Theater Mode Large Font Save Program

Swan Song

 
at Alice E. Barttlet Theatre
 
Written & Directed by: Bri Thiel
 
October 2nd & 3rd @ 7:30pm and October 4th @ 2pm
 
 
Follow Us:

Content Warnings:

Discussions of suicide, descriptions of suicide, and intention regarding suicide, Implied drug use and alcohol use. Gun showed but not fired. Domestic Abuse, Death, Depictions of Blood and Organs, Swearing, Self Harm, Torture, Violence, References to Drug Use, Mental Illness, Staged Violence, Staged Intimacy

 

Director's Note:

 

 The prodigal son Bri Thiel has arrived! Bask! Bask in my Directors note!

I want to come up with a fantastical story about how awesome it is to write and how this whole show just came to me like a gust of wind, but that would be a lie. What wouldn’t be a lie is saying it came from a dream. It came from an image. An Idea. A word. Empathy. Swan song is for everyone, but I really wrote this for the people who feel too much or don’t feel enough. It’s a way to try and get people to realize the impact we have on one another. To think about impact and empathy. 

 

One of the first challenges that went into writing this was truly figuring out how to play the line between comedy and tragedy. The topic of suicide is not one that is brought up into daily conversation and yet millions of people suffer from suicidal thoughts, that also brings me to the question of how this could have humor in it? The play tackles these hard compelling thoughts regarding suicide yet taps into the fun convoluted absurd ways of the theatre industry. There’s pettiness, there’s a lack of awareness, there's a giant lack of empathy which can tie into how we treat others in spaces outside of theatre.

 

Finally, I want to thank everyone who worked on this show in any capacity. From the people who were at the first table read on April 19th, 2026, to the people who get to debut these roles right now. I cannot thank you all enough! I also want to thank my lovely production team who has helped and guided me every step of the way. A ship needs an anchor, and I can say I have a strong one. I also want to thank you! Yes! You! I want to thank you for supporting New Works! New work plays are a very fleeting thing in this world! Swan Song may not be Swan Song forever, it may have a different name, it may die in history without anyone to remember it, it may go to Broadway! But you will be able to say that you saw it at its rawest state. Whether that means something or not you’ll be able to say that. Thank you again! Lastly, I'd also like to thank my great grandmother for the 20 dollars she gave me. This will go only to good things! Enjoy the show! 

 

 

Dramaturgy Note:

      The entire premise and driving force of Swan Song is the fact that the director, Michael, is planning on killing himself at the end of the production. Suicide and suicidal ideation are a very heavy topic that the director and team wanted to make sure everyone was fully informed about before working on or seeing this show.  

     Suicide and suicidal ideation affects roughly 5% (14.5 million) Americans. In 2024, the CDC reported that male suicide rates had reached a record high. As of now, men account for 80% of all suicide statistics. However, they are too often overlooked in the conversation of mental health struggles and recourses.  

     Depression and suicide don’t just affect those who suffer from it. According to The Allegiance of Hope for Suicide Loss Survivors, people who lose a loved one to suicide are about 65% more likely to attempt suicide themselves compared to those who experience other types of sudden loss. 

If you or anyone you know is dealing with depression or suicidal ideation, there are plenty of resources available, and let this show serve as a reminder than no one is alone.  

 

Valeria Mariana Cruz is currently a SUNY Fredonia Social Media Ambassador. 

 

Resources: 

Crisis Text Line: Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention. Text HOME to 714714. 

 

SAMHSA’s National Helpline: SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357). 

 

Suicide & Crisis Hotline: The 988 Lifeline is available 24/7/365. Your conversations are free and confidential. Call or text 988. 

 

SUNY Fredonia Students: LoGrasso Hall's Counseling Center offers free, confidential mental health counseling. Call 716-673-3424 or visit in-person to make an appointment.  

Prevention, Advocacy, Wellness Services (PAWS) offers confidential support for students who have experienced interpersonal violence: CARE@fredonia.edu 

SUNY 24/7 Crisis Textline: Text “GOT5u” to 741-741 

 

Local Resources:  

Chautauqua County Suicide Prevention and Crisis Hotline: 1-800-724-0461 

Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene (Dunkirk Clinic): 716-363-3550 

 

National Resources:  

Substance Abuse & Mental Health National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) 
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE 
The Trevor Project (suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ Youth): Text “START” to 678-678 or call 1-866-488-7386 


Cast

Jaiden Molina

Micheal
Amara Veroníca Gómez

ASM
Keaton Englund

Arthur
Abbey Foran

Sara
Tali Kam

Jackie
Giulia Beaudoin

Lacey
Christopher Buettner

Walter & Arthur Understudy
Xavier Russell

Fred & ASM Understudy
AJ Govenettio

Phil & Micheal Understudy
Reese Davis

Sara Understudy
Grace Crane

Jackie & Lacey Swing
Ethan Candee

Fred & Phil & Walter Swing

Creative Team

Bri Thiel

Director & Playwright
Sydney La Salle

Assistant Director/Fight Captain
Oakley Pero

Costume Designer
Lei Van Schaffel

Hair & Makeup Designer
Catherine Rouselle

Scenic Designer & Props Supervisor
Olivia VanBuren

Assistant Scenic Designer
Christopher Buettner

Intimacy Choreographer
Maeve Garvey

Fight Choreographer
Vanessa Newbold

Lighting Designer
Cory Lamberton

Sound Designer
Arden DeMarco

Light Board Op
Valeria Ortiz

Stage Manager
Lorelei (Rory) Doughty

Assistant Stage Manager
Ella Roberts

Assistant Stage Manager
Rebekah Gerace

Photographer
Valeria Mariana Cruz

PR Manager & Dramaturgy

Meet the Company


Jaiden Molina (Micheal)

Jaiden Molina is a junior BFA Acting major who is extremely grateful and appreciative to be debuting the role of Micheal in the world premiere of Swan Song. This role has a lot of complexity and layers that he has had the opportunity to work through. His credits include understudying in Shakespeare Abridged and participation in the One Act Play Festival. In his spare time, he acts in Fredonia Night Live Fredonia's one and only sketch comedy group! (See our show! December 3rd! Fenton 105! Be there!) He would like to thank Bri and the production team for trusting him with this role and for making the past few weeks unforgettable. He would also like to thank his family and friends for their support, his Mom and Dad for their constant encouragement and trust during this part of my life and his younger sister Noryce. The greatest role I’ve gotten to play is your brother. I love you all so much! 

Amara Veroníca Gómez (ASM)

Amara Gómez is a Sophomore BFA Musical Theatre student here at SUNY Fredonia. This is Amara’s third time performing with PAC and has performed at places like Ujima Company Inc. Theatre, and Raíces Theatre Company in the past. She’s grateful to work alongside such a dedicated cast and crew, and she’s excited to share this incredible work with everyone! 

Keaton Englund (Arthur)

Keaton Englund [He/Him] (Arthur) is a Senior Musical Theater Major from Seattle, Washington. His previous PAC credits include Leaf in The 25th Annual...Spelling Bee, Peter in Company, John Brooke in Little Women, The Professor in Uncle Vanya, George in Stop Kiss, and Azoth in Stormboy. You can also see him perform later this semester as Dr. Gall in Rossum's Universal Robots! Keaton is thrilled to be working with such incredible people and can't wait for people to see the show!

Abbey Foran (Sara)

Abbey Foran is excited to originate the role of Sara in Swan Song! She is a junior BFA Musical Theatre student from Hershey, PA. Past Fredonia production credits include Mrs. Dodds in Percy Jackson the Lighting Thief, Yelena in Uncle Vanya (PAC), and Josephine/Dead Person/Mom/Voicemail in One Acts 2026. She also invites you to see her play Anne in A Little Night Music this spring! In her free time, she volunteers at Lakeshore Humane Society and performs with the Random Acts Improv troupe. Many thanks to the extremely talented and dedicated cast for putting on this new work, Bri Thiel for writing such a beautiful show, and the entire production team for their endless work. Shoutout to her amazing friends and family, and all her love to Hunter Meyers. Find her on Instagram and TikTok @abbey.m10

Tali Kam (Jackie)

Tali Kam (she/her) is overjoyed to play Jackie in Swan Song. Who is Tali Kam? Well, she is a junior acting & history major from the 914. Perhaps you saw her sprain her ankle in last year's production of Shakespeare Abridged. Maybe you saw (her pride and joy) PAC’s Uncle Vanya, which she directed last year. Previous Fred credits: Oedipus (First Messenger), Lord of the Flies (Piggy), FNL (Host), Shakespeare Abridged (Cast). This year, you can catch her behind the scenes as the dramaturg for Cabaret and the assistant director of Rossum’s Universal Robots, or on stage as Darcy Kent in Blood and Sequins. An audible hurumph of gratitude to this wonderful team, cast, and crew. All love to her wonderful family. Thank you to stage managers everywhere, who are the overworked and underthanked backbone of the theatre industry. As always, peace & love!

Giulia Beaudoin (Lacey)

Giulia is a Junior Musical Theatre major with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies. This is her 3rd PAC show, though she has served on the PAC E-Board since Freshman year. Previous credits include April in Stephen Sondheim's "Company" and U/S Elvira in "Blithe Spirit". Coming up, Giulia will be playing Coco York in "Blood and Sequins" here at Fredonia. Look out for the release of "Love More The Musical" audiobook, which she worked on this summer voicing Stephanie as well as stage managing and vocal directing. If you enjoyed watching this student written show, come see "PAC Goes Wrong" written and directed by Giulia on April 17-19! As said play declares: "SUPPORT QUEER ARTISTS!"

Christopher Buettner (Walter & Arthur Understudy)

Chris Buettner is a senior musical theatre major who is extremely excited to be working with PAC again! His past work includes The Taming of the Shrew (Biondello) with Shakespeare in Delaware Park, The Laramie Project (Jedidiah Shultz, Aaron McKinney, etc) with Fort Salem Theater, and Oedipus the King (Creon) with PAC, amongst many others. Trained in the best practices of theatrical intimacy, he has worked as intimacy choreographer in a multitude of shows throughout the state. He would like to thank his friends family, Jake (his cat), and his girlfriend, Jocelyn, for always supporting his dreams. He'd like to invite all Fredonia students in the audience to audition for MACBETH!!! www.chrisbuettner.com

Xavier Russell (Fred & ASM Understudy)

Xavier Russell is playing the role of Fred. He is so glad to be a part of the first production of this play and he hopes to see the different variations of this play when it gets put on again somewhere else. He would like to thank my dad for always believing in me and my girlfriend for always supporting me. He is so grateful for this role and hope many more are to come!

AJ Govenettio (Phil & Micheal Understudy)

AJ is a senior acting/audio production major. His previous roles include Charles U/S for Blithe Spirit, Caterpillar in Alicia’s Lens, and Brock Lee in Duality of Man. Ask him to do a crow impression, it’s nothing crazy but like it’s a pretty good crow impression trust bro. AJ wants to thank his incredible parents and wonderful roommates Sydney and Aleyshka for always keeping him afloat.

Reese Davis (Sara Understudy)

Reese is so excited to be making her PAC debut in “Swan Song!” Last semester she assistant directed "Blithe Spirit" and next semester she will be back as a company member in FYC’s production of “The Maître D’: Flavors of Life." She would like to thank the wonderful production team and cast for making this experience unforgettable. Finally, she would like to thank her family and friends for being her biggest support system with everything she does. She hopes you enjoy the show! :)

Grace Crane (Jackie & Lacey Swing )

Grace is excited to be apart of their first ever Fredonia production and even more excited about working on this new show with their fellow cast members. Grace is a Sophomore BFA Acting student with a Dance minor. Grace enjoys performing on stage and helping out backstage with costuming. Grace would like to thank their directors and cast members for helping bring this show to life.  Insta. @grace_crane07_

Ethan Candee (Fred & Phil & Walter Swing)

Ethan Candee (Walter/ Phil/ Fred swing) is a first year drawing and painting BFA and is so excited for you all to see this production. This is his first college show and he couldn’t be more proud to be apart of it. He would like to give a big thanks to the whole creative team, especially Bri Thiel for giving him this opportunity. Outside of this show Ethan loves to spend his time creating art and hanging out with his friends.

Bri Thiel (Director & Playwright)

Bri Thiel is so excited for the world premiere of swan song to finally be performed in Fredonia! He has been writing for many years now with a lot of his writing being done in the realm of comedy through Fredonia Night Live, (FNL! Come see it!) with a group of lovely writers whose supported his work for the past two years. This is also his directing debut which he is very very excited about! If you like his writing and maybe want to see his acting, come back to the Bartlett to see R.U.R in December! It will be a riot! Bri would like to thank his friends and lovely support networks for the immense amount of support he has received for his work as well as the PAC board for giving him the support he needed for this show to be successfully done.

Sydney La Salle (Assistant Director/Fight Captain)

Sydney La Salle is a Senior BFA Acting and BA Psychology major. She is so excited for everyone to see Swan Song! She is incredibly honored and grateful to have worked with such an amazing cast and team on this crazy, wonderful piece of theater. Bri, my son, thank you for trusting me and I am so proud of what you’ve created. This is only the beginning. Everything happens for a reason!

Oakley Pero (Costume Designer)

Oakley is so excited to be working with PAC again especially on a student written show! This is Oakley’s 4th production with PAC and they are so excited for you to see it come to life! enjoy the show!

Lei Van Schaffel (Hair & Makeup Designer)

Lei is thrilled to be a part of Swan Song and to be working with PAC for the third time! Lei is a junior Theatre Arts major and Film Studies minor. Previous productions with PAC include Oedipus ’25 and Uncle Vanya ’26. They have also had the opportunity to work on several main stage productions at Fredonia, including Legally Blonde ’24, The Lightning Thief 25’, Ruthless 26’, and the upcoming production of Cabaret ’26. They are thankful to Bri for letting them help bring Swan Song to life and to their friends and family for all of the support!

Catherine Rouselle (Scenic Designer & Props Supervisor)

Catherine is thrilled to be part of this production. She is a sophomore Theatrical Production and Design BFA with a concentration in scenic and props. She has previously worked with PAC on Little Shop of Horrors as an ASM, worked at Chautauqua Theatre Company as a Props Artisan this past summer, and is a Scenic Artist for Cabaret this semester. She hopes you enjoy the show!

Olivia VanBuren (Assistant Scenic Designer)

Olivia is excited to be returning for her second PAC show as well as second student written play! Previously she was an ASM for Stormboy (PAC) and was a props artisan for last year's MainStage production of Blithe Spirit.

Christopher Buettner (Intimacy Choreographer)

Chris Buettner is a senior musical theatre major who is extremely excited to be working with PAC again! His past work includes The Taming of the Shrew (Biondello) with Shakespeare in Delaware Park, The Laramie Project (Jedidiah Shultz, Aaron McKinney, etc) with Fort Salem Theater, and Oedipus the King (Creon) with PAC, amongst many others. Trained in the best practices of theatrical intimacy, he has worked as intimacy choreographer in a multitude of shows throughout the state. He would like to thank his friends family, Jake (his cat), and his girlfriend, Jocelyn, for always supporting his dreams. He'd like to invite all Fredonia students in the audience to audition for MACBETH!!! www.chrisbuettner.com

Maeve Garvey (Fight Choreographer)

Maeve is very excited to be fight choreographing for this show. She received her unarmed certification last year, and is super pumped to put it to use. You can also see her work in Carrie at Mainstreet Studios, or Rossum's Universal Robots this coming December.

Vanessa Newbold (Lighting Designer)

Vanessa Newbold (they/she) [Lighting Designer] is a senior BFA Theatrical Production & Design major from Central Massachusetts. This is their third time working with PAC, with previous credits including Company (Lighting Designer) and Oedipus (Associate Lighting Designer). Upcoming main stage credits include Blood and Sequins (Props Supervisor) and A Little Night Music (Lighting Designer).

Cory Lamberton (Sound Designer)

Cory Lamberton (Sound Designer) is a Senior Theater Design and Production Student from Rochester, NY. Previous Credits include Sound Design on The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Head Electrician on The Consul and Ruthless!, Projections Engineer on The Lightning Thief, Assistant Lighting Designer on Twelfth Night, Lighting Designer on FDE 2025 & 2026.

Arden DeMarco (Light Board Op)

Arden DeMarco is excited to be the lighting board operator for Swan Song, their fourth PAC production. They have previously done lighting design for the PAC productions of Uncle Vanya and Stop Kiss as well as being the board operator for Little Shop of Horrors. They are a Junior computer science major here at SUNY Fredonia.

 

Valeria Ortiz (Stage Manager)

Valeria is a third-year BA. This is now her third PAC show she would be stage managing; previous PAC credits include Company (ASM), Oedipus (SM), and Little Shop of Horrors (SM). She is so proud of all the work everyone has put into this show and can't wait for you all to see it. She hopes you all enjoy the show. <3

Lorelei (Rory) Doughty (Assistant Stage Manager)

Rory is a social work major with a minor in school counseling and is thrilled to be the assistant stage manager on the Swan Song production. Rory did theatre in high school and is happy to have another opportunity to participate in her favorite hobby. She is also employed at the SUNY Fredonia dining hall Cranston Marche. In her free time Rory enjoys painting, creative writing, and going for walks in the evenings.

Ella Roberts (Assistant Stage Manager)

Ella Roberts is a Freshman Music Education major. This is her first production at Fredonia. She is very grateful to have found a theatre opportunity, after stage managing and light designing for her high school. She is very proud of the whole cast and crew, and can't wait for more shows in the future.

Rebekah Gerace (Photographer)

This is Rebekah's fifth time working with PAC and is thrilled to be the cast photographer for Swan Song! In the past, she has photographed Stop Kiss, Storm Boy, Little Shop of Horrors, and Uncle Vanya. She was also the dramaturg for Stop Kiss.

Valeria Mariana Cruz (PR Manager & Dramaturgy)

Mariana Cruz has previously worked as public relations manager for student works Planet Heart and Dante at SUNY Fredonia.


Performing Arts Collaborative Executives: 

Executive Producer (President): Gabbi Farr

Associate Executive Producer (Vice-President): Christopher Buettner

Director of Finance (Treasurer): Giulia Beaudoin

Executive Assistant (SGA Representative): Danny Manganiello

Director of Performance & Outreach: Amara Gomez

Company Manager: Bri Thiel

Associate Company Manager: Tali Kam

DEI Chair: Sunny Custer 

General Manager: Valeria Ortiz 

Co-Production Manager: Casper Clester 

Co-Production Manager: Everett Anzalone

Director of Operations (Secretary): Angelo Procopio