Spring 2025 SSU Center for Creative and Performing Arts
February 21-23 and February 28 – March 2, 2025
Callan Studio Theatre
Salem State Land Acknowledgement
The land occupied by Salem State University is part of Naumkeag, a traditional and ancestral homeland of the Pawtucket band of the Massachusett. We acknowledge the genocide and forced removal of the people of Naumkeag and their kin and we recognize the ongoing colonization and dispossession of Indigenous homelands. We respect and honor the Massachusett tribe and the many Indigenous Peoples who continue to care for the land upon which we gather. We recognize our own responsibility to this land we occupy. We commit to continuously learning and sharing its history and that of the Massachusett and other Indigenous People who have been and remain here. We commit to develop and implement initiatives that work toward repairing the injustices continuously being committed on the Indigenous People of this land. We commit to making our own environmental impact on this land as sustainable as possible. We commit to a renewed and ongoing engagement with the Massachusett and all Indigenous People in and around Salem State.
To learn more about Salem State’s Land Acknowledgement please visit salemstate.edu/LandAcknowledgement.
THEATRE
The Salem State University Theatre and Speech Communication department presents
COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES; IN ESSENCE, A QUEER AND OCCASIONALLY HAZARDOUS EXPLORATION; DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL AND YOU READ ABOUT SHACKLETON AND HOW HE EXPLORED THE ANTARCTIC? IMAGINE THE ANTARCTIC AS A PUSSY AND IT’S SORT OF LIKE THAT.
by Jen Silverman
Director
Julie Kiernan
Voice and Text Director
Ginger Eckert
Scenic Designer
Rachel Rose Roberts
Costume Designer
Ryan Goodwin
Lighting Designer
Michael M. Harvey
Sound Designer
Robert D. Brennan
Props Master
Bella Perez
Stage Manager
Max Dupuis
COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES was developed and World Premiered in September 2016 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.
(Howard Shalwitz, Artistic Director and Meghan Pressman, Managing Director).
COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
Presented in conjunction with the Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Dear Friends, Supporters, and Theatre Lovers,
As we gather this season to celebrate the transformative power of theatre, we are reminded of the unique role art plays in our lives, especially in difficult times. Theatre allows us to share stories that challenge us, comfort us, and unite us as a community. In a world that often feels uncertain, we turn to the stage to reflect, to dream, and to heal.
We have an exciting and enriching series of productions this 2024-2025 academic year, and we are thrilled to place students at the center of it. They are indeed the lifeblood and verve behind who we are and what we do.
Opening our season this year in the Callan Studio Theatre is Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson, directed by guest artist Ashley Skeffington. The play tells the story of Henrietta Leavitt (an historic astronomer in the early 20th century at Harvard) caught between what she owes to her scientific research and what she owes to love.
In our second production slot on the Sophia Gordon Center Mainstage, we share the first half of Tony Kushner’s award-winning play, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches . Kushner’s searing national epic weaves the story of a diverse group of Americans seeking hope amidst desolation against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic in 1985.
In midwinter we present the satirical feminist romp Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties , by Jen Silverman, directed by Prof. Julie Kiernan in the Callan Studio Theatre. The play promises to be a wild and irreverent look at both solitude and connection through the lens of womanhood.
And finally, we wrap up our season on the Sophia Gordon Center Mainstage with Shakespeare’s pastoral romantic comedy, As You Like It , directed by guest artist Esme Allen. When Rosalind dons a man’s costume and flees into the forest of Arden, she gets more than she bargained for. With witty word play and warmth, the play explores the freedom of the forest and the way it empowers personal growth.
We are grateful for your continued support during these uncertain times. Your presence in our audience, your engagement with our work, and your belief in the transformative power of theatre are what make this possible. Together, we will continue to create, to question, and to grow.
Thank you for being part of this journey with us. We look forward to sharing this season with you.
See you in the lobby,
Topher
Professor Topher Morris, Chairperson
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
What a treasure it has been for me to work on this play now alongside the news onslaught with unbelievable headlines that are, unfortunately, factual. It is all too easy to be lost and disconnected now amidst headlines consumed through the alienating devices of social media. Creating this production in real life has allowed me the great fortune of connection and community that I needed to find hope. I am truly glad you came to share this space with us today. To witness these five Betties grappling with their Collective Rage , a rage that can be an impetus for change but often does something else altogether. Misdirected by fear, this rage tightens around our hearts, strangulates our voices, and fractures our minds.
Through these five Betties, Jen Silverman has crafted a clear message. It is through real-life connections, having courage, and taking action that the future unfolds with hope rather than despair. Ironically enough, Silverman uses many Brechtian theatrical devices of alienation to allow us to come together and find ourselves. Despite its name, the goal of alienation as a theatrical device is to keep the audience personally invested and engaged in the action so that the message will not be lost. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), a playwright and director, fled Nazi Germany and became a stateless citizen.
Silverman employs several Brechtian theatre devices, encouraging audiences to think critically and question social and political issues. These devices pull you, as the audience, out of the action to remind you that the play's themes are lived out in your real life. One device used is placards, revealing the moment's truth to the audience. The long subtitle of this play, as well as the lengthy titles of the nineteen scenes, make use of this device. Silverman instructs that the play’s long subtitle must be included in the program and that the titles of the scenes are to be projected to the audience. In this production, additionally, to ensure the titles are fully accessible to the audience, the titles are presented in writing in this program and will be presented audibly. They speak the truth in a funny, digestible way.
Alienation is also achieved by having actors break the fourth wall of the theatre playing space, speaking directly to the audience. The audience is reminded that this action, these people, this play, is not just happening to others in this story, it is happening to us all, everywhere, all the time. Comedy and song are used in alienation theatre, allowing audiences to laugh and have playful fun while thinking about serious issues. In addition, it has simplified scenic design and selective realism in props and costumes. You will see all of these in this production.
None of these Betties can have transformation (and they all have a transformation) without interacting in real life with each other, simultaneously being uniquely themselves and collectively human. The fact that these Betties shine brighter due to their interactions with each other reminds me of a diamond that can only be polished by other diamonds. They learn that they are allowed to see and love themselves through each one’s individual existence and collective interaction.
Brecht is famous for saying, “Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” Through this play, Silverman is handing us all a mirror, not to reflect life’s distorted reality, but to see life’s universal truth that we are all valuable and necessary not despite but because of our unique identities.
The process of directing this production of Collective Rage has filled my hammer with hope. I plan to wield it wildly, breaking walls and disrupting societal alienation by bringing together a collective love that transcends and transforms. I hope this play loosens the grip of fear on your heart, voice, and mind and that you will join me in leaving this theatre with a hammer of hope.
Julie Kiernan Director
DRAMATURG NOTE
“Right now, I’m really interested in just destroying everything,”
—Jen Silverman (they/them)
Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties is not just a story, it’s a reckoning. Through the lives of five very different women, all named Betty, Jen Silverman explores gender roles, identity, and the expectations society places on women. Each Betty’s journey invites us to reflect on what it means to connect with others, be true to ourselves, and tap into our collective strength.
Jen Silverman wrote the first draft of Collective Rage after realizing how much they were censoring themselves. Dismissed by so-called “liberal” men in academic settings and catcalled on the streets of New York City, they found themselves constantly on the defensive: dressing differently
to avoid harassment and silencing their voice before others could silence them. Silverman’s confronting of this self-censorship became the seed for the play, which examines how society forces women, queer people, and BIPOC individuals into narrow molds and stereotypes.
How do we censor ourselves? Do we even know we are doing it? Selfcensorship is built out of fear of the perceived preferences or sensibilities of others. It is insidious in how it works; it starts from the outside and works its way in. Censorship and rejection of the individual is a major step in the playbook of any fascist state.
Censorship of identity or “such self-censorship?” is a defining issue in present-day America. Collective Rage premiered in September 2016 and was a beacon of resistant hope—a hope that we were heading in the right direction—with the five Betties deconstructing stereotypes and being angry in the time just before Donald Trump was elected to his first term as President. Fast forward to now, in the first few weeks of his second term: the Trump administration is pursuing a systemic push to erase diverse identities; including a “two gender” policy and the dismantling of government DEI programs and spending. Reproductive rights are being taken away, causing people to travel for abortions or to find costly birth control methods, and ICE raids are happening in Miami, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and all over the country. Today, this play is even more urgent than when it was conceived, offering a powerful response to these constraints. A lot of us are grasping at straws for hope. The severity of Trump’s orders feels like a sword hanging above our heads waiting to drop: the political agenda of our president is to negate queer identity or any identity that doesn’t fit the mold that he defines as the “norm.” In the face of rejection and oppression, Collective Rage shows us that our rage, loud, unbridled, and in your face is not only okay but necessary. This play is all about individuality and how important it is to be Who. You. Are.
Working on a piece of theatre like this in the political hellhole we currently inhabit is both an emotional outlet and a protest. Like Silverman, I have been catcalled on many occasions, starting at the age of 12! At the beginning of this process, I asked the cast to share some of their own experiences with being labeled, harassed, or boxed in by the pressures of a patriarchal society. We discovered that these pressures to “act” a certain way – be quiet, look “appropriate,” suppress anger, and fit societal norms – are experiences many can relate to. We, the cast, had stories to tell: From being dress-coded at school for outfits being “too revealing,” to being told by family members to “quiet down,” or being told to “smile more” by strangers, of people thinking they have permission to your body, of being followed, of being stared at or objectified, and not being able to show any other emotions besides positive ones. After this conversation, in my dual role as cast mentor, I came up with the idea to
add a ritual to our warm-up. We stand in a circle and yell affirmations that combat some of the things we’ve been told. For example, “let’s be fucking loud,” “I don’t owe anyone shit,” “I am allowed to take up space,” “I deserve to be here, I am worthy of this experience.” You may be able to hear us before the show if you listen closely enough.
This play forces us to confront the way society standardizes us, while also celebrating the messy, beautiful process of breaking free from those constraints. Silverman uses the five Betties to represent different stereotypes and identities. The Betties come from a variety of class, racial, and queer identities, challenging and teaching each other along the way. These women explore how we are conditioned to be kind, apologetic, and beautiful instead of loud, angry, and confident. The Betties are unapologetically angry about who they are, who they are told they are, and who they want to be. Through humor and rage, they ultimately figure out who they are outside the labels society has put on them. Every Betty has a moment of reflection and realization. A moment of growth. Silverman wants us to explore what happens when women get together and question everything, so let’s do just that.
Take a moment to look under your seat, and there you will find a hand mirror with a little surprise on the back. Once this play is over, take notice of how you reacted to the Betties. Did we inspire you? Did we enrage you? I sure hope so. Deconstruct something. Be loud. Grab the mirror, get on the ground, and look at your pussy (real or metaphorical) and see how you can destroy and change.
Collective Rage is a call to action. It dares us to examine the boxes we’ve been forced into and encourages us to break free from those limits. The Betties are raging, the actors are raging, and you — yes, you — should rage with us.
Lola Cassino ’27
TIME and PLACE:
Time: Now
Place: Everywhere
SCENES:
1. Betty 1 is in A Rage
2. Betties 1 and 2 at a Dinner Party
3. Betty 3 Has Her Own Dinner Party, in Which All of Us Talk About Pussy
4. Betties 4 and 5 Work on Their Trucks and Discuss Love
5. Betty 1 Has More Rage, and Does Something About It
6. Betties 3 and 4 Discover That Highbrow Things are Just Things That Seem to be About Other Things When They’re Actually About Pussy
7. Betty 2 Acts Out Her Feelings with a Puppet Because She Has No Real Friends
8. Betties 1 and 5 Discuss Tits and Rage
9. All of the Betties Have Their First Collective Experience of Rage, Also Known as Rehearsal
10. Betties 4 and 5 Work on Their Trucks and Talk About Relationships, Which is Just Another Word for Pussy
11. Betty 1 Has More Rage but Actually This Time It Feels Like a Solution, or at the Very Least, a Valid Point of View
12. Betty 3 Tells Us Her Thoughts and Feelings, Because We Care, Because She is Going to be All The Rage
13. Betty 2 Watches Her Pussy Instead of a Documentary About Lions, and Then Shares Something Profound With Us
14. The Betties Bring Their Devised Pieces to Rehearsal: The Wall Has Lines
15. Betty 4 Has Rage, But it’s The Kind Of Rage Where You Love the Person You’re Angry At, So You Just Feel Sick and a Little Crazy, Which May be Why She Auditions for the Part of the Wall
16. Betties 1 and 5 Have a Slumber Party
17. Betty 2 Curates the Environment in Which She is Most Likely to Flourish
18. Betty 2, Having Come to the End of Her Ability to be a Betty, Becomes a Lion and Throws a Dinner Party, That is Also a Dress Rehearsal, That is Also a Point of No Return
19. Opening Night, Which is a Catastrophe Because Nobody Shows Up Except Betty 2’s Pussy
The play runs approximately 90 minutes. There is no intermission.
CONTENT WARNING: This play is inappropriate for children under 16 due to the adult themes and partial nudity. Slang language is used to describe sexual encounters and reproductive organs, and there is a mention of suicide.
Swing for Betty 1 & Betty 2 ............................................................ Ava Hawco
Swing for Betty 3 & Betty 5 ........................................................... Nia Franklin
Swing for Betty 4 ................................................................... Emmalyn Woods
The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/ protecting-artists.
Out of courtesy to your fellow audience members and the actors onstage, please turn off all electronic devices and do not text or take photos during the performance. Please note that archival photos of this production will be available through the theatre and speech communication office.
No food or beverages are allowed in the theatre. Salem State is a tobacco free campus. Thank you.
SPECIAL THANKS: Salem State is grateful for the support provided by the Dembowski Family Theatre Endowment, Sophia and Bernard Gordon and the Gordon Foundation in making this production possible. To the artist Jaclyn Altieri for donating her creative talents in creating the pussy image for the poster and the custom 5 Betties social media images.
SALEM STATE PRODUCTION PERSONNEL
A ssistant Director .......................................................................... Griffin Frank
Assistant Stage Managers Sydney Hamre and Gia Meola
Dramaturg ....................................................................................... Lola Cassino
Poster and Program Artist ........................................................... Jaclyn Altieri
“Song by Betty 2’s Pussy” Music Composer Daniel Kluger
Technical Director ..............................................................................Stu Grieve
Assistant Technical Director .......................................................... Tim O’Toole
Scenic Build Crew ............... Abby Belliveau, Queue Borden, Remus Borden, Lauren Donahue, Max Gray, Sydney Hamre, Madison Leblanc, Joshua Marcena, Savannah Mitchell, Max Ocampo, Christopher Poe, Chris Raney, and the THE201 Workshop class
Scenic Charge Stu Grieve
Scenic Run Crew .................................... Vaughn Pillsbury and Jaidyn Walter
Props Run Crew .................................... Robin Provost and Summer St. Onge
Master Electrician Tim O’Toole
Electrics Crew ...................... Pandora Benedito, James Bridges, Astrid Clark, Brianna Gambill, Gordon Gumuchian, Emrys Jordan, Shea Lowney, and Hannah Rose
Ushers Devyn Aucoin, Abby Belliveau, Jack Newton, Max Ocampo, Seth Rivera, and Elias Woodard
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
Lola Cassino (Betty 1, Dramaturg) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance. This is her third mainstage production at Salem State University. Previous credits include The Angel/ Emily/Sister Ella Chapter/Woman in South Bronx ( Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches ), Woman in Crowd/Dance Captain (Something Rotten! ), #14 (The Wolves ), and Becca (Rabbit Hole ).
Nia Franklin (U/S Betty 3 and Betty 5) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre performance. Previous credits include Mary/Pat/Nancy (Speed Date ), Roxy (Roe ), Peter (Hearts Like Fists ), Lady Grace Manley-Prowde (Something’s Afoot ), Hope Harcourt ( Anything Goes ) and Mrs. Tottendale (Drowsy Chaperone ).
Ava Hawco (U/S Betty 1 and Betty 2) is a first year pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre arts with a concentration in performance. Her previous credits include Cast Swing (The Family Man), Gayle ( Almost, Maine ), Silly Girl (Beauty and the Beast ), and Gwendolyn (The Importance of Being Earnest ).
Katie Hoskyns (Betty 2) is a sophomore pursuing a major in media and communications and a double minor in theatre and philosophy. This is her first mainstage production at Salem State University! Previous credits include The Producer (The Family Man), Kristen and Zap (Speed Date ), Richard Hannay (The 39 Steps: Even More Abridged ), and Sir Andrew (Twelfth Night ).
Christina Izaguirre (Betty 3) is a freshman pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre performance. This is her first role at Salem State University. Some of her previous credits include Liz (The Whale ), Tanya (Mamma Mia! ), Ensemble (YERMA), and Narrator (Puffs ).
Mez Mezzapelle (Betty 5) is a sophomore pursuing their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance. Previous roles at Salem State University include Annie Cannon (Silent Sky ) and Katurian (The Pillowman). Other credits include Puck ( A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Nurse Bond (The Patient ), Dot Darcy ( Alone, Together ), Chorus ( Antigone Now ), Ray (Darklight ), Erato (Xanadu), and Thirteen (The Fourteen Known Offspring of Donor HH-247 ). Awards: Maine Regional One Act Festival All State Cast winner.
Samson Willcox (Betty 4) is a sophomore pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance and Bachelor of Science degree in biology. Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties is their first production at Salem State University. Previous credits include Harry and others (Puffs ), Romeo (Romeo and Juliet ), Hero (Much Ado About Nothing), and Bessie (Our Town).
Emmalyn Woods (U/S Betty 4) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree at Salem State University, as well as minors in theatre arts and film studies. Most recently, she was featured in The Wright to Perform’s Winter Showcase as Zipporah (Psalms of Deepwood ). Malden High School credits include Understudy to Mrs. Potts/Ensemble (Beauty and the Beast ) and Lead Scenic Artist (Lysistrata and the Temple of Gaia). Malden Summer Community Theatre credits include The Photographer (35mm: A Musical Exhibition), and Man 2/Ensemble (Songs for A New World ).
CREATIVE TEAM AND PRODUCTION STAFF BIOGRAPHIES
Jaclyn Altieri (Poster & Program Artist) Jaclyn's vibrant pieces capture life's whimsy and motion, attempting to reflect the complex nature of personality and mood. The play of color and form drives her new work. Each piece lives in the multi-layered, color-drenched plane of existence. She paints in her home near her favorite backdrop, Moonstone beach in Wakefield, Rhode Island, which never seems to be void of inspiration. Jaclyn speaks about how her Girl Talk Art paintings illuminate female friendships and love. Connecting on a soul level. They are what I painted when I first began. They are what have carried me through. These girls are so much more than just fun and colorful. They embody a deep understanding of one’s soul and purpose. They are all that is, and all that they could ever dream to become. They are the cosmos and the magic that make up our lives. They are fun and bright and free to dream. They are a deep reckoning of what it means to be a female. They are connection and strength. They are soft and feminine. They are tough and embolden. They are my inspiration and my support system. These girls are me and I am them. Jaclyn’s website and art can be found at LUNIACSTYLE.COM.
Robert D. Brennan (Sound Designer) has worked for over a decade in the production of analog synthesized scores and symphonic tracks for theatrical plays and independent films across the New England region. He also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater performance he earned from Salem State University in 2018. Current projects include the release of his first antinovel of selected poetic verse and short stories expected to be published in the fall of this year.
Max Dupuis (Stage Manager) is a junior pursuing their Bachelor of Arts degree in technical theatre. Recent stage management credits include Speed Date (Student Theatre Ensemble), Rent and Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Middlesex Community College). Assistant stage management credits include Roe and First Year Lab ’23 (Salem State University).
Ginger Eckert (Voice and Text Director) is the Voice and Speech specialist in the performance faculty, bringing her experience as a professional actor and vocal coach for stage and film to Salem State University. 15+ years as core faculty in professional actor-training programs: Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University, SUNY/Purchase BFA program, Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA, NYU/Tisch at Atlantic Acting School & Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, and Uta Hagen’s HB Studio. She has performed with The Public Theater, Kennedy Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theater Company, LaMama, Clubbed Thumb, in indie films, audiobooks, and more. Professional voice and dialect coaching includes two seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
Showtime’s Brotherhood series, New York Theater Workshop, Ripe Time, Making Books Sing, River Rep New York. Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and proud member of VASTA/The Voice and Speech Trainers Association. MFA in Acting, Brown University/Trinity Rep. BA in Literature, American University. Ginger enters teaching as an actor and interrogator, who is also learning and creating. Her teaching features all the sounds and vocal dynamics of global languages, with the goal to arrive at communication that is honest, expansive, inclusive, and culturally sustaining for each person. Gratitude always to her supportive family and to her mentors, Thom Jones, Francine Zerfas, and Ronni Stewart.
Griffin Frank (Assistant Director) is a junior pursuing their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in directing. Recent Salem State directing credits include: Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches and First Year Lab ’23 . Additional credits include: Hearts Like Fists (Stage Manager, Salem State Student Theater Ensemble), and Othello (Assistant Stage Manager, Salem State University).
Ryan Goodwin (Costume Designer) is a New England-based costume designer with over a decade of experience in theatre, film, and opera. He has held various costuming positions with companies such as Boston Lyric Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, The Lyric Stage Company, Netflix, and Paramount. Currently serving as the Costume Shop Supervisor at Salem State University, Ryan brings both technical expertise and artistic vision to his work. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre design with a concentration in costuming from Salem State University and later received his Master of Fine Arts in costume design from Boston University.
Sydney Hamre (Assistant Stage Manager) is a First Year transfer student pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in stage management. This is her third time assistant stage managing at Salem State University. Previous ASM credits include Angels in America: Part One, Millennium Approaches and First Year Lab ’23 .
Michael M. Harvey (Lighting Designer) is an Assistant Professor of design at Salem State University where he teaches and designs scenery and lighting. Previously he spent four years at Southern Utah University where he served as Assistant Professor and Director of design and production. He taught scenic and lighting and sound design, as well as designed scenery, lights, and sound for the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. He spent eight years teaching and designing at Central Lakes College in Minnesota. He also spent two years teaching at the University of Southern Indiana, where he served as scenic designer and technical
director. Among his professional credits are scenic coordinator for the Opera Company of Philadelphia; scenic and lighting designer for several Primedia Inc. television productions; and production manager for both the New Harmony Theatre in New Harmony, IN, and Capital Repertory Company in Albany, NY. Michael holds a Master of Fine Arts in Scenic Design and Theatre Technology from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.
Stacey Horne-Harper (Props Master) is a graduate of the University of Delaware Professional Theatre Training Program. She spent seven years as the properties carpenter at the American Repertory Theater. She would like to thank her family for all their incredible support.
Julie Kiernan (Director) is an associate professor of theatre & speech communication at Salem State University. As a Fulbright Scholar, she traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, in the Spring 2024 semester to teach and direct theatre at New Bulgarian University. In 2016, she received Salem State University’s Distinguished Teaching Award. She is the artistic director of SSU’s annual National 10-Minute Veterans’ Playwriting Contest & Festival (6th annual 2024). She directs regularly for the department Antigone (2023), First Year Lab (2022), Orlando (2021), and Top Girls (2019). She teaches performance and oral communication courses.
In addition to her work within the department, she serves as SSU Faculty Fellow for Global Engagement (2018 -2022 and 2024-2026) and Faculty COIL Coordinator (2020-23). In this capacity, she trained 30 faculty in COIL (collaborative online international learning) pedagogy. This work received the 2021 AASCU Excellence and Innovation Award for International Education and a 2021 IDEAS grant from the U.S. State Department.
Before joining Salem State, Kiernan received her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from the University of California, Irvine, and was a professional actress in Los Angeles. She has traveled internationally as an actress, a study abroad faculty leader, a presenter, and a consultant. Kiernan’s TED Talk, “Setting the Stage for Human Connection,” focuses on her theatre education research. Her other research interests include feminist theatre, contemplative pedagogy, value-creation education, and building intercultural competence.
Gia Meola (Assistant Stage Manager) is a first year pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performance. This is her first mainstage production at Salem State University.
Bella Perez (Student Props Master) is a senior pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Technical Theatre. Design credits include Othello (Salem State University), Evita , and The Servant of Two Masters (Stagedoor Manor). Managerial credits include Blood Wedding and The Thing They Love (Salem State University).
Rachel Rose Roberts (Scenic Designer) she/her. Rachel is very excited to be returning to the Callan Studio Theatre since graduating from the SSU theatre program with her BFA in theatre design in 2019. Since then, Rachel received her MFA in scenic design from Indiana University in Bloomington IN, and has joyfully returned home where she has been freelance designing and teaching throughout the New England area. Her recent scenic design credits include Antigone , Roe (Salem State University), Million Dollar Quartet , Pippin (Firehouse Center for the Arts), Educating Rita (The Barnstormers Theatre), Camp Rock: The Musical, Seussical (Ogunquit Playhouse), and Winter Wonderettes and Titanish (Greater Boston Stage Company). She would like to thank the members of the creative team, as well as her friends, family, and husband for their everlasting support throughout life thus far. She would also like to thank JRR Tolkien for creating the inspirational story that inevitably led to her passion for scenic design. Website: rachelrosescenicdesign.com.
Jen Silverman (Playwright)(they/them) is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Plays include: The Roommate (Broadway: The Booth Theatre; Regionally: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Steppenwolf, South Coast Repertory Theatre, etc.); Highway Patrol (The Goodman); Spain (Second Stage Theater); Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties (Woolly Mammoth, MCC, Southwark Playhouse London); The Moors (Yale Repertory Theatre, The Playwrights Realm) and Witch (Writer’s Theatre, The Geffen, The Huntington). Books include: the debut novel We Play Ourselves , story collection The Island Dwellers and novel There’s Going to be Trouble from Random House. Silverman also wrote the bestselling narrative podcast The Miranda Obsession for Audible, starring Rachel Brosnahan. Silverman is a three-time MacDowell Fellow, a member of New Dramatists and a Scholar of Note at the American Library in Paris. They write for TV and film, including Tales of the City (Netflix) and Tokyo Vice (Max). Their OSCAR® qualifying short film Troy screened at 70 festivals internationally, including the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and is featured online in The New Yorker’s Screening Room. Honors include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim. More info at www.jensilverman.com.
THEATRE AND SPEECH COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
Full-Time Faculty
Ginger Eckert
Ali Filipovich
Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
Michael M. Harvey
Julie Kiernan
Christopher Morris, Chairperson
Peter Sampieri
Staff
Ryan Goodwin
Stuart Grieve
Adelaide Majeski
Ashley Preston O’Toole
Tim O’Toole
Visiting Lecturers
Esme Allen
Brianne Beatrice
Sara Conlon
Seán Dixon-Gumm
Brad Goren-Wilson
Stacey Horne-Harper
Alex Jacobs
Brendan O’Neill
Peyton Pugmire
Rachel Rose Roberts
Allen Vietzke
Samantha Weisberg
Faculty Emeriti
Celena Sky April
William Cunningham
James J. Fallon
Myrna Finn
David Allen George
Thomas J. Hallahan
Elizabeth Hart
Jane Hillier-Walkowiak
Vera Sheppard
Whitney L. White
Patricia Zaido
The Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, part of the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, is generously funded by David M. Rubenstein .
Special Thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts’ Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Additional support is provided by The Honorable Stuart Bernstein and Wilma E. Bernstein; and the Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation.
Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts.
This production is entered in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). The aims of this national theater education program are to identify and promote quality in college-level theater production. To this end, each production entered is eligible for a response by a regional KCACTF representative, and selected students and faculty are invited to participate in KCACTF programs involving scholarships, internships, grants and awards for actors, directors, dramaturgs, playwrights, designers, stage managers and critics at both the regional and national levels.
Productions entered on the Participating level are eligible for invitation to the KCACTF regional festival and may also be considered for national awards recognizing outstanding achievement in production, design, direction and performance.
Last year more than 1,500 productions were entered in the KCACTF involving more than 200,000 students nationwide. By entering this production, our theater department is sharing in the KCACTF goals to recognize, reward, and celebrate the exemplary work produced in college and university theaters across the nation.
salemstate.edu/arts
FEBRUARY 18 – MARCH 14
Revere Beach Stories: Photographs and Poems by Stephenie Young, Jennifer Martelli, and Kevin Carey
10 am – 4 pm l Winfisky Gallery, Ellison Campus Center
MARCH 10
Writers Series:
Shangyang Fang and MP Carver
7:30 pm l MLK Room, Ellison Campus Center
MARCH 26
Introduction to Odissi Classical Indian Dance with Priya Bangal 3:05 – 4:20 pm I O’Keefe 303
MARCH 29 and 30
The Ballad of Tam Lin by Molly Pinto Madigan ’13
March 29, 7:30 pm | March 30, 3 pm
Recital Hall, 71 Loring Avenue
Visit salemstate.edu/arts for information about these and other arts events
For accommodation and access information, visit salemstate.edu/access or email access@salemstate.edu.
