PAGE 2 A Message from the Dean
PAGE 3 17th Annual Awards Celebration
PAGE 4 Focus on Faculty: Alicia Grosso and Eric Trules
SUMMER 2008
Dr. Meiling Cheng Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship USC School of Theatre Associate Professor and Director of Critical Studies Dr. Meiling Cheng has been named a 2008
A Day of Celebration
Fellow by the John
School of Theatre Commencement 2008
Cheng was the only
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Dr. Meiling Cheng
“
T
faculty member at
his is a grand day,” declared Dean
the B.A. graduates. “We’ve each been warned
Madeleine Puzo opening the School of
of the impracticality of pursuing a degree in
a Guggenheim this year and was recognized
Theatre’s 2008 commencement. And
theatre. But when we cross this stage, we will
in the category of Fine Arts Research. The
USC to be awarded
indeed it was as the speakers used wit,
be handed tangible evidence that we have,
Fellowship will allow her to devote full time
wordplay, ideas, imagination and out-
each and every one of us, held on to our dream.”
to completing her book manuscript, Beijing
right theatricality to address the great challenges
Representing the B.F.A. graduates, Ashley K
Xingwei: Contemporary Time-based Art in China.
and greater joys of a commitment to the arts.
Singh performed a play-within-a-play-within-agraduation-address. “You’ve all been reading
Dean Madeline Puzo praised Dr. Cheng saying,
from the script called life,” Ashley advised her
“I am very pleased that Dr. Cheng’s scholarship is
celebration, reflection
peers. “But this is the day you all go ‘off book.’
being honored by the Guggenheim Foundation.
and giving thanks,”
Trust yourself – you know more than you think.
Dr. Cheng is an exemplary member of our faculty.
observed the Dean, who
And if you do happen to get lost along the way,
She is an excellent scholar, an engaging writer
used her time to thank
you can call ‘line’.”
and a wonderful, dedicated teacher. We are very
“Today is a day of
parents, teachers, staff
Keynote Speaker Christine Lahti
proud that she is a part of our School.”
and friends who had
M.F.A. playwright Donald Jolly, Jr. spoke with a
helped the graduates.
sense of inadequacy of “playwrights who came
Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, Dr. Cheng
“It is no small thing to
before now passing their torches on to…us?”
came to the United States in 1986 to study at
encourage a young
“Today,” proclaimed Jolly of his class, “we are three
Yale University, School of Drama, where she
artist’s talent,” Puzo
bad-as-you-want-to-be, high-talking, high-falutin,
earned her M.F.A. (1989) and D.F.A. (1993)
concluded. “And we are all grateful for the belief
chest-thumping, test-grading, thumb-twiddling,
degrees in Theatre Arts. She began teaching at
and the support you have given our students.”
nitwit-peddling, leaf-chomping, toe-stomping,
USC in 1994 and has taught a variety of courses
beef-eating, gut-wrenching, tear-jerking, knee-
in theatre history, dramatic literature, contempo-
“Each of us who is graduating today has found
slapping, show-stopping, rabble-rousing, soul-
rary kinesthetic theatre and live art, and visual
that practicing theatre is a way in which we can
probing, myth-making, truth-telling playwrights.
and cultural studies. Dr. Cheng is a noted per-
make meaning,” said D.J. Cashmere, speaking for
Playwrights with a capital P and that rhymes
formance art critic and poet and has published
(continued on page 2)
(continued on back)