Over the years, Morristown Onstage has seen its share of stage mothers. But credit a stage son with pushing Jennifer Wydra to reach for the stars.
“‘Mom, I’m tired of you being a legend in our living room. Go out and play for someone!'” Wydra says, quoting her son Xavier, a 5th grader at the Alexander Hamilton School.
So that is what Wydra will do on Feb. 26, 2020, when she competes for fame and prize money against 14 other top amateurs from Greater Morristown at the Mayo Performing Arts Center.
By performing an original, untitled piano piece, Wydra will reclaim an artistic side of her life that she left behind to pursue a career in science. Her last gig was as clinical director of Columbia University’s human brain mapping lab.
As a high school student in Cherry Hill, Wydra sang, played piano, flute, piccolo and bassoon, and starred as Peter Pan. For a time, she studied music at the Mason Gross School at Rutgers. But the pull of psycho-biology proved too strong for a self-described math- and science geek.
The laboratory of life, however, has yielded a remarkable discovery:
“They’re more related than people realize,” Wydra says of art and science. “Music is very mathematical.”
Wydra’s older son, Grayden, inherited the science gene. He’s a sophomore in Morristown High School’s STEM program.
After she divorced, Wydra chose to relocate from Basking Ridge to Morristown in 2014 largely because of good things she heard about the Morris School District.
She is delighted to compete in this benefit for the schools.
“This community has embraced my family,” Wydra says. “I was concerned how it was going to go…this community rose to the occasion.”
Produced by the nonprofit Morris Educational Foundation, Morristown Onstage is open to amateurs who live, work or study in Morristown, Morris Township or Morris Plains, and to alumni of Morristown High School. From more than 60 acts that auditioned, 15 were chosen to compete on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. Show business pros will award $1,000 to the top youth and adult performers, and the audience favorite will take home $500. Tickets: $29-$79. Proceeds benefit Morris School District programs.
