Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The Cherry Arts, Inc. has appointed Jennifer Herzog as its new Associate Artistic Director. Herzog will be leaving her role as Associate Artistic Director at Civic Ensemble, of which she is a founding member, and where she was instrumental in the production of numerous readings and playwright's labs, engaging local and student artists, and overseeing social media operations as well as performing in many of those readings and productions. Most recently, she produced Civic Ensemble's acclaimed staged reading of Arthur Miller's INCIDENT AT VICHY, about a group of men detained in France during World War II before being sent to concentration camps.

Civic Ensemble was founded in 2012 by Herzog, Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. and Sarah K. Chalmers. In those three years, Civic Ensemble has charted a course towards a full-service theatre that engages and develops artists in the community, both professional and neophyte, through the production of new plays, education programs, and community-based plays. Of Herzog's departure, Artistic Director Simmons says, "Jennifer is a dedicated and talented artist and a valuable asset to any theatre company. We are thrilled that she has found a new artistic home at The Cherry that will align so closely with her goals as a theatre artist."

The Cherry Arts, a new not-for-profit theatre company, is a collective of Ithaca-area professional theatre artists that creates work that is radically local, radically global, and formally innovative; the company's sliding scale ticket policy ensures that all members of the community have access to Cherry performances. In addition to creating work, the company is planning construction of The Cherry Artspace on Cherry Street in Ithaca's West End. The Artspace will house theatre, dance, music, puppetry, visual arts, and other exceptional works from the Ithaca area and beyond. The Artistic Director of The Cherry is Samuel Buggeln, a theatre director based in Ithaca and Brooklyn, NY. Buggeln states, "Since long before The Cherry came into existence, I have been inspired by the amazing work of Civic Ensemble. I'm so pleased that as The Cherry emerges and Civic evolves, Jennifer has taken a position with The Cherry's leadership team. I'm proud to note that in the few months since The Cherry's founding, all three of Civic's founders have performed in Cherry productions, and I anticipate further exciting collaboration between the two companies."


An actor from a young age, Herzog was trained at Ithaca College's prestigious acting program, has performed off-Broadway, for television and film, and at many local venues in Ithaca. Herzog says of her new position at The Cherry, "Ithaca is filled with exceptional theatre practitioners who have dedicated their lives to their craft, and I believe passionately in their talent and ideas. By developing a theatre company of, by, and for our local artists, The Cherry is enabling a space for experimentation, collaboration, and the creation of exciting new projects that will nourish the Ithaca community and beyond. I am thrilled by the many new opportunities that The Cherry will provide, and am eager to introduce Ithaca to all the innovative 'locavore' work that we have in store." Regarding Civic Ensemble, Herzog says "I am so proud of the work I did co-founding Civic and co-leading the company in its first three and a half years, and I am excited about the important work they will do moving forward."

Jennifer Herzog is an actor and teacher originally from NYC, now based in Ithaca. She teaches acting in the Department of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College. This spring in Ithaca, she can be seen in the Homecoming Players' staging of IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY by Sarah Ruhl at the Kitchen Theatre Company, followed by a workshop of Paula Vogel's new play INDECENT at Cornell University, and a staging of Anna Ziegler's THE LAST MATCH presented by On The Verge in conjunction with the New Voices Literary Festival. Past acting credits with Civic Ensemble include THE LIBERATOR by Wendy Dann, A MORE PERFECT UNION by Vern Thiessen, LENIN'S SHOE by Saviana Stanescu, THE BEST OF KATHY AND MO (based on PARALLEL LIVES) by Kathy Najimy & Mo Gaffney, THIS LINGERING LIFE by Chiori Miyagawa, THE MISTAKES MADELINE MADE by Elizabeth Meriwether, and the title role in ANTIGONE. Other local credits include: CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION by Annie Baker, and Ted LoRusso & Sturgis Warner's FIRST DAY: SUITE FOR FOUR ACTORS AND PERCUSSIONIST, both on the Kitchen Theatre Company's mainstage.

Herzog's off-Broadway & NYC theatre credits include: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Hero) with Gorilla Repertory; THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (Jessica), THE CRADLE WILL ROCK (Sister Mister), and THE MISANTHROPE (Eliante) - all with the Jean Cocteau Repertory; the world premiere of YENTL in Yiddish with the Folksbiene National Yiddish Theatre, directed by Robert Kalfin; and productions with companies including La MaMa ETC, Abingdon Theatre Company, Prospect Theatre Company, Expanded Arts, Vital Theatre Company, Jewish Repertory, and Theater For The New City. Herzog's TV, film, and voice over credits include: As The World Turns, Conversations with Other Women, Ghosts of the Heartland, Hollywood's Finest, Discovery Channel, Oxygen Network.

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