Photo credit: Remy Germinario by Michael Kushner
By Peter Lyons Hall
What would it mean to work in a shopping mall that no one else ever visits—hidden beneath the home of one of the world’s most iconic entertainers?
That question sits at the heart of Buyer & Cellar, Jonathan Tolins’s sharply funny, unexpectedly poignant one-man play now being brought to life in Warwick under the direction of Michael Kushner and starring Remy Germinario, that is scheduled at Forge 28 Studio in the Village of Warwick, NY beginning April 24, 2026.
Inspired by Barbra Streisand’s real-life Malibu compound—specifically, the now-famous “basement mall” described in her 2010 book My Passion for Design—the play takes a whimsical premise and turns it into something far more human: a story about identity, connection, and the strange ways people build worlds to feel less alone.
For Kushner, the production is both a creative and strategic choice—one that reflects not only the play’s universal appeal but also the realities of building theater in a local community.
“I’m actually an actor of 26 years,” Kushner explains, describing a career that has evolved into what he calls a “multi-hyphenated” life in the arts—actor, photographer, producer, writer, podcaster, educator, and now director. His approach to Buyer & Cellar reflects that breadth: a blend of artistic instinct and practical awareness. ”There’s something for everyone in it,” he says. “It’s funny, heartfelt, and deals with a universal theme…trying to find a place in the world.”
That accessibility is key. Though rooted in a niche piece of celebrity lore—Streisand’s meticulously designed underground “street” of antique-filled storefronts—the play doesn’t require audiences to be theater insiders or Streisand devotees. In fact, Kushner believes its strength lies in how broadly it resonates. “Whether or not you’re part of the theater industry, or a cinephile, or even know who Barbra Streisand is, you can watch this play and get something out of it.”
At the center of that experience is Remy Germinario, who takes on the formidable role of Alex, an out-of-work actor who lands a job managing Streisand’s private mall—and, in the process, begins an imagined relationship with the star herself. It’s a tour-de-force performance that requires him to play not just Alex, but a rotating cast of characters, including Streisand, her husband James Brolin, Alex’s boyfriend Barry, and several members of her household staff.
“I believe I play about seven or eight different characters,” Germinario says. “But the main is Alex—the narrator, the one who gets hired to work in Barbra Streisand’s mall.” For Remy, who has performed the role multiple times, the challenge lies in balancing theatricality with emotional truth. “I come from an acting background, so I always like to keep things grounded in reality,” he explains. “But I’m also a sketch comedian…so in this kind of campy play, I lean on that too—physicality, voice, rhythm.”
The result is a performance that is both technically precise and playfully elastic. Characters emerge through subtle shifts in posture and tone, rather than exaggerated impersonation—a choice baked into Tolins’ script itself. As Germinario notes, the play gives actors permission not to “do” Streisand in the traditional sense. Instead, it asks them to capture an essence, allowing the audience’s imagination to fill in the gaps.
That imaginative space is part of what makes Buyer & Cellar so compelling. While the play is rooted in a real detail from Streisand’s life—her decision to build a 10-12,000 square foot faux shopping street that’s more like a carefully crafted, meticulous Americana museum or movie set beneath her home to house her collections of antique dolls, collectibles, and a frozen yogurt/ice cream shoppe—it is otherwise entirely fictional. And yet, as Kushner points out, it feels plausible. “Jonathan Tolins created a world… that did not happen, but could happen based on what we know about her,” he says.
That tension between reality and invention mirrors the play’s deeper themes. Beneath the humor—fast-paced, witty, and often delightfully absurd—lies a meditation on celebrity, materialism, and the human need for connection. As Germinario puts it, “It does have some really beautiful messages about human connection, the value of materialism, celebrity, friendship… and how we make our home can be a reflection of us.”
Those ideas take on added resonance in a place like Warwick and nearby Greenwood Lake, communities that are themselves in the midst of transformation. Remy draws a direct line between Streisand’s hyper-personalized compound and the homes being reimagined throughout the region. “People are moving here, renovating houses, designing spaces that reflect who they are,” he says. “I think those aspects trickle into this play.”
Kushner has also made a deliberate effort to ground the production in the local community—not just thematically, but physically. The set is being sourced in collaboration with Retro Modern Antiques, a local business providing pieces that will not only shape the visual world of the play but also be available for purchase after the play’s run ends. “We want to lift other businesses in the Warwick Valley area,” Kushner says.
It’s a fitting choice for a play about objects, curation, and the stories embedded in things. Streisand’s “mall” may be an extravagant, one-of-a-kind creation, but its underlying impulse—the desire to surround oneself with meaningful artifacts—is something far more universal.
For Germinario, the play’s endurance is a testament to Tolins’ writing. Though Buyer & Cellar premiered more than a decade before Streisand released her recent, sprawling memoir, he and Kushner were struck by how seamlessly the two align. “So much of it is like—nothing needs to change,” Kushner says.
That timelessness extends to the role of Alex, which Germinario continues to rediscover with each performance. Now in his mid-thirties, he finds new layers in a character he has lived with for years—new humor, new vulnerability, new questions about what it means to chase a dream.
It’s no small feat. The play runs approximately 100 minutes and is driven almost entirely by Germinario’s voice, shifting rapidly between dialogue, narration, and internal reflection. As Kushner notes, it demands not only memorization and stamina, but a kind of musicality—an ability to feel the rhythm of language and audience response in real time.
Yet for all its demands, Buyer & Cellar remains, at its core, a comedy—one that thrives on surprise and shared laughter. “Laughter is getting caught off guard,” Germinario says.
In that sense, the play’s unlikely setting—a private mall beneath a celebrity’s home—becomes the perfect stage for something deeply recognizable. Because while most people will never step inside Barbra Streisand’s imagined Main Street, the longing that animates it—the desire to create, to connect, to belong—is something audiences will immediately understand. And in Warwick, that understanding may feel especially close to home.
Buyer & Cellar is a production of Core Theatre Group (CTG) is a professional theatre company. Setting course to enrich the community by connecting people through the transformative power of the performing arts, its vision is to create a center for artistic work that entertains, educates and enlightens the community, by offering creative collaborations of industry professionals and local talents to the Warwick Valley area. Buyer & Cellar tickets are available on-line at CoreTheatreGroup.com. The show runs from Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26, 2026, at the Forge28 Studio, 28 Church Street Warwick, NY 10990.
