Hamlet (Abridged) In The Parks
July 10-19, 2026
Admission is FREE!
Bring snacks, a blanket, and camping chairs!
Who do you trust???
6 actors, 15 roles 105 minutes
Shakespeare’s action-packed tale of love, betrayal, and vengeance in a land in need of a hero.
July 10-19, 2026
Friday, July 10th & 17th @8PM - Monte Irvin Park in Orange, NJ
(behind the Field House, 275 Oakwood Ave)
Please use this Google Maps link for directions
Saturday, July 11th & 18th @8PM - Metcalf Park in Orange, NJ
(next to the Baseball Field, 723 Valley St)
Please use this Google Maps link for directions
Sunday, July 12th & 19th @7PM - Colgate Park in Orange, NJ
(behind the Swimming Pool, 110 N. Day St.)
Please use this Google Maps link for directions
Thursday, July 16th @8PM - Mayapple Hill, South Mountain Reservation
Please use this Google Maps link for directions
Valerie Terranova (Hamlet) is excited to return to Luna Stage, where she previously appeared in Bernardo Cubría’s The Giant Void in My Soul, also directed by Rajesh Bose. Other theater credits include The Wolves (Lyric Stage Boston), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Seven Stages Shakespeare), and Viola in Twelfth Night (Saratoga Shakespeare). In New York, she has appeared in over a dozen developmental and world premiere productions and produced and starred in the short film adaptation of The Lepers, which won Best Production at the Queens World Film Festival.
Erica Knight (Ophelia/Fortinbras/Guildenstern) is delighted to join Luna Stage! Select theatre: Sylvia (Sylvia), Sense & Sensibility (Elinor), and Winter Street (Ava) for Theatre Workshop of Nantucket; Charley’s Aunt (Kitty) for the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey; Harvey (Nurse Kelly), and The Nether (Detective Morris) for Centenary Stage Company. Erica was last seen as Mary in It’s a Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play at American Theatre Group. Select TV: “Gossip Girl”, “One Life to Live.” She is the playwright/performer of the solo piece, Ghost Dance, which premiered last spring at the Bridge Street Theatre in the Catskills. She holds a BFA from Marymount Manhattan College and is pursuing an MA in Shakespeare with the University of Birmingham.
Lucas Pinner (Claudius/Ghost/Osric) - Previous credits include: Peter and the Starcatcher (The Growing Stage), Compelling Spencer (TheatreBrut at NJ Rep), Romeo & Juliet (LivLive!), Richard III (Oxford Shakespeare Company), Razia’s Shadow (Bullet Theatre Collaborative). At Luna: Queen of the Night (Director/Scenic Designer), Lonely Planet (Scenic Designer), and Rift at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Production Stage Manager). Lucas is pursuing his MFA at LAMDA starting this fall. www.lucaspinner.com @luccam2342
Lisa VillaMil (Gertrude/Horatio) Regional: The Comedy of Errors,All’s Well That Ends Well, Henry VI, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors (The Old Globe); TheTwo Gentlemen of Verona, Henry VIII (USD through Old Globe); A Christmas Carol (Walnut Street Theatre); Pericles (Shakespeare in Clark Park); Julius Caesar (Media Theatre); Wait Until Dark, Macbeth, A Christmas Carol (Hedgerow Theatre Company); Measure for Measure (Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company). National tour: Peter in Peter Rabbit Tales (Enchantment Theatre Company). Education: The Old Globe and USD Shiley Graduate Theatre Program, MFA Acting Group 37; The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland MA Classical and Contemporary Text (Acting); Shakespeare’s Globe Higher Education Acting Residency in London.
Cebastian Sotolongo (Laertes/Marcellus/Player King)-Cebastian is so excited to be a part of Luna Stage’s Hamlet as his first regional production! He is a current student at The Norwalk Conservatory of the Arts as a Television and Film Major and gives all of his thanks to his representation at Lohne/Graham Management. When he’s not on stage, you can find him ordering shaken espressos and baking banana bread!
Stephen Shore (Polonius/Francisco/ Gravedigger/Priest) - is honored to be at Luna Stage with such a talented group of artists. Select Theatre Credits: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Huntington), Taming of the Shrew (TX Shakes), Cymbeline (VA Shakes), Illyria: A Twelfth Night Musical (GA Shakes), Romeo & Juliet (Barefoot Shakes), Much Ado About Nothing (Fools & Kings Project), I Do! I Do! and Butterflies Are Free (Judson Thtr Co). TV Credits: Dope Thief (Apple TV) and The Food That Built America (History Channel). Proud UNCSA grad. For Dad. To Gracie: “I love thee best, O, most best believe it.” www.StephenTShore.com
Why Hamlet Today?
At its core, Hamlet is not only the story of a young adult mourning their father, but of a society that has lost its moral center. As a corrupt leader rises and integrity erodes, grief becomes political, and political failure becomes heartbreakingly personal.
A taut, intimate Hamlet for right now, this bold five-actor production reimagines Shakespeare’s tragedy as a collision of private grief and public collapse. With just five actors playing thirteen roles, the story moves at breakneck speed, sharpening both the humor and the urgency of a world where something deeply corrupt has taken hold—and everyone seems willing to carry on as if nothing is wrong.
By turns funny, furious, and devastating, Hamlet asks an uncomfortably familiar question: how does something so wrong come to feel so normal? The stripped-down staging exposes how denial, complicity, and the desire for comfort allow rot to spread. In a moment when we mourn the loss of decency, truth, and ethical order, Shakespeare’s tragedy feels urgent, prescient, and impossible to ignore.