TAPS BA Performances | Fall 2025

From growing up a church kid to navigating the world of speech and debate, Erin Copeland has been on stages her whole life. She spent most of her childhood creating: filming wacky trailers on iMovie, spending hours in front of the piano, dancing any and everywhere. She has been dancing since she was 5 years old and hasn’t stopped moving since, most recently participating in the TAPS dance department’s Dance Pro-Show. Movement is a crucial part of her creative process. As an all-around artist, Erin’s work is deeply motivated by her desire to blur the lines between performer and audience. A Georgia native (near enough to Atlanta to claim it), her art is rooted in faith, the South, and everything Black. She is double-majoring in English and Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS). the Stage: a Performance in Draft is her first original, theatrical work. A special thank you to the professors and peers who make this university a bit more bearable. You are seen and appreciated.

the Stage: a Performance in Draft

For Mila and I, motivation doesn’t come easily and conversations don’t help. the Stage: a Performance in Draft is an exploration into the nuances of neurodivergence and the complexities of navigating both academia and its anxieties. This work questions what we truly know about art and ourselves: theater is a place of play after all.

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.

fresh, warm, good.

When a group of young employees at a pizza shop discover a dead dog under the doormat, they must maintain functionality at work while deciphering their emotions and exploring their relationships. As they prep pizzas and answer phone calls, the young coworkers struggle to answer lingering questions about grief and life and growing up.

CAST
Urunna Anyanwu (Cosmo)
Giancarlo Beritela (Chase)
Joseph DePaula (Paul)
Weston Fox (Abraham)
Abby Kanes (Clem)
Daniel McNeill (Owen)
August Petry (Stage Directions)

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!

HOUSE DIVIDED

The Wright's are a powerful, Black, Southern-Elite family in Georgia. The family comes together to celebrate the life of the patriarch, Willie Wright, who passed away three days ago. They soon realize that “coming together” takes a lot more than being in the same house….

CAST & CREDITS
Joan Wright - Erin Copeland
Samantha Wright - Emma Linderman 
Will Jr. Wright - Mashika John Mrema
Tiffany Wright - Lucy Whitehead 
Deron Williams - Jalen Sutton
Amy Zhang - Hengyi Xu
Mariah Wright - Belle Hart
Director - Olivia Ward 
Director - Kimberly Miranda 
Dramaturg - Ibie Hart

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. 

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

After being told that she is not allowed to play on the baseball team with the boys next year, second grader Grace employs the help of her Guardian Angels, three players from the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, and starts her own all girls team to sneak into the league. With the push to ask “why not”, this musical for young audiences explores gender and sports through the lens of a young girl who just wants to play baseball. 

CAST & CREDITS
Grace - Abby Kanes
Lenny - Collin Polasky
Kammie - Joelle Singer Jensen
Flint Flash - Sophie Poff
Faut - Julia Morales
Amy - Belle Hart
Ella - Katy Yeh
Bria - Lauren Dockman
Olivia - Millie Walsh
Sarah - Maggie Banks-Hehenberger
Jane - Jessie Palmer
Hannah - Katie Keeley
Rachel - August Petry
Stage Directions - Rory McGann
Pianist - Elena Gill

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.

Here, Somewhere

A multimedia exploration of how, why and what it means to say goodbye to the people and places that we love. 

CAST & CREDITS
Emma Linderman
Natalie Floreancig
Ian Tierney

Eleni Lefakis Pantoja 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.

Some Bodies

Some Bodies is a trilogy of short performance pieces that follows a group of dissident beings as they travel through space and time in search of discovery, connection, and liberation. At the same time, the work itself travels from Cali, Colombia to Chicago, experimenting with translation and adaptation while responding to Eskirla Teatro’s Inundadxs and 135m2 Con Vista a Titania and Paul B. Preciado’s Un Apartamento en Urano: Crónicas del Cruce. Some Bodies seeks to represent the inherent in-betweenness of queer and multicultural identities through performance and scholarship.

CAST & CREDITS
Titania - Josiah Rubio
Voices - Eleni Lefakis Pantoja, Ariana Baginski, Spencer O'Brien, Sandy Lopez, Griffin Bonnin Jones, Kassie Rivera
Director - Eleni Lefakis Pantoja
Lighting Designer - Camila Delgado
Sound Designer - Kaden Kaden
Costume Designer - Ky Cruz
Props Designer - Nate LePelley

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

Hindrance

In Douglas's mind, everything is banging and shifting. Douglas and Fiona can't make out what's real and they can't see through the curtain separating present from past. Neither can you.

CAST & CREDITS
Douglas or Young Douglas - Daniel McNeill
Douglas or Young Douglad - London C. Mahaley
Fiona - Sophie Poff

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.

Fresco

During World War I, in a cathedral in a small town on the Italian Front, a nurse who does not believe in prophets or miracles is forced to contend with both in the form of a prophetic patient and the spitting image of her lost brother who insists that hope lies in the cathedral that threatens to crumble at any minute.

CAST & CREDITS
Magdalena - Larissa Strong
Aurelio - Rory McGann
Francesca - Sophie Poff
Claire - Hannah Chen 
Mona - Joelle Singer-Jensen
Turo - Billy Johnson
Don Carlo - Rohan Madhogarhia
Songwriter - Julia Fink
Piano - Sebastian Altomare
Dramaturg - Carissa Greene
Stage Directions - Makila Sims

Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sage is a fourth-year psychology major with a minor in theater and performance studies at the University of Chicago. Her dance journey began in childhood with training in ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, and Mexican folklórico. At UChicago, she is a member of several dance RSOs, including EX Crew, Maya, and UBallet. Sage’s creative work draws on her background in psychology, weaving personal experience, identity, and emotion into physical expression. Her choreography blends narrative and abstraction, using the body as a channel for discovery and storytelling. Rooted in collaboration and embodied inquiry, her work explores how movement can express the inner workings of the mind when words fall short.

Weird Brains

An elevator descends through the hidden and fragmented levels of a strange mind, revealing the beautiful and brutal, tender and terrifying corners of their inner world.

CAST & CREDITS
Dancer - Jalen Sutton
Dancer - Maddie Chaffer
Dancer - Gertie Zwick-Schachter
Dancer - Erin Copeland
Dancer - Eli Wiener 
Dancer - Jadie Gonzales
Dancer - Danni Gerace
Dancer - Sage Martinez
Audio Engineer - Arjun Singh
Music Producer - Joe Aleshaiker

Kelly Mao is a fourth-year Computer Science and Mathematics major with a minor in TAPS. She enjoys deep conversations and long walks on the beach at sunset. 

Year of the Snake

Year of the Snake is a modern adaptation of Macbeth set in Chicago, exploring grief, mental illness, and what it feels like to look in the mirror but not recognize the person looking back.

CAST & CREDITS
Carly - Ryan Cairns
Costume/Props Designer - Anna German

Daniel is a 4th year student majoring in Business Economics and minoring in TAPS. He is originally from North Carolina and transferred to UChicago in his 2nd year. He previously studied in the Acting Conservatory in The Theater School at DePaul University and studied Acting at UNCSA High School. 

Between Pews and Walls

In this one-man show, Daniel reflects on his upbringing in a small rural town in North Carolina, where his life was shaped by his father's role as a pastor and the tight-knit church community. The show transitions between Daniel's memories of church life and his personal journey while grappling with his identity as a gay man. Through the lens of his father's sermons, Daniel explores the tension between faith, self-doubt, and acceptance.

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.

The White City

Set against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair held on the Midway Plaisance, The White City follows fresh-faced inventor Nick as he attempts to bring his invention—the world’s first recording device—into the spotlight. Watch as he navigates ambitious investors, daring social reformists, and an air of murder at the event that put Chicago on the map.

Nick Tasić - Junrong Eric Zhu
Edward Watson - London Mahaley 
Jane Addams - Katy Yeh
Liza Grey - Eleni Lefakis
H. Gordon/Ens. - Robert Stimpson
Margaret/Ens. - Sophie Poff 
Charles/Ens. - Collin Polasky
Operator/Ens. - Nico Brown 
Marshall Field/Ens. - Caroline Lopez 
Young Man/Ens. - Abby Kanes
Piano - Sebastian Altomare 
Stage Directions - Kelly Mao

Belle Nahoom is focused primarily on costume design. She has worked as a costume designer on several pieces throughout the last four years at the college including most recently the TAPS Dance Pro-Show and University Theater's If/Then

Between the Seams: A Costume Exhibition

This exhibition is an exploration of what makes costume design successful. It follows a timeline of my work as an artist over the last fwe years and how my perspective on costuming has shifted.

Sophie Poff is a fourth-year TAPS major and Astronomy & Astrophysics minor. After graduation, I will being going Active Duty in the United States Air Force as a Public Affairs Officer. I've always had a love for music, which is why I've chosen for my BA Project to be in a musical format.

"Prince Charming"

EP of 5 songs of the pop/pop rock genre about a girl who learns about the ups and downs of love.

Jalen is a circus performer, dancer, and occasional actor. They are pursuing a double major in Theater and Performance Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as an M.A. in the Humanities. As a freshman at the University of Chicago, Jalen became heavily involved in the school’s circus arts organization, Le Vorris and Vox Circus. Jalen has served as the group’s Technical Director, Aerial Coordinator, and been a regular performer in their quarterly showcases. Jalen is also a part of the UChicago Dance Program performing in the Winter Dance Showcase, On the Back of Before, 35 Millimeter, and choreographing for If/Then. After graduation, they plan to continue their practice of dance and movement in the Chicago community and pursue a career in professional circus performance. 

Lauro Casino- Aerialist
Alana Nii- Manipulations
Pavlik Braverman- Manipulations
Kelly Mao- Manipulations
Will Epstein- Manipulations
Sherry Yu- Manipulations
Ravi Mangar- Manipualtions
Pascal- Manipulations
Belle- God

The Sins of Sodom

On the night before the city of Sodom is destroyed by God, a young Sodomite is offered a chance at salvation. He confesses to his sins in theatrical fashion as his final act of repentance.

Ian is an artist who tries to live an interesting life. Instead of reading about it, go have a conversation with him. He's actually a really nice guy.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

A lone man stands beside his motorcycle, his pulpit, delivering a Chautauqua. A philosophical and deeply personal lecture woven into the rhythm of a cross-country ride, as he dissects the mind of his former self, Phaedrus, in a relentless search for Quality. As he navigates the open road, balancing mechanical precision with the chaos of thought, he invites the audience into an intimate exploration of reason and intuition, past and present, self and sanity—challenging them to reconsider how they truly engage with the world.

Helena Xu is a fourth-year Theater and Performance Studies student at the University of Chicago. Her academic interests have evolved during her undergraduate years to focus on intersections of critical theory, performance theory, and media studies. Her thesis, "Is the Present Perfect?: Transmediating Marginality in Present.Perfect.," examines how marginalized identities are performed and documented through Chinese live-streaming platforms, reflecting her scholarly engagement with questions of performance, archivization, and visibility. Beyond academics, Helena has gained practical experience in theatrical production as Assistant Stage Manager for "The Wolves," and through curatorial internships at Harmony Art Gallery in Shanghai and OōEli Art Park in Hangzhou. 

CREDITS
John Muse - Thesis Advisor: Professor 

Is the Present Perfect?: Transmediating Marginality in Present.Perfect.

Examining Shengze Zhu's documentary "Present.Perfect." (2019), my thesis analyzes how Chinese live-streaming creates a performance space where marginalized individuals assert their presence through digital self-representation. I argue that live-streaming embodies a paradoxical form where visibility is simultaneously achieved and compromised through mediation, creating a tension between authentic self-expression and the platform's algorithmic demands.