Two SUNY New Paltz alumni returned to their alma mater during the 2024-2025 Department of Theatre Arts Mainstage Production Series as directors, lending professional experience and unique artistic voices to two new plays.
At the end of 2024, niqo torrez ’22 (Theatre Arts) directed the first Mainstage Production of the season, “Town Hall.” And this spring, Zach Gibson ’19 (Theatre Arts) is directing “Shrek the Musical,” which will hit the stage between April 17 and 27.
Get tickets here for “Shrek the Musical”!
Their journey from students to professional directors highlights the ongoing legacy of Theatre Arts at New Paltz while providing current students with invaluable mentorship from those who once stood in their shoes.
It’s also an opportunity for alumni to share their expertise in a rewarding way.
"The department knew they wanted to do a season of alumni directors and start bringing folks back to campus,” said torrez. “I was totally into that idea. I feel honored and humbled above anything else to be back and to have opened the season this year. And, I just feel really proud of our students.”
Shrek the Musical
The first time that Zach Gibson got a taste of directing was during a class taught by associate professor of Theatre Arts Catherine Doherty.
"After a while, it started clicking: This is really fun,” said Gibson. “After that, I fell in love with directing and I wanted to continue pursuing it.”
Gibson ended up as Doherty’s Teaching Assistant during his final semester and later was an assistant director with former Department of Theatre Arts professor Lauren Bone Noble on a production of Servant of Two Masters in his final semester.
After graduating from New Paltz, Gibson worked at regional theatres like Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, St. Michael's Playhouse in Vermont, Denizen Theatre in New Paltz, Advice to the Players in New Hampshire and Performing Arts of Woodstock. More recently, he completed Shakespeare & Company’s month-long acting intensive in Massachusetts.
When Doherty emailed him asking if he would come back to direct a musical, Gibson jumped on the opportunity before even asking what it was. On the surface, one of the only things it had in common with Shakespeare was that they both start with an “S.”
Based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film, “Shrek the Musical” is a Tony Award-winning fairy tale adventure that brings all the beloved characters you know from the film to life on stage and proves there's more to the story than meets the ears. Shrek proves that beauty is truly in the eye of the ogre.
"For me, Shakespeare is very interactive and audience participation-based,” said Gibson. “I’m going to try to bring that in with my actors. That little kid that is staring at you? Engage with them, bring them into the show. They’re going to leave being like ‘I want to do theater, I want to be an artist.’”
Gibson is clear about one thing with this production: “We are not doing an avant-garde, deconstructed version of Shrek. Shrek is Shrek. How do we put our spin as New Paltz, but also maintain truth and honesty to the story we all grew up watching?” Fun for the whole family, Gibson hopes to inspire future theatre artists who might be in the audience watching.
"The road is laid out for us, and we are going to walk what has been set,” said Gibson. “We are going to have a great time telling it.”
And along the way, he’s hoping to inspire his students, too. With an approach influenced by his own time studying theatre at New Paltz, he wants to continue an experience that is inviting and inclusive.
“That’s the beauty of the space,” said Gibson. “We are all learning together. It’s this collaborative nature. I was in your shoes before, I’ve walked these halls before, sat on that stage, been in these classrooms. I know what you’re going through and that’s a benefit.”
Town Hall
“Town Hall,” a conversation within a play that explores who we are and who we might be, is a non-narrative piece written to allow for a great amount of creative freedom in how the story is told. Caridad Svich’s script tackles a slew of urgent questions about our relationship to our environment, to other humans and to democracy.
The Department of Theatre Arts’ interpretation of the play revolved around themes of student activism, community, climate change, poverty and inequality. Although the play was written for four actors, this production had a cast of 12, further opening up opportunities for playfulness and improvisation.
“I always felt like [New Paltz] was a great place to fail big because there were safety nets and the idea that you are still learning,” said torrez. “But as a director, those stakes felt higher, as I had the responsibility of every moment of that production being an educational one. I think it was incredibly smart to bring in alumni who have a sense of both what the department was like before the pandemic, but also have worked professionally, and are able to bring that experience in.”
The production credit extends a growing portfolio for torrez, who made their directorial debut here at SUNY New Paltz in 2022 with “Pages from a Love Manifesto,” an original script inspired by bell hooks’ book “All About Love.”
Since graduating, they’ve rapidly developed as a mixed queer, movement-driven director and dramaturg focused on portraying human experiences through physical language. They relocated from Brooklyn, New York, to New Paltz in 2024 and recently served as an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts teaching Intro to Acting.
“As one of the openly trans professors in the department, I also feel the responsibility to let students know that there is a place for them, even if you have to forge it yourself and fight tooth and nail to get yourself in the room,” said torrez. “You belong in the room.”
