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
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Kassi Wilson | Stage Manager
Select credits include Broadway: SIX, HAMILTON, HELL’S KITCHEN, SUNSET BLVD, SMASH. Off Broadway: SEXUAL MISCONDUCT OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES (Minetta Lane Theatre), THE WATERFALL (WP Theater), ROMY & MICHELE THE MUSICAL (Stage 42), Public Works’ THE TEMPEST (The Public Theater), KING JAMES (Manhattan Theater Club), THE HARDER THEY COME (The Public Theater), RAISIN IN THE SUN (The Public Theater), Regional: THE SCARLET LETTER (Two River Theater Company). Other past live event credits include BROADWAY BARES, THE TONY AWARDS and AFROPUNK. She is thankful to join S&F in supporting this process!
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.
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Julián Mesri | Music Support
Julián Mesri is a New York-based Argentinean-American playwright and composer who makes multilingual plays and musicals in the US and around the world. He is the co-adaptor and composer/lyricist for the Mobile Unit bilingual production of the Drama Desk nominated and LATA award winning COMEDY OF ERRORS and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at the Public Theater. His play, THE IRREPRESSIBLE MAGIC OF THE TROPICS (workshopped at The Playwrights Center) premiered as part of Intar’s 2025 season. He is currently the Judith Champion Musical Theater Launchpad Resident at Signature Theater and a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center. He has been a member of the Public Theater Emerging Writer’s Group, a Dramatist Guild Fellow, an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow and Usual Suspect at NYTW, a member of Lark's Playwright's Workshop at Second Stage, and a Van Lier fellow at Repertorio Español. He received his MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University.
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. 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. Her previous credits include THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED)(REVISED)(AGAIN) (Shake on the Lake), HENRY V (Shake on the Lake), 1776 (Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre), THE AUTOBIPUPPETRY OF JEGHETTO (NYS Puppet Festival), ERNIE'S SECRET LIFE (NYS Puppet Festival). She is the 2026-28 Miranda Family Foundation Production Fellow at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co. in Washington D.C.
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 Rep), 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.
J.D. Mollison | SMOKE/ENSEMBLE
Past productions Include: THREE HOUSES (Signature), MALVOLIO (Classical Theater of Harlem), OCTET (Signature and Berkeley Rep), X OR BETTY SHABAZZ VS. THE NATION (The Acting Company), THE WITNESS ROOM (AMT), BILLY STRAYHORN: SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR (Pittsburgh Public Theater), MOBY DICK (A.R.T.), BLACK ODYSSEY (CalShakes), VENICE (N.Y. Public Theater), THE BOX (The Foundry), A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS (New York Theater Workshop), LES MISERABLES (Broadway Revival). Audio: KING LEAR (Play On Podcasts), HANDS UP! (National Black Theater). TV/Film: "GODFATHER OF HARLEM", "THE SNARE", "ELSBETH", “SHAMELESS,” “MADAM SECRETARY,” "SVU", “SHADES OF BLUE”. Upcoming: "THREE SITTERS". Training: Carnegie Mellon.
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Samantha Soule | A.
Samantha Soule is an actress, writer and filmmaker based in NYC. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she has appeared on stage and screen for over twenty five years. Sam can currently be found on Netflix (A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, OUTER BANKS, GODLESS, THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, TALES OF THE CITY), Showtime (CITY ON A HILL) and FOX (DOC), among many others. Her work behind the scenes includes multiple award winning screenplays, seven short films, three music videos and two features which are currently in post production. Sam’s work has played festivals across the country and abroad. Her feature film debut, (co-written and directed with Daniel Talbott) MIDDAY BLACK MIDNIGHT BLUE (starring Merritt Wever) was released by Good Deed Entertainment in June of 2023.
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
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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
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