DISTANCE FROM THE DREAM:
Songs to Face a Vanishing America
November 2025 | Riese Lounge
DISTANCE FROM THE DREAM:
Songs to Face a Vanishing America
Tisch New Theatre proudly presents DISTANCE FROM THE DREAM: Songs to Face a Vanishing America for its Fall 2025 production.
Content Warning: Death, Death by Suicide, Discussion of Suicide, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Abusive Relationships, Abusive Parental Relationships, Derogatory Language
Welcome to the Fun Home,
and be sure to wipe your shoes at the door.
A five-time Tony-Award winning musical based on the best-selling graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, Fun Home follows Alison as she revisits her past in a search for answers about her brilliant and troubled closeted gay father, Bruce Bechdel, in his life of mystery.
At 43, cartoonist Alison Bechdel is finally ready to process her father's suicide. Equipped with her pen & paper, she draws through her young life in a series of vignettes: through charged encounters with her father as a young girl, through questions and revelations about her own sexuality as a young adult, and eventually--through the news of her father's suicide close on the heels of her own lesbian coming-out... Alison realizes that she and her father were more alike than she had thought. But why is it that their stories had turned out so differently?
Fun Home invites us to explore alongside Alison how our understandings of the world differ from that of our parents. And in times of change, both within and without ourselves--what control do we have over how our stories go?
MEDIA
REHEARSAL PHOTOS: Elle Engel
CAST
IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
AMEER ALI
MIRIAM ASLAM
STEVENSON (STEVIE) BOWDEN
LEE BOWSER
TODD CROSLIS
ILA DAVID
CAMELIA ELÍAS SIERRA
CHLOE KARAMITSOS
ELLIS KIM
MASON NAMAN
JUDAH WIDZER
TARUN YANAMANDRA
BAND
Piano played by ANI CHONG | Guitar played by PRIANKA RAMALINGAM | Percussion played by ANASTASIA THEODOROPOULOS, | Bass played by DARREN DU | Violin played by OLIVIA KLATTE | Viola played by DAVID MANSFIELD | Cello played by NICOLE FENG
PRODUCTION TEAM
Produced by SOPHIA ASHBAHIAN and HANNAH STOBER in association with TISCH NEW THEATRE
Director/Choreographer LIAM REDFORD | Music Director/Orchestrator ANI CHONG | Dramaturg BRYCE GASTELUM | Scenic Designer ABIGAIL MASELLI | Costume Designer RACHEL KOLKO | Lighting Designer JERRY JIA | Sound Designer THEODORE EARNSHAW | Projection/Hair & Makeup Designer SAM CHARNEY
Technical Director SAM CHARNEY | Production Manager ELISE NIVA | Production Stage Manager LAURA SCHIVELEY | Stage Manager TAMMY LAM | Marketing Director HANNAH STOBER | Company Manager & Producing Associate MATTHEW FEINSTEIN | Assistant Producer SEOIN (KACY) KIM
Associate Directors ALEX CARSON and CLARK WORDEN | Assistant Choreographer DARBY GREENE | Assistant Music Director KENNEDY CHEW | Assistant Dramaturg LUCAS LIU | Assistant Scenic Designers SRIVIDHYA CHANDRAMOULEESWARAN and ALEXANDER KELLY | Assistant Costume Designer ISABEL ASHER | Assistant Lighting Designer SKY EDWARD | Electrician/Light Board Operator JUDE CABRAL | Assistant Sound Designer/Sound Board Operator BRISHTI SARKAR
Associate Director of Digital Marketing MADI KAPLAN | Associate Director of Partnerships and Experiential Marketing NGHI NGUYEN | Press Agent OSHMI GHOSH | Video Content Director JASMINE ESQUIVEL | Marketing Assistant LILLIE KELLAM | Graphic Designers MARIE MARDORF and ASHLEY MU | Director of Fundraising TORI SMITH | Director of Events SUSANNA HUBACKER | Director of Community Development INGRID PRICOP | DEIA Chair SAM CHARNEY | DEIA Assistant JORDAN HINES | Assistant Production Managers ABE SPECTOR and MAYA VELAZQUEZ | Deck Manager MEERA KOCHAR MCCABE
Photographers MARIANA ARBOLEDA, ELLE ENGEL, ADISON KEITH, SUPRIYA RAJ, TEJAS SAHNI, and JAKE THEADORE | Videographers ELLE ENGEL, JANA FERRY, SUPRIYA RAJ, and TEJAS SAHNI
Scenic & Stage Management Advisor SEOIN (KACY) KIM | Costume Advisor MAXWELL GUTIERREZ | Production Management Advisor JERRY JIA
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Tisch New Theatre is dedicated to our mission of making student theatre accessible to all of NYU. TNT is committed to fostering a diverse company for all productions. Undergraduate students of all background and abilities are encouraged to apply.