New Plays Now

• Loud noises, including gunshot sound effects
• Mention of sexual assault

Each of the pieces in the festival is a truly arresting story which fills the stage with nuanced and diverse characters. They possess all the good stuff; love, hate, shame, guilt, curiosity, humor, quirks, foibles and intelligence. So I invite you to open your heart to the moment you are in; be here, now; fully present and engaged. Because our inability to understand and embrace the humanity of each individual; is the greatest danger to us all.

Lucia Rogerson is a third year BFA actor born and raised in New York City. Purchase Rep credits so far include Our Town (Rebecca Gibbs, Joe/Si Crowell), Road (Dor, Marion), and Orpheus Descending (Eva Temple).

Daniel Bravo Hernández is a third year BFA actor born and raised in New York City. Previous Purchase credits include Our Town (Stage Manager), Road (Brink/Soldier) and Orpheus Descending (Val Xavier). He’d like to give special thanks to director Cezar Williams for always seeing ‘dopeness’ and Sephora Lebete for allowing him to be Alex Brown-Smith the Third. He’d also like to thank the stage management team for putting New Plays Now on its feet in such a short time.

Katherine West is a third year BFA actor from Santa Clarita, CA. Her previous Purchase credits include Road (Carol) and Orpheus Descending (Vee Talbott). She would like to thank Cezar, Claire & Miles, and the four playwrights for sharing their work.

Kelsey Collins is a third year BFA actor from Libertyville, Illinois. Purchase Rep include: Our Town (Julia Gibbs), Road (Lane/Valerie), and Orpheus Descending (Carol Cutrere). Other credits include work in many student films. Kelsey would like to thank her loving family, supportive friends, incredible teachers, and company!

Jacquernst F. Filias is a third year BFA Actor, he’s Haitian born, Brooklyn based. Purchase credits include: Our Town(Dr. Gibbs), Road(Eddie), Orpheus Descending(Man and David Cutrere)Other credits include: Midsummer’s Night Dream(Mechanic) at New England Academy of Dance. He thanks his family, professors, crew and Cezar for their help in making this production possible.

Micah Abrams is a third year BFA actor from Montclair, New Jersey. Past Purchase Reps include Our Town (Professor Willard/Man Among the Dead) and Road (Prof & Curt). Other Credits include She Kills Monsters (Orcus/Ronnie) and Ordinary People (Dr. Berger). He thanks the people in his life that have helped him grow, family, teachers, and friends. Follow the IG @themabrams

Leo (or El) Osborn is a third year BFA actor hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina. Past Purchase credits include Everybody (Girl/Time), Our Town (George Gibbs), Road (Skin-Lad/Brenda/Chantal/Blowpipe/Linda/Scotch Girl), and Orpheus Descending (Beulah Binnings). In his free time, he enjoys writing, collage art, and hiking with his girlfriend.

Edison Ventura Mata Diaz is a Dominican-Puerto Rican actor/writer/finesser born in Providence, RI and raised in the Boogie Down Bronx. He was the 2020-2021 Van Lier New Voices Fellow with The Lark, was a 2018 SPACE on Ryder Farm Greenhouse Resident, and is a current member of Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood Collective. He’s had his work developed with LAByrinth’s 2019 Intensive Ensemble, Curious Theatre Company, and more. His previous acting credits have consisted of Soft (MCC Theater), The Siblings Play (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), and The Parlour (Middle Voice). He’s currently working toward completing his BFA in Acting, and double minor in Playwriting/Screenwriting at SUNY Purchase. Ed is a proud alumni of the MCC Youth Company’s Acting Lab, Playwriting Lab, and Ambassadors program. He would also like to shoutout to all the women in his family that have made him the young man he is today.

Sephora Lebete is a senior transfer Playwriting & Screenwriting Major from Queens New York, who earned an Associates Degree for Theater at Queensborough Community College. Past Purchase credits include We Are Proud To Present (Black Woman/Actor 6). She sends love and hugs to her family and supporters. She also wants to thank God who she always puts first. She knows that’s right.

Lenore Mardas is a senior Playwriting & Screenwriting Major/ History Minor from Greenville, New York. Past Purchase credits include St.Jay (Lily), and Storyboard Film Festival (Butter). She wants to thank her friends and loved ones for their support as well as everyone in Make it Play who had to read this play first.​

Joann Maxwell is a fourth year theatre and performance student concentrating in acting with a minor in playwriting from Connecticut. Purchase acting credits include A Walrus In The Body Of A Crocodile (2/Emma), The Christians (choir member), Mac Beth (Macduff), Fefu and Her Friends (Paula).Outside credits include The Three Sisters (Chebutykin), Into The woods (Jacks mom), The Glass Menagerie (Tom). This is her second showing of Hushed; Excerpts for a Body That Was Mine and she is so incredibly grateful of all the praise and attention it’s been getting.

Cezar Williams is an award-winning director. Recent credits include the Off-Broadway premiere of Dancing on Eggshells (Billie Holiday Theatre), Till: A Musical (American Theater Group), Sweat (Purchase Repertory Theater), The October Storm (Hudson Stage Company), Crowndation: I Will Not Lie to David (National Black Theatre and CTG Digital Stage), The Hunting Season (Planet Connections Festivity, Award for Best Direction), You Wouldn’t Expect (American Bard Theater), How To Be Safe (The Dirty Blondes in rep at the Kraine Theater), directing all seven short plays in the 8th Annual (The Fire This Time Festival), Free Will (The Arthur Seelen Theatre), Ghost Town and Tailypo (Detroit NY Festival), Lunchtime in Heaven (48 hours in Harlem), Nightfall and Slow Gin Fits (The Fire This Time Festival 2013 & 2014). Cezar is a graduate of New York University where he was the recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship. He is the Artistic Director of the Obie Award winning Fire This Time Festival. Cezar Williams is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. For professional inquiries contact him at cezar@cezarwilliams.com.

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