Presents

Ellida, 2nd wife of Dr. Wangel, is torn from her home by the sea & brought to a new country where she struggles to fit in. Not bonding with her step-daughters, she finds some comfort with Arnholm, an old friend from her home town. But her private fears consume her as she hides a secret from her past. This new adaptation takes place in Ontario, Canda in the late 1960's.

CAST

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Drew Brock Baker (The Stranger) is a New York-based actor, trained in London at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. His TV credits include “FBI”, “The Equalizer”, and the independent series “Identity Crisis”. Recently in film, he's appeared as Detective Flic in “It's Always the Quiet Ones”, and stars in the upcoming feature “Knock 'em Dead”. On stage, his notable roles include Andrei in The Three Sisters, Ross in Macbeth, and Trigorin in The Seagull. He’s thrilled to be making his Hudson Classical debut. DrewBrockBaker.com

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Katrina Dykstra (Hilda Wangel) is thrilled to spend another summer outdoors in beautiful Riverside Park. Katrina has been seen onstage with Hudson as Cecily in The Importance of the Being Earnest, and in their WAGG Short Play Festival. Other recent credits include Adelpha in Nothing But Thunder, and Woman in All at Once: 40th Anniversary Remastered. You can also find her at weekly puppet shows all over the city, performing for rapt groups of toddlers.

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Bill Funt (Ballestead) is thrilled to be back onstage after a decades long break........and in a Hudson Classical Theater production in New York City no less. Bill has appeared as Ellard in The Foreigner, Ten characters in Greater Tuna, Both Antipholuses in Comedy Of Errors and Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Bill can be seen in the film "What Do You Say To A Naked Lady?” (if you can find it). Thank you Susane and Nick for taking me out of formaldehyde so I could get back onstage again.

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Aya Ibaraki* (Ellida) is an Artist in Residence with Hudson Classical. Her Hudson Classical credits include: Twelfth Night, The School for Scandal, Richard II, Same River Twice, Pride and Prejudice, Trojan Women. As a puppeteer, she performs for children in treatment in hospitals across the US with Broadway Hearts. Training: Wynn Handman Studio, Shakespeare and Co., AMDA/The New School (BFA in Musical Theatre).

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Galen Murphy-Hoffman* (Mr. Arnholm) was last seen this summer as Colonel Brandon in Hudson Classical’s “Sense and Sensibility”. Off Broadway: Picked Up and The Dishonorable Discharge of Private Pitts. Regional theater: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, Henry VI, Titus Andronicus, Assassins, Next to Normal, Hedda Gabler, Camelot, Mame, Reefer Madness, and Christmas Carol. Film: “Dark Knight”, “A Complete Unknown”, and “Hero”. B.F.A. from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program.

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Gabriel Newman (Hans Lyngstrand) Gabriel is grateful to be making his New York City debut in this production with Hudson Classic Theatre Company. Gabriel completed the two year Meisner progression at the Maggie Flanigan Studio this past June. At the studio, Gabriel played Tom in a staged reading of The Glass Menagerie. Last summer, Gabriel played Lysimachus in Pericles in his hometown of Chicago. Gabriel also works as a teacher artist with The Possibility Project and Stella Adler Arts & Justice division. Gabriel has their BFA in acting from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Maya Small (Bolette Wangel) is excited to be joining Hudson Classical Theater for the first time. She is a theatre and film actress based out of NYC and New Hampshire, and is an alumn of Circle in the Square Theater School. Her studies are focused on classical plays and in that work is where she found her love for acting. Some of her recent roles include Rosalind in As You Like It, Mrs. Linde in A Doll’s House, and Thea Elvsted in Hedda Gabler. She wants to thank Matthew for always supporting her.

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Quint Spitzer (Dr. Edvard Wangel) is a graduate of Fordham University and the National Shakespeare Conservatory. An actor since the early 80s, he has appeared in such roles as Caliban in The Tempest, Orsino in Twelfth Night, Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Lord Montague in Romeo & Juliet and The Player in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. These days Quint is most often wearing the hat of producer on the local theatre and music scene for such companies as MRM Productions, Red Monkey Theater Group, M&M Performing Arts and Fair Play Concerts. Along with his wife, actor Elizabeth Mialaret, he is the founder of Theatre 5 Productions (T5P) which was established in 1992 in New York City, T5P has mounted such productions as Soul in Your Stocking, Echoes of Etta (a Joe’s Pub Residency), The Lady’s Not for Burning, Italian American Reconciliation and Othello to name a few. His most recent turn was as a director, helming ALL ABOARD! for Studio Theatre in Exile’s most recent play festival, Dramatist Theme Park: 7 Rides.

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PRODUCTION TEAM

Nicholas Martin-Smith founded Hudson Classical Theater Company in 2004 and served as its Artistic Director for 18 years. For Hudson Classical Theater Company, he has directed, among other plays, an original adaptation of Cyrano adapted by Joseph Hamel, Romeo and Juliet (twice), as well as the award winning MARGARET: Shakespeare’s Warrior Queen, an adaptation he created from Shakespeare’s Henry IV trilogy. Mr. Martin-Smith also had the pleasure of directing the world premiere of a new adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s The D’Artagnan Romances which includes The Three Musketeers, The Three Musketeers: Twenty Years Later, and The Man in the Iron Mask, all adapted by his long-time collaborator Susane Lee.

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Susane Lee is the Executive Artistic Director of Hudson Classical Theater Company and founder of W.A.G.G. (Writers-A-Go-Go). She has adapted & directed several productions for HCTC, including Pride & Prejudice, Lysisarah, and co-directed Emma. She has also directed for 365 Women a Year Playwrights Festival and received Best Director Finalist, twice, for the Take Ten Theater Festival. She most recently directed Lucy Wang’s one-woman show, The Silver Menace. Susane has adapted many classics for the stage, including six Alexandre Dumas novels, and three Jane Austen novels. Susane began her career in television where she was at WGBH/NOVA series for several years, then at Channel 13 where she traveled to more than 100 cities across the US., producing and writing one hour documentaries for 12 years. She’s a Lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America, East and a member of SAG/AFTRA. Susane published a memoir in MORE Magazine and was a Finalist for the Artistic Achievement Award given by the League of Independent Theater in the fall of 2024. She will be adapting this summer’s productions of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and The Lady from the Sea, by Henrik Ibsen.

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Keys Newell (Production Stage Manager) is so excited to be joining Hudson Classical Theater Company for this production! Select credits include: The Importance of Being Earnest (2025), A Christmas Carol (2024), and Enchanted April (2022) at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Tiny Beautiful Things (2025) and 24-Hour Plays: Hoboken (2025) at Mile Square Theatre, as well as 29-Hour Readings of new musicals in development with Drama Club Productions NYC. They graduated from Drew University with a concentration in Directing and Stage Management.

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Alexander Ramdin (Assistant Stage Manager) I was a theater Major at Brooklyn College. I tried to get a universal understanding of the stage realm, in an attempt to better appreciate the cumulative nature of it. I think it paid off, as I'm already an individual who seeks to build community through the creative realm. I primarily try to achieve that through my writing and occasional dips into acting, but I really am here for the love of the space and the growth of people through the necessary teamwork that is asked of it. Plus it's just pure fun and enrichment.

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Tanuka Ghosh (Costume Coordinator) is grateful to be a part of this year’s production of Sense and sensibility at Hudson Classical Theater. Tanuka’s costume design credits include Queen Margaret, School for Scandal, Coriolanus, 12th Night. Apart from Costuming, Tanuka has worked as a Fashion Designer in the industry for 15 years. She has showcased her capsule collection in Milan and New York in the past. She loves to collaborate with other artists from time to time, and has exhibited at Art galleries in Chelsea, NY.

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New York Combat for Stage and Screen (Fight Direction): NYCSS has been active in NYC since 1999. Their goal on every production is to excite and captivate an audience with violence that enhances the story being told. Whether on film, tv, or stage, they create safe, realistic, & truthful moments that reveal character. For more details: nycstagecombat.com

Tony Mita (Fight Director) has been training & working in this art for over 14 years and is driven by a mix of his passions for historical martial arts and nerd culture to create a blend of martially realistic with out-of-this-world fantastical in his work.

Mabon Gibson (Fight Director) has been training and working in stage combat for 5 years and has training in Brazilian Jujitsu, Muay Thai, and Shotokan Karate. They enjoy using stage violence as a vehicle for character work and strive to empower others to do so as well.

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George K. Wells (Graphic Designer/Photographer) George has worked with HCTC since 2008 wearing many hats along the way. Originally from Maryland, George studied theater at Montgomery College. Starting in regional theater, George took on the title role in the Silver Spring Stages critically acclaimed production of Master Harold...and the Boys. George then moved to New York City to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, graduating in 2006. Upon graduation, George was cast as Lord Dumaine in Love's Labour’s Lost, his first role with Hudson Classical Theater Company. As an Artist in Residence with HCTC, George took on a variety of roles, from young lovers like Cassio in Othello and Romeo, to the more brooding Brutus in Julius Caesar, to the psychotic Emperor Saturninus in the 2015 production of TITUS as well as Jack Worthing in the 2014 production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Other HTCT productions include The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Tempest, As You Like It, The Three Musketeers, Comedy of Errors, Richard III, The Complete Works of Wm. Shakespeare (abridged), Same River Twice, Prince Hal in Henry 4, and Hamlet which he also adapted and directed. He followed his directorial debut with his adaptation of Antony and Cleopatra. Additionally, he has designed & photographed countless posters and images for the company over the years.

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