The Department of Performing and Media Arts presents:

I Want a Country

A Play by Andreas Flourakis
Translated by Eleni Drivas
Directed by Samuel Buggeln, Artistic and Executive Director of The Cherry Arts
 

Class of '56 Flexible Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
430 College Avenue, Ithaca, NY
Friday, October 24, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 25, 7:30 p.m. 
Friday, October 31, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 1, 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

The vision of the Department of Performing and Media Arts is to nurture and mentor artists, performers, writers, and thinkers through the process of event programming. We recognize that all people should see their stories represented, and envision their stories as valuable. We commit ourselves to creating spaces that actively seek to break down systems of oppression based on race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and place of origin and empower all to be involved. We seek to stimulate thoughtful discussion and enact social change within our productions and our audiences. It is our goal to make our events accessible to the wider Cornell and Ithaca community, to strengthen bonds and engage inquiry, dialogue, and impact around social and cultural expression. 

In the 2025-2026 academic year we will help realize a wide range of students’ creative projects, from original plays, to solo performances, to readings, to choreographies, to acting, directorial, and curatorial projects. We are particularly happy that in addition to supporting live performances, we are now also supporting the production of student films. Enjoy the shows!

What do you do when the country you considered yourself at home in suddenly seems to be falling apart? What even makes it the same country it was in the past? What is the status of the migrant who no longer has a country? 

Andreas Flourakis wrote I Want a Country as a response to the Greek economic and social crisis of 2009, and since then the play has been produced over 25 times all around the world. The script is an “open text”: dialogue is not assigned to specific characters but emerges from an unnamed ensemble, interspersed with occasional commands for “action”. Andreas notes that the play absorbs the issues and struggles of whatever nation it is performed in, acting as a kind of mirror of social and economic instability wherever it is produced. Though most of my professional work is on international and experimental plays, this was my first time directing an open text, and the hardworking cast and I quickly discovered what a huge and rich process it entails. 

We are making this play in a time and place with no shortage of social and economic instability, and we hope our dive into this thought-provoking text will afford you occasions to think about the country in which we find ourselves, what makes us feel at home here, or not, and what our responsibilities might be towards this place, and to all those who may call it home.

Samuel Buggeln, Director

Daniela Benitez

Daniela Benitez is grateful to be part of PMA's Fall 2025 theater play. Originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador, she immigrated to New Jersey three years ago. Last fall, she transferred as a junior from Bergen Community College. Daniela has acted for Cog Dog Theatre Troupe (Così), Shakespeare Theatre Troupe (Love Labour's Lost), and some student short films (LasHermanas, Aliens in Ithaca, Etiquette). Shoutout to glass lizards and chocolate. @dani_benitez02

Bixby Piccolo Hill

Bixby is a Junior at Cornell, and has been part of the performing community since his freshman year. Just last semester, he starred in the PMA's film "The Milkshake Kiss" as Charlie, and co-directed "A Streetcar Named Desire" with Cog Dog Theater Troupe. He's also been seen in Cog Dog's "Euridice" as Big Stone, "Girls! Girls! Girls!" as Hair, and "Deathtrap" as Porter Milgrim. He hopes you enjoy the show.

Jacob Irons

Jacob Irons is co-director of the Whistling Shrimp Improv Comedy Troupe and recently performed as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Ken in Rumors by Neil Simon, and Orpheus in eurydice by Sarah Ruhl on campus. Other recent credits include Boy in The Makeout Session by Meghan Covington (Glass Ceiling Breakers 2025), Balthazar/Servant in Romeo and Juliet, Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Sir Theo the Punctual in Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood by Adam Szymkowicz (River’s Edge Theatre Company). He grew up acting and improvising at TheaterO in Ossining, NY.

Cortney Johnson

CJ (she/they) is an educator and actor at heart. They work at the Center for Teaching Innovation at Cornell University and participate in as much theatre as possible. CJ has performed in numerous productions with the Ithaca Shakespeare Company; favorite roles include Antipholus of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors and Stephano in The Tempest. They are excited to be part of something a bit more modern! CJ holds a BA in Theatre Performance from Chapman University and a PhD in Educational Studies from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Diana Kharchenko

This is Diana’s third time being involved in a production at Cornell, having been a dresser for Spring Awakening in Spring 2025, and acting in Festival 24 this fall. She is so excited to go on this journey with everyone, and hopes that you enjoy the show!

Alina Lee

Alina Lee is so grateful and excited to be a part of I Want a Country. She has previously acted in two student-produced one-act comedy plays and worked on the paint crew for a musical in high school, and she is thrilled to be a part of Cornell theater so soon after stepping foot on campus. In her free time, Alina enjoys figure skating, drawing, and dancing.

Alex Miloszewski

Danielle Obise-Orlu

Danielle Obisie-Orlu is a published poet and public speaker passionate about sharing stories of belonging, home, and identity. She is a third-year doctoral student at Cornell studying the politics of memory and migration in the Government Department. As the former Youth Poet Laureate of Allegheny County and Northeast Regional Runner Up, Danielle believes in art as a tool for justice and elevating the voices of underserved youth. She has performed with City Theatre Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Opera, Carnegie Music Hall, City of Asylum and many more! A quintessential third-culture kid, Danielle is Nigerian American and grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa!

Manuely Feliz Portes

Maggie Sandberg

This is Maggie Sandberg's first Cornell PMA production. Previous acting credits include roles in Footloose, Hiding Place, The Sound of Music, Pride and Prejudice, Kodachrome, and others. She is thrilled to be involved in this show and had a blast working so closely with the cast and the script itself.

Katherine Turk

Kate is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences studying Biological Sciences. She's excited to be doing her first show with the PMA department. She's previously worked with Cog Dog Theatre Troupe in student productions, and she works in the PMA scenic shop.

Director: Samuel Buggeln

Stage Manager: Alexa Alfonsi

Costume Design/Set Design: Sarah Bernstein

Sound Design: Warren Cross

Technical Director/Lighting Design: Alfred Bernstein

Props and Paint Coordinator: Tim Ostrander

Movement: Danielle Russo

Costume Shop Supervisor: Lisa Boquist

Production Manager: Andrew Deppen

Media Assistant: Randy Hendrickson

Assistant Technical Director: Savannah Relos

Head Electrician: Katt Hass

Light Board Operator: Addison Heffernan

Addison has a passion for using and creating novel entertainment technologies. He has experience in professional theatrical and concert lighting design and programing. Educational experiences include designing and creating a live broadcast studio, strengthing cross cross-departmental collaboration to employ AV technologies as an internal service, and modernizing lighting control systems. His research focuses on how AI could automatically control theatrical lighting and developing apps to allow wireless control of lighting systems. Addison is continuing his production work at Cornell through his involvement with the Cornell Concert Commission and sound mixing for Cornell Catholics.

Sound Board Operator: Sam Rabinor

Samuel Rabinor is a member of the Milstein Program in Technology & Humanity. His work explores the intersection of cognition, technology, and storytelling, with a focus on neurodivergence, human interaction, and creative systems design. He integrates research, data, and narrative to develop projects that connect scientific insight with human experience.

Wardrobe Crew: Alex de Smidt

Costume First Hands: 

Izzie Berkenblit
Julianna Cross
Lucy Jones
Alex de Smidt
Venicia Lamy
Avery Wang

PMA 1610 Production Technology Laboratory: 

Kaia Berger
Adowyn Ernste
Changlin Huang
Aidan Kapusta
Brianna Ramnath
Tommy Welch

Scenic Work Studies: 

Bailey Hecht 
Benjamin Okoronkwo 
Chole Pankratz 
Kate Turk

Paint/Props Work Studies: 

Sevara Khojamuratova

Lighting Work Studies: 

Bixby Piccolo Hill 
Gwendolyn Simon

Susannah Berryman

David Feldshuh

The Cherry Arts