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New Plays Now

Director: Jessi D. Hill

WHERE THE LONELY RIVERS FLOW
Playwright: Kaira Rivera
Selina Deblanc: Precious Omigie
Roscoe Deblanc: Justin Parrish
Jezebelle: Ndeye Niang
Stage Directions by Sanise Lebron

BROKEN KEYS
Playwright: Jewel Victor
Lisa: Ndeye Niang
Jessie: Daija North
Officer Quincy: Devyn Akers
Extras: Max Garfin, Sanise Lebron, Eklan Singh
Stage Directions by Eklan Singh

GRILLED CHEESE AND TOMATO SOUP
Playwright: Taylor Maxim
Charlie: Arielle Moore
Tabitha: Noelle Backman
Stage Directions by Sanise Lebron

THREE MEN AND A GIRLFRIEND
Playwright: Aidan Kushner
Paul: Keymer Cuesta
Tina: Katie Parkinson
David: Justin Parrish
Roger: Eli Stiewing
Larry: Max Garfin
Geoffrey: Sanise Lebron
Ron Benjamin: Devyn Akers
Harold: Eklan Singh
Jordan: Daija North
Rick: Arielle Moore
Martin: Precious Omigie
Zachary: Max Garfin
Chris: Noelle Backman
Shawn: Ndeye Niang
Samuel: Eklan Singh
Andrew: Sanise Lebron
Amber: Noelle Backman
Nathan: Devyn Akers
Ralph: Max Garfin

PRODUCTION TEAM
Production Stage Manager: Nina Schatell
Stage Manager: Carly Friedman
Lighting and Sound Designer: Zachary Dulny

Presented by the School of Film & Media Studies

Creative Team Profiles

Cast

Sanise Lebron is a third year acting major in Purchase’s Theater Conservatory program. She is from the Bronx, New York and has the pleasure of playing Young Lowenhielm and Leif. Past Purchase credits include: Truth and Reconciliation (Wife), and Babette’s Feast (Young Lowenhielm and Leif). Other credits include: The Bennett Academy of Performing Arts, King of the Rodeo (Bobby Lynn). She would like to thank her family and friends for their constant support and love. Dinner is Served.

Keymer Cuesta is a junior bfa acting major from Brooklyn ny and of Afro-Dominican descent. His past credits include Jean Francois millet in is he dead and most
recently in truth and reconciliation.

Eli Gardner is a third year BFA actor from Annapolis Maryland and Brooklyn New York. Purchase credits include Serbian Man 2 and Northern Irish Man B (Truth and Reconciliation). Some outside credits include Adam (DNA) with Piper Theatre and Judas Iscariot (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot) with LaGuardia High School. Eli would like to give special thanks to his family, his teachers Jill and Hank, and everyone who’s supported him along the way!

Daija North is a Brooklyn native , in her 3rd year at purchase conservatory of theatre arts. Past Purchase credits include Truth and Reconciliation ( Widow). She sends love and hugs for all the support.

Max Garfin is a third year BFA actor from Manhattan, NY. Past Purchase credits include Truth and Reconciliation (Man 1 and Man A), Ivanov (Ivanov), and Three Sisters (Tuzenbach,) and has appeared in several professional independent films. He would like to thank his friends and family for their continued support.

Eklan Singh is a junior in the BFA acting company 47 of SUNY Purchase from Fairport, NY. He is very excited to share his work! His past shows have been Babette’s Feast and Truth and Reconciliation. Enjoy the show!

Katie Parkinson is a third year BFA actor from Seattle, Washington. You may have previously seen her in Truth and Reconciliation as Woman, or Babette’s Feast as Philippe. She is sending lots of love and thanks to her family back home, especially her dogs.

Noelle Backman is a third year actor in the BFA Acting conservatory. She has played a series of lead females, from Ismene in the greek trilogy Oedipus, Hippolyta in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, as well as Bosnian Woman in Truth and Reconciliation, and Martine in Babette’s Feast.

Arielle Moore is a third-year BFA acting major from Harlem, NY. Past Purchase credits include: Babette’s Feast (Mrs. Lowenhielm/Lady of the Court/Player 4) and Truth and Reconciliation (Man/Mama). Other credits include A Little Night Music (Petra) at LaGuardia High School. She sends so much love and gratitude to her supportive family, friends and mentors.

Precious Omigie is a third year BFA actor from Brooklyn, New York. Purchase Rep credits include: Truth and Reconciliation (Child/Grandma) Babette’s Feast (Astrid) Thank you to her family and friends and those who have been supportive!

Ndeye Daro Niang is a third year BFA actor from Harlem, New York. Purchase Rep credits include: Truth and Reconciliation ( Daughter/Woman) and Babette’s Feast
(Babette). Other credits include the Stellar Adler Studio of Acting, and placing third in the New York Shakespeare competition. Many thanks to all her close friends and companions who support and uplift her!

Devyn Akers: WHATS GOIN ON! I’m Devyn Akers I’m from DC I’ve been acting since the 6th grade. I would like to thank the production team for their hard
work and dedication on this process. I would like to thank my company who I love dearly and thankful for to be doing this show along side them! Last I would like to thank Dean for opening up a door for all of us to understand and enjoy the world in which we have embarked on! Fun Fact: I am a basketball phenomenon!

Justin Parrish is a third year BFA actor from Los Angeles, California. Purchase Rep credits include Babette’s Feast (Papin/ Groom). Some of his other credits include HAIR (Berger), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Ed), DNA (Richard), and The Dream of the Burning Boy (Dane) at Valencia High School. He thanks his parents and all of his friends who support him!

Production

Nina Schatell (Production Stage Manager): Nina Schatell is a third year stage manager from New York City. Off Broadway: New York Classical Theatre’s King Lear (production assistant). Purchase Rep credits include: New Plays Now 2021 (Production Stage Manager), Everybody (stage manager), The Colored Museum, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The People From Very Far Away, Excerpts From Jails, Hospitals, and Hip Hop, Cheat Day (ASM). Many thanks to the wonderful cast and crew for their hard work and dedication.

Carly Friedman (Stage Manager): Carly Friedman is a junior Theatre & Performance major from New York City. Previous credits at Purchase include: A Walrus In The Body Of A Crocodile (Stage Manager), Springtime (Production Stage Manager), Sam (SM), and Henry IV Part I (ASM). She would like to thank everyone in the cast, the writers, and the production team for all of their diligence and creativity.

Zachary Dulny (Sound & Lighting Designer), Sophomore, is ecstatic to be working on New Plays Now. After just finishing being the programmer and board operator on the fall BA production of “A Walrus in the Body of a Crocodile”, he is super excited to have hopped on this show. Zach is currently a BFA Lighting Designer in the Purchase College Design/Tech program which he loves. He thanks his friends, professors, and family for everything they’ve ever done for him. If you’d like to view his lighting portfolio, please go to https://bit.ly/DulnyDesigns

Playwright Profile

Aidan Kushner (Playwright: Three Men and a Girlfriend) is a junior at Purchase college, majoring in Playwriting and Screenwriting. He recently directed a comedic short film he wrote called Hole Love. He does stand up comedy as well as performs sketch comedy with the campus sketch group, Purchase Late Night. His goal is to make you laugh so that you lose control of your bowels. Find him @aidan_kushner

Kaira Rivera (Playwright: Where The Lonely Rivers Flow) is a senior double majoring in Playwriting/Screenwriting and Theatre & Performance, with a minor in Sociology. Along with acting, she enjoys writing for the stage and for the screen. Her past work includes Little By Little, a play produced in Roundabout Theatre Company, and An Angel Cried, a screenplay selected for the 2021 POV Festival. She would like to thank her family and friends for supporting her no matter what. She is excited to finally be a part of New Plays Now and thanks everyone on the team for giving her this opportunity.

Taylor Maxim (Playwright: Grilled Cheese )is a junior transfer playwriting and screenwriting major, previously studying at The American Academy For Dramatic Arts and Corning Community College. Over the last year, Taylor wrote and directed “The Suburb Swimming Pool Effect”, a one-act play that premiered in July at Corning Community College. He also won a local playwriting contest through Elmira Little Theater with his play “A Moon Based Parable” in June.

Jewel Victor, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is a undergrad majoring in Playwriting and Screenwriting and minoring in Global Black Studies at SUNY Purchase. She furthers her talents in dance, poetry, filmmaking, drawing, acting, and singing. After joining the PAL Acting Program and the PAL Cops and Kids Chorus, Jewel went on to perform in the Joy Dancing Beijing Festival in China, Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center, Harvard Club, Giants Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and the annual fundraiser Tony Danza and the Stars of Tomorrow, just to name a few. In addition, she is also a part-time teacher for daycare and preschool students. Her goal is to continue tomake difference with her art not only for the now, but the generations to come.

Director Profile

Jessi D. Hill is a director based in New York City. New York credits include new work at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, Playwright’s Horizons, The Playwrights’ Center, Primary Stages, Labyrinth, The Women’s Project, 59E59, P73, The New Group, Keen Company, Rattlestick, Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theatre, terraNOVA Collective, Labyrinth, Culture Project, Musical Theatre Factory, The Acting Company, The Barrow Group, PS122, Abingdon, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New Dramatists, The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, Naked Angels, The Wild Project, and others. She has been a guest director and acting teacher in professional training programs at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, NYU/Tisch, The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center/NTI, Fordham University, SUNY Purchase, Long Island University, Powerhouse/NY Stage & Film, The Atlantic School, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, Hunter College, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and others. Jessi is a recipient of funding from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Denham Fellowship from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, as well as an Alum of the Women’s Project Lab, and an Affiliated Artist at New Georges. She is currently the Artistic Associate at Flying Carpet Theatre Co. and is on the Artistic Team at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. She has directed new work that has been seen internationally in Edinburgh, London, New Zealand, Berlin and Hamburg. MFA Directing: Yale. Member SDC. Current projects: jessidhill.com

About the Conservatory of Theatre Arts

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