As You Like It

As You Like It (in plague time).

Those were the words I typed out at the top of the page when I sat down to start working on the script cut for this production. It was early January, a new year, but the air was still heavy with the rampant disease—and dis-ease—of the year before. I thought back to my senior year of college, when I directed an ostentatiously silly production of As You Like It featuring, among other things, Lederhosen short shorts and one of the Try Guys in an inflatable muscle suit. I thought about several years later, when I’d been giddy at the chance to play Rosalind at a community theater in my hometown. It was another very light production—sweet and whimsical—and I remember it fondly.

But something a little different seemed to be called for now.

What could a conventionally sunny pastoral comedy have to say to us in winter, in the middle of a pandemic, in a country where over half a million have died, where a year of keeping our distance has left us exhausted, suspicious, and full of grief? What could this play, which is so often painted in shades of spring green and candyfloss pink, have to say to us in such rough weather?

I thought about the title. As You Like It. There’s a theory out there—and frankly I’m not sure if it’s scholarly or just seemingly so—that Shakespeare was being shamelessly cynical when he tossed off the title to his 1599 comedy. After all, he was on a roll at that point: As You Like It came between two heavy-hitters, Henry V and Julius Caesar, and next up would be Hamlet. Perhaps the playwright was thumbing his nose at the commercial demand for something fun and fluffy: “Okay, audience. Here you go, have it as you like it. The whole shebang — cross-dressing ladies, shepherds and shepherdesses, forest shenanigans, love triangles, miraculous conversions, dei ex machinae, all the happy endings you can stuff yourself with… Happy now?”

It’s amusing to imagine. But whoever and whatever Shakespeare was, I can’t help believing that he/she/it was too big-spirited to do anything purely cynically. I thought about James Baldwin, who wrote that Shakespeare’s “joy and his strength and his life, is to defeat all labels and complicate all battles by insisting on the human riddle, to bear witness… to that mighty, unnameable, transfiguring force which lives in the soul of man.” What is the riddle of As You Like It? What kinds of transfigurations does it show to us?

Perhaps there’s something different in the title — something beyond cynicism. Say that we read the title earnestly. As You Like It. Suddenly, the relationship it evokes with us, its audience, goes deeper than the commercial. What’s revealed has to do with desire. This is a play about the things that we really want. The yearnings that we dismiss as fantastical so that we can go about our lives. The dreams that live deep down below our stomachs and in the little, locked, unpractical rooms of our hearts. What do we really want after all? We want to be seen — to be loved fully, magically, unquestioningly and at first sight, by the right person. We want to run away to the forest — to escape politics and Capitalism and tyranny, all the shackles we’ve forged for ourselves in the name of progress and order. We want to play — to discover and learn each other, and to come into our own. We want to be forgiven and to be able to forgive, to be granted grace from our past mistakes. We want togetherness, music, conversation, rest — the things that, in their way, do as much as walls and a roof to keep out the cold.

This is the As You Like It that feels alive to me now. Not a comedy that’s been beaten into seriousness for serious times, but a comedy whose lightness sustains us, and whose light flickers through the winter — and reminds us of the spring that is to come. This is a play that revels in artifice—the god from the rafters, the happily ever afters—but behind all its craft, all its exuberant wish fulfillment, is a question. What do we actually wish? And how might we live if we started trusting our fantasies, if we expanded our definition of the possible?

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Post Script

Rosalind speaks an Epilogue in this production that, if you’re familiar with the play, you will not recognize. Though there is an Epilogue written for the character—more accurately, for the actor—in Shakespeare’s play, it didn’t seem like the right one for what we were going to be doing together, and the time in which we set out to do it. So, now there is a new one. Actually, it’s all Shakespeare. But it’s new all the same. I hope the play, as a whole, feels similar.

About the Cast:

Darian Bencosme is a fourth year BFA actor from New Jersey. Purchase rep credits include: Roe v. Wade (Randy), Blood Wedding (Leonardo), The Possibilities (Torturer), A Bright Room Called Day (Die Alte). Other credits include (Every 28 Hours) at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ and BroCreation (Randy) at The Producers Club in Manhattan, NY. He would like to thank his family for their love and support.

Carson Bennett is a fourth year BFA actor plucked from Blackshear, Georgia. Her past credits include Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Oompa Loompa 1), Wizard of Oz (Unnamed Munchkin) and Stone Soup (1st grade ensemble), among many others. She would like to thank Company 45, her twin John Michael, her family, friends and, as always, her hard-headed mama. xx

Ronald Benson-El Jr. is a fourth year actor in the BFA conservatory of SUNY Purchase. Ronald is from Washington, DC. His past credits are Roe v. Wade, The Possibilities, Blood Wedding, and Marisol. He would like to thank his family and friends for believing in him and supporting him.

Ana Nicolle Chavez is a fourth year actor at SUNY Purchase College all the way from the desert of Tucson, Arizona. Her Purchase credits include Blood Wedding (Girl/Bride), Marisol (Marisol) and Cloud Tectonics (Celestina). She’s excited for what’s to come and thanks her parents, friends, and partner for their support.

Dafi Cramer is a fourth year BFA actor from Tel Aviv, Israel. Purchase Rep credits include: Right Behind You (Ensemble piece), A Bright Room Called Day (Agnes), The Possibilities (Judith), and Roe versus Wade (Allison). She would like to thank her family and loved ones for their endless support and love.

Mason Forringer is a fourth year BFA actor from Flemington, NJ. Purchase Rep Credits include: Subliminal (Eamon), Marisol (Lenny), The Possibilities (Youth), Blood Wedding (Boy). Many thanks to his family and friends. He would like to dedicate this show to Chris.

Aaron Greenberg is a fourth year BFA actor from Queens with scoliosis. Past credits include A Bright Room Called Day (Baz) and The Bear (Smirnov). He’s incredibly grateful to his family for their support, and also the crew, because no one ever thanks the crew.

Cici Koueth is a fourth year in the acting conservatory from South Sudan, Africa and grown up in the sunshine state of Florida. Roles embraced throughout her journey at Purchase include Charlene (Roe vs. Wade), Dumb Woman/Servant (The Possibilities), Mother (Blood Wedding), Xillah (A Bright Room Called Day: Revisited). Outside of Purchase: Cece (Obama-ology), and Evonne Goolagong (Frost/Nixon). Cici would like to acknowledge and share gratitude for her family and friends. Peace!

Kelsey Longwill is a fourth year BFA actor from Santa Clarita, California. Purchase rep credits include A Bright Room Called Day (Paulinka), Blood Wedding (Maiden) and Roe V Wade (Jeannie). She would like to thank her family for all their love and support, and Company 45 for changing her life for the better.

Patrick Moore is a fourth year BFA actor from Salisbury, North Carolina. Purchase Rep credits include: Roe Versus Wade (Randy), Blood Wedding (The Father) and A Bright Room Called Day (Husz). Other credits include The Glass Menagerie (Tom) at UNCSA and Theogony (Chorus) at the One Year Lease Theatre company. He would also like to thank his friends and family for being such good people.

Ta’Neesha Murphy is a fourth year BFA actor from Washington DC. Purchase credits include Blood Wedding (Death as a Beggar Woman), The Possibilities (Girl/Woman), and Marisol (Angel). Other credits include The Bluest Eye (Mama) and Maliki Simba (Nala). She thanks her beautiful family and everyone for watching. 여러분들 봐주셔서 감사합니다!

Mary Paola is a fourth year BFA actor from Bar Harbor, Maine. Purchase Rep credits include: Marisol (June), Blood Wedding (Servant), Roe versus Wade ​(Jeannie) and The Bacchae of Euripides (Vestal, Bacchante). Other credits include Pygmalion (Eliza) and The Christians ​(Jenny) at Acadia Repertory Theatre. She would like to thank her wonderfully supportive family and roommates, and as always, Company 45.

Marlynn N. Pollard is a fourth year actress in the BFA acting conservatory from The Bronx, New York. Purchase rep credits include: Allison (Roe vs. Wade), Grandmother/Ensemble (The Possibilities), Maiden 1 / Pole Person (Blood Wedding), Annabella Gotchling (A Bright Room Called Day: Revisited). Marlynn would like to acknowledge her family, friends and teachers for all of their support. She would like to dedicate all performances to the loving memory of her aunt Josephine Greenaway.

Clara Steeves is a fourth year BFA actor from Newfoundland, Canada. Previous credits with Purchase Rep include: A Bright Room Called Day (Rosa Malek), Blood Wedding (The Wife), ​Roe Versus Wade (Christine/Candy), and Right Behind You (Ensemble). She would like to dedicate this performance to the memory of Raymond Dahn for his unwavering support and belief in her.

Aaron J. Stewart is a fourth year BFA actor from Highland, New York. His Purchase rep credits include: Blood Wedding (The Moon), A Bright Room Called Day (Traum/Swetts), The Possibilities (Weaver Man/Ensemble), The Colored Museum (Guy/Miss Roj/Narrator/The Kid). He would like to thank all of his friends and family for supporting him, and his teachers and directors for helping him grow in his artistic process.

Catherine Young is a fourth year BFA actor from Kentucky. Purchase Rep credits include: A Bright Room Called Day (Zillah), The Possibilities (Young Woman), Blood Wedding (Little Girl, Youth), and Roe V. Wade (Carla). Many loving thanks to company 45, her family and all the angels. Rebellion.

About the Design & Production Team

Jordan Santiseban (Scenic Designer) is a fourth year scenic designer from the Adirondacks. Her past credits include Helen and Everything You Love. She would like to thank Eryn Williams for being an amazing co-designer and helping create the beautiful world of Arden. She would also like to thank her family, thank you for always being my rock. 

Eryn Williams (Scenic Designer) is a fourth year scenic designer from Mount Sinai, New York. Her past credits include: Subliminal (SD), Bastille Day (SD), Twelfth Night (ASD), and Fen (ASD). She would like to thank her Dad, Lori, and brothers for guiding her in the right direction, and Luke for always being a beacon of light.

Adanne Spencer-Johnson (Costume Designer) is a fourth year BFA costume design major from Bronx, New York. Past credits include, Right Behind You (CD), Helen (CD), Mr. Burns (ACD) and Bully (ACD). She’d like to thanks her family, friends, and partner for their continuous support and encouragement.  

Preston Shelsta (Lighting Designer) is a fourth year lighting designer from South Dakota. Some of his Purchase credits include Blood Wedding (Sound Designer) and Dance Nation (Lighting Designer). Preston would like to dedicate his work on this show to the memory of his friend Ariel Bourke.

Cori Keto (Sound Designer) is a fourth year design tech student from Hyde Park, New York, concentrating in stage management. This last semester marks her first semester designing sound at Purchase. She feels incredibly lucky to learn so much about both stage management and sound, and would like to thank everyone involved.

Maya Whitaker (Production Stage Manager) is a fourth year Stage Manager from Gilbert, AZ. Her past credits include: Purchase Virtual Fall Festival (PM), Fall 2019 BA Senior Festival (PSM), Twelfth Night (SM), and Henry VI, Part I (ASM). She would like to thank her family for supporting her in her artist dreams and the D/T Class of 2021 who have inspired her to be the best Stage Manager she could be. 

Madi Morrisey (Technical Director) is a third year technical director and stage manager from Troy, NY. Her past credits include Right Behind You (SM), Twelfth Night (Master Carpenter), and Fen (ASM). She would like to thank her wonderful friends and family for always supporting her throughout her theatrical journey, and her bearded dragon for always being there for a cuddle. 

Sara Holdren is a director, teacher, and writer-about-theater, originally from the Blue Ridge foothills outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. She loves big plays — expansive, wild-hearted stories with a sense of humor, a regard for the vast unknown, and a visceral, intrinsic need to be expressed on a stage and nowhere else. She also loves bicycles, E. M. Forster, Russian theater, and ridiculous British television. In 2019 and 2020, Sara served as the Artistic Director of Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford, and from 2017-2019 she was the theater critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com. She is also the recipient of the 2016-2017 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for her essay “The Revolution Will Not Be Hashtagged.” Pre-pandemic directing projects include Twelfth Night at Two River Theater; The Merchant of Venice with the Cleveland Play House/CWRU MFA Acting Program; The Winter’s Tale with Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford; Macbeth and The Comedy of Errors with Two River Theater’s A Little Shakespeare program; MIDSUMMER (which she co-adapted from the plays of William Shakespeare) with her own Brooklyn-based theater company, Tiltyard; Deer and the Lovers by Emily Zemba; The Zero Scenario by Ryan Campbell; and The Master and Margarita, adapted by Edward Kemp from the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. Sara has also served as the Artistic Director of the Yale Summer Cabaret, where she directed the original production of MIDSUMMER and Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. She is a Drama League Fellow and a graduate of the Acting Shakespeare program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and has taught at Primary Stages’ Einhorn School of the Performing Arts and at the MFA Acting program at the New School in New York City. She holds a BA in Theater from Yale University and an MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama. She recently bicycled across the United States with her partner, Beau, a writer, and the two of them currently live in Richmond, Virginia with their grumpy cat friend, Henry.

In our teaching and art, the Conservatory values inclusiveness, equality, and excellence. Upholding all of our training is our aim to train and graduate citizen artists: multifaceted people with a strong sense of purpose in approaching an arts education.

What is a citizen artist? Citizen artists seek to discover how their unique voices can contribute to our world. They understand what it means to be an artist, and what they are here on earth to say and do and make.

The Conservatory trains future citizen artists in three degree programs:

+ BFA Actor Training. The BFA is an intensive professional training program offered to a highly select and diverse group of students. The professional training is anchored in four years of study in acting, voice, speech, and movement, complemented by offerings in dramatic literature and analysis, history of the theatre, stage combat, improvisation, mask work, acting for the camera, and the business of acting. As one of five schools in the Consortium of Professional Theatre Training Programs, Purchase is one of a handful of colleges in the world capable of training artists at this level—and of drawing a faculty from the ranks of professional theatre

+ BFA in Theatre Design/Technology. Emphasizing studio and classroom training, our professional training program in theatre design/technology gives students the guidance and support of established and theatre industry professionals. Many of our alumni are recognized at the top of their field, and have received Tony, Emmy, Obie, and Drama Desk Awards, among other honors. Quite literally, Purchase grads are working in or have worked in every theatre on Broadway, in all tristate venues, and with countless touring productions

+ BA program in Theatre and Performance. From traditional theatre to cutting-edge interdisciplinary work, the theatre and performance major encourages creativity, intellectual curiosity, social engagement, and critical thinking. The core requirements combine scholarship and practice to provide students with a strong foundation in theatre history and dramatic literature, with mandatory stagecraft/production courses. Theatre and Performance majors are encouraged to expand the scope of their education by studying abroad, as well as pursuing coursework in other programs of study within the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Purchase College