Expression Fall 2007 by Debra Falzoi

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THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

Young and in Love… with Politics see page 6

SOCCER HITS THE HEIGHTS. The womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soccer team at Emerson enjoyed a smash-up fall season, tying for second place in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

Expression FA L L 2 0 0 7

THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF EMERSON COLLEGE

Memory Lane

National politics has long attracted the attention and energies of Emersonians

Campus Digest

Library named for Iwasaki, a trustee funds diversity, and other stories

Young and in Love… with Politics

Young America is voting in record numbers. But that’s far from the only way Gen Next is getting involved, say alumni

Saltwater Storyteller

Michael Lee, MFA ’94, pens humorous essays about Cape Cod

Star Search

What do casting directors do, anyway? Alumni in the field provide the answer

Notable Expressions

A compendium of alumni accomplishments

Alumni Digest

New alumni association president announced, Alumni Weekend 2007 coverage, and more

Class Notes

Read the news about your classmates

Profile

Felicia Pride, MA ’05, writes a book on the influence of hiphop

Expression is published three times a year (fall, winter and spring) for alumni and friends of Emerson College by the Office of Public Affairs (David Rosen, vice president) in conjunction with the Department of Institutional Advancement and the Office of Alumni Relations (Barbara Rutberg ’68, associate vice president; director).

Office Of Public Affairs public_affairs@emerson.edu 617-824-8540 fax 617-824-8916

Expression Executive Editor David Rosen Editor Rhea Becker Writer Christopher Hennessy Design Director Charles Dunham Production Coordinator Catherine Sheffield Editorial Assistant Allison Teixeira

Office Of Alumni Relations alumni@emerson.edu 800-255-4259 617-824-8535 fax 617-824-7807

Memory Lane National politics and students: A winning combination Delving into the archives of the Emerson student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon, we found that Emerson students’ love of national politics is nothing new.

“Meanwhile, on a national scale, the master-minds of both parties have stepped up the fight. Recently we have had statements from both sides about the Communist-in-Government issue.”

The post-Eisenhower years Ike Eisenhower was on the mind of one student scribe who wrote a piece called “Politics – And You” for the Nov. 3, 1954, issue of the Beacon: “One of the big political problems facing the voter at this time is the November election. The magic name of Eisenhower will not be on the ballot and the candidates will be on their own. Can the Republicans gain strength in Congress, or will the Democrats cash in on the traditional, off-year apathy of the American people?…In Oklahoma, the Democrats are confident that they can clean up in a state that gave Eisenhower an 88,000 majority in 1952. The Democrats are hitting hard at the farmers who have suffered great loss from this summer’s drought. They are making an extreme issue of Eisenhower’s flexible farm price support program. “From New Hampshire comes another report of voter apathy….The experts say that a Democratic governor has not been elected for over thirty years, and that this year will be no change.

Johnson vs. Goldwater Ten years later, in the fall of 1964, the Berkeley Beacon published the results of a poll about the presidential preferences of Emerson students. President Johnson was favored by a large margin: “Johnson, 375; Goldwater, 55; Socialist Hass, 4; plus a smattering of votes for Lodge, Scranton, Nixon and other GOP stalwarts.” Later that fall, the Berkeley Beacon reported that close to 100 students participated in WERS Radio’s election coverage, working either at the station, in the suburban towns or at candidates’ headquarters. “Dan Dayton and Wayne Locke covered the Johnson-Humphrey headquarters while Gus Hampson and Bob Gritman were stationed at the Goldwater-Miller camp downtown. By far the most exciting political race – that between [gubernatorial candidates] John Volpe and Francis Bellotti – was reported most enthusiastically by Joe Walsh, Ron Klugman and Richard Brender at Volpe’s headquarters in the Somerset Hotel, and by Don O’Brien, Jerry Reo and Jeff Goldstein at Bellotti’s camp in the Statler.” Finally, the article continued, students in politics are often sustained by one vital and enduring value: “If it hadn’t been for the huge coffee container in the hall, I doubt we would have lasted,” wrote Molly Walsh ’67.

CORRECTIONS In the Alumni Digest section of our last issue, we incorrectly captioned a photo. Emerson journalism students were gathered at Katie Couric’s desk at The CBS Evening News. In a faculty retirement story in the Campus Digest section of our last issue, we incorrectly wrote of the “late” former Emerson faculty member Coleman Bender. He is alive and well. Expression regrets these errors.

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In This Issue

When we started to research our cover story on young people in politics, we were amazed to discover the number of Emerson alumni who’ve succeeded in landing positions with some of the most prominent elected officials in the U.S. as well as in campaigns for national office. The resulting cover story became a forum for alumni, many in their 20s and 30s, to talk about their experiences in politics, their concerns for the future, their desire to be a part of change, and their thoughts on how politicians can attract the younger generation’s votes. Next, we provide a behind-thescenes view of how a film, play or television show brings together the right cast of actors. In short, casting is king, yet the field is little understood by outsiders to show business. Several prominent alumni in the casting world, on both coasts, give us a glimpse of the critical role casting directors play. From time to time, Expression publishes literature by alumni and faculty. In this issue we offer up a pair of short stories by humorist Michael Lee, MFA ’94. His pieces are set on Cape Cod, where he lives, so the terrain may be familiar to many readers. Meet Robert Friend ’79, the newly elected president of the College’s Alumni Association. In this issue, Robert’s welcome letter to all alumni talks about his plans for the future of the Association. We love receiving your letters. Just drop a line to public_affairs@ emerson.edu. Rhea Becker, editor

Expression welcomes short letters to the editor on topics covered in the magazine. The editor will select a representative sample of letters to publish and reserves the right to edit copy for style and length. Send letters to: Editor, Expression, Office of Public Affairs, Emerson College, 120 Boylston St., Boston MA 02116-4624; public_affairs@emerson.edu.

Campus Digest Trustee Freston funds diversity scholarships Emerson College Trustee Tom Freston and his wife, Kathy, have established a fund that will provide scholarships designed to enhance and promote diversity within the school’s undergraduate student body.

Starting in 2008, Tom and Kathy Freston Diversity Scholarships will be awarded to undergraduates who fall into one of two categories. The first category is students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds; are first-generation college students; or come from racial and ethnic groups that are underrepresented at Emerson. The other is students committed to enhancing and promoting diversity at Emerson who have demonstrated financial

need. Preference will be given to African-American students but is not limited to this group. In the first year, three $10,000 scholarships will be granted to incoming fulltime freshmen. Additional $10,000 scholarships will be added as the fund grows. Scholarships are renewable for three more years provided the recipients maintain fulltime enrollment and good academic standing. In addition to receiving financial support, students will have an on-campus mentor to assist with their academic progress and professional development and to offer networking resources appropriate to their interests. Freston said the scholarships will “provide diverse students with an opportunity to receive an excellent education that will prepare them for positions of responsibility in the communication industry. This is important not only for the students but also for the companies that will employ them and for society as a whole. We live in an increasingly diverse and global world. This reality, with all of its richness, needs to be reflected in the news, entertainment and information programming we produce.” Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott said, “We deeply appreciate this

generous gift from Tom and Kathy. It will help the College achieve one of its strategic goals, which is to attract and encourage a diverse pool of outstanding students with the potential to become leaders in the communication and media industries.” Freston, who received an honorary degree from Emerson in 2007, has been a pioneer in media and marketing for more than 30 years. He helped found MTV in 1981 and served as CEO of MTV Networks for almost two decades. He also served, for two years, as chief operating officer and, then, chief executive officer, of Viacom, responsible for Paramount

Pictures, BET Networks, MTV Networks and Famous Music Publishing. With Freston as CEO, MTV Networks grew to reach more than 400 million households in over 120 countries and achieved unprecedented ratings and revenues. Freston initiated several campaigns and programs that addressed social issues, including Nickelodeon’s Big Help campaign. Other initiatives addressed issues ranging from discrimination to HIV/AIDS. While at MTV Networks, Freston shared a prestigious “diversity leadership” award from the Diversity Best Practices (DBP) Council.

Actor Biggs visits campus to talk to performing arts students

Actor Jason Biggs (right), in Boston shooting the upcoming film Bachelor No. 2, took a break to speak to some 150 Emerson College performing arts students at the Semel Theater this fall. His visit was arranged by Greg Holstein ’07 (left). Holstein is assistant to the producers and the screenwriter for Bachelor No. 2. Biggs has appeared on television and in films, most notably the 1999 film American Pie.

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Paramount Theatre project receives major grant Emerson College has received a $675,000 facilities grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund to support the renovation of the historic Paramount Theatre on Lower Washington Street. Renovation of the theater is part of the multi-use Paramount Center project, now under construction. The grant to Emerson was among the largest announced by MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council in October. Altogether, the Fund distributed $16.7 million in cultural facilities grants to 62 organizations. The other recipients include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Institute of Contempo-

Trustees chair Meade honored for public service Peter Meade ’70, LHD ’05, executive vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and chair of the Emerson College Board of Trustees, was honored by the New England Council in October as one of three “New Englanders of the Year.” At its annual awards dinner, the Council cited

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Meade’s decades of civic and public service, including his chairmanship of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, Catholic Charities and Emerson. U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy sent a videotaped tribute to Meade. Kennedy’s wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, was on hand to congratulate him personally.

rary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the New England Aquarium. “We are delighted to have been chosen to receive this grant,” said Emerson President Jacqueline Liebergott. “I want to thank the Council for acknowledging the importance of the Paramount Theatre renovation project, not only for the Emerson community but for the arts community at large. I also want to thank the Emerson staff members who assembled the grant proposal.” The Paramount Theatre was built in 1932 as a movie house. It was the last of the great movie palaces on Washington Street and the

only one built exclusively for talking pictures. The theater closed in 1976. The renovation project will convert the theater for use as a live performance venue. The facility, which will seat 560, will host student productions and performances by local arts organizations.The overall Paramount Center Project will also include a nine-story tower that will house a performance development center (PDC) and a residence hall for 260 students. The PDC will include multiple rehearsal and practice rooms, a film screening room, a soundstage, classrooms and offices, and a scene shop.

College Library is dedicated as Iwasaki Library thanks to $1M gift The College’s library has been named The Iwasaki Library in recognition of a $1 million gift from Shoo Iwasaki, ’LHD ’97, a former Nishi Nippon Broadcasting announcer and an internationally known environmental advocate. The gift establishes a permanent endowment that will generate income to support the library. Iwasaki, who has visited Emerson several times over the years, previously established the Iwasaki Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to incoming Emerson students from the United States who enroll in the Honors Program. To date, 20 students have been selected as Iwasaki Scholars. Iwasaki returned to campus Oct. 9 to meet with the Iwasaki Scholars and, the following day, to participate

in the dedication of the Iwasaki Library. Participants in the ceremony included President Jacqueline Liebergott, Trustee Chair Peter Meade, Library Director Robert Fleming and Iwasaki Scholar Kyle Kabel ’08. “Mr. Iwasaki is a cherished member of the Emerson College community who has demonstrated his support for our mission and our students over the course of a decade,” Liebergott said. “Twenty of our finest students have already been the beneficiaries of his generosity. Now, with the establishment of the Iwasaki Library Fund, all of our students and faculty will benefit for generations to come. We are enormously grateful and we thank our dear friend.” The 1997 honorary degree citation for Iwasaki

Kroeger, former provost, dies at 88 Former Emerson College provost, WERS-FM advisor and professor emeritus of mass comm-unications Gerald W. Kroeger died July 24. He was 88. A funeral was held in Janesville, Minn., Kroeger’s hometown. Born April 11, 1919, Kroeger joined Emerson in 1958 as an assistant professor in mass communications. In his 23 years of service to the College, he was provost, coordinator of graduate

studies in the Division of Mass Communications, and a member of the Graduate Board, the Academic Policy Committee, the Faculty Status Committee, and was elected chair of the Faculty Assembly. He also worked to revise the mass communications curriculum for the College. Kroeger’s time at Emerson coincided with rapid growth at the College.

President Jacqueline Liebergott and Shoo Iwasaki celebrate the dedication of the College library in Iwasaki’s name.

cites his worldwide efforts to protect the environment as a key advisor to the president of Green Cross International, former leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and as founder and president of

Green Cross Japan. Iwasaki is a graduate of Chou University in Japan and also holds an honorary degree from Kyonggi University in South Korea.

Alfred Corona ’66, former Performing Arts faculty member and actor, dies at 62 Alfred C. Corona ’66, former assistant professor in the Department of Performing Arts, died at his home in Melrose on Aug. 6, 2007. He was 62. Born in Paterson, N.J., on Aug. 5, 1945, he was raised in Paterson, graduated from East Side High School, Emerson College in 1966 with a B.A. in theater and speech and in 1972 with an M.S. in theater education. Corona was an assistant professor in acting, directing and theater history at Emerson. During summers, Corona was involved in numerous summer theater productions at the Falmouth PlayHouse, Keene Summer Theatre and The Barnstormers in Tamworth, N.H. Corona was also involved in productions at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, The American Premiere Stage and Celebrating Broadway

in Cambridge and American Theatre in Cumbria, Lake District Tour in England. Some of the productions he was involved with were Oklahoma, Man of La Mancha, The King & I, Camelot, The Sound of Music, A Christmas Carol and The Family of Man to name a few. Corona also worked as a special event coordinator for Crannell Consulting and The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and he designed and organized cultural tours for Gray Line & Fresh Pond Travel in Massachusetts. Most recently, Corona endeared himself to the staff and students at Melrose High School, working as a high school aid director, mentor and working with the students producing numerous theater productions at the school.

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Young America is voting in record numbers. But thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s far from the only way Gen Next is getting involved

ast month, in cluttered college dorm rooms, buzzing cybercafés, and the cozy living rooms of 20-somethings’ apartments all across the country, John Edwards, a 2008 presidential candidate and former senator, stopped by for an intimate chat.

alumni are working for or have worked with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Joe Biden, Barbara Boxer, Barack Obama, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, among others. These alumni – many of them in their 20s and 30s – paint a vivid picture of younger voters and talk about the issues they care about most. In pursuit of youth

By Christopher Hennessy

Young voters got an exclusive crack at bringing their generation’s concerns straight to Edwards, the first candidate to take part in an MTV-sponsored dialogue set on a college campus and aired on both TV and the web. The dialogues are being co-sponsored by MySpace, the number one social networking website (and a consistently top ranked website overall) with more than 100 million members and a favorite among young people. Candidates on both sides of the aisle want to be in on the conversation with this growing demographic. Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are taking part in later dialogues. With all the major candidates scrambling for the votes of young people, American politics is beginning to recognize the power young voters wield. Currently, there are 27 million Americans between the ages of 18 to 24, and since the 2000 election young people have been voting in record numbers. By 2015, Americans born between 1977 and 1994 – and shaped by the Sept. 11 attacks, the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina – will make up a third of the electorate. And ‘Gen Next’ has power beyond the ballot box. Young people, including many Emersonians, already hold leading roles in both parties. Emerson

The idea that the younger generation is not engaged – politically and civically – is losing traction, argue alumni, many of them young leaders in politics themselves. “I think our generation knows the country is in a lot of trouble,” said Michael King ’03, campaign manager for the Washington State Democratic Party and co-founder of The Washington Bus, a nonprofit organization that aims at engaging young people in politics. “We clearly have displayed an activist streak,” says King, 26. “But we need to translate that into political power, and I think if we can do that, [our generation] is going to be a real political force.” Malia Lazu ’99, former youth coordinator for the national group Democracy Action Project, wants to educate the public about a misconception she finds in the political world: “that young people don’t vote and that they are not reliable.” It’s simply not true, she says. The Harvard University Institute of Politics 11th Biannual Youth Survey backs up Lazu. The poll showed that young people are voting in record numbers: 3 million more 18- to 24-year-olds voted in 2004 than in 2000. In 2006, Americans under the age of 30 voted in the largest numbers in 20 years in congressional elections, energized by the Iraq War, said pollsters. “The marketplace has found young people to be the most consistent consumers in the world, and I think politics needs to stop blaming its victim and look inward to see why [young people] are not the most loyal consumers when it comes to democracy,” Lazu says. 7 Expression Fall 2007

Classroom Politics

This semester Emerson students will bridge the worlds of the classroom and presidential politics through special courses in Emerson’s School of Communication, including a unique, intensive program called the Presidential Campaign Semester and a journalism course called Road to the White House. The students in the Presidential Campaign Semester, offered through the Department of Organizational and Political Communication (OPC), work a nearly full-time schedule immersed in a presidential candidate’s New Hampshire office. Simultaneously, they explore the campaign process in the classroom. The class is taught by pollster and public opinion expert David Paleologos and political communications expert Dorie Clark.

Students practice presidential campaigning and political coverage

“When it comes to presidential elections, the news media play a very significant role in shaping who gets the nomination.” The class’s final project will be to “analyze and evaluate what’s new and what’s old about the 2008 presidential election and how the press handles historical differences. For example, this is the first time since 1952 that no incumbent president or vice president is running, and this is the first time ever that two major candidates are a woman and an African American. Lanson also hopes to help students learn to negotiate the infamous ‘spin’ of political campaigns, teaching them to cover the “voters and what they’re concerned about, the integrity of ad campaigns, or the money trail, for example.”

Senior Erika Rydberg, a double major in communication studies and writing, literature, and publishing, is working on Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign because “I support his background in civil rights and community-based action and involvement.” Rydberg has a similar spirit, having run an Alternative Spring Break program helping to build homes in New Orleans, for example. Rydberg thinks young people are spurred into political action when they “see what’s going on even within our own country.”

Chris Tucker, a senior in organizational and political communication, is working for the campaign to elect New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson because, says Tucker, “he has the best resume, to my mind, and I believe in his ability to lead.” The opportunity to work on a Lanson is especially enthusiastic presidential race “poses the kinds of “Emerson has the only program I about teaching with Carole Simpson, communication challenges that led know of where you can get a longtime weekend anchor of ABC me to choose Emerson’s program,” full-credit semester and still work World News Tonight and a threeTucker adds. virtually full time in a campaign,” time Emmy Award winner. said Linda Peek Schacht, the Senior political communication department’s chair. (Schacht worked “Carole has covered presidential major Matthew Luby, who has on the 1976 Jimmy Carter campaign politics for forty years, and she was worked on state senate and and then in the Carter White House). the moderator for the first towngubernatorial campaigns, is excited meeting style debate in 1992 to see what a national campaign is Road to the White House, teambetween George Bush Sr. and Bill like. Luby has chosen to work with taught by Associate Professor Jerry Clinton,” explains Lanson. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He Lanson and Leader-in Residence and others believe the war in Iraq Carole Simpson, requires students to Students who took Road to the has profoundly shaped his cover the New Hampshire primary White House the first time the generation’s political views. “An process. Students write and submit course was offered (in 2004) unpopular war and the drive for six news stories on a single included Cyndi Roy ’04 and Crystal change – those two issues [are candidate and a major issue and Benton ’04, currently the deputy important to us]. Everyone talks also contribute to blogs (web logs). press secretary for Massachusetts about this as a ‘change election’.” “They’ll be doing campaign trail Gov. Deval Patrick and deputy stories, either covering the communications director for Sen. Tucker argues that events like the candidate at an event or covering John McCain’s presidential campaign, Iraq War and 9/11 have left his how the electorate is reacting to a respectively. generation “jaded.” He worries, “I platform, policy or event of a don’t think the average person in candidate,” explains Lanson. The view from campus my generation really knows what’s The students currently working on happening, even though they have Students also study “the very campaigns and covering the all the information they need at specific role the press plays in candidates shed light on what they their fingertips.” Junior political elections.” Lanson points out, gain from these experiences. communication major Ana Gabbidon

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holds the belief that “my generation does have the power to set a new political agenda. We stand at the threshold of being remembered as the silent generation or the one that revived American democracy.”

Young people’s influence on the 2008 presidential race is unmistakable. Each of the major candidates has his or her own page on the social networking site MySpace. In fact, Sen. Barack Obama has close to 200,000 ‘friends’ connected to his page, about as many Gabbidon views the course as a way as the site’s most popular bands and “to see firsthand ideas develop from comedians. MySpace will beat out the the drawing board to the campaign state of New Hampshire by conducting trail and then be able to apply these the first – albeit online – presidential theories in class. It is an primary on Jan. 1 and 2, 2008. unbelievable partnership that can Not unlike the MTV-MySpace provide me with a lot of experience.” dialogues, thousands of young people She is working for the Obama posted videos of themselves on campaign. YouTube.com asking the questions that mattered most to them for the As a reporter covering presidential groundbreaking CNN/YouTube candidates, senior print journalism presidential debate last summer. major Amanda Wade said she has (YouTube is the immensely popular learned how politicians tailor their video hosting service young people remarks to their audiences. She’s flock to on a daily basis.) covered speeches from Hillary Prompted by young voters’ desire Clinton, Barack Obama and an to interact directly with candidates, appearance from Bill Richardson at a political campaigns are altering their clam bake in Portsmouth, N.H. strategies, according to Larry Rasky ’78, “[Clinton and Obama] seemed to an Emerson trustee and communicahave it down to a science,” she said. tions director for Sen. Joe Biden’s Clinton praised New Hampshire’s presidential campaign. Rasky calls this Democrats affirmed her belief that a “revolution” in how candidates are the New Hampshire primary should reaching out. “It revolves around remain the first in the nation, while young people’s goal to communicate Obama spoke of things that interest directly – not to be intermediated college students – student loan through the mainstream media. We’ve programs, getting out of Iraq, tried to be responsive to that [through reforming the education system.” Sen. Biden’s campaign].” Rasky notes the Biden campaign, as well as others, Journalism senior Lloyd Nelson have worked to adapt tools most wonders how he and other student utilized by younger voters, including reporters will fare working among YouTube, Flickr (photo sharing) and the rest of the press. He wonders, campaign videos that can be viewed “Will we fall into the pack mentality online at the click of a button – in [of most major media]? Or can we order to provide “a steady stream of stand apart [from] campaign updated information.” He points to staffers...and do some original and Sen. Biden’s special “Head-to-Head ’08” innovative reporting?” he asks. website, which uses video clips of other Nelson sees the Road to the White politicians describing their platforms, House as “a definitive experience, a literally pitting the candidates against measuring stick to see where we as each other. “All the Democratic student journalists stand.” candidates have people on staff to use MySpace to get voters out,” adds Emerson senior Layne Anderson, who is consulting for Sen. Barack Obama’s

presidential campaign. She adds that campaigns are also increasingly leveraging video messages created by young supporters from across the country and then posted on sites like YouTube or MySpace. The CNN/YouTube debate generated almost as much publicity for the event itself than it did for any single candidate. “That was huge, huge!” enthuses Anderson. “That’s a major step toward getting youth involved.” Alumnus Chris Scarpato ’03, who works for Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, agrees. “Certainly, for anyone who watched the YouTube/ CNN presidential debate it was clear that most participants were from the younger generation.” He sees the new media outlet as “an innovative way for young people to make their voices heard in the political arena.” In fact, alumna Mary Matthews ’96 and her partner Jen Weidenbaum (ages 34 and 29, respectively) were among those who posted a video for the debate. The women’s video question was one of the few to be aired on national television. They asked the Democratic presidential candidates, “If you were elected president of the United States would you allow us to be married – to each other?” They were the first gay couple to ask a panel of presidential candidates about same-sex marriage. Anderson says, “So many candidates have realized they need our generation to get out in numbers, real numbers this time. So they focus on and take chances on [my generation], which is great.” Lisa Beyer Scanlon, MA ’96, who has 15 years of experience in a multitude of political environments, recalls her work with Sen. Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. “We spent so much time and energy on the Kerry campaign courting young voters. The senator went on a college tour, we put on a concert, we did everything we could to target our message to college-aged people.” She remembers that while more young people did vote, 9 Expression Fall 2007

‘At the end of the day [the youth vote] is an untapped market, and whoever wins them over is going to be able to win elections for the next few generations.’ Malia Lazu ’99

the numbers weren’t enough. “Unless politicians court the support of young young people get out and vote [in people, not through issues, but though bigger numbers], no one’s going to pay platitudes,” says Emerson graduate more attention to them. They need to Michael Corcoran ’07, a columnist for earn attention through voting.” The Nation and a political blogger. Some alumni believe the politiAnderson has some advice for politicians should be doing more to connect cians who walk that line: “Realizing with younger voters. Washington State that learning a few catch phrases isn’t Democratic operative Michael King going to get you votes.” She adds, points out, “You know, candidates are “Don’t try too hard, we’re not stupid constantly advised to ignore young – oh, and being funny always helps.” people. Literally, people sit in a room Corcoran believes that politicians and say, ‘Who cares [about them]? They and young voters alike need to be more don’t vote.’” interested in the issues. “I don’t think A major problem with the system, the candidates are all that concerned some argue, is how the candidates with young people on issues,” argues reach out to young voters. “I think the Corcoran. “The cost of college, for example, is mentioned as a peripheral issue, but it certainly isn’t central.”

What Do Young Voters Care About? 48% 35% 47% 67% 25%

identify more with Democrats with Republicans are in favor of gay marriage believe immigrants strengthen American society favor increasing legal immigration

36% 30% 25% 32% 20% 81% 51% 84% 14%

have a tattoo have a body piercing in a place other than an ear lobe have dyed their hair a nontraditional color attend church at least once a week have no religious affiliation or are atheist or agnostic say their top life goal is to be wealthy say their goal is to be famous say their life is excellent or good say their life is fair or poor

The above information is excerpted from a poll conducted as part of the MacNeil/Lehrer Productions’ Generation Next project and the Pew Research Center.

Portrait of the young voter

For Lazu, who is also the former director of the national Young Voters Alliance, the portrait of the younger voter is an encouraging one. “Young voters are starting to look at the long-term results of the policies being made, our growing deficit, and our concern for our future with the war, health care and the environment.” The scene she witnessed in the 2004 election in Ohio serves as a powerful example for her. During voting, young people trudged through nasty weather and fought back against voting problems by banding together and keeping spirits high through reading poetry. “It was raining and cold and miserable in Columbus….The voting machines were falling apart the minute doors opened, [voters’ names] weren’t on lists,” she recalls. “So, a group of young poets started traveling poll to poll performing poetry to keep people in those lines,” she says. “When you include young people, when they feel like they are part of the process and not some last minute added thing, you see how creative and how passionate they can get about issues. I think that both parties need to look at that. At the end of the day this is an untapped market, and whoever wins

them over is going to be able to win world events” and believes the same wanted to be called to serve their elections for the next few generations.” holds true for his peers. “I was a country, and that didn’t necessarily The 2008 presidential election freshman in college when the U.S. happen,” she argues. She believes could be a turning point for young invaded Iraq in 2003, and it has no young voters are looking for politicians voters, say alumni – and a recent poll doubt shaped the way I look at the who say, ‘We can’t do this without you.’ conducted by MTV, the New York Times world, and at U.S. policy.” Corcoran We want to get involved – community and CBS News lends support to this. The adds, “It also taught me to be very service, voting, these things are poll revealed that almost 70 percent of skeptical about what politicians tell us growing among young people.” U.S. residents in the 18-30 age bracket and what the media reports. I imagine The Harvard Institute of Politics view the November 2008 presidential this is true for many young people who poll lends credence to Benton. It found election as one of the most important, are in college at a time when a country that among members of the 9/11 if not the most important, in their is stuck in an unpopular war.” generation, only one in five particilifetime. Crystal Benton ’04, deputy pated in a government, political or “I think people [in my generation] communications director for Sen. John issues-related organization. And yet 70 are psyched,” says Emerson senior McCain’s presidential campaign, agrees. percent still believe politics to be Anderson, who worked intensively on “I think it’s safe to say that most people personally relevant. “Our generation of Deval Patrick’s Massachusetts guberna- in our age group know someone who young people volunteers more than torial campaign. She says her peers are is serving or has served in Iraq.” any other, but very few of them have “constantly asking me questions” about Benton, 25, knows several people volunteered in a political campaign,” the presidential candidates and their serving in Iraq, including a younger argues King, who worked on the positions. “I think people [my age] are cousin. “To have him there definitely re-election campaigns of U.S. senators ready, and it’s because we have some makes it hit closer to home.” Lazu, 30, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. King real and different candidates this time,” who has dedicated her college and wants political campaigns to “do a she says. professional life to bringing out voters better job showing that [working to Young people’s concerns may not and to getting young people to care elect] a candidate is a good vehicle for be that different from those of the rest about the issues, says younger voters change, too.” of the country, say alumni like see people “around their age out there The young people who do work Scarpato, 27, director of internships for fighting for – we’re not totally sure for candidates are often the team Sen. Boxer. He sees hundreds of what – and that’s very bothersome to members who drive the campaigns, resumes from politically minded them.” argue young alumni. “They totally young people. The issues they care On the issue of the genocide energize everyone around them,” says about – “the war in Iraq, the economy, plaguing the Darfur region of Sudan, Rasky. Beyer Scanlon, former cameducation, and health care” – echo the Rasky recalls seeing “a very strong paign worker for Sen. Kerry’s presidenmajority of Americans’ worries, he emotional response from college tial campaign, explains, “You go out believes. students at a debate in New Hampthere [on the campaign trail] and you Many alumni suggest the bloody shire…at Franklin Pierce College.” see who’s running the shows, and it’s a and prolonged war in Iraq is one of the Rasky believes Darfur is “one area lot of really smart young people.” top issues young people want the where young voters are really driving Kathryn Grosso ’05, who has worked in presidential candidates to address. “The the agenda.” Scarpato agrees. He finds the White House and currently runs Iraq War is unquestionably the number the people of his generation “seem to Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s ‘war room’ in one motivational issue for young be more informed and passionate” New York City, says, “Campaigns are voters,” argues communications about issues like the genocide in Darfur. always looking for young, energetic director for Sen. Joe Biden’s presidenpeople to help make calls, do literature tial campaign Larry Rasky. “[Young Being ‘part of the change’ drops and to get out the vote,” she says. voters] want to figure out the best way Rasky says young people “not only “Just look at the success of the Republito get out of Iraq and the fastest way to want to effect political change but they can National Committee/Bush-Cheney do it.” want to be part of the change,” citing ’04 72-Hour Task Force in the last three Corcoran, who has written for the younger generation’s efforts to days of the 2004 election,” points out The Nation and the Boston Globe, sees the abate the climate crisis as another Grosso, 24. That was a successful war as “the defining factor for me example. Benton has a similar view. grassroots volunteer effort that becoming engaged in politics and “After 9/11 I think there was some frustration from young voters who wanted to make a difference, who 11 Expression Fall 2007

Beyer Scanlon believes that campaigns offer a fast-paced, highintensity lifestyle to which young people are suited. ‘You’ve got to be a hard worker and you have to enjoy the chaos.’

Who’s Who They’ve worked for Presidents and First Ladies, for presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle, and for a bevy of senators and other major government officials. Who are they? Learn more about the Emersonians Expression talked to for this story.

brought out thousands of voters and supports women under 40 running for helped ensure a re-election victory for state and federal public office (see President Bush.” sidebar on page 11). Working on campaigns “provides Scarpato, director of internships a sense of ownership” for young people, for Sen. Boxer, says Capitol Hill is filled whose previous experience was simply with staffers in their 20s and 30s, and registering to vote, adds Layne Ander- “more and more each day, young son. people are having a greater impact on Other young politicos are staffing the political dynamics of our country.” government offices in Washington, In a New York Times article about the D.C. “You do see young people take on Sundance Channel’s The Hill (a reality major leadership positions, definitely,” show about young D.C. staffers), one of says Alyse Nelson Bloom ’97, co-found- the show’s participants, a policy adviser er of the D.C-based Vital Voice Global for a U.S. representative, said, “There Partnership. “I think D.C. is a meritocare 25- to 30-year-olds essentially racy: if you work hard, you can achieve running Congress. You have lots of success and be in a powerful position at idealistic young people trying to do a very young age.” She points to Dina good things behind the scene.” Powell, who at 31 was the youngest The rewards of the work can be person ever to direct the presidential incredible, say alums. Anne Friedenpersonnel office. Bloom is also a board berg Swanson, MA ’94, who was Laura member of WUFPAC, a nonpartisan Bush’s press secretary during the 2000 political action committee that presidential campaign, describes the

Larry Rasky ’78 Communications director for Sen. Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign and chairman and CEO of Rasky/Baerlein Strategic Communications, in Boston. Rasky has also served Sen. John Kerry and President Jimmy Carter, among many others. Crystal Benton ’04 Deputy communications director for Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and the Senator’s former press secretary.

Michael King ’03 Communications director and campaign manager for the Washington State Democratic Party. He has also worked on the re-election campaigns of U.S. senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. He is also a co-founder of the nonprofit The Washington Bus, which aims at engaging young people in politics.

Anne Friedenberg Swanson, MA ’94 Served in the first George W. Bush presidential campaign as Laura Bush’s press secretary.

Michael Corcoran ’07 Co-writer of the “Sweet Victories” column with Katrina vanden Heuvel for The Nation.

Kathryn Grosso ’05 War room manager for Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign. She has also worked in the White House and for the Republican National Committee.

Malia Lazu ’99 Has worked in major roles for the Progressive Majority, Cities for Progress, Young Voters Alliance and as youth coordinator for the Democracy Action Project. She was the founding executive director of Mass VOTE.

Lisa Beyer Scanlon, MA ’96 Lead advance for Teresa Heinz Kerry and media advance for Sen. John Kerry during his 2004 presidential campaign. She worked on the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign and the Gore-Lieberman campaign.

12 Expression Fall 2007

Chris Scarpato ’03 Director of internship programs for Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Her Goal? A Lot More Young Women on the Hill

work as “all-consuming – at least 12 hours a day, six days a week, traveling all the time. But when the candidate wins, you’re rocketed from intern to special advisor to the Secretary of the Defense,” she laughs. “That’s only a little bit of a stretch. It was unbelievable what these kids were able to do.” Beyer Scanlon agrees: “By the end of the campaign you can have a pretty significant job if you know what you’re doing, you play well with others, and you’re good at it.” Beyer Scanlon recalls the excitement of working on the 2004 Kerry-Edwards campaign. “I put everything I owned in storage, rented out my house in San Francisco, and just lived out of my suitcase for a year. It was awesome.” She recalls the busy schedule of city-to-city travel and meeting new people everywhere she went. “After the day is done and you have your wheels-up party [signaling the candidate’s jet has left the tarmac], you never know if you’re going to see those [local campaign workers] again, so you celebrate, and ship out the next morning for the new town.” Beyer Scanlon believes that campaigns offer a fast-paced, high-intensity lifestyle to which young people are suited. “You have got to be a hard worker and you have to enjoy the chaos.” Benton, from Sen. McCain’s presidential campaign, agrees. “[Working in politics] is a very demanding job. You have to have a fire to work in a national campaign,” she says. “It’s fast, it’s intense, the learning curve is steep, but it’s an amazing learning opportunity. You meet so many people along the way; you get to do so many different things.” Benton admits she wouldn’t work for just any candidate or politician. “It’s too demanding to not feel fully invested in the process and the candidates. For me, I need to work for someone I believe in.” If that’s the sentiment this generation embraces, the political landscape appears promising. E

“I think it’s time for a woman president,” declares Alyse Nelson Bloom ’96. And she knows a thing or two about women and politics. Bloom is vice president, senior program director and co-founder of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Partnership, a bipartisan organization dedicated to empowering women economically, politically and socially. The organization was co-founded by Hillary Clinton (as First Lady), whom Bloom has worked with extensively as part of the initiative to integrate women into the mainstream of American foreign policy. Bloom has worked with women leaders to develop training programs and international forums in over 80 countries. Bloom is also on the board of directors for The Women Under Forty Political Action Committee (WUFPAC), a nonpartisan political action committee which helps young women run for Congress. Washingtonian magazine last year named Bloom one of 10 “women to watch” in their issue on powerful women in the Washington, D.C., area. Emerson named her The Walt Littlefield Distinguished Speaker in Rhetoric and Political Communication in 2007. “WUFPAC was developed about 10 years ago when a group of young women really recognized there were no women in Congress under 40 – on the Republican or the Democratic side,” she explains. According to WUFPAC’s website, of the 535 members of the House and Senate, 26 of them are under the age of 40, and only four of those are women.

Electing younger women to Congress is about more than just having a particular age group represented, she explains. “It’s important because the issues that women under 40 face are unique – finding a job out of college, raising a family, paying back education debt.” WUFPAC also wants to ensure women lawmakers can earn the seniority needed to be selected to serve on major committees – “to really [develop] the clout and the power to make significant change,” explains Bloom. “If women were not getting into Congress until their late 40s, 50s or 60s, then they were never going to have that career-span to be able to make a significant impact and hold major leadership positions,” explains Bloom. “How would you ever have a woman president in this country if women couldn’t gain the seniority, the name recognition, the track record, the trust, the credibility in this very political town to launch a major political campaign?” she asks. Bloom explains that many women think they can’t run for office and have a family at the same time. Not true, Bloom responds. For example, WUFPAC recently supported for election Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D- Fla.), mother of three very young children. “She showed us that it really is possible to do both – to be a mother of small children and a congresswoman.” But WUFPAC is only a small part of Bloom’s contributions. She’s worked at Vital Voices for a decade. “The women we work with [through Vital Voices]…are women we believe in the next 10 years are poised to have tremendous impact on their country, women who are up against tremendous odds and sometimes even threats against their lives, but somehow they continue.”

13 Expression Fall 2007

Writer Michael Lee, MFA â&#x20AC;&#x2122;94,

captures the humor of life on Cape Cod

Saltwater Storyteller

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Grocery afternoons and all that talk

“ Michael Lee’s (MFA ’94) short prose reveals to readers a side of Cape Cod rarely seen by tourists. A ‘year-rounder’, Lee describes the desolation of winter on the Cape followed by the exuberance of summer. His humorous personal essays, organized around the seasons of the year, touch on the experiences of day-to-day life on Cape Cod. Expression presents two stories from his new, second collection of short stories, In An Elevator With Brigitte Bardot (2007). Norman Mailer said, “Mike Lee writes with honesty, penetration, wit and the ability to surprise the reader with an unexpected turn… that enriches the experience.” Lee’s first book, Paradise Dance, was called an “impressive debut” by Publisher’s Weekly.

he most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.” – Calvin Trillin Cape Cod winters are just choc-a-block with important events. Take the wind farm that has been proposed for Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. If we could capture the hot air that has been expelled over both sides of that issue, we could all leave our lights on, guilt-free. Then there was the recent art theft in Osterville which allowed every Boston news station to parade out the same tired alliterative bromide, “Caper on Cape Cod.” But for my money – embezzlers, bamboozlers, and no-show builders aside – the new Stop & Shop in Orleans on the Lower Cape was winter’s winner for local news. And why not? Aren’t our super food marts an important venue in the chain of social events that help form the community? So what if it’s all about the 30% off cat food, a trip to Stop & Shop might be the only way I see my neighbors. These forays to the supermarket in winter are less about food and more about social assembly. On any given day in Stop & Shops throughout Cape Cod, our friends and neighbors gather around the tastes-just-like-lobster chunks and have themselves a real jaw fest. The post office used to be good for this kind of socializing, but at the supermarket you get the bonus of leaning on a cart and spying on the contents of your friend’s food cart. It’s a lot like being able to rifle through their mail and you can get it all – including their caloric intake – in one aisle-clogging session. I’ve tried the health food store routine on several aborted health drives, but everything tastes like a

welcome mat. And I don’t have enough home equity to shop there with any regularity. The harmony and peaceful atmosphere found in these stores are admirable, but both are shattered at the check-out counter when the register starts to sing like a Triple Sevens slot machine at the Luxor. The problem with our health food stores is the dearth of medium-rare cheeseburgers. So it’s back to the supermarket where I’m usually hiding down Aisle 3 because I’m avoiding someone in Aisle 6. Then my ex-wife’s bridesmaid is loitering near the deli department and a guy I’m into for fifty bucks is at the vegetable bins nearby, fondling the melons. It turns out that there are more people I don’t want to see in here, so I leave and drive to Sandwich, some fifty miles away, for recognition-free shopping. This is strictly a product of winter when we spend time like nickels. It was one of those gargantuan Stop & Shops and it turns out the same social aspects apply, albeit in wider aisles. At least in Sandwich I could relax about the contents of my cart. At my usual S&S, I’d invariably run into someone who is on one of those aforementioned health drives, and our shopping carts would stand open to inspection to each other. In hers would be the requisite fat-free yogurt, low-carb bread, and great shrubberies of lettuce. Perhaps even a slab of tofu. In mine, two frozen pizzas big enough to serve as trash can lids, a football-sized piece of meat with fat rippling through it like a New Jersey road map and – just my dumb luck – a sack of toilet paper the size of a Santa’s toy bag. I’d try to divert the conversation to the wind farm or bio-nuclear hazard, but after checking out my cart, she would ask, “Planning on an intestinal virus?” Of course, she’s seen the economy sleeve of Preparation H, 15 Expression Fall 2007

With a thong in my heart

“ which I thought was covered by the Swiss cheese and a six pack of Jolt. I’d dutifully hang on to my cart while being serenaded with a well-intentioned lecture on nutrition, but frankly by its conclusion, I’ll want to shove a Ring Ding into her yap. This is my life. The new Stop & Shop was a nice try, but I have a few suggestions to really make it a market of the future. First, they need to put in rest areas within the aisles so those on social missions can have at each other without impeding the rest of us pushing our way to the Jiffy Pop. I’d also like to suggest a cocktail lounge within the confines of the store, preferably next to the pharmaceuticals. Call it Stop & Pop, it would be an area to slake your thirst after the difficult maneuvering required along the bread aisle. There’s nothing more embarrassing than meeting up with an old girlfriend and having no place to go for a tête-à-tête but the creamed corn and sauerkraut section. Here’s hoping the next incarnation of the Orleans Stop & Shop will include my suggestions. In the meantime, you might find me on the road to Sandwich occasionally because all the gossip there seems brand new.

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get my exercise acting as a pallbearer to my friends who exercise.” – Chauncey Depew

I was jolted into yet another round of physical fitness while attending the birthday party of a friend who lived over by Nauset Beach. It began innocently enough, standing there with a jumbo mug of beer in one mitt and an hors d’ouevre the size of a football in the other. The hors d’ouevre’s heritage was not immediately discernible to me, but looked as though it should have come with a courtesy phone number of the nearest heart surgeon as there were things clogging in there before they got to my blood vessels. My companion in conversation was someone very good at it, the esteemed Sherrill Smith, a fellow newspaper columnist and one of the many people who I know are way smarter than I am. Sherrill informed me he had been out rowing nine times in the cruel month of March. Was this the same month of March I had also endured, as ensconced indoors as a

January bear, tucked in my jammies with the remote control always an arm length away? I immediately waddled out to the glove compartment of my truck and tore up my tough guy card, which, alas, I noted had expired several years ago. Then I sat on the bumper to catch my breath because I had just moved, I don’t know, must have been all of twenty yards. I looked down and could see my heart trying to thump its way out of my shirt – Buddy Rich paradiddles have been slower. The stars floating before my eyes were a good show, though, and I remember, years ago, paying seedy guys with weakhormone beards good money for stuff that created that effect. I’ve drifted away from the little gym in Eastham I once attended with great fervor. Now I feel too guilty about going back, as though I got caught in some embarrassing misdemeanor that everyone’s gossiping about. I’ve been to enough shrinks to know that this is merely a way for me to reconcile sitting at home and watching The Bold and the Beautiful instead of grunting and groaning before a Smith machine. Also I’d hate to go lumber in there right away and pop a

vein in my forehead the first time I get on the elliptical machine. So to prep for my return – which is like spiffing up the house for the cleaning lady – I’ve gone back to walking the fire roads in Wellfleet for the umpteenth time. Just to be safe I carry a few things into the woods with me. Water for one. Water is de rigueur for everything you do these days, and it’s virtually impossible to shake hands with someone until they remove a jug of aqua from their paw. I have nothing against water – I used to make a living underneath it – but it does make me wonder how our ancestors got along without Poland Spring, Monadnock, and for you Volvo-ers, Evian. Didn’t cowboys pretty much stick their hats in a creek and drink cowboy hat water and then mosey on down the trail?

Another item in my trail carry-on bag is a cell phone. I know, it’s tacky as hell, but at my age and current weight, I could have the big one out there, and you know what the philosophers say, “If a writer falls in the forest, who gives a hoot?” Besides, if I know I’m going down for the final count, I’ve got my bookie on speed dial and I want to place one big, real long-shot bet. For a while I was carrying some of that trail mix stuff, you know, nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate mix. But I’d attack the bag as soon as I got in the woods and it’d be empty by the time I got to the first coyote turd. Then I’d have a stomach ache the rest of the walk and wind up playing video games on the cell phone to keep my mind off the intestinal cramps. They say that you’re working at the ideal aerobic level if you can still be moving and carry on a conversation. I’ll never put that to the test because everyone I meet on the fire roads zooms past me like I’m wearing cement loafers. Maybe it’s time to launch my dory so I can at least talk to

Sherrill Smith, if I can keep up rowing with him, that is. I suppose I can always buy a bull horn, but then everyone in Pleasant Bay would know what I was saying to him. And I have to confess, my language can get a tad ribald, especially when the salt air sneaks up my nostrils and ignites those few active brain cells still on duty. Like Ahab, sea air makes me profane and monomaniacal. I think I’m about ready to go back to the gym again because the other day I didn’t bleed from one single orifice. I call that fitness progress and may well be on the road again to optimum health. Now this summer if I can just remember not to put my thong on backwards. E

17 Expression Fall 2007

Star Search Casting directors do the work that bring productions to life

By Rhea Becker

18 Expression Fall 2007

“Professional matchmaking” is how Dawn ou’ve got a great script. Perhaps a director is Steinberg ’83, senior vice president of talent and already lined up. You even have a few actors in mind casting at Sony Pictures Television, describes casting. for the leading roles. But how do you go about assembling the entire cast – every role from the stars “Our knowledge of actors, of what’s out there, our ability to get agents and managers on the phone and right down to the smallest non-speaking parts? You track people down quickly” is part of what makes a hire a casting director. Few people outside of show business understand successful casting director. Steinberg oversees casting for a roster of popular what casting directors do. In fact, casting directors television series, including Rules of Engagement (CBS), may be the unsung heroes of the film, television and Rescue Me (the hit FX series created by and starring theater industries. Denis Leary ’79), Damages (an FX show starring Glenn “We’re hired, [usually] by a producer or director, to facilitate finding the right talent for their project,” Close) and ’Til Death (a Fox show starring Joely Fisher, says Maura Tighe ’81, who operates the Boston-based who attended Emerson). “You can look at the cast [of Maura Tighe Casting agency. She recently worked on a TV show] and maybe the director knew of one of those people, but they’ve never known of all of them. casting Bachelor No. 2, which filmed in Boston this fall It’s really the casting director who says, ‘How about and stars Dane Cook and Kate Hudson. “We do this person?’” whatever it takes to get the cast signed and get the Merri Sugarman ’84, who casts some of Broadright people for the job.” way’s biggest shows, via her position with Tara Rubin Casting in New York City, sees her role as “putting the talent in the room and hoping it gels with everyone else’s vision.”

A phone call, a wish list Casting is a “dynamic process,” says Steinberg, so casting directors always work in tandem with writers, directors and producers to assemble the best cast for the project. When a script arrives on her desk, Steinberg picks up the phone and calls the scriptwriter. “We’ll sort of get in the writer’s head,” she says. “I’ll ask, ‘What are you looking for? What’s not on the page? Can we add an ethnicity here?’” Many scriptwriters, says Steinberg, tend to ‘write white’. “We’ll say, ‘You know who would be really interesting here. Have you ever thought of going to Danny Glover for this role?’”

At times, scripts come with stars attached, for example, Denis Leary created and writes Rescue Me and also stars in the show. Sugarman’s work begins when her agency receives a call from a producer. “The script is read and a concept meeting is taken. The producers are looking for a casting person who seems to ‘get’ what they’re looking for.” If the Tara Rubin agency is chosen for the job, they begin the casting process by creating a breakdown – a description of each role they need to cast. “We go through our files, the people that we know. We look at our past projects and so on.” Auditions take place, usually at a rehearsal studio, and then the actors who are selected at the auditions appear before the show’s creative team.

Producers often have a ‘wish list’ for the lead roles, says Sugarman, who has worked in film and television casting and now casts theater. The casting director will call in the desired wish-list actors, but “a lot of it’s based on availability.” Big-name stars who are under consideration for roles “very rarely” audition, she says. “The creative team wants to be respectful of that person’s body of work and what it has taken for them to get where they are,” says Sugarman, who currently works on hit shows like Spamalot, Jersey Boys, The Producers, Mamma Mia! and Les Miserables. Besides, “every actor wants to get to the point where they are being made offers versus being asked to jump through hoops.”

19 Expression Fall 2007

Tools and techniques Last year, when Steinberg was Being based in Boston, Maura Tighe’s casting the FX show Damages, she and company is often called upon to do her team were considering four actress- ‘secondary casting’, so, for example, if a es for the role opposite Glenn Close. project is being shot in Boston, a But Close is such “a powerhouse,” says casting director based in Los Angeles Steinberg, that casting someone handles the lead roles. “As soon as they opposite her was “really intricate. We get the leads signed, they have to build wanted to hear [actresses] read with a cast that works well with them,” says Glenn Close for the chemistry.” But Tighe. “We get hired to find as many of Close’s schedule precluded a trip to Los the other roles as possible in Boston.” Angeles, so Steinberg’s team flew to Tighe draws on her vast database New York “for literally 24 hours to test of actors, which numbers 4,000 to 5,000. four actresses opposite her. Once we “A lot of what I do has to be supplegot them in the room, it was a clear mented with talent from New York choice of which one would hold her City only because Boston has a really own against Glenn Close.” The role small talent pool, especially for ethnic went to Rose Byrne. actors who have a lot of acting experience. New York is so close and it doesn’t cost a ton of money to bring an actor up for a couple of days of shooting.” Recently, Tighe spent time in New York auditioning Hispanic actors for Bachelor No. 2. Once a movie is in production, says Tighe, she stays on the project “until it wraps, simply because there are often re-writes and parts added.” For instance, in the midst of shooting

20 Expression Fall 2007

Bachelor No. 2, she needed to go to New York to audition “gorgeous models who can act” for a new part that was written into the film. Today, casting is global, declares Sony’s Steinberg. “We look in New York, we look in Canada, we look in Australia, we look in London. You no longer look in the city you’re in. We say, ‘It takes a village’.” The same can hold true for theatrical casting. In any long-running Broadway show, the original actors eventually move on, so the casting machine is in constant motion. The Tony Award-winning show Jersey Boys requires the lead to play 1950s singing sensation Frankie Valli, complete with his famous and tough-to-imitate falsetto. The part “is incredibly difficult to cast,” says Sugarman. “This is a role where we do open calls all over the world.” The show has even developed something called Frankie Camp,

Watching everything “which is like an intense conservatory Tighe in Boston says, “Actors A day in the life of a casting director situation for anyone who’s got the always send us headshots and resumes. like Steinberg can look a lot like this: falsetto and is even remotely right We keep everything for two years. “I’m on the phone a lot, I’m on the physically for the part. We’re constant- Every time we have a project we go and computer a lot. I’m doing 10 or 12 projly banking people who we can groom look at the new people in that pile. We ects at a time. They’re each like my to do that role.” constantly try new people.” children. ‘You need 10 minutes here. The show Spamalot presents its Although casting directors always OK, I’m giving you the attention. What own casting hurdles. “The biggest prefer to see an actor read live for a do you need? You’re done, you can fly challenge is when you have an part, video and email can help speed on your own now.’ And you move on award-winning cast like we did in the casting process. Steinberg someto the next.” Spamalot, Hank Azaria and David Hyde times views actors’ video clips online. Steinberg makes sure she views Pierce, and then replacing them,” says “Within hours I’m looking at the every new television show’s season Sugarman. “It’s about the original audition and we can decide if we want opener and final episodes. She also goes company that doesn’t stay forever and to fly the actor in. The technology has to movies, comedy clubs and profesneeding to keep the bar that high.” In made it easier, as opposed to waiting sional theater. “I’ve seen Jersey Boys addition, the role of Lancelot requires for FedEx, getting the tape, plopping it three times now. Every time there’s a the actor to perform 12 different in, making the copies, sending it to new cast I’m running to see Jersey Boys.” characters and 12 different accents – no people. Everybody looks at it instantly As for Sugarman, she tries to short order. now.” When she was casting the pilot attend a play or a musical that’s “a bit Sugarman’s database is her for NBC’s The Watch, Steinberg recalls off the beaten track – Off-Broadway/ lifeline. “If I wonder if I’ve ever seen that actor Kristin Lehman was in regional theater/colleges and universithis person, I can type in their name Toronto shooting a film. “She put ties/festival stuff” two to three times a and fives years of auditions will come herself on tape, sent the tape via email, week. In addition, she watches virtually up. If their name is in there, then I’ll we uploaded it, we looked at it, and we everything on TV at least once “to see have a note about them somewhere.” flew her down right away.” She got the if there’s anyone who feels right for an job. Many casting directors use special software designed to help cull actors with specific qualities or talents, for example, all of the short, blonde men who can effect a Russian accent.

IT STARTS WITH A HEADSHOT. Often the first impression casting directors get of actors is the all-important headshot. On these pages, you’ll find the headshots of a selection of Emerson alumni actors of every generation. Top row (from left): Iris McQuillanGrace ’04, Andy Gates ’97, Alexandra Cremer ’92, Jed Alexander ’98, Gregory Crafts ’03, J.R.A. Schaefer ’91, Justin Willman ’02, Lauren Moore ’93 and Ray Shell ’74; bottom row: Kat Robertson ’78, Cari Shanks ’05, Edwin Strout ’91, Kevin Chesley ’97, Jan D’Arcy ’60, Jimmy T. Owens ’00, Kelly S. King ’00, Steve Howard ’81 and Bari Biern ’74.

21 Expression Fall 2007

A fulfilling role upcoming project.” She also teaches Sugarman found herself working in workshops in auditioning and on the casting following her own New ‘Business of the Business’, where she York-based acting and voiceover career. meets “a lot of unrepresented actors.” She moved to Los Angeles, where she Finally, the staff in Sugarman’s office worked at several casting agencies as “constantly share new actor informawell as at DreamWorks and ABC. Over tion with each other.” her career, she cast a long list of Even with the vast knowledge of successful television shows, including actors that casting directors possess, NewsRadio, The Job (created by and certain roles can still be difficult to cast. starring Denis Leary ’79), Alias and The It took more than a year to cast the Practice. She eventually returned to the David Spade character in Rules of East Coast to work in theater casting. Engagement. “Every actor we put in that Although she was a performer role would sort of just – do it,” says “since I was a little girl,” casting “was Steinberg. “When we asked David something I really took to. It was Spade to read for the role, it leapt off exciting to be the person who put the the page.” talent in the room.” Casting directors work hard to Steinberg describes the “special find the best possible actor available for relationship” actors and casting any particular role because “bad casting directors have. “Sometimes an actor can really screw up a great script and you know and love has two or three good casting can enhance a mediocre pilots and maybe all of those pilots script or make a good script even failed. And you, as a casting director, better,” says Steinberg. However, she recognize that maybe it was the writing says, “none of us has a perfect record. or the directing, or the time slot. You can look at [a show] after a while Maybe it’s a comedy up against Grey’s and say, ‘You know, I probably could Anatomy. You have to really fight all the have done better there’.”

time to remind the producers, writers, studios and networks that it wasn’t that actor’s fault. It’s just a matter of the right combination at the right time. Jennifer Aniston had done many pilots. George Clooney had done many pilots. But there was somebody behind those people believing in them who kept bringing them in.” Casting is like “a calling” for Steinberg. One of the greatest rewards of her work, she says, is being able to pick up the phone and tell an actor that he or she has been chosen for a role. “It’s such a high to do that for somebody: recognize somebody’s talent and push it through and make it happen.” E

AND MORE ACTORS’ HEADSHOTS. Top row (from left): Lance Beckoff ’74, Donna Sorbello ’69, Andrew Jackson ’91, Fred MacIntyre Dixon ’53; bottom row: Mark Hetherington, MA ’91, Melissa Costa ’97, Howard Atlee ’50 and Louise Claps ’75.

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Audition tips for actors “Don’t spend time worrying about what they are ‘looking for.’ More often than not, they don’t really know….I remember when we were casting my play The Danger of Strangers. I was looking for a good-looking Michael Douglas type for the male lead. James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) came in and auditioned. When I first saw him, I thought, ‘Boy, is that guy wrong for the role!’ But his audition was so personal, so convincing, that I immediately gave up my preconceived idea of who I thought the character was….He showed me things about the character that I’d never realized. Needless to say, he got the role and ended up doing it brilliantly.” Glenn Alterman ’69, author of An Actor’s Guide: Making it In New York City (2002)

z“When you arrive at the audition, read the material very carefully. Mine it for every drop of insight that you can use. Calm yourself, breathe, relax. Try to figure out what the script is about. What is the playwright trying to say? What is the relationship between your character and the other character(s) in the scene? Try to understand the world of the play, the mood of the scene.

Don’t underestimate your first reaction. Trust your instincts.

Imagine your character’s history and back story.

When working on the scene prior to the audition, rehearse at about 75 percent; save some for the actual audition.

Always notice the playwright’s use of punctuation in the script. Punctuation can give you clues as to the way your character breathes his words and sentences.

If you’re honestly reacting to the other actor at the audition, you may find yourself surprised by unexpected emotions that come up in the moment.

Feel free to break up the line. Don’t feel compelled to read sentence after sentence after sentence. Reading like that is not life-like. Only actors give line readings in complete sentences. In life we may pause during a sentence, reflect in the middle of a line (or word), or have an emotional response mid-phrase. Modulate.

After it’s over, let it go, it’s over! There’s always another audition, always!

One way to create your character’s history is to observe what other characters in the scene say about your character.

Glenn Alterman ’69 is the author of 16 books on topics related to acting, including Promoting Your Acting Career and Creating Your Own Monologue, published by Allworth Press.

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Notable Expressions FILM

Dante Russo ’03 is touring with Disney’s High School Musical.

Iris Groman Burnett ’68 and David Burnett have directed and produced The Gefilte Fish Chronicles, a documentary that features daughter Jordan Kai Burnett ’08. A New York Times review said, “This record of a family and its joyful ritual is reality television in the best sense.” The documentary is a tale about family that crosses cultural and religious lines to remind viewers of how families embrace ritual as they celebrate holidays.

Randy Barbato ’82 and Fenton Bailey’s World of Wonders Productions is developing three new reality series, each driven by a strong personality at the show’s core. The projects include Allison Margolin: The Dopest Attorney in Town, about “a Los Angeles lawyer who specializes in medical-marijuana cases while working for her family’s practice...,” and Beauty School Dropout, which “focuses on the actor Jim J. Bullock (Too Close for Comfort) as he charts a second career as the wouldbe owner of a hair salon.

Damian Kolodiy ’99 premiered his documentary, Sarah Hendler ’99 is the The Orange Chronicles: A producer behind the new Personal Journey Through film Low and Behold, which Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, screened at this year’s last month at the Fine Arts Sundance Film Festival. The Theater in Beverly Hills. film, about an insuranceFollowing the screening, claims adjuster who finds executive director of himself in a deep depression Emerson College’s Los in post-Katrina New Orleans, Angeles Center, Jim Lane, most recently screened moderated a Q&A on the at the Independent Film film. Lane is the author Festival of Boston. The film of The Autobiographical was shot in New Orleans Documentary in America just eight months after (University of Wisconsin Hurricane Katrina. CNN Press). The film follows Kolodiy’s trek across Ukraine said the film “will make a big impact for the survivors as a volunteer international of Hurricane Katrina,” and election observer before the Time Out London called it 2004 election, “one of the “eye-boggling.” most astonishing bloodless political turnarounds in recent history,” according to a press release.

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TELEVISION Chris Romano ’00 (known professionally as Chris Romanski) is now on the cable television series, Acceptable TV, which premiered in March on VH1 and is produced by comedian Jack Black. The show has an interactive online twist. It is similar to a sketch comedy program and features six “mini-shows.” Viewers vote online for their two favorites to return the following week. The rest of the sketches get “canceled.” Romano got his start after landing an internship on Comedy Central during his senior year at Emerson. He calls the show his “dream job.” Fox News Undercover’s investigative reporter Mike Beaudet ’92 won two New England Emmys this year, one in the “Hard News Report Series” for a segment called “Left Out of the System” and another as outstanding investigative reporter. In 2003, he was awarded an Edward R. Murrow honor for a news series about international adoption and received a 2005 Murrow Award for work on a news series about innocent men spending years in prison. Beaudet’s Wasting Your Money segments uncover government waste and fraud.

Jared Bowen ’98, a reporter for WGBH’s Greater Boston, won a New England Emmy Award for his piece on the Emerson College American Comedy Archives. The award was in the “News Specialty Report – Arts and Entertainment” category. Bowen was also nominated for a second segment. (The American Comedy Archives was established to acquire, preserve and make available primary source material that documents the professional activities of the groundbreaking individuals who have written, produced or performed comedy for radio, television, motion pictures or live performance.)

ESPY award coverage for the network, reports the Bridgewater (Conn.) Courier News. A 15-year veteran of ESPN, Feinberg oversees the production of ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC’s auto racing lineup, including NASCAR, Indy Car, NHRA and Indianapolis 500.

THEATER

Alumni who were nominated for Tony Awards this year included James Simon ’88, who produced Broadway’s Grey Gardens, which garnered a whopping 10 Tony Award nominations. The musical is about the famous East Hampton recluses Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, “Little” Fox 25 News reporter Edie Beale. Paul Kreppel Glenn Jones ’99 switched ’69 won a Tony Award for career paths and took a job special theatrical event, as press secretary for the which was awarded to Jay premier of Bermuda, the Johnson: The Two and Only, country’s highest elected an Off-Broadway transfer official. Jones was asked in which Johnson folds a to take the position by the recap of his own career into premier himself. Last month, a history of ventriloquism. Jones won his first Emmy Bonnie Comley, MA ’94, for News Feature (sameand her husband, Stewart day deadline), adding to Lane, produced the show. the three Associated Press Kreppel is the director-coAwards he already holds. conceiver of the show. Rich Feinberg ’83 is a nationally known producer for ESPN and a winner of 16 Emmy Awards who has supervised the X Games, Winter X Games and

The new play Jump/Rope, written by and starring John Kuntz ’90 and directed by Douglas Mercer, made the jump from Boston to New York City recently. The play is the story of two lovers whose long-term

relationship is growing stale when a mysterious third person enters their lives. The play appeared through June at Urban Stages in New York City. RFK, produced by writeractor Arleen Sorkin ’77, had its Boston premiere this year at the Stuart Street Playhouse. Starring Jack Holmes, the play follows the footsteps and personal transformation of Robert F. Kennedy. The show was nominated in 2006 for the Off-Broadway Drama League and Outer Critics Circle awards. John Gregor’s [’00] new musical comedy, With Glee, was recently given a staged workshop production at Manhattan’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The comedy follows five young boys on their search for friendship and normalcy at a boarding school. He wrote the book, music and lyrics based on his own experiences at the Oxford Academy in Connecticut. Gregor received a 2004 Frederick Loewe Reading for the musical. Dante Russo ’03 will be a part of the first national tour of Disney’s High School Musical. The tour recently came to Boston’s Citi Performing Arts Center.

Hal Fickett ’06 performed in a You Are Here Productions of Indigenous Peoples as part of its Wonderland OneAct Festival in New York. The play was written by Andrew Biss, a contributor to the Nicole DuFresne Scholarship Fund, named in honor of the Emerson alumna.

Bonnie Comley, MA ’94, and her husband produced Jay Johnson: The Two and Only. Paul Kreppel ’69, director and co-conceiver of the show, won the Tony for special theatrical event.

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Alumni writing books: Jonathan Kranz ’91 and Jenn Berman ’92

MUSIC Michael Patterson ’98 and Pete Dorson ’87 were part of a team that helped bring the world premiere of a new opera production to Boston’s Lyric Opera at the Shubert Theatre. The show is Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera (a co-production with Opera Colorado and the Minnesota Opera). Lyric Opera production manager and alum Michael Patterson had to make sure the staging came off without a hitch, a daunting task for “staging a real masked ball complete with violent intrigue,” said the Boston Globe. The production required a year and a half of planning and nearly $350,000 in sets, props and costumes, and Patterson’s team had to bring it all together on time and in the Lyric’s space, added the Globe. Angela Easterling’s (’98) forthcoming album Earning Her Wings is earning the young singer-songwriter

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praise. The Salisbury Post (Salisbury, N.C.) wrote an enthusiastic profile of the South Carolina native, calling Easterling’s writing “soulful” and her sound “unique.” Music Connection magazine has called her voice “haunting and ethereal.” This past summer she opened up for Radney Foster for a sold-out show in Hollywood. She was also the featured artist at Smart Choice Music, a popular source for American music in the U.K.

WORDS Caitlin McCarthy, MFA ’94, has won her second screenwriting award in four months. She took first place at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival’s Screenplay Competition for her screenplay Vera. Her work also won the screenplay competition at MafiaFest 2006. Vera is based on the true story of Vera Laska, a Czech resistance fighter during World War II.

Joe Randazzo ’02 is assistant editor at The Onion, the hugely popular satirical, New York-based newspaper and website. Randazzo was the first winner of Emerson College’s Joe Murphy Comedy Award. The fake news, produced weekly, is read by more than 3 million people a week (online and print). Quick Fiction, a literary journal edited by Jennifer Cande Pieroni ’01, held a swank release party and author reading at the Salem, Mass., Feed Your Head Books, owned and operated by Randi Farmelant, MA ’03. The event also served as a fundraiser for the bookstore. Jonathan Kranz ’91, author of Writing Copy for Dummies (in the bestselling “Dummies” series) has appeared as a guest essayist on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and written numerous marketing-related articles. Jenn Berman ’92 (known as “Dr. Jenn”) has published a new book, The A to Z Guide to Raising Happy, Confident Kids (New World), which offers 26 chapters “on everything from pets to being a sports parent to healthy relationships to food to keeping your marriage

as much fun as it was before the children arrived.” Berman, of Los Angeles, has made appearances on approximately 100 television shows, including Oprah, Today, 48 Hours and the A&E series Intervention. Alan Clendenning ’87, business writer for the Associated Press, has been named AP’s bureau chief in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He will direct news coverage in Brazil for the AP’s three offices there. Clendenning joined the AP in 1998 in New Orleans. Harlan Gulko ’95 has been named vice president of national publicity at Focus Features in Los Angeles. Gulko spearheaded the campaigns for films such as Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Motorcycle Diaries. Veteran journalist and author Robin Keats, MSSp ’72, has been named executive editor for Brentwood Media Group/ WestsideToday, publisher of Westside Today, Los Angeles’ community news magazine. Keats has previously worked for The New Yorker, Esquire and Gentleman’s Quarterly, among other publications.

Alumni Digest From the president of the Alumni Association Dear Alumni, This past August, my wife, Maribel, and I hosted a send-off reception for members of the Class of 2011. It was a remarkable event that brought together incoming freshmen, their parents and a number of alumni, who were quick to offer advice and encouragement to ensure success in the new freshmen’s Emerson odysseys. As I greeted each student at the door, I was pleased to learn that every one of them had already selected their concentration of study and that they were filled with energy, focus and a hunger that was reminiscent of the experiences many of us had as we began our own journeys at Emerson. Clearly, this year’s freshman class will arrive on campus with “true freedom” – they know what they want, their path is clear and they will fully embrace the opportunities that lay before them. As we enter this new academic year and a new term for your Alumni Board, the College is committed more than ever to reconnect every one of our

26,000 alumni to the Emerson experience that prepared us for our careers and our lives. The Board has been hard at work creating a series of strategic initiatives that will result in opportunities for alumni to reconnect to the College in ways that are personal and important. So, take a moment and reflect on an Emerson that made a difference in your life. I hope you find, as I have, that these experiences create a trail that brings us back home, to Emerson. On behalf of the Alumni Board, we wish you the very best and look forward to reconnecting with you in the year to come. And, if you can’t make it back to an Emerson event, make it a point to join the Emerson Alumni online community and let us know what you are up to. And spread the word! With warm regards, Robert Friend ’79 President, Emerson College Alumni Association rfriend@alumni.emerson.edu

M. Kutchin ’51, supporter of Robbins Center, dies Maxine “Mitzi” (Lampert) Kutchin ’51, of Andover, Mass., died Aug. 10, 2007, at the age of 77. Although Kutchin studied acting and worked at radio station WERS as a student, she became interested in the work of Emerson’s Robbins Center for Speech, Language and Hearing during a 40th reunion campus tour. After learning more about the need for speech and language therapists, she and her husband established a scholarship for a graduate student in communica-

tion sciences and disorders. Kutchin also urged the College to publicize the work of the Robbins Center to a wider audience, according to Barbara Rutberg, director of the Alumni Relations office. The result was the Clinical Practice and Outreach Initiative, a three-year project to which she and her husband made a leadership gift. She leaves husband Melvin Kutchin, her children and grandchildren.

Robert Friend ’79

Calendar of Events Saturday, Nov. 3: Los Angeles – “The Art of Adaptation: Making Movies From Other Media” Wednesday, Nov. 14: Boston – ASHA Convention; CSD alumni and faculty reception Friday, Nov. 16: Chicago _ Alumni and faculty reception at the NCA convention Sunday, Dec. 2: Philadelphia – First Lady Exhibit with Myra Gutin ’70, National Constitution Center Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008: Southern Florida – “Reality TV: Where is the Genre Heading?” Fri. Jan. 25-Sun. Jan. 27: New Hampshire – Alumni Ski Weekend at Attitash Resort Thursday, April 3: Los Angeles – Emerson College’s Annual Festival of Film and Video Friday, April 4: New York Connection For details on these and other upcoming events, visit emersonalumni.com or call 1-800-255-4259.

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Dave Gwizdowski ’80

Anne K. Boas ’85

Steve Sakson ’76

Julia Owens ’03

Gaynelle Griffin Jones ’69

Robert Edney ’76

Tory Johnson ’92

Seven alumni elected to Alumni Association board The seven newly elected board members to the Emerson College Alumni Association are: Dave Gwizdowski ’80, Robert Edney ’76, Gaynelle Griffin Jones ’69, Tory Johnson ’92, Anne Kenney Boas ’85, Julia Owens ’03 and Steve Sakson ’76. The board is composed of 25 members and includes the presidents of all regional chapters. The board of directors works with the Alumni Relations office and the Alumni Association to build connections between alumni and the College. This year the board will develop a strategic plan with annual goals and will encourage volunteers to participate with them on various projects and initiatives. The most important initiative this year will be an alumni interest and attitude survey. “We hope this will help us measure the success of our alumni programs and outreach to the alumni community,” says Barbara Rutberg ’68, director of the Alumni Relations office. Dave Gwizdowski ’80 is Associated Press’s director of TV sales, in the Americas. Prior to joining AP, Gwizdowski gained extensive editorial and production experience in newsrooms from Texas to Maine. Gwizdowski won two Emmys and two RTNDA Awards while working in Providence and Boston. Gwizdowski and his wife, Mary-Frances, live in Bristol, R.I., and Washington, D.C., with their daughter and two sons. Robert Edney ’76 works as a media consultant specializing in advertising sales. His career spans more than 25 years in broadcast, cable and digital media. He began producing Boston’s Black News newscast in his junior year

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at Emerson and the 6 p.m. newscast on WNAC-TV in Boston while still in his senior year. He went on to graduate from Columbia University’s Business and Journalism schools and joined CBS-TV in its finance department. He eventually moved to ad sales, where he excelled in negotiating deals with Fortune 500 advertisers. In 1996, he took a post at A&E Networks, where he enjoyed a 10-year career in roles ranging from account executive to VP of sales and VP of business development and new media. He lives in Scarsdale, N.Y., with his wife, Dr. Paula Randolph, and their two children. Gaynelle Griffin Jones ’69, a native Texan, heads a group at Hewlett Packard handling employee code-ofconduct investigations worldwide. She was the first African-American woman to serve on a Texas court of appeals, appointed by then-Gov. Ann Richards in 1992. Later, President Bill Clinton selected Griffin Jones to be a U.S. attorney in the Southern Texas region. She was and still is the only woman to serve in that position in her district. Tory Johnson ’92 is CEO of Women For Hire, which produces a range of recruitment services for women nationwide. She founded the company in 1999, after serving in corporate communications positions at ABC News, NBC News and Nickelodeon. Johnson is a sought-after speaker and the co-author of three books on career advancement. She is also the workplace contributor on ABC’s Good Morning America and the anchor of Home Work, a weekly program on ABC News Now. Johnson lives in New York City with her husband and their children.

Anne Kenny Boas ’85 is executive producer of the Warner Bros. Creative Lab in Los Angeles. She is also a playwright and writer/producer of several comedic works, including the award-winning documentary The Pool of Desire, detailing the origins of camp comedy in New York City in the 1930s. While a student at Emerson, she cofounded the This is Pathetic comedy troupe with Gerry Izzo in 1981. Since then, she helped establish and currently administers the Joe Murphy Comedy Scholarship at Emerson. Anne recently married photographer Christopher Boas in Bucks County, Pa. Julia Owens ’03 attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts at age 18. She received her diploma from LAMDA and came to Boston to begin her four-year career at Emerson as a B.F.A. acting student. She graduated from Emerson and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. With two years of experience in the entertainment industry under her belt, she decided to change careers. Owens found a perfect fit working for a philanthropic advising firm. Steve Sakson ’76 has had a 32year career in communications, starting in the newsroom of radio station WERS as a freshman in 1973. The tumultuous world events of the times inspired him to pursue a journalism career, including print and Web journalism. He now works in management consulting for McKinsey & Company, writing and editing reports for clients, and teaching them how to be better communicators.

Colorado

Connecticut

When Sarah Borges ’99 brought her band, The Broken Singles, to Denver, it was a great reason for the Denver chapter to get together and show some “alum love.” Attending the show were (from left): Liz Key ’03, Rosalie Sheffield ’81, and Sarah and Ron Bostwick ’81. Not pictured are Val Suriano ’83 and Renee Schoichit ’02. Photo by Elana Jacobs ’91.

More than 80 Emersonians joined Alumni Association President Robert Friend ’79 (far left) as he hosted a summer Welcome Reception for incoming freshmen and their parents in Connecticut. Members of the incoming Class of 2011, along with alumni, show off their Emerson pride (and jazz hands) in front of the Madison Beach Resort in August.

Zeta Phi Eta conference in Texas Alumni and current students gathered at the 2007 national conference for Zeta Phi Eta in Austin, Texas, over the summer. Zeta Phi Eta is gearing up for its 100th anniversary celebration to be held during Alumni Weekend 2008. From left are: Lise Rasmussen Simring ’93, Tom O’Connor ’03, Marc Cocchiola ’00, Tara Sapienza ’99, Maria Schloerb Burns ’99, Mary Ann Cicala ’99, Blaire Shiff ’07, Eddie Jones ’04, Jay MacFadgen ’08, Ilana Plen ’09 and Lisa Chiango, G ’06.

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Alumni Weekend 2007 brings nearly 500 to campus More than 480 alumni and guests returned to Emerson June 1-3 for Alumni Weekend 2007. The theme was “Rediscover What Connects Us,” celebrating Emerson’s establishment of the Campus on the Common. The new Piano Row Building, with the Max Mutchnick Campus Center, seen for the first time by many of the returning alumni, exemplifies this change, and President

Jacqueline Liebergott opened the weekend with a champagne reception held in the building’s new gymnasium. The Boston G.O.L.D. (Graduates of the Last Decade) group helped host a sold-out boat cruise: a pirate-themed party with a treasure chest of “booty” for guests, decorations and an impromptu karaoke performance. Because the cruise was so popular, plans are in the works for a larger boat next year.

From left are Gary Grossman ’70, Tom Bauer ’68 and Peter Meade ’70, chair of the College’s Board of Trustees

WECB celebrated its 60th reunion this year, with an Alumni College presentation on the future of radio and a WECB lunch. One attendee said it was his favorite part of the weekend, appreciating that “the College remembered the ‘little station that could’” and he enjoyed the chance to meet both old friends and the people that were there “from the beginning.” Saturday night’s annual reunion party and auction

Alyse Nelson Bloom ’97 (Walt Littlefield Distinguished Speaker Award recipient) and recently retired faculty member Walt Littlefield

The 2007 Alumni Achievement Award winners join President Liebergott. They are (from left): Jay Bienstock ’87, Lucia Cottone ’92, Linda Zimmerman Schwartz ’67 and Eric Alexander ’78.

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was a “fantastically elegant party,” said one attendee. providing the chance to mix and mingle. The night featured silent and live auctions that raised more than $50,000 in scholarship donations, this year’s Alumni Achievement awards, dinner and music. Save the date for next year’s Alumni Weekend activities: May 30-June 1, 2008. Reunion years will be classes ending in ’3s and ’8s.

Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication George Quenzel and Donna Walcovy Quenzel ’72

From left are Morton Dean Dubitsky ’57, President Liebergott and Ed Blotner ’57

Members of the Class of 2007

From left are Bill Miller ’74, Lisa Passero ’74, Todd Dimston ’77 and Arleen Sorkin ‘77

Anson Tebbetts ’87 and his daughter

From left are Dick Dysart ’56, Andy MacMillan ’54, President Liebergott, Cindi Crane ’57 with husband Ted Story.

Ado Todd and Genevieve Ellison ’97

Di Bona ’66 gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Emerson College alumnus and Trustee Vin Di Bona ’66 was awarded a star on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame” in recognition of his pioneering, 39-year career in television production. Di Bona is best known as the creator and executive producer of America’s Funniest Home Videos, which is the longest-running prime-time entertainment show in the history of the ABC network. Joining Di Bona at the Aug. 23 event at which his star was unveiled, were his daughter, Cara Di Bona Swartz ’94, as well as a contingent of Emerson officials, including President Jacqueline Liebergott, Trustees Peter Meade, Jeff Greenhawt and Gary Grossman, Overseer Jan Greenhawt, Vice President for Public Affairs David Rosen and Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Barbara Rutberg.

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Morrison to serve as alumni relations coordinator Stephanie Morrison ’07 has accepted a position as Emerson’s alumni relations coordinator. She will be working with the Student Alumni Association (SAA) and Boston G.O.L.D. (Graduates of the Last Decade) in addition to supporting several reunion classes. She will also maintain the alumni website and online community. Morrison graduated from the College last May with a B.A. in writing, literature and publishing, and served on the executive board of the

Caller ID: E

m e r s o n

SAA since transferring to Emerson in 2005. Morrison spent the past year as a student employee in Emerson’s Institutional Advancement office. Previously, she worked as an attendant on the Star Tours ride at Walt Disney World and as a voodoo witch doctor in an Oswego, N.Y., haunted house, in addition to holding myriad other part-time jobs. She is excited to remain firmly entrenched in the Emerson community and looks forward to helping her fellow alumni stay connected with the College.

S t u d e n t !

Stephanie Morrison ’07

Washington, D.C.

Meet one Sabrina Formoso, MA ’07. She is an integrated marketing communications graduate student from the Philippines. Sabrina is a member of Emerson College’s chapter of the American Marketing Association. Sabrina says, “I love working at Phonathon because I get to hear interesting stories about Emerson College alums through the years.” Favorite thing about Emerson College “The professors are wonderful! Being experts in their own fields, they have so much knowledge and experience to share. The students come from diverse backgrounds, which brings in more perspective to the learning process. Its location is superb. Boston is one of the most amazing cities I’ve been to. There’s always something to do, and it’s definitely a home away from home.” When you take the time to speak with a Phonathon caller, you have the opportunity to… • Hear updates about the College, ask questions and pass along comments • Ensure that you are receiving information from Emerson • Pass along a message to a professor or get in touch with old friends • Support academic programs, scholarships, student activities and athletics through gifts to Emerson College Phonathon fast facts • Students place about 35,000 calls per semester • The average Phonathon gift is between $50 and $100 • The largest gift elicited over the phone last year was $1,000 How to participate To contribute to the Annual or Parents Fund, visit www.emerson.edu/alumni/giving or contact Cheryl Crounse, Director of Annual Giving, at (617) 824-8543 or cheryl_crounse@emerson.edu. Or wait to hear from a student caller!

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Brett Dewey ’87, owner of WickedCoolStuff.com, testified before U.S. Congress’s House Small Business Commitee hearing on the extension of the moratorium on Internet taxes.

Class Notes 1946 Arline “Lee” Greenvald Addiss is volunteering at the Paley Media Center, formerly the Museum of Broadcasting, in New York City as well as at a senior center procuring and distributing complimentary tickets to shows. She writes: “As soon as I find a more available dog walker, I hope to try to obtain some extra work again in TV and movies. Any Emerson grads underemployed in New York available to take care of my Schnauzer from time to time?”

1954 Jerry Finn founded the awardwinning Banyan Theater Company, a nonprofit summer theater in Sarasota, Fla., in 2001 shortly after retiring to Sarasota following a long career as an attorney in New Jersey. Theater is his first love.

1956 Lorraine Seymourian is a producer, writer and radio hostess. She has interviewed dozens of top celebrities and can be heard five times a day in 39 states on AM and FM

Pam Cross ’75 was among five distinguished graduates of Norwalk (Conn.) High School who were honored by the NHS Alumni Association at a Wall of Honor dinner in October. Pam anchors the weekend edition of NewsCenter Five at WCVB-TV, a position she has held since 1994. She co-chaired her 25th reunion at Emerson in 2000.

radio stations, such as in the Boston area on WBIX 1060, Saturdays, 3-4 p.m. She is also a feature writer for Upscale Living, which published Lorraine’s interview with the Duchess of York.

1961 Lila Susanne Greenberg is writing a nonfiction book about her family, going back to her great-grandfather in Kiev, and the history of the lumber business which her father, Michael, left to her.

1968

Dallas Mayr says filming has just been completed on Jack Ketchum’s (Dallas Mayr’s, actually) novel Red, directed by Trygve Diesen and starring Brian Cox and Kim Dickens. His fourth book of short fiction, Closing Time and Other Stories, has been published in hardcover by Gauntlet Press. Honore Weiner retired from her position as program administrator after 32 years with the CASE Collaborative Program for Hearing/Language Impaired. She is working as a consultant for

Raj Sharma ’83 was selected for Barron’s “Top 100 Financial Advisors” list, a national ranking of America’s best financial advisors. Raj has spent the last 19 years serving corporate and individual investors as a private wealth advisor at Merrill Lynch.

The Decibels Foundation, providing training and support for educators working with hearing-impaired children in public schools. In May she was honored at a gala hosted by The Decibels Foundation. Marlene Bergart ’71 attended the event.

1969 Glenn Alterman won the prestigious Arts and Letters Award in Drama for The Sealing of Ceil. His play Like Family was selected for a production in The Pittsburgh New Works Festival. His 16th book, Glenn Alterman’s Secrets to Successful Cold Readings (Smith and Kraus), is now widely available. He can be seen playing opposite James Gandolfini in an American Airlines commercial as well as playing a hysterical 14-year-old-girl (yup, it’s true!) in a new Wendy’s Baconburger commercial.

1970 Mark Amitin will be guest director and lecturer for fall 2007 at the Shanghai Theatre Academy (China), directing a multi-site, indoor/outdoor staging of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, based on his own adaptation. He will also be conducting lectures and workshops at the Shanghai Experimental Theatre Festival.

1971 Melanie (Gross) Greenfield is activity coordinator at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville, Md. “After working for many years as a meeting planner, I began working last year as an activity coordinator for Community Partners, a federally funded program run by the Jewish Federation that helps seniors age in place. I love it. I get to go to the theater and museums, run a book club and play games!”

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In Memoriam

1946 June Glover of Beaver Falls, Pa. 1950 Chester Collier of West Palm Beach, Fla. 1951 Maxine Kutchin of Andover, Mass. 1958 Toby Mendelson Vitale of Cranston, R.I. 1959 Velma Blume of Los Angeles, Calif. 1966 Al Corona, MSSp ’72, of Melrose, Mass. 1972 Robert Clarke of Fort Myers, Fla. 1973 Carl Henry De Vasto of Westwood, Mass. 1980 Jay Alan Lebow of Los Angeles, Calif. 1996 Eric Algren of Marina Del Day, Calif. 2003 Laura Nelson of Lake Forest, Ill. 2006 Kate McCabe of Scituate, Mass. 2007 Anthony Caputo of Boston, Mass

1974

1978

Stephanie Johnson is associate professor in the Visual and Public Art Department at California State University, Monterey Bay. In March she was appointed a civic arts commissioner for the city of Berkeley.

Steve Farreia recently appeared in a production of Annie, Get Your Gun at the Camille Playhouse in Brownsville, Texas.

1977 John Hanc has published his seventh book, Jones Beach: An Illustrated History, which tells the story of the historic public oceanfront park in New York City. He also writes for Newsday.

1983 William Selby (Sitcawich) continues a long and happy relationship with the Tony Award-winning Off-Broadway show Forbidden Broadway, having starred in, assistantdirected, understudied (currently) and cast many of the editions through the years in New York City. He has directed eight productions of the hit Jennifer Leclerc ’93 is manager of communications and community relations for A Better City (ABC) in Boston. ABC advances transportation, land development and public realm projects that ensure that Boston remains one of the most dynamic and unique cities in the world. Jennifer is thrilled to be back in Boston and loves seeing how the city is evolving after the removal of the elevated freeway. She lives in Melrose with husband David and their daughters, Clara, 5, and Rosalie, 2.

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Patricia Simmons ’81 reports that her first book, Guilty of Love, a Christian romance novel, is available online and hit the stores in September. “I have received wonderful reviews,” she writes.

musical comedy revue across the country, and will present his ninth this fall in Cleveland, Ohio. Terry Waller received his master of arts degree in AfricanAmerican studies from Clark Atlanta University. As an Emerson student, he was cochair of EBONI and a writer for The Berkeley Beacon. He plans to move to Florida to begin teaching on the secondary and collegiate levels.

1984 Michele Perkins officiated her first graduation last May as president of New England College. There, she presented an honorary degree to Sen. John Edwards. In her speech, Michele performed an Emily Dickinson poem, a skill she learned at Emerson. Merri Sugarman came to campus during the spring semester to teach Emerson students about casting. She was casting director at Dreamworks and then left Los Angeles for New York

City. She now works with Tara Rubin Casting and supervises the Broadway shows Jersey Boys and Spamalot, among others.

1986 Caitlin McKenna has published a science fiction thriller, Logging Off.

1987 Jacqueline Rawiszer recently completed the five-year cantorial certification program through Hebrew Union College-School of Sacred Music and the American Conference of Cantors. Cantor Rawiszer serves the Congregation of Reform Judaism, a vibrant congregation of 750 families in Orlando, Fla. She lives in DeBary, Fla., with her husband, Randy, a custom clothier.

1988 Abby Trotter Grant recently took a position at Hollister in the Creative Division, where they specialize in placing creative, advertising and marketing and direct marketing talent in both freelance and

permanent positions. She lives in Swampscott, Mass., with her son, daughter and husband, who is a design/ layout instructor at Emerson. Daniel Guss wrote a powerful five-part series on animal cruelty for The Los Angeles Times in August. He is a writer who lives in Los Angeles, and founded the Stand Foundation, which fights the abuse of dogs. Keith Jardim, MFA ’88, is the recipient of several creative writing fellowships and awards and has taught fiction writing at the University of the West Indies, Bermuda College and the University of Houston. He has been published in numerous literary journals.

1989 Elizabeth Casey, MSSp, has been appointed director of provider relations at Network Health in Massachusetts. Kathie Cornelius, a 20-year veteran in the corporate communications field, has joined Ocean Spray Cranberries as manager of corporate communications. In this role, she helps create and deliver consistent communication to Ocean Spray’s internal and external audiences, including employees, grower-owners, business and general media, civic and business leaders and the general public.

1990 Carla Sheri just published her first book, From the Archives… Cahla’s Tawkin’, a collection of opinion pieces based on current events gathered from her popular column posted at www.daemonrecords. com. She would love to hear from fellow Emersonians at cscheri@mindspring.com.

1991 Kate (Bolles) and Jay Bragan moved to the campus of the Portsmouth Abbey School, where Jay is head of performing arts and Kate works as an assistant houseparent for a freshman girls dorm. On June 4, 2007, their second daughter, Lila Foster Bragan, was born. She joins big sister Gwenyth, who turned 4 in September.

Mikey Kelly ’95 has been a voiceover actor in Los Angeles for the past 12 years. In addition to several television/radio commercial campaigns, he is currently the voice for the Toon Disney network and was recently featured as the voice of Michelangelo in the box office hit, TMNT.

Sean Horrigan ’91, MA ’99, is an account executive at the strategic branding firm MDG in Holliston, Mass. He will focus on business development, public relations and account management.

1992 Luther Mace’s short film, Masquerade, had its world premiere at Outfest in July and screened at the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in August. The film, written and produced by Luther, tells the story of a man at a crossroads in his life.

Travis Small ’97 and Jodi Planchon, MSSp ’05, are happy to announce their engagement. The wedding ceremony will take place in fall 2008 in the Boston area. They have been dating for more than three years and met through an Emerson connection.

Eduardo Samame has been promoted to vice president of advanced advertising for Time Warner Cable.

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1993 Michael Batista writes, “I became a sports page designer at The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., in 2005. I recently launched a Pittsburgh Steelers fan website called Steelahs.com. I’d love to hear from fellow Emersonians. E-mail me at mikebatista@ hotmail.com.” Michelle Robinson recently produced Breakfast at Live Earth and Live Earth-New York for Bravo. Having worked on Live 8 two years ago and Nokia’s New Year’s Eve this past year in Rio de Janeiro, she is quickly becoming an expert in worldwide events. She lives in West Hollywood and can be reached at robinson18@gmail.com. 1994 Maryanne Galvin is proud to announce that her documentary What’s Going on up There? won the Indie Spec: Special Recognition Award in Documentary, after the Boston International Film Festival

Angela (Lepito) ’94 and Paul Hungerford ’93 are thrilled to announce the arrival of their daughter, Alessia Caroline Hungerford.

Trista DeSousa ’96 and Jesse Placky are happy to announce their engagement. The wedding ceremony will take place Nov. 21, 2008, in Costa Rica. They’ve been dating for almost two years and recently bought a house.

screened the feature documentary in June 2007 and announced the award winners during the closing night ceremonies. Franca Gullett (Marena), her husband, Chris, and their two children, James and Morgan, have moved to Athens, Ga. Chris has completed his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute and began a job at Athens Regional as a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. Franca will continue to run her event planning company, now in its 11th year, from Georgia. Rowland Hoyt is living the racetrack gypsy life “with a measure of stability.” He bought a house near Cincinnati and hits the road most weeks as the horse racing researcher for ESPN and ABC. Rowland got out of the cold in Boston by working as a TV host at Gulfstream Park in Miami during the winter. He is currently living with two great gals – one his girlfriend, the other an adorable 2-year-old.

Britt Kohlschreiber-Hanford and her husband welcomed a baby boy named Oscar in December 2006. Britt has completed her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of Montana. She will begin her new career as an 11th-grade English teacher in September. Erin Reilly has been honored with a prestigious Leaders in Learning Award sponsored by Cable in the Classroom for creating and implementing innovative ways to educate students and for making a substantial contribution to learning. As one of four winners nationwide in the General Excellence category, Reilly is being recognized for co-creating Zoey’s Room. Carla Rudy is a puppeteer living in Los Angeles whose work has been seen in the film Team America: World Police and commercials for Fandango.com. She also works with musician Beck. Her puppets are broadcast live during the concerts imitating everything the band does during the show, even playing on miniature instruments.

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1995 Denise (Goldspiel) Gamache writes: “I live in Naples, Florida. I am married and my husband, Mike, and I had our first child, a son named Steven Michael Gamache on Jan. 22, 2007. I currently work for TIB Bank as a construction loan administrative assistant.” Harlan Gulko has been named vice president of national publicity at Focus Features in Los Angeles. Harlan spearheaded the campaigns for films, including the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Translation and The Motorcycle Diaries.

1997 Melinda Valente ’97, MA ’99, and Ken Ragsdale ’99 were engaged in Morro Bay, Calif. They plan to be married in Boston in August 2008.

1998 Heather (Calder) Roberts is assignment editor at KOHDTV in Bend, Ore. She was previously employed at KFXO in Bend. She anchored the 10 O’Clock News for six months until the station was sold and the newsroom staff was let go.

Emersonians reunited in August for the wedding of Nicole Witkov ’03 and Patrick Rooney ’04 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston.

While having the summer off to enjoy her husband and kids was nice, Heather is excited to be working in a newsroom again, this time doing a job she has always wanted. Elix Cintron was named vice president of sales and marketing for the Northeast Division of Emeritus Assisted Living. Elix’s passion is “to empower people to be extraordinary leaders living extraordinary lives.” Elix also volunteers for Easter Seals Massachusetts, where he was appointed to the board of directors. Additionally, he moved to Norton, Mass., where he lives with his partner of 15 years. Maria Coder has launched the City Pet Guide, New York City’s first Yellow Pages-type directory and website on pets. Bill Horn and Catherine Horn have a new family member: Emily Laurel, born Sept. 27, 2006, in Providence, R.I. Emily has a 2-year-old brother, Jackson. Bill is a financial advisor with Smith Barney. Todd Rotondi played Bryant Montgomery on As the World Turns for three years. Now he’s moved back to Boston to be the frontman in the band Soap Stars.

1999 Joe Einstein says that Emerson alums are playing major roles in the Live Earth concert record-breaking online coverage. “My company, Incited Media, was the technical services company for the MSN side of the broadcast. Incited is almost fully staffed by Em-

erson alums from the classes of 1999-2006. On the live show we had over 20 alums working from director to engineer to production assistant.” Erika Gimenes and John Remlinger were married in a ceremony in Malibu, Calif., on Aug. 4. They tied the knot overlooking the Pacific outside a grand Malibu mansion. Erika has started her own rock magazine, Rock Euphoria. The couple live in the art district of Miami, Fla. Erika can be contacted at erikagoo@gmail. com. Bria (Wooding) Peach and husband Michael welcomed their first child, Liam Michael, on Jan. 21, 2007.

2001 Kevin McKernan recently completed a year working with the History Channel on an online series called History of the Holidays. He was also responsible for rights and clearances on videos for the Mount Vernon Museum & Gardens. “I am viewable marching around in Revolution-era dress in one of these videos.”

Mary Ann Cicala ’99 and Rebecca Dornin ’00 were married Aug. 18, 2007, at the Belmont Woman’s Club in Belmont, Mass. Emerson alumni were there to celebrate with the brides: bottom row (from left): Tara Blackwell ’99, Mary Ann Cicala, Rebecca Dornin, Tara Sapienza ’99; middle row: Tony Ascenso ’00, Jeannette Ocampo-Welch, Linda Savarese ’91, Tiffany Amoakohene ’00, Lisa Chiango G ’06, Maria Schoerb Burns ’99 with husband James Burns; back row: Sivia Malloy ’98, Tom O’Connor ’03, Lise (Rasmussen) Simring ’93. Not photographed: Chris Hurley ’92, Juan Ramos ’05, Ruby Reyes ’00 and Tori Weston ’98.

Rosamond Pope is a physical education teacher and athletic director at the “amazing” KIPP Bayview Academy in San Francisco. She works with two other alumni: Leyla Akincilar ’02 and Suna Akmese, MSSp ’02. Denise Spillane recently accepted a position at Aramark Healthcare in Philadelphia as director of marketing communications.

2002 Frederick Nnoma-Addison was accepted into the Fellowship Diversity Program at the L.A. TV Fest, a program that helps producers and writers from diverse backgrounds better navigate the entertainment industry and continue their career development. Eric Wasserman, MFA ’02, and Thea Ledendecker, MA ’03, have announced their engagement. For the 200708 academic year Eric has

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Scott Wholley ’02 (right), who is a photojournalist at WPRI (Channel 12) in Providence, won a regional Emmy this year along with John Villella (left) for the best New England news piece filmed and edited piece in 24 hours. The story was about the Italians winning the World Cup in Soccer in 2006 and was filmed at a bar in Providence filled with Italians cheering the Italian team to victory. Joan Moran, MA ’95 (center), also of WPRI, was nominated for an Emmy.

accepted a position as visiting assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Akron in Ohio.

2003 Patrick Duggan has completed his master’s degree in writing and literature at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. He founded and co-edits an Internet-based poetics journal and editorial blog called Idiolexicon. Jason Fell is an associate editor at Folio:, the magazine about the magazine industry. In addition to writing and editing stories for the magazine and covering breaking news for the website, Jason edits Folio:’s weekly and bi-weekly industry newsletters.

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Betsy Morgan was cast in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, opening on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre this fall. Maryn Peters works for Authentic TV in Los Angeles and has field-produced the shows Flipping Out on Bravo and Ace of Cakes on the Food Network.

2004 Kimberly Byda recently accepted a position at Jillian’s/ Lucky Strike Boston as event sales manager.

2005 Amy Duskiewicz and Evan Lundeen were married on July 7, 2007, at the Summit Lodge, Killington, Vt. Fellow Emerson grads at the wedding included Andrea GabbidonLevene (maid of honor), Lisa Julien (bridesmaid), Meg

Connolly (bridesmaid), Jeremy Latour, Jarrod Hetzer and Julie Whitehouse. Amy recently accepted a position at James M. Singleton Charter School located in New Orleans, as head of drama for grades K-8.

Amanda Jacobellis says that after participating in the Emerson L.A. Program, she opened a makeup studio and eyelash bar in West Hollywood, where she “has many celebrity clients. Thanks, Emerson.”

Neil Gabrielson is working as a union location manager and scout in Los Angeles. He recently completed the Weinstein Company feature Crossing Over, starring Harrison Ford and Sean Penn, and is currently working on season five of the Warner Bros. TV show Cold Case.

Melissa Ruopp received her Ed.M. in arts in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in June 2006. This year she worked at Theatre For A New Audience in New York City, where she taught, adapted and directed Shakespeare with 3rd-9th graders. As of September 2007 Melissa will be creating and teaching in the drama program at the East Harlem School at Exodus House.

Shira Good moved to Germany with her husband and works for United States European Command MWR Marketing Garmisch, Germany. She writes: “I know now that I couldn’t have picked a better school to prepare me not just for my field of choice, but for virtually any job in this industry.”

Bernardo DiGirolamo ’03 recently created Free Stuff!, which was picked up for 20 episodes by G4 TV. The product review show bridges the gap between television and the Internet by giving viewers a realtime chance to win products via the show’s website. Bernardo is the show’s associate producer.

Lindzi Scharf is a Los Angelesbased entertainment journalist for a number of media outlets. Among the celebrities she has interviewed are Anthony Hopkins, John Travolta and Sandra Bullock.

2006 Olivia Kate Cerrone has been accepted into New York University, where she will pursue an M.F.A. in creative writing. Jason Clough has been promoted to multimedia content manager at WNCN-TV/NBC17 in Raleigh, N.C., overseeing the gathering and dissemination of news across broadcast and web platforms. “The way we did things 50 years ago is quickly becoming obsolete, and I am so glad to be helping to lead that change in our newsroom,” he writes. Douglas Platz graduated with a broadcast journalism degree, and after running his own unsuccessful bid for state representative in Pennsylvania he went to work for a Democratic congressional

candidate. Douglas worked on Patrick Murphy’s campaign in Pennsylvania’s 8th district in Bucks County. He’s happy to report that along with so many other candidates, they were successful in a district that hasn’t elected a Democrat since the early 1980s.

2007

A group of alumni gathered over the summer at Cafe BaBaReeba in Chicago. From left are Jason Garvett ’05, Dante Russo ’03, Eric Cornell ’05, Chris O’Neill ’04, Andrew Damer ’04, Mary Krupka, Tom Grey ’02.

Leandro Caires has won a 2007 Aegis Award for a 3-minute video produced for Monumental Recordz. Twenty-One was honored in the “Student” category for its outstanding production quality. Leandro is an associate producer for Sunshine Films and InFluência Films do Brazil.

Sara Ventre ’04 (left) was named promotions coordinator at Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Broadcasting. “We recently returned from Nashville, where we produced the CMA Music Festival radio broadcast. Our work, in conjunction with the CMA and various other partners, increased Festival attendance by 30,000!”

Coli Sylla just received his master’s degree from Emerson and is headed to California to enter the industry.

Where Are You And What are You Doing New job? Received an award? Recently engaged or married? New baby? Moving? Recently ran into a long-lost classmate? Let us know. Use this form to submit your news or send it to Barbara_Rutberg@emerson.edu; 1-800-255-4259; fax: 1-617-824-7807. You can also submit Class Notes online at www.emersonalumni.com.

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Profile Book Smart Felicia Pride, MA ’05, lives, eats and dreams books Felicia Pride, MA ’05, grew up on hiphop music. Today, this young literati has published an innovative book on the subject. The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs (Thunder’s Mouth Press) extracts lessons from

Felicia Pride, MA ’05

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some of the genre’s most popular songs, including learning how to deal with regrets (from a Jay-Z tune), raising self-esteem (Mos Def), exerting your self-worth (Queen Latifah) and reflecting on one’s spirituality (Kanye West) – ideas that are all from huge stars in the genre. Pride wrote the book because, growing up listening to hip-hop, she realized the powerful way it shaped how she thinks. “We can learn from hip-hop,” she says. Pride is a one-woman cottage industry. Splitting her time between New York City and Baltimore, she is an editorial consultant, a blogger, an advocate of black literature and now a published hiphop authority. With a degree from Emerson’s graduate program in writing, literature and publishing, 27-year-old Pride has her hand in a long list of projects related to her larger mission: Keeping good literature in print, and keeping people in a culture of reading and literacy, combined with a spotlight on great literature by African-American authors. “I have a very nontraditional career,” she says. Her new children’s book, Everyone Hates First Girlfriends, is being published by Simon & Schuster for the 9-12-age group; and a story of hers called “How to Be Down” (which she began in an Emerson class taught by Associate Professor Jessica Treadway) was recently published in an anthology, Hallway Diaries by Harlequin. Pride is the founder of Backlist (www.thebacklist.net), an online publication that covers “underrepresented writers as well as African-American writers. I always

wanted to start a magazine. When I got to Emerson, I realized the realities of the business, so I started [the online] Backlist.” Pride is also a featured blogger on AOL’s Black Voices site, writing the “More Than Words” blog. “I was brought on to talk about books and the publishing world,” she says. Her hiphop book, The Message, is the first full-length work she has written. “It was challenging – exciting and scary at the same time.” Pride has a particular interest in helping writers learn the ins and outs of the publishing business. “It’s important for authors to be savvy about the industry.” Pride is also editor of the quarterly magazine Mosaic, a Manhattan-based publication that covers black and Latino writers and literature. Before entering the master’s program at Emerson, Pride worked at a trade publication in the pharmaceuticals industry. The Emerson program provided Pride with mentors such as author and writer-inresidence Kim McLarin (Jump at the Sun) and New York Times columnist and Associate Professor Jeffrey Seglin, as well as “great” internships at several publishing houses. Pride made an impression on her Emerson professors. Seglin says of Pride, “What’s striking about Felicia is not just the energy she brings to the multiple simultaneous projects she juggles; it’s also the time she finds to spend with other young adults who seek her out for advice on entering the publishing industry.” Passing it on could be Pride’s bywords. – Rhea Becker

Reunion Year for 5th Reunion 2003 10th Reunion 1998 15th Reunion 1993 20th Reunion 1988 25th Reunion 1983 30th Reunion 1978 35th Reunion 1973 40th Reunion 1968 45th Reunion 1963 50th Reunion 1958 55th Reunion 1953 60th Reunion 1948 65th Reunion 1943 70th Reunion 1938 100th Reunion Zeta Phi Eta 60th Reunion RDO

No matter when you graduated, this is your Emerson

Alumni weekend 2008 May 30, 31, June 1

“I was overwhelmed by the transformation of the campus and the friendliness of the people. I am proud to be a part of the Emerson family.” Sheila Krute Savisky ‘58

Rehearsal DinnerÂ Student actors rehearse a scene from Top Girls in which five women from various historical periods meet and share a meal. The play, written by acclaimed playwright Caryl Churchill and directed by Emerson Performing Arts Professor Maureen Shea, was presented on the Emerson campus this fall.Â

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