THE WOODS
Performed by Acclaimed BALLETCOLLECTIVE and Celebrated Brooklyn Band SAN FERMIN
Co-Created by TROY SCHUMACHER and ELLIS LUDWIG-LEONE
Directed and Choreographed by TROY SCHUMACHER
Composed and Music Directed by ELLIS LUDWIG-LEONE
July 26 at 8:00pm & July 27 at 3:00pm, 2025
The River Rooms | Marist University | Poughkeepsie, NY
Priority Passes for THE WOODS are $10 and are on sale now through May 10, allowing pass holders exclusive access to purchase individual tickets to THE WOODS before the general public. Please note the Priority Pass only grants early access to purchasing individual tickets—it is not a ticket.
Early Access Tickets for THE WOODS will be available May 12-14. Only Priority Pass holders will be able to purchase individual tickets during this time. An access code will be sent via email on the morning of May 12 to each pass holder. General Admission Tickets for all 2025 Summer Season projects, including The Woods, will go on sale May 27. Tickets to select performances throughout the Summer Season will include a voucher to a post-show reception with the SAF artistic community.
Please note that THE WOODS performance area will be standing room only, in a concert-style atmosphere. There will be seating available at each showing upon request (priority will be given to patrons who request them for accessibility reasons).
New York Stage and Film’s Stories That Move: Developing Dance Narratives project The Woods is supported by leading support from the Jerome Robbins Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, the Frederick Loewe Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and Judith Manocherian.
“The music of THE WOODS is as smart as it is sexy, and the athletic choreography and vision to create an immersive experience for the audience will make this a must-see event,” said Ian Belknap, Artistic Director of New York Stage and Film.
THE WOODS is an immersive concert experience created by San Fermin, led by composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone, and adventurous production company BalletCollective, led by choreographer/director Troy Schumacher, New York City Ballet. Schumacher and Ludwig-Leone also collaborated closely with Emmy Award-winning set and production designer Jason Ardizzone-West throughout the creative development of THE WOODS.
“When the opportunity to create THE WOODS sprouted, I knew that the support offered by New York Stage and Film to create, develop, and workshop the show prior to its world premiere would prove invaluable,” said Troy Schumacher, Co-Founder of BalletCollective.
Ludwig-Leone and Schumacher have been creative partners since 2013’s “truly singular” (New York Times) ballet The Impulse Wants Company, and have since created eight pieces together, culminating in 2023’s The Night Falls, an “ingenious” (The New Yorker) work of musical theater that merged the worlds of opera and dance.
The music of San Fermin, lauded for its “knack for simultaneously expressing beauty and crisis,” (The New Yorker), lends itself to this expansive setting and theatrical treatment. What is the role of storytelling—and songwriting—in a constantly shifting, often terrifying reality? THE WOODS celebrates the alchemical power of music and dance to transform fear and loss into life-affirming and communal experiences: in a world that is always in motion, we must resolve to love.
Listen to “The Woods” by San Fermin on Spotify or Apple Music.
Initial casting includes Lead Vocalists: Allen Tate (San Fermin), Claire Wellin (San Fermin), Mckenzie Cahill; Featured Performers: Annalise Gehling, Sophie Rose Shapiro, Thomas Hogan, Mizuho Kappa, Leslie Andrea Williams; San Fermin band: Ellis Ludwig-Leone (Bandleader), Griffin Brown (Drums), Tyler McDiarmid (Guitar), Stephen Chen (Saxophone); Additional Musicians: Andy Clausen (Trombone), Addison Maye-Saxon (Trombone), Lauren Cauley (Violin); Ensemble Dancers: Arcadian Broad, Justin Daniels, Shizu Higa, Salma Kiuhan, DevinLoh, Solange Rodrigues, Noah Wang, Annika Wong.
TROY SCHUMACHER (Co-Creator, Director & Choreographer) is an American choreographer, dancer,…