HILLSBOROUGH: High school grad starts own theater non-profit

Troupe’s first play is this weekend in New York City

   Hillsborough native Vanessa Lancellotti is on her way to making her dreams come true — by delivering a Punch.
   Ms. Lancellotti formed Punch Theater last December after graduating from Muhlenberg College in May 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in theater and English. The group consists of 14 actors, 11 of which graduated from Muhlenberg with Ms. Lancellotti. The others are Rutgers alumni.
   Despite being together for only a few months, Punch Theater will put on its first production, “the skin you leave behind,” at 8 p.m. this weekend (April 1-3) at the TBG Theater in New York City.
   ”I founded Punch Theater as a way to put my education into action not only as a director, but as a theater artist and collaborator,” she said in a press release.
   Forming Punch wasn’t as tough as the 2006 Hillsborough High grad thought it would be. Most of the information needed was found online, she said. The complicated part was getting set up with the state of New Jersey.
   ”We have to incorporate with the state of New Jersey, so we’re a New Jersey non-profit corporation,” Ms. Lancellotti said. “We have to get insurance, set up a bank account, all those kinds of things.”
   Another obstacle the group, which has been rehearsing in multi-purpose rooms at the township Municipal Building, overcame was lining up a venue for the group’s debut production.
   ”I just went to New York and there’s a bunch of different theaters that rent out to other companies. I toured three or four theaters and I liked that one,” Ms. Lancellotti said. “We’re renting it. Punch Theater doesn’t have an affiliation with TBG Theater; they’re just a venue we’re renting.”
   ”the skin you leave behind” is a collection of five short plays, Michael Jared Kite’s “A Month of 808s and Heartbreak,” Brendon Votipka’s “Narcissus: Suffer the Little Children” and “Grieving Space,” Josh Levine’s “Listen,” and Carie Louise Nutt’s “Video Kill the Star,” all directed by Ms. Lancellotti. The theme throughout them all is society’s relationship with the Internet and social media. The plays fuse drama, movement and circus arts, and are woven together by three clowns who experience the plays with audience and comment on the action.
   Tickets are available for $15 online from www.smarttix.com or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. TBG Theater is located at 312 W. 36th St.