A play by Federico García Lorca

Directed by Andy Arden-Reese

It follows the story of Bernarda Alba, a domineering widow who forces her mother and five daughters to remain in mourning for eight years following the death of her second husband.

Matty performed the role of Maria Josefa, Bernarda’s mother who she keeps locked away in the closet until she escapes to perform a sacrifice to save her family.

Produced: Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 2018

scenery by Michael A. Reese
costumes by Marnie Kingsley
photos by Justin Chauncey

Directed by Richard Armstrong

Musical Direction by Jonathan Hart Makwaia

A cabaret of pop music from the 1980’s created in collaboration with the performers.

Matty was styled as Adam Ant and performed the songs “Candyman” by Siouxsie and the Banshees and “This is Not America” by David Bowie. Matty also provided musical arrangements and choreography for this production.

Produced at Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 2017

scenery by Julie Archer
costumes by M Sabal
photos by Justin Chauncey

Created by Liz Swados

A horror rock-opera that re-imagines the the golem, a classic being from Jewish folklore that is created entirely of inanimate matter.

Matty performed the role of The Maharal, a mystical rabbi who summons the golem in order to protect his community.

Premiered: NYU StageWorks, produced by the undergraduate theater department of Tisch School of the Arts, 2015

scenery by Nicole Ansbacher
costumes by M Sabal
photos by Ahron Foster

Matty modeled several looks for a vintage sellers online shop.

clothes provided by M Sabal and Glitter Macabre
hair and makeup by Sarah Michelle Bedrick
photos by Luca Milonas

In 2016 Matty conceptualized and choreographed a dance play utilizing the music of Charles Ives. Inspired by the American modernist composer’s collage-style of composition, Matty created a narrative assembled from selections for Ives’s 110 Songs for Voice and Piano.

Together in collaboration with the performers, Matty told the story of Maggie, a young woman whose husband enlists in the army and is lost in battle. Fighting through depression, Maggie finds the strength to keep standing up and keep moving forward in the face of loss.

Dancer: Allison Lian

Soprano: Sarah Hogewood

Pianist: Daniel Saulle

photos by TJ Ferrari

In 2015 Matty choreographed a short dance film set to spoken word. The text used was an excerpt of author Alduous Huxley’s “The Perennial Philosophy”

Huxley’s highly academic vocabulary as he pontificates on a philosophy of living were juxtaposed with lush natural settings in the woods and on the beach, tapping into the universality of life and the shared complexity of humanity and nature.

Dancer: Madeline Khulke

Voice: Emma Maxwell

photos by Emily Eisenberg

In 2015 Matty choreographed a contemporary ballet set to the music of Amy Beach, a brilliant American pianist and composer of the late 1800’s who gave up much of her life as successful performer and composer to become a society wife.

Heavily inspired by the 1955 popular publication “The Good Housewife Guide,” Matty recreated scenes from the illustrations to demonstrate the expectations society leveraged against women at the time. The ballet culminates in an experimental liberation, featuring the dancers stepping into the freedom of the modern day.

dancers: Madeline Khulke, Kaitlyn Ulrich, Tina Rapaglia, Nicole Malatestanic, Stephanie Malatestanic, Jordan La Croix

photos by TJ Ferrari