NEW PLACE PLAYERS TO PERFORM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED THE MASQUE OF NIGHT AT HOPEWELL MOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN CHURCH
HOPEWELL, NEW JERSEY JUNE 7 AND 8 AT 8 PM
“There are a million ways that Romeo and Juliet has been performed, but there is something so uniquely sweet and endearing about The Masque of Night, that sets it apart from the rest. With an earnest cast, pitch-perfect musical accompaniment, and distinctive setting, this one-hour production of Romeo & Juliet is a delicious bite-sized confection of romance and tragedy.” – Austin Fimmano, playstosee.com
“The New Place Players, the innovative actors-and-musicians ensemble that performs Shakespeare with music and without a fourth wall, presented a condensed version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Brilliantly directed by Craig Bacon and Janina Picard, the performance focused on the main scenes between the two protagonists, interspersed with modern-day songs.” - Woman Around Town
“How to infuse the most well-known of well-known Shakespeare plays with new energy, making the age-old story of star-crossed lovers as fresh and captivating as it was when the audience first encountered it (probably in high school)? The New Place Players’ The Masque of Night, a cabaret of songs (some Elizabethan, mostly contemporary) interspersed with Romeo and Juliet’s most iconic set-pieces, does just that.” - Thinking Theater NYC
“You can whittle Shakespeare down to a core, you can stage him in a living room, you can do most anything to him; in our collective imagination his characters still stand tall, their cries still ring. Directors Bacon and Janina Picard know this, and their nocturnal “masque” found the heart of Romeo and Juliet.” - BlogCritics
NEW PLACE PLAYERS TO PERFORM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED THE MASQUE OF NIGHT AT HOPEWELL MOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN CHURCH
HOPEWELL, NEW JERSEY JUNE 7 AND 8 AT 8 PM
New York, NY - May 15, 2024 - NEW PLACE PLAYERS is pleased to announce the limited New Jersey engagement of critically acclaimed THE MASQUE OF NIGHT, directed by Janina Picard and Craig Bacon. The “uniquely sweet” “innovative” “captivating” Romeo and Juliet cabaret will take place at the enchanting Hopewell Mountain Christian Church (11 Mountain Church Rd, Hopewell, NJ 08525), near Princeton, New Jersey, the former home of an African American congregation built in 1844 and converted to a beautiful living and performance space. THE MASQUE OF NIGHT offers a unique and intimate experience for theater enthusiasts as the venue's interior balcony, grand piano, original bell, and seating for forty guests create an enchanting atmosphere that complements the magic of Shakespeare's timeless tale. Performances are June 7 and 8 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $50 and available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-masque-of-night-at-hopewell-mountain-church-june-7-8-tickets-873559980417?aff=erelpanelorg. Press are invited to attend any performance.
Directed by Bacon, a seasoned professional with a 40-year career in New York City and Europe, and co-directed by Picard, a talented German-born actor and director, THE MASQUE OF NIGHT seamlessly blends Shakespeare’s iconic text with chamber music and songs by David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Rufus Wainwright, and original compositions by Musical Director Flavio Gaete. The four actor-musicians will transport the audience to the very heart of the iconic lover’s timeless journey.
The show features Actors Studio lifetime member Clara Tristan as Juliet, recent Actors Studio MFA graduate Jorge Carrion Alvarez as Romeo; and Flavio Gaete (Benvolio, Mercutio, Friar Lawrence, Prince, Balthasar), a twenty year veteran classical musician from Chile and Anna Bikales (Nurse, Benvolio), harpist extraordinaire and Actor’s Studio MFA graduate as principal musicians and supporting actors.
THE MASQUE OF NIGHT is produced by New Place Players, Production Manager is Rose Kanj and the General Manager is Leah Michalos. THE MASQUE OF NIGHT features graphic design by Cristian Gastelo and publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.
Tickets are $50 for THE MASQUE OF NIGHT in NJ.
Website:https://www.newplaceplayers.org/
IG: @newplaceplayersnyc
Wine provided by Kyle MacLachlan’s Pursued By Bear Winery with proceeds supporting New Place Players’ production development and education programs. https://www.pursuedbybearwine.com/
The show premiered at The Players (the old world actor’s club in New York City founded by Edwin Booth) and then ran at Casa Clara, a former foundry and artist studio.
BIOGRAPHIES
CRAIG BACON (Co-Director) is a director, actor, and voice teacher designated by Kristin Linklater in 1998 to teach her technique “Freeing the Natural Voice”. He has taught at the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University since 2011 and other faculty appointments include SUNY Purchase, Columbia University, Fordham University, NYU (Atlantic Theater Company), National Theater Institute (US and UK), The Actors Centre (London), The Linklater Center, and Shakespeare & Co. (Lenox, MA). Some of Craig’s directing work includes The Mercury Theatre in England (Macbeth, The Tempest, The Crucible); SUNY Purchase (The Winter’s Tale, By the Bog of Cats, and LAByrinth Theater Company’s One-Acts co-directed with Richard Crawford). He is the founder and artistic director of New Place Players where he directed Twelfth Night and co-directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream with James Ortiz. Some of Craig’s extensive acting work includes Prospero in The Tempest (New Place Players); Henry IV, Pt. 1; Much Ado About Nothing; Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare & Co.); Cymbeline; The Rover; Twelfth Night (Lincoln Center Inst.); One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; A Christmas Carol (American Drama Group, Europe); Kenneth Lonergan’s Borderlines; Off-Shore Wind w/William Hickey, and Sunday’s Child w/Celeste Holm (HB Playwrights). Craig trained extensively with Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, Tina Packer, and of course his mentor, the master teacher Kristin Linklater.
JANINA PICARD (Co-Director) is a German-born actor, director, and teacher of dreamwork for artists based in NYC. With over a decade of professional experience working as a stage and film actor in both Europe and the United States, her directorial vision is deeply influenced by working with the unconscious. She assisted, trained, and studied extensively with her mentor Sandra Seacat in Los Angeles and has furthered her studies of dreamwork with the C.G. Jung Institute Berlin and the C.G. Jung Centre Dublin. She has been coaching artists privately and teaching workshops internationally since 2020.
FLAVIO GAETE (Music Director) has worked as a musician, sound designer, actor, arts administrator, and teacher for the last 20+ years. He has collaborated with a wide variety of ensembles in music, theater, film, and dance. Some of his latest collaborations have been with New Place Players as music director for Othello, film composer Renaud Barbier for his latest film soundtrack, Petit Pays, and the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile for their 2018-19 season. Flavio has been a guest lecturer at Sciences Po Paris-Reims and NY University and has taught extensively throughout NYC. Flavio has also played with various orchestras and ensembles, including the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile, Distinguished Concerts International NY, The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the Manhattan Camerata, Nikolett Pankovits, and various others, having performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, among others.
NEW PLACE PLAYERS embodies the power of Shakespeare’s plays, performing in intimate, found spaces, integrated with original live chamber music. The company employs both experienced musicians and actors and recent MFA graduates, empowering a new generation of theater artists.
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