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Orestes

Orestes by Euripides by Euripides

a new translation by Anne Carson

directed by Raz Golden

Featuring members of Acting BFA Company #48 and the creative and production work of Theatre Design/Technology BFA students


The Performance Theatre, The Center for Media, Film, and Theatre (downstairs), Purchase College SUNY

Saturday, March 11, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, March 12, 2023 @ 1:30pm
Tuesday, March 14, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, March 16, 2023 @ 7:30pm

this play is presented without an intermission


cast

Orestes || Leo Osborn
Elektra || Kate West
Menelaos/Trojan Slave || Daniel Bravo Hernández
Pylades || Daniel Madigan
Chorus A/Helen || Kelsey Collins
Chorus B/Hermione || Jamie McQuagge
Chorus C/Tyndareus || Isabella Rodriguez
Chorus D/Messenger || Lucia Rogerson
Chorus E/Apollo || Micah Abrams

creative & production

Andrew Alford (He/Him) | Composer
Avian Chang (She/Her) | Movement Coordinator

Stephanie Rhodes (She/They) | PSM
Morgan Rotman (She/Her) | ASM
Leo Griffin (Any) | ASM

Ben Free (They/Them) | Lighting Designer
Zachary Dulny | Asst. Lighting Designer
Nolan Belcher (He/Him) | Production Electrician
Katie Thorn (She/They) Programmer

Lucas Kery (He/Him) | Sound Designer
Dom Bogetto | Asst. Sound Designer
Fei Cheng | A1

Abby Citarella (She/Her) | Costume Designer
Kara Okonczak | Asst. Costume Designer

Charli Burkhardt (She/Her) | Scenic Designer
Rachel Jenney | Asst. Scenic Designer
Matilyn Tamplin (She/Her) | Scenic Charge
Kyler Sterner (He/Him) | Props Charge
Luca Plitz | Asst. Props Charge

Grace Dziedzic (She/Her) | Technical Director
Julia Little (She/They) | Production Carpenter
Dom Bogetto (He/Him) | Lead Technical Designer
Israel Hart | Lead Shop Carpenter
Autumn Brathwaite (She/Her) | Production Flyman
Shira Barnir (She/Her) | Asst. Rigger

Content Advisory

Mentions of murder and suicide; strobing lights and loud explosion sounds

Director’s Note

First, a prologue to the prologue. Helen of Sparta runs away with (or is kidnapped by, depending on your source) Paris of Troy. Her husband, Menelaos, enlists his brother Agamemnon to help get his wife back. Cue a decade of war, the destruction of Troy via a Trojan horse and the return of Helen to Menelaos. Our story has it seeds some time in between these events—before the Greeks ever reach the shore of Troy. Early on, all of the armies of Greece are gathered but there is no wind to fill their sails and take them on their merry way. Agamemnon is told that he has incurred the wrath of the goddess Artemis and she’s the one who has beached them. In order to please her, he decides to sacrifice his youngest daughter Iphigenia. The plan works and the Greeks eventually continue their war campaign. But Iphigenia’s mother (and Agamemnon’s wife), Klytaimestra does not forget her husband’s betrayal. She waits all those years for him to return and when he does… well the rest of the story Elektra (their daughter) covers in the play.
Orestes is a story of children without adults. Orestes, Elektra, and Pylades are trying (and often failing) to construct order and discern right from wrong without the help of adults (absent due to war in the case of Agamemnon and neglect as was the case for Klytaimestra) or gods who come and go as they please. Without the guidance of an older generation, they decide to exact their own version of justice on Klytaimestra and Aigisthos. Youth bestows on us moments of absolute surety that our actions are perfectly just, while not yet granting us the ability to see the long term consequences of those actions. This dichotomy is writ large in Euripides’ play.
Now about those gods. There’s Apollo: the god of poetry, music, the Sun, and prophecy. And there are the Eumenides, more commonly known as the Furies: goddesses of vengeance. Orestes finds himself straddled between these two forces, the former his enabler, the latter his comeuppance. Euripides is notable for writing work that rejects the depiction of the gods as infallible and instead renders them as “irrational, petulant, and singularly uninterested in meting out ‘divine justice’”. In Euripides’ worlds, the gods simply do not really care that much about humans and will reward or punish them with seemingly no rhyme or reason. So this play, which ends in (spoiler alert) Euripides’ characteristic deus ex machina, helps us to grapple with the suffering around us by letting go of the idea that it means anything. Somewhat nihilistic, yes. But also, somewhat freeing. Good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. Sometimes it’s sad, but sometimes it’s funny. In the immortal words of Celine Dion, “that’s the way it is.”

Creative Team Profiles

cast (in alphabetical order)

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

Daniel Bravo Hernández is a third year BFA actor born and raised in New York City. Previous Purchase credits include Our Town (Stage Manager) and Road (Brink/Soldier). Other credits include The Mannequin Diaries (Timothy) directed by Trazana Beverley and numerous concerts with Tony Danza & the Stars of Tomorrow as well as the Cops and Kids Chorus. He’d like to give special thanks to his parents, Clara Bello, Brian D. Hills, Bijoux Lukelo, and stage management.

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

Daniel Madigan is a third year BFA actor from Connecticut. Previous Purchase credits include Road (Scullery). Daniel would like to thank Lemon Ginger Tea for getting him through rehearsals. @manieldad

Jamie McQuagge is a third year BFA actor from Miami Beach, FL. She went to New World School of the Arts and was in the ensemble in Hamlet Machine, and at SUNY Purchase College she played Emily Webb in Our Town and Clare in Road. She thanks Dean Irby, stage management, the production team, and the cast for putting together this amazing show.

Leo Osborn is a third year BFA actor hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina. Past Purchase credits include Our Town (George Gibbs), Road (Skinlad/Blowpipe/Brenda and others), and most recently, Orpheus Descending (Beulah Binnings). He would like to thank Raz for this incredible opportunity, as well as the amazing cast and crew for bringing this piece to life— it hasn’t been rotten work at all. And, of course, all love to Company 48. It has been an honor to work beside each one of you and watch you grow throughout this process. Go see the rest of the junior class in Good Goods!

Isabella Rodriguez (Bella) is a third year BFA actor from Buffalo, NY. She has previously played Mrs. Webb in Our Town and Louise in Road. Bella would love to give many thanks to her family; they have her heart.

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) . Lucia dedicates this and every performance to her family- Robin, Gus, and Frankie.

Kate West is a third year BFA actor at Purchase College. Her previous Purchase credits include Road (Carol) and Orpheus Descending (Vee). Her special thanks go to the entire crew for their hard work, director Raz Golden for helping her and entrusting her with Elektra, Steph, Morgan, and Leo for taking care of her through this process, and her brother Joe for the love and support. IG: itskatewest

creative & production

Stephanie Nicole Rhodes is a fourth year BFA Stage Manager from Long Island, New York. Stephanie’s Purchase College credits include Fefu and Her Friends (Production Stage Manager), Mac_Beth (Production Stage Manager), Senior Showcase 2022 (Production Stage Manager), Waiting for Godot (Stage Manager), A Walrus in the Body of a Crocodile (Production Stage Manager) and Purgatorio Wonderland (Stage Manager). She is very excited to be working on this phenomenal show! Thank you to all that have helped and supported her through her years at purchase. To her partner, I love you infinity repeating. Break a leg!

Ben Free is a fourth year lighting designer from Tolland, CT. Purchase credits include: Make It Play (Sound Designer), A Walrus in the Body of a Crocodile (ALD). Additional credits: Fences (ALD), Assistant Head Electrician at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. They thank family and friends for their love and support. www.benfreedesign.com

Lucas Kery

Abigail Citarella is a fourth-year Costume Designer from Warwick, NY. Purchase Rep credits include Sweat (Costume Designer), Barbecue (Assistant Costume Designer), and As You Like It (Wardrobe Supervisor). Other Credits include RENT, and Into the woods (Assistant Costume Designer) at Vanguard Theatre in Montclair, and Waiting For Godot (Wardrobe supervisor) In Westerly RI. Thanks to her family and friends for supporting her.

Charli Rose Burkhardt (Scenic Designer) is a Scenic Designer from Kings Park, NY and currently a fourth year in the BFA Theater Design/Tech major at SUNY Purchase. This semester she has designed both repertory shows, Orestes and Good Goods, and hopes you enjoy them! Past credits include: Fefu and Her Friends at Purchase College, Cinderella and Sound Of Music at Philipstown Depot Theater (Scenic Designer), Henry IV Part 1 and Life is a Dream (Assistant Scenic Designer) at SUNY Purchase. She would love to thank her family and friends for supporting her work and passion for creating new worlds and hopes for you to become immersed and entranced today. 

Grace Dziedzic

Director Profile

Raz Golden Raz Golden is a director of theatre and film. He is drawn to new and classical texts that explore shared cultural histories and myths, as well as work that centers people of color. He has directed/developed work with Juilliard, the National Queer Theatre, Mercury Store, Public Theatre, Playwrights Horizons NYU Tisch, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He is a Drama League 2019 Fellow and a member of Roundabout Directors Group Cohort 2. As a filmmaker he has collaborated on numerous projects with the creative agency Adventure We Can and on Eisa Davis’ Afrofemononomy.

Directing: Orestes (Purchase), How to Catch Creation (Juilliard), Golden Leaf Ragtime Blues (Shakespeare & Company), We Are Proud to Present… (Purchase), The Mountaintop by Katori Hall (Weston Theatre Company), Queen of the Night, a new play by travis tate (Dorset Theatre Festival), Macbeth, (HVSF), Associate Directing: Good Night Oscar (dir. Lisa Peterson), Macbeth (dir. Sam Gold)

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