Ruby Hutson-Ellenberg ’16 Leaps From Hunter to the World Stage: The Fringe Festival Presents This Gifted New Grad’s Biting New Play

In her final year as an English major and Hunter Muse Scholar, Ruby Hutson-Ellenberg looked at the Bible and found her own muse: Adam’s rebellious wife.

The ingenious result was Eve and Her Neighbors, a play with a 2 ½ week run this August at the 20th Annual New York International Fringe Festival. Featuring many of the world’s best emerging theatre troupes and dance companies, FringeNYC is the largest multi-arts festival in North America. It has been the launching pad for acclaimed writers, actors, directors, Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, downtown hits, and regional theatre productions.

Eve and Her Neighbors uses humor to address serious issues like sexist legislation and entrenched gender hierarchies. Describing the protagonist’s quandary, the Fringe program states: “Should she flee, or should she stay? Eve faces a dilemma in this biting satire about love and female friendship in the Garden of Eden. You know how it ends, but how did Eve really come to pick the low-hanging fruit?”

Hutson-Ellenberg grew up in Queens and graduated from Astoria’s Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. At Hunter, she pursued a creative-writing concentration, acted in a 2015 production of The Vagina Monologues, and was engaged in all aspects of the performing arts. She won English Department accolades for her playwriting, and thanks to the College’s partnership with the Theatre Development Fund, was able to intern at the renowned Mint Theater Company. There she gained  invaluable experience working in the office and on set with electricians, set constructionists, stage managers and the props master.

"The Mint is a model New York theater, and its small, but fierce, team offers an incredible internship that allows students to see a production through, start to finish, and work in every department. I learned a tremendous amount," Hutson-Ellenberg said, adding that she is equally grateful to the Fringe for “giving newbie artists, like me, a voice, a stage, and a community that would otherwise be unavailable.”