Macbeth

This production of Macbeth contains extensive strobe & flashing lights, flashing images, gunshots, blood, onstage deaths, executions, & depictions of suicide by hanging.

“Macbeth is a play about how mourning the loss of a baby, of kingdoms, of country, leads to an inevitable tragedy guided by fate. This is what I write about – mourning. Mourning is Macbeth.”
–Migdalia Cruz

I’ve always had a strange relationship to Shakespeare. Maybe it’s because English isn’t my first language. Maybe it’s because there’s aways been such a reverence to the plays and how (and why) they should be done. Or maybe it’s because the humor just went over my head.

But what has always stuck with me has been the images. A man murdering his father. A blind king losing his children. A woman drowning in a pond. The murder of a king. Human beings try to run the world only to destroy it. These images and tensions became blank slates where all my own fears, dreams, nightmares, culture, and memories could blend and transform and take new life. In both its language and its images, Shakespeare’s plays become a puzzle to unravel, to reinvent, and to reimagine with. They became opportunities to collide a distant past with new ideas and languages of the present.

This is what makes Migdalia Cruz’s adaptation of the text so thrilling. What you will see today is not just Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It’s Shakespeare Macbeth through the eyes and mind of a Nuyorican playwright from the Bronx. It is a new vision of what witches, fate, power, and madness can be. And now, that text is being seen through the eyes and heart of a Chilean immigrant and a diverse group of cast and creatives with their own understanding of what the rise and fall of kings and queens can and should be. New puzzles are created and presented for you, our audience, to grapple with and try to resolve.

I am the first generation born after a vicious dictatorship. Kings are presidents to me. Thanes are generals. Power is something that is wielded and used against the people. Violence attacks the body, the mind… our memories and what we think is true. It creates injuries across time and place. Our show tries to capture that. The occult is that which is invisible – either because we refuse to look to at it or we have hidden it ourselves. Witches are a manifestation of untapped possibility. Technology reveals secrets and things we try to keep unseen. We deconstruct the text and images in order to reconstruct them. Like archaeologists, we uncover to discover.

This version of Macbeth is not Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It is Migdalia Cruz’s Macbeth. But it is also somewhere in between both. We ask ourselves in making this: does this story still make sense? Is it worth telling? As violence and ambition takes new shapes, we think the answer is a resounding yes.

CAST

Eli (they/them) is an actor from Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Recent credits include Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), The Curious Savage (Dr. Emmett), and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Linus). Eli is grateful to their family for their undying love and support.

Grace Bradley is a third year BA theatre and performance major from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Purchase credits include: Issue #9 (Candy) and Ride The Cyclone (Constance/Ocean understudy). She would like to thank the dedicated cast and crew and her family for all their support.

Michelle Cueto (she/her) is a third year BA actor and writer. Purchase acting credits include independents projects such as Kill the Man (Andy) and The Angelas (Angela). Other acting credits include student short films and and outside film projects. Many thanks to the cast, crew for creating a fun creative environment as well as friends and family for their overwhelming support! 

Rory Flynn is a sophomore in the theatre and performance major, with a minor in film production. Rory has performed in one Purchase production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with a history in musical theatre in highschool. They have also been nominated for the Roger Rees award in 2023.

Alec Hoxha is a fourth year theatre & English major. His show credits for the 2024-2025 season include: Orlando (AD/Dramaturg), The Motherfucker with the Hat (ASM), Macbeth (Macbeth), Geryon (Dramaturg). He is immensely thankful for the support his friends, family, and fellow artists have given him!

Ben Koeberle is a junior theatre and performance major. He was born in Rochester, NY but graduated high school from Clyde, NY. He was previously in an independent student production of “Twelfth Night” as a swing for Antonio, the Sea-Captain, and Sebastian. He will soon play the Doctor and Man 2 in an upcoming independent student production of “Phaedra’s Love” by Sarah Kane. Ben would like to thank his family, friends, Ed Polk Douglas, Kevin G. Shinnick, and Bob and Melissa Bartels McCarthy for cheering him on and supporting him through his dreams and goals.

Ari Laurie (they/she) is a third year BA actor, and black lesbian from the 845. Their most notable past credit was A Black Play? (Nine/Na’Shay). They would like to thank every cast and crew member for helping for them feel endlessly loved and safe growing into this role!

Hope Lowery is a third year Theatre and Performance major from Miami, Florida. Past credits include Trojan Women (Andromache), The House of Blue Leaves (Bunny), and A Midsummer Nights Dream (Hermia). She’d like to thank her family for their support, no matter how far they were. 

Munirah is an ambitious costume designer. She has explored acting, costume design, and stage management. This will be her first time acting on a production at Purchase College. Munirah Morris is finishing her bachelor’s degree at Purchase and will graduate in May 2025. She is excited to play Lennox in Macbeth. After taking a break from acting, Munirah worked on costumes and directed for Lucha Esencial. She also interned as a costume designer for the Rising Sun Performance Company for Boundless Theater. Her passion for theater arts has equipped her with the skills necessary to work as a props and assistant stage manager. Munirah aspires to design and produce costumes for Broadway, cinema, and theater worldwide. She eagerly participates in this play, making it a new and exciting experience—many thanks to her family and everyone else who supports her.

Emmi Pearce

Therese (Tea) Marie Rigor (any pronouns) is a third and final year theatre and performance major from Gainesville, Florida. Purchase credits include How to Defend Yourself (Susannah/Swing Diana, Nikki, and Mojdeh), As You Like It (Jaques), and Emily Coates’ Some Things We Know (musician). Other credits include Little Shop of Horrors (Crystal), A Christmas Carol (Ghost of Christmas Present), And (director), and more. Many thanks to the cast and crew, her mentors, family, and friends for their continuous support!

Victoria Strickland is a fourth year THP performance major from Auburn, Washington. Previous credits include Twelfth Night (Olivia), She Kills Monsters (Agnes), and The Cherry Orchard (Varya). She would like to extend thanks to her partner and her friends for all of their support!

Maximum is a senior at Purchase, and this is the last show they will perform in their career as a theater and performance major. They carry endless gratitude for the cast and crew, wish love and health to all, and will soon bid this place farewell. Past credits include Pippin (Theo, 2019), Crystal Clear (Erica, 2022), Til Death Does Its Part (Charlie, 2023), and WAYNE (Ensemble, 2023)

Wren Woodward-Aviles is a third year BA actor in the conservatory of theatre arts, from the Bronx, New York. Past Purchase productions include: El Publico (Man 3, figure in vine leaves), and Till Death Does its Part (Ava). Thanks to her family and friends who are coming to support the show!

PRODUCTION & CREATIVE

Jack is a fourth year BFA lighting & sound designer from Massachusetts. Purchase design credits include Luna Gale, Intimate Apparel, Socrates (Asst. Lighting Design), F*cking A, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Orpheus Descending (Assoc. Sound Design). Thank you for coming to our show and supporting the arts.

Rush Carson

Kylie Cottrell is a fourth-year stage manager living in White Plains, NY. Purchase Rep credits include: Intimate Apparel (SM), How to Defend Yourself (SM) and Twelfth Night (ASM). Much love to Mama, Sodapop, Jill, Veronica, Wyatt, and all of her family and friends who supported her!

Dana Freeman is a fourth-year theatre and performance major who grew up overseas. Purchase Credits include Homesick (Ensemble/Sound & Projections Designer), Un Paese Che Si Chiama Casa (Ensemble/Sound & Projections Designer), Judy’s House (PSM), Room for Growth (Sound Designer), and How to Defend Yourself (Assistant Sound Designer). She wants to thank, in particular, the fabulous crew for their hard work, dedication, and patience, especially in listening to her call out “SOUND!” over and over. 

Libiya Grey

Natalie Nova is a fourth year thp director from Rockland, New York. Credits include: The Motherfucker with the Hat (director/producer), Collective Rage (assistant director), Geryon (actor), Little Shop of Horrors, Urinetown, Footloose, and more (choreographer). Natalie expresses deep gratitude to the team for their dedication to this project.

Judit Queral Perramon

Attilio Rigotti is a Chilean performer, director, technology artist, and videogame designer. He was an Associate Artist with Theater Mitu, performing on the international tour of Juárez, and their sold-out run of Death of a Salesman at BAM. Along with Orsolya Szanthó, Attilio co-founded the company GLITCH, focused on new forms of storytelling that seamlessly combine digital and physical mediums. The company’s designs have been featured in productions such as Macbeth (Broadway, 2022) and White Girl in Danger (Off-Broadway), earning nominations for Outstanding Projection Design at the Drama Desk and Helen Hayes Awards. Attilio has directed for City Lyric Opera, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, theatreC, LGPAC, NYU Tisch, Long Island University, Toronto Fringe, and Gamiotics Studios, and has been recognized by the New York Times, Vulture, American Theatre Magazine and the BroadwayWorld Awards. Internationally, he directed and designed the acclaimed production of Matilda: The Musical in the Dominican Republic, which was hailed “as the greatest theatrical feat of 2024 and recent years”. He was a NYTW 2050 Artist Fellow for 2022-2023 and has been awarded the NY City Artists Corps Grant, the Wasserman Scholar Award, and the CYSTEM Award.

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.