Romeo & Juliet Program by Hartford Stage

APRIL 17 – MAY 18, 2025

2024/2025 SEASON

DEDICATED TO

Arnold Greenberg

Life Director

Hartford Stage recently lost longtime board member

Arnold Greenberg whose dedication to this theater has left a lasting mark. To honor his memory, we are dedicating this production of Romeo & Juliet to him.

Thank you to the many individuals who have made contributions to Hartford Stage in his memory.

FROM THE ARTISTIC & MANAGING DIRECTORS

Welcome to Hartford Stage and to Romeo & Juliet.

For centuries, Shakespeare’s plays have been a hallmark of the theater canon, bringing people together to share a thrilling story. Romeo & Juliet exemplifies the theatricality that can only be experienced first-hand and why we work to make a diverse range of stories come to life each and every season.

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We hope you enjoy being with us, and the journey of Romeo & Juliet!

Melia Bensussen Artistic Director

Cynthia Rider Managing Director

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under united states copyright law.

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Artistic Director

Managing Director

PRESENTS

By William Shakespeare Directed

by Melia Bensussen

Choreography Dale A. Merrill

Scenic Design Christopher & Justin Swader

Costume Design Fabian Fidel Aguilar

Lighting Design Dan Kotlowitz

Sound Design Darron L West

Wig, Hair and Makeup Design Tommy Kurzman

Fight Director Ted Hewlett

Voice & Text Coach Julie Foh

Casting Alaine Alldaffer and Lisa Donadio

Production Stage Manager Nicole Wiegert*

Assistant Stage Managers Julius Cruz* and Maia G. Tivony*

Associate Artistic Director Zoë Golub-Sass

Director of Production Bryan T. Holcombe

General Manager Emily Van Scoy

APRIL 17 – MAY 18, 2025

Jill Adams & Bill Knight

Jack & Donna Sennott

MELIA BENSUSSEN

CYNTHIA RIDER

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Opa Adeyemo

Juan Arturo

Carmen Berkeley Emily Bosco

Brandon Burditt Niall Cunningham Alejandra Escalante Eva Kaminsky

Michael Samuel Kaplan

Annmarie Kelly Carman Lacivita Gerardo Rodriguez

Liliana Alva Jeremy Parrott Jason Pietroluongo Madelyn Rothstein

THE COMPANY

RULING HOUSE OF VERONA

Prince Escalus, ruling Prince of Verona .......................................................Emily Bosco *

Count Paris, kinsman of Escalus ............................................................. Opa Adeyemo *

Mercutio, kinsman of Escalus and friend of Romeo Alejandra Escalante *

HOUSE OF CAPULET

Lord Capulet, patriarch of the House of Capulet ......................... Gerardo Rodriguez *

Lady Capulet, matriarch of the House of Capulet ..................................Eva Kaminsky * Juliet, daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet ................................... Carmen Berkeley *

Tybalt, cousin of Juliet, nephew of Lady Capulet Brandon Burditt * The Nurse, Juliet’s personal attendant Annmarie Kelly *

HOUSE OF MONTAGUE

Lord Montague, patriarch of the House of Montague ........ Michael Samuel Kaplan * Romeo, son of Montague Niall Cunningham * Benvolio, cousin of Romeo Juan Arturo *

PEOPLE OF VERONA

Friar Laurence, a Franciscan friar ......................................................... Carman Lacivita *

Ensemble ........................................................................... Liliana Alva^, Jeremy Parrott ^ .............................................................

Jason Pietroluongo^, Madelyn Rothstein ^

Romeo & Juliet takes place over a little more than four days: beginning on Sunday morning, and ending early dawn on Thursday. THERE WILL BE ONE INTERMISSION.

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION SUPPORT

Assistant Director Rebecca May Ristow

Assistant Scenic Designer ................................................................... Ningning Yang

Assistant Costume Designer..................................................................... Kyle Artone

Assistant Wig Designer ....................................................................... Heather Hardin

Intimacy Coordinator Lillian Mae Ransijn

Program Dramaturg Sophie Greenspan

Dance Captain ............................................................................................ Brandon Burditt *

Fight Captain ....................................................................................................... Juan Arturo *

Production Assistant ........................................................................... Alyssa Edwards

* Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

^ BFA student from our academic theater partnership with The Hartt School at the University of Hartford.

The Scenic, Costume, Lighting and Sound Designers in LORT theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE.

The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.

FROM DIRECTOR MELIA BENSUSSEN

My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!

First Fig, Edna St Vincent Millay

The passion at the center of Romeo & Juliet is well known beyond the confines of Shakespeare’s own play, and what has amazed me working on this extraordinary text is how the play’s entire world is torn between this struggle between light and dark, love and death.

Both in the structure of the play and in its language, the play alternates between the comic and the tragic. In the language you’ll hear a constant play of words of light and dark, of life and death, of optimism and fatalism. Romeo & Juliet, an early tragedy of Shakespeare’s, is remembered for its tragic elements, but we forget that it is so full of life and laughter as well.

In Latin American tradition, the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) celebrates the porousness between life and death, the sense of us staying connected and together through both planes of existence. For me, Romeo & Juliet evokes that world with its constant foreshadowing of loss, and yet celebration of life and possibility. In the play and in this celebration, perceived opposites collide and prove the interconnectedness of our existence.

Romeo & Juliet is a play as much about the community as it is about Romeo and Juliet themselves; surrounding this classic love story, divisions between parents and children, disagreements between and through the generations resonate with loss and pain, and this play shows us the distress of miscommunication and misunderstandings between us. The older generations — the parents, the Friar, and the Nurse — disappoint and betray Romeo and Juliet, who count on them for their experience and advice.

And yet, while there are no villains in Romeo & Juliet, tragedy ensues. There’s no outsized ego, there’s no destructive large plan of revenge. There are just the small betrayals, small lies, missteps in the acts of attempting to repair that instead, cumulatively, lead to destruction. How like our own lives this play feels to me — filled with one generation trying to help the next, failing, and seeing its good intentions gone awry.

Romeo and Juliet’s love, even amid the tragedy, burns bright and lights a path towards resolution and peace. Our lives are filled equally with joy and tragedy, and ultimately, we can hope for a sense of community and connection at the end. May this story light the way for us to see it sooner and with less loss.

THE

WORLD OF ROMEO & JULIET

THEHOUSE O F MONTAGUE

THEHOUSE O F CAPULET

Lord Montague

Benvolio NEPHEW

Friar Laurence

The Citizens of Verona and Mantua

Escalus

Paris Mercutio KINSMEN

Juliet

Lord Capulet

Lady Capulet

Tybalt

The Nurse

WORLD BwithUILDING

Costume Designer Fabian Fidel Aguilar and Director Melia Bensussen

MODERATED

SOPHIE GREENSPAN

Rendering of an ensemble party dress.

Costume Design by Fabian Fidel Aguilar.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH SHAKESPEARE.

Fabian Fidel Aguilar: It might just have been reading Romeo & Juliet in high school in El Paso; I had wonderful English teachers who opened my eyes to the visual metaphors in literature and allowed me to seep into the imagery of Shakespeare.

Melia Bensussen: For high school graduation, a friend gave me the Complete Works of Shakespeare. I still have that book. But I don’t remember exactly where I first learned about him. It’s almost like he’s always been there.

FA: I also had the Complete Works of Shakespeare in high school. It looked like a bible; it’s what I would carry around school while my Catholic friends were carrying the actual Bible.

MB: Right! Being Jewish, I always felt like studying Shakespeare was akin to studying Torah: an in-depth text analysis. Pouring over the margins.

WHAT WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO ROMEO & JULIET, IN PARTICULAR, BEFORE COMING TO WORK ON IT AT HARTFORD STAGE?

FA: I’ve worked on one production of Romeo & Juliet before; it was the first show I designed after moving to New York City. It was set during the 1300s Italian Renaissance and has a very special place in my heart.

MB: I’ve directed a lot of Shakespeare—the first time I directed Shakespeare was over 30 years ago—but I’ve never directed Romeo & Juliet before.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THE SETTING FOR THIS PRODUCTION?

MB: I had been musing with Christopher and Justin Swader (Scenic Designers) about the role of Catholicism in the play. Growing up in Mexico City, I loved the romance—as I saw it—and the iconography of the Catholic Church that permeated the city. To me, Mexico City represented a fever pitch of Catholicism: of sex, death, and the extreme emotions about which Shakespeare wrote.

FA: I think that the Catholic Church can easily have a reputation for being very strict, repressed, and conservative, but within the religion there is so much sensuality. It engages with your senses and makes spirituality an embodied experience. You have incense wafting through the Church while a chorus echoes between stained glass windows as you taste the Holy Communion on velvet cushions.

MB: You’re drinking the blood of Christ.

FA: And the body, the Eucharist. You’re seeing, smelling, hearing and tasting the grandeur of the Church and the romance that is embedded into the religion.

MB: In the 1860s, there was the second French intervention in Mexico. As I prepared for this production I thought about that period and the culture the French brought with them. There was a flowering of high society, but also a stringent Catholic energy, and it was a very dangerous time.

FA: I was working on a different production with the Swaders. They mentioned their conversation with Melia and I was excited for what that might mean. The 5th of May 1862 [now known as Cinco de Mayo] is when the French were beaten at the Battle of

Puebla, which delayed them from seizing Mexico City for a year. And so, it’s this period in Mexico where you have high tension between the old world and the new world, which also lent itself to rigidity versus fluidity—

MB: —for the younger generation as they grew up in a new world with French influence. Fabian has created this wonderful world with his designs by contrasting a rigid, older generation with a fluid, younger one.

AS YOU FOUND THIS INSPIRATION IN THE ESSENCE OR ABSTRACTION OF MID-19TH CENTURY MEXICO, WHAT WERE YOUR EARLY CONVERSATIONS ABOUT DESIGN?

MB: When Romeo & Juliet begins, the prologue tells us how they’re going to end. If people know one thing about the play, it’s that the lovers die tragically. So, as I was thinking about a story where youth and love and death all intermingled, I thought about Día de los Muertos. You know, Halloween is all about how death is an end, about a physical rotting away. The Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos—which occurs after All Saint’s Day—

FA: —which started as an ancient Aztec ritual celebrating Mictēcacihuātl, Queen of Mictlān [the underworld], before Spanish conquistadors fused it with Catholicism—

MB: —has so much color and floral life in it. We decided to set the Capulet’s party as a Day of the Dead celebration. Through this, we can see how, in Mexican culture, the dead and living exist side-by-side. It’s a celebration of life

FA: In any world where violence is a daily constant, it’s even more crucial to celebrate life. So, we wanted the party to feel like an annual event hosted by the Capulets where we could embrace color and flowers, not just skulls and bones. The Día de los Muertosinspired skull masks that the guests wear are made out of papier-mâché and bedecked with flowers. It was important to me that we see the human hand in their making, like all the folk art by street vendors that I loved as a kid. I could imagine our characters buying these masks off the street on their way to the party.

ASIDE FROM THESE ELABORATE PAPIER-MÂCHÉ MASKS, ARE THERE ANY OTHER COSTUMES THAT AUDIENCES SHOULD KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR?

FA: There will be flowers interspersed throughout the visual motifs in all of the costumes. Whether it’s a tie pin, a woven textile, the carving on a

Rendering of Lady Capulet’s party dress. Costume Design by Fabian Fidel Aguilar.

button, or the trim going down a vest, flowers are hidden everywhere… and plenty not so hidden. But—and this is probably because I am, like many Hispanic men, a mama’s boy— Lady Capulet’s costume, in particular, was inspired by drying roses hung upside down. You’ll see that in her colors and the shape of the skirt, but also in the organic texture to the fabric of her dress. She’s kind of this darkening rose, while Juliet is a blossoming one. But really, it’s an homage to my mother sending me outside to collect rose petals from the bushes outside my window. We’d dry them to make tea.

YOU’VE EXPRESSED FLOWERS AND DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS AS BEING INSPIRATIONS TO YOU. CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE ABOUT OTHER ART OR IMAGES THAT YOU REFERENCED AS YOU WERE DESIGNING THESE COSTUMES?

FA: There’s this painting hanging in the Yale Art Gallery that, when I first saw it, I stopped dead in my tracks. It’s a 17th-century Spanish painting of a priest called Portrait of an Ecclesiastic by Juan de Valdés Leal. He sits in solitude, with feathers in his biretta, dark colors in his robe, and this dead pallor to his face. It’s haunting. It reminded me of the world of Romeo & Juliet, with this emphasis on the martyrdom of sacrifice… whether it’s the sacrifice Juliet makes at the end of the play, or the sacrifice a priest makes in joining the clergy. This image served as inspiration for Friar Laurence’s costume.

And I can’t ignore the etchings of José Guadalupe Posada in the Día de los Muertos masks along with some beautiful baile folklórico silhouettes at the party. My mom dances baile focklórico, so that was an inspiration as well. Like I said, mama’s boy!

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING AUDIENCES WILL TAKE AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCTION?

MB: What’s fun about doing this production is shaking off an attitude of preciousness and earnestness when it comes to Shakespeare. I call it the Mona Lisa syndrome: you know the Mona Lisa’s great, but you don’t always know why. How do you treat Romeo and Juliet as just a really good play? It’s bawdy, it’s silly, it’s tragic. How do you ensure you don’t sanctify Shakespeare’s plays to the point where the play doesn’t move you, affect you? The point of theater is to be entertained and moved—to feel the immediacy of the story—and we hope this production does that.

Portrait of an Ecclesiastic ca. 1680 by Juan de Valdés Leal (1622-90).

CATHOLIC IMAGERY

IN ROMEO & JULIET

BY SOPHIE GREENSPAN

Romeo

Juliet

If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.

Throughout Shakespeare’s life, England was bitterly divided between the Catholics and the Protestants, and scholars to this day cannot agree on which side of the aisle Shakespeare sat. At the time of Romeo & Juliet’s premiere in 1597, Protestant rule was law, and citizens were fined for failure to attend church. Many, including Shakespeare, grew up with a slew of vehemently anti-Catholic monarchs and witnessed the dismantling of Catholic iconography, including the destruction of stained glass and statues of saints. Despite this, privately, there remained factions of devout Catholics.

Romantic, whimsical—and in the minds of the Protestants, heretical—Catholic imagery pervades almost every scene of Romeo & Juliet, especially in the language between the two lovers. Shakespeare scholar Gordan McMullen writes that the young lovers’ dialogue “depends on a series of overtly Catholic images—pilgrims,

priests, saints, sin…”, while accurate to the play’s setting in Verona, Italy, “would’ve made uncomfortable listening for […] Protestant members of the audience” in Elizabethan England. In contrast, the emphasis on the individual versus the collective—Romeo and Juliet’s individualistic love when compared to the dogmatic hatred between the Capulets and Montagues—appears to be rooted in a Protestant emphasis on an individual, singular relationship with God.

Regardless of where Shakespeare sat on the religious spectrum, his portrayal of Catholicism—however idolatrous it might be—was ostensibly a romantic one. He wrote poetically—perhaps even nostalgically—about Catholic iconography, of celestial bodies, of saints, of pilgrims.

As you watch this performance, listen for the unfettered, desperate language with which Romeo and Juliet express their love. Is it possible that Shakespeare uses the lovers as a cautionary tale? Worship false idols, and you, too, shall be as ill-fated as these two lovers? Certainly. Does that make the intoxication of their young, feverish, hurried love any less appealing as a story we keep coming back to again, and again? Certainly not.

Sin título (Untitled), ca. 18th century Mexico (Anonymous).

Above and Left: Inspiration for the design of Romeo & Juliet.

A PAIR OF

STAR-CROSSED LOVERS

BY SOPHIE GREENSPAN

Southeast of Mexico City stand two volcanoes. Iztaccíhuatl (Nahuatl for “white lady”), which began forming approximately 900,000 years ago, is snowcapped and dormant. Its twin, Popocatépetl (“smoking mountain”), sits approximately 20 km to the south and is active. The Aztec legend of their names goes as follows: Iztaccíhuatl, a princess and daughter of the Chief of Tlaxcaltecs, is in love with a warrior, Popocatépetl. Her father agrees that the two young lovers can marry once Popocatépetl has returned triumphant from the war. From battle, the enemy sends a false rumor that Popocatépetl has died. Iztaccíhuatl, upon hearing the news, dies of a broken heart. Popocatépetl returns to find his beloved dead and carries Iztaccíhuatl to a mountain where the gods turn the lovers into two volcanoes. Iztaccíhuatl—dead, dormant, quiet—and Popocatépetl: inconsolable, the perpetual plumes of smoke representing his eternal mourning.

This exact legend—originating a couple of centuries before Shakespeare’s time— had likely not made its way to Elizabethan England as Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet. But, though Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet is arguably today’s most well-known iteration of ill-fated young love that ends in tragedy, it is far from the first. In fact, there

La Leyenda de los Volcanes ca. 1940 by Jesús Helguera (1910-71).

are at least five variations of a Romeo and Juliet story from the 16th century—French and Italian versions, and, most notably, Arthur Brooke’s 1562 poem—from which Shakespeare wrote his adaptation.

Be it today or at its very first premiere centuries ago, audience-goers of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet (because of its spoiler-revealing prologue) enter the world of the play knowing how it ends. The lovers die. So why then, do we keep returning to this story? How is it a tale that has the ability to cross time, space, and cultural divides, and still compel us?

A phrase often attributed to Queen Elizabeth II is that “grief is the price we pay for love.” Many historians believe that Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet while grieving the death of his 11-year-old son, Hamnet. In the play, upon seeing his dead son, Montague cries “O thou untaught! What manners is in this? To press before thy father to a grave?” How rude to force a parent to bury their child?

A century after Shakespeare, Alexander Pope penned this: “hope springs eternal.”

The plot of Romeo & Juliet, much like the legend of the volcanoes, is propelled by hope. The story turns from comedy to a grave tragedy when hope dies. Perhaps therein lies its immortality? When the eternal nature of hope is dimmed, especially in those so young—when Shakespeare mourns his son not as he was, but for a future impossible—grief springs eternal, and with it, love’s toll.

In the epilogue given by the Prince, this story is declared as the most woeful one ever told. From the first Elizabethan reign to the recently concluded second one, from an ancient Aztec legend to the continued celebrations of Día de los Muertos in which grief, love, and celebration are all intertwined, tales of love and grief endure because the experience of love and grief endures, as constant as the stars that determine our fates.

Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl ca. 1899 by José María Velasco (1840-1912).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

OPA ADEYEMO | Count Paris

Hartford Stage: Debut. Regional: Sojourners (Round House Theatre); First Deep Breath (Geffen Playhouse). Film: The Extenders. Television: The Good Fight. Education/Training: BFA Acting, The Juilliard School.

JUAN ARTURO | Benvolio

Hartford Stage: Debut. Off-Broadway: The Night of the Iguana (La Femme Theater Productions); I Wanna F*ck like Romeo & Juliet (59E59); Between the Bars (HERE Arts); Buffalo Buffalo (Exquisite Corpse Company); Salty (Lyra Theater); The Rafa Play (The Flea Theater); The Rivals (New York Classical Theater); The Oregon Trail (Fault Line Theater). Regional: Clyde’s (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Shane (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Guthrie Theater); Support Group for Men (CATF). Film: Among The Beasts, Shadows. Television: Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Educated Fleas. Education/Training: BFA Acting, The Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (productions include: The Oresteia, Henry V, Acting is Believing).

CARMEN BERKELEY | Juliet

Hartford Stage: Debut. Off-Broadway: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theater/ Second Stage); The Night of the Iguana (LaFemme Theatre Productions); Oh Honey (Ugly Face Theatre); Las Yumas (Players Theatre). Regional: Wintertime (Berkeley Rep); Our Town (Barnstormers Theatre). She has developed new work with New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ensemble Studio Theatre, ArsNova, Playwrights Horizons, Page 73, Fault Line Theatre, The Tank, New Georges, The Playwrights Realm and others. Film: Step Back, Doors Closing; High Strung; Getting There. Television: Law & Order: SVU. Awards: Best Actress, Catalina Film Festival 2024 (Step Back, Doors Closing). Education/Training: BFA, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

EMILY BOSCO | Prince Escalus

Hartford Stage: Debut. Off-Broadway: The Rat Trap (Mint Theater Company). Regional: Galileo’s Daughter (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Everybody, Sense & Sensibility, How I Learned to Drive, Dairyland (PlayMakers Rep); Pride & Prejudice, Baskerville, A Christmas Carol (Greenbrier Valley Theatre); Steel Magnolias, Native Gardens (Creede Rep); Go Back for Murder (Barnstormers Theatre); Seared (Gloucester Stage); Significant Other (Theatre Raleigh). Education: MFA, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

BRANDON BURDITT | Tybalt

Hartford Stage: Debut. Regional: The Mountaintop, The Colored Museum (American Stage); Everybody, Hands Up, The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr Kidd (Alliance Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear (Illinois Shakespeare Festival); A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Cymbeline (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks). Education: BFA Drama, Morehouse College; MFA Acting, University of Illinois (productions include Gem of the Ocean, Hit the Wall).

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

NIALL CUNNINGHAM | Romeo

Hartford Stage: Debut. Off-Broadway: Socrates (The Public); Symphony of Rats (The Wooster Group). Regional: Ah, Wilderness! (The Goodman). Television: And Just Like That, Life in Pieces, Poker Face, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Deadbeat, Awkward. Film: Okja, Annie (director, short film), Noumena (director, upcoming). Professional Positions: Associate Artist, The Wooster Group. For Jane and Ruth.

ALEJANDRA ESCALANTE | Mercutio

Hartford Stage: Simona’s Search. Off-Broadway: Dying City (Second Stage). Regional: The Odyssey (American Repertory Theatre); The Cherry Orchard, 2666, Upstairs Concierge, Measure for Measure, Song for the Disappeared (Goodman Theatre); Henry V, All’s Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Taming of the Shrew (American Players Theatre); Othello (American Repertory Theater); Sense and Sensibility (Guthrie Theater); The Excavation of Mary Anning, Another Word for Beauty, Fingersmith (New York Stage and Film); Darwin In Malibu (Washington Stage Guild); Measure for Measure, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, The Tenth Muse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Wrinkle in Time, The Tempest, Henry IV Part 1 & Part 2, Othello, Love’s Labor’s Lost (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Education: BFA, Boston University.

EVA KAMINSKY | Lady Capulet

Hartford Stage: Debut. Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Lyons. Off-Broadway: A Bright New Boise (Signature Theatre); The Rape of the Sabine Women by Grace B. Matthias (Playwright’s Realm); The Lucky Star (Director’s Company); The Groundling (Axis Theatre Company); The Language Archive (Roundabout Theatre Company); Made in Poland (Play Company). National Tour: The Syringa Tree (dir. by Larry Moss). Regional: Salvage (upcoming, Dorset Theatre Festival), The Old Globe, Alley Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, ACT Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, TheaterWorks Hartford, Syracuse Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Contemporary American Theater Festival, Portland Stage, among others. Film: Song Sung Blue (upcoming), The Dark Tower, Human Capital, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, If You See Something. Television: The Gilded Age (upcoming), Chicago Med, FBI: Most Wanted, New Amsterdam, Manifest, The Sinner, Blindspot, Younger, Madam Secretary, Billions, Law & Order: SVU, among others. Professional Positions: Audiobook Narrator: 375+ titles. Member of The Actors Center, NYC

MICHAEL SAMUEL KAPLAN | Lord Montague

Hartford Stage: Debut. Off-Broadway: A Splintered Soul (Rosalind Productions at The Mint); Hamlet (First Maria at Teatro Circulo); Miss Julie (Rattlestick Theater). Regional: Driving Miss Daisy (Bristol Riverside); Oblomov (W.H.A..T); Intimate Apparel (Arkansas Rep); At A Loss/Handle With Care, Opus, Do You Feel Anger (Kitchen Theatre Company); Ants (New Jersey Rep); It’s A Wonderful Life Radio Play (Hangar); Harvey, Angel Street (Kansas Repertory);

Is there such thing as a perfect crime?

Rope

Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher

Based on the play Rope’s End by Patrick Hamilton

Directed by Melia Bensussen

World Premiere

OCTOBER 10 –NOVEMBER 2, 2025

A comedy about doing the right thing with the wrong person.

The Cottage

Sandy Rustin

Directed by Zoë Golub-Sass

JANUARY 16 –FEBRUARY 8, 2026

A salesman has got to dream.

Death of a Salesman

By Arthur Miller

Directed by Melia Bensussen

FEBRUARY 27 –MARCH 29, 2026

Karen Zacarias

JUNE 5 – JULY 5, 2026 Hartford’s Beloved Holiday Tradition

By Charles Dickens

NOVEMBER 22 –DECEMBER 28, 2025

Noble Shropshire and Allen Gilmore (2024). Photo by

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Lady Chatterley’s Lover, The Night Alive (Fusion Theatre Company); Red (Payomet); Dylan (Skylight Theatre); Unfinished Business (Bailiwick Rep); A Christmas Carol (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina); The Unvarnished Truth (Sierra Rep); Cymbeline, Taming of the Shrew, Richard II (Virginia Shakespeare Festival); Sight Unseen (Long Beach Playhouse); The Learned Ladies, Our Town, The History Boys, God’s Ear, The Government Inspector, Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music (Cornell Schwartz Center). Television: Law & Order, Seinfeld, Saved by the Bell, Unsolved Mysteries. Education/Training: BFA North Carolina School of the Arts, MFA University of Alberta. Professional Positions: Assistant Professor of Voice, Speech, and Dialects at University of Connecticut; Member Actors’ Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, and the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). michaelsamuelkaplan.com

ANNMARIE KELLY | The Nurse

Hartford Stage: All My Sons (Kate Keller/Sue Bayliss u/s); Motherhood Out Loud; A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (u/s); Readings: Welcome to Jesus; The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later. National Tour: Wicked Regional: A Christmas Carol (Trinity Rep); All the King’s Men (Swine Palace); A Flea in Her Ear, Oliver! (Walnut Street Theatre); Man of La Mancha, Kiss Me Kate, Top Girls. Soloist: A Concert for Julie Harris. Film: Deranged Television: One Life to Live, Evangeline (LPB premiere). Commercial: Dentyne, Our Lady of The Lake Regional Medical Center Voice-Over: (featured) EQUINOX 21st w/p recording. Education: MFA, Ohio University; MA, St. Joseph’s. Professional Positions: Director, Theatre Movement Professor, Licensed Professional Counselor.

CARMAN LACIVITA | Friar Laurence

Hartford Stage: Pride & Prejudice, The Winter’s Tale Broadway: Marvin’s Room, Cyrano De Bergerac. Off-Broadway: To My Girls (Second Stage); Sense & Sensibility (Bedlam Theatre); Rose Rage: Henry VI Trilogy (The Duke); The Witch of Edmonton (Red Bull Theater); The Public, The Pearl, Gingold, TFANA. Regional: A Christmas Carol (Geva Theatre); Emma (Denver Center, The Guthrie); Private Lives (St. Louis Rep); Twelfth Night (Two River Theatre); Pride & Prejudice (Syracuse Stage, Dorset); George is Dead (George Street Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company); Romeo & Juliet, Rose Rage (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Tempest (Bermuda Arts Festival). Television: Law & Order, Blue Bloods, Golden Boy, Royal Pains, Modern Love, Marino’s, Audible: Murder at the Patel Motel. Education: MFA, Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts; BFA, Texas Christian University. Professional Positions: Founding Member of Amphibian Stage Productions; Select Fight Direction: Cyrano de Bergerac (asst choreographer, Broadway); By the Queen (Hudson Valley Shakes); Terra Firma (The COOP); MTCA Monologue Coach. Awards: St Clair Bayfield Award, Jeff Award. @carmanclacivita, carmanlacivita.com

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

GERARDO RODRIGUEZ | Lord Capulet

Hartford Stage: It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Off-Broadway: Summer and Smoke (Classic Stage Company); To the Bone (Cherry Lane Theatre); Terra Firma (The COOP); La Ruta (Working Theater); Dramatis Personae (The Playwrights Realm); Neighbors: A Fair Trade Agreement, Se Llama Christina, Lucy Loves Me (INTAR). Regional: Life is a Dream (Baltimore Center Stage); The Hombres (Two River Theater); It Can’t Happen Here (Berkeley Rep); Seven Spots on the Sun (Cincinnati Playhouse); Elemeno Pea (Humana Festival); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Mixed Blood Theater). Film: Dumb Money, Blind, Misty Button, The Artist’s Wife, Cruzando, Last Night at Angelo’s. Television: The Blacklist, FBI, Dr. Death, Elementary, Blue Bloods, Search Party, Shades of Blue, Person of Interest, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU. Education: MFA, A.R.T./MXAT.

LILIANA ALVA | Ensemble

Hartford Stage: A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas. Education: Drama Studio London; BFA Actor Training, The Hartt School, University of Hartford (recent productions include Cyrano de Bergerac, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Wolves, Mr. Burns a Post-Electric Play). Thanks to her teachers, family (especially her mom), and Xavier for their love and encouragement.

JEREMY PARROTT | Ensemble

Hartford Stage: A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas. Education: BFA Actor Training, The Hartt School, University of Hartford (productions include Peter and the Starcatcher, Footloose, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really).

JASON PIETROLUONGO | Ensemble

Hartford Stage: A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas. Regional: Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew (Capital Classics); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night (Cape Cod Shakespeare Festival). Education: BFA Actor Training, The Hartt School, University of Hartford (productions include Cyrano de Bergerac, Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

MADELYN ROTHSTEIN | Ensemble

Hartford Stage: A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas. Education: BFA Actor Training, The Hartt School, University of Hartford (productions include: Peter and the Starcatcher, Martyr, The Wolves, Trojan Women, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cyrano de Bergerac).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

MELIA BENSUSSEN | Director

/ Artistic Director of Hartford Stage

Melia Bensussen is an award-winning director and artistic leader who has directed extensively at leading theatres throughout the country. The first woman to lead Hartford Stage, she has been its Artistic Director since the summer of 2019. Devoted to new work as well as to classic texts, she was appointed Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center in 2024. Raised in Mexico City, Bensussen is fluent in Spanish and has translated and adapted a variety of texts, including her edition of the Langston Hughes translation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding, published by Theater Communications Group. Among her credits developing and premiering new works, she co-conceived and directed, alongside playwright Kirsten Greenidge, the theatrical adaptation of Anthony J. Lukas’ Pulitzer Prize winning Common Ground, which premiered at the Huntington Theater in Boston. A graduate of Brown University, Bensussen serves on the Arts Advisory Board for the Princess Grace Foundation, and on the executive board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). Prior to her position at Hartford Stage, she was Chair of the Performing Arts Department of Emerson College, in Boston. She is the recipient of an OBIE Award for Outstanding Direction, as well as the Statue Award from the Princess Grace Foundation for Excellence in Directing.

DALE A. MERRILL | Choreography

Hartford Stage: Debut. Professional: With over 30 years of experience, his credits include choreographing for the Seattle Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, PBS Voices Across America starring Paul and Mira Sorvino, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Gala. Currently, he serves as the Dean of The Hartt School and The Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. Dale has been a guest teacher for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Youth America Grand Prix, and the American College Dance Festival. His former students have performed on SYTYCD, with the Rockettes, on the Taylor Swift Concert Tour, and in the National Touring Company of Wicked. Dale was the founder and served as Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle, WA, collaborating with notable choreographers such as Ann Reinking, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, and Dwight Rhoden.

CHRISTOPHER & JUSTIN SWADER | Scenic Design

Hartford Stage: Debut. Off-Broadway: Dig, Amerikin (Primary Stages); The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Fiasco Theater); Arden of Faversham (Red Bull Theater); Garside’s Career (Mint Theater Company); Seven Deadly Sins (Tectonic Theater Project); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Malvolio, Seize the King, The Bacchae, Antigone, The Three Musketeers, Macbeth, The Tempest, Dutchman (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Ajijaak on Turtle Island (The New Victory Theatre); Midnight at the Never Get (York Theatre Company). Regional: Private Jones (Goodspeed, Signature Theatre); Little Women, Dial M for Murder (Geva Theatre); Our Town (Dallas Theater Center); A Raisin in the Sun (Two River Theatre); Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Tempest (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); Radio Golf

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

(Everyman Theatre); Small (People’s Light, George Street Playhouse, Penguin Rep); Miami New Drama, Dorset Theatre Festival, Weston Theater Company. Education/Training: Ball State University. CJSwaderDesign.com

FABIAN FIDEL AGUILAR | Costume Design

Hartford Stage: The Mousetrap. Off-Broadway: Dig (Primary Stages). Regional: Inherit the Wind, Man of La Mancha (Asolo Rep); Art (American Players); La Boheme (Portland Opera); American Mariachi, Mother Road (PCPA); Tale of Two Cities, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed (Alliance Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Twelfth Night, Macbeth (Two River); Dial M for Murder, Straight White Men, Mlima’s Tale, In the Heights, Romeo and Juliet (Westport Country Playhouse); Sidekicked, Wait Until Dark, Thirst, Queen of the Night, Slow Food (Dorset Theater Festival); The Moors (Yale Rep). Education: BFA Costume Design, Boston University; MFA Costume Design, Yale School of Drama. Professional Positions: Professor of Costume and Scenic Design, Colgate University.

DAN KOTLOWITZ | Lighting Design

Hartford Stage: Intimate Exchanges. Off-Broadway: Only Yesterday, Secret Order (59 E 59); Turn of the Screw, Scotland Road, Sabina (Primary Stages); Reno Once Removed (NY Shakespeare Festival); The Wash (Manhattan Theatre Club); Yankee Dawg You Die (Playwrights Horizons); Money Talks (Promenade Theater); The Perfect Party (Astor Place). Regional: A Doll’s House (Huntington Theater); Three Penny Opera (Trinity Repertory Theatre); King Lear (Northern Stage); Red (George Street Theatre); God of Carnage (Asolo Repertory Theatre); Circle Mirror Transformation (Huntington Theatre); 12 Angry Men (Repertory Theatre of St Louis); Ah, Wilderness! (CenterStage); The Scottish Play (La Jolla Playhouse); An Infinite Ache (Long Wharf Theatre, ART, Cincinnati Playhouse); The Winter’s Tale (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); The Matchmaker (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre); The Second Hurricane (New Federal Theatre). Education: MFA, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Professional Positions: Professor and Chair, Dartmouth College Theater Dept.

DARRON L WEST | Sound Design

Hartford Stage: Murder on the Orient Express, The Body of an American (CT Critics Circle Award). Theater: Darron is a Tony and Obie award-winning sound designer whose 30-year career spans theater and dance, Broadway and Off-Broadway, and numerous regional theaters. His work has been heard in over 700 productions all over the United States and internationally in 15 countries. Awards: Drama Desk, Lortel, Audelco, Princess Grace Foundation Statue Award, among many others. Professional Positions: Thirty-year company member designing the productions of Anne Bogart’s SITI company. Former Resident Sound Designer: Williamstown Theater Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theater of Louisville.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

TOMMY KURZMAN | Wig, Hair and Makeup Design

Hartford Stage: Kiss My Aztec (Makeup Design), The Comedy of Errors (Assoc. Hair & Makeup Design). Broadway: Uncle Vanya, I Need That, Gutenberg: The Musical!, The Cottage, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Pictures From Home, The Collaboration, Macbeth, Mrs. Doubtfire, All My Sons, True West, St. Joan, My Fair Lady, Little Foxes, Long Day’s Journey, Bright Star, The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof. Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Titaniqué, NYCC Encores!, Roundabout, MCC, MTC, The Atlantic, The New Group, The Public, New World Stages. Regional: The MUNY, Goodspeed Musicals, Drury Lane Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Huntington, Geva Theatre, Arena Stage. IG: @TommyKurzmanWigs

TED HEWLETT | Fight Director

Hartford Stage: All My Sons; The Winter’s Tale; The Art of Burning; The Mousetrap; Ah, Wilderness!; Quixote Nuevo Broadway: Shōgun Off-Broadway: Bill W. and Dr. Bob. New York: Pan Asian Rep, Mettawee River Theatre, Lincoln Center Institute. Boston: Huntington Theatre, A.R.T., SITI Company/ArtsEmerson, Lyric Stage, SpeakEasy Stage, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, New Rep, Gloucester Stage, Merrimack Rep, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera. Regional: Shakespeare & Co., Shakespeare Theatre Company, Elm Shakespeare, Kennedy Center, Syracuse Stage, Birmingham Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival. Film/Television: Hook, Army of Darkness, Brush Up Your Shakespeare. Education: MFA in Acting, Brandeis University. Professional Positions: Faculty at Emerson College, Shakespeare & Company.

JULIE FOH | Voice & Text Coach

Hartford Stage: All My Sons, The Winter’s Tale. Off-Broadway: Belfast Girls (Irish Rep). Regional: The Woman in Black (Weston Theater Company); A View from the Bridge (Long Wharf Theatre); falcon girls; Escaped Alone; the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep); A Christmas Carol, Sense and Sensibility, As You Like It, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Caretaker (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ); Ride the Cyclone: The Musical and Sleuth (McCarter Theatre); Mlima’s Tale (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis & Westport Country Playhouse). Podcast: Wolverine: The Lost Trail (Marvel); Julius Caesar, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus (Next Chapter Podcasts). Television: Cobra Kai. Education: MFA, American Repertory Theatre; BA, Duke University. Professional Positions: Professor at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

LILLIAN MAE RANSIJN | Intimacy Coordinator

Hartford Stage: Debut. Regional: The Moors, A Doctor’s Dilemma (Connecticut Repertory Theater); Free/Fall (Theatre Emory); Young Frankenstein, 4,000 Miles (Berkshire Theater Group). Film: Femininity, Lazybones, Jigsaw. Education: MFA Devised Performance Practice, UArts; BA Dance and Movement Studies and

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Theater Studies, Emory University (magna cum laude); Intimacy Coordination, IDC Professionals. Professional: Visiting Assistant Professor of Movement and Intimacy Director for Connecticut Repertory Theater, UCONN. lillian.ransijn.com

ALLDAFFER & LISA DONADIO | Casting

Hartford Stage: August Wilson’s Two Trains Running; A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; All My Sons; Simona’s Search; Pride and Prejudice; Trouble in Mind; The Art of Burning; The Mousetrap; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Ah, Wilderness!; Quixote Nuevo; Ether Dome. Broadway/ Off-Broadway: Downstate, Circle Mirror Transformation, Stereophonic, A Strange Loop, Clybourne Park, Grey Gardens, The Flick (Playwrights Horizons); The Flick (Barrow Street Theatre). Regional: The Old Globe Theatre, The Huntington, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Television: The Knights of Prosperity, Ed, Monk. Awards: Artios Award (Downstate, Circle Mirror Transformation); Drama Desk and Obie awards, Best Ensemble (Circle Mirror Transformation).

NICOLE WIEGERT | Production Stage Manager

Hartford Stage: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; All My Sons; Simona’s Search; The Winter’s Tale; Ah, Wilderness!; Pike St.; Detroit ’67; Henry IV; A Lesson from Aloes; A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Regional: Goodspeed Opera House, TheaterWorks Hartford, Long Wharf Theatre, CT Rep, Kansas City Rep, Mountain Playhouse, Ivoryton Playhouse, Theater by the Sea, First Stage Milwaukee, Renaissance Theatreworks, Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Public Theater, Milwaukee Chamber Theater. Television: House Hunters, Extreme Cheapskates, Biggest Loser. Love to LC, WW, CW & DC.

JULIUS CRUZ | Assistant Stage Manager

Hartford Stage: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Simona’s Search. Broadway: Dear Evan Hansen. National Tours: Dear Evan Hansen. Regional: El Coquí Espectacular and The Bottle of Doom (Long Wharf Theatre); A Chorus Line, The Sound of Music (Theater by the Sea); Zoe’s Perfect Wedding, Secondo, Fun Home, Christmas on the Rocks, Queen of Basel, Rembrandt, Clyde’s (TheaterWorks Hartford); The Sound of Music; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Parallel 45). Thank you and much love to Tracy, Kelly, and Caroline.

MAIA G. TIVONY | Assistant Stage Manager

Hartford Stage: Debut. Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Cult of Love. Off-Broadway: The Seagull/Woodstock, NY, Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group); Self-Portraits Deluxe (The Bushwick Starr). Regional: 1776 (American Repertory Theater). Television: A Capitol Fourth. Streaming: New Year’s Eve 2022: 40 Years of Phish. Exhibition: Edges of Ailey: let slip, hold sway. Education: BFA Stage & Production Management, Emerson College.

Our award-winning education programs provide students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds with innovative opportunities that challenge and inspire. Using theater techniques, we build community and citizenship, promote a passion for literacy and creative expression, and encourage lifelong learning.

ADULT & YOUTH CLASSES: Throughout the year, we have classes for youth and adults looking to improve their acting skills.

STUDENT MATINEES: Middle and high school students are invited to join us for special performances throughout the year. They’ll get to see the show, plus participate in a talkback with the cast. Tickets start at $20, with discounts available for Title 1 schools.

CONNECTIONS: Connections is an in-school program that brings teaching artists into classrooms to explore a book through drama, strengthening reading comprehension skills and building excitement about reading.

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS: Bring a Hartford Stage teaching artist to your afterschool program! Programs range from drama classes to full productions and are designed based on the needs of each individual school.

ABOUT HARTFORD STAGE

Diversity, Equity, and Belonging.

At Hartford Stage, equity is not a destination—it’s an ongoing journey.

From the stories we bring to life on our stage to the voices behind the scenes at our organization, we are committed to amplifying diverse perspectives and fostering inclusion in every aspect of our work. See Equity in Action at HartfordStage.org

Artistry & Craft

We believe artistic excellence is achieved through a collaborative process that is rooted in creativity and a willingness to take risks.

Lifelong Learning

We believe theater creates opportunities for personal growth and learning for people of all ages.

Relationships

We believe in developing connections within and beyond the theater, extending our reach into the community and fostering a sense of mutual belonging.

Integrity & Responsibility

We believe that fiscal, operational, and programmatic decisions must embrace physical safety, financial sustainability, and equity with kindness and respect.

The Hartt School/Hartford Stage Partnership in Training

The Partnership in Training offers a unique alliance of an undergraduate acting conservatory program and a respected professional theater. This partnership helps ensure that theater students at The Hartt School receive rigorous training and bring their skills, imagination and intellect to the demands of a professional theater setting. Hartt School students have worked on- and off-stage in many Hartford Stage shows including this production of Romeo & Juliet.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

Michael D. Nicastro

President

Elease Wright

Vice President

Devon Francis

Treasurer

Richard G. Costello

Secretary

GOVERNING DIRECTORS

Douglas Adkins

Don Allan

Patti Broad

Marla J. Byrnes

Shari Cantor

Jamie Hait Cohen

Julio Concepción

Mark G. Contreras

Alana Curren

Anne D’Alleva

Jarret Eamiello

John Doran

Marilda Lara Gándara

Rev. Darrell L. Goodwin

Emily Harrington

Rydell Harrison

Annie Hildreth

Barnaby Horton

Very Rev. Miguelina Howell

Jackie B. Iacovazzi

Katherine Lambert

Aaron Lyles

Kelly M. Lyman

Sibongile Magubane

Amy Leppo Mandell

Barri Marks

Marjorie E. Morrissey

Andy Pace

Sarah M. Patterson

Esther A. Pryor

Allan B. Taylor

Judith E. Thompson

William J. Thompson

Rhonda J. Tobin

Nicole Vitrano

Patty Willis

Yvette Yelardy

STAGE ONE

Young Professional Board Directors

Cordelia Brady

Kentavis Brice, Co-Chair

Brennden D. Colbert

Angel Cotto

Brittnee Johnson-Colbert

Kaitlyn Keeler

Greidy Miralles

TJ Noel-Sullivan

Malia Peres

Claire Stermer, Co-Chair

Nathan Sykes

Maxwell R. Toth

Alia Walwyn-James

LIFE DIRECTORS

George L. Estes III

Arnold C. Greenberg+

Walter Harrison

Jeffrey S. Hoffman

George A. Ingram+

David M. Klein

Roger S. Loeb+

Belle K. Ribicoff

Christina B. Ripple

Linda Fisher Silpe

Sherwood S. Willard

HONORARY DIRECTORS

Carrie Hammond

Barbara Hennessy

Nancy P. Hoffman

Robert A. Penney

Rosalie Roth

Bruce Simons

EMERITUS DIRECTORS

Margaret B. Amstutz+

R. Kelley Bonn

Sara Marcy Cole

Susan J. Copeland

Susan G. Fisher

Judith C. Meyers

PAST PRESIDENTS

Jill Adams

Joel B. Alvord

Paul L. Bourdeau

David W. Clark Jr.+

Sue Ann Collins

Ellsworth Davis+

Elliot F. Gerson

Thomas J. Groark Jr.+

John W. Huntington+

Walter Harrison

David R. Jimenez

David M. Klein

Edward Lane-Reticker+

Janet Larsen+

Thomas D. Lips

Scott McAlister+

Tuck Miller+

Christina B. Ripple

Jack Sennott

Deanna Sue Sucsy

Jennifer Smith Turner

Peter R. Wilde+

EX OFFICIO DIRECTORS

John B. Larson

US Representative, First Congressional District of Connecticut

Arunan Arulampalam

Mayor City of Hartford

Melia Bensussen

Artistic Director

Hartford Stage

Cynthia Rider

Managing Director

Hartford Stage

+ Deceased

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

LEADERSHIP

Melia Bensussen, Artistic Director

Position endowed by Janet S. Suisman

Cynthia Rider, Managing Director

ADMINISTRATION

Emily Van Scoy, General Manager

Sara Walnum, Business Manager

ARTISTIC

Zoë Golub-Sass, Richard P. Garmany Associate Artistic Director

EDUCATION

Jennifer Roberts, Director of Education

Nina Pinchin, Associate Director of Education

Emely Larson, Studio Manager

2024/2025 Teaching Artists

Marie Altenor, Isaiah Artis, Thomas Beebe, Lauren Cavanaugh, Grace Clark, Caitlin Collazo, Levi Cote, Brandon Couloute, Robert H. Davis, Shelby Demke, Erica LuBonta, Greg Ludovici, Jan Mason, Emma MacLaren, Jessica MacLean, Tori Mooney, Justin Pesce, Erin Rose, Kevin Scott

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Jennifer Levine, Director of External Relations

Todd Brandt, Audience & Revenue Data Analyst

Evan Kudish, Manager of Board & Donor Relations

Sierra Vazquez, Annual Fund Manager

Travis Kendrick-Castanho, Development Associate

House Management

Scott McEver, Audience Experience and Front of House Manager

Lindsay Abrams, Events Coordinator/ Assistant House Manager

Aarron Schuelke, Assistant House Manager Bartenders:

Tanya Bermudez, Lexi Blinder, Sam Chiasson, Tracy Chinnici, Karen Kudish, Kimberly Quinn, Nefris Quiterio, Erica Santa Lucia, Kerry Yerkes

Gift Shop Attendants/Event Bartenders: Art Arpin, Paulette Caldwell, John Harbison Patron Services

Lindsey Hoffman, Box Office Manager

Briana Maia, Box Office Supervisor

Corey Welden, Box Office Supervisor

Box Office Representatives:

Julie Borsotti, Amaris Diaz, Rick Sahlin, Lindsey Taft

PRODUCTION

Bryan T. Holcombe, Director of Production

Wesley McCabe-Schroeder, Assistant Production Manager

Alyssa Edwards, Production Assistant

Christian Collazo-Roman, Hartt School Technical Theater Intern

Set Construction & Scenic Art

Aaron D. Bleck, Technical Director

Jared Wolf, Assistant Technical Director

Ian Sweeney, Lead Carpenter

Audra Giuliano, Scenic Carpenter

Nathalie Schlosser, Charge Scenic Artist

Costumes & Wardrobe

Alex Meadows, Costume Shop Director

Grace Petersen, Assistant Costume Director

Joshua Richardson, Wardrobe Supervisor

James Weeden, Draper

Rio Cañas, First Hand/Stitcher

Props

Joe Dotts, Props Manager

Claire Linden-Dionne, Assistant Props Manager

Lighting

Jackie Costabile, Lighting Manager

Ethan Sepa, ALDM, Programmer

Sara Dorinbaum, Light Board Operator

Sound

Lucas Clopton, Audio/Video Manager

Jim Busker, Assistant Audio/Video Manager

Company Management

Christopher Rowe, Company Manager

Facilities

Michael Langer, Facilities Manager

FOR THIS PRODUCTION

Callum McCabe-Schroeder, Carpenter

Scenic Artists: Susannah Anderson, Anna Brewster, Mikayla Carr, Amelia Pizzoferrato, Erin Sagnelli

Marissa Menezes, Costume Crafts

Matt Hennessey, Automation Operator/Deck Crew

Ash Fischer, Deck Crew

Sydney Hughes, Wardrobe/ Deck Crew Cover

Ariana Harris, Deck Crew Cover

Stitchers: Joseph O’Brien, Margaret McFarland, Allison Nishimura

Jack Richardson, Wig Supervisor

Kailee Goodine, Wardrobe Crew

Alex Zeek, Tailor

John Cowle, Draper

Arel Studioes, Tailoring

SPECIAL THANKS

Downtown Hartford YMCA

Residence Inn by Marriott Hartford Downtown

You’re Invited to Play a Part

You are invited to join the leaders of the Set the Stage campaign.

As we look ahead, we envision a thriving theater that continues to tell compelling and relevant stories—from the classics to the contemporary— that tell of our common humanity and welcomes intergenerational audiences that reflect the communities around us.

The $20 million raised will secure our vision and enhance our community.

The Set the Stage campaign is focused on two areas where donors like you can impact the future.

ENDOWMENT Building a robust endowment will ensure Hartford Stage is here fulfilling its mission for decades to come.

PROGRAMMING Donations are a crucial component to creating the world-class art you see on our stage, and for sharing the power of what theater can do with our community.

After 60 years of bringing world-class theatrical programming to audiences in our theater, and students in our schools, Hartford Stage is making an important investment in our future. Be a part of the legacy. Play a role in our $20 million goal.

Please join us in setting the stage for Hartford Stage’s next 60 years.

Contact Director of External Relations Jennifer Levine at 860-520-7249 or jlevine@hartfordstage.org

The cast of The Mousetrap (2022).*

Photo Credits *by T. Charles Erickson. ^by The Defining Studios.

Alejandra Escalante in Simona’s Search (2024). Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

SET THE STAGE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS

$2 MILLION+

Stanley Black & Decker*

$1 MILLION+

The Hartford* Travelers*

$750,000+

Don & Marilyn Allan

Rick & Beth Costello

$500,000+

Jill Adams & Bill Knight

The Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

Jack & Donna Sennott

$250,000+

David & Janice Klein

$100,000+

Douglas & Sheryl Adkins

Sue Ann Collins

The Robert & Francine Goldfarb Family Fund

Wes & Chloe Horton

Thomas & Margah Lips

Chrissie & Ezra Ripple

$50,000+

John & Suzanne Bourdeaux

Ellen Brown & Jim Bean

Carrie & Jonathan Hammond

Walter & Dianne Harrison

Barbara & Matthew Hennessy

Barnaby Horton & Hannah Granfield-Horton

Estate of Mary Jean Kilfoil

Marjorie E. Morrissey

$20,000+

Anonymous

David & Kathleen Jimenez

Barri Marks

Judith Meyers & Richard Hersh

Mike & Colleen Nicastro

Linda & Donald Silpe

$10,000+

Anonymous

Sara Bareilles

Marla & John Byrnes

The Edgemer Foundation

Marilda Gandara & Scott O’Keefe

Estate of Christine Hunihan

Andy & Jen Pace

Rosalie Roth

Elease & Dana Wright

$5,000+

Jaime & Isaac Cohen

Devon & Thomas Francis

David Hawkanson

Annie Hildreth & Ted Potters

George A.+ & Helen Ingram

Theodore & Nancy Johnson

Dan & Arlene Neiditz

Dr. William Petit Jr.

Ted Whittemore

Sherwood & Maggie Willard

Zachs Family Foundation

$100 - $4,999

William H. & Rosanna T. Andrulat Charitable Foundation

Kathleen & David Bavelas

Robert & Catherine Boone

Alana & Matt Curren

Mary Ellison

George & Laura Estes

Matthew & Katherine Grosso

Emily & Patrick Harrington

Carolyn Johnson

Marcia Lattimore

Amy & Neal Mandell

Andrew Palmer

Robert Parrott & Sally Wister

Michael Ross

Gil & Kathy Salk

Pam & Peter Sobering

Claire Stermer

Rhonda Tobin & Jeffrey Smith

Paul & Karen Torop

Richard Wenner

Kathleen & Rick White

+ Deceased *Business Partner

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTORS

Thank you to all our donors. We are grateful for the generosity throughout our entire community and recognize all of our supporters on our website at HartfordStage.org/ Recognition. We are happy to acknowledge here those with leadership contributions in the past 12 months, March 26, 2024 – March 26, 2025.

ANNUAL FUND

DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE • $50,000+

Greg & Renata Hayes

PRODUCER CIRCLE • $25,000+

Jill Adams & Bill Knight

Don & Marilyn Allan

The Cheryl Chase & Stuart Bear

Family Foundation

Rick & Beth Costello

Wes & Chloe Horton

David & Janice Klein

Jack & Donna Sennott

Sally Speer

Judith & William Thompson

OVATION SOCIETY • $10,000+

Sheryl & Douglas Adkins

Sue Ann Collins

Francine & Robert Goldfarb

Arnold Greenberg+

Dianne & Walter Harrison

George A.+ & Helen Ingram

Jane & Roger+ Loeb

The Pryor Family Foundation

Chrissie & Ezra Ripple

Elizabeth Schiro & Stephen Bayer

Elizabeth Vandeventer

ENCORE SOCIETY • $5,000+

Andra Asars

Duff Ashmead & Eric Ort

Jennefer Carey Berall

Patti Broad

Jamie & Isaac Cohen

Devon & Thomas Francis

Nancy Goodwin

Barbara & Matthew Hennessy

Jeffrey & Nancy Hoffman

+ Deceased

Barnaby W. Horton & Hannah Granfield-Horton

Jackie & Drew Iacovazzi

Konover Coppa Family Fund

Katherine J. Lambert

Christopher Larsen

Barri Marks

Harry E. Meyer

Judith Meyers & Richard Hersh

Michael & Colleen Nicastro

Kristen Phillips & Matthew Schreck

Douglas H. Robbins

Rosalie B. Roth

Suzanne B. Ruffee

Donald & Linda Silpe

Helen & Nelson Sly

Sally & Allan Taylor

Maggie & Sherwood Willard

Mark & Patty Willis

Elease & Dana Wright

The Zachs Family Foundation

PATRON SOCIETY • $3,500+

Paul & Joanne Bourdeau

John & Suzanne Bourdeaux

Marla & John Byrnes

Robert L. & Susan G. Fisher

Ruth Fitzgerald & Dave Sageman

Marilda Gandara & Scott O’Keefe

Doris & Ray Guenter

David & Gail Hall

Carrie & Jonathan Hammond

Adlyn & Theodore Lowenthal

Ed & Kelly Lyman

Cynthia K. Mackay

Amy & Neal Mandell

Ernest & Mickey Mattei

Robert A. & Joan C. Penney

Rhonda Tobin & Jeffrey Smith

Nicole Vitrano & Art Wallace

Yvette Yelardy & Daniel Morgenstern

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTORS

HONORARY GIFTS

IN HONOR OF MELIA BENSUSSEN

Tracy King

William V. & Patrick M. Madison-McDonald

IN HONOR OF ANNIE HILDRETH

Diane Hildreth

IN HONOR OF DAVID & JAN KLEIN

Wendy Avery

IN HONOR OF KATHERINE LAMBERT

Janet Faude

IN HONOR OF AMY & NEAL MANDELL

Debi & Peter Miller

IN HONOR OF CYNTHIA RIDER

Anne Rider & Rob Hinrichs

Ellen Rider & Stanley King

IN HONOR OF BELLE RIBICOFF’S 100TH BIRTHDAY

Rosalie Roth

IN HONOR OF ROSALIE ROTH

Karl Krapek Jr.

IN HONOR OF ROSALIND SPIER

Karen & Phillip Will

IN HONOR OF RHONDA TOBIN

Shari & Jay Tobin

IN HONOR OF HANS WALSER & CAROL SCOVILLE

Karen Kleine

IN HONOR OF PATTY WILLIS

The Burkehaven Family Foundation

IN HONOR OF YVETTE YELARDY

Benna Kushlefsky

MEMORIAL GIFTS

IN MEMORY OF ROBERT EPSTEIN

David & Janice Klein

IN MEMORY OF GALINA FAYNGERSH

Diana Lee

IN MEMORY OF ARNOLD GREENBERG:

David & Jan Klein

Katherine Lambert

Jane Loeb

Deborah Raboy

Rosalie Roth

Donald & Linda Silpe

IN MEMORY OF BEVERLY G. HIMELSTEIN

Michael J. Moran

Continued on next page.

IN MEMORY OF GEORGE INGRAM

Scott Bartelson

Sue Ann Collins

Craig T. Ingram

Jonathan & Rita Johnson

David & Janice Klein

Judith Kronick

Tom & Margah Lips

Linda Mackay-Morgan

Chrissie & Ezra Ripple

Donald & Linda Silpe

Mike Stotts

Sharon & Rodger Stotz

Kevin Truex & Frank Burnes

IN MEMORY OF ROGER LOEB

Marge Abrams

Theresa I. Awad Roe

Bank of America Private Bank

Dr. & Mrs. Robert Berland

Patty Bernstein

Suzan & Keith Bickel

Bros. Associates

Brown Forman Inc.

Edgar B. Butler Jr.

Cardon’s Hair Designs Ltd

Elizabeth Casanovas

The Cheryl Chase & Stuart Bear Foundation

Crazy Bruces Discount Liquors

John Cummings

Diageo North America

Eder Brothers Inc.

Epstein & Rubenstein Families at HB F & F Distributors Inc.

Rick & Judie Goldenthal

Drivers and Warehousemen of Allan S. Goodman

Arnold Greenberg

The Greggains Family

Bill & Paula Hannon

Bonnie & John Harte

Jill & Brad Hutensky

David & Janice Klein

Melanie & David Landau

Larry Levine & Addison Reserve

Eliot N. Mag

Joan Merritt

Harold & Janet Moskowitz

Robert Naboicheck

Arlene & Daniel Neiditz

Entertain clients, engage vendors, or reward employees and support Hartford Stage.

Your charitable or in-kind contribution will support the artistic, educational, and community programming at Hartford Stage. Select benefits that align best with your priorities, and receive prominent recognition all season-long.

It’s easy to become a Business Partner and all partnerships will be fully customized to meet your needs!

Benefit options include:

• Complimentary Show Tickets

• Recognition Opportunities

• Unique Private Event Spaces

• Fully Catered Events

• Conversations with Artists

• Invitations to Special Events

Call us today to create your unique partnership agreement! Contact Director of External Relations Jennifer Levine at jlevine@hartfordstage.org or 860-520-7249.

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTORS

Nicola, Yester & Co.

Elizabeth Paquin

Gail Perfetti

Susan & Michael Perl

John & Roselie Polo

Lori Rickles and Cuong Do

Chrissie & Ezra Ripple

Judith Satlof

Sue Shechtman

Donald & Linda Silpe

Lainy Silver

Mike Stotts

Kathy Suisman

Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of CT

IN MEMORY OF BOB MONTSTREAM

Ami Monstream

IN MEMORY OF LOIS M. O’HARE

Mr. & Mrs. Michael E. O’Hare

IN MEMORY OF ELIZABETH PIERCE

Dorella Bond

IN MEMORY OF MARGARET RUMFORD

Robert & Marilyn Anderson

Helen Deag

Jackie & Joe Kelley

Dariel Muldonn

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING

$200,000+

The Shubert Foundation

Stanley Black & Decker*

$125,000+

Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development

Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

$100,000+

The Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving

The Hartford

Raytheon Technologies*

$75,000+

Burry Fredrik Foundation

CT Humanities

The Katherine K. McLane & Henry R. McLane Charitable Trust

$50,000+

Connecticut Judicial Branch

Greater Hartford Arts Council

The John and Kelly Hartman Foundation

SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc.

The Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts Travelers*

$25,000+

Cigna

The Elizabeth M. Landon & Harriette M. Landon Charitable Foundation

Ensworth Charitable Foundation

Roberts Foundation for the Arts

Robinson & Cole LLP*

$15,000+

Global Atlantic

Lucille Lortel Foundation

The MorningStar Fund

Talcott Resolution*

United States Treasury

$10,000+

The BFA Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving Conning

Liberty Bank

The William & Alice Mortensen Foundation

$5,000+

Allan S. Goodman, Inc.

Bradley, Foster & Sargent

The Burton & Phyllis Hoffman Foundation

The George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation

Jana Foundation

JCJ Architecture

McDonald Family Trust

Stanley D. & Hinda N. Fisher Fund

William H. & Rosanna T. Andrulat Charitable Foundation

$2,500+

The Blair Fund

Bartlet Brainard Eacott

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation

Fiducient Advisors

Mabel F. Hoffman Charitable Trust

IN-KIND

The University of Saint Joseph

+ Deceased *Business Partner

Hartford Stage has an exciting new partnership with FreeWill, a free will-making tool, for YOU to:

• Protect your loved ones and assets

• Designate beneficiaries for your 401(k), IRA, & retirement accounts

• Ensure that your wishes and values are honored

• Support the theater’s future with an optional gift

A simple yet powerful way to build your legacy for the people and causes that matter most to you, and a small way for us to show our gratitude for your support — and our commitment to serving you.

At Hartford Stage, we believe in planning for our future by nurturing new plays, new artists, and new audiences. We’re honored to help you plan for your future, too.

Including Hartford Stage in your plans is optional. Consider leaving your legacy here, and make a lasting investment in the power of storytelling.

The cast of Pride and Prejudice (2023). Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY

The Shakespeare Society comprises individuals who have provided for the future of Hartford Stage in their estate plans. Hartford Stage is deeply grateful for their generosity and foresight. The members of this group help to ensure the legacy of Hartford Stage. Have you included Hartford Stage in your estate plans? Tell us about it! Call Evan Kudish, Manager of Board & Donor Relations, at 860-520-7241 to share your plans and allow us to thank you.

Anonymous (15)

Brian & Betty Ashfield

Richard & Alice Baxter

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Bourdeau

Mrs. Joan Brown

Kimberley & Christopher Byrd

Marla & John Byrnes

Mario R. Cavallo

Sue Ann Collins

Richard G. Costello

Ms. Linda Diana DeConti

Mr. Reginald Gregory DeConti