Tourism Award. Many of the classes in our education center are extensions of the Northeast Folk Arts Center programming.

The Park Theater
Bigger than many Broadway houses, The Park Theater is the largest in Hudson County with 1,400 seats and a stage with a 40' proscenium opening.

The Park Arts School
The Park Arts School is a 6,000-square-foot education center located above the theater offering affordable classes in Art, Theater, Jazz, Beginning Music for Children, Singing for Children, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Latin Percussion, Latin Dance for Children and Salsa and Tango.

The Art Gallery
The Art Gallery is an exhibition space currently housing the award-winning exhibition “The Cultural Thread/El Hilo Cultural” on the history and art of the embroidery industry as expressed by multiple waves of immigrants.

The Black Box
The Black Box is our small experimental studio theater located on the third floor. It is here that small theater performances, screenings and readings of new work take place. Maximum occupancy 50

The Mezzanine Showcase
Our renovated Mezzanine lobby is home to smaller concerts, performances, art shows and seminars. Suitable for book signings, small recitals and parties. Maximun occupancy of 100

The Stage Club
Our large Mainstage converts into a surprisingly hip "club" for performances of Jazz, Spoken Word and especially dance music (everything from Salsa to Disco to R&B).  This venue is rich in atmosphere and unmatched by anything in the area. Maximum occupancy 150