GALATEA by MJ Kauffman at Lehigh University

Director’s Note

“What if we understood identification, kinship, and desire as partial, incomplete, evolving?”

-Jack Halberstam, Trans*

 “T4T love is non-linear in nature because of its openness to change. Our existences are based on transformation.”

-Coyote Park

 MJ Kaufman’s GALATEA is so many things- a modern re-telling of a play that was a precursor to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a queer eco-fantasia, a comedy about the end of the world. At it’s heart it is a celebration of queer and trans community.

 At the center of GALATEA there are two love stories. One is about community, and the other is about two young people on a journey to discover something about themselves. Both stories highlight how being in relationship can fill us up and help us understand who we are. That is the power of queer community and T4T love, knowing one another helps us know ourselves. We need each other. 

 I’ve loved this play for a long time. Getting to direct it on this stage, with these students, and getting to build with the joyful queer community that has created this work has been a gift. We are all so excited to share that gift with you. As Cupid says, “the ones who belong here, find it.”

Director LYAM B. GABEL

Scenic Design MELPOMENE KATAKALOS

Costume Design REI UKON

Sound Design. HALEY BROWN

Lighting Design JACK KELLY

Stage Manager SONJA HACKENMUELLER Galatea SPENCER DUFF

Phyllida KAI DAVIDSON

Augur EMILY WALSH

Titerys KAYLI SILIMPERI

Melebeus MERRICK MANGAN

Telosia VIRGINIA McMAHON

Ramia RACHEL SMITH

Eurota JADA GONZALEZ

Cupid DANIEL BRODY

Neptune JULIAN ABERGAS

Diana NESSIE HOUCK

Hebe PREETI KRISHNAMOORTHY

Venus BROOKE LITTMAN

Swing KATIE BASHUS

Asst. Stage Manager KATIE BUI , DJ EDWARDS, SHAOQUING ZHANG

Technical Director TREVOR FLOCCO

Interim Asst. Technical Director KEVIN GALLAGHER

Lighting Coordinator JUSTIN BURNS

Costume Director TYLER FELTON

Costume First-Hand MARY ANN SWORDS GREENE

Audio Coordinator PHIL INGLE

Props Manager CARRIE BALLENGER

Lighting Design Mentor WILL LOWRY