William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale — A Public Works Musical. With music and new lyrics by Todd Almond; originally conceived and directed by Lear DeBessonet.
The Winter’s Tale
by William Shakespeare
Adaptation/music/new lyrics by Todd Almond
Originally conceived and directed by Lear DeBessonet
Originally commissioned and produced by The Public Theatre
Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director
Patrick Willingham, Executive Director
The Winter’s Tale is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036.
Production Sponsors
Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater & Music Theater. Produced with support from Trenton Arts at Princeton and Princeton University’s Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES) and Bernstein Fund.
Run Time
Approximately 90 minutes; no intermission.
Program Notes
Act 1 is set in Sicilia, Act 2 in Bohemia. For our production, both are imagined through an Afrofuturist lens.
Content Advisory
This production uses haze.
Special Notes
The video or audio recording of this performance by any means is strictly prohibited. Please silence all electronic devices including cellular phones and watches, and refrain from text messaging for the duration of the performance.
Accessibility
Berlind Theatre is an accessible venue with wheelchair and companion seating available. The November 11 performance will be open/live captioned. An assistive listening system is available and headphones can be requested from ushers. Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information at our various locations, including Berlind Theatre. Attendees in need of other access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.
Princeton Cast Members
Antigonus: Jeffery Chen ’25*
Leontes: John Venegas Juarez ’25*
Hermione: Sofia Baran ’24
Autolycus: Wasif Sami ’25*
Perdita: Carrington Symone Johnson ’24*
Polixenes: Aabid Ismail ’25
Paulina: Raquel Ramirez ’24*
Camilla, Trio: Melat Bekele ’24
Clown: Ash Jackson ’25*
Florizel: Tanaka Dunbar Ngwara ’24*
Mopsa: Tevin Singei ’25
Perdita’s Squad: Violet Prete ’24*
Trio: Ava Kronman ’26
Sicilian Guard Kurtulush, Bohemian Ensemble: Lale Kurtulush ’27
Lord Exuma, Bohemian Ensemble: Runnie Exuma GS
Trio: Seryn Kim ’27
Community Cast Members
Lady Becnel, Bohemian Ensemble: Kimberly Becnel
Lady Shields, Bohemian Ensemble: Claire Shields
Lord Shrestha, Bohemian Ensemble: Sachin Shrestha
Lord Waterbury, Bohemian Ensemble: Sarah Waterbury
Mamillia, Perdita’s Squad: Lilly Cuthrell
Sicilian Guard Parker, Bohemian Auntie Vokaye: Vokaye Parker
Sicilian Guard Fan, Bohemian Ensemble: Minmin Fan
Sicilian Guard Bautina-Krolik, Bohemian Ensemble: Tatiana Bautina-Krolik
Sicilian Guard Harris, Bohemian Ensemble: Ronah Harris
Sicilian Court, Bohemian Ensemble: Sophie Sun
Shepherd: Moamen Elmassry
Sheep: Sean
Perdita’s Squad: Elizabeth Hansen
Perdita’s Squad: Tesla Guialdo
Perdita’s Squad: Victoria Harrison
Bohemian Citizen Elias: Elias Malavet
Bohemian Citizen Alma: Alma Hueston
Dorcas: B Ireland
Bohemian Auntie Crystal: Crystal Napoli
Bohemian Auntie Dawn: Dawn Henderson
Bohemian Auntie RoMa: RoMa Johnson
Bohemian Auntie Chris: Chris Twiname
Bohemian Ensemble: Aanya Modi
Bohemian Ensemble: Arjun Krishnan
Bohemian Ensemble: Baron Guialdo
Bohemian Ensemble: Diane McCormick
Bohemian Ensemble: Karen Aubourg
Bohemian Ensemble: Liz Fuller-Wright
Bohemian Ensemble: Victoria Shernicoff
Bohemian Ensemble: Prachin Shrestha
Bohemian Ensemble: Shupanthi Debnath
Bohemian Ensemble: Antoinette Harrison
Cameos
Princeton Playhouse Choir: Choir
Angela Kwon ‘26
Christina Kim GS
Shauna Contreras ‘26
Karolina Rokka ‘27
Kimberlynn Bjurstrom ‘26
Yinshan Shang GS
Jessica Wang ‘26
Lana Utley ‘24
Fatmagül Katmer GS
Parker Blumenberg GS
Michelle Tang ‘26
Halle Mitchell ‘23
Learn more about the incredible Playhouse Choir and Ensemble, led by faculty member Solon Snider Sway.
Winter Dance Ensemble: Winter
Elysia Garza
Kobi Kaplan
Joelle Yam
Janelle Yam
Mehdi Malaki
Maya Malaki
Joy Wang
Mark Farris
Varvara Kiseleva
The Winter Dance Ensemble of community members is choreographed by Rachel Schwartz.
The Oracle
Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa
HUA: Storm & Sea
Kathy Wang GS
Alice Li GS
Rachel Yan ’25
May Mei GS
Weiqi Chen GS
Mingqian Xue GS
Siling Song ’26
Alina Chen GS
Watch this video to learn more about HUA Chinese Dance Group
The Bear
Pat Rounds
Time
Michael Cadden
Sympoh: Festival Performers #1
Hank Lin ’24
Nguyen Nguyen ’25
Learn more about Sympoh Urban Arts Crew — an undergraduate BBoy/BGirl community!
DoroBucci: Festival Performers #2/Dance of the 12 Satyrs
Aleena Brown ’25
Patricia Sackor-Blamah ’26
Nsebong Adah ’26
Isabel Matthews ’26
Chinyere Aguwa ’25
Jerry Atunku ’27
Tryphena Awuah ’26
Genevieve Bineza ’26
Blake Brown ’27
Kennedy Carroll ’26
Nicole Ndayishimiye ’27
Janah Richardson ’26
Matthew Oke ’27
Lois Omotara ’25
Loreta Quarmine ’27
Mary Sowell ’26
Katia Djomo Wongep ’27
Learn more about DoroBucci African Dance Company
Raqs: Wedding Performers
Camryn Crump ’27
Kapili Naehu-Ramos ’24
Rachel Chen ’25
Alex Slomba ’24
Learn more about Raqs — Princeton Belly Dance Company
Park Rangers
Joe Fonseca
Mary O’Connor
Musicians
Music Director & Keyboard 1: Solon Snider Sway
Associate Music Director, Keyboard 2, Guitar 1 & Vocals: Halle Mitchell ’23
Guitar 2: Nandita Rao ’17
Bass: Chloe Raichle ’23
Assistant Music Director, Drums & Percussion: Matt Cline ’27
Production Team
Director: Shariffa Ali
Director of Performance: Chesney Snow
Music Director: Solon Snider Sway
Choreographer: Rachel Schwartz
Choreography Mentor: Rebecca Arends
Set and Costume Designer: Sarita Fellows
Lighting Designer: Tess James
Sound Designer: Kay Richardson
Fight & Intimacy Director: Jacqueline Holloway
Production Stage Manager: Carmelita Becnel
Stage Manager: Milan Eldridge
Community Director: Jane Cox
Lead Ensemble Coordinator: Eliyana Abraham
Ensemble Coordinator: Vivia Font
Ensemble Coordinator: Amara McNeil
Ensemble Coordinator: Jake Rosenthal
Associate Music Director: Halle Mitchell
Assistant Music Director: Matt Cline ’27
Associate Costume Design: Caitlin Brown
Sound Engineer: Keanu Karim
Assistant Lighting Designer: Le’Naya Wilkerson ’25
Assistant Stage Manager: Krystal Vaughan (pro), Caitlin Durkin ’25*
Assistant Stage Manager (rehearsals): Vera Fei ’26*
Stitchers: Denise Carr, Wyatt Kim, Lisa Luu
Wardrobe Crew: Isabel D’Esposito, Marissa Edwards
Berlind Electrician: Michelle Poulaille
Berlind Run Crew: Phoenix Edmonds, Dylan Harris
Follow spot operator/s: Vander Washington
Run Crew: Miel Escamilla ’25*, Xinyi Zhou GS
A2: Eric Krassow, Iz Fuerta, Travis Pawalek
Scenic Artists: Lisa Walsh, Radha Vakharia
Props Artisan: Sidney Martinez, Athena Nakrosis
Consultants: Victoria Davidjohn, Bill Bowers
*denotes a certificate student in the Program in Theater
Faculty Advisors
Jane Cox, Primary Advisor and co-producer
Special Thanks
Special thanks to John Doyle, Visiting Lecturer with the Rank of Professor in Theater, for his mentorship of Shariffa Ali on this project, and special thanks to Victoria Davidjohn ’19.
A Shout-Out to Shakespeare and His Crew!
2023 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, a collection of his plays put together seven years after his death by two of his theatrical colleagues, Henry Condell and John Heminges. Had these actors not done so, we’d be missing eighteen of his plays, including The Winter’s Tale! And if you think we’ve taken some liberties with his text, we take comfort in knowing of the liberties Shakespeare took with his own source, Robert Greene’s novella Pandosto: The Triumph of Time.
To learn more about Shakespeare, the First Folio, and the wide world of books, visit In the Company of Good Books: Shakespeare to Morrison, an exhibition in honor of the Folio’s anniversary, now on display until December 10 in the Milberg Gallery of the Princeton University Library. There you’ll see no less than three copies of the First Folio!
A Note from the Program Director, Jane Cox
The Program in Theater and Music Theater would like to extend an enormous thank you to the many generous, creative and loving communities that have made this evening possible.
The seeds of this production lie in our relationships with the Public Works program at the Public Theater in NYC. Public Works created the text and music for this production, in a theatrical structure they use specifically to work with communities. Shariffa Ali, the wonderful director of this production, was previously on staff at the Public Works program. Our students compete for an annual internship at the Public Works program, generously funded by the Bernstein Family. From a student’s experience of that internship grew our first Public Works production in 2019, The Odyssey, directed by Victoria Davidjohn ’19.
Public Works projects are a natural fit for our undergraduate non-major program, in which our professional staff and faculty regularly work alongside chemistry, economics and history majors. Why not add academic staff, local community members, well known campus characters, and children from our local schools and their parents to our cast as well? This is our program’s largest attempt yet at engaging a broad community in making theater alongside us.
It’s been a true privilege to work alongside the incredible humans involved in this production. From the wonderful people who came out for community casting calls, to the families and friends who came out to help us make props for the set (you’ll see them in the second half of the show!), to our undergraduate students who have rehearsed most days since before the semester started, to our brilliant choir and musicians, to the incredible student performing arts groups that you’ll see in cameo appearances, to the wonderful ensemble on stage tonight (many of whom have never been in a stage production before) – we have been energized and inspired by the abundance of enthusiasm and creativity all around us.
The Lewis Center has never been more grateful for our extraordinary professional staff. On this production, all of our staff have gone far above and beyond to include hundreds of new people in our process – which of course means making masses of new costumes, organizing the most extraordinarily elaborate rehearsal schedules, interviewing dozens of people for communications, micing scores of people who have never worn a mic before – this production has touched every corner of our buildings every day, and our staff have given it their all every step of the way. We are very blessed.
We believe that theater is the art of building community. Our hope is that by sharing our undergraduate theater-making with as broad a community as we can – as participants as well as audience members – we enrich both our program and our community. We hope that you enjoy this evening as much as we have enjoyed making it!
Jane Cox
Director of Theater; Professor of the Practice, Theater
Land Acknowledgement
An estimated 10 million Native Americans lived in North America before the arrival of European colonizers. Many thousands lived in Lenapehoking, the vast homeland of the Lenni-Lenape, who were the first inhabitants of what is now called eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.
Princeton stands on part of the ancient homeland and traditional territory of the Lenape people. In 1756, the College of New Jersey erected Nassau Hall with no recorded consultation with the Lenni-Lenape peoples.
Treaties and forced relocation dispersed Lenape-Delaware to Ohio, Kansas, and Oklahoma. We acknowledge the violence of settler colonialism and pay respect to Lenape peoples past, present, and future and their continuing presence in the homeland and throughout the Lenape diaspora.
For more information, see the websites of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Princeton (NAISIP), Natives at Princeton and Princeton Indigenous Advocacy Coalition.
Lewis Center for the Arts
Chair: Judith Hamera
Executive Director: Marion Friedman Young
Director of Program in Theater: Jane Cox
Producing Artistic Director, Theater And Music Theater Season: Elena Araoz
View a full list of the Program in Theater Faculty & Guest Artists
For a look at all the people working behind the scenes to bring you this event, view a full list of LCA staff members
The programs of the Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts are made possible through the generous support of many alumni and other donors. View a full list of LCA Supporters
