Following the wildly positive reception of 2017's As You Like It, our NYC-based ensemble is thrilled to return to Chalybeate Park with another fantastic show!

Another “Shakespeare in the Park” production will be the event of the summer, and will both create a joyous shared experience for hundreds of local residents AND further establish Sharon Springs as an essential destination for artists and culture seekers alike. 

Our goal is to make outdoor theatre in Sharon Springs an annual event, eventually growing into full seasons with multiple productions that will rival the best that New York State has to offer. 

We’re the Vainglory Theatre Team! 

Founded by Wolf CR, Noa Egozi, and Ryan Feyk in 2019, the VTT is a scrappy, ambitious group of theatremakers determined to stoke a trend of profound, live theatrical experiences across the country.

Our focus is the immeasurable complexity of human relationships. Rather than serving our audience a broad, unmistakable thesis, we prefer to inspire them with authentic acts of courage, struggle, and compassion.

We will accomplish this by staging visceral, exhilarating performances. We will combine the demanding rehearsal methods conceived of by the original masters of American theatre, with the long overdue awareness of safety, mutual respect, and social justice that is the industry standard of the 21st century.  

These words, spoken by King Theseus, are among the first lines of the play. He’s issuing a royal command that, for three days, all of Athens will be transformed into one gigantic party. This could seem frivolous to some, but Theseus wants Athens to look how he feels. He’s in love. 

This is a play about love as a force of nature. Nearly every character finds themselves in  a situation that is highly dangerous or deeply ridiculous because of feelings beyond control. For love, they exhaust themselves until all of their personal illusions are stripped away. We are then able to behold them in all of their flawed, sweet humanity.  Our production will harness the redemptive, healing power of love in such a way that every person we perform for will, in their own secret way, feel seen.

It’s also no coincidence that a play about faeries and magic is being done in Sharon Springs, which is widely known to be a quintessentially magical place. We won’t need to create with stagecraft what we can simply pluck from the air.  If you reside in, or have visited Sharon Springs, then you require no further explanation. If you have not, we’ll be happy to chat with you after the show.

Your donation will give us a place to rehearse

It will purchase insurance to protect our team.

It will keep our production free to the public.

It  will keep the best performers in New York coming back year after year. And for you actors, it will establish a vibrant home-away-from-home that will only grow in its need for skilled artists.

It will make professional theatre accessible to hundreds of hardworking Americans.

It will give hundreds of young Americans the opportunity to see Shakespeare’s work for the first time.

It will create opportunities for Vainglory Theatre Team to qualify for other forms of sponsorship for our next productions, and potentially eliminate the need for future crowdfunding campaigns.

NOA EGOZI (Director) is an Israeli director based in New York. Recent directing projects include an original one-woman adaptation of Taming of The Shrew which received an award for best adaptation from the United Solo Festival. The world premiere of Sylvia Khoury's An Inferno, the world premiere of  Lorne Svarc's Chained Woman, Mud by Maria Irene Fornes, and Noa's original five-person adaptation of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar which was produced at The Brick Theater .  

Noa received her MFA in directing from The New School for Drama, where she was a teaching assistant for Stephen Brown-Fried’s MFA directing class as well as a teaching artist in the BFA program’s 24-Hour Play Festival. 

Noa was an Artistic Intern at The Play Company where she is now a member of the literary group and recently assisted Guillermo Calderon on his production of Villa and Dan Rothenberg on his production of Time’s Journey Through a Room . She was a part of the SDCF observership class and is a proud Drama League Classical Directing Fellow. As part of her fellowship she has worked with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and  Shakespeare and Company , where she has since trained as a teacher, worked in the education department, and was assistant director of founding artistic director Tina Packer. 

ZOË LAIZ (Hermia/Starveling/Mustardseed) is a Berkshire-born, New York based actor. Recent regional credits include: Pride & Prejudice (Jane/Miss De Bourgh) at Actors' Shakespeare Project; Pericles (Thaisa/Dionyza/Bawd) at the rig; Macbeth (Hecate), As You Like It (Celia), 4000 Miles (Amanda, BTCC Award Nomination), The Emperor of the Moon (Bellemante), Twelfth Night (Olivia) at Shakespeare & Company. New York: The Daerie Queene (Julie) at The Tank; Top Girls (Angie) at the Stella Adler Studio. www.zoelaiz.com

MISHA BOUVION (Helena/Snout/Mustardseed) has also worked with Prague Shakespeare Company, The Ojai Playwrights Conference, A Noise Within, Theatricum Botanicum, Shakespeare Orange County, Crown City Theatre, among others. Her one woman Venus & Adonis has been performed with The Independent Shakespeare Company, UnitedSolo Festival, FringeNYC & most recently at the OFF-BROADWAY theatre Urban Stages. She has worked in independent film, TV, print, & national commercial campaigns. MFA, in acting from The New School for Drama. mishabouvion.com

MARIO HAYNES (Lysander/Flute)  is from da Peach State (aka Georgia.) Regional: All The Way (u/s Stokely Carmichael), The Light Princess, (American Repertory Theatre),  Shakespeare in Love (Cape Rep Theatre), Final Cut, Betrayal (ART/MXAT Institute ). International: Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, Pullman Car Hiawatha, The Seagull ( Moscow Art Theatre).  Education: B.A. Theatre, African American Studies, University of Georgia (Go BULLDAWGS!); MFA Acting ART/MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.  www.mariohaynes.com 

TRAVIS CLARK MORRIS (Demetrius/Bottom) is thrilled to be back in Sharon Springs again. He had the great good pleasure of playing Silvius/Charles in As You Like It (2017) in Chalybeate park.  Most recently he was seen in Perseverance Theatre’s production of Franklin in Juneau, Alaska. Travis earned his Masters in Acting at the New School and continues to study with his dear friends and teachers at the Michael Chekhov School in Hudson, NY.

RYAN FEYK (Theseus/Oberon) has been developing independent theatre in New York since 2005, and can not wait to be performing Sharon Springs again! In addition to As You Like It (Orlando) in 2017, Ryan's favorite recent roles include Mark Antony in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, and Chris in VOICE Theatre's acclaimed production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Ryan studied acting at the New School for Drama.

WOLF CLARKE ROTH (Titania/Hippolyta) is an actor, playwright, teacher, and musician. Recent favorite acting credits: Romeo and Juliet (HVSF); Julius Caesar (Brick Theater); As You Like It (Brimstone Creek Productions); Caught Workshop (The Play Company); Mistero Buffo (Balcony Theatre); It's Not My Decision solo show (Dixon Place, The Bridge, Estrogenius); To Kill a Mockingbird (Queen's Theatre). Wolf teaches theatre, movement, and community building workshops in New York. She sings in a band, Elliott's Girls Chorus. Education: MFA Acting, The New School for Drama

We make theatre that promotes a world built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our goal is to inspire meaningful growth within society. This is not possible without the free exchange of ideas, nourished by a rich diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. Our casting process actively prioritizes expanding opportunities for underrepresented artists. It is essential our collaborators feel safe, heard, and respected. All artists associated with VTT have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Insurance to further protect both Artists and Audience: $9,200

(costumes, set, lights, sound): $300

Transportation: $600

Rehearsal Space: $600

Marketing and Administration: $300

TOTAL $11,000

As you can see, the Vainglory Theatre Team prioritizes the safety of both actor and audience, as well as an ethical and competitive wage for the artists that bring life to our project.

Transparency is our policy. Email us any time at vainglorytheatre@gmail.com!