Romeo x Juliet
Description
Juliet’s throwing a seance at the old Capulet place… will you be there?
New Orange Theatre Company returns to their beloved stomping ground, East Village Basement, to interrogate the greatest Romance of our time with their full-bodied blend of macabre irreverence. It's a comedy, it's a tragedy, it's a seance, it's a night of karaoke. It's an adaptation as profane as it is sacred. You'll only know for sure if you're there.
THREE NIGHTS ONLY AT EAST VILLAGE BASEMENT
Written by William Shakespeare
Adapted by Scout Backus and Riley Scott
Directed by Charli Einhorn
Music Directed by Joseph Thor
Juliet- Calley Luman
Romeo-Riley Scott
Benvolio- Bellamy Woodside Ridinger
Mercutio/Friar Laurence- Jeffrey Robb
Capulet/Friar Fartknocker- Joseph Thor
The Players
Music Director / Capulet / Friar Fartknocker
Joseph Thor (He/Him) is an actor/writer/matcha lover who is so excited to finally collaborate with the good folks at New Orange. His stage credits include Slam Frank, The Office: A Parody Musical, and A Bronx Tale, all of which are incredibly on brand. His work has a writer has spanned the Western Hemisphere and his work as a bartender has spanned midtown Manhattan. He runs a production company called JT and Friends who do cabarets, full productions, and more, they have hosted many legends like Tony Nominee Joy Woods, Kevin Csolak, and Ryan Widd.
Adapter / Romeo
Riley Scott is a founder and co-artistic director of New Orange Theatre Company. Recent selected credits include: Technocelibites at ALab Summer 2026, Wood Demon at East Village Basement, Snow Dance at East Village Basement, Gruesome Playground Injuries at East Village Basement, and Disco Pigs at East Village Basement. Riley is a BFA graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory. Performance is sport, and art is an explosion.
Adapter
Scout Backus (they/them) is a playwright and actor based in Manhattan. recent theatre credits include: Dracula (Hartford Stage), Technocelibites (ALAB Theatre Festival), Lemuria (Denver Center of Performing Arts), wood demon (New Orange Theatre/East Village Basement), snow dance (New Orange Theatre/East Village Basement), To Kill a Mockingbird (First National Tour), GAS (Theatre Row), Legacy (Flint Rep) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Broadway). recent Film/TV: Doug Liman’s The Instigators, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, and Neuman. recent written work includes: Technocelibites, snow dance (produced by New Orange Theatre) the magdalenes (O'Neill Center Finalist), a soft machine(O'Neill Center Semi Finalist), Stumpwater (O'Neill Center Semi Finalist). training: Brad Fleischer. Upcoming: Technocelibites (Theatre Mitu) and Unaccustomed Earth (Netflix). They are the resident playwright of New Orange Theatre Company.
Mercutio / Friar Laurence
Jeffrey Robb is a Brooklyn based actor/writer. He received his BA in Theatre from Muhlenberg College, where he concentrated in Acting and Performance Studies. Recent credits include New Orange’s Technocelibites at ALAB’s 2026 Summer Festival, New Orange’s Wood Demon at the East Village Basement and Drops in the Vase’s Needle & Bone at The Flea. While not onstage, he runs Dungeons & Dragons for all ages as a professional Dungeon Master.
Juliet
Calley Luman (they/she) is immensely honored to be making their New Orange debut. Recently, Calley has been recording demos for their new music project, light, as well as training in ballet and butoh. Previous Shakespeare credits include: “King Lear,” “As You Like It” (Frog and Peach); “A Midsummer Night’s Dreame” (Holyhead, North Wales); “Hamlet,” “The Winter’s Tale” (Seven Stages); “Romeo and Juliet” (Shakespeare Theater Company, D.C.). Calley is also a writer of essays, short fiction, and poetry.
Benvolio
Bellamy Woodside Ridinger (any pronoun) is a multidisciplinary artist with performance credits in Washington, New Hampshire, and New York City. He is inspired by the intersection of music and movement in storytelling, and continues to explore these modes as a songwriter and theatre artist. Bel studied Theatre and French at Western Washington University, and trains with the Blessed Unrest physical theatre ensemble. In addition to recent work as King John and Ariel in Shakespeare’s King John and The Tempest, Bel is performing as Ya Ya in Blessed Unrest’s staged reading of Limonade Tous Les Jours. He is honored and excited to reconnect with new old friends and work with New Orange for the first time.
Director
Charli Einhorn (they/them) is so psyched to make their directing debut with New Orange, where they’ve assistant directed and stage managed Technocelibites at ALab Theater Festival as well as Snow Dance and Wood Demon at East Village Basement. Charli has also recently worked on shows Needle and Bone and This is Not a Death Cult at The Flea and The New Year at The Tank. Charli has a BFA in Film and Television Production from NYU Tisch and is also a very odd and passionate writer for both stage and screen. In their free time, find them listening to “weird circus music” (according to friends), running up literally hundreds of dollars of late fees at the Brooklyn Public Library (I’M SORRY), and playing video games for unhappy fifteen year olds (if you stick with Danganronpa it’s actually…)
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
