ABOUT BAKE-OFF
For a decade, Hudson Valley Shakespeare has been a welcoming home for new playwrights, with a commitment to supporting fresh voices in theater. Since its inception more than 1,000 community members have participated in free playwriting workshops, and nearly 500 plays were submitted, of which, 65 plays were selected and read by professional actors.
Created by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, the Bake-Off is a communal writing exercise that invites members of the public to attend free playwriting workshops hosted in libraries across the area. Participating writers are then assigned a random list of “ingredients” of which three must be incorporated into a play (for example: a kitchen sink, a front porch, and a withheld secret). The goal is to help inspire creativity and give writers permission to play.
Here's an example of the 2025 "ingredients" selected by playwright, Dave Malloy:
Mirages
Mind Meld
Incompatible Operating Systems
Gods
Beauty of Maps!
A crystal ball
A cracked screen
Hiding
Umbrellas
Mischief
Workshops and public readings of the selected plays are hosted in October-November annually.
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?
Hudson Valley Shakespeare offers a series of free play-writing workshops led by Acting Director of the MFA playwriting program at Hunter College, Christine Scarfuto. All workshop participants are then eligible to submit a ten-minute short play to be considered. Six of these plays are then selected and will be read by professional actors as part of an invited public reading in November.
Check back for information on this year's Community Bake-Off.
Producing Team
Sean McNall
Producer
Before joining HVSF’s administrative staff in 2014, Sean spent 12 years as a member of The Pearl Theatre Resident Acting Company in New York City, where he appeared in over forty productions, receiving an OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance and a Drama Desk Award. His recent productions include Terrence McNally’s And Away We Go, Shaw’s You Never Can Tell, and Henry IV, Part One, directed by Davis McCallum. He and his wife, Abigail, have a wonderful son named Declan. Sean is a member of the Haldane School Board.
Christine Scarfuto
Associate Producer | Literary Manager
Christine Scarfuto has been the Producer of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare’s Bake Off for the past eight years, and is the Director of the Rita and Burton Goldberg MFA Playwriting Program at Hunter College. She is a dramaturg and producer with over a decade of experience in new play development. She was the Literary Manager of Long Wharf Theatre from 2015-2019, where she oversaw a robust new play development program. She has worked as a dramaturg with Second Stage Theater, McCarter Theatre, Signature Theatre, Lark Play Development Center, Playwrights Center, Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Realm, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Kennedy Center among others. Christine was educated entirely in public schools including the University of Iowa, where she received her MFA in Dramaturgy.
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Highland Lights
Community-generated procession of giant lanterns across Hudson Valley Shakespeare’s landscape. Join this year's event through lantern-making workshops, participating in a community choir, and more!
Enrichment Events
Lively pre-show conversations, music, and adoptable rescue dogs. Join us for one of our free events throughout the season!
