November 10, 2026

by Lauren Ferguson

A team of theater professionals is pouring their knowledge and expertise into ambitious Ramapo College of New Jersey students, thanks to a grant the College secured from Play On Shakespeare, a non-profit dedicated to creating and promoting contemporary modern English translations of Shakespeare plays.

Roadrunners have been spending 20 to 25 hours a week – side by side with veteran theater professionals – rehearsing for the Play On production of As You Like It adapted by Rosa Joshi and Kate Wisniewski. The production will make its college debut at the Sharp Theater in the Berrie Center for Performing Arts in November.

“It’s a really great opportunity for them to spend a couple of months working with all of these professional artists to create and realize this production,” said Professor of Theater History and Criticism Peter Campbell, PhD, who was instrumental in securing the grant for Ramapo.

Ramapo regularly brings in professionals to work with students preparing for theater productions, Campbell said, but the grant has allowed the College to do so on a larger scale.

The professional artists mentoring students through As You Like It – whose work has been seen at major professional theaters across the country – include:

• Director and Broadway Actor Shona Tucker;
• Sound Designer Joe Asutria;
• Voice Coach Duane Boutté;
• Set Designer Jack Golden;
• Choreographer Dyane Harvey;
• Fight Choreographer Ken Nichols; and
• Lighting Designer Matthew Weisgable.

Set Up for Success

Theater and film major with a concentration in acting Francesca Muffoletto ’27 is playing Celia in the production. She said being mentored by theater professionals has helped prepare her for her plans to audition professionally or work in theater administration after graduation.

“I think having the outside perspective and getting tips and guidance about the professional world outside of school is really cool,” said Muffoletto, a transfer student from Dumont in Bergen County, NJ. “I am a theater major, so it has been really helpful just to learn the ins and outs of the industry.”

Andrew Eichhorn ’27, a double major in English and literary studies and theater and film with a concentration in acting, is playing Touchstone the court jester in the production. Both Tucker and Boutté have been “crucial figures” in preparing him for his role, he said.

Broadway Actor Tucker, also a professor of drama at Vassar College “brings a really fantastic perspective,” said Eichhorn. And Boutté “has just been a gift, helping me work through a lot of really tricky monologues,” he said.

The student from Manalapan in Monmouth County, NJ, has been gaining hands-on experiential learning experiences through the theater at Ramapo since his first year on campus. “I feel like I have been pushed beyond my comfort zone. I have learned so many valuable skills such as working in the costume shop and the scene shop … I feel the theater department has absolutely set me up for success,” he said.

Campbell said working on productions – like As You Like It – is “is the epitome of experiential learning.” Students make up the stage management team and the crew, for example, and they build the sets and hang and focus the lights, he said.

“These productions are where our students get those experiences, which preps them for the world, whether they end up working in theater or not. The idea of having to figure out how to do the stuff, with a little bit of training, a little bit of mentorship, or sometimes a lot, is a great vehicle laboratory for them to do that work.”

The Grant

The full production of As You Like It is just one of the aspects of the multi-year grant that Play On awarded the College. The four-year, more than $104,000 grant, supported a staged reading of As You Like It during Fall 2025. Under the grant, Ramapo is also planning for a staged reading of a second Play On production in the Fall of 2027, followed by another full production in the Fall of 2028.

“This grant is a huge, huge thing for us … in the current environment where funding is hard to get everywhere, the fact that we got this grant is a real testament to the partnership that we have with Play On and their belief in what we are doing,” Campbell said.

The College is also using the grant as a vehicle to bring Shakespeare to area high school students. Ramapo is providing tickets to As You Like It to students from Clifton High School and Passaic Preparatory Academy. Under the grant, Ramapo also hosted a workshop for secondary education teachers on Shakespeare in the classroom last Fall. Educators attended from districts across the region, including: Allendale; Closter; Demarest; Fair Lawn; Hawthorne; Ho-Ho-Kus; Little Ferry; Mahwah; Mount Olive; Oakland; Park Ridge; Parsippany-Troy Hills; Philip’s Academy; Ramapo Indian Hills; Ramsey; Saddle Brook; Suffern; and Upper Saddle River.

The College is looking to expand on the initiative in the spring, said Ken Goldstein, dean of the Susan and Nick Vallario School of Arts, Humanities, and Education at Ramapo.

“Offering professional development opportunities for local and regional teachers is an important part of how we live Ramapo College’s public mission, sharing our resources and expertise while building meaningful relationships with the schools and communities we serve,” Goldstein said. “We are fortunate to have a partner in Play On Shakespeare, whose work creates wonderful opportunities to connect with teachers, explore new approaches to teaching and learning, and bring the arts into classrooms in meaningful ways.”

The Production

Ramapo College’s production of As You Like It, will premiere on Friday, November 13, with subsequent performances on November 14, 15, 19, 20 and 21. For more information on the Play On-supported production of As You Like It at Ramapo College or to purchase tickets, visit RCNJ Theater Presents: As You Like It.