Posted April 3, 2025
Hudson Valley Shakespeare has announced casting, dates, and creative teams for its 2025 season, the company’s final under the tent before moving into a brand new, permanent space that’s currently under construction.
The cast for The Comedy of Errors will include Blaize Adler-Ivanbrook (Hamlet), Tyler Bey (The Survival), Helen Cespedes (Fefu and Her Friends), Aamar-Malik Culbreth (Romeo and Juliet), Zack Fine (Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play), Bryce Foley (The Great Gatsby), Dylan Foster (Falcon Girls), Anvita Gattani (The Winter’s Tale), Katie Hartke (Twelfth Night), Carl Howell (Henry V), Sean McNall (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd), Anand Nagraj (The Old Man & The Old Moon), Luis Quintero (Medea: Re-Versed), Kurt Rhoads (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd), and Nance Williamson (By The Queen).
The production will feature choreography by Susannah Millonzi, costume design by Herin Kaputkin, sound design by Caroline Eng, and properties by Buffy Cardoza. Alithea Phillips will serve as voice and dialect coach, with Janelle Caso as stage manager.
The company will then stage a revival of Thornton Wilder‘s The Matchmaker, the play that became the source material of Hello, Dolly!, June 8–August 3. Artistic Director Davis McCallum will direct.
Nance Williamson and Kurt Rhoads will star as Dolly Levi and Horace Vandergelder, respectively. Joining them will be Blaize Adler-Ivanbrook, Tyler Bey, Helen Cespedes, Aamar-Malik Culbreth, Zack Fine, Bryce Foley, Dylan Foster, Anvita Gattani, Katie Hartke, Carl Howell, Melissa Mahoney (Medea: Re-Versed), and Sean McNall.
The production will also feature choreography by Susannah Millonzi, costume design by Charlotte Palmer-Lane, properties by Buffy Cardoza, and original music by Alex Bechtel (Penelope). Alithea Phillips will serve as voice and dialect coach, with Janelle Caso as stage manager.
Next in the season, Amanda Dehnert will direct a new staging of Dave Malloy‘s chamber choir musical Octet, with performances set for August 11-September 7. The work—scored for an a cappella choir and featuring a libretto inspired by online comment sections, scientific debates, religious texts, and Sufi poetry—explores the intersection between 21st-century technology and addiction and nihilism.
The cast for Octet will include Adam Bashian, Melissa Mahoney, Gunnar Manchester (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), Anand Nagraj, Jill Paice, Mia Pak (Three Houses), Alexis Tidwell, and Luis Quintero.
The creative team will also include costume designer Tracey Christensen, lighting designer Marcella Carbeau, sound designer Ken Travis, properties designer Buffy Cardoza, music director Sheela Ramesh, and stage manager Janelle Caso.
Octet made its world premiere at Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre in 2019. HVS’s production is being produced by special arrangement with Plate Spinner Productions, which may hint at further plans for the work on other stages.
The season will also include an educational production of Julius Caesar, directed by Raz Golden and running September 15–October 10, 2025. The production’s cast will feature summer Conservatory Company members Blaize Adler-Ivanbrook, Aamar-Malik Culbreth, Bryce Foley, Dylan Foster, and Anvita Gattani.
Casting for the season is by Calleri Jensen Davis.