Dream Big: Jenny Wonderling on Her Latest Immersive Theater Events

Three summers ago, an extraordinary theatrical event unfolded in an orchard in Stone Ridge.  BLOOM was an avant-garde, interactive experience that transported its audience on a visionary journey, seamlessly blurring the boundaries between performance, creativity, and healing. More than 200 volunteers from the Hudson Valley came together to bring this captivating spectacle to life.

Jenny Wonderling, a core visionary behind the production, served as Co-Director, Co-Producer, and Co-Writer under the umbrella of Circle Creative Collective, which she co-founded. BLOOM attracted over 1,000 attendees across two sold-out Saturdays, cementing its place as a transformative experience. Following this success, the team went on to create LUMINOUS, another groundbreaking site-specific musical production that sold out at the Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale in the Fall of 2022 and attracted more than 700 guests.

Though Jenny has since moved on from the Collective, her dedication to pioneering impactful events continues. Her latest project, DREAM, is an exciting new site-specific work set to premiere in Winter 2026, with lead-up events—A Taste of Dream—beginning this August. Meanwhile, she balances all this with her roles as Content Director at INSIDE+OUT, a mother of three sons, a writer, a Breathwork facilitator, a community organizer, and founder of Crescent Hudson Valley, a retreat and workshop space on her land in Gardiner, NY, where she has lived and raised her sons for over 24 years.

DREAM has been developing with the talented creatives from Jenny’s past productions and the vibrant community she’s cultivated at Crescent, inviting audiences to yet another interactive, site-specific journey. This time, Jenny is calling the surreal experience “culinary theater,” an immersive performance that will invite guests to witness and become part of the story while enjoying a decadent meal together.

Much like her earlier works, DREAM inspires audiences by bringing them into a shared experience that celebrates the magic of myth, the creativity that connects us all, and the deep, reverent bond we share with the natural and unseen worlds. As Jenny describes it, “DREAM offers a space where we are invited to re-member and honor the beauty and wisdom that lies within and around us.” As it blurs the lines between dining, performance, and soul-nourishing ritual, it invites participants to embody the mythic journey it tells.

INSIDE+OUT caught up with Jenny to find out more about her new show.

INSIDE + OUT: What exactly is A Taste of DREAM?

Jenny Wonderling: It’s an upcoming series of delicious dinners and experiences in the Hudson Valley that will be super fun in their own right and will also give people a taste of a much larger and more nuanced theater experience that is in the works called DREAM. These “tasters” will whet audiences’ appetites, so to speak, with offerings over the next weeks and months that will also help our team explore concepts for the full monty. For now, we have two date options, August 16th and August 23rd. During either event, guests can connect with some of the players and co-creators of DREAM and hear their incredible gifts of song. These Taste of DREAM lead-up dinners will also be site-specific and interactive, inviting guests to dine while enjoying original live music, sound healing, dance, and more, but will be a scaled-down version. You will have to stay tuned for many more events happening soon!

Purchase Tickets to DREAM events for August 16th HERE

DREAM tells a mythic story of a young woman who has lost her dreams. As she journeys to reclaim them, we – as her witnesses and companions – are also transformed. This more complex, avant-garde experience will weave original live music, performance,  aerial work, dance, costumes, elaborate lighting design, projections, and ritual into one enchanted evening. It’s a wild co-creation, thanks to the talents of dozens of remarkable Hudson Valley performers and notable chefs, all set within a story that guests will experience while dining. Essentially, guests will sit at a communal table, enjoy an unforgettable meal, while being immersed in a performance that blurs the line between reality and the surreal. A kind of feast for the senses and soul meant to remind us that our dreams do matter, both for our fulfillment and to shape the future of our world. But you will have to stay tuned for that more complex vision.

Both A Taste of DREAM and the full-fledged event are also Ask Me Anything Dinners, utilizing a structure I’ve developed to facilitate deeper communication and connection during meals. In other words, it’s a way of igniting more wild and personal stories to tumble out, but only one person speaks at a time, and the overall themes of the questions change depending on the event and location. I’ve produced or co-produced many of these Ask Me Anything Dinners, and at this point, I can say with confidence that it’s a device that works so well that strangers are soon friends, howling with laughter, wiping tears, or both.

How this will all merge with ritual theater and music will be an exciting experiment. My team is currently busy with pre-production and fundraising to support fair pay for our team, create handmade sets and costumes, and establish the necessary infrastructure to bring this living, wild work of art to life. Time will tell exactly when and how all the details will coalesce, but creating this beautiful and complex tapestry is the most fun I’ve had since working on BLOOM and LUMINOUS in 2022. And the plan is that by winter, 2026, we will be splattering DREAMs all over the valley and beyond!

Can you tell us a little more about your other immersive ritual theater offerings?

Jenny Wonderling: BLOOM and LUMINOUS were two large-scale ritual theater productions that brought together 100’s of creatives and more than 2,000 audience members to explore themes of death, birth/rebirth, and ancestral wisdom in 2022. One was at the Stone Ridge Orchard, the other in the Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale. I can proudly say that these sold-out performances galvanized much of the Hudson Valley’s creative community and inspired so many through participatory storytelling and those dream-like, immersive experiences.

I co-created those under the Circle Creative Collective umbrella. I’m thrilled to have a beautiful excuse to connect so many makers and performers again, allowing them to awaken visions and dreams and weave aspects of those within this larger tapestry, play in costumes like kids, and help inspire a large number of people. The story and visuals of this event will be so transformational, and the same lighting designer, as well as many of the same performers and makers of BLOOM and LUMINOUS, are involved in DREAM. Can there be anything more fun than co-creativity and summoning a wild new universe from our imagination?

Video courtesy of Circle Creative Collective

We’re not sure where you find the time, but you are also a writer. How do you weave this practice into your life?

Jenny Wonderling: First of all, I probably don’t sleep enough, but I also make up for it by taking short naps. And I write at varied hours of the day– either grabbing moments between other things, or more often, waking in the middle of the night so I can tune out all the different responsibilities and distractions. I love to write and capture my own stories, as well as those of others, and have been doing so since I received my first journal at the age of five. Maybe it’s my way of forcing stillness upon myself. And, to be part of INSIDE+OUT as a writer and Content Director is also super motivating. It’s a kind of community mycelium, but on a broader scale. I so appreciate the inspiration, connections, and opportunities that the magazine provides and amplifies.

What kind of people usually attend your events at Crescent, your homestead in Gardiner, that has become a beloved hub for creative inspiration and healing?

Jenny Wonderling: In all that I offer, I celebrate the fascinating nexus where creativity and spirituality converge. I safely and gently encourage curiosity and participation to bloom here. I love it when people can move past mere attendance and witnessing. I also come with a strong sense of service. What interests me greatly is how we can go beyond our personal journeys and healing, and alchemize all that into action that touches others and allows us to be allies to the Earth.

I value experiences and spaces where we can all stretch and test different parts of ourselves, recognizing that we all have something to offer and that it feels great to push past our fears. We can also remember that we are all creative beings, both teachers and students. The time is now for all of us to express ourselves as fully as we can, as authentically as we can. Authenticity and creativity feel like very necessary, even revolutionary acts, especially these days. I am all about both. So there isn’t one demographic. All ages and different kinds of open-hearted, open-minded people join in the expansive fun here.

What inspired you to create Crescent in the Hudson Valley and what drew you to that land in particular? How has your journey influenced the way this home and land have taken shape?

Jenny Wonderling: I’ll answer all these questions in a roundabout way…

When I first bought this property 24 years ago, I didn’t yet have a vision of the scope of what it would become. Before then, I was living in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a single mama with two young boys. I literally changed my life overnight based on a very clear, powerful dream I had the night before. Thankfully, I have always trusted my dreams to guide me. In it, I stood at the top of a mountain, looking out into a valley. I woke up sobbing, needing nature, and instantly called my step-mom, who was a real estate agent in the valley at the time. The impulse to move was so strong that we viewed 15 houses in just two days.

On the second day, in a strange tactic to convince me to buy another house, Kate took me to a property that would soon become our home, saying, “Look at this dump for more money than that other one you liked!” There was a huge hole in the deck that we gingerly had to step around to get inside. The kitchen was dim, and the floor was rotted in the center of the room, revealing layers of old flooring below. There was dark, flowered wallpaper throughout the house, shag carpeting from the 70s, and drop ceilings everywhere. She was right; it was a wreck, lacking the light-flooded spaces I craved. Yet, as soon as we stepped through the threshold of that sorrowful kitchen, my whole body registered “home.” It was hilarious because it made no “sense,” but true love is like that. I immediately told her I was going to live here. I could feel it, and that knowing was enough for me.

I was only thirty-one. I don’t really know how I had the courage, but I am so glad my younger self knew better than my older self would have advised. Also, there were clouds all around the property that first day, which can sometimes happen here. Clouds can settle in this valley under the Gunks, so I had no idea where the house was. The views didn’t yet transfix me. I hadn’t yet walked the land or fallen in love with the Shawangunkill River. Again, I didn’t have to. My body knew before logic could catch up, much like the premise of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink. After looking at the rest of the house that first day, we got back in the car. This was before 9/11. I had grown up in Tribeca, where I had owned a restaurant with my ex-husband. No one I knew had yet relocated to the Hudson Valley besides my dad and his wife. But I was certain; my boys and I were going to leave the city and live in this house.

We went back to Kate’s office, and she called the listing agent, who reported the house was “already in contract.” Kate seemed relieved, as if she could see what I couldn’t yet; the same sentiment my father, mom, and step-father would soon say when they saw this place: “Too much house. That place is a wreck.”

I possessed no home repair skills beyond a little painting of a room or two, and the small nest egg I had inherited from my grandparents would be just enough to put a down payment on the house, but certainly not enough to hire people to help.

The next day, Kate played back her voice messages, old-school style, on an office phone with a cord. Then she turned to me with a look of shock. “You’re a witch. The deal on that house just fell through.” After the closing, the rest of my family would soon visit. My mom said, “Why are you doing this to me?” My step-dad and father separately said, “Figure out how to get out of the deal.” For me, it was yet another step on a path of deep trust– of my intuition, my capacity, and nature’s healing ways. We pulled down many walls, added windows, and literally let the light flood in. Many, many people over the years would also soon recognize how much they were receiving by giving here. By the way, the house is magically in the same valley I had dreamed of that night back in Brooklyn, seen from Millbrook (aka Gertrude’s Nose) which is the cliff that looms above the property.

It may sound corny or contrived, but when I pulled off the wallpaper and we took out the walls, it was as if I was pulling layers off my heart. I think others have felt that way here, too. If I had tons of money and had just hired people, I probably would not have grown as much or stayed as genuine. There also wouldn’t be the same resonance of love here. Now my mom says, “This is the house that love built.” It’s true; this is a powerful place, but in a very humble and genuine way. So much of the healing happens around a table here, cooking a meal together, co-creating, or setting up an event. It’s the in-between moments that honest living happens. It’s through the “normal” 3D moments that we can see how to integrate spiritual lessons, put them into action in human ways, and learn to make everything a prayer while not taking anything too seriously or personally. It’s the old “chop wood, carry water” saying. So are we taking the crap out of the sink drain with love or resentment?

Of course, in the classes, performances, and events that take place here, there’s also a great deal of beauty, as well as important skills and wisdom shared. And all that happens here is then amplified by the power of the elements, the starry-filled sky, and the generosity of water. Crescent is also situated between a quartz-filled mountain and a river, offering up more healing yum.

I feel honored to steward this land and welcome others so they can also experience what it’s like to be part of something that feels truly hopeful, safe, and like a big, rambling family. And too, I am constantly giving thanks to those who settled and tended this land over the years, long before my boys and I arrived, and to all the spirits of this land.

This is a long-winded answer to your original question, but it leads me to this: none of what now exists at Crescent could have happened without community support from the start. My ex-boyfriend Jason moved in with his friend for two months to help rip out carpeting and lay tile. My mom’s boyfriend helped in so many ways, and also added plaster finishes to the walls. My step-dad helped refinish floors. I had so many weekends of paint parties. After 9/11, many friends and family members found solace here, soon wanting to help bring new life to what had been sad, old rooms and spaces. Once the big farmhouse was livable, we moved on to the outbuildings. An old milk house with a dirt floor and dilapidated walls was transformed into a cottage. We restored a building with few walls, wind and rain pouring in. Two years ago, we converted an old barn where I used to keep chickens and horses into a studio that is more like a sanctuary.

All the while, my kids have been in the mix, helping too, and fortunate enough to witness in real time how important having a healthy community is–how fun and challenging! Sometimes we have had housemates, and eventually, people stayed in the cottages too. So my kids grew up with many different types of people, especially creative, soul-searching humans. There were stilt walkers, painters, sculptors, woodworkers, chefs, polyglots, writers, people working with alternative energy, growers, healers, and more. And, thankfully, at least mostly, people have been here in a way that has felt symbiotic and mutually supportive.

Classes, retreats, and events on the land have been a natural progression of all that, especially as I have opened myself more and more to sharing healing work and creative mediums with others. Now, there are regular classes and events, all a way of saying thank you to the multifaceted community that has held me and helped grow me and my children into the complex, globally minded, and kind beings they are. So it’s been an actual labor of love, dedication and connection. This place is the embodiment of community in action, and reveals what is possible when we ask for help as well as give tons. My journey with this place has also been one of the longest, most devoted, and healthiest relationships that I have been in. Although that sounds funny, can you tell that I’m still in love?

So, Crescent now stands for many of the things I hold most dear: a place that celebrates kindness, open-mindedness, creativity, connection to the Earth and better stewardship, and healthy living in a balanced way. Through the various workshops and experiences, this place helps awaken our awareness of the unseen world – both in terms of our ancestors and the spiritual realms, as well as multiple paths and tools. I think it also fosters deeper communication, authenticity, and lasting relationships, though not always easy or harmonious. Indeed, some people are no longer part of this mix, but I continue to walk with them with gratitude, albeit in a more distant way. “Namaste, over there!” sums it up well and hilariously. We cannot hold everyone close, but we can still hold them with compassion. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Crescent also offers experiences that invite a more forgiving and honoring connection with ourselves and our dreams.

It’s also SO friggin fun here– it gets wild and hilarious. Through music, other forms of expression, and so many reflections of balanced, thriving humans, people are reminded there’s nothing in the way of all of us living and manifesting lives that inspire us. Of course, I’m talking about people whose basic needs are met and are not living in a war-torn environment, which is a privilege I do not ever take for granted. But despite financial constriction, or the madness of the world, or the unthinkable discrimination that is happening, I think it’s also essential to permit ourselves to be joyous. Through our joy, we hold up and radiate a light of hope.

Everything you create brings a strong sense of design. Is that what you studied?

No, I studied Anthropology with a minor in French at NYU and then attended the New York Film Academy, as well as took writing courses at The New School. I come from a family of artists on both sides, though, so creative expression was like food and air. It was the way we all understood best how to transmute our challenges and the pain we felt for the world. I grew up in a loft where my mom worked as a clothing designer, fashion stylist, and photographer. My stepfather was a photographer and also worked at BAM as the head electrician for years. They were early pioneers in Tribeca, some of the 1st to occupy those old buildings as creatives, and certainly as parents. My dad was a musician and producer. My grandparents, aunts, and uncles were artists. And I danced seriously until I got out of high school. So I was steeped in creative ways of transmuting the madness. Between 2005 and 2018, I owned shops in High Falls and Rhinebeck, where I sold furniture, rugs, gifts, art, tea, and jewelry from around the world, with an emphasis on Fair Trade and reclaimed goods. All excuses to travel to faraway places, support artisans, and leave a trail of beauty.

You offer pay-as-you-can classes and care so much about building a healthy community. Where does your altruism come from?

At my grandparents’ home in Long Island, the doors were always open to others. There was always another chair they could pull up, and for all types of people. My grandmother marched for Civil Rights and Women’s Rights. There were the liveliest conversations at the dinner table, and people didn’t always agree. But that house was full of love and life as a result of all they gave and tolerated. My cousins, brother, and I were blessed to spend so much time in that home during much of our younger lives. It was what I wanted to offer the world: that sense of inclusion, joy, and unconditional love. It still is! I’ve also been volunteering throughout my life, and the old adage is true: to give is to receive.

Would you say Crescent is successful?

Jenny Wonderling: Admittedly, it’s still not self-sustaining in terms of finances or as a thriving business model. But since the currency that matters most to me is love, I feel pretty friggin rich. Meanwhile, we are in the throes of fundraising for DREAM, and welcome tax-deductible donations, as well as sponsorship!

What local businesses do you rely on to be successful?

Jenny Wonderling: My success is built on collaboration with people I trust implicitly and who inspire me. Most of the sound healers, yoga teachers, musicians, and spiritual teachers I bring into the Crescent lineup are local and carefully vetted by me.

What is missing in the area that you wish we had?

Jenny Wonderling: Honestly, I can’t think of anything. I love it here, and I feel very fortunate to live in such an amazing place.

What’s your favorite moment in the day when you’re at Crescent — morning, dusk, after a rain?

Jenny Wonderling: Early morning, sunrise, bare feet on the damp grass, tea cup in hand.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Jenny Wonderling: Flying, although I have had so many dreams of doing so, that I thankfully feel like I have.

What is your current state of mind?

Jenny Wonderling: Inspired.

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Photos courtesy of Jenny Wonderling

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Purchase Tickets to DREAM events here: August 16th or August 23rd

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