Junkyard Shakespeare presents  Sweet Prince
A one-woman Hamlet that challenges the audience to take a stand
at The Workroom, 33 Hawley St, Northampton MA
	Adapted from William Shakespeare
Starring
	Hilary Dennis *
*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors' Equity association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production

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A WORD ABOUT THE SHOW

Sweet Prince is an hour-long theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Performances on February 21 and 22, 2025 will mark the culmination of Junkyard Shakespeare's week-long artist residency hosted by A.P.E. at the Northampton Center for the Arts (33 Hawley St). This production is the current iteration of my 7-year journey studying and playing the Dane; this time, I use Shakespeare's words to investigate themes of apathy, passiveness, death, community and liminal space between actor and audience, bystander and participant.

For this show, I'm performing Hamlet in a way I've never seen done before. It's an experiment - one I cannot do on my own. Shakespeare is meant to be heard, in an action of exchange, from actor to audience and back again. It is beautiful and messy. It looks different every night. When I speak Shakespeare, I access the outer expanses of my emotional being. It is the thing I love most deeply in the world - and sharing it with an audience gives my life purpose. I hope when you leave a performance of Sweet Prince you find yourself considering areas of your life where you might feel a desire to take more action, or live with more purpose.

Sweet Prince is a one-woman Hamlet.

Kind of.

It's also an experiment.

A game.

Ready to play?

~ Hilary Dennis

Cast

Creative Team

Meet the Company

Hilary Dennis (she/her) *

Hamlet

Hilary Dennis is a conservatory-trained actor and producer based in NYC and Northampton, MA. Past theatre credits include Hamlet (New York Circus Project), 750% (The Secret Theatre), Timeshare (IHRAF), As You Like It (Junkyard Shakespeare), Misconceptions (Blessed Unrest), Hamlet (La MaMa ETC), The Winter's Tale (Rude Grooms), Macbeth (The Workroom), and numerous productions with Elsewhere Shakespeare. Last year, she founded Junkyard Shakespeare, "unprocessed theatre" that prioritizes paying actors a living wage. Before pursuing acting professionally, she was an organic farmer. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Spanish from NYU. www.hilarygdennis.com

Hilary Dennis (she/her) *

Producer

~ See Above ~

Stephan Wolfert (he/him)

Voice Over

Stephan Wolfert is a military veteran who transitioned from a career in the armed forces to a life in theater after experiencing Shakespeare’s Richard III. Stephan earned his MFA from Trinity Rep Conservatory and created the military segments for the Tony Award-winning Broadway production Movin’ Out. He has performed off-Broadway in critically acclaimed, award-winning productions of Hamlet, Saint Joan, The Seagull, Sense & Sensibility, and his solo show Cry Havoc! In 2024, Stephan obtained his MSW and a Certificate in Trauma Practice from Simmons University, accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). While DE-CRUIT is based in NYC, Stephan resides in Prague. He has been published in art and science as the co-creator of DE-CRUIT®, a program designed to alleviate trauma symptoms through a combination of Shakespeare and science. Stephan has received several honors, including the American Group Psychotherapy Association's Aaron Stein Award and the Max Gabriel Award from the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). Bluesky: @de-cruit.bsky.social www.decruit.org

Alyse Maxner (she/her)

Technical Director

Alyse Maxner works in lighting, sound, and theater tech. She is one of the technical stewards of the Workroom, through an internship at A.P.E. Alyse has worked with the Community Players, Youth Performance Festival, CoAct Theater, Silverthorne Theater Company, Eaglebrook School, Andrea Olsen, Maya LaLiberté, Wendy Woodson, and for various SCDT productions. She also ran lights for Whole Children's benefit concert with Yo La Tango and designed lights for Earth Music Theater Live. Next month she will be light board op for Molly Rose-Williams' CRUSH, and designing and running lights for The Back Porch Festival. Alyse is a member of Hatchery Performance Company. She is unschooled, plays music, and is a freelance photographer. She's excited to be working with Junkyard Shakespeare.

Costanza Bugiani (she/her)

Co-Producer/Stage Manager

Costanza Bugiani is an Italian theatre-maker who moved to the U.S. four years ago. She co-founded Teatro del Mantice acting company based in Florence. She co-produced Hamlet, a crowdfunded project (La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, NYC, August 2022). She worked as Covid Safety manager for multiple productions and theaters during the Covid era (Paper Mill Playhouse, 2022), worked as a temporary intern at The Tank (2023), attended the Summer Intensive Program at Atlantic Acting School (2024), and worked as associate producer for In Scena! Italian Theater Festival in New York (2024). She currently works as social media manager for The International Human Rights Art Movement and as assistant producer of their IHRAF Festival.

Junkyard Shakespeare - unprocessed theatre

Production

Junkyard Shakespeare is a place where we explore the raw nutrition for life: emotion, poetry and presence. Human connection. No spectacle. Junkyard Shakespeare is raw, dirty and delicious - just like a carrot right out of the field. In the Junkyard, small groups of actors come together to create raw, clear, text-driven 90-minute versions of Shakespeare’s plays in one week. Performances have accommodated 12-99 audience members in varying locations (from La MaMa ETC in NYC to a backyard in Western Massachusetts). https://www.hilarygdennis.com/junkyardshakespeare

Donors

This project was made possible thanks to the generosity of many people who contributed in our Crowdfunding Campaign.

Grateful to all of you!

~

MAJOR DONORS

DONORS

About A. P. E. 

Available Potential Enterprises, Ltd (A.P.E.) is an artist-led, artist-centered non-profit organization supporting contemporary artists working in all disciplines by stewarding the spaces in which they create, perform and exhibit their work. A.P.E is dedicated to fostering relationships, encounters, and exchanges that nourish the capacity for imagination. LEARN MORE

Official Website

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