Immersive INTO THE WOODS Comes to Staten Island

“The woods are just trees, the trees are just wood.” Director Miles Sternfeld, as part of his newly-founded Sternfeld Studio, will invite audiences to an immersive site-specific Into the Woods staged under the stars. 

The production will transform Staten Island’s 140-acre Camp Pouch into a living fairytale. Each of the nine performances will accommodate 25 audiences, making the experience unique and intimate. It will debut new acoustic orchestrations arranged by Lena Gabrielle for guitar, bass, violin, melodica, accordion and hand percussion. Musicians in the production will double as narrators, guiding the audience and reimagining Sondheim’s score.

The journey begins around a campfire before audiences set out, lantern in hand, through wooded trails where the story awakens around them. Costumes and design draw from contemporary hikers, survivalists, and reclaimed natural materials, weaving Sondheim’s world into the textures of the real forest.

The production features a lineup of Broadway talent, led by Afra Hines as The Witch, Matt Dengler as The Baker, Hannah Elless as The Baker’s Wife, Joy Del Valle as Cinderella, and Jordan Matthew Brown as Jack. The cast also includes Anna Kirkland as Jack’s Mother, Nova Gomez as Little Red, Wayne J. Miller as The Mysterious Man, Bela Quines as Rapunzel, Miciah Wallace as Rapunzel’s Prince, Sam Stickels as Cinderella’s Prince, Izaya Perrier as Narrator, Benjamin Taylor Brown as Narrator, Christian Leigh as Narrator, and Renee Shohet as Standby. This production is an Equity Approved Showcase.

“This is not your typical Into the Woods,” Sternfeld said in a statement. “It’s a spiritual, communal journey into the heart of the fairy tale — a mythic, acoustic, firelit fever dream set in the very woods the characters sing about.”

The Immersive Into the Woods runs at Camp Pouch, Staten Island from Oct. 2 to 25. For tickets and more information, visit here.