About.
Johna Mancini, Director — Johna is an aesthete of the third millennium and comes from the theater, set design and visual merchandise display background. Directing movies has always been part of Johna Mancini’s passion and has influenced him when staging splendid visual merchandise creations in NYC, where he’s lived and worked since the 90s. Johna has executed numerous window displays for Valentino along with iconic brands such as Emporio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Moschino, Versace and countless others.
“With To Be, I hope to open up a new dialogue about Shakespeare’s work for both lifelong fans of the scribe as well as the next generation. It is no secret that Hamlet and Ophelia’s love affair ends in tragedy but I aim to introduce a new element not often associated with Shakespeare: the future. By juxtaposing a traditional Shakespeare narrative with the future, the audience will have a chance to experience Shakespeare’s wonderful words and characters as we all know them, but also what those words and characters would sound and look like if given a new and futuristic context. In my version of Hamlet, you will not only see the tragedy of what happened, but what might have happened if Hamlet and Ophelia had been given a future.”
TO BE – The Team
Director & Producer: Johna Mancini
“Ophelia” and “Juliet”: Alexandra Faye Sadeghian
“Hamlet” and “Romeo”: Isaac Hirotsu Woofter
Director of Photography: Matt Harvey
Directo’s Assistant: Joseph Willwerth
Makeup Artist: Lindsay Kastuk
Costumes: Yon Yuh Zweibon
Publicist: Daniela Puglielli