From her grandmother’s living room to the New York City stage, Danielle MacMath has made a career doing what she loves. Inspired by her older cousin’s performance in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, MacMath knew at an early age that her place was in the theatre. 

“Literally my cousin was just in the children’s choir, but it just captivated me and my twin brother,” says MacMath. “And so, we did our own production of the show—me, my brother, and my cousin, in our grandma’s living room.” 

Taking her cue from legendary performers like Angela Lansbury and Julie Andrews, MacMath went on to study at Fairleigh Dickinson University, receiving her bachelor’s degree in theater. Since then, she’s performed across the tri-state area, and has also been involved with the design and marketing, for multiple productions.     

“A lot of the advice that you’ll hear as an aspiring performer is to create your own work,” says MacMath. “As I was performing in different projects, I would become passionate about sharing them and making sure that people would come see the show. It started with just helping out backstage, and then I started to really get into marketing and designing social media graphics to post, extra stuff to post about the shows, which led to designing the posters and writing press releases.” 

Today, MacMath is putting her talents into Sacco and Vanzetti are Dead!, a new play by Joey DeFilippis and Matt Ferrara. 

“The show is written by a duo,” says MacMath. “I had performed with [Matt Ferrara] a few years ago, and so that’s how I became involved with the show. I believe in the piece. I think it’s funny, I think it’s relevant to today, even though it’s about this historical event, and I want to see it succeed.”

The play is based on the true story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants at the center of a notoriously contentious criminal trial. 

In 1921, Sacco and Vanzetti were accused of committing robbery and murder in South Braintree, Massachusetts. While the witnesses proved unreliable and the evidence was scarce, both men were arrested, tried, and ultimately convicted of the crime. They were eventually executed by way of an electric chair.  

However, their conviction did not go uncontested. Many believed Sacco and Vanzetti were profiled based on their Italian heritage, as well as their ties to a known anarchist group. To this day, their trial is referenced as an early example of the overwhelming prejudice and blatant misconduct toward immigrants and marginalized groups within the American justice system.  

Through the show’s passionate monologues, immersive staging, and satirical comedy style, Sacco and Vanzetti are Dead! gives a whole new perspective to this historic trial. 

“Even though it is this very dark and serious matter about two men being sentenced to death, the play is a farce—because these actual farcical things were happening in the court process,” says MacMath. “And so, historically, it seems like maybe one of them might have been guilty. But, they were both tried together, and the sentencing wasn’t really based on evidence. It was really just based on this anti-immigrant discrimination.” 

Staged and performed at the American Theatre of Actors in NYC, the show had a sold-out run this past July. But even before this massive success, MacMath knew the play was something special.

“I knew that I wanted to be involved,” says MacMath. “They sent me the script, and the roles were just funny. As an actor, sometimes you’re the lead, sometimes you’re the ensemble, and I totally understand what my role is within the context of the show, as a whole. Sometimes you just need, in a Shakespeare play, a messenger to come on and deliver a letter, and it’s not the most gratifying role, but it is important in the show. I’ve played a lot of different parts. I’m totally fine with the ensemble, but these ensemble characters were so rich and interesting, and each had these key aspects about them.”

MacMath wears many hats in the show, portraying three different characters, including Mrs. Collins, an intolerant witness named Stacy, a flighty secretary, and Maria who is an idealistic immigrant.  

“They’re almost like these sketch comedy, stock characters,” says MacMath. “So it was really fun to highlight the differences between them. Actors will say it’s fun to play characters that are unlike yourself, because you get to do things you don’t get to do in real life. But at the same time, even when you are doing something ridiculous and comical, you want it to come from some place of truth. So, I try to find the emotion of where the character is coming from.” 

Aside from her multiple acting roles, MacMath’s work also takes her behind the scenes as a producer on the show. 

“We did a table read of the play in December, and since then, the boys had been working on getting the show up on its feet,” she says. “So, I was not involved as a producer at that point, but once they had found the space, booked it, really started getting the full production going, it was like, ‘Okay, this is actually happening.’ I know how hard it is to actually get a play on its feet, and I wanted to make sure it would be seen by people. So, that’s why I volunteered to help with some marketing, and it’s really just been a great, collaborative team.” 

But beyond the simple pleasure of seeing a great production, MacMath spoke about some of the bigger takeaways she hopes audiences will take with them, following their experience seeing the play. 

“I hope [audiences] leave realizing the importance of theatre, and art in general, and how it can be used to make a statement, even if it’s not purposely trying to make a statement, but just by reflecting what’s going on in our actual lives,” says MacMath. “I like to think that one of the takeaways is to really think about the justice system and how just it is.”

She added, “I hope that they can see that discrimination is still happening against other groups of people and that we shouldn’t judge people based on what they look like, or where they’re from, or who they are.”

And while the initial run has come to an end, the future for Sacco and Vanzetti are Dead! is still very much alive. “We’d like to explore the idea of bringing the show possibly on tour, staying in NYC at a bigger venue, or even bringing it to Massachusetts, which is where this all took place,” says MacMath. “We would love to do that.”

Images taken from daniellemacmath.com