Two graduates of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School are making their stage debuts at Off-Broadstreet Theater in Hopewell. Both Kyla Mostello Donnelly, Class of 1993, and Jaedi Gambatese, Class of 2011, will appear in “Moon Over the Brewery.”
Gambatese portrays Amanda, a precocious teenager who has an imaginary friend, Randolph. “We live in a small mining town. My father was my mother’s professor at college and I never met him,” she says. “Randolph is like my idealization of what I imagine my father is.” Mostello Donnelly plays the role of Miriam, Amanda’s mother, whose true passion is painting landscapes by moonlight but works as a waitress to pay the bills.
Randolph, the trouble-making imaginary friend seen only by Amanda, dresses in style to match the books Amanda is currently reading. The role is played by Gary Welbrock.
“It’s a funny show, and my imaginary friend says a lot of things I can’t say. Randolph and Amanda enjoy a terrific rapport and are quite fun as a team,” says Gambatese. When Miriam brings home Warren, a mailman whom she knows from the restaurant, the games begin.
“Amanda is a young Republican who thinks that her classmates are too immature for her,” says Gambatese. “She does not want to go to school dances because the other kids are too childish.”
Gambatese was born in Franklin and moved to West Windsor when she was three. Her parents are Mickey DeFranco and Franc Gambatese, owners of Grover’s Mill Coffee House. Her mother is also a dancer and choreographer and her father is the manager of Lowe’s in West Windsor and a former town council member. Her older sister, Joey, is an artist; and her younger brother, JP is an elementary school student. “My family is great and they are very supportive,” she says.
Having studied dance and acting from an early age, Gambatese was seen in the film “Unfaithful” with Richard Gere and played the role of JoJo in “Seussical the Musical” in seventh grade. At South she portrayed Little Bo Peep in a Pirate Players production about bullying.
She first auditioned for Off Broadstreet when she was in eighth grade. A former triple threat (dancing, singing, and acting), she was active on the track and cross country teams during high school. “I was injured during my senior year so there is no more running,” she says. “It’s a great sport and I miss it.”
A student at College of New Jersey, she is majoring in elementary education and history. “Every experience will help me as a teacher,” says Gambatese. “I can use theatrics to get a point across rather than just telling facts.”
Mostello Donnelly was raised in West Windsor, received a bachelor’s degree in English and theater from Vanderbilt University, and completed her MBA at Holy Family University. She is a vice president at BlackRock.
Her past roles include Kate Monster in “Avenue Q” at Kelsey Theater (The News, March 1, 2013); Nancy in “Oliver” at Kelsey; “Roebling: The Story of the Brooklyn Bridge” at Actors’ Net; Sister Amnesia in “Nunsense” at Kelsey in 2005; and Queen Gueneviere at Washington Crossing Open Air Theater in 2003. She has also appeared in Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey in “The Crucible” and “Romeo and Juliet.”
Mostello Donnelly also assisted with Pirate Players at High School South for many years. Her father, Wesley, and brother, David, live in West Windsor. Her mother, Bernadette Morris, lives in Hamilton.
Moon Over the Brewery, Off-Broadstreet Theater, 5 South Greenwood Avenue, Hopewell. Weekends through February 8. Desserts begin at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 1:30 p.m. on Sundays. $29.50 to $31.50 includes dessert. 609-466-2766. www.off-broadstreet.com.
