Welcome to The Haven

Dear Friend,

Welcome to The Haven Hudson — I am so glad you are here. What began as a small group performing Shakespeare in the Park in Hudson is growing into something magical: a place of belonging for anyone who believes in the power of theatre grounded in empathy and love.

I am originally from Atlanta, Georgia, and came to Massachusetts for college in the early 2000s. During those years, I fell in love with Hudson. With my husband’s family rooted here, the town has long been woven into our story. When we relocated in 2020, it felt less like a move and more like coming home.

In the summer of 2025, at the cast party for our second annual Shakespeare at the Armory production (Much Ado About Nothing), I listened as the adults who had devoted their summer to making art for this community shared what the company had come to mean to them. They spoke of its significance — how our little company had become a safe place to be fully themselves and create something meaningful and lasting. As a middle school theatre teacher, I work every day to create safe spaces for young people to move through life artistically. That evening, I realized it wasn’t just children who needed that space. This community was asking for it — and almost accidentally, we had begun to build it.

Audience members started asking, “What is this theatre company called?” With those conversations echoing in my mind, I began reflecting on who we were becoming. Words like “home” and “family” rose to the surface, and I kept returning to the image of a single ghost light glowing in the dark — the lamp left onstage after everyone has gone home. A ghost light is practical, yes, but it is also symbolic. When the theatre is empty and the house is dark, that small light stands as a quiet refusal to let the darkness win. It says: we will return. The stories are not finished. The stage is not abandoned.

In my imagination, that light stood sheltered inside a cave, protected from the noise and uncertainty of the world outside — not an escape from darkness, but a response to it. A reminder that creativity, community, and care are forms of resistance; that art can gather us when the world feels scattered. That image became The Haven: a refuge, a safe home where artists who care about love and community can come together to make meaning out of the madness — where we choose, again and again, to be the light we leave on for one another.

Now, in our third year of producing Shakespeare at the Armory, we know there is more ahead for this company. We want to be intentional about who we are becoming and guard against drifting from the values that shaped us. This handbook exists to help hold us accountable to those core values. We believe theatre grounded in love and empathy can change the world, and we begin with our little corner here.

Thank you for being part of this journey. We welcome your contribution as we work together to bring about “the world we dream about” in “the one we live in now.”

Sincerely,

 Anna Lee Percuoco
Founder & Artistic Director
The Haven Hudson