Mission

We all wear many masques and play many parts.  We define each other in multiple, various and changing ways.  We identify ourselves through our relationships with other people, groups and beliefs.  

Yet at our core we are all the same.  We are human. And in today’s world, we have lost sight of our commonality. Instead of celebrating our diversity as a vital part of our shared human experience, we are trapped in divisiveness.

Masquerade Theatre seeks to unveil the roles, groups and beliefs that we hold fast and explore the humanity that lies beneath them.  Art is one of the rare forms of human expression that is relatable to all people and permits us to share a common experience with a group of strangers in an audience.  Theatre enables us to encounter circumstances and emotions through characters that move us and inspire us to think, react and learn.  

Masquerade is dedicated to using theatre to enlighten, to help us bridge the issues that divide us and present pieces that will encourage us to remember one simple truth amongst the discord - our humanity.

Our Story

Megan and Tommy’s love for one another and their family is matched only by their love and dedication to the arts.  It has been their dream to combine their talents and produce theatre together since they first met on the stage.

Megan and Tommy both attended Ramapo College.  Tommy was two years ahead of Megan, a Junior when Megan began as a Freshman in 2003.

Megan knew of Tommy’s reputation as one of the top actors in the program before she met him.  Tommy learned quickly of this talented and tenacious freshman. In their first show together, Eugene Ionesco’s Bald Soprano, Megan was more intimidated working with Tommy than the challenge of Ionesco’s absurdism.  However, by the end of the process, Megan and Tommy worked effortlessly together, playing in Ionesco’s hilarious and tragic world.

It was not until their third show together, Cabaret, that Megan and Tommy realized their joy for each other went beyond the stage.  As the curtain closed on Tommy’s final performance at college, the story was just beginning for Megan and Tommy’s journey together.

Four years later, Megan and Tommy had continued pursuing theatre well past graduation, and on opening night of Damn Yankees, with Megan stage managing and Tommy performing, Tommy took to the stage and proposed.  It was only fitting that their marriage started where their story began - in the theatre.

Now, married and with three incredible children, Megan and Tommy are ready to bring their own vision of theatre to the forefront.  The Masquerade Theatre, affectionately dubbed the Masque, is the realization of Megan and Tommy’s dream since meeting together in college.  Each year, their college’s honor society would put on a Masquerade Ball, where all the guests were dressed in their formal attire and donned a mask.  By the end of the evening, all the masks were removed and the group was dancing together, freer and full of joy.

As Megan and Tommy introduced their children to the world around them, the importance of the arts to understanding the wider world and society became more apparent.  The mission of their theatre became clear - to use theatre as a means to explore the essence of what makes us all human and to provide common ground for people to engage in discussion and empathy, one audience at a time.  Let’s use the arts to remove our masks and approach each other with a deeper understanding of one simple truth - we are all human.