Make It Play ’23

Make It Play contains references to suicide, murder, and death, clownish staged violence, detailed spoken descriptions of violence, and profanity.

Performance is a gift, and it goes two ways. The performer gives the gifts of their virtuosity and vulnerability to the audience, and the audience gives the performer the gift of their attention. Performers are also constantly giving gifts to one another onstage – gifts of timing, opportunity, focus, fuel. The text is a gift from the author to the performer and the audience, and the performance is a gift in turn from the actor back to the author. Really, all of theatre is just people being generous and grateful, over and over again.

Making New Plays is a class in gift-giving, in which students in the BFA Acting program and the Playwriting/Screenwriting program study how to give and receive the gifts of text, performance, and proposal. The course insists that actors write and that writers perform – that both cohorts expand into new areas of vulnerability, and new opportunities to share themselves.

These three plays – Sugar, Sugar, Santa, Midnight Snack, and HospOpus are these students’ gifts to one another, and to you. We hope that you like them.

Micah Abrams is a third year BFA actor from Montclair, New Jersey. Past Purchase Reps include Our Town (Professor Willard/Man Among the Dead) Road (Prof & Curt) Orpheus Descending (Sheriff Talbott) and Orestes (Apollo/Chorus). 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.

Isaac Castillo (He/Him) is a fourth year Lighting Designer from Denton, Texas. Purchase credits include Cyrano de Bergerac, Sweat, as well as Purchase Dance Company Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 (Assistant Lighting Designer). Other credits include A Strange Loop and 1776 (Lighting Intern), as well as The Nine Solo Plays and Row (Electrician) at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Le gustaría agradecer su familia, sus amigos, y su equipo por su amor, apoyó, y esfuerzos! Isaacastil.com 

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!

Dana Freeman is a theater and performance and literature double major with a minor in playwriting. She is a second year transfer student who grew up internationally in Honduras, Armenia, Perú, Indonesia, and Germany. Purchase credits include: Crystal Clear (Stage Manager), Hushed (Director), Pie Day (Stage Manager), She Kills Monsters (Sound Designer, Sound Board Operator), As You Like It (Assistant Stage Manager) and most recently Ordinary Days (Sound Designer). She is thrilled to be a part of Make it Play and would like to thank the lovely cast and crew for their openness to be a little wild and crazy. 

Billy Isidro (he/they) is a Senior and Majoring in Playwriting/Screenwriting with a Minor in Psychology. He has been a part of various plays, films, and television shows such as The OA (Extra), No Longer Human (Hiroki), Scout Dir. by Kunga Choephel (PA), Aguas de Marcos Dir. by Jonathan Oliveira (PA/Extra), Blue Light Dir. by Amelia Wyeth Ponirakis (PA), and The Future is Broadview Dir. by Tobias Nikl (PA). He would like to thank his friends and family, especially his brothers, Kevin and Chris, for supporting his drive to pursue a career in the arts and film. He hopes you enjoy the show and maybe get some Taco Bell after! :3

Sephora Lebete is a senior transfer Playwriting & Screenwriting Major from Queens New York, who earned an Associate’s Degree in Theater at Queensborough Community College. Past Purchase credits include We Are Proud To Present (Black Woman/Actor 6). Outside credits include It’s A Wonderful Life (Violet Bick/Narrator) & Wunderkammer (Dog Lady/Albatross). Sephora was a finalist in New Plays Now Festival for her short play, As We Know It. 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.

Dixie O’Connell is a fourth year Theatre and Performance major hailing from the Jersey Shore. Past acting credits at SUNY Purchase include: The Wolves (#13), The Christians (Elizabeth), Fefu and her Friends (Emma), The Attic (Detective), Dance Nation (Maeve), Mac Beth (Witch 1), A Robot Wrote This (Margueritte Spangler), and How I Learned to Drive (Male Greek Chorus). Make it Play is their final production here at Purchase! They would like to thank Purchase Theater for all the beautiful mems, the wonderful team for making it play, and her friends and family for their support.

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), Orpheus Descending (Eva Temple), and Orestes (Messenger, Chorus D). Lucia dedicates this and every performance to her family- Robin, Gus, and Frankie.

Spencer Scalamoni is a junior Playwriting and Screenwriting major, and is very active in the theatre scene. Past Purchase credits include Rough With Love (Paris/Co-Writer), Ordinary Days (Warren), and Crystal Clear (Austin). Other credits include Les Miserables (Thenardier) and Clue (Wadsworth). He’d like to thank Jack, Mariana, Sephora, Kelsey, and Bravo for the good times and cool work. 

Jack Tamburri’s work includes the monster-drag self-help solo Stress Exorcist by performance artist Mary McCool, short films for young audiences Sophocles in Staten Island and Clifford Odets in Staten Island, produced during the pandemic by Ma-Yi Studio, queer clown solo I Was Confused From the Beginning with performer Jenson Titus, feminist comedy trio A Hard Time for Pig Iron Theater Co, community-based glam musical Twelfth Night for Shakespeare in Clark Park, and the rock music adaptation PEER GYNT & the Norwegian Hapa Band for Ma-Yi Theater Co. Jack co-created and produced fringe comedies Not For Profit and GAYZE with writer MJ Kaufman, directed the experimental play Parrot Talk for writer/producer Julius Ferraro, and is co-creator of School Play, a physical theatre solo for young audiences which was showcased at the 2018 IPAY conference. He has developed new plays with playwrights R. Eric Thomas, David Jacobi, Mary Tuamanen, Michi Barall, and more. Jack is also an educator who has taught directing, devising, self-producing, and dramatic literature at the University of the Arts, Fordham University, and Purchase College, where he is currently the Director of the Conservatory of Theatre Arts. Jack is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Yale School of Drama, and a 2018 alumnus of ArtEquity’s national facilitator training for anti-racist activists in the performing 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