hello my name is tess (they/them) and this is my website :)

i am non-binary and queer and grew up in an irish catholic family in bay ridge, brooklyn. i have two middle names; anne, after my community organizer grandma, and dymphna, my confirmation name taken from the patron saint of mental illness. i grew up loving british youtubers and online games and musicals. i went to edward r. murrow high school and studied theatre. they gave me the silver award for that when i graduated, as well as some sort of spirit award. whilst there, i participated in the wendy wasserstein program with TDF and was mentored by derek mclane. it was epic. and then COVID, which I got like two weeks after lockdown started. I couldn't taste anything for like a month and then hated pork for like a year afterwards. that was weird. at the end of 2020, i began undergrad at SUNY purchase, studying anthropology and theatre with a concentration in dramaturgy.i graduated in january after seven semesters of fucking around and finding out. this website will hopefully be proof of said fucking around and finding out. also proof of existence and artistic labor. enjoy! this is my stupid twitter

• i have worked as dramaturg on multiple pieces by playwright Leah Plante-Wiener, most recently a production of her short play Bonefruit at the Tank, and currently on Warm Science, created by her and Eulàlia Comas, for the Brick's ?!: New Works Festival, which i'm also performing in (iNtErDiScIpLiNaRy), AS WELL AS gutbelly (working title), Leah's new play premiering at Columbia University School of the Arts, directed by Benjamin Viertel.
• i have served as production dramaturg on a handful of productions at SUNY purchase. Last semester, i worked on the premiere educational production of How to Defend Yourself by Liliana Padilla, directed by Ash Marinaccio. i also consulted on Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery, directed by James Dean Palmer and starring seniors in the BFA acting program. other productions include Fefu and Her Friends (by Maria Irene Fornes) directed by Rachel Dickstein, senior thesis productions How I Learned To Drive (by Paula Vogel) and Marisol (by Jose Rivera) directed by MARI, as well as capstone productions of Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl and Mac Beth by Erica Schmidt. i have also consulted and created research material for original student works, mainly short plays. any of my dramaturgical material is available upon request!
• i also completed my undergrad thesis recently. in completion of my BA in theatre and performance, myself and director Grace Castle adapted Shakespeare's As You Like It (we queered it unfortunately). We put up the piece in a plot of land behind the purchase music conservatory in April 2023, and we, along with our fellow senior collaborators Emily Dziak (actor) and Carly Friedman (PSM) were awarded the Gary Waller award for Outstanding Project in Early Modern Drama by the program faculty. I then wrote a piece of autotheory/interview compilation to aid in completion of my BA in anthropology on affective labor in the theatre industry, specfically pertaining to twenty somethings in NYC trying to make cool stuff whilst unfortunately gaining little to no compensation. I cited theorists such as Michael Hardt, Sara Ahmed, and Jordan Tannahill.here is more info on as you like it, including my dramaturg's note
• I've performed in Yanuera by Yoji Sakate as Lady, directed by Michi Barall at Purchase, as well as Inventory, a performance art piece by Alix Pearlstein, performed at the Neuberger Museum. excerpt of that piece can be viewed here