Producing Artistic Director
Paul is the producing artistic director of Pushcart Players, and a producer for over four decades in New Jersey’s professional theater circuit.
While still an undergraduate at Montclair State University, Whelihan co-founded Ironbound Theatre in Newark, where he served as managing director. He was the development director of Forum Theatre Company in Metuchen, and Audience Services coordinator for Premier Stages at Kean University. In 2007, Whelihan co-founded Running Rabbit Theater, a company established to instill a lifelong appreciation of and support for theater in young audiences and their families. Running Rabbit received unprecedented first-year funding from both the NJ State Council on the Arts and The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
Whelihan has written nine plays for family audiences, including a ground-breaking professional production of “Treasure Island,” the first of its kind in New Jersey wherein the entire cast used spoken word, singing, and American Sign Language to illuminate the story.
Whelihan has performed, directed and stage-managed off-Broadway (47th Street Theater, 59 East 59 Theatres, NY Fringe Festival, 54 Below) and regionally (Short North Stage [OH], Royal Poincianna Playhouse, Broward Center for the Arts, Quillo Arts Center [FL], JC Theater Center [MA], Centenary Stage, Luna Stage Company, Bickford Theatre at Morris Museum, Forum Theatre Company, The Growing Stage, Premiere Stages, The Company Theater, Dreamcatcher Rep, Jersey Shore Arts Center, Plays in the Park [NJ]) in musicals, dramas, original works and locally produced television, film and web series projects (featured in the web series, “The Madness of Art”).
Theatrical roles include Tevye in “Fiddler…,” Mushnik in “Little Shop…,” Pseudolus in “…Forum,” and Miss Texas in “Pageant.” Notably, he originated roles in productions such as The Flame Keeper off-Broadway and Sheldon Harnick’s Dragons at Luna Stage in Montclair, where his portrayal of the Mayor earned him recognition as Best Featured Actor in a Musical from the Star-Ledger, an award he also received for his portrayals in “Treasure Island.”
Whelihan’s approach to theater is deeply rooted in the belief that the arts are a vital tool for education and personal development. His work with Pushcart Players exemplifies this philosophy, as the company strives to make theater accessible and relevant to young audiences, fostering empathy, creativity, and critical thinking. Paul is a board member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, the coalition of the State’s professional theaters. He serves as a lector and Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister at Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ.