Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Mad Forest
Caryl Churchill
Salem State Land Acknowledgement
The land occupied by Salem State University is part of Naumkeag, a traditional and ancestral homeland of the Pawtucket band of the Massachusett. We acknowledge the genocide and forced removal of the people of Naumkeag and their kin and we recognize the ongoing colonization and dispossession of Indigenous homelands. We respect and honor the Massachusett tribe and the many Indigenous Peoples who continue to care for the land upon which we gather. We recognize our own responsibility to this land we occupy. We commit to continuously learning and sharing its history and that of the Massachusett and other Indigenous People who have been and remain here. We commit to develop and implement initiatives that work toward repairing the injustices continuously being committed on the Indigenous People of this land. We commit to making our own environmental impact on this land as sustainable as possible. We commit to a renewed and ongoing engagement with the Massachusett and all Indigenous People in and around Salem State.
To learn more about Salem State’s Land Acknowledgement please visit salemstate.edu/LandAcknowledgement.
THEATRE
The Salem State University Theatre and Speech Communication department presents
MAD FOREST
by Caryl Churchill
Director
Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
Voice and Text Director
Ginger Eckert
Fight Choreographer
Alex Jacobs
Dance Choreographer
Jaidyn Walter
Costume Designer
Ali Filipovich
Lighting Designer Amanda Fallon
Scenic Designer Ryan Goodwin
Sound Designer Topher Morris
Props Manager Stacey Horne-Harper
Stage Manager Jennifer O’Connell
“Mad Forest” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
This production is presented in conjunction with Center for Creative and Performing Arts.
Co-sponsored by Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
CHAIRPERSON LETTER
Dear Friends of the Theatre,
As we open the curtain on a new season, we are proud to present a lineup of plays that challenge, provoke, and stir the soul: Everybody, Mad Forest, The Further We Go, and Sweeney Todd . These works span continents, styles, and centuries—but each one speaks powerfully to what it means to be human in uncertain times.
We begin with Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins—a bold, modern riff on the 15th-century morality play Everyma n. In this playful, unpredictable meditation on mortality and meaning, actors draw roles by lottery each night, reminding us that death is the great equalizer, and that our time here is never guaranteed. It’s a deeply moving, often funny exploration of life’s biggest question: What really matters in the end?
Next, we enter the haunted terrain of Mad Forest, Caryl Churchill’s fragmented and poetic vision of Romania before, during, and after the 1989 revolution. This is a play about political upheaval, personal betrayal, and the ways in which truth can become as fractured as a society in turmoil. Churchill’s kaleidoscopic style captures the fear and confusion of a world changing too fast to comprehend— a story that feels chillingly relevant today.
We continue with The Further We Go: Three One Act Plays by C.A. Holmes, the Senior BFA Playwrighting and Directing Thesis Projects. The author states, “These plays ask the collective question: How far are we willing to go… for love, for lust, for creation, for destruction, for our sanity, or for each other?”
We close the season with the darkly thrilling Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . With a score by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, this tale of revenge, madness, and meat pies is as operatic as it is intimate.
Beneath its gothic surface lies a razor-sharp critique of injustice and a searing portrait of what happens when pain festers without remedy. It's a macabre masterpiece that leaves audiences breathless and humming.
Together, these four works ask us to confront death, revolution, and vengeance—not to frighten us, but to awaken us. They call us to see our neighbors more clearly, to hold on to empathy amidst chaos and to find grace in even the darkest of stories.
Thank you for joining us for this unforgettable season. We look forward to seeing you at the theater.
Warmly,
Topher Morris
Chairperson, Theatre and Speech Communication
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
During the 1989 Romanian Revolution, protestors ripped the Communist coat of arms out of the middle of the Romanian flag, leaving a circular void in the center. This striking image resonates throughout our show’s design – a visual symbol of resistance defined by what it lacks, a forceful reimagining of national identity through removal. Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest follows families and friends before, during, and after the events of the Romanian Revolution. Written in collaboration with Romanian students only months after the uprising, the play leaps between absurdism, docudrama, and political drama. It’s smart and raw, weird and funny, moving and poetic—a complex response to a world turning itself inside out.
What first drew me to Mad Forest is its triptych structure, more like a collage than a traditional story arc. Instead of cause and effect, meaning arises through juxtaposition images placed side by side until they start to speak to each other. In the first act, we meet a tangle of characters living under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s repressive rule, quietly rebelling in the ways they can. In the second, the play bursts open into a chorus of real voices drawn from interviews about the revolution’s violent events in December 1989. In the third act, we return to the original characters to see how they’ve fared after the fall. Along the way, we encounter dogs and vampires, angels and priests, silences and arguments. Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks writes that “form and content are interdependent;” Mad Forest is a prime example of that. The play’s structure is complicated, unruly, and strange—just like the history it’s trying to make sense of.
Our production leans into that strangeness through shadow and silhouette, building a world that is both illuminated and obscured, thanks to collaborations with our designers and choreographer. Light and darkness—truth and concealment—sit side by side. Characters are watched, doubled, distorted; they move between what’s real and what’s performed. Tableaux and gesture augment realism. We catch glimpses of figures behind scrims, reflections in shadow, moments of clarity followed by sudden blackout. The stage becomes a site of surveillance and of storytelling—of trying to see one another clearly even when history keeps changing the light.
Churchill and her collaborator Mark Wing-Davey describe the piece as “a play that goes from the difficulty of saying anything to everyone talking.” Mad Forest questions how we can reach toward community when fear and misinformation drive us apart. It’s a play about revolution: the courage it takes to make a personal sacrifice for the greater good. And it’s a play about tragedy: what happens when propaganda makes us suspicious of our neighbors, when power structures pit us against one another at the dinner table, when humanity is lost in the name of order.
I love this play’s refusal to simplify its ideas. Nuance, humor, and poeticism all complicate what might, in other hands, become tidy truisms. Churchill holds contradiction with grace, finding humor in horror and beauty in confusion. The questions she asked of Romania in 1989 still echo today: when we’re told that our differences should divide us, how can we work toward collective liberation?
How do we resist corruption without reproducing violence? Once we create change, how do we protect it from being co-opted or commodified? And how do we keep loving one another when the political is always personal?
Working on Mad Forest has been a joyful, challenging, and collaborative process. In rehearsal, we’ve explored what it means to build something out of absence— to find power in the places where meaning has been cut away. Like the flag with its center torn open, Mad Forest doesn’t tell us what to believe. Instead, it asks what we’ll fill the void with. I hope, as you leave the theater tonight, you carry that question with you: what can we build together in the space left behind?
— Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
DRAMATURG’S LETTER
Mad Forest, Caryl Churchill’s disquietingly dense theatrical investigation into the events and fallout of Romania’s 1989 revolution, paints a fractured narrative that blurs history and fiction and asks far more questions than it could ever hope to answer. This is by design.
The dramaturgy of the play is rooted in its triptych structure—a tradition in which three seemingly independent pieces together reveal a broader narrative or meaning. The play’s three acts function as such, each distinct in tone, style, and genre, yet collectively form a mosaic of the troubled history and legacy of the Romanian Revolution.
Act One follows two intertwined Romanian families in the final days of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s surveillance state, as a young woman’s engagement to an American man draws her loved ones ever closer to the watchful eye of the secret police.
Act Two disrupts this narrative, shifting into a work of documentary theatre inspired by real interviews with Romanians in Bucharest conducted by Churchill and her students. These testimonies recount the events of December 1989, when the Romanian people rose against the Ceaușescu regime and violently deposed the dictator and his authoritarian rule. The final act returns to the families of Act One as they reckon with the physical and emotional wreckage of a revolution that may not have been as pure as they once believed. As the families prepare for another wedding, Ion Iliescu and the National Salvation Front seize power, reshaping the global narrative of revolution into their own version of history.
As the characters on stage try to make sense of the confusion and paranoia left in the revolution’s wake, so too did Churchill and her students, who wrote and devised the play contemporaneously with much of the history alluded to in Act Three. This investigative theatre-making severs traditional critical distance between the playwright and her work, leaving Churchill asking the same unanswerable questions as her theatrical inventions. She employs her trademark dichotomy of rigid naturalism and supernatural absurdity through a series of short, vignette-like scenes. The scored silences of Act One are balanced against the cacophonous disorientation of Act Three and the reflective patriotism
of Act Two. The harsh realities of life under the communist dictatorship are counterpointed by supernatural visitations—a ghost, an angel, and a vampire— each symbolizing the varied ways cycles of revolution and history shape the spirit of a nation.
The play’s diverse, and at times absurd, avenues of exploration illustrate Churchill’s ongoing attempt to demystify the confusion of the revolution and probe the lingering mysteries left behind. Its fragmented structure mirrors the ambiguity and lack of clarity surrounding the Romanian Revolution, particularly when compared with similar upheavals in Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia.
The play’s title, Mad Forest, is aptly taken from a passage in Andrew MacKenzie and Andrei Otetea’s A Concise History of Romania :
“On the plain where Bucharest now stands there used to be a “large forest crossed by small muddy streams.... It could only be crossed on foot and was impenetrable for the foreigner who did not know the paths... The horsemen of the steppe were compelled to go round it, and this difficulty, which irked them so, is shown by the name...Teleorman—Mad Forest.”
Churchill’s characters and the people of Romania were born into the center of this dense and overgrown forest. Stuck in the middle, they fight every day to navigate the turbulent and uncertain political and cultural landscape that surrounds them. The scope of this unrest, and the sprawling branches of questions left unanswered mirrors the tangled forests of Romanian folklore, with their circuitous paths and hidden dangers. Those trapped within are left to constantly question which way will lead them to the clarity and safety they seek.
Churchill and her students, through their treading through the muddy unknown, have become the rare foreigner who dares to push through the impenetrable and confront the complexities of this great historical Gordian knot. Every word, character, and performance is another bold step towards the center of this mystery. Through this production, our own cast and creative team have joined Churchill and her pupils in their quest for understanding and have strived to bring forward the humanity at the center of this history and the joys, sorrows, anger, and grief of those who lived and experienced it.
So often do we in the West skirt away from the ills of our own history, and certainly the history of foreign nations. We have the privilege to turn our heads away, and like those foreign horsemen of the steppe, go around what we’re afraid to go through. Tonight, we invite you, we challenge you, to venture into this Mad Forest with us and confront these terrifying questions about who really holds power and who dictates what’s in the history books. History isn’t a strict narrative; it is a breathing, writhing organism we constantly must wrestle with. May Mad Forest’s refusal to offer tidy resolutions encourage you to deny such offerings from our own administration and the media ecosystem. Like all good triptychs, this play pushes us to step back and finally see the forest for the trees.
— James Bridges ’27
“What’s in
the History Books”: A Timeline of the Romanian Revolution
December 14, 1989: Ceaușescu regime attempts to evict Hungarian pastor László Tőkés from his parish in Timișoara for his criticisms of the communist government. A small group of protesters delay the eviction.
December 16th-17th: Ceaușescu sends Securitate and military to enforce the eviction order, hundreds protest outside of Tőkés’ house Tőkés is evicted and protests erupt into riots 4,000 or so demonstrators rally against a military parade in Timișoara as protests turn violent The army opens fire on the protesters
December 18, 1989: Ceaușescu departs for Iran General strikes More shooting News of the uprising is broadcast on Radio Free Europe Protests continue and spread across the country
December 21, 1989: Ceaușescu returns to Bucharest and delivers a speech denouncing the demonstrations in Timișoara. Onlookers shout him down on national television and protests turn to riots. Shooting in Bucharest and across the country that night.
December 22, 1989: Ceaușescu’s minister of defense, Vasile Milea, dies mysteriously. Rumors of suicide and murder circulate as reports of Milea’s hesitation to harm protesters spread. Under a new defense minister, the Romanian army joins the side of the people and begins fighting against the Securitate.
As revolutionaries occupy the Communist headquarters, Ceaușescu and his wife flee by helicopter The National Salvation Front is formed and is proclaimed by its leader, Ion Iliescu, to be the new supreme power in Romania Shooting continues
December 25, 1989: Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, are captured by the National Salvation Front They are tried and found guilty of genocide by a military tribunal and are executed expediently Protests turn to celebration as Ceaușescu’s iconography is scrubbed from public spaces Some shooting and riots continue as suspicions, miscommunications, and misinformation about the Front’s rise to power proliferate
December 27, 1989: The National Salvation Front announces the abolition of the one-party system and calls for the nation’s first free elections. Iliescu and the front pledge they will not be nominating a candidate in the elections.
February 6, 1990: The National Salvation Front forms into an official political party and announces Iliescu’s bid for president, going back on their vow to serve only as an interim government Protests and counterprotests break out both in support and against the move Theories that the Front either orchestrated or “stole” the revolution become commonplace Paranoia is rampant
Late March and Early April, 1990: Cary Churchill, her production team, and a group of students from London’s Central School of Speech and Drama go to Romania and work with Romanian film students to interview other locals Development of Mad Forest begins
May 20, 1990: Election Day. Iliescu and the Front have large majorities. Iliescu is elected the first president of the newly democratic Romania. Front holds majority in both the Assembly of Deputies and the Senate. Massive protests nationwide.
June 13, 1990: Iliescu sends miners from the Jiu Valley to quell continued anti-front protests in Bucharest during what’s known as the Third Mineriad Violent altercations between miners and students continue through September Mad Forest has its first performance at the London Central School
April 2019, Iliescu and associates are charged with crimes against humanity for their role in the deaths of numerous Romanians, as well as with their sewing of “generalized psychosis” among the population in the wake of Ceaușescu’s downfall and their swift seizing of political power
Abraham, Florin. “The Romanian Revolution.” ENRS, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, 21 Aug. 2015, enrs.eu/article/the-romanian-revolution
Cernicova-Buca, Mariana. “Romania in Turmoil: 1989 and After.” SEER: Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, vol. 1, no. 4, 1998, pp. 107–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43291748. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
McGrath, Stephen. “Executing a Dictator: Open Wounds of Romania’s Christmas Revolution.” BBC News, BBC, 25 Dec. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50821546.
Nelsson, Richard. “The Fall of Communism in Romania – Archive, December 1989.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Dec. 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/11/the-fall-of-communism-in-romania-archive-december-1989.
TIME AND PLACE
Romania, 1989 - 1990
SCENES
I. Lucia’s Wedding
1. Lucia are patru ouă. / Lucia has four eggs.
2. Cine are un chibrit? / Who has a match?
3. Ea are o scrisoare din Statele Unite. / She has a letter from the United States.
4. Elevii ascultă lecţia. / The pupils listen to the lesson.
5. Cumpărăm carne. / We are buying meat.
6. Doi oameni stau la soare. / Two men are sitting in the sun.
7. Ascultaţi? / Are you listening?
8. Sticla cu vin este pe masă. / The bottle of wine is on the table.
9. Cerul este albastru. / The sky is blue.
10. Acesta este fratele nostru. / This is our brother.
11. Uite! / Look!
12. Eu o vizitez pe nepoata mea. / I am visiting my granddaughter.
13. Ce oră este? / What's the time?
14. Unde este troleibuzul? / Where is the trolley?
15. Pe Irina o doare capul. / Irina has a headache.
16. Lucia are o coroană de aur. / Lucia has a golden crown.
II. December
II. Florina’s Wedding
1. Câinelui îi e foame. / The dog is hungry.
2. Toată lumea speră ca Gabriel să se însănătoseaşcă repede. / Everyone hopes Gabriel will feel better soon.
3. Rodica mai are coşmare. / Rodica is still having nightmares.
4. Cind am fost să ne vizităm bunicii la J ară, era o zi însorită. / When we went to visit our grandparents in the country it was a sunny day.
5. Mai doreşti puţină brînză? / Would you like some more cheese?
6. Gabriel vine acasă diseară. / Gabriel is coming home tonight.
7. Abia terminase lucrul, cind a venit Radu. / She had just finished work when Radu came.
8. Multă fericire. / We wish you happiness.
The play runs approximately two hours, with one 15-minute intermission.
CONTENT WARNING: This production will include staged violence, prop weapons, and gunshot sound effects, as well as adult themes and language.
Out of courtesy to your fellow audience members and the actors onstage, please turn off all electronic devices and do not text or take photos during the performance. Please note that archival photos of this production will be available through the theatre and speech communication office.
No food or beverages are allowed in the theatre. Salem State is a tobacco free campus. Thank you.
The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author’s rights, and actionable under United States copyright law. For more information, please visit: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists
Please join us for a post-show conversation after the Sunday, November 23 performance.
SPECIAL THANKS: Liliana Onita-Lenco & Simona Coborzan of the Association of Romanians in New England and Claudia Paraschiv for Romanian language and cultural consultancy. Salem State is grateful for the support provided by the Dembowski Family Theatre Endowment and Bernard and Sophia Gordon and the Gordon Foundation in making this production possible.
Please be sure to visit the exhibition “Witnesses to History” at intermission, in the gallery just off the lobby. This is a joint exhibition by Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
Lucia/Student Doctor ..................................................................... Lola Cassino
Soldier/Dog/Aunt........................................................... Lauren Pearl Donahue
Swing for Bogdan et al, Mihai et al, Priest / Vampire et al, Ianos et al ................................................................... Dylan Fort
Swing for Florina et al, Flavia et al, Rodica et al ................... Brianna Gambill
Swing for Doctor et al, Securitate/Wayne/ Ghost, Soldier/Toma/Waiter, Soldier/Dog/Aunt Savannah Mitchell
Radu/Securitate Officer ................................................................ Max Ocampo
Bogdan/Boy Student 1................................................... Christopher Allan Poe
Mihai/Translator .............................................................................. Chris Raney
Doctor/Patient/Grandfather ........................................................ Jaidyn Walter
Swing for Lucia et al, Irina et al, Gabriel et al, Radu et al ............................................................................... Christa Washburn
PRODUCTION PERSONNEL
Assistant Director ........................................................................ Summer St. Onge
Assistant Stage Managers ............................ Stefani Galeano, Artemis Metherall, and Liv Read
Dramaturg ........................................................................................... James Bridges
Cast Mentors ........................................ Calista Gumuchian and Cameron Holmes
Costume Shop Supervisor Anna Splitz
Costume Stitcher .................................................................................... Max Dupuis
Costume Build Crew The THE201 Workshop class
Wardrobe Run Crew .........................Tristan Ducote, Devin Haley, Deklan Nelson, Helena Nelson, Alex Shilo, Jayna Singer, Sky Swire, and Steve Wakadilo
Technical Director ..................................................................................... Stu Grieve
Assistant Technical Director ................................................................. Tim O’Toole
Assistant to the Scenic Designer Starr Cousins
Scenic Build Crew ........................................ Christian Barrios, Emma Bettencourt, Queue Borden, Veronia Callahan, Hannah Castillo, Molly Corvino, Lauren Donahue, Oliver Dunn, Stefani Galeano, Victoria Garcia-De Pena, Devin Haley, Sydney Hamre, Nick Houle, Millicent Koromah, Shea Lowney, Deklan Nelson, Max Ocampo, Ashton Ouelette, Gee Rodi, Xan Salamon, Nick Soares, Charlie Tarricone, Jayden Theodat, and Teagan Wholley
Scenic Paint Charges Oliver Dunn and Adam Pettazzoni
Scenic Run Crew .................................................... Brendan Greeley and Gee Rodi
Assistant Props Manager ................................................................... Emrys Jordan
Props Build Crew ................................................ Lena Pelekakis and Elijah Jenkins
Props Run Crew .................................. Isabella Boyden, Jessica Cote, Ivy Lovejoy, and Sierra Poppitt
Master Electrician .................................................................................. Tim O’Toole
Electrics Crew Francis Doza, Victoria Garcia-De Pena, Nick Houle, Emrys Jordan, Lillie-Marie LeClair, Ivy Lovejoy, Shea Lowney, Deklan Nelson, Jennifer O’Connell, Hannah Rose, Robin Wehr, and Teagan Wholley
Theatre Office Assistants ................................ James Bridges and Elias Woodard
Theatre House Manager ................................................................Adelaide Majeski
Assistant House Manager .................................................................... Carl Durham
Box Office Managers ....................................... Lauren Connors and Lucia Smarra
Ushers Dannely Castro Alba, Annabelle Chapman, Cayley Drigotas, Louis Fowler, Griffin Frank, Lorelai Krisko, Brendan Leane, Sabrina Nedder, Jack Newton, Seth Rivera, and Nadia Robinson
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
Lauren Abramson (Florina/Flower Seller) is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in performance. Previous credits at Salem State University include Rabbi/Henry/ Hannah/ Ethel ( Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches), Shakespeare (Something Rotten! ), Chorus ( Antigone), and various roles in the 2023 Veterans’ 10-Minute Play Festival. Other credits include Ben Affleck (Matt & Ben) at Big Deal Theatre Co., and Velma Kelly (Chicago) and Katherine (Newsies) at Stage 284.
Pandora Benedito (Rodica and Angel) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in musical theater. These are her first roles at Salem State University. Previous credits include Mrs. White (Clue), and Grace Fryer (Radium Girls).
Logan Broadway (Securitate/Wayne/Ghost) is a sophomore pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater performance. This is his first role at Salem State University. Past roles include Jack Kelly (Newsies), Oberon ( A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Bob Cratchit ( A Christmas Carol ).
Lola Cassino (Lucia/Student Doctor) is a junior pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance. This is her fourth mainstage production at Salem State University. Previous stage credits include Betty 1 (Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties), The Angel/Emily/Sister Ella Chapter/Woman in South Bronx ( Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches), Woman in Crowd/Dance Captain (Something Rotten! ), #14 (The Wolves). Previous Film/ TV credits include Walker (The Walking Dead: Dead City Season Two), and Bleach. Awards: Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 1 Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Nominee (2025).
Lauren Pearl Donahue (Soldier/Dog/Aunt) is a junior at Salem State University pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in performance. Previous Salem State credits include Mary McCorvey/Molly/ Christian Woman 1/Kate Michaelman/Pro Choice Woman 1/Mary Gilmour (Roe), Froken Juliane Tesman (Scandalous Scandis), Barista 1 ( A Latte Love), and Crimefighter Jasmine (Hearts Like Fists).
Dylan Fort (Swing for Bogdan, Boy Student 1, Ianosh, Painter, Mihai, Translator, Priest, Bulldozer Driver, and Vampire) is a sophomore at Salem State pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a performance concentration. Previous credits include Oliver ( As You Like It ) and Jason (Knishes and Other Edible Items).
Brianna Gambill (Swing for Florina et al, Flavia et al, and Rodica et al) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performance. Previous credits include Gladys Antrobus (The Skin of Our Teeth), Interviewer (Veterans’ 10-Minute Play Festival ), Prince John (Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood ), Medea (Medea), Elizabeth Lavenza (Frankenstein), Lady Agatha Carlisle (Lady Windermere’s Fan), Ellie (Game of Tiaras), Agnes Evans (She Kills Monsters), and Singing Telegram Girl (Clue). Awards: METG Acting Excellence Awards for her roles as Medea (Medea), Agnes Evans (She Kills Monsters), and Elizabeth Lavenza (Frankenstein).
Calista Gumuchian (Irina/Flavia's Grandmother/Girl Student) is a junior pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre performance with a minor in music. Past credits include Margaret Leavitt (Silent Sky ), Madame Arcati (Blithe Spirit ), Sally (Hearts Like Fists), and Matron "Mama" Morton (Chicago).
Cameron Holmes (Gabriel/Boy Student #2) is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in playwriting. Previous Salem State credits: Charles/ Amiens ( As You Like It ), Nigel Bottom (Something Rotten! ), Guard ( Antigone), Daniel (The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: abridged ). Other credits include: The Father (The Trail to Oregon), Georg Nowack (She Loves Me), Billy/ Stephen Sellers (Play On! ), Hickory/Tin-Man (Wizard of Oz ). Awards: Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 1 2025 Maltby Musical Theatre Finalist, KCACTF Region 1 2026 Music Composition Merit Award, KCACTF Region 1 2026 Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Alternate.
Christina Abigail Izaguirre (Flavia/others) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance. This is her second role at Salem State University. Some of her previous credits include Betty 3 (Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties), Liz (The Whale), Tanya (Mamma Mia! ), Ensemble (YERMA), and Narrator (Puffs).
Rayniel Lara (Toma, Soldier, Waitress) is a sophomore pursuing his Bachelor of Arts degree in performance. This is his second role at Salem State University. Previous credits include company member (First Year Lab 2024 ), and Hymen/William ( As You Like It ).
Dylon Medeiros (Ianoș/Painter) is a junior pursing his Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre performance and English. This is his third role at Salem State University. Previous credits include Corin/2nd Lord in Court ( As You Like It ), Understudy for all male roles (Roe), and Percy Jackson (The Lightning Thief: The Musical ).
Mez Mezzapelle (Priest, Bulldozer Driver, Vampire, Person with Sore Throat) is a junior pursuing their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance. This is their fourth role at Salem State University. Previous credits include: Betty 5 (Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties), Annie Cannon (Silent Sky ), Katurian (The Pillowman), Puck ( A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Nurse Bond (The Patient ), Dot Darcy ( Alone, Together ), Chorus/Understudy ( Antigone Now ), Ray (Darklight ), Erato ( Xanadu), Thirteen (The Fourteen Known Offspring of Donor HH-247 ), and Ensemble (Big Fish). Awards: Maine Regional One-Act Festival All State Cast Award (2018).
Savannah Mitchell (Swing for Toma, Wayne, Aunt, Securitate A1, Doctor, Angle, Waiter, Soldier) is a senior pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in theater performance. This is her third show at Salem State University. Previous credits include Pregnant Teen (First Year Lab) and Ensemble (Veterans’ 10-Minute Play Festival ).
Max Ocampo (Radu/Securitate) is a United States Marine Corps veteran and junior at Salem State University, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in theatre performance. This production marks their first appearance on the Mainstage at Salem State. Previous credits include Link Larkin (Hairspray Jr.), Oliver Warbucks ( Annie Jr.), Horton (Seussical Jr.), Robbie Heart (The Wedding Singer ), and Johnny ( American Idiot ).
Christopher Allan Poe (Bogdan/Boy Student 1) is a sophomore pursuing his bachelor's in arts performance degree. This is his second Mainstage role previous credits include Sir Oliver Martext/Court Lord 3 ( As You Like It ).
Chris Raney (Mihai/Translator) is a junior pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre performance. This is his third role at Salem State University. Previous credits include Frank (Mystic Pizza), Tomas Weber (Our Bones, Their Bones), and Ted ( American Hero).
Jaidyn Walter (Doctor/Patient/Grandfather and Choreographer) is a junior pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performance. Previous credits include Morticia (The Addams Family ), Ensemble (Something Rotten! and Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches), Featured Dancer/Dance Captain (Fiddler on the Roof ), Laker Girl (Spamalot ), Sam (Every Brilliant Thing), and Ensemble (The Crucible and Secret in the Wings). Assistant Directing credits include Yerma (Peabody Veterans Memorial High School) and First Year Lab 2025 (Salem State University).
Christa Washburn (Gabriel et al/Radu et al/Lucia et al/Irina et al swing) is a sophomore pursuing their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performance. Previous acting credits include Extraordinary Girl/Ensemble ( American Idiot ), Matron Mama Morton (Chicago), Donna (Mamma Mia! ), and Hank (Check Please! ).
CREATIVE TEAM AND PRODUCTION STAFF
James Bridges (Dramaturg) is a junior pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre performance. This is his third time serving as production dramaturg for a Salem State Theatre mainstage production, previous credits include Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches and As You Like It . He was a national dramaturgy fellow for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and a fellow in dramaturgy and play development for the WildWind Performance Lab in collaboration with The Pack play collective. Awards: 2025 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 1 Dramaturgy winner and national finalist, 2026 KCACTF Region 1 nominee.
Caryl Churchill (Playwright) was born on 3 September, 1938 in London and grew up in the Lake District and in Montreal. She was educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Downstairs , her first play written while she was still at university, was first staged in 1958 and won an award at the Sunday Times National Union of Students Drama Festival.
Caryl Churchill’s plays include: Owners, Traps, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud 9, Top Girls, Fen, Serious Money, Ice Cream, Mad Forest, The Skriker, Blue Heart, This is a Chair, Far Away, A Number, Drunk Enough To Say I Love You?, Seven Jewish Children, Love & Information, Here We Go and Escaped Alone. Music theatre includes Lives of the Great Poisoners and Hotel, both with Orlando Gough. Caryl has also written for radio and television.
Starr Cousins (Assistant to the Scenic Designer) is a junior pursuing their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre design. Previous Salem State design credits include Angels in America, Part One: The Millennium, As You Like It, and Everybody
Ginger Eckert (Voice and Text Director) is the Voice and Speech specialist in the performance faculty, bringing her experience as a professional actor and vocal coach for stage and film to Salem State University. 15+ years as core faculty in professional actor-training programs: Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University, SUNY/Purchase BFA program, Brown University/ Trinity Rep MFA, NYU/Tisch at Atlantic Acting School and Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, and Uta Hagen’s HB Studio. She has performed with The Public Theater, Kennedy Center, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theater Company, LaMama, Clubbed Thumb, in indie films, audiobooks, and more. Professional voice and dialect coaching includes two seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Showtime’s Brotherhood series, New York Theater Workshop, Ripe Time, Making Books Sing, River Rep New York. Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and proud member of VASTA/ The Voice and Speech Trainers Association. MFA in Acting, Brown University/ Trinity Rep. BA in Literature, American University. Ginger enters teaching as an actor and interrogator, who is also learning and creating. Her teaching features all the sounds and vocal dynamics of global languages, with the goal to arrive at communication that is honest, expansive, inclusive, and culturally sustaining for each person. Gratitude always to her supportive family and to her mentors, Thom Jones, Francine Zerfas, and Ronni Stewart.
Amanda Fallon (Lighting Designer, they/she) is a lighting designer, director, visual artist, and educator with love for new work and devising. Following the completion of an MFA in Lighting Design at Boston University, they’ve continued to design throughout New England for professional and educational institutions including Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Central Square Theatre, Speakeasy Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, and Brandeis University.
Ali Filipovich (Costume Designer), more often referred to as Ali Flip, is originally from Minnesota. She received her Bachelor of Arts in theater technical design, with an emphasis in costumes from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Master of Fine Arts in theatre costume design from the University of Memphis. She has worked in various costuming positions from dyer and costume technician at Vstar Entertainment, costume shop supervisor at Luther College, Costume Shop Manager at Ballet Memphis, Visting Assistant Professor of Costume Design at the University of Memphis, and has worked freelance as a costume designer and/or draper for various theaters in Memphis and the Twin Cities. She looks forward to working with her collaborators and students here at Salem State University on this season's productions.
Stefani Galeano (Assistant Stage Manager) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in technical theater. Recent technical credits include As You Like It (Salem State University), Silent Sky (Salem State University), Matilda Jr. (Mount Wachusett Community College), and The Pajama Game (Leominster High School). Awards: Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 1 Merit Award (Special Recognition for Stage Management, 2025), Salem State University "Book Award" for Highest GPA (2025).
Alex Jacobs (Fight Choreographer) is honored to have been teaching at Salem State for ten years. He is known for teaching Auditioning, Movement for the Stage, Applied Stage Movement, Introduction to Performance, and Oral Communication. With a passion for stage combat, Alex holds certifications with the Society of American Fight Directors in Hand-toHand, Knife, Single Sword and Quarterstaff. Some of Alex’s other Salem State movement and fight choreography credits include, As You Like It, Senior Recital and Antigone. A dedicated Boston-area teaching artist, he has also taught at Brandeis, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Bridgewater, and Northeastern. Alex holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Leeds (UK) and an MFA from Brandeis. As an actor, he has performed with many Boston area companies including: Gloucester Stage, Moonbox and Company One and can be seen in Greater Boston Stage Company’s An Irish Carol this December.
Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin (Director) is a playwright, director, educator, and new work advocate. Directing credits include Echo & Narcissus… and Let’s Summon a Demon at Debbie’s (The Tank), Corners Grove (Cornish College of the Arts), High School Coven (Indiana University), and 等一下/ děng yīxià (The Brick). Kaela’s plays include Corners Grove (Dramatists Play Service), Ping Pong Play (2024 Leah Ryan Fund Prize Winner, 2025 O’Neill NPC Finalist, Gingold Theatrical Group), Tiger Beat (2024 Second Stage reading; 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival selection), High School Coven (2023 Strand Theatre Baltimore; 2017 Corkscrew Festival), Call Out Culture (2022 O’Neill NPC Finalist; 2019 Ars Nova ANTFest), and Harpers Ferry 2019 (2022 Know Theatre of Cincinnati; 2021 Kendeda finalist). Kaela has received six Kennedy Center awards and developed work with Ma-Yi Theater Company, Breaking the Binary, the Alliance Theatre, Exquisite Corpse Company, The Road Theatre, the Coop’s Clusterfck*, and Pipeline Theatre Company’s PlayLab. Commissions include The Atlantic Theater, Yangtze Rep (Project YZ), EST/Sloan, Montana Repertory Theatre, Luna Stage, and the College of the Holy Cross. They currently serve on the board of the Playwrights Foundation, were the Tank’s 2022–2024 PrideFest curator, and are a founding member of Undiscovered Countries, a Brooklyn-based incubator for new interdisciplinary performance. Kaela has also served on staff at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, as Season 45 Play Selection Advisor for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Literary Manager at Luna Stage, and Programming Associate at the Tank. They have taught playwriting and performance at Cornish College of the Arts, Freehold Theatre, and Indiana University, and are currently Assistant Professor of Playwriting at Salem State University.
Ryan Goodwin (Scenic Designer) is a New England-based costume designer with over a decade of experience in theatre, film, and opera. He has held various costuming positions with companies such as Boston Lyric Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, The Lyric Stage Company, Netflix, and Paramount. Currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Costume Design at Salem State University, Ryan brings both technical expertise and artistic vision to his work. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre design with a concentration in costuming from Salem State University and later received his Master of Fine Arts in costume design from Boston University.
Stacey Horne-Harper (Props Master) is a graduate of the University of Delaware Professional Theatre Training Program. She spent seven years as the properties carpenter at the American Repertory Theater. She would like to thank her family for all their incredible support.
Emrys Jordan (Assistant Props Manager) is a sophomore pursuing their Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater design. Recent Salem State credits include As You Like It and Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches
Artemis Jae “AJ” Metherall (Assistant Stage Manager) is a fifth-year student, pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing. Previous credits include Director for Speed Date (Student Theatre Ensemble) and Assistant Director for The Pillowman, Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches, and As You Like It (Salem State University).
Topher Morris (Sound Designer) is the Chairperson of the Salem State University Theatre and Speech Communication Department. During his time at Salem State, he has served as a Technical Director, Sound Designer, and Scenic Designer and is a Professor of Design and Technology. He has worked for American Players Theatre, Santa Fe Opera and Tibbits Opera House. He earned his MFA in Technical Production for Theatre from the Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) at The University of Delaware. He is an ETCP certified Theatrical Rigger and a proud Veteran of the Armed Services.
Jennifer O’Connell (Stage Manager) is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater with a concentration in stage management. Current Salem State Theater credits include: Stage Manager for As You Like It, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Roe, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), and Heathers: The Musical ; Assistant Stage Manager for Something Rotten!, The Ghost Sonata, Blood Wedding, and First Year Lab ; and Hair/Makeup/Wardrobe Run Crew for Antigone. Awards: Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 1 Mental Health and Wellness Advocacy Award in Stage Management; KCACTF Region 1 Stage Management Merit Award Recipient/Nominee for Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches and Roe (2025); KCACTF Region 1 Stage Management Merit Award Recipient/Nominee for As You Like It (2026).
Liv Read (Assistant Stage Manager) is a first-year student at Salem State University. Recent credits include Elizabeth Benning (Young Frankenstein).
Summer St. Onge (Assistant Director) is a sophomore pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in directing. Recent production credits include Director for A Latte Love (The Wright to Perform) at Salem State University; and Mrs. Heron/Ensemble (Mean Girls) and Odette/Ensemble ( Anastasi a) at Woburn High Stage Company.
THEATRE AND SPEECH COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
Full-Time Faculty
Esme Allen
Ginger Eckert
Ali Filipovich
Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
Ryan Goodwin
Michael M. Harvey
Julie Kiernan
Christopher Morris, Chairperson
Peter Sampieri
Staff
Stuart Grieve
Adelaide Majeski
Ashley Preston O’Toole
Tim O’Toole
Anna Splitz
Visiting Lecturers
Brianne Beatrice
Sara Conlon
Seán Dixon-Gumm
Brad Goren-Wilson
Stacey Horne-Harper
Alex Jacobs
Margaret McFadden
Peyton Pugmire
Rachel Rose Roberts
Allen Vietzke
Samantha Weisberg
Faculty Emeriti
Celena Sky April
William Cunningham
James J. Fallon
Myrna Finn
David Allen George
Thomas J. Hallahan
Elizabeth Hart
Jane Hillier-Walkowiak
Vera Sheppard
Whitney L. White
Patricia Zaido
The Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, part of the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, is generously funded by David M. Rubenstein .
Special Thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts’ Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Additional support is provided by The Honorable Stuart Bernstein and Wilma E. Bernstein; and the Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation.
Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts.
This production is entered in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). The aims of this national theater education program are to identify and promote quality in college-level theater production. To this end, each production entered is eligible for a response by a regional KCACTF representative, and selected students and faculty are invited to participate in KCACTF programs involving scholarships, internships, grants and awards for actors, directors, dramaturgs, playwrights, designers, stage managers and critics at both the regional and national levels.
Productions entered on the Participating level are eligible for invitation to the KCACTF regional festival and may also be considered for national awards recognizing outstanding achievement in production, design, direction and performance.
Last year more than 1,500 productions were entered in the KCACTF involving more than 200,000 students nationwide. By entering this production, our theater department is sharing in the KCACTF goals to recognize, reward, and celebrate the exemplary work produced in college and university theaters across the nation.
Support Tomorrow’s Artists
The Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Invest in the arts and support the development of a new generation of artists with a gift to the Center for Creative and Performing Arts. Donors at $250 or more receive invitations to donor-exclusive events including back stage tours, cast and director meet and greets, the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Awards Evening, and other special events.
Gifts of $1,000 (Angel) or more automatically include you in the Sullivan Society, Salem State University's most prestigious giving club.
___Check enclosed payable to: SSU Foundation/Arts Please restrict my gift to (circle one): General Art Creative Writing Dance Music Theatre
Mail gifts to:
Karen Gahagan, director Center for the Arts
352 Lafayette Street Salem, MA 01970
Give online at: participate.salemstate.edu/give Select “other” and note CCPA and the arts discipline you wish to support.
FALL 2025 UPCOMING EVENTS
salemstate.edu/arts
November 20 – December 19
Art, Activism and Democracy
The Winfisky Gallery
Monday through Friday, 10 am – 4 pm
November 21 – 23
December 5 – 7
Mad Forest by Caryl Churchill
Sophia Gordon Center
$15 general/$10 seniors
Free for SSU faculty, sta ff and students with ID salemstatetickets.com
Music Ensemble Concerts
December 4 – Small Music Ensembles
December 8 – University Band
December 10 – University Choral Ensembles
Recital Hall/all concerts start at 7:30 pm
December 13, 7:30 pm
December 14, 2 pm
Salem Dance Ensemble
Sophia Gordon Center
Suggested goodwill donation of $10
Visit salemstate.edu/arts for information about these and other arts events.
This campus event is open and accessible to all members of the campus community. For accommodations and access information, visit salemstate.edu/access or email access@salemstate.edu.
