The Cotton Club (film) The Cotton Club (film) The Cotton Club is a 1984 American crime-drama film centered on a Harlem jazz club of the 1930s, the Cotton Club. The film was co-written (with William Kennedy) and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, and Lonette McKee. The supporting cast included Bob Hoskins, James Remar, Nicolas Cage, Allen Garfield, Laurence Fishburne, Gwen Verdon and Fred Gwynne. The film was noted for its over-budget production costs, and took a total of five years to make. Critical reception was mostly positive and "The Cotton Club" was
Plays-in-the-Park since 1994. In 1963, community theater volunteers contacted the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders asking for financial support in their endeavor to find a space to produce shows in the summer months. With only enough funding budgeted to construct a storage shed, a compromise was met. In the summer, the shed would be used as a theater, and in the winter it would be used for storage. A grove in Roosevelt Park was chosen as the site, and Plays-in-the-Park opened in 1963. Since then, the theater has become an integral part of the community, especially during the summer months.