TAPS BA Performances

Writer, improvisor, and comedian Summer Cramer is overjoyed to share her thesis project 'fresh, warm, good.' with anyone who has ever worked in customer service, grieved, or been a teenager. During her time at UChicago, she has poured about a billion hours into Off-Off campus and has performed in and written many sketch and improv comedy shows. Beyond 'fresh, warm, good.', she has invested most of her time into her soul musical (SLIMEGRIMECRIME) and memoir (irl). She would like to thank Leslie, Devon, Calamity, and all of the other TAPS staff who made this play possible; Off Off Campus for teaching her the language of comedy; Jocelyn Cramer for her endless and tireless support; and of course her former coworkers at Little Caesars for helping her discover the world through pizza.

Nathalie Lam is a Econ Major and TAPS minor, originally from Singapore. She had never done theater in any capacity until college, and is very happy to be here! In her free time, she enjoys going to the movies, biking around the city, and hanging out with the people she loves. She hopes to continue creating cool things with cool people in the future.

Eleni Lefakis is a TAPS and RLLT major who has spent every free (and not free) moment of her time at college participating in extracurricular performing arts. She has racked up over 30 TAPS and UT show credits and spent 4 wonderful years latched onto everything University Theater, The Dean’s Men, Occam’s Razor, Attori Senza Paura, University Ballet, and the Vocal Studies Program have done (or as much of it as they’ve allowed). Outside of UChicago, Eleni has worked professionally and semi-professionally with Star Channel, Teatro del Presagio, Con la Verdad, Lykofos Productions, Berlin Opera Academy, and Reptilian Affiliates Theater Co. She is currently assistant directing Berlin at Court Theatre. After graduation, Eleni will be pursuing the arts somewhere in some way. She doesn’t know precisely what she’ll be doing yet, but she hopes it’ll require her to use at least two languages. This thesis is, first and foremost, Eleni’s love letter to intersectionality, overthinking, being young and queer, reflexive verbs, making art with friends, getting lost in translation, vulnerability, figuring shit out, the Spanish language, and la sucursal del cielo.

Zachary Leiter dislikes eating cooked spinach, reading sentences that lack parallel structure, and writing about himself.

Abby Kanes is a fourth year TAPS and Business Economics major. Throughout her time at UChicago she has been involved in two TAPS Pro-Shows, seven University Theater productions as a Director, Actor and Pit Musician, and served on UT committee. This musical was inspired by being told for the first time she could not do something, with no reason other than being a girl. Through this process she asked, “What if I had the drive, inspiration, and support to fight back? What could have changed? What could have improved?” The creation process for this musical has been ongoing since Winter 2024 and she is so excited to be presenting it as her Thesis Project. She wants to thank the performers in this reading, her New Musical Development course workshop, BA colloquium workshops, Devon de Mayo, Leslie Buxbaum, and especially Scott Elmegreen. 

Hi, I'm Belle Hart! I am a TAPS and Political Science major! I've done a lot of acting and singing, but have always been interested in writing. HOUSE DIVIDED is the first full play I have ever written! I really hope you enjoy!

The son of two preachers’ children, London is an actor, improvisor, singer, and writer from Portland, OR (the least religious major city in the US). After almost three years in process (some of that time spent in the scrapped ideas bin), he is so excited to be able to share his thesis, Fresco, with an audience of trusted friends and collaborators. Throughout his time in college, London is proud to have been a part of numerous theatrical projects, including Be More Chill (UT 2023), The Ballad of Oedipus (TAPS 2024), LAAF (Voices in Your Head 2024), and too many Off-Off shows to count. He’d like to thank Off-Off Campus for helping him always choose to love, Leslie and Devon for their invaluable mentorship, his family for encouraging his deep and various passions, and, as always, Dani and Blake for giving those passions a space to grow.

Rory McGann is a Molecular Engineering major and Theater & Performance Studies minor who has always had a love for the stage. His theater credits at UChicago include Falsettos (Director), Arcadia (Bernard Nightingale), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), Be More Chill (Rich Goranski), and 13th Morning (Assistant Production Manager). He came into UChicago as an actor, but has since tried his hand at direction and writing for musical theater, the latter of which has become his thesis project. While he does not plan to pursue a career in the performing arts, they are very important to him, and he could not be more excited to share his and his team’s work with an audience.