AT MARIST UNIVERSITY & THE BARDAVON
REAL-LIFE STORY OF THE SOUL-SAVING POWER OF POP MUSIC.
DAYLIGHT
By Kate Cortesi
Based on the life and extraordinary mind of Joe Garcia
Directed by Josiah Davis
DAYLIGHT is a new play based on the real-life story of Joe Garcia, a man who served 21 years in prison for murder. Framed by the pop music that sustained him during that dark time, and developed in collaboration with Garcia over two years (and counting!), the play explores accountability, true love, and the soul saving power of pop.
Friday, July 24
Symphonic Hall at Marist University
7:00pm
This performance will be fully bilingual in American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English.
DAYLIGHT was commissioned by Playwrights Horizons.
Kate Cortesi | Playwright
The plays of Kate Cortesi have been performed around the country and internationally, including in translation. Selected full-length plays: GREAT KILLS (Princess Grace Award), A PATRON OF THE ARTS (Cherry Lane), LOVE (Sky Cooper New American Play Prize, Marin Theatre Company, Ojai Playwrights Conference), ONE MORE LESS (NYFA Award, Relentless Award Finalist), IS EDWARD SNOWDEN SINGLE? (Pool Plays, Jungle Theatre, Players’ Ring, Single Carrot; 7 BroadwayWorld nominations including Best New Play), TEN GRAND (Woolly Mammoth - upcoming, Lincoln Center Reading Series, Pacific Playwrights Festival, Weissberger Finalist) and DAYLIGHT (Ground Floor, Berkeley Rep). Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, Keen Company, South Coast Rep, Lucille Lortel Theatre. Publications: Samuel French, Dramatists Play Services. Residencies and Affiliations: New Dramatists, Huntington Fellow, Colt Coeur residency, New Georges Affiliated Artist, O’Neill residency. Cortesi has written for the screens for Disney+, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, AMC, Fremantle, Amy Pascal, and Working Title, for collaborators that include Lizzy Caplan, Channing Tatum and Cardi B. katecortesi.com
Josiah Davis | Director
JOSIAH DAVIS (he/him) is a multi-disciplinary storyteller. A director, choreographer, designer, performer asking, how do we create space for maximum expression, possibility, and liberation in the face of oppressive systems? He is a graduate from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television and Brown MFA Directing. He is a Princess Grace Honoraria, NYTW 2050 fellow, National Black Theatre Soul Directing Resident, Susan Stroman Directing Award Recipient, Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, and Associate Artistic Director of On The Verge Theatre Festival in Santa Barbara. Selected credits: MARY GETS HERS (Playwrights Realm/MCC) OMAR OFFRENDUM’S LITTLE SYRIA (BAM), LESSONS IN SURVIVAL (Vineyard Theatre), AMANI (National Black Theatre/Rattlestick), CLYDE’S (Alabama Shakespeare Festival/Arkansas Rep/St.Louis Rep), IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Portland Center Stage), EL MENTIROSO (Arts On Site), MR. SATURDAY NIGHT (Broadway (Assoc.)). Josiahdavis.net
Nina Schatell | Assistant Stage Manager
Nina Schatell (Assistant Stage Manager) is a New York based Stage Manager. Broadway: MAYBE HAPPY ENDING, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD. Off-Broadway: AS YOU LIKE IT (The Public Mobile Unit), THE WATERFALL (WP Theater), PRACTICE (Playwrights Horizons), HOUSE OF MCQUEEN (The Mansion), LOWCOUNTRY (Atlantic Theater Company), TEETH, SCHOOL PICTURES, AMUSEMENTS (Playwrights Horizons), H.M.S. PINAFORE (NYGASP), STRAIGHT FORWARD (Theatre Row). She has also worked on projects with the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, NAMT, New York Stage & Film, The Public, Dramatist Guild Foundation, BCEFA, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The National Asian American Theatre Company. BFA from SUNY Purchase College.
Amanda Kuo | Production Assistant/ Stage Management Intern
Amanda Kuo (she/they) is originally from Little Rock, Arkansas by way of Buffalo, New York and is excited for her first season at S&F! She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Religious Studies from Kenyon College where her research focused on the intersection of religion and theater. During their time at Kenyon, they worked as a First Hand in the costume shop for four years as well as producing and stage managing various theater productions. She previously spent two seasons with Shake on the Lake in Perry, NY as part of the stage and company management teams as well as on staff for the 2024 New York State Puppet Festival.
CAST
Danny Bolero | JOE SR/ENSEMBLE
Danny Bolero made his Broadway debut in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He returned to Broadway in In the Heights before originating the role of Kevin Rosario in the First National Tour and providing backup vocals for the feature film adaptation. In 2022, he appeared opposite Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, directed by John Benjamin Hickey. Danny made his Public Theater debut in Miss You Like Hell and appeared Off-Broadway in Bedbugs!!! The Musical. His voice can be heard as Abuelo in the Emmy Award-winning PBS KIDS series Alma's Way and as Máximo Cristóbal Valdespino in Red Dead Redemption II. In 2023, a City of New York grant helped support development of his acclaimed solo show, They Call Me Cuban Pete: The Music and Genius of Desi Arnaz, which earned both the MAC and Bistro Awards. He is currently adapting the work into a full-length stage play.
Rona Figueroa | LORETTA/ENSEMBLE
Actress, singer, songwriter, writer and painter, Rona is thrilled to return to the Hudson Valley, where she was last seen as Croc/Tiger Lily in the Leonard Bernstein version of PETER PAN at the Fisher Center. She has worked on TV, film, Broadway, Off-Broadway and regionally. Most recent credits include Suzan-Lori Parks’ THE TUNE UP (Lincoln Center, Summer for the City Series), THE HEART SELLERS (Florida Studio Theater), PLAYS FOR THE PLAGUE YEAR (The Public Theater NY), RHINOCEROS (ACT-San Francisco). She's penned and produced two original rock albums with her band, Quasilulu, (streaming online), and recently received her MFA in Writing from Columbia University. For more information, check out RonaFigueroa.com
Alejandro Hernandez | JOE GARCIA
Alejandro Hernandez is a Puerto Rican Actor from Trenton, NJ based in NYC.
STAGE: ALL MY SONS with Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jimmy Smits (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), BODEGUEROS (workshop, LAByrinth theater company/Public Theater) THE BEAUTIFUL LAND I SEEK (PRTT/PREGONES) NATIONAL PASTIME (world premiere, Syracuse Stage) MOJADA: A MEDEA IN LOS ANGELES (Yale Rep), BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY (Pittsburgh Public Theater), PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (Actors Theatre of Louisville), WONDROUS STRANGE (Humana Festival of New American Plays), THE FIRST IMMIGRANT, ORPHEUS IN THE BERKSHIRES (Williamstown Theater Festival).
TV/FILM: He starred in the role of "Luis Batista" opposite Justina Machado in THE HORROR OF DOLORES ROACH on Amazon . LAW AND ORDER: SVU, NEW AMSTERDAM (NBC), INSTINCT, BLUE BLOODS, ELEMENTARY, MADAM SECRETARY, (CBS), PARTNER TRACK, SET IT UP, MONSTER (Netflix), AMERICAN DREAMER with Jim Gaffigan.
Training: BFA in Theater w/ concentration in Acting from Montclair State University, Actors Theatre of Louisville Professional training company. Lucid Body with Fay Simpson. Actors Center member and lifetime member of the Actors Studio.
Isabel Beatriz Tongson | Stage Directions
Isabel Beatriz Tongson is a Filipina-American playwright, actor, and director. Select writing accolades: Lin-Manuel Miranda Family Fellowship, the Dasha Epstein Award in Playwriting, the Kenneth Janes Award in Theatre, two-time winner of the Blank Theatre Young Playwrights Festival, winner of Best in Show at the Central Florida Theatre Festival for Dramatic Script, and winner of the Valencia College BIPOC Playwrights Festival, finalist of the #ENOUGH PLAYS PROJECT, finalist of the ET ALIA THEATER LAB, semi-finalist for the Gary Garrison National Ten-Minute Play Award by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre’s NUWORKS FESTIVAL. Past favorite performances: DISNEY AT THE MACY’S THANKSGIVING PARADE, LOVE & SO (Barnard Theatre Department), and CAMP CATTYWAMPUS (CUPAL). She is an alumnus of the Eugene O’Neill National Theatre Institute. Her career is dedicated to opening the entertainment industry to underrepresented artists by providing them with authentic stories to tell. She is represented by Rebel Creative Group. isabeltongson.com
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Levin Valayil | GL/ENSEMBLE
Levin Valayil is thrilled to be presenting this beautiful new musical. Other theater credits: Lunchbox at Berkeley Rep, Poster Boy at Williamstown Theater Festival, Come From Away at Milwaukee Rep and Phoenix Theatre, Mystery of Edwin Drood at Goodspeed Opera House, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Jersey Lilly at Alley Theater, Much Ado About Nothing at Hanover Rep, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Next Act Theatre, The Fantasticks at The Cape Playhouse and Bhangin It at La jolla Playhouse. You can catch him next doing Come From Away at Broadway Music Circus in Sacramento. TV/FILM: The Descendants: Rise of Red as Aladdin on Disney+. @lvalayil www.levinvalayil.com
Paul Whitty | EARL/ENSEMBLE
Broadway: GREAT GATSBY, CAMELOT, COME FROM AWAY, GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER, AMELIE, ONCE. Off-Broadway: JOY, CHRISTMAS CAROL, ONCE, TWELFTH NIGHT. Regional: Berkeley Rep, Center Theatre Group, Old Globe, MUNY, Pittsburgh CLO, Two River Film/Television: FBI MOST WANTED, LAW AND ORDER SVU, SONG ONE, COME FROM AWAY. F.R.A.K. FOREVER. FIGHT THE FASCISTS