Phantasmagoria

A young woman learns what it means to forsake her home, her family, and her religion to live in the devil’s playground: New York City.

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In 2022, Lucy directed Phantasmagoria, an autobiographical one-person play written and performed by Alethea Harnish. It debued at Theatre Row on 42nd Street on June 8 as part of the Downtown Urban Arts Festival.

During the rehearsal process, Lucy focused on dividing each section of the stage into moments of Aletheas life. The set was comprised of a bed, a desk, and a window but was maetaphysically transformed into a world in which Alethea could process her role as a family member, as a young woman, and as an American. The play was written during Aletheas time in quarantine upon returning to New York for school. She lived in a room provided by Columbia University for a two week quarantine period. During this time, she had the ability to reflect on passed traumas, and in her own words “went a little insane”.

As a friend of Alethea’s since childhood, Lucy was honored to be the director of this play and made an effort to incorporate their shared experiences of the midwest through music choices, movement rehearsals, and script analysis. It was important for Lucy that Alethea felt seen, but also had the space to express her unique view of the world that was shaped by her rural upbringing. Although they are childhood friends, Lucy’s life has differed greatly from Alethea’s. As someone with mixed heritage, specifically Cuban and Greek, Lucy felt able to connect with Alethea about being from the midwest- but also what it felt like to be considered “different”.

Read here to learn more about this process.

This play would not have been possible without the technical direction of Jaytel, another childhood friend and life long collaborator for the two of them.