2021–22 SEASON
Mission
David Geffen School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre train and advance leaders in the practice of every theatrical discipline, making art to inspire joy, empathy, and understanding in the world.
Values Artistry
We expand knowledge to nurture creativity and imaginative expression embracing the complexity of the human spirit.
Belonging
We put people first, centering well-being, inclusion, and equity for theatermakers and audiences through anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices.
Collaboration
We build our collective work on a foundation of mutual respect, prizing the contributions and accomplishments of the individual and of the team.
Discovery
We wrestle with compelling issues of our time. Energized by curiosity, invention, bravery, and humor, we challenge ourselves to risk and learn from failure and vulnerability.
drama.yale.edu
MAY 14–19, 2022
Iseman Theater, 1156 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut
DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA AT YALE James Bundy, Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean Florie Seery, Associate Dean Chantal Rodriguez, Associate Dean Kelvin Dinkins, Jr., Assistant Dean PRESENTS
by Rebecca
Adelsheim and Alex Keegan based on the novel by Sarah Waters directed by Alex Keegan Scenic Designer
Cat Raynor
Costume Designer
Aidan Griffiths Sound Designer
Bryn Scharenberg Lighting Designer
Graham Zellers
Projection Designer
Hannah Tran
Illusion Designer
Dendy
Production Dramaturg
Rebecca Adelsheim Technical Director
Kelly O’Loughlin Stage Manager
Aisling Galvin
This production is supported by the Benjamin Mordecai III Production Fund.
Cast in alphabetical order: Miss Ridley/Lady................................................................................. Whitney Andrews Helen/Jane/Lady................................................................................................. Tyler Cruz Selina Dawes................................................................................................... Olivia Cygan Stephen/Lawyer/Porter...............................................................................Sam Douglas Mother/Phoebe/Lady.................................................................. Giovanna Drummond Pris/Deborah/Lady................................................................................... Janiah François Miss Jelf/Mrs. Wallace/Mr. Dance.......................................................... Rebecca Kent Ruth Vigers/Ellen..........................................................................................Karen Killeen Margaret Prior..................................................................................... Maggie McCaffery Miss Kinslingbury/Anne/Lady.................................................................... Caro Riverita Miss Haxby/Lady....................................................................................... Rebeca Robles Miss Barclay/Susan/Miss Pimsley....................................................... Amelia Windom
Setting Victorian London, the literary version. Time: 1874 There will be one ten-minute intermission.
Yale University acknowledges that Indigenous peoples and nations, including Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, and the Quinnipiac and other Algonquian speaking peoples, have stewarded through generations the lands and waterways of what is now the state of Connecticut. We honor and respect the enduring and continuing relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land.
An Affinity Through History: Alex Keegan & Rebecca Adelsheim Look Forward by Looking Back
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity by Rebecca Adelsheim
RA: So, jumping right in: I knew Sarah
Waters’ work before this project but didn’t read Affinity until you talked about co-adapting it for your thesis. Can you tell us about your relationship to this novel and why you were interested in pursuing it for your thesis project?
AK: I first encountered Affinity when I
was 17 in an English class called Studies in the Novel. It was assigned alongside “great novels” written by men—Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary, and then this one, which felt revelatory just because it was by a woman. I was struck by how compelling, Victorian, palpably queer, and so filled with magic and spiritualism it was. When Liz Diamond asked twelve years later if there were any books that I might want to adapt for my thesis, I remembered it from that class. I knew Sarah Waters was open to adaptation because there were film and television versions of Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith, but I don’t know that I expected her to reply to our ask. Still, her team asked us to pitch them a version which eventually became this play.
RA: Right, so our version moves the
novel from a dual-voice structure of the diary entries, to focus instead solely on Margaret, and allows the audience to see the story from her point of view as she meets Selina and falls in love. We knew that this would be hypertheatrical, and luckily Sarah said yes!
AK: I knew I wanted us to make what felt
like a process of impossibly immense scale feel possible. We have had the ability to think together, constantly bounce ideas off each other, and mind-meld in a way that has supported us through the process. I also believed co-adaptation would be significantly less lonely and would prove an opportunity to reimagine what playwriting might look like. I’ve always been interested in collaborative writing and devising, so it seemed natural to approach adaptation collaboratively.
RA: Yes, the collaborative relationship
we’ve set up has been such a joy and balm as we’ve approached a complicated adaptation process. We started by transcribing some scenes from the book and asked actors to read them, and then we both brought the project to our adaptation classes (with Jill Rachel Morris in dramaturgy, and Sarah Ruhl in playwriting). Then, of course, we worked through many Google Docs and Zoom sessions during the height of the pandemic. What did you learn about yourself as a writer during this process?
AK: I feel like I learned that I liked to
work from the outside in—the earliest and easiest things to see were the different hypothetical spaces: Millbank prison, Margaret’s home, foggy streets, a library. Having these concrete spaces was a starting point in my head—
RA: And I’m a structural thinker, that’s how I approach my dramaturgy, so I think we were able to use the space to
An Affinity Through History structure the movement of how the play might unfold, which allowed for a different kind of playwriting process than I thought possible. Even in the earliest days, we started with a colorcoded outline to indicate those spaces…
AK: …that is still on the wall of our
kitchen right now as we speak! So yes, and from there we figured out the people who occupied the world and the text we needed from the book. From that scaffolding, it became much easier to invent devices to make the project more theatrical.
RA: It felt like a process, for both of us, in growing confidence in our creative voices and taking more of those risks as we deviated from the novel.
AK: Yes, and a class structure was
helpful in gaining that confidence to take steps away from the source material. We could take the essence or intellectual ideas of the novel, such as framing high heterosexual society as an overarching, oppressive force and make it tangible in the form of a fun, loud, opinionated lady chorus. Sarah Ruhl also helped to assuage our fears of the play’s being too literary and encouraged us not to apologize for it. And while that sounds obvious, that was freeing.
RA: Let’s switch over to talking
about the play itself! It is 1874 in Victorian London. We’re on the cusp of the Oscar Wilde trials (1894), which is often seen as the marker of contemporary definitions of and language for queerness.
AK: We’re in this moment where
these queer women don’t quite have language to name themselves and their
existence. Something about being right on that precipice, where people are learning and discovering language for themselves as the play is unfolding feels exciting and dynamic. I think sometimes it is challenging to imagine a moment before all of the highly specific language we use today to describe different identity groups. The idea of wiping that away allows these characters, in some ways, a freedom to redefine a world in their own terms while inventing language to talk about themselves.
RA: You mean, for example, Selina’s speech about freedom in a spirit world that is effectively non-binary.
AK: Yes; and they might not have
the language about non-binary identity that we have now, but they do have the idea—because Sarah has given it to them—that there might be a place where there is no gender. The idea that we are seeing a bunch of people imagine themselves into existence is really exciting.
RA: I think the other side of that, and
we’ve talked about this a lot, is the prevalence of queer women creating historical records of themselves and their lovers, despite the world’s telling them that their existence is impossible. There is, of course, a tradition of this with writers like Virginia Woolf, Patricia Highsmith, or Audre Lorde, writing their existence through intimate letters, journal entries, and autobiography with the hope that future audiences might understand them, or might see the possibility within their impossible lives. We’ve manifested this idea by borrowing Sarah Waters’ journal structure and embodying it on
stage—casting the audience as not just Margaret’s journal itself, but as the people for whom she writes who might understand her more fully someday.
uncovering is finding an affinity through history, that allows you to see the version of yourself that would have been, and then reflect it into the future.
AK: As Margaret is speaking to the audience, she is trying to speak herself, or write herself, into existence now. I think on a practical level, we held 1874 loosely in the production, in large part because what Sarah Waters is doing in her writing is using anachronism—e.g., use of the word queer or other terms that are not necessarily in period—to signal that yes, this is set in 1874, but it’s actually a novel of historical fiction written in the 1990s. We’ve tried to embrace that idea in the production by saying, for example, “Yes, we’re in this time period, and also there is going to be a lightbulb,” to elide that past-present conversation. I think period pieces are helpful because they allow us to see that things that we like to think of as being far away, are actually conversations that are quite urgent. I think they allow us to see our proximities to histories that are at once comfortable and uncomfortable
Okay, last question: the School of Drama, and the American theater more broadly, don’t do much work about lesbians…thoughts?
I know you’ve done a lot of work on the queer archive—how do you see that in conversation with this piece?
RA: I do think there’s this idea—and
so many scholars have talked about this—that we’re constantly looking for visions of ourselves in history. And there are problems with that, but there’s also a truth to that desire to search for evidence that someone like you has always existed. One of Selina’s big theses is a Victorian spiritualist idea that there is such a thing as a spiritual affinity, or what we might understand as a true soul mate. And it does feel to me that the exercise of archival
AK: They should do more! (laughter) In
all seriousness, I think there is a dearth of work in that area. I think we’re seeing more new plays that address queer themes, and especially lesbian themes in the past years. At the same time, I think there’s a tendency to say “we’ve done one! Fantastic, let’s move on.” Sarah Waters insists, across a number of novels, that she’s going to write queer histories into existence. I think there’s a lesson there about just one play or story not being enough, but that one has to look a multiplicity of narratives to understand many different experiences, all of which might be defined under queer or lesbian. So, I hope more people in the future will be able to do such work. What do you think?
RA: I think there is a real fear of
lesbian work in the American theater; often because it doesn’t follow a comfortable or familiar structure, or because if there is a kind of sexuality that has nothing to do with cis-men, it is baffling to the people who are programming the work. The ways in which we can engage in queer work can be innovative and revelatory—and deeply inclusive—but that is often not at the forefront of anyone’s mind because a common misconception is that queer work is over because of the prevalence of gay men’s stories in the theater. And so, yes, I agree—more stories!
Cast Bios Miss Ridley/Lady:
Whitney Andrews is currently an
M.F.A. candidate in acting at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Growing up in Westport, Connecticut, she spent most of her time doing cartwheels in the grass or creating complex storylines with her Barbies. Prior to seeking her Masters, she lived in New York pursuing her acting career. She can be seen on Manifest (NBC), Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), Gotham (FOX), and Happy! (Syfy). Today, Whitney tells stories illustrating multifaceted Black women who exist in the fullness of their complexities. She is a fearless feeler and pleasure seeker, who is constantly finding herself through her work. Helen/Jane/Lady: Tyler Cruz is a third-year M.F.A. acting candidate David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Recent credits at the School include Love’s Labor’s Lost, Bodas de Sangre, and the Zoom production of The Salt Women. She was also in Yale Cabaret’s productions of In Between Bxtches, UNCUT, Daughters of the Confederacy, and Littleboy/Littleman. IG: @tylerrcruz Selina Dawes:
Olivia Cygan (she/her) is a third-
year MFA candidate at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where she was seen in She Kills Monsters. A proud native of Chicago, Olivia originated roles in The Burials at Steppenwolf Theatre and Feathers and Teeth at Goodman Theatre. She’s had the pleasure of working with Yale Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, The Gift
Theatre at Steppenwolf, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, TimeLine Theatre, Piven Theatre, and others. Olivia received her B.S. in theater from Northwestern University. Stephen/Lawyer/Porter: Sam Douglas (he/him) is in his second year at David Geffen School of Drama. Previous credits include work with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theater, Milwaukee Chamber Theater, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, and Nashville Shakespeare Festival, among others. He grew up in Nashville and received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. Mother/Phoebe/Lady:
Giovanna Drummond is a second
year acting candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. Her prior work at the School consists of Blood Wedding and Dear 2020, With Love: A Euphoric Play. She holds a B.F.A in theater and journalism from NYU, where she studied at the Experimental Theater Wing. She recently appeared in Bea, Seriously, which premiered at this year’s Bushwick Film Festival and is set to premiere in I Know What You Need, a film adaptation of Stephen King’s short story. Excitement and exploration propelled her through this project, getting to work with dialects, extravagant costumes, and, most of all, this team of artists. Pris/Deborah/Lady: Janiah François was born to wear a petticoat and is excited to be a part of the cast of Affinity! Janiah is a secondyear actor at David Geffen School
of Drama, where she most recently appeared in a.k. payne’s love i awethu further. She is a graduate of Harvard University, where she studied novels and performed with A.R.T., Hyperion Shakespeare Company, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players. She sends all her gratitude to Christ and her awesome family. Miss Jelf/Mrs. Wallace/Mr. Dance: Rebecca Kent Rebecca Kent is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where she was seen in She Kills Monsters and Love’s Labor’s Lost. Ruth Vigers/Ellen: Karen Killeen is an actor and director from Dublin, Ireland. She is a secondyear M.F.A .candidate in acting at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Prior to her move to New Haven, she worked on the television series KIN (produced by Bron Studios, USA) and Taken Down for RTÉ. Last semester, she appeared in Blood Wedding at the School. In early 2020, Karen was the lead in an Irish tour of Wishful Thinking by Shaunna Lee Lynch and during her B.A. played roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, At the Black Pig’s Dyke, and The Canterbury Tales. Margaret Prior:
Maggie McCaffery is a third-year
M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where she was seen in She Kills Monsters. Credits include Damsels, A Man’s World, In Search Of (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Fill Fill Fill Fill Fill Fill, Not my Monster, ms. estrada, In the Open (The Flea Theater); The Wolves (Huntington Theatre Company); The Second Girl
(The Vineyard Playhouse); and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare on the Shoreline). She received her B.F.A. from Boston University. Miss Kinslingbury/Anne/Lady: Caro Riverita is an actor from Manatí and Isabela, Puerto Rico. She is a second-year M.F.A. candidate in acting at Yale where her credits include Lorca’s Bodas de Sangre. She holds a B.A. in humanities with a concentration in drama from la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras where she performed in La Senda del Cafetal by José Luis Ramos Escobar. She has also performed for secondary school audiences across some of the archipelago’s best theaters with La Escuela de Hoy by Gerardo Rodriguez. Miss Haxby/Lady: Rebeca Robles is a second-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama. Rebeca received her B.A. from Asbury University and additional training from the Barrow Group, National Theater Institute, and Upright Citizens Brigade. Following her undergraduate degree, Rebeca spent several years in Atlanta, Georgia, where she founded Atlanta Theater Club (awarded Best Emerging Theater by Atlanta Magazine in 2019). Rebeca is most recognized for her roles in the Hulu series Reprisal and the independent film Alina. Most recently, Rebeca has acted in the independent features Old Flame, directed by Christopher Denham, and Shelter, directed by Jake Weber. Up next, Rebeca can be seen in Indecent by Paula Vogel at Chautauqua Theater Company.
Cast Bios Miss Barclay/Susan/Miss Pimsley Amelia Windom (she/her) is in her second year at David Geffen School of Drama. Previous theater credits include A Christmas Carol, Wonderous Strange, Coffee Break, (Actors Theatre of Louisville); The Piano Teacher (Kitchen Theatre Company). Television credits include Law and Order: SVU, The Sinner, High Fidelity, and The Flight Attendant. Amelia received her B.F.A. in acting from Ball State University. Playwright and Production Dramaturg: Rebecca Adelsheim is a new play dramaturg, writer, and researcher whose work includes Em Weinstein’s soldiergirls, Benjamin Benne’s In His Hands (Yale), and Isaac Gómez’s The Displaced (Haven). Rebecca has served as a managing editor for Theater magazine, and a producer and dramaturg for theater companies including Steppenwolf, Baltimore Center Stage, Barrington Stage, 2nd Story, and Victory Gardens Theater. B.A.: University of Pennsylvania; M.F.A. candidate, David Geffen School of Drama, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism. Illusion Designer: Dendy An award-nominated actor and magician, Dendy has performed on stages across the country. He also appears on the CW Network and Penn & Teller’s: Fool Us. In addition to performing, Dendy designs magic for regional theaters, Off-Broadway, and most recently for the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. He has also consulted and created magic for the longest running headliners in Las Vegas history, Penn & Teller.
Creative Team Bios Stage Manager
Aisling Galvin is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama.
Costume Designer Aidan Griffiths is delighted to be a part of Affinity! Other credits include: Love Sick, a Rock Opera (National Sawdust); Radiant Vermin (Yale Cabaret); and A Mouthful of Shoes (The Bang Group). She holds a B.F.A. in costume design and technology from UNCSA (2015). She is grateful for her friends, family, and her partner Josh for their support and would like to thank everyone involved in Affinity for making it such a rewarding experience! For more details, AidanGriffithsDesign.com. Playwright and Director: Alex Keegan is a director and writer from New York City. Her directing includes Benjamin Benne’s Manning, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Gloria Majule’s Uhuru (Yale), Reed Northrup’s Auntie Vanya (Ars Nova ANT Fest), Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters (Geva Fellowship), cocreated Aplomb (The Habitat), Margot Connolly’s Tough (Williamstown), Gracie Gardner’s Primary (Sanguine/ IRT), and new plays with The O’Neill’s Young Playwrights Festival, Cherry Lane Theatre, and MCC FreshPlay. She’s a member of Roundabout Directors Group, a recipient of an EST/ Sloan Commission, Drama League Residency, NYTW Adelphi Residency, and was Co-Artistic Director of Yale Summer Cabaret. Alum: The Civilians R&D Group, Rattlestick’s Middle Voice Company, Lincoln
Center Directors Lab, Williamstown Directing Corps. B.A., Brown; M.F.A. candidate, David Geffen School of Drama. Alex-Keegan.com Technical Director:
Kelly O’Loughlin is a fourth-year
technical design and production student. She would like to extend her deepest thanks to her assistant technical directors, Hyejin Son and Ro Burnett, without whom this work would not have been possible. Kelly’s previous technical direction credits at David Geffen School of Drama include The Tempest, Measure for Measure, and Yell: a “documentary” of my time here. Kelly received her B.F.A. in theater arts, technical direction from Salem State University. Scenic Designer: Cat Raynor (she/her/hers) is a set and production designer for stage and film, and a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. Previous design credits include Twelfth Night (David Geffen School of Drama), A Doll’s House (Yale Cabaret), Iris & Maggie (Yale Cabaret), and short films MAJOR and Good Taste. Cat previously worked in the art department of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Website: catraynor.com Sound Designer:
Bryn Scharenberg is a third-year
M.F.A. candidate in sound design. She grew up in Seattle, where the sound of rain is near-constant. She received a B.S. in music and technology from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh—and in the process of that
degree, she found her way to theater. She has worked as a sound designer or engineer with Pittsburgh Musical Theater, Front Porch Theatricals, the New Ohio Theatre, and Yale Cabaret, among many others. brynscharenberg.org Projection Designer: Hannah Tran is a stage designer for live performance. Originally from Pomona, California, she currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut. She obtained a B.A. in theater from the University of California, Irvine. She is currently an M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, studying projection design. Novel:
Sarah Waters, OBE was born in
Wales. She is the author of six novels, Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith, The Paying Guest, The Night Watch, and The Little Stranger, which have been adapted for stage, television, and feature film in the UK and US. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction and she has won the Betty Trask Award; the Somerset Maugham Award; The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award; the South Bank Show Award for Literature; and the CWA Historical Dagger. Sarah has been named Author of the Year four times: by the British Book Awards, the Booksellers’ Association, Waterstones Booksellers; Stonewall’s Writer of the Decade in 2015; DIVA Magazine Author of the Year Award and The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence in 2017, which is
Creative Team Bios given in recognition of a writer’s entire body of work. Sarah was awarded an Order of the British Empire Award (OBE) in 2019 for services to literature in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Sarah Waters lives in London. Lighting Designer:
Graham Zellers (he/they) is a third-
year lighting design student here at David Geffen School of Drama. In his time at the School, Graham previously designed Bodas De Sangre (2021), Hamlet (2020), as well as We are Proud to Present… at Yale Cabaret (2019). Before going back to school, Graham worked as Lighting Director at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, Florida for four seasons. He was given the opportunity to design several shows while there, including Holmes and Watson (2019) and Les Misérables (2019). Graham also received his B.A. in theater design and technology from Ball State University. Check out his work at zellersdesign.com.
The Benjamin Mordecai III Production Fund, established by
a graduate of the School, honors the memory of the Tony Award-winning producer who served as Associate Dean and Chair of the Theater Management program at David Geffen School of Drama from 1993 until his death in 2005. During his tenure as Yale Rep’s Managing Director alongside Dean/Artistic Director Lloyd Richards, 1982–1993, he developed a model of professional producing that changed the course of new play development in the American theatre. His 25 Broadway credits included Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, as well as work by Anna Deavere Smith, Athol Fugard, David Henry Hwang, Terrence McNally, Robert Schenkkan, and perhaps most significantly August Wilson, with whom he collaborated on each of the ten plays in the epic 20th-Century Cycle.
for
Affinity
Artistic
Production
AB Entsminger
Katie Byron
Assistant Scenic Designer: Assistant Costume Designer:
Risa Ando
Assistant Lighting Designer:
Production Manager: Assistant Technical Directors:
Ro Burnett Hyejin Son
Administration Associate Managing Director:
Emma Rose Perrin Assistant Managing Director:
Chloe Knight
Production Electrician:
Management Assistant:
John Horzen
Associate Production Manager:
House Managers:
Associate Sound Designer and Engineer:
Joe Hsun Chiang
Annabel Guevara Yuhan Zhang
Projection Engineers:
Special Thanks
David DeCarolis
Assistant Projection Designer:
Rebecca Satzberg
Projection Content Creator:
Henry Rodriguez
Company Understudy:
Christina Dragen-Dima
Sam Skynner Eric Walker
Properties Manager:
Nate Angrick
Tavia Elise Hunt
Stage Carpenter:
Recorded Musicians: Violin 1
Run Crew:
Ladusa Chang-Ou Violin 2
John Horzen Viola
Emily Rekrut-Pressey Cello
Jenny Bahk
Dani Mader
Omid Akbari Kitty Cassetti KIMKIM (Juhee Kim) a.k. payne Yu-Jung Shen Kayodè Soyemi Mike Winch Kim Zhou Yichen Zhou
Jake Hurwitz
Sam DeMuria, Shimali Di Silva, James Fleming, Sarah Lyddan, Alexandra Maurice, David Mitsch, Reed Northrup, Maia Novi, Abigail Onwunali, Han Van Sciver, Madeline Seidman, Matthew Elijah Webb, maal imani west, Isuri Wijesundara, Jessy Yates.
Hair Consultant:
Nikiya Mathis
Assistant Stage Manager:
Bekah Brown
drama.yale.edu
David Geffen School of Drama Staff Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean James Bundy Associate Dean Florie Seery Associate Dean Chantal Rodriguez Assistant Dean Kelvin Dinkins, Jr. Associate Artistic Director, Director of New Play Programs, Yale Repertory Theatre Jennifer Kiger Production Stage Manager James Mountcastle Senior Artistic Producer, Yale Repertory Theatre Amy Boratko Artistic Associate, Yale Repertory Theatre Kay Perdue Meadows Artistic Fellows Molly FitzMaurice Sophie Siegel-Warren Senior Administrative Assistant to the Dean Josie Brown Senior Administrative Assistant for Directing, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Playwriting, and Stage Management Programs Laurie Coppola Senior Administrative Assistant for the Design program Kate Begley Baker
Senior Administrative Assistant to Production, Theater Safety, and the Technical Design and Production Program Grace O’Brien
Scenery
Technical Directors Neil Mulligan Matt Welander Electro Mechanical Laboratory Supervisor Alan Hendrickson Scene Shop Supervisor Eric Sparks Senior Lead Carpenter Matt Gaffney Lead Carpenters Ryan Gardner Kat McCarthey Sharon Reinhart Libby Stone Carpenter Doug Kester
Painting
Paint Shop Supervisor Ru-Jun Wang Scenic Artists Lia Akkerhuis Nathan Jasunas Scenic Painting Intern Jihane Fareseddine
Properties
Properties Supervisor Jennifer McClure Properties Craftsperson David P. Schrader
Senior Administrative Assistant for the Acting Program Krista DeVellis
Properties Associate Zach Faber
Library Services Lindsay King
Properties Stock Manager Mark Dionne
Production
Costumes
Production Management
Director of Production Shaminda Amarakoon
Costume Shop Manager Christine Szczepanski
Production Manager Jonathan Reed
Senior Drapers Clarissa Wylie Youngberg Mary Zihal
Production Manager for Studio Projects and Special Events C. Nikki Mills
Senior First Hands Deborah Bloch Patricia Van Horn
Acting Production Coordinator and Student Labor Supervisor Robert Chikar
Costume Project Coordinator Linda Kelley-Dodd
Costume Stock Manager Jamie Farkas Costume Shop Intern Micah Ohno
Electrics
Lighting Supervisor Donald W. Titus Senior House Electricians Jennifer Carlson Linda-Cristal Young Interim Production Electrician Christina Dragen-Dima Electrician Tyler Hieb
Sound
Sound Supervisor Mike Backhaus Lead Sound Engineer Stephanie Smith Sound Intern Rebecca Satzberg
Projections
Projection Supervisor Eric Lin Projection Engineer Mike Paddock
Stage Operations
Stage Carpenter Janet Cunningham
Lead Wardrobe Supervisor Elizabeth Bolster Lead Properties Runner William Ordynowicz Lead Light Board Programmer David Willmore FOH Mix Engineer Eric Norris
Administration General Management
Associate Managing Directors Madeline Carey Caitlin M. Dutkiewicz Emma Rose Perrin Senior Administrative Assistant to the Associate Dean and Theater Management Program Emalie Mayo Assistant Managing Director Chloe Knight
Management Assistant Jake Hurwitz Company Manager Matthew Sonnenfeld Assistant Company Manager Wendy Davies
Development and Alumni Affairs
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs Deborah S. Berman Senior Associate Director of Institutional Giving Janice Muirhead Senior Associate Director of Operations for Development and Alumni Affairs Susan C. Clark
Senior Administrative Assistant to Business Office, Digital and Web Technology, Operations, and Tessitura Shainn Reaves Business Office Specialist Andrea Valcourt Interim Business Office Specialist Moriah Clarke Business Office Assistants Megan Blake Ashlie Russell Database Application Consultants Ben Silvert Erich Bolton Bo Du
Financial Aid and Registrar
Customer Service and Safety Officers Ralph Black, Jr. Kevin Delaney Ed Jooss John Marquez Box Office Assistants Mikaela Boone, Sydney Garick, Jordan Graf, Lucy Harvey, Aaron Magloire, Kenneth Murray, a.k. payne, Jessica Wang Production Photographer T. Charles Erickson
Theater Safety and Occupational Health
Director of Theater Safety and Occupational Health Anna Glover
Financial Aid Officer Andre Massiah
COVID Compliance Manager Jonathan Jolly
Registrar/Admissions Administrator Ariel Yan
COVID Compliance Coordinator Amy Stern
Senior Administrative Assistant to Financial Aid and Admissions Laura Torino
Associate Safety Advisors Jacob Santos Eric Walker
Marketing, Communications, and Audience Services
Operations
Director of Marketing Daniel Cress
Interim Director of Facility Operations Nadir Balan
Development Assistant Annabel Guevara
Director of Communications Steven Padla
Interim Operations Associate Brandon Fuller
Finance, Human Resources, and Digital Technology
Senior Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Caitlin Griffin
Interim Operations Assistant Kelvin Essilfie
Associate Director of Development and Alumni Affairs William Gaines Associate Director of Development Communications and Alumni Affairs Casey Grambo Senior Administrative Assistant to Development and Alumni Affairs Jennifer E. Alzona
Director of Finance and Digital Technology Katherine D. Burgueño
Director of Human Resources Sarah de Freitas Director, Yale Tessitura Consortium, and Web Technology Janna J. Ellis Manager, Business Operations Martha Boateng Digital Communications Associate George Tinari Interim Business Office Analyst Win Knowles Digital Technology Associates Edison Dule Garry Heyward
Acting Senior Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Jecamiah Ybañez
Arts and Graduate Studies Superintendents Jennifer Draughn Michael Halpern
Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications Jason Gray
Team Leaders Andrew Mastriano Sherry Stanley
Senior Administrative Assistant for Marketing and Communications, and the Associate Dean Mishelle Raza
Facility Stewards Michael Humbert Marcia Riley
Director of Audience Services Laura Kirk Assistant Director of Audience Services Shane Quinn Subscriptions Coordinator Tracy Baldini Audience Services Associate Molly Leona
Custodians Sybil Bell, Christina Davis, Tylon Frost, Cassandra Hobby, Kathy Langston, Mark Roy, Jerome Sonia