Notes on Killing Seven..., Yale Repertory Theatre, 2025
2024-25 SEASON
Yale 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 relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land.
We also acknowledge the legacy of slavery in our region and the enslaved African people whose labor was exploited for generations to help establish the business of Yale University as well as the economy of Connecticut and the United States.
Yale Repertory Theatre, the internationally celebrated professional theater in residence at David Geffen School of Drama, has championed new work since 1966, producing well over 100 premieres—including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists—by emerging and established playwrights. Seventeen Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award nominations and ten Tony Awards. Yale Rep is also the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Established in 2008, Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre has distinguished itself as one of the nation’s most robust and innovative new play programs. To date, the Binger Center has supported the work of more than 70 commissioned artists and underwritten the world premieres and subsequent productions of more than 30 new plays and musicals at Yale Rep and theaters across the country.
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 wellbeing, 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.
The company of Wish You Were Here by Sanaz Toossi, directed by Sivan Battat, Yale Repertory Theatre.
Welcome to today’s performance of Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members at Yale Rep!
I am delighted to introduce you to playwright Mara Vélez Meléndez. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Mara has written an urgent and funny new play that takes aim at the federal law mandating the oversight and management of the selfgoverning commonwealth’s economy, and simultaneously promotes a broad view of what decolonization can mean for individuals and society.
Making their Yale Rep debut alongside Mara is director Javier Antonio González, a multidisciplinary artist who also works as a playwright and filmmaker. Also from Puerto Rico, Javier is the founding artistic director of the bilingual experimental ensemble Caborca, and was the production dramaturg for the world premiere production of Notes on Killing… at SoHo Rep. It is my great pleasure to share with you the play Javier and Mara—working alongside talented teams of artistic, technical, and managerial collaborators and a magnificent company of actors—have brought to life for Greater New Haven audiences.
Centering a pro-independence Boricua trans woman named Lolita, and celebrating the revolutionary aesthetics of drag and ballroom, Notes on Killing… is a stirring example of the ways in which theater, as an art form, thrives when it brings subjects and experiences from the margins of our cultural preoccupations to the center of the stage. Each new play is an adventure in individual and collective imagining: In a darkened room, one hopes, it is easier to connect and empathize with characters whose specific hopes and fears touch and reawaken our sense of what is universally human. Moreover, the transformation from words in a script to the physical production and performance prefigures the changes we might feel in ourselves and our body politic, when artists disrupt the status quo with bracing ideas mischievously attired in the constructs of comedy. I am so glad you’re here for the journey!
I look forward to sharing with you soon our plans for the 2025–26 season, which will begin in October. In the meantime, I am always grateful to hear your thoughts on the work on our stage. Please feel free to share your thoughts about Notes on Killing…, or any of your Yale Rep experiences, with me. My email address is james.bundy@yale.edu.
Sincerely,
James Bundy
YALE REPERTORY THEATRE
James Bundy, Artistic Director | Florie Seery, Managing Director
PRESENTS
By Mara Vélez Meléndez
Directed by Javier Antonio González
Scenic Designer
Patti Panyakaew
Costume Designer
Arthur Wilson
Lighting Designer
Yung-Hung Sung 宋永鴻
Sound Designer
Joyce Ciesil
Projection Designer
Doaa Ouf
Hair Designer
Matthew Armentrout
Makeup Designer
Sarah Cimino
Choreographer
Javier Antonio González
Production Dramaturgs
Daria Kerschenbaum
Abraham E.S. Rebollo-Trujillo
Fight and Intimacy Directors
Kelsey Rainwater
Michael Rossmy
Vocal and Dialect Coach
Cynthia Santos DeCure
Original Casting
Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA, tbd Casting
Casting Director
Calleri Jensen Davis
Stage Manager
Aura Michelle
Drag numbers conceived by Javier Antonio González and Samora la Perdida
Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members received its New York premiere at Soho Rep (Sarah Benson, Cynthia Flowers, Meropi Peponides, Directors), New York, NY in May 2022.
Production support for Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members is provided by Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre.
Yale Repertory Theatre gratefully acknowledges Carol L. Sirot for generously funding the 2024–25 season.
Yale Repertory Theatre thanks our 2024–25 season funders:
*On all matinee and Tuesday performances, the role of “Lolita’s Hands” will be played by Yan-Carlos Diaz. On Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening performances, the role of “Lolita’s Hands” will be played by Flower Estefana Rios.
Understudies
Receptionist, Lolita’s Hands Yan-Carlos Diaz
Lolita, Lolita’s Hands Flower Estefana Rios
Assistant Stage Manager Ellora Venkat
Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members is performed without an intermission.
Setting
New York City, now
Content Guidance
This production contains profanity, sexually explicit language, use of realistic and non-realistic weapons, and highly theatricalized violence.
The Promise of a New Colonial
The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, commonly referred to as PROMESA, the Spanish word for “promise,” initiated the latest phase of the long history of the colonization of Puerto Rico. An overwhelmingly bipartisan effort successfully signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 30, 2016, the act placed Puerto Rico under an unelected board of financial overseers, giving them power over the island to handle the debt crisis which had surpassed $71 billion. The Board moved quickly to apply austerity measures, privatizing essential services and introducing cuts to health, education, and pensions, to pay these debts. Everyday Puertorriqueños had little say in these matters, and the question of the legitimacy of the debt— as well as the fact that it’s a product of the American colonial administration— was and continues to be largely absent from the political arena in the heart of the empire.
“The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.”—Julius Nyerere
Pre-Columbus
Disaster struck the following year when Hurricane Maria destroyed houses, power and water lines, and transportation infrastructure. There were fewer than 100 direct casualties from the storm; however, the resultant lack of access to potable water, electricity, and health services killed approximately 3,000 more, mostly among the elderly and impoverished. Due to the Oversight Board’s poor management, FEMA funds still have not been adequately dispensed, and Puertorriqueños continue to be unable to recover fully from Maria’s devastation. Conveniently, even though clear lines can be connected between the actions of this board and the ongoing suffering of Puertorriqueños, legal clauses absolve the board—and the United States government—from liability for any damages resulting from their actions.
The Taíno people live on the island of Borikén in a matrilineal farming society.
1492
Christopher Columbus and the Spanish first make contact with the Taínos.
PUBLIC LAW 114–187
JUNE 30, 2016
SEC. 105 EXEMPTION FROM LIABILITY FOR CLAIMS
The Oversight Board, its members, and its employees shall not be liable for any obligation of or claim against the Oversight Board or its members or employees or the territorial government resulting from actions taken to carry out this act.
1508
The Spanish conquer the island, naming it San Juan Bautista. Among other repressive measures, the Spanish outlaw homosexuality and trans gender expressions.
Colonial Era for Puertorriqueños
So where can accountability be found?
The United States, through its colonial administration of Puerto Rico, has left the island vulnerable to the worst effects of climate disaster. Deaths that result from these conditions are a form of social murder, murder which is invisible, indirect, and not recognized by law as murder. Up to now, no one has faced consequences for these acts of social murder in Puerto Rico. That is, until our Lolita steps in.
Through Notes on Killing, playwright Mara Vélez Meléndez exacts fantastical revenge on these colonizing collaborators for the devastation, joining a rich history of other artists who use their mediums to fulfill their desires
1510
for retribution. These spectacular murders join iconic revenges such as the Bride performing the titular act of Kill(ing) Bill or Lady Gaga and Beyoncé poisoning their abusive boyfriends in the “Paparazzi” and “Telephone” music videos, satisfying an impulse rendered taboo by a western Christian ethic of forgiveness over accountability. After all, why forgive seventy times seven times when a clean seven bullets will do the trick? Call it a terroristic urge, or a criminal tendency, but don’t lie to yourself: imagining real consequences for those who wronged you feels good, right?
— Abraham E.S. Rebollo-Trujillo, Production Dramaturg
The Taínos drown the conquistador Diego Salcedo and rebel against their colonizers.
ca. 1600–1800 European powers battle over the island. Spain manages to retain control.
The Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico staged two short-lived revolts which, the Grito de Lares and Intentona de Yauco leading to several liberal reforms in the colony.
Lolita Lebrón
Dolores “Lolita” Lebrón was born on November 19, 1919, the daughter of a hacienda laborer in Pezuela, Puerto Rico. She was inspired to enter politics after the 1937 Ponce massacre, in which Puerto Rican Nationalist Party members were murdered at a peaceful protest. From that point onwards, Lebrón was a passionate advocate for Puerto Rican independence. She moved to New York City, where she witnessed widespread discrimination against Boricuas in the US. Soon after, she officially joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in 1943 and rose to party leadership, advocating for socialist and feminist reforms.
Puerto Rico became an official US commonwealth in 1952, a devastating blow for Lebrón and her many comrades. A “Gag Law” in effect since 1948, making it a felony for Puerto Ricans to protest the Insular Government or even display the Puerto Rican flag, made even protesting the island’s new status illegal. In 1954, working alongside Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, Lebrón opened fire on the US House of Representatives alongside Andrés Figueroa Cordero, Irving Flores, and Rafael Cancel Miranda. She brandished the flag from the gallery, crying, “¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!” The group was arrested after injuring five members of congress. Lebrón was sentenced to fifty years in prison, though her sentence was later commuted by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. She spent the rest of her life tirelessly advocating for the liberation of Puerto Rico until her death in 2010.
—Daria Kerschenbaum, Production Dramaturg
1898
1900
Terrorism
Among several issues raised by this play, one stands out: the dreaded t-word, terrorism . The term, first used against Jacobins in the French Revolution, has been lobbed at figures from across the political spectrum. So, what does the word even mean?
There is no conclusive definition of terrorism. Rather, it is a politicized term, used to designate certain forms of violence as unacceptable, while implicitly condoning other forms of violence. For example, New York prosecutors recently charged Luigi Mangione with terrorism after he allegedly shot the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. This health insurance company, like many others, systematically rejects claims for life-saving medical procedures and medicine in the name of raising profits. However, no healthcare CEO has ever been charged with terrorism for creating such mass suffering. Puerto Rican Nationalist Lolita Lebrón was also labeled a terrorist in 1954 after opening fire on the US House of Representatives in protest of Puerto Rico’s continued colonial status. Yet the many politicians— Republican and Democrat,
The Spanish-American War results in American control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
The Foraker Act establishes the newly named Porto Rico as an ‘unincorporated territory’ with a US-appointed government and no constitutional rights.
1917
The Jones Act extends citizenship rights to Puerto Ricans, allowing migration between the mainland and the island.
Terrorism & You
American and Puerto Rican—who have participated in occupying and oppressing the island of Puerto Rico for more than a century have never been held accountable.
In Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members , the character of Lolita seeks to correct this injustice— and is labeled a terrorist for doing so. She is fueled by the many injustices that plague Boricuas to this day. In the over seven years since Hurricane Maria, Puertorriqueños in impoverished regions continue to face a lower quality of life while PROMESA delays vital FEMA funding.
Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño’s ruthless cuts to vital public services, aided by the US Republican Party, have left the island reliant on greedy private companies, often American. Is this not also a form of violence?
Those of us living on the mainland are beginning to experience these same forms of violence, a phenomenon called the imperial boomerang.
The Department of
1952
Puerto Rico drafts a constitution and, with Puerto Rican and Congressional approval, becomes Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Government Efficiency cutting education funding mirrors the defunding of the University of Puerto Rico. Simultaneously, the technologies created to surveil Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are now being used against student protestors in America. And the ICE detention facilities currently being used to imprison green card and visa holders were first developed to imprison immigrants.
Notes on Killing... is an urgent reminder to question who gets labeled a terrorist. Because if you stand against empire, the terrorist might be you.
—D.K. and A.E.S.R.T.
1954
1967
Musician Johnny Rodríguez opens El Cotorrito, a burlesque nightclub, in San Juan. The first of its kind in Puerto Rico, the club featured regular drag performances.
2009–13
DRAG:
When you hear the word drag, likely the first thing that comes to mind will be RuPaul: the most famous American drag queen to date, with a global empire of Drag Race competition shows. RuPaul’s vision of drag is far from the practice’s roots as a subversive celebration of queerness and survival strategy. Drag is a community and an artform that has given many gay, trans, and gender nonconforming people (particularly those who are also Black and/or Latine) a place to not just be accepted but celebrated. No matter the oppression they suffer during the day, a performer can briefly experience and embody liberation on stage. As ballroom emcee Junior Labeija famously declares in the iconic documentary Paris Is Burning (1990), “OPULENCE. You own everything. Everything is yours.”
Collapsing hegemonic notions of femininity and masculinity, drag has always been political. But drag takes on a particular political slant in Puerto Rico. Scholar Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes has documented the many ways in which transloca (referring to insane women, effeminate gays, drag performers, and transgender subjects) performances
2009 2015–2017 page10
Puerto Rican Governor Luis G. Fortuño’s government borrows an additional $16 billion, more than any previous governor.
2018
A Puerto Rican law forbidding trans people from changing their legal gender is ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge.
Rehearsing the Revolution
can challenge racism and American imperialism. Performance artist Freddie Mercado’s work, for example, highlights his own androgynous and racially ambiguous appearance to question gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Drag performer Nina Flowers’s use of Spanish exclamations while on RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2009 demonstrated a provocative disruption of American monolinguistic culture. These were just two of the artists who inspired the playwright and director of Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members.
Last year, the Supreme Court’s decision in Spectrum WT. v. Wendler upheld a Texas university’s ban on drag shows. This ruling is part of a much larger wave of homophobic and transphobic legislation across the US, which strives to strip trans people not just of their access to healthcare but their ability to participate in public life at all. In our current political context, drag takes on new meaning. All of its campy over-the-top-ness, playful cultural remixes, and fantastical fashions are statements of glittery defiance.
2019
Puerto Ricans protest for 11 days and oust Governor Ricardo Rosselló of the Partido Nuevo Progresista, the pro-statehood party.
In Notes on Killing, drag is a rehearsal for the revolution. Or, in other words, playing out a Puerto Rican revolution in drag makes that possibility real, even if only in drag. As José Esteban Muñoz writes in Cruising Utopia (2009), “Queerness is essentially about the rejection of a here and now and an insistence on potentiality or concrete possibility for another world.” Through their performance, Lolita and the Receptionist insist that a world of Puerto Rican independence and trans liberation is possible.
Notes on Killing is quick to remind us that it’s all just a show: lip-syncing, fake blood, fabulous quick changes. Even the characters wonder aloud if they’re trapped in a drag show. As we come to recognize the play as a play, we start to see performance everywhere around us. If gender is a costume, who’s to say you can’t try out a new look? If you find yourself or your community cast in the role of the oppressed, who’s to say you can’t fight for another role? And if you find yourself in the heart of a colonial empire, who’s to say you have to follow the script?
—D.K.
2020
Medicaid in Puerto Rico expands to explicitly cover medical transition procedures, including hormones and sex reassignment surgery.
2021
The Puerto Rican government issues a state of emergency due to the ongoing violence against trans people on the island.
CAST
in alphabetical order
Biographies are submitted by the artists and edited for common house style by Yale Rep.
Christine Carmela she/her (Lolita) is an actress/writer who is positively thrilled to be returning to the role of Lolita for the third time, a role she originated in the world premiere of the play at Soho Rep. She acquired her B.F.A. in acting from TCU and her M.F.A. in writing for screen from USC. Her work on stage has been seen at Moxie Theatre, Amphibian Stage, Circle Theatre, Uptown Players, and more. Her work as a writer has been seen at Amphibian Stage, and most recently, the Yale Dramatic Association. She’d like to dedicate her performance to her late abuela, for making her the proud Boricua she is today. @ichris.tine
Samora la Perdida* she/they (the Receptionist) originated the role of the Receptionist at Soho Rep. She is a Princess Grace Award winner, YoungArts Fellow, and the inaugural recipient of Baryshnikov Arts Center’s Artist Labs Residency. Her musical Spanglish Sh!t, can be heard on Playbill’s Songwriter Series as well as her TEDxTALK: Do Latines Need to Speak Spanish? She starred in Quiara Alegría Hudes’s My Broken Language at Signature Theatre as well as Tina Landau’s A Transparent Musical at the Mark Taper Forum. She will make her feature film debut in Tina Romero’s horror comedy Queens of the Dead. Graduate of LaGuardia HS and Carnegie Mellon. @samoraperdida
*Member of Actors’ Equity
the United States.
UNDERSTUDIES
in alphabetical order
Yan-Carlos Diaz (Lolita’s Hands, understudy for Receptionist) is a Puerto Rican actor based in NYC who loves prioritizing new works and celebrating Latinx voices on stage. Representando y dedicando todo mi trabajo a mi isla bella Puerto Rico en todo momento Some favorite Regional credits: Actor #3/Selena Quintanilla in The Invocation of Selena (La Jolla Playhouse), Carla in In The Heights (Rubicon Theatre, Colorado Springs Fine arts), Ancestro en La Familia Addams (Puerto Rico premiere), Houdini in Ragtime (Axelrod Performing Arts Center), Hedwig in Hedwig And the Angry Inch (Henegar Center).
Flower Estefana Rios she/her (Lolita’s Hands, understudy for Lolita) is a Chicana actor, writer, drag performer, musician, and producer originally from Laredo, Texas. Based in Brooklyn, New York, credits include Notes on Killing… (workshop, Sol Project/Soho Rep), Translucent (Boundless Theatre Company), and Julio Ain’t Going Down Like That (INTAR/QCC). Flower’s theater training includes LAB’s Intensive Ensemble, Breaking the Binary’s MT Intensive, and INTAR’s Unit 52. Her writing has been presented with The
Playground Experiment and was part of the inaugural The Outrage Queer Writer’s Residency. Flower holds a B.A. in English from Pace University. Thank you to my family, both chosen and biological, for inspiring me to be the most honest version of myself! flowerestefanarios.com
CREATIVE TEAM
in alphabetical order
Matthew Armentrout (Hair Designer) previously worked at Yale Rep on The Inspector, The Far Country, Escaped Alone, Wish You Were Here, The Brightest Thing in the World, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Today is My Birthday, and Manahatta. Broadway: Birthday Candles, Paradise Square, Flying Over Sunset, and Bernhardt/Hamlet Off-Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout), Othello (Shakespeare in the Park). Regional: Bliss (The 5th Avenue Theatre), Jitney (National Tour), Paradise Square (Berkeley Repertory Theatre).
Calleri Jensen Davis (Casting Director) is a creative casting partnership among James Calleri, Erica Jensen, and Paul Davis of over 20 years. They began their collaboration with Yale Rep in 2023 with Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles and the ripple, the wave that carried me home. Broadway credits: The Piano Lesson, Topdog/Underdog, for colored girls..., Thoughts of a Colored Man, Burn This, Fool for Love, The Elephant Man, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Of Mice and Men, Venus in Fur, A Raisin in the Sun, 33 Variations. Television: Love Life, Queens, Dickinson, and The Path, to name a few. callerijensendavis.com
Joyce Ciesil (Sound Designer) Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Joyce is a Jeff Awardnominated sound designer and a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where her credits include Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and littleboy/littleman. This past summer Joyce was the resident sound designer for the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and an NTI Theatermakers Summer 2024 Faculty Member. Selected design credits include falcon girls (Yale Rep), Hurricane Diane (Theater Wit), Seven Days at Sea (Light and Sound Productions), and SPAY (Rivendell Theatre Ensemble).
Sarah Cimino (Makeup Designer) is a makeup artist and designer based in NYC. Broadway design credits include Redwood; Moulin Rouge! The Musical; and Caroline, or Change. Off-Broadway: The Connector (MCC), Nutcracker Rouge, Cocktail Magique, Seven Sins, Queen of Hearts (Company XIV). Regional: Gatsby (A.R.T.). International: Moulin Rouge! The Musical world tour (the Netherlands, West End, Australia, Germany, Korea, Japan). Makeup consultant: Titanic (Encores! NYCC), R.O.S.E., Doppelganger, Hamlet, Oresteia, Upload (Park Avenue Armory); unEarth (NY Philharmonic); Richard III (The Public Theater, SITP); Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova); King Lear (National Black Theatre). Sarah is a member of the Juilliard School’s drama faculty, adjunct faculty at Montclair University, and a guest teaching artist for the Juilliard School’s Dance Division and NYU’s Graduate Acting department.
CREATIVE
TEAM in alphabetical order
Cynthia Santos DeCure she/her/ ella (Vocal and Dialect Coach) is an actor, voice and dialect coach. She is an Associate Professor of Acting at David Geffen School of Drama, certified in both Knight-Thompson Speechwork® and as Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Some dialect credits: Wish You Were Here, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, Today is My Birthday, El Huracán (Yale Rep); Laughs in Spanish (Hartford Stage, Denver Center); La Tempestad/The Tempest; La Broa’ (Trinity Rep); Espejos/Clean (Milwaukee Rep); Queen of Basel (TheaterWorks Hartford); Cymbeline (New York Classical Theatre); Quixote Nuevo (Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep., South Coast Rep., Denver Center, Round House Theatre); Scenes with Cranes (REDCAT); In the Heights (Marriott Theatre, Phoenix Theater, Chance Theater); The Long Road Today (South Coast Rep); Orange Is the New Black (Netflix); and The Affair (Showtime). Member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA. Publications: Scenes for Latinx Actors, and Latinx Actor Training.
Javier Antonio González (Director and Choreographer) is a playwright, director, and filmmaker, and the founding artistic director of Caborca. Some of their authorial work with the company includes Lying Lydia; Distant Star (adapted from Roberto Bolaño’s novel); Zoetrope; Open up, Hadrian; Barceloneta, de noche; FLORIDITA, my Love. Their feature film The Entitlement received the Best Screenplay Award at the Manhattan Film Festival 2018 and a nomination for the Tarkovsky Best Director Award at the BLOW-UP Arthouse International Filmfest 2019. In 2016, they directed their original
translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for Teatro en el Parque. Their work has been published in the anthologies Plays and Playwrights 2011 (New York Theatre Experience), Encuentro: Latinx Performance for the New American Theater (Northwestern University Press), and in the journals Revista Conjunto (Casa de las Américas, Havana), Revista Los Bárbaros (Spain), and The Puerto Rico Review
Daria Kerschenbaum (Production Dramaturg) is a second-year M.F.A. candidate in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at David Geffen School of Drama. There, she has worked as a production dramaturg on Charity and Ruzante. Additional credits include The Aughts (Yale Cabaret), My Six Therapists (Yale Cabaret/Theater Mu), and The Panic of ‘29 (Less Than Rent/59E59 Theaters). Daria is also a managing editor at Theater magazine, Yale’s journal of theater and performance. In 2021, she was named an artist-inresidence at the Center at West Park, where she produced her play, Virginia/ Poe. Daria holds a B.A. in playwriting and English literature from Fordham University.
Aura Michelle she/her (Stage Manager) is from Alberta, Canada and a graduating M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where her credits include The Tragedy of Coriolanus, What of the Night?, Pearl’s Beauty Salon, Fucking A, The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, and rent free. Other credit Apologiae 4 & 5 (Yale Cabaret); Romeo et Juliette and Kiss Me, Kate (Central City Opera); Shakespeare’s Women, Love and Information, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone (University of Victoria, Phoenix Theatre,
her alma mater). Her artistic passion lies in avant-garde, multi-lingual, and politically evocative work. She would like to extend her heartfelt thanks to her teammate Ellora, to the drag and queer communities, the artists of the company for sharing their stories, her friends, colleagues, and especially Mom and Jaden, who inspire her daily with bravery and audacity. Viva Puerto Rico Libre!
Doaa Ouf (Projection Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. She is a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of projection design, directing, and producing for both theater and film. Her work seamlessly integrates her expansive experiences to create compelling, narratively immersive, and deeply resonant storytelling. Select credits include rent free, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fucking A (the Geffen School); We Live in Cairo (New York Theatre Workshop, animator); El Coqui Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom (Long Wharf Theatre, animator); Beinecke Plaza (Yale Cabaret, director); Arlington, The Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Dragaret (Yale Cabaret, projection designer); the betrayal project (Yale Summer Cabaret, projection designer); the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep, assistant projection designer); Gypsy (Yale Arts Coalition, associate projection designer); Popcorn Falls (Walnut Street Theatre, associate director); The 5 Stages (producer/ director); Murder by Midnight (Rutgers, director); The Spitfire Grill (Rutgers, associate director); Summer Play Fest (producer). Doaa is proud to have served as the Artistic Director for
Yale Cabaret’s 56th season, Sandbox. Originally from Cairo, Egypt, she is a graduate of Rutgers University and is endlessly grateful to everyone whose love and support have shaped her into who she is today. doaaouf.com
Patti Panyakaew (Scenic Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where she designed Fucking A and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Her other recent credits include The Addams Family, Hedda Gabler (Bangkok); Heaven Is Something to Keep You Warm, And the Beetle Hums, The Rasa Jar (Yale Cabaret); and Constellations (Yale College). She also works as an architect and a costume illustrator with credits on 3 Summers of Lincoln, The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (La Jolla Playhouse); and Redwood starring Idina Menzel (Broadway). pattipanyakaew.com
Kelsey Rainwater (Fight and Intimacy Director) is an intimacy and fight director, and actress based out of the ancestral lands of the Quinnipiac people. Kelsey’s work was recently seen in Liberation at Roundabout and Hell’s Kitchen on Broadway. Some of her other credits include Walden at Second Stage; Jordan’s, Sally and Tom, and Manahatta at The Public Theater. Other credits include, Hot Wing King at Hartford Stage, In the Southern Breeze, Measure for Measure, and White Noise by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Oskar Eustis at The Public Theater; Blues for an Alabama Sky with the Keen Company; The Inspector, Wish You Were Here, Between Two Knees, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, and the ripple, the wave
CREATIVE
TEAM in alphabetical order
that carried me home at Yale Rep. Film and television: Baby Ruby, The Green Veil. She is a Lecturer in acting at David Geffen School of Drama, co-teaches stage combat and intimacy, and is a Resident Fight and Intimacy Director for Yale Rep.
Abraham E.S. Rebollo-Trujillo s/he (Production Dramaturg) is a known commie fag Jew and second-year Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism student developing his practice in Spanish-Greek-English translation. Her dramaturgy is primarily concerned with anti-imperialism and liberation, and as such he has participated in various projects meant to bring attention and aid to Palestinians and others suffering under genocidal regimes: Seven Jewish Children (producer/performer), which raised funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians; Dragaret (performer, as Frida Kahlor), from which s/he donated his tips to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in 2024 and to Advocates for Trans Equality in 2025; and a reading of Twenty One Positions, which raised funds for mutual aid initiatives for Palestinians in Gaza. S/he dedicates this work to dismantling occupation, from Puerto Rico to Palestine.
Michael Rossmy (Fight and Intimacy Director) is a Resident Fight and Intimacy Director for Yale Rep, a lecturer in acting at David Geffen School of Drama, and Stage Combat and Intimacy Advisor for Yale College. Broadway credits include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Purpose directed by Phylicia Rashad, A Tale of Two Cities, Cymbeline, and Superior Donuts. Regional theater credits include The Public Theater, Roundabout, The
Atlantic, Primary Stages, Westport Country Playhouse, Goodspeed Musicals, Paper Mill Playhouse, Asolo Rep, The Old Globe, TheaterWorks Hartford, Princeton University, The Acting Company, Soho Rep, the Geffen Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Kansas City Rep, People’s Light & Theatre, and others. He was nominated for a 2017 Drama Desk Award for The Public’s production of Troilus and Cressida and is a 2024 Barrymore Award nominee for Bonez at People’s Light.
Yung-Hung Sung 宋永鴻 he/him (Lighting Designer) Originally from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Yung-Hung Sung is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. His design footprints have been seen around several nations and major theaters in Taiwan, such as National Theater of Taiwan, National Taichung Theater, and National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying). Also, Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, Migration Matters Festival (UK); Beijing Dance Festival, Shanghai International Festival of Arts (China); Changmu Performing Arts Festival (Korea); Festival Off Avignon (France). Selected awards include Ten Lines of Poetry to NK, which received Bronze for Professional Lighting Design at the World Stage Design Exhibition 2022 in Calgary, Canada. Recent work includes rent free, Cleansed, and Macbeth at the Geffen School. He believes that scenography exists only when it helps tell a story better. yhslightingdesign.com
Mara Vélez Meléndez she/her (Playwright) is a playwright born and raised in Puerto Rico. She made her Off-Broadway debut in 2022 with Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members, produced by Soho Rep and The Sol Project. Mara was a 2023 MacDowell Fellow, a 2020-2021 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, and a member of Ars Nova’s PlayGroup. She also adapted the Spotify/Gimlet podcast, Case 63, starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac. Other plays include This Is Not The Oxcart (Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission Finalist), and Thelma and Louise and the Time Machine (2022 Breaking The Binary Theater Festival). Playwriting M.F.A., Hunter College.
Ellora Venkat she/her (Assistant Stage Manager) is a graduating M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, originally from Los Angeles. She obtained her B.A. in theater arts production and design from Pepperdine University. She is ecstatic to be returning to Santa Fe Opera this summer. Recent credits include Kilele, Hamlet: princesa de Dinamarca (the Geffen School); falcon girls, Wish You Were Here, and Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (Yale Rep); Accommodation (The Odyssey). Viva Puerto Rico y Palestina libre!
Arthur Wilson (Costume Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where credits include Cactus Queen and Uncle Vanya as well as Scenes from Beckett at Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES). Arthur’s previous Yale Rep credits include
Eden (associate costume designer) and falcon girls (assistant costume designer). Other assistant design credits: Candide (Glimmerglass Opera, 2023); Marys Seacole (the Geffen School); Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Yale Rep); Emma: The Musical (Ensemble Theater Company, 2020). Assistant set design: Clueless: The Musical (West End, 2025); Harvey (Laguna Playhouse, 2019); Skylight (Chance Theater, 2019). Arthur holds a double B.A. in music and theater, California State University, Fullerton and is a 2025 Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship Recipient.
tbd casting co. (Margaret Dunn, Tanis Parenteau, Nia Smith & Stephanie Yankwitt, she/her) Resident casting office for Soho Rep, where past productions include Give Me Carmelita Tropicana, Public Obscenities, Notes on Killing..., and most recently, The Great Privation. Select upcoming film projects include the feature film Still Life and The Year of the Monarchs (written and directed by Alex Dinelaris, Lexicon). Recent/upcoming theater includes Bus Stop (CSC/ NAATCO), Indian Princesses (La Jolla Playhouse), House of India (The Old Globe), and Here There are Blueberries (National tour). tbd casting co. cast the award-winning film In The Summers, written and directed by Alessandra Lacorazza, which won the 2024 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, and was an official selection of Tribeca, Cartagena, and LA Liff Film Festivals. @tbdcastingco
Rosemary Lisa Jones, Whitney Roy, and Patrick Dunn.
The playwright wants to thank all the artists involved in the development of this play throughout the years including Soho Rep, The Sol Project, David Mendizábal, Esteban Andrés Cruz, and special thanks to Partners Café alongside Xiomarie LaBeija, Kiki Lucia and all the drag performers who lent us their weekly safe space in order to inspire ours.
Yale Repertory Theatre and David Geffen School of Drama Staff
Artistic Director/ Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean
James Bundy
Managing Director/ Associate Dean
Florie Seery
Associate Artistic Director, Director of New Play Programs/Associate Dean
Chantal Rodriguez
General Manager/ Assistant Dean
Carla L. Jackson
Assistant Dean
Nancy Yao
Academic Programs
Chair, Acting Program
Tamilla Woodard
Associate Chair, Acting Program
Grace Zandarski
Co-Chair, Design Program and Head of Set Design Concentration
Riccardo Hernández
Co-Chair, Design Program and Head of Costume Design Concentration
Toni-Leslie James
Head of Sound Design Concentration
Jill BC Du Boff
Head of Projection Design Concentration
Wendall K. Harrington
Head of Lighting Design Concentration
Stephen Strawbridge
Chair, Directing Program
Liz Diamond
Associate Chair, Directing Program
Yura Kordonsky
Chair, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism Program
Catherine Sheehy
Associate Chair, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism Program
Kimberly Jannarone
Co-Chairs, Playwriting Program
Anne Erbe
Marcus Gardley
Chair, Stage Management Program
Narda E. Alcorn
Associate Chair, Stage Management Program
James Mountcastle
Chair, Technical Design and Production Program
Shaminda Amarakoon
Associate Chair, Technical Design and Production Program
Jennifer McClure
Chair, Theater Management Program
Joan Channick
ARTISTIC
Yale Rep
Resident Artists
Playwright in Residence
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Resident Directors
Lileana Blain-Cruz
Liz Diamond
Tamilla Woodard
Dramaturgy Advisor
Amy Boratko
Resident Dramaturg
Catherine Sheehy
Set Design Advisor
Riccardo Hernández
Resident Set Designer
Michael Yeargan
Costume Design Advisors
Oana Botez
Ilona Somogyi
Resident Costume Designer
Toni-Leslie James
Lighting Design Advisors
Alan C. Edwards
Stephen Strawbridge
Projection Design Advisor
Shawn Lovell-Boyle
Sound Design Advisor
Jill BC Du Boff
Voice and Text Advisor
Grace Zandarski
Resident Fight and Intimacy Directors
Kelsey Rainwater
Michael Rossmy
Stage Management Advisor
Narda E. Alcorn
Associate Artists
52nd Street Project, Kama Ginkas, Mark Lamos, MTYZ
Theatre/Moscow New Generation Theatre, Bill Rauch, Sarah Ruhl, Henrietta Yanovskaya
Artistic Administration
Production Stage Manager
James Mountcastle
Yale Rep Senior Artistic Producer
Amy Boratko
Yale Rep Associate Producer
Kay Perdue Meadows
Yale Rep Artistic Fellow
Hannah Fennell Gellman
Yale Rep Artistic Coordinator
Andrew Aaron Valdez
Yale Rep Casting
James Calleri
Erica Jensen
Paul Davis
Editor, Theater magazine
Tom Sellar
Managing Editor, Theater magazine
Gabrielle Hoyt
Senior Associate Editor, David Geffen School of
Drama Alumni Magazine
Catherine Sheehy
Yale Repertory Theatre and David Geffen School of Drama
Senior Administrative Assistant to the Artistic Director/Dean and Associate Artistic Director/ Associate Dean
Josie Brown
Senior Administrative Assistant for Directing, Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism, Playwriting, Stage Management programs, and Theater magazine
Laurie Coppola
Senior Administrative Assistant, Design Program
Kate Begley Baker
Senior Administrative Assistant, Acting Program
Krista DeVellis
Library Services
Erin Carney
PRODUCTION
Production Management Director of Production
Shaminda Amarakoon
Production Manager
Jonathan Reed
Production Manager for Studio Projects and Special Events
C. Nikki Mills
Senior Administrative Assistant to Production, Theater Safety, and the Technical Design and Production Program
Rachel Zwick
Scenery
Technical Director for Yale
Rep and Fall Protection
Program Administrator
Neil Mulligan (on leave)
Technical Directors for David Geffen School of Drama
Latiana “LT” Gourzong
Matt Welander
Electro Mechanical Laboratory Supervisor
Eric Lin
Metal Shop Foreperson
Matt Gaffney
Wood Shop Foreperson
Ryan Gardner
Lead Carpenters
Doug Kester
Kat McCarthey
Abigail Richard
Carpenter
Isaac Lau
Carpentry Interns
Jacob Thompson
Laurel Capps
Painting
Scenic Charge
Mikah Berky
Lead Scenic Artists
Lia Akkerhuis
Nathan Jasunas
Paint Interns
Gabriela Ahumada
Gwendoline Chen
Properties
Properties Supervisor
Jennifer McClure
Properties Craftsperson
Steve Lopez
Properties Associate
Zach Faber
Properties Stock Manager
Mark Dionne
Properties Assistant
Destany Langfield
Properties Interns
Angie Hause
Hsiao Ru-Ho
Costumes
Costume Shop Manager
Christine Szczepanski
Senior Drapers
Susan Aziz
Clarissa Wylie Youngberg
Mary Zihal
Senior First Hands
Deborah Bloch
Patricia Van Horn
First Hand
Maria Teodosio
Costume Project Coordinator
Linda Kelley-Dodd
Costume Stock Manager
Jamie Farkas
Costume Technology Intern
Nana Chanmalee
Electrics
Lighting Supervisor
Donald W. Titus
Senior House Electrician
Jennifer Carlson
Linda-Cristal Young Electricians
Alary Sutherland
Ryan White
Electrics Interns
April Salazar
Tyler Zickmund
Sound
Sound Supervisor
Mike Backhaus
Sound Interns
Eden Wyandon
Eun Kang
Projections
Projection Supervisor
Anja Powell
Projection Technicians
Victoria Loye
Henry Rodriguez
Projection Intern
Jada Rose Pinsley
Stage Operations
Stage Carpenter
Janet Cunningham
Lead Wardrobe Supervisor
Elizabeth Bolster
Lead Properties Runner
William Ordynowicz
Light Board Programmer
Sabrina Idom
Lead Front of House
Mix Engineer
Keirsten Lamora
ADMINISTRATION
General Management
Associate Managing Directors
Anne Ciarlone
Adrian Alexander Hernandez
Jeremy Landes
Mikayla Stanley
Assistant Managing Director
Sarah Saifi
Senior Administrative
Assistant to the Managing Director, General Manager, and Theater Management Program
Sarah Masotta
Management Assistants
Raekwon Fuller
Jocelyn Lopez-Hagmann
Gavin D. Pak
Assistant Company Managers
Kay Nilest
Gavin D. Pak
Gaby Rodriguez
Development & Alumni Affairs
Senior Director of Development and Alumni Affairs and Editor, David Geffen School of Drama Alumni Magazine
Deborah S. Berman
Deputy Director of Operations for Development and Alumni Affairs
Susan C. Clark
Senior Associate Director of Development and Alumni Affairs
Scott Bartelson
Associate Director of Development and Alumni Affairs
Roman Sanchez
Alumni Affairs Officer and Senior Writer
Cayenne Douglass
Senior Administrative
Assistant to Development and Alumni Affairs
Jennifer E. Alzona
Development and Alumni
Affairs Assistant
Jocelyn Lopez-Hagmann
Finance, Human Resources, & Digital Technology
Director of Finance and Business Administration/Lead Administrator
Nicola Blake
Human Resources Business Partner
Trinh DiNoto
Manager, Staff and Faculty Affairs
Malaika Green El Hamel
Interim Director of Information Technology
Eric Lin
Director, Yale Tessitura Consortium, and Web Technology
Janna J. Ellis
Manager, Business Operations
Martha O. Boateng
Business Office Analyst
Shainn Reaves
Financial Analyst
Juliana Norman
Web Technology Assistant
Kenneth Murray
Business Office Specialists
Moriah Clarke
Karem Orellana-Flores
Digital Technology Associates
Edison Dule
Garry Heyward
Senior Administrative
Assistant to Business Office, Digital and Web Technology, Facility Operations, Human Resources, Tessitura
Monique Moore
Database Application Consultants
Ben Silvert
Erich Bolton
Financial Aid, Admissions, and Student Services
Financial Aid Officer
Andre Massiah
Registrar/Admissions
Administrator
Ariel Yan
Non-Clinical Counselor
Krista Dobson
Senior Administrative
Assistant to Financial Aid and Admissions
Laura Torino
Marketing, Communications, & Audience Services
Director of Marketing
Daniel Cress
Director of Communications
Steven Padla
Senior Associate Director of Marketing and Communications
Caitlin Griffin
Associate Director of Marketing and Communications
Taylor Ybarra
Senior Administrative
Assistant to Marketing and Communications
Mishelle Raza
Publications Manager and Program Designer
Marguerite Elliott
Director of Audience Services
Laura Kirk
Assistant Director of Audience Services
Shane Quinn
Subscriptions Coordinator
Tracy Baldini
Audience Services Associate
Molly Leona
Yale Repertory Theatre and David Geffen School of Drama Staff
Customer Service and Safety Officers
Teo Baldwin
Ralph Black, Jr.
Kevin Delaney
Box Office Assistants
Taylor Blackman, Pilar Bylinsky, Emma Fusco, Jordan Graf, Aaron Magloire, Diana Shyshkova, Elliot Valentine, Timothy “TJ” Wildow
Accessibility Assistant
Prentiss Patrick-Carter
Ushers
Calum Baker, Danielys Batista, Mia Bauer, Maura Bozeman, Alex Brooks, Logan Carr, Gerson Espinoza Campos, Kelvin Esselfie, Megan Foster, Nicole Gillinov, Lydia Gompper, Isaac Kozukhin, Nat Lopez, Di’Jhon McCoy, Bonnie Moeller, Sarah RamosGonzalez, William Romain, Jonathan Singleton, Nicole Stack, Julia Weston, Larsson Youngberg
Theater Safety and Occupational Health
Director of Theater Safety and Occupational Health
Yale Repertory Theatre and David Geffen School of Drama are supported by the work of over 200 faculty members.
For a complete faculty listing by program and department, please visit drama.yale.edu/about-us
Yale Repertory Theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The Scenic, Costume, Lighting, and Sound Designers in LORT are represented by United Artists Local USA-829, IATSE.
YOUTH PROGRAMS
WILL POWER! is Yale Rep’s annual educational initiative, designed to bring middle and high school students to see live theater. Since our 2003–04 season, WILL POWER! has served more than 20,000 Connecticut students and educators. This season we will offer programming centered on Whitney White’s Macbeth in Stride and Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector to New Haven Public Schools students and educators. In previous seasons, the program has included early school-time matinees, free or heavily subsidized tickets, study guides, and post-performance discussions with actors and members of the creative teams. WILL POWER! is committed to giving teachers curricular support through free workshops and professional development about the content and themes of the plays.
THE DWIGHT/EDGEWOOD PROJECT
(D/EP) is a community-focused, youth engagement program within David Geffen School of Drama and Yale Rep. Each year, middle school students from Barnard Environmental Studies Interdistrict Magnet School become playwrights and create original dramatic works through one-on-one mentorship from students at the Geffen School. The month-long project culminates in fully produced performances of each student’s play in front of an audience. Through its values of community care, joy, curiosity, empowerment, and equity, D/EP has helped to shape the minds of over 200 young people from the Dwight and Edgewood neighborhoods of New Haven since 1995.
Yale Rep’s youth programs are supported by The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, NewAlliance Foundation, and the Esme Usdan Community Youth Fund.
ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES
May 10 at 2PM
Touch Tour (at 1PM)
Prior to this performance, patrons who are blind or have low vision touch fabric samples, rehearsal props, and building materials to understand better what comprises the production design.
Audio Description
Pre-show description begins at 1:45PM
A live narration of the play’s action, sets, and costumes for patrons who are blind or have low vision.
May 10 at 8PM
American Sign Language
An ASL-interpreted performance for patrons who are deaf or have hearing loss.
May 17 at 2PM
Open Captioning
A digital display of the play’s dialogue as it’s spoken for patrons who are deaf or have hearing loss.
ACCESSIBILITY TEAM
Free listening devices, headsets, and neck loops, and sensory items as well as Braille and large print programs are available at the concierge desk in the theater lobby.
Yale Repertory Theatre gratefully acknowledges the Carol L. Sirot Foundation for underwriting the assistive listening systems in our theaters.
For more information about our accessibility services or to provide feedback about your experience, contact Laura Kirk, Director of Audience Services: 203.432.1234 or laura.kirk@yale.edu.
c2 is pleased to be the official Open Captioning Provider of Yale Rep.
Michelle Banks (ASL Coach), a native of Washington, D.C., is an award-winning actress, writer, director, and producer. She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Visionaries of the Creative Arts (VOCA). She is the 2022 recipient of the DC area Black Deaf Advocates Award for Outstanding Achievements in Theater for Deaf BIPOC Artists and the 2017 recipient of Gallaudet University’s Laurent Clerc Award for her contribution to theater. Acting credits include Girlfriends, Soul Food, Compensation (film), The C.A. Lyons Project (Alliance Theatre), Reflections of a Black Deaf Woman (one- woman show), and Big River (Mark Taper Forum, Ford Theater). Directing: Camellia For Camille (Deaf Spotlight’s Short Play Festival), Trash (JACK, IRT); ISM and ISM II (Atlas Performing Arts Center); and A Raisin in the Sun (Gallaudet University, Atlas Performing Arts Center). Michelle also served as Director of Artistic Sign Language (DASL) for The Music Man (Olney) and For Colored Girls...(Broadway).
Gracy Brown (Audio Describer) a New Haven-based award-winning actor, director, and educator, has an extensive list of credits, including various roles at Elm Shakespeare Company, Long Wharf Theatre, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cornerstone Theatre Company, Mark Taper Forum, and Collective Consciousness Theatre Company. Gracy is an alumna of Southern Connecticut State University, where she earned a B.A. in theater. She is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association.
David Chu/c2inc-caption coalition (Open Captioner) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit consultant and the leading provider of professional Live Performance Captioning (sm) for theatrical and cultural presentations. c2 members hold the distinction of being the very first to caption live theater (the Paper Mill Playhouse, NJ), the first to debut on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and have introduced open captioning in prestigious theaters across the country and in London. Captioning in theater has gained momentum and acceptance by theatergoers since its debut in 1996. It addresses the needs of a far larger audience of hard of hearing and deaf people, which includes those who do not use sign language, are late deafened, not selfidentified with hearing loss, and those who simply might have missed a punch line.
Raymond Hernandez (ASL Interpreter) is an American Sign Language/Spoken English interpreter based in Washington, DC. He studied at Gallaudet University— the only university in the world where sign language is the primary language of instruction. His theatrical interpreting experience includes community college and university productions, original works, national tours of Broadway musicals (National Theatre DC), and backstage interpreting with both Deaf and hearing cast members. Raymond believes that theater is for everyone and is honored to help make it more accessible. Outside of interpreting, he enjoys a pour-over coffee, playing board games, and taking his spoiled dog to the park for hikes on the weekends.
Iris Saunders (ASL Interpreter) is a queer, Puerto Rican, heritage user of American Sign Language, raised in the vibrant world of theater- interpreting. They’ve worked on over 10 productions in the 2024–25 season, most recently completing the Maryland Theater Interpreter Training and supporting a blended production that included Deaf and hearing artists. With roots in both Deaf and performing arts communities, they’re passionate about making theater more accessible for all. They thank the trans community— especially their partner—for inspiring them to live authentically, their three-year-old child whose curiosity inspires them everyday, and in loving memory of their dad who gifted them with the language and love for theater. Agradezco a mi familia puertorriquena por siempre asegurarse de que yo conociera partes de nuestra cultura.
EVENTS!
SATURDAY, APRIL 26 at 8PM
MONDAY, APRIL 28 at 8PM
Post-Show Conversation
Join us in the August WIlson Lounge following the performance for a conversation abour the show with Yale Rep artistic staff.
FRIDAY MAY 2 at 8PM
Queer Theater Night
Join us after the peformance for a party at the New Haven Pride Center, 50 Orange Street.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 at 1PM
Pre-Show Reception and Conversation
Please join us for refreshments in the August Wilson Lounge, where members of the creative team will hold a discussion about the play at 1:20PM.
SATURDAY, MAY 10 at 2PM
Talk Back
Join us after the performance for a conversation about the play and its themes with members of the company.
FRIDAY, MAY 16 at 8PM
Spanish-Language Captioning & Latinx Theater Night
La presentación del 16 de mayo será subtitulada en español. This performance will be open-captioned in Spanish.
The performance will be followed by a moderated panel discussion with members of the Yale Rep artistic team. Light bites and refreshments will be served.
All events are subject to change. Additional details at yalerep.org.
DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA
BOARD OF ADVISORS
John B. Beinecke YC ’69, Chair
Jeremy Smith ’76, Vice Chair
Nina Adams MS ’69, NUR ’77
Amy Aquino ’86
Rudy Aragon LAW ’79
John Badham ’63, YC ’61
Pun Bandhu ’01
Sonja Berggren
Special Research Fellow ’13
Frances Black ’09
Carmine Boccuzzi YC ’90, LAW ’94
Lynne Bolton
Lois Chiles
Patricia Clarkson ’85
Edgar M. Cullman III ’02, YC ’97
Michael David ’68
Thank you
to
the
Wendy Davies
Special Research Fellow ’21
Sasha Emerson ’84
Lily Fan YC ’01, LAW ’04
Terry Fitzpatrick ’83
Marc Flanagan ’70
Anita Pamintuan Fusco YC ’90
David Alan Grier ’81
Sally Horchow YC ’92
Ellen Iseman YC ’76
David G. Johnson YC ’78
Sarah Long ’92, YC ’85
Cathy MacNeil-Hollinger ’86
Brian Mann ’79
Drew McCoy
David Milch YC ’66
Jennifer Harrison Newman ’11
Richard Ostreicher ’79
Carol Ostrow ’80
Maulik Pancholy ’03
Daphne Rubin-Vega
Tracy Chutorian Semler YC ’86
Michael Sheehan ’76
Anna Deavere Smith DFAH ’14
Woody Taft YC ’92
Andrew Tisdale
Edward Trach ’58
Julie Turaj YC ’94
Esme Usdan YC ’77
Courtney B. Vance ’86
Donald R. Ware YC ’71
Shana C. Waterman YC ’94, LAW ’00
Kim Williams
Henry Winkler ’70
Amanda Wallace Woods ’03
generous contributors to David Geffen School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre
LEADERSHIP SOCIETY
($50,000+)
Americana Arts Foundation Anonymous
Rudy and Jeanne Aragon
Sallie Baldwin Bam
John B. Beinecke
Sonja Berggren and Patrick Seaver
Lois Chiles
Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development
Estate of Nicholas Diggs*
Estate of Richard Diggs*
The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation
Anita Pamintuan Fusco and Dino Fusco
David Geffen Foundation
The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
Steve Grecco
Estate of Elizabeth Rhodes Holloway*
David G. Johnson
Estate of Robert D. Mitchell*
Talia Shire Schwartzman
Tracy Chutorian Semler
The Shubert Foundation
Woody Taft
Stephen Timbers
Edward Trach
Julie Turaj and Rob Pohly
Esme Usdan
Donald R. Ware
GUARANTORS
($25,000–$49,999)
Edgerton Foundation
New Play Award
Donald S. Holder and Evan Yionoulis
Sarah Long
Neil Mazzella
National Endowment for the Arts
The Sir Peter Shaffer
Charitable Foundation
Jeremy Smith
BENEFACTORS
($10,000–$24,999)
Nina Adams and Moreson Kaplan
Carmine Boccuzzi and Bernard Lumpkin
Lynne and Roger Bolton
James and Deborah Burrows Foundation
Trip Cullman
Wendy Davies
Lily Fan
Mabel Burchard Fischer
Grant Foundation
Burry Fredrik Foundation
Estate of Stephen R. Lawson*
Lucille Lortel Foundation
Cathy MacNeil-Hollinger and Mark Hollinger
Michael and Riki Sheehan
Carol L. Sirot
Trust for Mutual Understanding
PATRONS
($5,000–$9,999)
Pun Bandhu
Ed Barlow
Eugene G. & Margaret M. Blackford Memorial Fund for the Blind, Bank of America, N.A.,Trustee
Santino Blumetti
James Bundy and Anne Tofflemire
Joan Channick
CT Humanities
Michael S. David
Terry Fitzpatrick
Marcus Gardley
Howard Gilman Foundation
Ruth and Charles Grannick Jr. Fund at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
Sally Horchow
Rolin Jones
Tien-Tsung Ma
Tarell Alvin McCraney
Roz and Jerry Meyer
David and Leni Moore
Family Foundation
James Munson
Jason Najjoum
NewAlliance Foundation
Peter Nigrini
Richard Ostreicher
Carol Ostrow
PRODUCER’S CIRCLE
($2,500–$4,999)
Anonymous
Angela Bassett
Cyndi Brown
Nancy Bynum
Ian Calderon
Deborah Freedman and Ben Ledbetter
Fred Gorelick and Cheryl MacLachlan
Lane Heard
Ellen Iseman
JANA Foundation
Ann Judd and Bennett Pudlin
Rocco Landesman
Pam and Jeff Rank
Bill and Sharon Reynolds
Abby Roth and R. Lee Stump
Daphne Rubin-Vega and Thomas Costanzo
Amanda Wallace Woods
DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE
($1,000–$2,499)
Chuck Adomanis
Laura and Victor Altshul
Debby Applegate and Bruce Tulgan
Paula Armbruster
John Lee Beatty
Deborah S. Berman
Frances Black
Anne and Guido Calabresi
Audrey Conrad
Elwood and Catherine Davis
Ramon Delgado
Lynn Doucette-Stamm
Melanie Ginter
Robin Goldberg and
Jeffrey Park
LT Gourzong
Eric M. Glover
Rob Greenberg
Andy Hamingson
Sara Hazelwood
Jane Head
Dale and Stephen Hoffman
James Guerry Hood
Pam Jordan
Abby Kenigsberg
Fran Kumin
The Ethel & Abe Lapides Foundation
Charles Letts
Kenneth Lewis
George Lindsay, Jr.
Jennifer Lindstrom
Linda Lorimer and Charley Ellis
Brian Mann
Jonathan Marks
John McAndrew
Jim and Eileen Mydosh
Stephen Newman in memory of Ruth Hunt
Newman
Maulik Pancholy
Florie Seery
Traci D. Shed
Slotznick Family Fund, a charitable fund of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities
Shepard and Marlene Stone
Courtney B. Vance
Carol M. Waaser
Carolyn Seely Wiener
Walton Wilson
The Raul Yanes and Sara Hazelwood Foundation
PARTNERS
($500–$999)
Narda E. Alcorn
Donna Alexander
Shaminda and Carole Amarakoon
Richard and Alice Baxter
Miles Benickes
Ashley Bishop
John and Suzanne Bourdeaux
Shawn Boyle
James and Dorothy Bridgeman
Laura Brown-Mackinnon
Joy Carlin
The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund
Sarah Bartlo Chaplin
Bill Conner
Daniel Cooperman and Mariel Harris
Robert Cotnoir
Sean Cullen
Bob and Priscilla Dannies
Robert Dealy
Kelvin Dinkins, Jr.
Austin Durant
John Dwyer
Sasha Emerson
Peter Entin
Anne Erbe
Jon and Karen Farley
Randy Fullerton
Betty and Joshua Goldberg
Mark Haber
Al Heartley
Regina Guggenheim
Judy Hansen
Helen Kauder and Barry Nalebuff
Jay B. Keene
Harvey Kliman and Sandra Stein
Kenneth Lewis
Matthew H. Lewis
Pericles S. Lewis
Eric Lin
Charles H. Long
Chih-Lung Liu
Virginia (Wendy) Riggs
Cathy C. Mock
Mariel Monney
Victoria Nolan and Clark Crolius
Barbara and William Nordhaus
Janet Oetinger
Arthur Oliner
F. Richard Pappas
Dw Phineas Perkins
Louise Perkins and Jeff Glans
Jeffrey Powell and Adalgisa Caccone
Kathy and George Priest
Alec Purves
Faye and Asghar
Rastegar
Chantal Rodriguez
Howard Rogut
Cynthia Santos-DeCure
Robin Sauerteig
Anna Deavere Smith
Matthew Sonnenfeld
Kyle Stamm
James Steerman
Neal Ann Stephens
David Sword
Tides Foundation
John Turturro and Katherine Borowitz
Ron Van Lieu
Vera Wells
Steven Wolff
Nancy Yao
Stephen Zuckerman
INVESTORS
($250–$499)
Actors’ Equity Foundation
Mamoudou Athie
Stephen and Judith August
Clayton Austin
Alexander Bagnall
Michael Baumgarten
Michael Bianco
Josh Boerenstein
Susan Brady and Mark Loeffler
Tom Broecker
Donald Brown
Suzanne Bruhn
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Buckholz
Michael Cadden
Sarah Cain
Lauren Ivy Chiong
Nicholas Cimmino
Jeffrey Cohen
Leeland Cole-Chu
Bill Connington
Claire A. Criscuolo
Jane Crum
Brett Dalton
Rick Davis
Laura Eckelman
Kem and Phoebe Edwards
Kenneth Elliott
Susan S. Ellis
Robert Emmons
Richard and Barbara Feldman
Deborah and Henry Fernandez
Marsha Finley
Marc Flanagan
Tony Forman
Adam Frank
David Freeman
Randy Fullerton
Lindy Lee Gold
Naomi Grabel
Shaina Graboyes
Judith Hansen
Scott Herring
Jennifer Hershey
Chuck Hughes
John Huntington
Carla L. Jackson
Chris Jaehnig
Galen Kane
Bruce Katzman
Edward Kaye
Alan Kibbe
Hedda and Gary Kopf
Mitchell Kurtz
Gabriela Lee
Thank you to the generous contributors to
Irene Lewis
Katie Liberman and Eric Gershman
Suzanne Cryer Luke and Greg Luke
Thomas G. Masse and James M. Perlotto, MD
Pamela and Donald Michaelis
Kathryn Milano
David Muse
Regina and Thomas Neville
Adam O’Byrne
Kevin and Margaret O’Halloran
Gamal Palmer
Michael Parrella
Bruce Payne and Jack
Thomas
Michael Posnick
Jon and Sarah Reed
Dr. Michael Rigsby and Prof. Richard Lalli
Tialoc Rivas
Steve Robman
Erin Rocha
Constanza Romero
Allen Rosenshine
Nan Ross
Donald Sanders
Suzanne Sato
Kenneth Schlesinger
Georg Schreiber*
Paul Selfa
Sandra Shaner
Lorraine Siggins
James Sinclair
David Soper and Laura Davis
Erich Stratmann
Matthew Tanico
Josh Taylor
Katherine Touart
Judith and Guy Yale
Lisa Yancey
FRIENDS
($100–$249)
Emika Abe
Ikeena Aberdeen
Melinda Agsten
Michael Albano
Sarah Albertson
Michael Annand
Anonymous
William Armstrong
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven
Nancy Babington
Katalin Baltimore
Robert Bartner
Warren Bass
William and Donna Batsford
Mark Bly
Amy Brewer
Linda Broker
Arvin Brown
Donald and Mary Brown
Stephen and Nancy Brown
Stephen Bundy
Richard Butler
Susan Byck
Michael Cadden
H. Lloyd Carbaugh
Catherine and Steven Carlson
Sami Joan Casler
Kwan Chi Chan
Nicole Ciomek
Cynthia Clair
Susan Clark
Ellen Cohen
Geoffrey Cohen
Leland Cole-Chu
Jennifer Corman
Caitlin E. Crombleholme
Douglas and Roseline
Crowley
Samanta Cubias
Phyllis CummingsTexeira
John Cunningham
Alama Cuervo
Jonathan Daen
Eric Dana
Anne Danenberg
Timothy Davidson
Connie and Peter Dickinson
Derek DiGregorio
Melinda DiVicino
Donna Doherty
Patricia Doukas
Megan and Leon Doyon
John Duran
Fran Egler
Robert Einenkel
Nancy Reeder
El Bouhali
Janna Ellis
David Epstein
Dustin Eshenroder
Frank and Ellen Estes
Femi Euba
Connie Evans
Michael Fain
Ann Farris
Kathryn Ferguson
Margaret Fikrig
Terry S. Flagg
Sarah Fornia
Hugh Fortmiller
Walter M. Frankenberger III
Deborah Fried and Kalman Watsky
Richard Fuhrman
David Gainey
Don and Margery
Galluzzi
Tobe Gerard
Barry Gladue
Lorraine Golan
Martin and Cariole
GoldbergDonna Golden
Charles Grammer
Hannah Grannemann
Jason Gray
Anne Gregerson
Michael Gross
Annabel Guevara
Dr. James L. Hadler
Alexander Hammond
Ann Hanley
Scott Hansen
John Harnagel
Babo Harrison
Michael Haymes
Ethan Heard
Steve Hendrickson
Jeffrey Herrmann
Ashton Heyl
Betsy Hoos
Nicholas Hormann
Kathleen Houle
Melissa Huber
Evelyn Huffman
Charles Hughes
Derek Hunt
Jennifer Ito
Chris Jaehnig
Eliot and Lois
Jameson
Elizabeth Johnson
Jean Jones
Galen Kane
Carol Kaplan
Jim Kenny
Peter Young Hoon Kim
Lawrence Klein
George Klug
Chloe Knight
Stephen Kobasa
David and Julie Koppel
David Kriebs
Joan Kron
Susan Laity
Marie Landry and Peter Aronson
C.J. Lawler
Martha Lidji Lazar
Elizabeth Lewis
Malia Lewis
Fred Lindauer
Jerry Lodynsky
Robert H. Long II
Judith Loughry
Everett Lunning
Nancy F. Lyon
Andi Lyons
Joan MacIntosh
Wendy MacLeod
Edwin Martin
Sarah Masotta
Amy and John McCauky
Robert McCaw
Mary McCutcheon
Deborah McGraw
James Meisner and Marilyn Lord
Jonathan Miller
Michele Millham
Lawrence Mirkin
Richard Mone
Frederick More
Michele Moriuchi
David Morgan
Leora Morris
Janice Muirhead
Jennifer Harrison Newman
Ellen Novack
Jane Nowosadko
Leah Ogawa
Max Okst
Richard Olson
Jacob G. Padrón
Michael Petrillo
Alan Plattus
Linda Polgar
Philip Proctor
William Purves
Sarah Rafferty
Norman Redlich
Ralph Redpath
Barbara Reid
Deborah J. Reissman
Carolynn Richer
Felicia Riffelmacher
Joan Robbins
Nathan Roberts
Peter S. Roberts
Brian Robinson
Lori Robishaw
of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre
Joanna Romberg
Miguel Rosadu
Robin Rose
Russ Rosensweig
Donald Rossler
Katherine Sacks
Dr. Robert and Marcia
Safirstein
Steven Saklad
Robert Sandberg
Christopher Sanderson
Peggy Sasso
Joel Schechter
Rita Scheeler
Steven Schmidt
Jennifer Schwartz
Kathleen Scott
Alexander Scribner
Patrick Seeley
Tom Sellar
Subrata K. Sen
Suzanne Sessions
Jeremy Shapira
John K. Sheehan
Graham Shiels
Gilbert and Ruth Small
James Smith
Helena L. Sokoloff
Suzanne Solensky and Jay Rozgonyi
Ilona K. Somogyi
Ying Song
Dr. and Mrs. Dennis D.
Spencer
Howard Steinman
Rosalie Stemer
Marcus Stern
John Stevens
Mark Stevens
Mark Sullivan
Thomas Sullivan
Sy Sussman
Bob Tanner
Michelle Tattenbaum
Douglas Taylor
Jane Savitt Tennen
Ashley Thomas
Patti Thorp
David F. Toser
Jaime Totti
Katherine Touart
Russell L. Treyz
Deb Trout
Adam Tucker
Lloyd Tucker
Joan Van Ark
Pamela Vercillo
Adin Walker
Christine Wall
Jaylene Wallace
Paul Walsh
Erik Walstad
Emma Wang
David Ward
Joan Waricha
Steven Waxler
Dr. Robert White
Robert Wildman
Alexandra Witchel
Ariana Venturi
EMPLOYER MATCHING GIFTS
Ameriprise Financial
The Benevity Community Impact Fund
Covidien
The Prospect Hill Foundation
Gifts to the For Humanity campaign and David Geffen School of Drama New Facility Fund
Anonymous (3)
Nina Adams and Moreson Kaplan
Amy Aquino and Drew McCoy
Rudy Aragon
John Badham
Pun Bandhu
Frances and Ed Barlow
John B. Beinecke
Sonja Berggren and Patrick Seaver
Frances Black and Matthew Strauss
Carmine Boccuzzi and Bernard Lumpkin
Reginald Brown and Tiffeny Sanchez
James Bundy and Anne Tofflemire
Nancy Bynum
Lois Chiles
Michael David and Lauren Mitchell
Wendy Davies
Scott Delman
Michael Diamond* and Amy Miller
Estate of Nicholas Diggs*
Estate of Richard Diggs*
Sasha Emerson
Lily Fan
Terry Fitzpatrick
Barbara Franke
Anita Pamintuan Fusco and Dino Fusco
David Marshall Grant Gilder Foundation
The Hastings and Barcone Trust
Lane Heard and Margaret Bauer
Cheryl Henson
Sally Horchow
Ellen Iseman
David G. Johnson
David H. Johnson
Rolin Jones
Jane Kaczmarek
Cathy MacNeil-Hollinger and Mark Hollinger
Brian Mann
Jennifer Harrison Newman
Richard Ostreicher
The Prospect Hill Foundation
Daphne Rubin-Vega and Thomas Costanzo
Julie Turaj and Rob Pohly
Tracy Chutorian Semler
Michael and Riki
Sheehan
Jeremy Smith
Woody Taft
Andrew and Nesrin
Tisdale
Ed Trach
Esme Usdan
Donald and Susan Ware
Shana C. Waterman
Amanda Wallace
Woods and Eric Wasserstrom
Dr. Jessica WeiserMcCarthy and Timothy McCarthy
Henry Winkler
*deceased
These lists includes current pledges, gifts, and grants received from July 1, 2023, through April 1, 2025.
MAKE A GIFT! When you make a gift to Yale Rep’s Annual Fund, you support the creative work on our stage and our education programs in New Haven. For more information, or to make a donation, please call Susan C. Clark, 203.432.1559. You can also give online at yalerep.org/support.
