Land Acknowledgement

Theatre@First rehearses and performs on the ancestral land of the Pawtucket and Massachusett tribal nations. We honor these communities and the elders of these nations—past, present, and future—and recognize the enduring relationships between Indigenous and Native communities and their traditional territories. We extend our respect to citizens of these nations who live here now, to their ancestors who have lived here for over five hundred generations, and to all Indigenous people.

We affirm that this acknowledgement is insufficient. It does not undo the harm that has been done through violence and injustice over the past 400 years and that continues today. We recognize that land acknowledgements are only a small yet important step towards ensuring a culture of respect, truth, and accountability in our community.

We commit ourselves to working toward a greater understanding of our relationship with this land and its people, and to sharing this growing understanding with the Theatre@First participants and audience.

About Theatre@First

The mission of Theatre@First is to work together to provide a fun, friendly, and creative theater experience for cast, crew, and audience alike. We welcome volunteers at all levels of experience and offer a supportive environment in which to work, play, grow, and explore new areas of the theater arts. We offer affordable and eclectic entertainment to the community, aiming to surprise, delight, entertain, and educate our audiences.

We fill an important niche in the vibrant Davis Square arts scene, drawing upon the talents and contributions of individuals and organizations throughout the community to provide a venue for thought-provoking and entertaining performing arts for all those who love to be on either side of the curtain.

Each production we undertake is the dream of someone in our community. When you support Theatre@First you make these dreams a reality for our participants and the wider community. Please help us to continue this work through your generous donations.

Tim Meserve — Adam

Jackie Freyman — Brenda

Aidan Kelly — Chris

Xuan Li Leong — Danielle

Samuel Zeiberg — Asher

Paula Hawthorne — Bailey

Alex Gorowara — Calgon 632

Andy Lebrun — Galway

Bethany Croteau — Holly

Theresa Griffin — Chloe

Lauren Kimball — Wren

Tal Scully — Jean

Rachel Tessler — Dara

Robin Abrahams — Mandy

Christina Bontempo — Coach

Audra Congress — Avery

David Kleinman — Parker

Oriana Davila — Devin

Amelia Smith — Casey

Ari Herbstman — Quinn

Robin Abrahams (Actor) is excited for her second G@F, especially given that she doesn't usually G@F at all! She was last seen as Mardonia in A King and No King. Give long and prosper!

Christina Bontempo (Actor) is a Fitchburg State University graduate who abandoned the stage for two decades and has returned louder, wiser, and significantly less well-behaved. Since her triumphant reappearance, she has raised theatrical hell with North Shore Players, Neverland Theatre, and T@F, appearing as Wadsworth (Clue: On Stage), Mrs. Cratchit (A Christmas Carol), and Sabina (The Skin of Our Teeth). When not performing, she serves as Vice President of North Shore Players and fully endorses applause, mischief, and bold choices made under good lighting.

Marielle Boudreau (Playwright) was recently featured as a writer in Festival@First 13: Superstitious. She has also appeared with T@F as a performer in Henry V and Festival@First 11. 

Audra Congress (Actor) recently served as Assistant Stage Manager for Festival@First 13, with past T@F credits including props master for None Escape, costume assistant for Festival@First 12, and props wrangler for The Impracticality of Modern Day Mastodons. Also worked as ASM for A Lion in Winter with Theater UnCorked. Thrives on backstage multitasking and will gleefully jump into whatever needs doing—usually with gaffer’s tape and snacks in hand. Offstage, enjoys skiing, playing D&D, nerding out about UX, volunteering, and attempting to visit every haunted, overstuffed bookstore New England has to offer.

Bethany Croteau (Actor) is delighted to be joining this year's G@F after making her T@F debut this summer as Eostre in The Thirteenth Hour and Ghost Myrna in Unfinished Business. Since it's winter, she is spending most of her free time reading or baking while dreaming of palm trees.

Oriana Davila (Actor) is a venezuelan actress who has worked in several projects with The Theatre Offensive and Performing Fusion Theatre. Her art is focused in honoring her roots and heritage.

Michelle DeLateur (Playwright and Photographer).
There once was a writer named Michelle
Who hoped to write plays and poems well
With videos, she helps deliver
She fishes on rivers
And loves cameras and lenses - That's swell!

Peter Duerst (Technical Director and Videographer) is delighted to be working on his 8th production with T@F! Coming up soon, Peter is delaying his move to Vienna so that he can direct The Aria of Julie d'Aubigny by Monica Cross, with auditions in March and performances in June! Finally, Peter would like to wish Emma a very happy birthday!

Justine Elias (Playwright) is an arts journalist, law librarian, and paralegal. She studied dramatic literature and playwriting at the University of Michigan, but she's been away from theater making for way too long. Mostly she's just psyched to be here.

Kris Ferrell (House Manager) is a disabled Veteran, who moved to the area in 2020 and found T@F through his friend James. Kris is currently going into his Junior year for an Undergrad degree of Supply Chain Management at UMB. Very happy to be here and to help out in any way I can.

Mare Freed (Director) is a T@F OG, dating back to 2004 as an actor and director. The past decade has seen her focused mostly on leadership roles in The Post-Meridian Radio Players (T@F's sister organization). She's delighted to be back for her very first 24-hour festival. Love to her life partner Jay Sekora!

Jackie Freyman (Actor) has been performing since the age of six and studied acting, writing, and directing at Emerson College. She also recently completed an apprenticeship with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Favorite roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Lottie Wilton in Enchanted April, Clara Hawking in the Mrs. Hawking plays, Tinker Bell in Peter Pan, and Suzanne in The Scarlet Pimpernel). Jackie is also a produced playwright, and outside of theatre, she works as a writer and designer for a financial services company. Jackie enjoys reading, baking, traveling, and cuddling her kitty on the couch.

Alex Gorowara (Actor) has been part of the T@F community for nearly three years, and has recently appeared as Leopard Man in None Escape and directed The Thirteenth Hour as part of Festival@First 13. By day, he writes software, and on weekends, he LARPs.

Theresa Griffin (Actor) is pleased to be performing in her third G@F! Other favorite roles at T@F include Lyubov in The Cherry Orchard, and Big Stone in Eurydice. Offstage, Theresa is a medical writer and full-time child-free cat lady.

Paula Hawthorne (Actor) made her T@F debut understudying Antonio in The Tempest. She's very excited to be performing with them once again! In her free time (beyond her side gig as a professional TTRPG Game Master) she loves to read, draw, and dive head first into all sorts of strange creative projects!

Ari Herbstman's (Actor) most recent credits include Dr. Moreau in T@F's production of None Escape, and Co-Director of Post-Natal Care for my beautiful daughters. He wants to credit is beloved wife, children, and pets for allowing him the time to participate in this wild community.

Naomi Hinchen (Playwright) has previously acted in G@F as an Agent Carter cosplayer and a mythological temp, and written short plays about bureaucratic vampires and the insurance inspector for Jurassic Park. She would like to thank Red Bull for being here in her time of need.

Julia Hurley (Director) is excited to return after her T@F directing debut with Under the Ghost Light for Festival@First: Superstitious. Her previous credits in Washington, D.C. area include Contractions (Capital Fringe), No Word in Guyanese For Me (Women’s Voices Theatre Festival), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Starstuff Theatre Collective). 

Delphine Kaiser (Festival Director and Producer) is excited to continue to be a part of bringing this awesome community together to make theater magic happen, whether that's a festival of short plays written and rehearsed under absurd time constraints or the epic Aria of Julie d'Aubigny, the 18th century French cross-dressing, sword-fighting, opera singer—coming soon!

Tegan Oak Kehoe (Lighting Designer) loves to collect new theater experiences, and is adding both "lighting" and "being involved in a 24ish-hour show" to her collection with this production. Outside of theater, she's a public historian and writer, a parent to a wonderful almost-4-year-old, and a longtime volunteer with the Environmental Voter Project.

Though Aidan Kelly (Actor) hasn’t performed with this community theater. He has been doing theater since middle school starting as an ensemble member in Mary Poppins and in his senior year of high school he played juror ten in 12 Angry Men. In his free time, he likes to hangout with friends, talk to his partner, sleep, draw and of course talk about theater too anyone who would listen.

David Kleinman (Actor) is giving his first G@F everything he’s got! Previous credits include Arbaces in T@F’s A King and No King and Macduff in Dream Role Players’ Macbeth. His birthday is on the 28th so please be nice to him.

Lauren Kimball (Actor) started volunteering with T@F in 2023 and is currently their Production Manager. She has appeared onstage previously in The Impracticality of Modern-Day Mastodons, and can often be found at the box office or concessions stand as House Manager.

Andy Lebrun (Actor). Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (also I host board games (wanna play?) and make stuff with wood and/or my 3d printer).

Xuan Li Leong's (Actor, she/her) last stage appearance was Janice Vickery in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (2015). She took Acting 102 but dropped the class when she realized she had limited interest in character research. Since then, she's only ever been backstage. She stage managed None Escape (2025), Festival@First 12 (2024) and Mastodons (2024) with T@F.

Jamie Lin (Writer) is a Taiwanese-American theater artist originally from the Bay Area and a member of Boston's Asian American Playwright Collective (AAPC). Her works have been produced by CHUANG Stage, Pao Arts Center, AAPC, Brandeis University, T@F, and as part of the Boston Theater Marathon. She is passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion & accessibility and serves as T@F’s EDI Coordinator. Offstage, she is a graphic designer and avid D&D player.

Tim Meserve’s (Actor) past credits with T@F include Sebastian in The Tempest, and Swordsman in A King and No King. He is excited to take part in his first G@F!

A transplant from Ohio, Emma Picht (Director) is excited to be participating in G@F for the first time! A long time performer she has fallen in love with directing and is delighted to embrace the chaos of a 24 hour play. Most recently she was in PMRP's fall production and appeared in T@F's Tempest as Trinculo!

Erika Reinfeld (Director) is grateful for the opportunity to do a bit of theatre in between her jobs as an astronomy educator, a member of the Medford School Committee, a wife, and a mother. She has been involved with T@F since 2004 and really hopes there will be some good (bad) puns in this show.

Jason Rhode (Stage Manager) is a political operative who now works for MIT. Former T@F roles include House Manager (Double Bill), Hercules (Festival@First 11: Myths and Legends), Rehearsal Assistant (Web of Murder), Stage Manager (Marian, Or The True Tale of Robin Hood), and fashion icon (the real world). He holds an estimated eight gallons of pure unfiltered water in his body. Nine out of ten think tanks have assured him he is a leading contender for the award "World's Greatest Dad" despite having no children. 

Brian Rust (Playwright) is a writer, actor and physical comedian who lives and performs in the greater Boston area. His work has been performed in London, Chicago and New York, and as part of various performance troupes he has been seen warming up the stage for Le Tigre, sword fighting at the Mobile Renaissance Faire, and breathing fire in Revere. In his free time he makes gourmet chocolates and researches an ancestor who may have faked her death and become a pirate after the great Port Royal Earthquake of 1692.

Tal Scully (Actor) is delighted to be acting in G@F this year! She wishes she had more time for theater, but you may still have seen her as Mabel in The Spirit of Good Will (Festival@First 12), and as Sloan in The Intervention (Dream Role Players at the 2025 Boston Theater Marathon). Outside acting, Tal has just completed a PhD in biology, and in April she will move to Vienna, Austria, to study regeneration in axolotl salamanders. She’ll dearly miss Boston and is also looking forward to many adventures on a new continent! Finally, Tal would like to wish Emma a very happy birthday!

Jay Sekora (Assistant Director) is hugely grateful to his beloved Mare Freed (and to T@F) for getting him back into theater after a decades-long gap! Lately he's been adapting, working on sound, and occasionally voice-acting for T@F's sister audio-drama group, the Post-Meridian Radio Players.

Amelia Smith (Actor, she/her) is so grateful to be performing at G@F for the second time! You may have spotted her this past fall in A King and No King. Other recent credits include Macbeth (Dream Role Players) and None Escape (T@F). Offstage, Amelia works as an engineer at a nuclear fusion company and will talk endlessly about magnets and plasma. Many thanks as always to my partner, Robert, and wishing a super happy birthday to the incomparable Emma Picht!

This is Rachel Tessler's (Actor) first G@F production and is so happy to be working alongside all her pals. Past productions include the past three Festival@First productions. When not performing, you can find her reading, running, drinking iced chai and contemplating what show she wants to watch next.

Robert Thorpe II (Director, he/they) is delighted to be returning to T@F for this 24 hour show after performing in The Tempest this past summer. Previous directing credits include Boston Theater Marathon XXVI with Dream Role Players and Red Velvet with the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble. Many thanks to his friends, family, and partner Amelia, as well as his friend Emma who he hopes has a very happy birthday!

Chloe Trepanier (Publicity) forgot to write a bio until now, and yes, she is doing publicity.

Renée Walsh (Props Wrangler and Stage Hand) has been involved with T@F since 2005: on stage, backstage, side stage, and nowhere near the stage. Favorite roles include Directing The Lady's Not for Burning, performing as Mrs. Boyle in The Mousetrap, and costuming The Cherry Orchard. This is her second G@F; last year's performance opposite an alien Moopsie was a definite highlight of her theatre career!

Marco White (Sound Designer, he/him) is thrilled to be sound designing G@F! He is a recent UMass Theater alum, with previous sound design credits that include John Proctor Is the Villain, Yoga Play, and Dentata. Outside of theater, Marco loves listening to and making music, hyper-fixating on new webcomics, hanging out and playing games with friends, and watching animated shows.

Bey Woodward (Director) has been giving her blood sweat and cupcakes to T@F since 2008. This is her 4th G@F.

Samuel Zeiberg’s (Actor) past credits at T@F include roles in: Henry V, The Cherry Orchard, Marian, and The Tempest. He’s delighted to be performing on stage again, and hopes he can memorize all his lines in less than 24 hours! Thank you to everyone who has shown up and donated to On The Rise!