DECLARATION Press Release

firstflight2018

Jul 21

3 min read

Updated: Jul 21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

7/20/25

FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY

TO PERFORM “DECLARATION” A NEW MUSICAL

AT NEW JERSEY’S THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM ON AUGUST 1^ST

First Flight Theatre Company presents two performances of Declaration adapted by Frank Farrell and directed by Lynn Manuell on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 3pm and 7pm at the Hermitage Museum, 335 Franklin Turnpike in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ. Admission is $20. For tickets visit https://www.thehermitage.org

The Musical Composer for Declaration is Ben Masterton, and the Musical Director is Lisa Plasse. Choreography by Amanda Nummy. The cast of six actors are Ben Archer, Jordyn Grier-Parham, Amanda Nummy, Shayla Quesada, Micaela Ramirez, and Rosario Rodrigues.

Celebrate America’s 250^th Anniversary with Declaration, a lively new musical based on the Declaration of Independence presented by the First Flight Theatre Company at the Hermitage Museum. This whimsical, family‑friendly 45‑minute production brings the Declaration of Independence to life through a playful “play‑within‑a‑musical” format. Every word of the original text is spoken onstage as the show explores why the document was written, who signed it, and what its legacy means today. Declaration is a play within a play (think Pippin) it brings history to life in the manner of Hamilton or 1776. It is an intriguing musical that sometimes has the actors speaking while playing Musical Chairs, London Bridge is Falling Down and Tug-O-War.

FIRST FLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY is a not-for-profit founded by Frank Farrell in 2018 devoted to presenting the plays of 20th century American playwright Maxwell Anderson as well as other playwrights who instill poetry in their writing. The company has performed live staged readings of Anderson’s plays in New Jersey, New York City and Chicago including Valley Forge, Elizabeth the Queen, Mary of Scotland, Sea-Wife, The Masque of Queens, White Desert, The Eve of St. Mark, Saturday’s Children and What Price Glory. During the pandemic First Flight presented play readings on Zoom for the public. Post pandemic the company presented at The Hermitage in New Jersey outdoor productions of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Maxwell Anderson’s Valley Forge. For Earth Day in 2023 the First Flight Theatre Company presented streaming performances of In the Garden of Live Flowers, a play about Rachel Carson, which went on to be a winner at the Green Academy Award Film Festival. That same year it presented the double bill Shakespeare’s Ladies at Tea and Shakespeare’s Deaths as part of FRIGID’s Little Shakespeare Festival in New York City. In October of that year, it presented the one-woman show Mina based on Dracula at the Hermitage and at the UNDER St. Mark’s Theater in New Tork City. In 2025 & 2024 at the Hermitage FFTC presented Little Women, Poe: An Evening of Mystery and the Macabre, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Night of the Living Dead, and Dickens Presents A Christmas Carol (both years). In addition, the company and the Instant Shakespeare Company joined forces presenting play readings at New York City’s various public libraries of Anderson’s White Desert, Sea-Wife and his 1924 play What Price Glory. First Flight recently re-published Maxwell Anderson’s plays What Price Glory, First Flight, The Buccaneer, Outside Looking In, Gods of the Lightning and Sea-Wife all available at Amazon.com.

The History of The Hermitage is one of great interest and variety. It documents vast socio-economic changes, advances and declines. It tells the story of an exciting period during the birth of our nation. The changing fortunes of one family over more than a century and a half can be read in the exhibitions of clothing, personal items and ephemera in the restored home. The Hermitage Museum and National Monument provides a view into the history of this site and all those who helped contribute to its development and posterity. https://www.thehermitage.org