Princeton Seniors Launch a Virtual Theater Company

As seniors Ash Baudelaire and Matthew Cooperberg prepare to graduate, they’re getting their house in order — House of Bones Theater Company, that is, their new startup.  

The goal and mission of House of Bones “is to make theater more available to more people,” according to Cooperberg, and to do “whatever we can do to keep that accessibility at the forefront,” Baudelaire said, like creating works for those who cannot afford to attend or travel to live performances.  

While their focus is creating virtual content, they did premiere a traditional show, Graveyard Shift, at the Lewis Center for the Arts last fall. All of the original horror tragicomedies the duo has created take place within the same universe. 

Baudelaire, a transfer student majoring in sociology with minors in theater and entrepreneurship and the humanities, graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and then spent a few years as an actor, playwright, and producer in New York City. She has long been an advocate for virtual theater, a position that was only enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, she created House of Bones, but she said “things really took off” once Baudelaire got to Princeton and “Matthew came on board, because narratively, I had all these ideas, but … it was more of a dream. And then I think together, here at Princeton, it became a plan.” 

Cooperberg, who uses the pronoun they, was an actor and playwright during high school and is majoring in physics with minors in gender and sexuality studies and theater. After they got to Princeton, Cooperberg wrote a play performed with Theater Intime in fall 2023. They met Baudelaire when both were cast in a try-on theater Lewis Center show in fall 2022 and quickly became friends.  

Baudelaire then approached Cooperberg with her House of Bones idea and her desire to participate in the summer 2025 iteration of the Keller Center’s eLab Summer Accelerator program, which supports startup developers with stipends, workshops, resources, and mentorship. 

“I was like, ‘I’m not doing anything else for the summer. This sounds amazing. This sounds like a lot of fun. I would love to start a theater company,’” said Cooperberg.  

They hired John Heitz ’28, a psychology major who is minoring in theater and has ambitions of pursuing theater professionally, to work with them that summer. Heitz had acting experience, but no experience with the business side of the house. “It was a lot of fun just getting to see it all come together,” he said. 

Baudelaire and Cooperberg have continued on with the year-long Keller Center eLab Accelerator, which they credit with helping them to build the company. Benedikt Lehnert, an entrepreneurship and design fellow, has become a mentor. 

Through the Keller Center programs, the pair really learned “how they become these media entrepreneurs, rather than just a theater duo,” said Lehnert. 

“If House of Bones succeeds, it’s because we were at the Keller Center and it’s because of the staff members who were there supporting us every step of the way,” said Baudelaire. 

Though the company was initially conceived as a nonprofit, after working with the Keller Center, Baudelaire and Cooperberg decided to establish House of Bones as a Public Benefit Corporation in New Jersey. “Even though it’s a for-profit entity, we can signal to investors upfront that, ‘Hey, this is a very mission-driven organization,’” said Baudelaire. 

In November, the Lewis Center funded a week of shows of Graveyard Shift, which was described in promotional materials as “a gothic horror tragicomedy set in a haunted graveyard-turned-luxury-apartment complex” that blends “high-stakes physicality, lyrical dialogue, and kick-ass heavy metal.”  

Baudelaire and Cooperberg envision their shows to be in the format of a digital single-camera experience. “We don’t just stick a camera in the audience from whatever the best seat in the house is and just film the stage,” said Cooperberg. “We put the camera on the stage, walking around.” 

They told audiences of Graveyard Shift prior to the physical performances that “you all are the camera, and you are free to move throughout the play space,” meaning audience members could wander and walk right up to the actors, though they could also choose to sit in seats to watch. “The goal for this production is to feel like you are the ghosts haunting this graveyard,” Baudelaire said. 

For Reunions, House of Bones is hosting a special reading of the first act of Graveyard Shift from 5 to 7 p.m. on May 21 in the Wallace Theater. Next, they plan to produce a radio version of Graveyard Shift for their YouTube channel, @HouseofBonesTC, which also currently hosts free related content such as single scenes, custom puzzles, and teasers. Eventually, they plan to charge for access. 

“You can really dive in with us and play the different escape room style puzzles that we have available on the channel. You can unlock the lore of why the camera is dropped onto the stage in the first place,” explained Baudelaire. “You don’t have to dive in with us to fully appreciate the shows, but if you want to take a swim with us, we’re here.”