17 minute read
CREATORS
VERA VON SAUCKEN HALDY-REGIER ’57
Vera von Saucken Haldy-Regier ’57 debuted Through the Years: Selected Poems. Written over a seven-year period, the collection’s poems fall into six categories: youth, memories, nature, seasons, contemplation, and verses in adversity. Pieces found in the “verses in adversity” section were mainly written during the COVID-19 pandemic and reflect the anxieties of that period.
GEORGE LIEBMANN ’56
Journal of Two Plague Years, a collection of op-ed pieces on politics in 2021 and 2022, is George Liebmann’s ’56 follow-up to Vox Clamantis In Deserto: An Iconoclast Looks At Four Failed Administration.
LEON BIBI ’83
Leon Bibi ’83 released Adam - The Missing Link: DNA Evidence of Man’s Alien Origins, the third and final book of The Adam Series trilogy. In this final chapter, Leon explores his theory of extraterrestrial tampering with human DNA, evidence given to prove that the “Missing Link” has never been missing or “embedded in the crust of the Earth,” but rather found within us, and the idea that the missing link is not a “transitional form” that proves man’s descendants from the ape, but an alteration of DNA.
ROBBIE BRENNER ’89
Robbie Brenner ’89 produced the recent release Call Jane, a film about a married woman with a lifethreatening pregnancy working with an underground group of suburban women to find help as she navigates a time in America when she can’t get a legal abortion. The feature stars Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, and Chris Messina.
CARON LEVIS ’96
Caron Levis ’96 recently published Feathers Together with illustrator Charles Santoso. Inspired by a pair of real-life birds, Feathers Together tells the story of best friends Malena and Kleptan separated by thousands of miles for the first time.
BILL KONIGSBERG ’89
Stonewall Award winner Bill Konigsberg ’89 announced his seventh literary release, Destination Unknown, a powerful story of two teen boys finding each other in New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic and the importance of connection and community.
ELISABETH WEINBERG ’98 AND MATT STINE ’98
New York City-based chef, caterer, and Chopped champion Elisabeth Weinberg ’98 and husband Matt Stine ’98 collaborated on the recently released The Garbage Pail Kid Cookbook, a collection of more than 35 recipes that young chefs and Garbage Pail Kids fans alike will have fun making and eating. The book also features a section of science experiments, words by R.L. Stine, and full-color illustrations by Garbage Pail Kids artist Joe Simko.
ZACH WOLF ’00
Film editor Zach Wolf ’00 worked on the production of Who Invited Charlie?, a comedy feature that follows a New York City family hiding out in the Hamptons at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when an unexpected guest arrives to stir up the past including dark college secrets. The movie premiered at the Hamptons Film Festival this fall and starred Jordana Brewster, Reed Scott, Adam Palley, and Dylan Penn.
NEIL HAMAMOTO ’11
WORTHLESSSTUDIOS premiered their newest art installation 1-800 Happy Birthday created by artist Mohammad Gorjestani and Even/ Odd, curated by Klaudia Ofwona Draber, with artistic direction by Neil Hamamoto ’11. Originally a voicemail project, the now large-scale exhibition aims to honor Black and Brown lives killed by police, bringing the digital project into the physical realm. The installation is on view at WORTHLESSTUDIOS in Brooklyn until January 16, 2023.
Catching up with Josh Harmon ’01
Joshua Harmon’s plays include Bad Jews, Significant Other, Admissions, Skintight, and Prayer for the French Republic. He and Sarah Silverman co-wrote the libretto for The Bedwetter based on her memoir. His plays have been produced on Broadway and the West End; Off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theater Club and Atlantic Theater Company; across the country and internationally in a dozen countries. He is an Associate Artist at Roundabout, and graduate of Juilliard.
1.
WHAT MADE YOU PURSUE A CAREER AS A PLAYWRIGHT? WAS THERE A PARTICULAR MOMENT WHEN YOU KNEW THIS WAS WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO?
I was always interested in writing and there were some teachers [at Riverdale] who encouraged that. Then I went to Northwestern and really started to hone in on playwriting. From a young age, I loved the performing arts, but I really didn’t enjoy acting. At their core, actors want to be seen, playwrights would rather hide in a fetal position at the back of the theatre. That’s more my style. Playwriting combined a lot of my passions, because I could be in the performing arts without having to be a performer. I could be creative. I’ve been doing it now for almost 20 years.
2.
HOW DID YOU COME TO CO-WRITE THE BOOK FOR THE BEDWETTER WITH SARAH SILVERMAN? CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE ABOUT THE PROCESS OF WRITING THIS (WITH A CO-WRITER AND MUSICAL NUMBERS) AS OPPOSED TO YOUR PREVIOUS WORKS?
Sarah was friends with the composer Adam Schlesinger. Her book came out in 2010, and he became passionate about it and told her it should be a musical. They started to write songs together and then they realized they needed a book writer, so they brought me on. At that point, they had written five or six songs, but they weren’t sure what the story was, so we took some episodes of her life from when she was seven, and from when she was 13, and compressed them into a single year, when she’s 10, just after her parents have gotten divorced. Most of the events in the show really happened to her, but not necessarily in the timeline we used. The show is based on her memoir, but it’s just the first few chapters, it’s her childhood. We spent about four years working to hammer out the story, the three of us.
Most musicals take six, seven, eight years to write. I don’t know why, but they are massive undertakings. Getting the story right, getting the story written, getting the songs written and rewritten, workshopping it, choreography, design, more workshops – they take forever. Any time you see a musical and think “that’s timely,” it was likely written 10 years ago. As a playwright, you are in control of the story, in control of the text. You make all of the decisions. When you open yourself up to collaboration, it becomes a process of give and take and convincing and compromise. And that, by its very nature, takes more time.
We were supposed to start rehearsals on March 17, 2020. Obviously, on March 12, everything shut down. Three weeks later the composer, Adam, died of COVID. It happened so quickly. We went from thinking we were about to go into rehearsals to this very different place of mourning and figuring out what to do. It was a really jolting and shocking way to enter the pandemic.
3.
ADAM’S INCREDIBLY SAD AND UNTIMELY PASSING ULTIMATELY LED TO A COLLABORATION WITH FELLOW RIVERDALE ALUMNUS DAVID YAZBEK ’78. WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH HIM?
It was a complete delight. I think it’s kind of a thankless role to step into another composer’s shoes to try to
complete his show, but there’s no way to go through the process of putting a musical up without having a composer in the room. You have to have somebody and David is arguably the best living composer for musical theater. He’s also a totally delightful person to be around. I felt very privileged to get to work with him even for a little bit because he understands musicals on a cellular level. He’s written so many of them and so many excellent ones. It was a collaboration but it was also a real learning opportunity for me to work with someone I consider one of the greats.
PHOTOS:
Facing Page: Joshua Harmon ; Above: The Bedwetter Next Page: Prayer for the French Republic
Josh Harmon ’01 (continued)
4.
IT SEEMS LIKE IDENTITY PLAYS A LARGE ROLE IN THE WORK YOU CREATE – CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE ABOUT THE WAYS YOU’VE INCORPORATED THIS INTO YOUR PLAYS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO DO SO?
I think one of the big questions that each of us faces in our lives is “Who am I?”. Trying to figure out who you are in the world, in your family, in your community necessitates grappling with your identity. But I also think one of your tasks as a writer is to leave something behind that says, “this is what it felt like to be alive right now,” so that you can read something from previous generations and understand, “Okay, that’s what it felt like, then. This is what it feels like now.” Grappling with one’s identity is a way of saying, “These are the questions I was facing, this is what I was concerned about, this is what I was scared of.” What I hope happens is that, by being incredibly specific, you tap into something universal. If you tried to write about a generic family, you know, mom and dad, you likely wouldn’t capture something true about anybody’s family. If you write very specifically, this is a Jewish family in, let’s say the early 2000s, in New York City, you have a better shot at tapping into something that’s true for people from all walks of life.
When my play Bad Jews premiered, so many different people came up to me and said, “We had this same fight in our family, it was about a cross,” or “My family’s Greek, and we had this fight about this pendant.” We just realized that this very specific thing I’d written about was true for people from so many different backgrounds.
5.
HOW DID YOUR EXPERIENCE AT RIVERDALE IMPACT YOU? WHAT WAS MEMORABLE ABOUT YOUR TIME AT RCS?
When I reflect on my time at Riverdale, what stands out the most are the faculty who were instrumental in guiding me on my way. I think especially of Barbara Mosley who was my ninth-grade English teacher and Christine Hong who was my junioryear English teacher. I did independent studies with both of those women; a year-long creative writing seminar with Ms. Mosley and a semester of Gothic Literature with Ms. Hong. The amount of time and energy they invested in me – there’s no question it had a profound impact on my sense of self and my ability to pursue something creative. It’s kind of insane to decide you want to pursue playwriting, but you can only take that risk if a lot of people are encouraging you and believe in you. Very early on with Ms. Mosley and Ms. Hong, I had two people really championing me, supporting me, and educating me and I still hold on to some of the things that they taught me to this day.
6.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
I had a play open last February called Prayer for the French Republic. I started working on it in 2015. I had to do several research trips to France, read a ton, and I interviewed two or three dozen people. It was a huge undertaking. Then I had The Bedwetter musical – 2022 was very busy. Right now, I’m generating new ideas and thinking, and I don’t have anything to share just yet. That’s the life cycle of these things: You start with nothing, then you generate something, then you get very busy putting it out into the world, and then you have nothing again. Plays take so long to come to fruition, you have to make sure you’re really interested in an idea before you dive in. Figuring out what it is that you want to devote several years of your life to takes some time.
COMMUNITY ACTION DAY (RCAD)
On Saturday, November 19th, Riverdale Community Action Day (RCAD) returned to an in-person event for the first time since 2019. Our co-chairs JENNIFER AUERBACH-RODRIGUEZ ’04, Raashi Chary P’31,’35, REGINA GOLDMAN KRUMHOLZ ’04; P’35, and Stefani Wiener P’31,’34 along with the service learning team helped organize activities for the whole family to help support our local community organizations. Click here to learn more about our community partners.
Niesha Butler ’98
Whether on the court, in a classroom, or among curious creators in the tech lab, Brooklyn-born Niesha Butler ’98 is a powerhouse. Niesha has broken records and busted through barriers to become who she is today: an Afro-Latina entrepreneur set on paving the way for underserved youth and communities alike.
Perhaps best known as a former member of the New York Liberty basketball team and a sideline reporter for the Atlanta Hawks, Niesha is also the founder of the Brooklyn-based program S.T.E.A.M. Champs, the first Black woman-owned coding and robotics educational center in the country. This latest venture is a culmination of personal and professional experiences that fuel her passion for engaging students in exploring their potential and the once-unimagined possibilities. Niesha and S.T.E.A.M. Champs have recently been profiled by media outlets such as CBS, ABC, People en Español, and Black Enterprise. Niesha was also named on Ebony’s Power List 100: STEM Trailblazers — a testament to her vision in shaping the future of the STEM field.
Niesha’s career comprises carefully crafted and intentionally-placed pieces that bring to life a bigger picture. Niesha’s athletic career flourished in high school, both at Columbia Prep and Riverdale, where she broke New York’s record for points scored in a high school career for both men and women, and at Georgia Tech where she gained recognition leading to professional playing opportunities in the WNBA and FIBA Spain Premier Division. Her role in sports ultimately led to appearances in film and television and as a radio sports analyst and reporter for CBS Sports, Intercom, and TMZ Sports.
In tandem with her numerous athletic pursuits and with the discipline and drive that fueled her many victories thus far, Niesha grew as an accomplished software engineer and entrepreneur. Niesha’s love of basketball developed alongside her interest in STEM at an early age beginning with tech-enabled toys like Speak and Spell, video games, and eventually, a Mac computer that prepared her for computer science classes at eleven. Niesha’s ever-growing entrepreneurial mindset and vast knowledge of two dynamic worlds are the foundation of her work and the great initiatives that have changed the game in more ways than one. Niesha considers her upbringing when thinking about how she wants to contribute to the greater good, knowing firsthand that many of her experiences came from both preparation and opportunity. “Attending Riverdale was a benefit,” says Niesha, “but that is where I learned about the poverty line and that stuck on my spirit for a while.” This awareness encouraged a conversation with her father where they collectively questioned the height of poverty, the absence of resources that make all the difference in learning, and the resulting lack of a pipeline to stability. Reflecting on that discussion, Niesha says, “We talked about STEM in particular because there isn’t a lack of job opportunities there, but there is a lack of interest, tools, and direction, particularly for students of color.”
Niesha knows that young children are often told that a sports career is the sole pathway out of poverty — however, only a minuscule percentage of student-athletes are able to reach a professional level. In a particularly informative Instagram post from September of this year, Niesha shared that only an astonishing .002 percent of people have a chance of having the career trajectory of LeBron James when compared to a two percent chance of becoming the president of the United States.
This kind of statistic is the motivation behind Niesha’s efforts to provide the necessary tools — and instruction — to underrepresented youth in communities that could otherwise lack tangible outlets to the STEM field. S.T.E.A.M. Champs opened its doors in September of 2022, introducing camps that combine coding classes, robotics, game design, app development, and more to Brooklyn students ages 5 to 13. They also host free afterschool programming including LEGO® robotics classes and sports-themed hackathons and community activities.
“I started the business before opening the center,” says Niesha, “but it was always about finding creative ways to think about education and bringing that to kids through esports, coding events, and other cool ways that combine something they already love with STEM.” Niesha’s center is thriving thanks to partnerships with coding groups and with the support of schools, community organizations, and churches. Following their positive reception, Niesha’s hope is to franchise the concept and extend its impact.
When thinking about her hope for S.T.E.A.M. Champs’ students, Niesha openly admits that she is biased, saying, “I want them to go into the STEM field!” before elaborating, “I want students to be influenced to succeed and that means depositing nuggets of confidence every chance we get and why not have tech dreams too?” She connects directly to basketball saying, “I’m a coach and every coach is influential in how the team runs plays and that’s how I’m running my program. I’m presenting the possibilities to my team and guiding them toward a win.” Niesha hopes this program will instill in students the skills and confidence to see themselves in a rapidly growing industry. As an athlete and entrepreneur, Niesha is competitive and always aims to achieve so it is no surprise that she is emboldened by the success of her idea. She is determined to continue scaling and expanding as she continues to mentor and identify the gaps in connecting students to experiences that can shape their futures.
Niesha thinks back to her time at Riverdale fondly, remembering the different people who had an impact on her time here and what exactly about her academic journey launched her onto her unique path. “I was really heavy into basketball, so my schedule wasn’t that of an average 15-year-old,” says Niesha, “so there were teachers like Dr. Sankar Sengupta, who taught physics and was available at all hours, and met me where I was at, and he made learning fun.” Along with educators who took the time to recognize her style of learning and helped her take foundational steps, there were leaders like Milton Sipp, Head of Middle School and Assistant Head of School for School Life, who provided guidance and support. “Representation matters,” says Niesha, “and to have a Black figurehead that wanted to help you was powerful.”
As she considers what she’d advise Riverdale students of today, she thinks about the resources available to them, from classroom tools to guidance, and says, “Go for it! You have everything you need to be successful. And speaking to the women athletes, I’d ask: How are you getting involved? How are those already involved in STEM reaching out to others? Students at Riverdale should already be thinking about how to change the world.” As for her own plans for the future, Niesha revels in having “found two great loves in life — basketball and technology,” and will stay true to Riverdale’s mission of developing lifelong learners as she immerses herself in the latest accounting and marketing books and completing her MBA. She prides herself in her consistent commitment to learning and growing, and encourages all alumni to consider how they themselves can utilize their lived experiences to support students on different levels, learning about themselves and their capacity for change along the way.
