Bruce Apar

Bruce Apar

Bruce Apar is principal of boutique marketing agency APAR PR. His career in media spans publishing, acting, writing, marketing, digital production, Hollywood, home entertainment, event production, and television hosting. 

As a weekly columnist, he regularly reviews local theater, and also posts them online under “Bruce The Blog Beyond Broadway” (at BruceTheBlog.com). He is listed as a local “mayor” on community news platform Patch.com.

As an actor, Bruce has appeared in local commercials, indie films, web series, and stage plays. 

He has launched consumer and business periodicals, including a home entertainment monthly for 7-Eleven, and was editor and publisher of an award-winning suburban weekly newspaper. 

Currently, Bruce is secretary of the board of Peekskill Arts Center (under construction, due to open 2020), chairs the Yorktown Arts Council for the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce, and manages PR for the Art Industry Media (AIM) Committee of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce. Bruce sits on the President’s Council of Northern Westchester Hospital. He serves as an occasional MC, including American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and cabaret venue The Winery at St. George. 

He is the “ghostwriter” for a non-fiction book being published in August 2019 by ForbesBooks, “Fisch Tales: The Making of a Millennial Baby Boomer” by Bob Fisch. It focuses on life and career advice through “mutual mentoring,” based on the author’s experiences as CEO of a major apparel specialty retail chain. 

With wife Elyse and daughter Elissa, he runs a community charity, Harrison Apar Field of Dreams Foundation, in memory of their son, who passed in 2003 at 15. Says Bruce of his son, “Born with a rare dwarfism, very similar to Fantasy Island actor Herve Villechaize, Harrison stood three feet tall, but when he performed on stage, he felt 10 feet tall.” The Foundation is an ardent supporter of local performing arts students and organizations.






MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

Review: CLUE at Ridgefield Theater Barn
Review: CLUE at Ridgefield Theater Barn
February 15, 2024

Based on the 1985 movie, the script of 'Clue' is a fun romp rife with wordplay and sight gags. Need a break from streaming and bingeing and all the newfangled ways to get your entertainment fix? 

Review: It's Worth Visiting CLYBOURNE PARK at Elmwood Playhouse
Review: It's Worth Visiting CLYBOURNE PARK at Elmwood Playhouse
November 19, 2023

The excellent ensemble's work across the board is as riveting as it is skillful, testament also to director Kathleen Mahan

Review: THE DUMB WAITER at Katonah Classic Stage
Review: THE DUMB WAITER at Katonah Classic Stage
October 26, 2023

The Dumb Waiter is built with the trademark tropes and techniques that comprise a vintage Pinter. There is no room – or need – for exposition, so if you’re waiting to discern a decipherable story line, you might as well be waiting for Godot.

Review: 3-WAY STOP at Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls
Review: 3-WAY STOP at Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls
October 19, 2023

In 3-Way Stop, a threesome of short plays on stage through Oct. 29 at Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls (Putnam County, N.Y.), playwright James Sheldon brings to the fore miniature slices of life that cut close to the bone – sibling rivalry, marital meanderings, the search for life’s meaning (or at least for a more meaningful life.) 

Review: INCIDENT AT OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP at Penguin Rep
Review: INCIDENT AT OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP at Penguin Rep
June 29, 2023

In 'Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help,' playwright Katie Forgette mixes nostalgia with timeless lessons about the folly and disservice of parental stereotypes, and the abuse of power by the powers that be, a role that, in this case, is portrayed by organized religion.

Review: NEXT TO NORMAL At Ridgefield Theater Barn
Review: NEXT TO NORMAL At Ridgefield Theater Barn
June 13, 2023

For this production, tables and chairs have been pushed to the perimeter, lining the parallel side walls that face each other. That leaves the middle of the room and the fore and aft walls for the performers to move about, and move they do, in constantly fluid motion, under the sure-handed and sure-footed direction of Matt Austin and Jessica Chesbro. The effect is engagingly kaleidoscopic in a way proscenium staging is not.

Review: RED at The Schoolhouse Theater
Review: RED at The Schoolhouse Theater
April 20, 2023

Whether or not you've heard of art immortal Mark Rothko, John Logan's 'Red' is thrilling, mind-expanding theater that plumbs the human condition with vibrant dramaturgy and acting and stagecraft

Review: AN EVENING OF ONE-ACTS at Ridgefield Theater Barn
Review: AN EVENING OF ONE-ACTS at Ridgefield Theater Barn
March 15, 2023

The good news is that almost all the seven short pieces (averaging 10 minutes each) in RTB’s 2023 menu of theatrical hor d'oeuvres justify their place in the program well enough. Nobody will leave hungry for diverting entertainment.  

Axial Theatre to Present NEVER THE SINNER in November
Axial Theatre to Present NEVER THE SINNER in November
September 18, 2022

'Never the Sinner' is directed by three-time Emmy Award-Winning actress Cady McClain. It stars veteran actor Trent Dawson of General Hospital and As the World Turns and prominent Westchester playwright and actor Albi Gorn, most recently of Tuesdays with Morrie.

Review: THE VIRTUOUS LIFE OF JOSEPH ANDREWS at Penguin Rep Theatre
Review: THE VIRTUOUS LIFE OF JOSEPH ANDREWS at Penguin Rep Theatre
August 18, 2022

Henry Fielding's picaresque plot animated by witty lyrics from playwright Cary Gitter and ear-pleasing music by Max Silverman performed by a standout quintet of singing actors add up to a tour de force of a farce.

Review: SAFE HOME at Shadowland Stages Is Based on Short Stories by Tom Hanks
Review: SAFE HOME at Shadowland Stages Is Based on Short Stories by Tom Hanks
August 4, 2022

Creating an ambitious odyssey of time travel based on three short stories from Tom Hanks's collection 'Uncommon Type' sounds like an intriguing idea ... on paper. The challenge is how to transfer it effectively from page to stage. In its current form, it feels more like a workshop than a ready-for-prime-time production.

BWW Review: Pan Origin Story PETER AND THE STARCATCHER at Ridgefield Theater Barn
BWW Review: Pan Origin Story PETER AND THE STARCATCHER at Ridgefield Theater Barn
June 9, 2022

The show made a splash on Broadway a dozen years ago, garnering several Tony Awards, mainly in the craft categories (scenic design, sound, lighting, choreography). The sketchy book is like a sketchbook of rapid-fire episodes that leans heavily on the strength of the ensemble to pull it off. This ensemble is more than up to the task.

BWW Review: I AND YOU at Penguin Rep Theatre Climaxes in a Surreal Reveal
BWW Review: I AND YOU at Penguin Rep Theatre Climaxes in a Surreal Reveal
May 11, 2022

Gunderson’s characters are two high school seniors who could not be more unlike each other. Yet, as we find out, they end up soulmates in the most surreal way imaginable.

BWW Review: Jukebox Musical MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET at Chappaqua Performing Arts Center
BWW Review: Jukebox Musical MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET at Chappaqua Performing Arts Center
May 4, 2022

Apart from the infectious, wall-to-wall music, which is rousingly played live on stage by all the actors, what makes Million Dollar Quartet a crowd-pleaser is the interpersonal dramas driven by the egos of four pop music pioneers. 

BWW Review: OFF PEAK Finds Hudson Stage in Peak Form
BWW Review: OFF PEAK Finds Hudson Stage in Peak Form
April 27, 2022

After 23 years and 37 productions, Hudson Stage producers Denise Bessette and Olivia Sklar have decided it’s time they gave themselves some well-deserved R&R.

BWW Review: Livin' La Vida DIVAS at Ridgefield Theater Barn
BWW Review: Livin' La Vida DIVAS at Ridgefield Theater Barn
February 15, 2022

There are no weighty messages here. No high drama. Just fun stuff, listening to a couple of 60ish female actors, virtually joined at the hip, tease and tolerate each other with all manner of jokey repartee, acid-laced with rapier ripostes that cut to the quick.

BWW Review: DINERS, DIVES, AND DREAMERS at Westchester Collaborative Theater
BWW Review: DINERS, DIVES, AND DREAMERS at Westchester Collaborative Theater
December 7, 2021

Authored by five writers of diverse voices, styles and skillsets, tying the eclectic tales together is a uniform fascination with the meaning of existence, notably the randomness and revelations inherent in human interaction.

BWW Review: THE OCTOBER STORM Lights Up Hudson Stage
at Whippoorwill Theatre
BWW Review: THE OCTOBER STORM Lights Up Hudson Stage at Whippoorwill Theatre
October 14, 2021

Mr. Allen has serious issues here to litigate -- children abandoned by a parent, Veterans abandoned by their government, wives abandoned by unfaithful spouses -- but the inevitable downers of life are entertainingly leavened by graceful, easy-flowing humor that springs not from punchy one-liners, but from the personality of the characters.

All the World's a Stage, Including Central Park for this Acting Class
All the World's a Stage, Including Central Park for this Acting Class
July 19, 2021

'Just to be back in person doing theater again feels like such a gift after being on computers for a year or more.'

BWW Review: AN EVENING OF ONE ACTS Joyously Welcomes Audiences Back to Ridgefield Theater Barn
BWW Review: AN EVENING OF ONE ACTS Joyously Welcomes Audiences Back to Ridgefield Theater Barn
June 22, 2021

This smartly-curated collection of five short, lively, skillfully-mounted plays -- running without intermission for a fast-moving 90 or so minutes -- is a fine and fun way to become reacquainted with the kind of pleasures only live-audience theater can offer. (Zoom theater ably serves its purpose as a stop-gap -- not a substitute -- for in-the-room theater.)



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