Hello! My name is Patrick Allen Moore, and I’m an actor from Salisbury North Carolina. Roe Versus Wade will be my first performance experience here at Purchase college, and I couldn’t possibly be more thrilled! Last year I arrived at Purchase college with nothing more than my banjo, a backpack, my suitcase, and a sunburn.

Since then I’ve been blessed with a multitude of experiences; all of which are actively nurturing my craft and developing a further sense of self. I’ve gone to Puerto Rico to rebuild homes, learned to dance, made a fool of myself, laughed it off, cried a bit, sang a song about what I love, and made a whole bunch of friends in the process. I’m incredibly thankful for this campus, my faculty, my family, and my friends. All of whom continue to urge and support me in becoming the best me I can be!

And as always: the warmest of love belongs to my aunt Georgie, my uncle Trent, and my late grandmother Alice Fortson-Turner. Without them— I would not be.

Roe Versus Wade urges us to tell the story and help frame the multifaceted American mindset when it comes to the topic of abortion and women’s rights.

Having grown up in a rural southern town, I happen to know the evangelical church and protester type folk very well. They crowd each busy street corner on Sundays and make sure they are heard by any and everyone around. Tapping into that mindset has left me conflicted, knowing that their true heart does in fact lie in a place of comfort and compassion— although it may often times seem otherwise. There was a never ending well of work to be done in discovering Randy. His mask, his truth, and his past. Conviction is a gorgeous thing.

Past credits include: Iphigenia 2.0 (chorus) North Carolina Governor’s school, The Glass Menagerie (Tom) UNCSA HS, Tom Dick and Harry (Tom) Piedmont Players Theatre.

Hello! I’m Mary Paola, born and raised in Bar Harbor, Maine. I’m a second year Acting student at the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College and I am so proud to be a part of Roe Versus Wade with Company 45. I play Jeannie in the the first act, the young “Jane Roe”.

Some of my favorite past credits include Wole Soyinka’s The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite, and most recently playing Eliza Doolittle in Acadia Repertory Theatre’s production of Pygmalion.

I was immediately attracted to the role of Jeannie when I read the play, and I became fascinated by the real-life Norma McCorvey’s life story. Growing up grappling with my own queer identity, I’m thrilled to be playing this woman, whose sexuality was widely unknown to the public even at the heights of her fame. A woman who married a man at a young age before finding the community of underground, essentially criminal lesbians in the late 60s and early 70s in east Texas. One of the greatest pleasures of this experience has been working with Catherine Young, who plays Carla, Jeannie’s girlfriend. Together we’ve been working to explore the danger of living openly as a gay woman at the time, and the small glories of privacy and tight-knit community understanding. Identifying with a label/community gives them some salvation and joy inside of the risk and prejudice of their environment. It’s been a very important learning experience for me, and I want to continue participating in telling the stories of the neglected communities and individuals who are struggling in today’s America.

I am so grateful for this powerful collaboration, and thank you to my family for their constant support.

See what I'm up to: @marysw725 on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/marysw725/