New York University Tisch School of the Arts
Allyson Green, Dean

Rubén Polendo, Associate Dean, Institute of Performing Arts

Department of Drama
Tomi M. Tsunoda, Chair

TISCH DRAMA STAGE Presents:

Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom

Written by Ted Chiang

Adapted and Directed by Mei Ann Teo

A Message From the Chair

Tisch Drama is a community devoted to creation, collaboration, and critical study. Our degree program combines rigorous conservatory training across ten professional training studios with a robust academic curriculum in Theatre Studies. Through the dynamic production process of TISCH DRAMA STAGE, students have the opportunity to synthesize critical thinking and practical training in the context of creation. This annual production season that sits at the heart of our program brings students together from across the spectrum of training methods, disciplines, and critical frameworks available at the department, and puts them in collaboration with compelling thinkers and practitioners from the contemporary professional field.

Each year, we program a range of artists who are committed to investigation, interrogation, and innovation, and who present a wide spectrum of views, interests, styles, processes, aesthetics, and relationships to language, process, and form. This range of programming provides students with insights on the creation of work across many professional arenas and through many different lenses, giving them a glance into a variety of potential post-graduate trajectories available to them in the field, and offering inspiring models for building sustainable lives in the performing arts.

Most importantly, the productions in our TISCH DRAMA STAGE season are laboratories that exist as extensions of our classrooms. They are spaces where our students’ education is ongoing, through performing on stage as actors, conceiving and building theatrical worlds and aesthetic stories as designers, and contributing to the making of meaning on stage as dramaturgs. While these productions give students a chance to apply their training and education in collaboration with professionals, they are not necessarily meant to be a place where our community of students, faculty, technicians, and guest artists demonstrate a static idea of professional excellence. As with all spaces of learning, these productions are meant to be additional opportunities for experimentation, risk-taking, discovery, learning, and growth – both for our students and for the extraordinary professionals who work with them. This framework is fundamental to the incubation of possibility for the future of our professional field.

Also fundamental to our ongoing endeavor of collaborative work is our ethic of collaboration, which seeks to nurture belonging as learners in our department. A culture that centers on belonging requires a collaborative process that develops connection, mutual aid and trust; it encourages us to be rigorously curious collaborators, and it is at its best when we can readily move through conflict with care and hold one another accountable for our growth.

A final thought of gratitude to you, our audience:

Theatre is a form that depends deeply on the presence of an audience, who bears witness in real time to the artists’ embodiment and living through images, stories, and ideas. Even after weeks or months of work in rehearsal rooms, meeting rooms, and shops – as theatre artists, we don’t begin to truly understand what we have made until the work is newly witnessed by our audiences. This means that your presence here in our theater is a tremendous contribution to the work, to the learning journey of our students, and to the future of our field.

Thank you for being here, and for your contribution. It is warmly welcomed.

Tomi M. Tsunoda

Chair, Department of Drama

A Note From the Director

“This is an adventure that every human being has to live through, learning to be anxious so as not to be ruined either by never having been in anxiety or by sinking into it. Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right way has learned the ultimate.” – Soren Kierkegaard 

What a gauntlet to take up – to be in right relationship to anxiety! In Kierkegaard’s 1844 treatise on The Concept of Anxiety, where the title of this work comes from, he explores the dizzying effect of looking into the boundlessness of one’s own possibilities in relation to creativity. In Ted Chiang’s short story, he gives us a world in which we multiply one’s own possibilities by as many parallel worlds as there might be activated. We are offered the opportunity to reflect on these characters and their paraselves learning the ultimate in their own unique ways. Like us, they wonder if their decisions matter. Like us, they are afraid of making the wrong choice. Like us, they are bound by the past. 

And like us, they also live in a world where small occurrences dramatically affect the outcomes of seemingly unrelated events, e.g. chaos theory where the tiny flap of a butterfly’s wings could result in a tornado. In this and many other themes of this story, I kept coming back to the word invented by Thich Nhat Hanh – interbeing. Used to describe the interconnectedness of all things, perhaps it is the other side of the same coin of chaos theory. Here we are, connected. Something small I do, regardless of intention, can have a large effect on you. And with this knowledge, how are we in relationship to each other? What then do my decisions mean to you? Or yours to mine? 

In these uncertain and complex days, I hear Alice Walker’s words ring: “This is not a time to live without a practice.” Translating this story into a live theatrical event with these phenomenal artists at Tisch, has been a practice of interbeing. Many choices needed to be made. The ensemble, dramaturg, and assistant director were an integral part of translating and adapting the short story into a three dimensional experience, from edits to framings to gestures and arcs. Nile Harris’ movement cracks it all open while the cast tells the story together, sharing the narration and becoming each other’s paraselves. The designers’ visions across the board brought many staging ideas that are woven in throughout. The faculty mentors, staff, and stage management team literally hold us together. 

All of our decisions (and non-decisions) in the face of boundless possibilities and the anxiety that ensued are present in this metabolization. I am profoundly grateful for this group adventure to learn the ultimate, of practicing being in right relationship to anxiety together –  towards the dizziness of freedom. May something of our adventure offer something to yours. 

A Note From the Dramaturg

“In discussions about free will, a lot of people say that for an action of yours to be freely chosen – for you to bear moral responsibility for that action – you must have had the ability to do something else under exactly the same circumstances… I’m pretty confident that even if the many-worlds interpretation is correct, it doesn’t mean that all of our decisions are canceled out. If we say that an individual’s character is revealed by the choices they make over time, then, in a similar fashion, an individual’s character would also be revealed by the choices they make across many worlds.” – Ted Chiang

When Ted Chiang published the novella “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” in May of 2019, he could not have predicted the global pandemic that would drive us further into our screens. Before COVID, we were overwhelmed with the amount of content, information, and people we could find online – the freedom and choices we could make virtually created a culture of self-doubt and envy. During the pandemic, we dove into our devices for school, work, family reunions, affirming our own loneliness by watching someone through our screens experience the same thing. We began asking ourselves “Should I buy groceries or shelter in place?” As we transitioned out of it, our anxieties shifted too: “Should I post this? Should I leave my job? Should I go to that protest?” For a generation who hasn’t known a world without screens, our solution was to go online and see what others are doing to inform our choices and
affirm the anxiety that spins inside us.

Chiang’s novella belongs to his collection of short stories, Exhalations, in which he explores artificial intelligence, parallel universes, faith and atheism, and the human condition through fictional advanced technology. His works invite audiences to grapple with moral and philosophical questions while provoking intellectual and emotional engagement in his art. In “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom,” Chiang gave us a story about a device to answer these questions. The Prisms – Plaga Interworld Signaling Mechanisms – split our timeline when activated and give us a platform to access the other line. Our characters can essentially see and hear a version of themselves who made a different choice, and as more Prisms are activated, the more paraselves they have. Some characters make friends with their paraselves, others monetize on a newfound greed for answers. The choices people make do not cause the divergences
in the timeline; the Prisms do, and they can even cause the smallest alteration of an oxygen molecule to disrupt the timeline. The characters have access to see the “What if?” of all their choices, but this technology breaks the natural way we calculate and weigh the consequences. In this world, this amount of knowledge augments anxieties, making people think their choices are rendered meaningless or causing envy of their own selves.

When we began this process, Mei Ann and I asked ourselves how we could bring this science fiction novella to the stage. How could we thread Ted’s prose through the embodied characters? What’s the best way to incorporate technology into a science fiction story? How can we teach the audience to see the words of the book on the stage? We worked from the text to devise the rest of the piece, asking actors to physicalize the images they saw when they read the novella to stage the play. Every week, actors invented their own warm up activity or game, which we used to craft scenes and movement sequences alongside our incredible design team. We created a room for collaboration, exploration, and play – a rehearsal room full of paraselves of each other. We sat together, reading and rereading the script, and wondered how we could answer the audience’s questions about their own anxieties.

We are so desperate to know if we are making the right choice. In fact, it is inherent to our humanity to spiral into dizziness about what we should do, so much that it becomes addicting to ask. It’s easy to fall into guilt and blame, or envy the better life our paraself has lived. We’re paranoid about whether our choices even matter. We need to know if we really are good people. Working on Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom is our pursuit to illuminate these questions, not answer them. Perhaps we can become paraselves of you, and our pursuit of the dizziness can set you free.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Carmen Alvarez, Dramaturg

Who’s Who – The Creative Team

Mei Ann Teo (Director) (they/them) is a queer immigrant from Singapore making theatre & film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/devisor/dramaturg, they create across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. Teo works internationally, at festivals including Belgium’s Festival de Liege (Lyrics from Lockdown by Bryonn Bain), Edinburgh International Fringe, Beijing International Festival, Singapore Theatre Festival. They have directed and/or developed across the country including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Theatreworks Hartford, Goodman Theatre, Public Theater, and the National Black Theatre. Recent work includes Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong (film and national tour), the US premiere of Amy Berryman’s Walden at Theatreworks Hartford (Best Production and Director- Connecticut Critics Award). Teo is an artistic leader at Ping Chong and Company. This is their first show at TISCH, and they are immensely grateful to the cast, designers, staff, mentors, stage management, Nile, Lucy, and Carmen.  

Nile Harris (Movement Director) Nile Harris is a performer and director of live works of art. He has done a few things and hopes to do a few more, God willing. 

Carmen Alvarez (Dramaturg) is excited to work on Tisch Drama Stage’s Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom as the production’s dramaturg. She is originally from San Francisco, California and Mexico City, and is pursuing a minor in Business of Entertainment. Her dramaturgical interests include Latin American theater and protest theater, but she’s an actor at heart. Her favorite roles include Helena in “Scenes and Revelations,” Anya in “The Cherry Orchard,” and Anna in “Ivanov”. Carmen would like to thank Mei Ann, the cast and crew, and her friends and family for their undying support.

Alex V. Andersun (Scenic & Props Designer) is a theater maker, New York native, coffee lover and student in Tisch Drama’s Production & Design studio. Past credits include 22 Follies: A Tarot Ballet (Co-Scenic Design), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assistant Scenic Design) and The Threepenny Opera (Assistant Sound Design). You can often find them creating art that makes them question their place in the universe or reading. They dedicate their work to Angelique and Amerique, their mom, and all the people who love them. https://www.alexanddesign.com/

Mireya Velasquez (Costume Designer) is a NY-based singer, actress, and costume designer from Houston, TX. Mireya is a fourth-year student at NYU Tisch School of the Arts currently training at The Production & Design Studio with primary training at The New Studio on Broadway. Some of her credits include performing at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway at the 2019 Jimmy Awards, TISCH DRAMA STAGE’S Fun Home as Small Alison, TDS’s in lucem as an Assistant Costume Designer and Tisch New Theatre’s Cabaret as Sally Bowles. Mireya is delighted to be a part of another TDS production as a lead designer this time around!

Josh Healing (Co-Lighting Designer) (he/him) is a Third-Year in Tisch Drama, training in Lighting Design within the Production & Design Studio. TISCH DRAMA STAGE: Festival Of Voices (Jr. Production Electrician), The Threepenny Opera (Assistant Lighting), All Department Festival (Lighting Board Op). Josh has greatly enjoyed the process of making new work with Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom, and would love to thank his Co-Designer, Neil, Assistant LD, Caroline, lighting mentors Jeanette and Emily, the production team, Alex, Mireya, Jessie, & Lola, and directing team, Mei Ann and Nile, for making this amazing process equal parts challenging and rewarding. joshhealing.weebly.com

Zijun (Neil) Wang (Co-Lighting Designer) is an aspiring director and lighting designer in his final year of study at NYU Tisch Drama (Production & Design Studio, Playwrights Horizons Theater School). He is thrilled to make his design debut with TISCH DRAMA STAGE. He appreciates theater as a way to expose topics and truths that people want to turn away from, so they learn about themselves. He is grateful for mentors, “Anxiety Design Gang,” “Team Qz,” and Light Lab 358. Recent design credits: Cabaret (Tisch New Theatre), Bonefruit (PHTS). Recent directing credits: Accidental Death of An Anarchist (Theatre Row). zijunneilwang.com

Lola Basiliere (Sound Designer) (she/her/hers) is a fourth-year in the Production & Design studio studying scenic and sound design. She is double majoring in English & American Lit. through the College of Arts and Science with an emphasis on creative writing and dramaturgy. Previous credits include Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California (Associate Sound Design, The Tank), Weasel Festival (Sound Design, The Brick), in lucem (Sound Design, Tisch Drama Stage), The Threepenny Opera (Dramaturg, TISCH DRAMA STAGE). In her free time Lola is a board programmer and technician at the Kraine Theater and Under St. Marks Theater. Endless gratitude for Nevin, Lucas, Mark, and John. That’s me, that’s us.

Jesse Youngstein (Production Stage Manager) (She/Her) is a current third-year at NYU Tisch School of the Arts in the Production & Design Studio. She is thrilled to be Production Stage Managing her first Tisch Drama Stage show! Her past credits on TDS shows include The Threepenny Opera (ASM) and Fun Home (PA). Outside of this show, she also works as an intern at Aurora Productions. She’d like to thank Lola, Molly, Josh, Neil, Mireya, Alex, Elisa, and Isabelle for their endless support. She’d also like to thank her family, friends, and Ms. Racioppi for inspiring and believing in her since day one. 

Who’s Who – The Cast

	Annora (Jiyun) Dong (Mrs. Oehlsen/Ornella) is a fourth-year student in Tisch Drama, training at the Experimental Theatre Wing and Stonestreet. She originates from Shanghai, China, and has broadened her artistic horizons at the University of St Andrews in the UK. Annora’s forte lies in four years of physical theatre training. After her performance in “Borderline” on the ETW Main Stage, Annora eagerly anticipates her inaugural appearance on the TISCH DRAMA STAGE. Her passion spans a spectrum of artistic disciplines, including film, dance, and sound, showcasing a diverse, global perspective. She eagerly looks forward to collaborative endeavors that push the boundaries of art.
	Bito Boucher (Morrow) “There are only two industries that call their customers “users”: illegal drugs and software.” — Edward Tufte. Bito Boucher is grateful to be in his second Tisch Mainstage production. Theatre and Film Credits Include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Billy Elliot the Musical, and Dying to Survive. Bito has thoroughly appreciated his time at Tisch studying with Atlantic Acting School, Experimental Theatre Wing, and the International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam. Bito has enjoyed implementing his diverse dance training in this active show! “Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.” — Sophocles (Bito likes quotes). https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9024266/
	Cara Linnea (Glenn) is an actor, director, and playwright. They are a fourth-year student and completed their primary training at Playwrights Horizons Theater School, participated in NYU’s Stanislavski, Brecht, and Beyond program last spring, and are currently studying at Stonestreet Studios. They love devising and creating queer theater for young audiences. Cara’s recent projects include Taylor is Lonely at the New Victory Theater and when the root begins to rot, a piece they wrote and performed at Playwrights last fall. Cara is grateful for their family, friends, and teachers, and for the opportunity to work with such incredible artists in Anxiety.
	Essence Blake (Dana) is a fourth-year student at Tisch Drama, with training experience at both The Meisner Studio and Stonestreet Studios. They are thrilled to be making their TISCH DRAMA STAGE Debut as Dana! As an artist, they are dedicated to paving spaces for Black, trans, and queer experiences. Essence has starred in a myriad of student plays with those themes, most notably Tisch Drama Student Works musical To Pimp A Butterfly, Playwrights Horizons’ WARPED, and Meisner Studio Rehearsal Projects’ Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties. To the beautiful cast and crew of Anxiety: Be dizzy, be free, unconditionally. ❤
	Francelys Rosa (Nat) is a Latina artist who thrives in explorational and intentional storytelling in collaborative spaces by/for the youth. Francelys is a current third-year student in Tisch Drama, pursuing advanced training at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute with a double minor in BEMT and Producing. Francelys is thrilled to be a part of her first TISCH DRAMA STAGE production and would like to thank Mei Ann, her castmates, and the production team for such a wonderful experience. She would also like to thank her parents, sister, extended family, and friends for always supporting and believing in her!
	Gabriel Joaquin Pupo (Jorge) is a fourth-year Tisch Drama student training at Stonestreet Studios. He completed his primary training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and trained in Berlin with NYU’s Stanislavski, Brecht, and Beyond. He would like to thank his family for always supporting him. He is a proud Cuban-American and would implore the audience to further research into Patria Y Vida.
	Genevieve Maiden (Zareenah) is 21 year old fourth year at NYU Tisch as a drama student from Virginia. After completely two years at Atlantic studio as her primary, a semester at Stonestreet Film studios, and a semester in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art studying Shakespeare. She was excited to spend this academic semester participating in her first main stage NYU show and is excited to finish off her last semester of 2024 at Atlantic Studios once again.
	Jessica Caputo (Vinessa) is a New York-based actor and junior at NYU. She most recently performed as Nina in Stupid Fucking Bird with the Meisner Studio. Jess would like to thank her family, friends, and teachers for their endless support, and everyone involved in the production for their hard work, passion, and dedication. A special thank you to Mei Ann for being a great director. I’m so dizzy I feel free…
	Jordan Gunn (Scott) is a current second-year in Drama, training at the Atlantic Acting School. A graduate of Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, he’s extremely hyped to be making his NYU debut in this awesome Tisch Drama Stage production! Besides acting, he’s passionate about screenwriting, dancing (hip-hop), movies, activism, gaming and… honestly, his ability to talk your ear off about anything comic book-related should be considered its own special skill. He’d like to thank his amazing inner circle and family for all of their love and support. #AllUpInYourMind
	Jose Emilio Escoto (Kevin) is currently studying musical theater at the New Studio on Broadway and could not be more thrilled to be in his first TISCH DRAMA STAGE production! Jose would like to thank his family for introducing him to the world of drama with every boisterous laugh and passionate storytelling that encompassed his early days. Gracias por amarme como soy.
	Rafael Bryant (Lyle) would like to thank Mei Ann, Nile, Jesse, and the entire stage management/design/directing teams for their dedication and effort in creating this piece of work. He would also like to thank the American Theatre Wing, his parents, Shiv, and his wonderful girlfriend Naomi for their continued love and support. Rafael would like to thank you all for the privilege to perform.
	Sophie Rossman (Devising and Rehearsal Collaborator) is a third-year Tisch Drama student at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. She is so grateful to be the swing/understudy for the wonderful cast of Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom! Sophie recently attended Arthaus, Berlin’s International Summer School for Devised Theatre and Performance in Berlin, Germany. In December, she can be seen in Stella Adler’s production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Sophie is thrilled to have been part of such an inspiring creative process and can’t wait for audiences to see the team’s hard work pay off! She is proudly represented by 1022m Management.

Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom Production Team

Stage Manager – Elisa Annenberg-Paglia
Production Assistant – Isabelle Ormsby
Assistant Director – Lucy Murphy
Assistant Costume Designer – Sara Manos
Assistant Scenic & Props Designer – Chaz Strickland
Assistant Lighting Designer – Caroline Madeira
Assistant Head Electrician – Allie Nation
Assistant Sound Designer – Naveen Bangalore
Production Audio – Molly Litvin

Mentors – Doug Paulson (Acting), Dan Soule (Scenic), Erin Black (Costume), Jeanette Yew (Lighting), Emily Clarkson (Lighting Tech), Nevin Steinberg (Sound), Victoria Whooper (Stage Management)

Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom ITP Crew

Sofia Ayral-Hutton, Nick Benak, Kendra Bryson, Louise Colin, Jordan Crawford, Arden Dalia, Jonathan Dimacali, Gwyneth Esteves, Nolan Glauner, Gabriel Gray, Maxwell Gutierrez, Neta Harari, Frenda Haverstein, Charlie He, Anthony House, Montana Jones, Shayan Khayambashi, Eli Klotz, Braiden Lee, Yvonne Lou, Paige Meegan, Madison Mulvey, Aryana Piros, Amir Saleem, Creamy So, Viet Linh To, Jacksyn Toppenberg, Z Wechsler, Judah Widzer, Eve Wise

Department of Drama Administration

Associate Chair, Director of Applied Theatre – Mauricio Salgado
Director of Theatre Studies – Alisa Zhulina
Director of Professional Training – Andy Arden-Reese
Director of Strategic Planning – Chris Jaehnig
Director of Production – Jeanette Yew
Director, Finance & Administration – Anita Daniels
Student Services Director – Scott Loane
Director of Admissions & Recruitment – Robert Hoyt
Director, Communications & Strategic Initiatives – Joe McGowan
Assistant Director of Faculty Services – John Dietrich
Program Manager, Career Development & Alumni Relations – Jessica Genick
Marketing & Communications Administrator – Angi Williams
Technology Specialist – Ted Green
Admissions Administrators – Tyler Lenhart, Kimberley Whittam
Academic Advisors – Josh P. Jackson, Rachel Johnson, J.B. Smith, Casey Leach, Nicolette Dixon
Budget Administrator – Jesael Rios
Budget Assistant – Milagros Nuñez
Administrative Aides – Sara Kuntz, Christine Phelan, Alex Cook, Zachary Parkman
Studio Administrators – Meade Morrison (Meisner), Alex Cook (NSB) Hilary Tanabe (NSB)
Production Coordinator (NSB) – Neil Goleta

Department of Drama Production Staff

Production Manager – Scott Mancha
Associate Production Manager – Sloane A.L. Spencer
Operations Manager – Ryan Parow
Technical Director – Kat Tharp
Scene Shop Supervisor – Jeremy Weinstein
Props Director – Avery Bufkin
Costume Director – Therese Bruck
Costume Shop Supervisor – Brent Barkhaus
Costume Shop Stitcher– Andrea Manning
Director of of Lighting and Video – Lea Marie Bosilovich
Lighting Supervisor – Josh McConchie
Interim Director of Audio & Media – Lucas Kery

Department of Drama Production Assistants

Scene Shop Production Assistants – Marianne Auvinet Gould, Jacob Bers, Siddharth Dutta, Emily Tucker, Rodrigo Hernandez Martinez
Props Assistant – Sim Carpenter and Alex Nuñez Caba
Costume Shop Assistants – Vicky Butler, Camille Charara, Xorlali Fiamafle, Genvieve McCormick, Steven Smith
Head Electricians/Programmers – Shane Hennessy, Annie Garrett-Larsen, PJ Davis
Electricians – Lily Barchana Lorand, Amy Cho, Ellen Corry, Eva Cruz-Ramos, Nora Poulton, Aarsha Mukherji
Scene Shop Work Study Employees – Shyam Arvadia, Rajesh Nagula, Connor Gallerani, Sophie Jacobs, Gabby Davis, Sil Rivera, Hunter Schofield, Aidan Villarreal, Caroline Madeira, Frankie Tinelli
Prop Loan – Sarah Clarke, Elijah Dor, Dominic Gibson, Jonah Sarno, Mitra Samei
Costume Shop/Loan Work Study Employees – Rachel Bellis, Lucy Bonin, Dibrianys Duran, Nina Ganyard, Maxwell Gutierrez, Bryce Harnick, Nile Helgerud, Megan Hayward, Maia Kahn, Rachel Mairena, Sara Manos, Renata Soifer, Mireya Velasquez
E-Shop Work Study Employees – Jade Chew, Josh Healing, Dagny Rebhan, Adam Attah, Naveen Bangalore

TISCH DRAMA STAGE productions can include subjects and content that may not be appropriate for young audiences. Discretion is advised. The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.