Yale School of Drama Annual Magazine 2014 by David Geffen School of Drama at Yale

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL MAGAZINE 2014

Was it Really Forty Years Ago? The Face Behind the Makeup Making a Scene: Lessons from Ming Cho Lee

2013-2014

A Year in the Life of YSD

from the perspective of designer and photographer Christopher Ash â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14.

04 05

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL MAGAZINE 2014

Dean’s Letter Dear Friends, Each fall, on two days, we open the Yale School of Drama to visitors: hundreds of prospective applicants join us for meetings with faculty and students, tours of the campus, and productions at the School, Yale Cabaret, and Yale Repertory Theatre. Because we see these artists and managers as our colleagues in the field for years to come, we strive to make the application process as transparent as we can, and to position them to do their best work in auditions and interviews. My charge on each Visitor’s Day is to describe those aims, but also to convey the unique scope of the School of Drama in about ten minutes. I haven’t perfected the speech yet, but the gist of what I say is this: Other theatre conservatories rely on a faculty of working professionals, and/or provide production opportunities to complement classroom instruction, and/or collaborate closely with a professional theatre company, as do we. But no other conservatory in the English-speaking theatre does all of these in service of professional training in every discipline of the theatre. Such a project, goes my speech, requires scale and diversity of experience—the aspirations of the institution are manifest in more than forty productions each year, as well as in the breadth of classes and workshops that include students from different departments, and in the range of aesthetics embraced by faculty and students. The directed rigor of the classroom is complemented not only by the give-and-take with mentors and colleagues in assigned production, but also by the adult-driven learning of the Cabaret, where students set their own agenda. The School is a big, bustling tent, rewarding those with bold ambitions, open minds, and stamina. A more capacious, if still imperfect, measure of the School’s scope is provided in the pages of this magazine, which will likely take you more than 10 minutes to read. It is difficult—okay, impossible—to convey completely the excitement of such dramatic enterprises in print. But I am always impressed by how this annual illuminates both what is taught, learned, and created here in New Haven, and what is shared with the wider world by our far-reaching, free-thinking, and tireless alumni. For me, comprehending the range of these endeavors is a joyful reminder of why I love working in this creative community, and an inspiration to try to do more, better, and sooner, in its service. Sincerely,

James Bundy ’95

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

James Bundy ’95 Dean, Artistic Director Victoria Nolan Deputy Dean/Managing Director yale school of drama board of advisors John Beinecke YC ’69 Chair Jeremy Smith ’76 Vice Chair Amy Aquino ’86 John Badham ’63, YC ’61 Sonja Berggren ’13 (Special Research Fellow) Lynne Bolton Carmine Boccuzzi YC ’90, LAW ’94 Clare Brinkley Sterling B. Brinkley, Jr. YC ’74 Kate Burton ’82 Lois Chiles Patricia Clarkson ’85 Edgar (Trip) M. Cullman III ’02, YC ’97 Scott Delman, YC ’82 Michael Diamond ’90 Polly Draper ’80, YC ’77 Charles S. “Roc” Dutton ’83 Sasha Emerson ’84 Heidi Ettinger ’76 Terry Fitzpatrick ’83 Marc Flanagan ’70 Marcus Dean Fuller ’04 Anita Pamintuan Fusco YC ’90 Donald P. Granger, Jr. YC ’85 David Marshall Grant ’78 Ethan Heard ’13, YC ’07 Ruth Hendel Catherine MacNeil Hollinger ’86 David Henry Hwang ’83 Ellen Iseman YC ’76 David Johnson YC ’78 Asaad Kelada ’64 Sarah Long ’92, YC ’85 Donald Lowy ’76 Elizabeth Margid ’91, YC ’82 Drew McCoy Tarell Alvin McCraney ’07 David Milch YC ’66 Tom Moore ’68 Arthur Nacht ’06 Carol Ostrow ’80 Amy Povich ’92 Liev Schreiber ’92 Tony Shalhoub ’80 Michael Sheehan ’76 Anna Deavere Smith Ed Trach ’58 Esme Usdan YC ’77 Courtney B. Vance ’86 Henry Winkler ’70 Amanda Wallace Woods ’03

Contents

Features 16 Directed by Jim Burrows By Stephen Godchaux ’93

22 Finding the Voice By Mattie Brickman ’09

26 The Ideal Theatre

By Barry Jay Kaplan

32 The Collaborative Spirit By Matthew Suttor (Faculty)

38 A Breakthrough Year in Two Acts By Mark Blankenship ’05

42 Was It Really Forty Years Ago? 38

By Don Lowy ’76 and Arthur Nacht ’06

48 The Face Behind the Makeup By Annelise Lawson ’16

54 Making a Scene: Lessons from Ming Cho Lee By Sarah Holdren ’15, YC ’08

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Editor’s Letter Dear Friends, The entrepreneurial spirit is an essential aspect of what has motivated our country since its beginnings. It lies at the very heart of how land was settled, how houses were built, how business thrives, how politics works. It is clearly how the theatre works. It is the thing that makes people start theatres and become producers. One question that persists is: how does the entrepreneurial spirit come together with the artistic impulse? Don’t they seem to require a totally different skill set? In this year’s issue of the magazine, a can-do spirit makes itself apparent in several illuminating ways. Alumnus James Hart ’99, an actor and director, applied himself to learn the business side of the business and ultimately devised a course of study at Southern Methodist University on arts entrepreneurship. The graduating actors who formed The Old Sound Room were faced with the question of how to turn an artistic dream into a sustainable business plan. They didn’t wait for their YSD Actors Showcase to the trade to present themselves to the world and then sit passively by and wait to be cast in something. They formed a company instead, raised money, created a publicity campaign, built the sets, borrowed a rehearsal space and a theatre and produced their version of King Lear. Angelina Avallone ’94 studied costume, lighting and set design at YSD, and went on to create a career as a makeup artist whose work is regularly seen on Broadway. The alumni who work as voiceover actors—dubbing a film, speaking for a cartoon character, or supplying the vocal warmth that makes people buy a product—have found a way to leave themselves financially free to make creative career choices. Here in the offices of the Yale School of Drama annual magazine we have also been filled with the entrepreneurial spirit, which means not standing still. We’ve experimented with a new version of the magazine, just to see the kind of impact we can make by breaking the mold. We’d like to hear from you about how you think this new format works. Is it an improvement over last year’s format? Is change for the sake of change something you think we ought to continue to experiment with? This is your magazine and your opinion counts. Tell us what you think.

Warmly,

Deborah S. Berman Editor Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL MAGAZINE Fall 2014, Vol. LVIV editorial staff Deborah S. Berman editor Barry Jay Kaplan associate editor Belene Day managing editor Jane Youngberg contributing editor Susan Clark editorial coordinator contributing writers Mark Blankenship ’05 Mattie Brickman ’09 Steven Godchaux ’93 Sarah Holdren ’14 Helen Jaksch ’14 Mary Laws ’14 Annelise Lawson ’16 Donald Lowy ’76 Arthur Nacht ’06 Brendan Pelsue ’16 Daniel Reece ’14 Matthew Suttor (Faculty) Brian Wiles ’12 Emely Zepeda ’16 design SML Design, www.s-ml.org

Contents

Departments

8 On & Off York Street

65 Bookshelf 66 Alumni Events 68 Graduation 8

72 Awards & Honors 76 In Memoriam 84 Alumni Notes 114 Donors

66 on the cover Celeste Arias ’15, and Christopher Geary ’15 in Thunderbodies. by Kate Tarker ’14, directed by Dustin Willis ’14. Carlotta Festival of New Plays. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

left Jonathan Majors ’16 (top) and Julian (Elijah) Martinez ’16 in The Defendant, by Elia Monte-Brown ’14, directed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ’15, at the Yale Cabaret 2014. Photo by Nick Thigpen. right Ato Blankson-Wood ’15, Seth Bodie ’14, and James Cusati-Moyer ’15 in We Know Edie La Minx Had A Gun, by Helen Jaksch ’15, Kelly Kerwin ’15, and Emily Zemba ’15, directed by Kelly Kerwin ’15, at the Yale Cabaret 2013. Photo by Nick Thigpen.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

On & Off York Street N E WS FROM THE YALE S CHOOL O F DR AMA

Dwight/Edgewood Turns Twenty This past summer, the Dwight/ Edgewood Project (D/EP) celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Modeled on the New York Citybased 52nd Street Project, D/EP aims to develop confidence and self-esteem in New Haven’s youth by teaching them how to write plays. The project begins with the selection of eight local sixth and seventh graders who “like to tell stories and like to write.” They are joined by a company of 18 students from Yale School of Drama who volunteer to fill the roles of playwright mentor, director, designer, stage manager, technical director, producing director, and general manager. D/EP participants come together in the first week of June when the playwrights get to know each other and their mentors, and learn about theatre through such activities as constructing costumes out of butcher paper, playing teambuilding games, and being encouraged to do a lot of free-form writing. One of the exercises is the construction of “body maps,” in which the playwrights trace their silhouettes on large pieces of butcher paper and, with the help of their mentors, fill these shapes with the things that make each of them unique. To celebrate the individuality of each playwright, the completed “maps” are hung on display for the whole company to see. During the second week, a teaching artist joins the group and explains the elements of playwriting: character, dialogue, monologue, conflict, stage directions, etc. After several playmaking tutorials, the D/EP participants depart New Haven to spend a weekend at Camp 8

01 Wightman in Jewett City, CT, where the playwrights write their plays, inspired by the nature surrounding them. For many of them, it is their first experience with outdoor camping activities: swimming, boating, hiking, and roasting s’mores over a campfire. Then it’s back to New Haven, where the third week is all about collaboration. The playwrights meet with the company’s design team and discuss their visual ideas. Everyone participates in prop making and set painting, and the playwrights sit in on the

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

rehearsals alongside their directors, and contribute their ideas about performance. In the fourth and final week, the plays come to life. The company moves to the Off-Broadway Theater in New Haven and begins the technical rehearsal, with the mentors now serving as actors in the plays. The four-week summer program comes to a rousing conclusion with two nights of performances, attended by playwrights and their families, friends, and teachers. The D/EP has had a lasting impact on its YSD participants. Katie

On & Off York Street N E WS FROM THE YALE S CHO OL O F DR AMA

02 McGerr ’14 has directed four of the plays and says, “D/EP taught me how to say ‘yes.’ So often, in graduate school, we learn how to critique and question and to pick apart ideas. This is an important part of our training, and makes us better at what we do, but criticism can devolve into negativity, and negativity can devolve to saying ‘no.’ With the Dwight/ Edgewood playwrights, however, we make a habit of saying YES to their ideas: anything they write is possible onstage—we just have to figure out how.” Ruth Feldman, D/EP producer

for 11 years, feels it is important that the program maintain its focus on playwriting instead of some other form of theatre, such as performance. “It is validating for a child to hear their words spoken by an adult without criticism or change.” It is exactly this idea that makes the program so invaluable. D/EP gives children an opportunity to sit in a dark theatre, have their own words sent back at them, and receive the unspoken message: You are valuable, your voice is heard. — by mary laws ’14

01 The student playwrights demonstrate what they learned from a special workshop conducted by Pilobolus.

02 The 2014 Dwight/Edgewood Project mentors, student playwrights, directors, and management team at Camp Wightman.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

On & Off York Street N E WS FROM THE YALE S CHOOL O F DR AMA

Old Sound Room Invigorates New Company In the spring of 2013, we, along with 10 other YSD alumni and students, created a new theatre company, called Old Sound Room (OSR), named for the YSD rehearsal space on Park Street. After discussing the core artistic principles we shared and the kind of theatre we wanted to create, our company was born. The collaborative and generative work built into the curriculum of YSD served as a foundation for OSR’s storytelling. We drew on our individual experiences with three different performance-based projects for actors at YSD—Drama 50s, the Shakespeare quartets, and especially the Interview Project, in which we developed characters based on interviews we conducted with people on the street. We wanted our first production to be by Shakespeare, and after several rough but committed suggestions, we agreed upon an idea proposed by Laura Gragtmans ’12, which she called “a love song to the elderly” — an adaptation of King Lear that would incorporate interviews with senior citizens. We spoke with six elderly residents of the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, NJ, explaining to them that we wanted our production to pose questions about the generational divide. Poignant stories poured out. Aideen, an Irish national, drew a parallel between her own father and King Lyr of Celtic legend, who cruelly transformed his three daughters into dying swans. Skip described the day he had suddenly become blind while he was in an airport. Dimo recounted Lear’s tragedy as if it were his own. And Judith Malina, founder of The Living Theatre, exhorted us to remain true to our art. A friend generously donated his recording studio in Harlem for rehearsals and performances. We spent the first rehearsal week reading and discussing the text. Our artistic director, Michael McQuilken ’11, adapted the play, retooling scenes after we experimented with them on our feet. We cut the role of Edgar, and fused Lear and Gloucester. Laura choreographed, and Fisher Neal ’12 directed the fight routines. 10

Creating a theatre company has become increasingly popular over the years, probably because it’s easy to say, “Okay, now we’re a theatre company.” OSR aimed for something that would survive. Company members served as administrators, handling public

relations, marketing, ticket sales, and bookkeeping for the production. We were determined to set a precedent of financial support for artists, and launched a successful online Kickstarter campaign that raised funds to provide participating artists a living wage Thanks to support of family, friends, and the YSD community, we took in $23,600 for our inaugural production of King Lear. In an intimate space, the audience’s presence was palpable. Some shows were better than others; a few were truly inspired. We believe that every person who saw Old Sound Room Lear left with a meaningful question in her mind or feeling in his heart. So the first show of our new company was a success. And now the real work begins. — by daniel reece ’14 and brian wiles ’12

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

The Old Sound Room Company (front row) Michael McQuilken ’11, Adina Verson ’12, Elia MonteBrown ’14. (back row) Laura Gragtmans ’12, William DeMeritt ’12, Daniel Reece ’14, Maura Hooper ’15, Brian Wiles ’12. not pictured: Fisher Neal ’12, Ashton Heyl ’14, Carmen Zilles ’13, and Sophie von Haselberg ’14, YC ’08

On & Off York Street N E WS FROM THE YALE S CHO OL O F DR AMA

Hot Topics Sizzle Hot Topics, now in its third year, was initiated by the Department of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism. “There is a wide swath of interest in performance practice and theoretical work among our students,” says Elinor Fuchs (Faculty). “Hot Topics gives us a way to provide our students with three to five miniature guest courses a year that supplement our curriculum.” Catherine Sheehy ’92, DFA ’99 (Faculty), chair of the dramaturgy and dramatic criticism department, had the honor of introducing Alisa Solomon ’81, DFA ’95 who was invited to Hot Topics to speak about the research process for her recently published book, as well as give career advice for emerging dramaturgs. “Alisa Solomon has not only written a wonderful book—Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof—she is also a graduate of this program who understands the great tradition of dramaturgy and the great tradition of Yale School of Drama.” Welcoming Alisa to the stage, Catherine stepped back from the podium, lifted her hands, and led everyone in the first few lines of Fiddler’s opening song: “Tradition! Tradition!” The dramaturgy faculty reaches out to top scholars, practitioners, authors and artists who offer new thinking in theatre history, performance studies, politics, and the social sciences in relation to theatre to invite them to speak at the Hot Topics lecture series. In its first season, Hot Topics brought Una Chaudhuri, whose talk, “Theatre of Species: Animal Studies and Performance,” touched

on the ethics and theatrical strategies of using animals and animal characters in theatre. Marin Blažević came from the University of Zagreb to talk with students about the pedagogy and strategies of dramaturgy versus theatre and

performance studies. Shannon Jackson gave a presentation about experimental art-making, activism, and aesthetics called “Curating People: Drama and Other TimeBased Arts,” and Nicholas Ridout from Queen Mary University of London spoke about politics as theatrical event in a lecture entitled “Working in the Dark: How to Think about Politics at the Theatre.” This year’s speakers and subjects have been equally diverse. In addition to Alisa’s talk in December 2013, Hot Topics hosted philosopher Martin Puchner and Vali Mahlouji, an independent curator. In his lecture “A Defense

of the Drama of Ideas,” Puchner asked, “If you were to go against the anti-theatrical grain of philosophy and stage Plato’s Symposium as an evening of theatre, what would it look like?” Vali Mahlouji’s lecture, “When Iran Hosted the Avant-Garde: The Shiraz Arts Festival, 19671977,” was a co-presentation with the Yale University Art Gallery, featuring rare photographs from the Shiraz Arts Festival. Mahlouji’s talk sparked a heated debate about censorship, citizenship, and art making. “Mahlouji’s talk was a one of a kind experience,” said David Bruin ’16. “In addition to sharing amazing images and anecdotes from the Shiraz Festival, his nuanced account of the cultural politics of Iran was very enlightening.” Upcoming talks for the Hot Topics series will touch upon subjects such as the intersection between dramaturgy and neuroscience, as well as dramaturgy and quantum physics, contemporary Asian performance, and dramaturgical practices outside of the United States. — by helen jaksch ’15

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

left Sophie von Haselberg ’14, YC ’08, Matthew McCollum ’14, YC ’11, and Mariko Nakasone ’14 in Yale School of Drama’s 2013 production of Peter Pan, directed by Dustin Wills ’14. Photo by T. Charles Erickson. right Melanie Field ’16 and Shaunette Renée Wilson ’16 in Cardboard Piano by Hansol Jung ’14, directed by Cole Lewis ’14. Carlotta Festival of New Plays 2014. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Ceci Fernandez ’14, Mickey Theis ’14, Celeste Arias ’15, and Christopher Bannow ’14 in the 2013 Yale School of Drama production of The Visit, directed by Cole Lewis ’14. Photo by T. Charles Erikson.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Directed by James Burrows by s t e p h e n g o d c h au x

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

ike most good Americans, I have spent much of my life in front of the television set. And I have always been a credit watcher. Long before I had a clue as to who these people were or understood what they did for a living, I wondered about the names that appeared on screen. Who was this Norman Lear guy who had my dad in stitches every Sunday night? One credit in particular appeared again and again on shows I loved. It read, “Directed by James Burrows.” No director of television comedy has been more celebrated than James Burrows ’65. He’s been nominated for 42 Emmys. He’s won 10. He is a member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He co-created, with brothers Glen and Les Charles, what many believe is the best television comedy of all time, Cheers. He directed the Cheers pilot and 236 more episodes in that show’s long run. The hard truth about the television business is that most shows do not succeed. Of the dozens of comedy pilots filmed each year, only a handful make it to series. Of those pilots fortunate enough to get to series, most are cancelled after a season or two. But in that rare instance that a comedy series has become successful, there’s a good chance that James Burrows directed its pilot: Taxi. Cheers. Friends. Frasier. Will & Grace. Two and a Half Men. He directed the pilot of the highest-rated comedy on television today, The Big Bang Theory. Some 50 years after his career started, James Burrows continues to be the most sought-after director of television comedy in Hollywood. The man is a hit-maker. James Burrows comes from the theatre. It’s actually in his DNA. His father was Abe Burrows, the Tony Award-winning playwright and director, most famous for Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The latter earned him the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. There may have been a little something extra in the water at the Burrows house. James Burrows and I are both graduates of the Yale School of Drama. That was enough of a connection to get him to take time from his busy schedule, and during a lunch break from filming a pilot for CBS (what else would he be doing?). We met in a 18

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

01 nondescript office on the Fox lot, his temporary headquarters. As soon as we shook hands and sat down, “James” became “Jim”—he’s that kind of guy—and we talked about his time at Yale and what came after. I started off with a powder-puff question about the pressures of having Abe Burrows for a father and whether a life in theatre was pre-ordained for him. (If your dad is Willie Mays, at some point someone’s going to stick a baseball glove in your hand.) This was not exactly the path for Jim Burrows. At 18, he left New York City for Oberlin College in Ohio. “My dad was a legend, and I knew I couldn’t come near him,” Jim says. “I knew I couldn’t try to rival him or be an equal of his. So, I never did any theatre at Oberlin. I got into Yale as a playwright,

overleaf James Burrows ’65 directing an episode of Will & Grace. Photo courtesy of James Burrows.

02 but I’m sure I really got in as Abe’s kid.” The year was 1962, and James Burrows was 21. Perhaps Abe Burrows didn’t want to steer his son toward theatre. What we do know is Abe Burrows did want to steer his son away from Vietnam. “Yale School of Drama was literally a way not to go into the army,” Jim says. “Yes, I had some sense of the theatre, and my father saw some aptitude for it, something I did or said or how I talked about a piece he had done. But the reason my father wanted me to go to Yale was to stay out of the war inVietnam.” To borrow a television phrase from that era, ‘Father Knows Best.’ Yale School of Drama was a revelation for Jim. The curriculum at that time required students to take a little of everything, and Jim recalls “just soaking it up.” He stagemanaged a play. He took playwriting with John Gassner MAH ’76 (Former Faculty) and acting with Constance Welch (Former Faculty). But the course that changed his life was directing with Nikos Psacharopoulos ’54 (Former Faculty). “Nikos opened my eyes,” Jim says. “He taught me the fundamentals of directing.” Whether by design or by accident, the first thing he directed for Nikos was a scene from Guys and Dolls, the musical that won his father so many accolades. Jim loved the process and the class, and though he had entered Yale as a playwright, he quickly latched onto directing as the real reason he was there. He knew he was never going to get anywhere writing plays. “My characters would sacrifice their souls for the sake of a joke,” he admits. “I finally wrote a play just to get out. The play was

terrible. I came across it recently. There was no beginning, no middle, and no end. It 03 was just people talking. But they let me graduate.” Once out of Yale, Jim went to New York and worked in the theatre. He became an apprentice again. He drove a truck for a production of My Fair Lady and snuck into rehearsals whenever he could. “I found out I knew more than the director,” he says. “I didn’t say anything, of course. I got to assistant stage-manage a show for my dad. One thing led to another, and here I still am. Almost 50 years later.” Many of those 50 years have been spent patrolling a television set with his actors, plotting the path to the funny stuff. Perhaps the real proof of James Burrows’s success as a director is not all the nominations and awards, but what his actors have to say about him. “He’s the greatest director there is,” says Cheers star Rhea Perlman, “He makes you think that you’re funny, but really, he made you funny.” John Ratzenberger, the know-it-all mailman Cliff on Cheers, put it as any great know-it-all would: “Best director in comedy television, probably ever.” Debra Messing, star of Will & Grace, says, “He’s a master at what he does. The thing that is most fascinating to me was seeing how he would walk back and forth during a scene and listen to the music of the comedy. He would know the second that the music was off. He didn’t have to see it with his eyes.” I have been on a Jim Burrows set a few times and observed the proceedings. There does appear to be a genuine love affair between him and his cast and his crew. Jim

01 James Burrows ’65 02 James Burrows ’65 (middle) with the camera crew from The Millers. Photo courtesy of James Burrows.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

cites his father as setting the example. “My dad was affable. He was a director and a playwright and he would rewrite a lot on his feet. He was funny. He was a hugger. He made you laugh. When I was a kid and I stage-managed for him, I would watch him in rehearsal and his affability was something to see, so that seems natural to me. I’ve seen other directors come in with matchstick figures and a little set, and they plan everything and then the actors have to do it a certain way. When that happens, the actor doesn’t feel creative. I just throw it open. If an actor has an idea, I say, ‘Let’s explore that.’ Eventually, I get them to do what I want them to do, but I don’t say, ‘This is what I want you to do,’ right away. You want to have everybody on your set contribute to making the show funny. Otherwise, they’re never going to feel the excitement that’s being part of the creative process.” The qualities that stand out to me in Jim Burrows are modesty and an unassuming nature. He has an utter lack of pretension in a world famous for, well, not that. I have spent a lot of time with television directors, and humility is not often their strong suit. But Jim, despite all his success, is eager to spread the glory. “There are 19 ways to Sunday of doing a joke,” he says. “I have a way in my mind that seems right, but I don’t stand on ceremony. And I never take credit. When people ask me who thought of something, I say I don’t remember. There are a lot of people involved in making a joke funny.” Of the 10 pilot scripts I have sold and written, not a single one has made it to series. You have to build the ship from the ground up every time, and it’s hard to get past the sentries and onto open waters. Of course, this is a process Jim Burrows loves. “What I want to do, what I try to do in my pilots is to take a great script and make it extraordinary,” he says. “I get in trouble if I take a good script and try to make it great. Because then there are smoke and mirrors involved. I try to get the actors to read together in a room to see if they have any chemistry. And then I try to mold them into a group that cares about one another. It’s important to me that actors appreciate one another in rehearsal. It’s all about caring about one another, supporting one another.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

I get them to try to relate to one another like a family. If they feel that way, that’s going to come across on the screen. And if you’re lucky, it happens sometimes. Other times it doesn’t. I can smoke and mirror a pilot, but the show won’t last.” The most highly sought-after demographic for television viewers is 18-49. The networks want the jokes delivered by young people and for young people. They are scouring the landscape for content that will appeal to this group. And more and more, at least on the comedy side, they are relying on young creators who they believe will best provide that content. But it’s a man in his seventies who they all want at the helm. Jim Burrows remains the go-to-guy if you’re looking for a director of multi-camera comedy. Pilot scripts continue to come over his transom by the truckload. In a world where television executives seem to change their minds about what they want every Wednesday—that’s the day the weekly ratings come in—Jim remains a constant. And he seems to have some perspective in an industry graced with precious little. “I’ve been through the death of sitcom four or five times. It’s died on my doorstep. There were no multi-cameras in 1982 when Cheers had its premiere. In the beginning, I was scared shitless. I was Abe’s kid. That’s how I got hired. Slowly in the ’70s and ’80s, it started to be that people were surprised when I told them who my father was. And then one day you’ve become venerable. And you realize that what you’re doing is exactly what you should be doing. You trust in your ability to get the right thing from the writer and the actor. I’ve been lucky. I came in exactly at the right time in the sitcom world.” I would put it another way: James Burrows came along exactly when the sitcom world needed him. Now, if I can just get him to direct my new pilot.… Stephen Godchaux ’93 is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale School of Drama where he received an MFA in Playwriting. He has written and produced a dozen television shows, including Roseanne, Spin City, and Dead Like Me on Showtime. He was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Original Television Movie for his film Charlotte as part of the film anthology Five on Lifetime.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Finding the Voice by m at t i e b r i c k m a n

oice-over work is both ubiquitous and anonymous. For actors who attended Yale School of Drama, it seems virtually antithetical to their desire to be both seen and heard as they perform on stage, screen or television. And yet it is this very training that has enabled a great many YSD alumni to succeed as actors using only their voices, in advertising, animated features, audio books, video games, or dubbing foreign language films. The alumni featured in this article say that voice-over work demands a rigorous honesty, that authenticity is a key element, and that their training at 2 2

YSD in voice, speech, acting, and even dramaturgy, is what has brought them success in the voice-over field. Recording voice-overs, as these actors attest, can be a viable and potentially lucrative career. It provides financial support so that an actor is free to accept a role in an Off-Broadway play. It may provide such necessities as health insurance. But the voice world requires navigating, networking, and persistence like any other industry, whether pursuing it full-time or alongside acting, as many alumni do. Those cited in this article have done it and have a lot to say about the ride. Advanced technology has

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

certainly changed the industry. The proliferation of technology like Integrated Services for Digital Network (ISDN), now makes it possible to record broadcast-quality work from anywhere, and to communicate with any studio in the world in real time. This means that it is no longer necessary to be near the big recording studios in New York or Los Angeles, and consequently more people have joined the voice-over community. It also means you can do your work, if you like, in your pajamas.

01 Tessa Auberjonois ’98 02 Heather Henderson ’87, DFA ’88. Photo by Whitney Danielson.

Fred Melamed ’81, the basso voice of CBS, USA Network, Mercedes-Benz, and the Olympic Games, hasn’t sounded like a regular person since he was seven. Fred says that in order for a piece of performance work— he includes voice-overs—to be really good, it has to be true, it has to surprise the listener, and at the same time, it has to have a sense of inevitability. “You have to say, well of course it’s that way. It couldn’t be any other way.” Fred remembers getting this advice at Yale: “As you relax into a role and begin to refine it, always go deeper, not bigger.” That is, he says, see if you can anchor what you’re doing to real things about the character, because the most amusing things and the most touching things are often the most real. “That’s what makes the voice vibrate with something beautiful.” “When you train as an actor, you’re better in the voice-over world,” says Joan Van Ark ’64. “I treat all copy like a play.” While Joan acknowledges it is important to stay fresh and evolve with the industry, she appreciates how Yale taught her “how to be pure, how to do it right.” The specific demands of the voice-over industry are always in a state of flux. “It used to be that if you wanted to be a voice-over actor, you had to have a great, really striking, textured voice,” says Tessa Auberjonois ’98, “but now they want just a real person talking.” AdditionYA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

ally, the specific gender they want is not always made clear to the actor, says Joan Van Ark ’64. “What it means is I’ll put in an audition and Morgan Freeman will end up doing it.” One of the most common descriptions actors come across when reading specifications for an audition is “non-announcer.” Tessa praises what she studied at Yale with Barbara Somerville ’83 (Former Faculty). “Just knowing how to learn an accent has been invaluable,” she says. It has served her in both video games and with an audiobook she recorded, On the Razor’s Edge, which had more than 150 characters in its story. Svetlana Efremova ’97 and Tessa Auberjonois ’98 both credit their success in voice-over work with the acting training they received at YSD. Tessa echoes the importance of specificity and knowing your audience as well. “Who am I? Who am I talking to?” are the most important questions to ask with any kind of material, she says. For Svetlana, it is all about professionalism and the work ethic. “Preparation,” she says. “Being present in the given circumstances.” When she is in the booth dubbing another actor’s voice, she only has an instant to enter the world that the onscreen actor has already established—the musicality, the emotional beats—and capture that same feeling in another language. “It’s like you’re dissolving into that person,” she says. “You really have to transform.” In addition, 24

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

there are technical hurdles to overcome when dubbing into another language. If a phrase in English is seven words long, but in Russian it’s only two, she has to find creative ways to stretch it out. Dubbing for Meryl Streep ’75, DFAH ’83 in August: Osage County was a dream project, she says. “It “I felt the most was like I was in her skin. I started understanding the fluid, most way she works, her moments, unrestrained, her appraisals, even the way she listens.” Svetlana is and least grateful for the breathing self-conscious. techniques she learned at YSD, and was able to apply It was a them to this job. “Meryl revelation to always takes time,” she says. “She has a certain pattern of just focus breath when she’s about to on my voice.” come up with something big.” Marcus Henderson ’11, — heather henderson most recently a voice for ‘87, dfa ‘88 McDonald’s, gives thanks to Walton Wilson (Faculty) for encouraging him to trust his natural voice. “That’s something that rings in my head every time I go into the recording booth,” he says. Marcus, who also writes and performs poetry, always thinks about the rhythm of the words and putting

03 Svetlana Efrenova ’97 dubbing Meryl Streep’s ’75, DFAH ’83 lines from August: Osage County into Russian. 04 Fred Melamed ’81 05 Sisi Aisha Johnson ’09 06 Joan Van Ark ’64. Photo by Miguel Frato.

music to his thoughts. “You’ve got to make a song out of whatever you’re selling,” he says. Having recently voiced ads for Belvedere Vodka and Acura, Slate Holmgren ’10 feels one reason he’s getting voice-over work is because he knows how to get into his body to find the character. “When you act, you’re acting with your whole body,” he says. “In front of the microphone, you should be gesticulating with your hands, not to the point where you’re making noise, but to help you embody the text. Or when people say we need more of a ‘smile’… really what it is, is opening your eyes and opening your face and creating brightness, inherently.” For Sisi Aisha Johnson ’09, who is passionate about linguistics and etymologies, learning to use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and how to prepare a script, have been particularly helpful for audiobook recording. “It’s good to have a theatre background when you’re doing audiobooks, because theatre is such a mental medium,” she says. “They say film is for the director and theatre is for the actor. Well, I think that audiobooks are for the actor too.” “It’s fun because one thing I can bring to audiobooks is my interest in dramaturgy,” says Heather Henderson ’87, DFA ’88, who draws parallels between the two fields. For non-fiction, Heather calls her approach “method-y.” She searches for the “emotional thesis,” that thing that motivated the author to spend

years researching and writing. In order to sustain a narrative through technical material, she says she reads “very personally as the author, from that passion, speaking directly to the listeners.” She cites as one of her influences, her teacher, playwright Leon Katz (Former Faculty). “Leon gave me great practice in quickly analyzing and understanding texts, discovering the structure and the dramatic build, annotating dialogue and dialect, all kinds of stuff that help me now in getting ready to perform a book.” Heather also remains zealous about language and research, and, with a fellow narrator, has created AudioEloquence.com, a continually evolving resource for pronunciation, dialect, and speech. “There was one defining moment for me at Yale in the midst of being completely committed and dedicated to being a dramaturg,” Heather says. She was in Dog Stories at the Yale Cabaret, which was set at a radio call-in show. There was one actor onstage, taking the calls, and Heather was one of three actors offstage in a sound booth, calling in. “I felt the most fluid, most unrestrained, and least self-conscious. It was a revelation,” she says, “to just focus on my voice.” Mattie Brickman ‘09 is a playwright. Most recently she created the web series Ro.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

A computergenerated model of The Ideal Theatre from the performerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point of view.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

f e at u r e

The Ideal Theatre by b a r r y jay k a p l a n

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

A computer-generated view from the balcony of The Ideal Theatre.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

he Ideal Theatre. It sounds like something a group of design students might fantasize about over a glass of beer. But the Ideal Theatre is an actual project, although the winning design is just that—a design—and will not be built. Devised by The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Architectural Commission, college and university students enrolled in architecture and theatre programs compete annually to research and design an answer to the question, “What is the Ideal Theatre for teaching professional theatre?” The annual competition began in 2006, according to Janet Gramza, communications associate at USITT, “as a way to get architecture students thinking about designing performance spaces and to work with theatre students to design a project.” Talk about a dream project! From the point of view of USITT, the goal of the competition is to encourage collaboration across disciplines. Together, the teams research and explore emotional and spatial dynamics and the use of physical space to express narrative. This year’s winner, announced in March at the 2014 USITT Conference and Stage Expo in Fort Worth, TX, was Team Skene+Theatron from Yale University: Jeong Sik Yoo ’15, Brian Hickey ’15, and Kyungjin Kim ’14 from Yale School of Drama, and Hochung Kim ARC ’14 and Minu Lee ARC ’15 from Yale School of Architecture. USITT defined the responsibilities of each team member, naming the theatre students as the “client” and the architectural students as the “designer.” In this way, it would be the responsibility of the theatre students to teach the architecture students about the workings and needs of theatres. Team Leader Jeong Sik explained how they worked together: “The two architects on my team liked going to the theatre and the performing arts, but had never seen a theatre’s infrastructure or the back of house.” Before they began with the process of the

competition, Jeong Sik gave them a tour of the theatres at Yale, and also took them to the Ming Cho Lee exhibition at Yale School of Architecture to help them understand a set designer’s needs. Additionally, the team also spoke with students and professional directors who had worked at Yale Repertory Theatre and learned that they preferred a multi-seating configuration flexible enough to support both a proscenium and an open stage. Next they began talks about how an ideal theatre would function in downtown New Haven. Additionally, the teams were instructed by USITT that the theatre have the capacity to serve as a platform for productions of varying scale. The Yale team concluded that rather than develop modifications to an existing performance space, they would design a new theatre in which 70 percent of the annual programming would be dedicated to Yale Rep, with the remaining 30 percent dedicated to speeches such as TED Talks; regional festival support, such as The International Festival of Arts & Ideas; and collaborations with Yale School of Music. Project Advisor Gene Leitermann ’82 (Faculty), co-founder of the theatre design firm Nextstage Design, says that the team was largely self-directed. He met with them just a few times to critique their progress and give them limited guidance. “Their response to the competition brief was organized and very comprehensive,” he says. “The point of the brief was to develop the requirements within the context of your own institution. The team devised a rationale and a program for the theatre, and performed a quite detailed site analysis before selecting the site. Then they produced a theatre and building design that was a thorough and creative response to the program and site. Other than the overall excellence, what struck me most was that all aspects of their entry were well refined. No weak spots, as one often sees in student design competitions.” To cover production capabilities for collaborative work with Yale School of Music, the design had to include new multi-stage configurations, an orchestra pit, and improved projection and acoustic infrastructure, all within a limited budget. The team agreed upon the location of the theatre, taking into account truck and delivery accessibility. USITT also wanted the teams to bring new technologies into their designs. “We introduced a projection infrastructure and ADAapproved seating for people with hearing loss,” Jeong Sik says. “A fly-tech table was another interesting

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

02 04 01 06 03

07 13

11 14

15 16

AIR PRESSURE FROM STAGE

MOVABLE SEAT WAGON , HOVERCRAFT AIR LIFT TECHNOLOGY

elevation of main theatre section 01 Moveable E/D mountable proscenium arch tracks up/ downstage on rollers 02 Plaster robotic total station combines latest in tracking, motorized turning and angle accuracy

03 Acoustic ceiling cloud with variable angle depending on seating configuration (1) Thrust stage (2) Proscenium without orchestra (3) Proscenium with orchestra (4) Open stage 04 Overhead motorized shaft winch system: (1) Used for tech table mode: acoustic panel can be attached on bottom of tech table to work as acoustic panel (2) Used as rigging box truss, projection or scenery pieces

3 0

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

05 Nested tech table 06 Attached acoustic panel 07 Permanently installed projection baffle box on balcony wing area is able to rotate horizontally 08 Acoustic reflector in transverse seating mode 09 Positioning prism

10 Deployed tech table position, if not in use, can be stored in tech rehearsal item room located in mezzanine

13 Stacked projection box in control room booth â&#x20AC;&#x201C; can reduce keystone or picture distortion issue

11 Permanently installed projection baffle box under balcony area is able to rotate horizontally

14 Insulated booth

12 Alternative sound FOH position

15 Air pressure from stage 16 Movable seat wagon hovercraft air lift technology 17 Remote control with importing/exporting CAD file

The exterior facade of wood and metal of The Ideal Theatre allows audiences and staff to see outside, and pedestrians to glimpse inside the theatre, creating an interactive experience for between audiences and the building itself.

suggestion; it would both reduce tech-table changing time and solve acoustic problems.” The team also devised solutions for what their research showed them wasn’t working in other theatres. They proposed technical improvements that would increase work efficiency for the production staff, from the design stage to the strike phase. These ideas included resolving acoustic issues through different stage configurations; employing a moveable, demountable proscenium arch; and adding tractable up-anddown rollers for small scale productions and a projection design infrastructure. These cutting-edge technologies would allow scenic designers to work more creatively. “We also decided to relocate all the dressing rooms and wardrobe, wig and hair rooms, as well as the laundry room and the green room to the basement level,” Jeong Sik says, because of the limited square feet on the stage level. This spatial allocation would also help to minimize the number of wardrobe manag

ers and assistant stage managers needed to handle the dressing process, because all the dressing facilities would be located on the same level, and unnecessary staff movement and communication would be reduced. Team Skene+Theatron’s winning design project— some sketches and models of which are shown here—is a multi-use center for the performing arts on the Yale University campus in downtown New Haven, called the New England Repertory Theatre. Barry Jay Kaplan is the associate editor of the Yale School of Drama annual magazine.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

The CollaborSpirit by m at t h e w s u t to r

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

here is a rich line of curators in Yale’s art galleries, libraries, and museums who regard performance as every bit as valid a response to their collections as a magazine article or a book. Similarly, my colleagues in other parts of the University—such as the School of Music, the Institute of Sacred Music, and Theater Studies—prize the transformative theatrical frame that Yale School of Drama directors and designers bring to the presentation of classical material. This curatorial openness to experimentation on the part of nonperformance colleagues, this spirit of curiosity to see the objects and works they know so well illuminated in a

p h oto by c h ri sto ph er as h ’14

ative

new way, can produce collaborative artistic expression of great emotional impact and beauty. I vividly remember my first encounter with a Yale collection. It was a kind of shock. In the fall of 2002, Tim Young, curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, arranged for me to look at the library’s Gertrude Stein papers, to help me get my head around a production of Stein’s opera Four Saints in Three Acts that I was directing and designing for Richard Lalli’s famed Yale College vocal performance class. Tim brought me an unassuming gray box with a label that read, “Vol. 2: 1920s—1934,” but said nothing of its contents. I opened the lid to reveal a loose pile of unsorted photographs. On top was an un-posed picture of a young, melancholy man sitting on a stone fence. The photograph, like countless other snapshots of an idyllic but hazily remembered summer afternoon, would have been unremarkable, except that the young man was Pablo Picasso. In my experience as a composer, such a particular object—a manuscript, a photograph, a painting—has often become the motivating force behind a musical composition. A small John Webber painting of the death of Captain Cook in the Yale Center for British Art collection set in motion my opera, The Trial of the Cannibal Dog. A seventeenth century Flemish manuscript provided the spark for my inauguration piece for the new organ in Yale Divinity School’s Marquand Chapel. The modernist architecture of the Beinecke itself inspired my sound installation for the library’s 50th anniversary celebration, a theatrical and musical setting of Blaise Cendrars’s 1913 epic poem La Prose du

left to right Mariko Nakasone ’14, James Cusati-Moyer ’15, and Thomas Pecinka ’15 in Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, a collaboration between Yale School of Drama and Yale School of Music, performed at Sprague Hall, Yale University and Carnegie Hall in New York in 2014.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

“The installations and performances the students create truly transform the ways in which visitors understand and experience the museum and the artwork inside it.” — elizabeth manekin

01 01 Ni Wen ’16 and Sarah Krasnow ’14, DFA cand. in Mad Hatters/Mad Art a site-specific performance installation, at Yale University Art Gallery. Photo by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca ’16. 02 Sarah Holdren ’15, YC ’08 in Mad Hatters/Mad Art at Yale University Art Gallery. Photo by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca ’16. 03 Davonte Johnson ’16 in Mad Hatters/Mad Art at Yale University Art Gallery. Photo by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca ’16.

3 4

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Transsibérien for chamber ensemble and narrator. The project was created in close collaboration with Director Liz Diamond (Faculty), Projection Designer Hannah Wasileski ’13, Lightning Designer Yi Zhao ’12, and Sound Designer Liz Atkinson ’12, as well as narrator Max Moore ’11, clarinetist Ashley Smith ’13 MUS, and the Jasper String Quartet. It celebrated the recent acquisition of the original book (also by the same name), beautifully designed by Sonia Delaunay. Tim Young, who commissioned the piece, charged us with the creation of a project that would, he said, “sonically and artistically bring a sense of the Beinecke Library’s mission to a wide range of students and visitors who might otherwise never encounter such fascinating cultural moments.” For the teaching artists involved in such a project, there is the additional reward of folding these experiences back into the classroom. For the last seven years, Elizabeth Manekin, assistant curator of education at the Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG), and I have co-taught a class for directors, sound and projection designers, and playwrights that culminates in sitespecific performance installations at the YUAG called “Gallery+Drama.” “Our annual collaboration with YSD students embodies what we hope to achieve through our Gallery+ series,” Elizabeth says of the project. “The

02 installations and performances the students create truly transform the ways in which visitors understand and experience the museum and the artwork inside it.” One of the longest standing collaborations between a YSD faculty member and a Yale gallery curator is that of Karin Coonrod (Faculty) and Linda Friedlaender, curator of education at the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA). “The Center has always enjoyed rich collaborations across the university,” says Amy Meyers, director of YCBA. “For 10 years, Karin has been bringing New York actors to work with directing students on Shakespearian soliloquies,” she adds, naming such professional acting heavyweights as Steven Skybell ’88, YC ’84, John Douglas Thompson, Reg E. Cathey ’81, Michael Stuhlbarg, and John Sarrouf. But this particular collaboration is more than students simply working alongside seasoned performers. As Coonrod says, “The theatre is nothing if not about crossing boundaries. We have had the tremendous opportunity to be and breathe inside this Louis Kahn building, one of the most stunning buildings in America, while igniting the students’ understanding of poetic space and their responsibility for the attention of the audience.” This past spring Liz Diamond directed Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat in a joint production of YSD and the

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

“I had spent years immersed in the plays, productions, and theories of early modern theatre artists. It was exciting to discover how these ideas found form in the music of this endlessly inventive composer.” — l i z d i a m o n d, fa c u lt y

01 Max Moore ’11 in La Prose du Transsibérien at Yale University: a multimedia concert reading of Blaise Cendrars’s 1913 poem of the same title, set to original music by Matthew Suttor (Faculty), based on a translation by Timothy Young; directed by Liz Diamond (Faculty). Photo by Yi Zhao ’12. 02 front Jessica Holt ’15 and Kelly Kerwin ’15 lead other YSD students and members of the public through the Yale University Art Gallery Experience Tour. Photo by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca ’16.

Matthew Suttor (Faculty) is a composer and a professor (adjunct) of Sound Design and Stage Management at YSD.

01 3 6

School of Music. Diamond’s new translation of the piece, which was performed at both Yale’s Morse Recital Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York in April, was the collaborative effort of Diamond, choreographer Emily Coates GRD ’11 YC ’06 (Theater Studies Faculty), David Shifrin (School of Music Faculty), who is one of the world’s leading clarinetists and interpreters of contemporary music, and myself. “It was a joyous confirmation of what we know,” Diamond says, “that when artists come out of the silos of their disciplines, each contributing their unique expertise, magic can happen.” Liz admits that though her knowledge of Stravinsky’s work was quite limited compared to Shifrin’s boundless love and knowledge of the composer, she was nonetheless aware of the particular elements she brought to the production. “I had spent years immersed in the plays, productions, and theories of early modern theatre artists,” she says. “It was exciting to discover how these ideas found form in the music of this endlessly inventive composer.” Add to the mix actors Tom Pecinka ’15, Mariko Nakasone ’14, James CusatiMoyer ’15, and Michael Cerveris YC ’83, and designers from YSD, and something truly transcendent occurred. When the musicians began to see what the theatrical imaginations of Costume Designer Ilona Somogyi ’94 (Faculty), Set Designer Michael Yeargan ’73 (Faculty), and Lighting Designer Solomon Weisbard ’13 were bringing to this project, they began to experience an entirely new world of artistic expression. Indeed, as in all successful collaborations, the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Lupita Nyong’o ’12 did not, in fact, appear in the world as a full-blown star, like Athena from the head of Zeus. While her season of accolades has been remarkable for its unknown-to-star trajectory, it’s her work before and after it that truly characterizes her career. For those who need a recap: Lupita bounded to fame with her first major film role in 12 Years a Slave. Her performance as Patsey, the spiritually wounded slave of a vicious plantation master, drew universal raves. And then, with every poised interview and glamorous red carpet appearance that followed, she proved herself to be the darling of fashion designers and that rare Hollywood newcomer who seems perfectly at ease with intense media attention. Lupita’s talent and bearing made her a sensation. She quickly graced a string of magazine covers, was nominated for every major acting award, and in March, received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Lupita Nyong’o ’12 on the red carpet at the 86th Annual Academy Awards.

A Breakthrough Year in Two Acts by m a r k b l a n k e n s h i p p h o t o b y m at t s ay l e s

3 8

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

act

But the journey to the stage of the Kodak Theatre started years ago. Born in Mexico to Kenyan parents— Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o, a prominent college professor turned politician, and Dorothy Nyong’o, managing director of the Africa Cancer Foundation—Lupita began acting as a young student in Kenya and eventually worked with a major theatre company in Nairobi. She directed In My Genes, a documentary film about a woman with albinism; did production work on The Constant Gardener; and starred in Shuga, a Kenyan soap opera produced by MTV. Thanks to In My Genes and Shuga, Lupita got a taste of being interviewed about her work. And since she comes from a well-known family, she knew how to handle the public’s attention. Still, when she decided to pursue acting as a career, she realized she had much to learn. That’s partly why she applied to YSD. “Before I went to Yale, I didn’t have any training,” Lupita says. “I was working off instinct and a real passion for acting, but I didn’t have any tools to draw from. That’s why I wanted to go to drama school—to try to gain the tools that could help me explore character and humanity more deeply.” According to Ron Van Lieu (Faculty), former chair of YSD’s acting department, those tools didn’t come without a lot of work. “People imagine she just breezed through, but I don’t think she did,” he says. “She had to build stamina. She had to build confidence. She had to learn to trust herself because she was given some strong, demanding assignments—in particular Sonia in Uncle Vanya and Katherine in Taming of the Shrew. But she never seemed to dwell in the land of ‘I can’t do this.’ If she couldn’t do it at first, she just kept getting back up until she could. She was incredibly resilient!” Lupita had barely graduated when she filmed 12 Years a Slave, so she had an immediate chance to apply her coursework to the world of filmmaking. “One of the greatest lessons at Yale, for me, was realizing that exploring character is about asking the right questions instead of looking for the right answers,” she says, adding that she approached Patsey in that spirit. “What struck me first about Patsey when I read the script was, ‘How can this woman pick 500 pounds of cotton a day and want to die? What kind of person can apply herself to pick 500 pounds of cotton a day and still wish for death by night?’ That was the initial mystery that had me lean into her.”

4 0

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

inter mission

Though not a complete stranger to public life, nothing in Lupita’s background or training had prepared her for the response to a global hit, and the months following the release of 12 Years a Slave were a whirlwind of appearances. “I’m so glad that I didn’t have another job going as I was working on the press tour, because it’s very taxing,” she says. “It takes a lot of emotional and psychological space in a way that you cannot afford to allow in your realm when you’re working.” Lupita can finally think about work again, and she is eager to do so. However, her next film will inevitably bear the burden of expectations raised by her first. And just as her prior experience and YSD training helped her make the most of the 12 Years a Slave phenomenon, her instincts and support system, including a team of managers, agents, stylists and other representatives, will be necessary to ensure that Patsey was only the beginning. 01 Lupita is the newest face of LancÔme cosmetics and skin care. Photo by Alexi Lubomirski for LancÔme.

act

So what future project will she choose? There are several things to consider. “First, where is it shooting? If it’s shooting in Antarctica or something, I don’t want to go!” she jokes. “But then there’s the main thing: Does it interest me? Does it scare me? If it does both things, I want to do it.” She doesn’t want to think about Oscar-winning roles or red carpet appearances or acceptance speeches. “I think it’s blissful ignorance, when you get into a role, what the world will make of it,” she says. ”With every role, you don’t know what will come of it, and that’s the only way to do the work at hand. Because if you knew, it would take up too much creative space.” Lupita and her team also understand that strong scripts—especially with characters that seem like worthy follow-ups to Patsey—are not exactly pouring through the mail slot. “You really have to look carefully at individual things that are offered, and think about whether they’re striking enough,” says Ellen Novack (Faculty), Lupita’s manager and her former professor at YSD. “The first thing that we see is really how few great roles there are for women in general. And then for women of color. And then for women of different ages. There’s not a whole lot, but we’re reading. We’re finding some things we like.” Among those new projects is a featured role in Star Wars: Episode vii , due to arrive next year. Lupita will also star in the independent film Americanah, based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichile’s novel about a young Nigerian woman who emigrates to the United States and experiences racism. Lupita will be producing Americanah with her 12 Years a Slave co-star Brad Pitt. Her hands-on approach indicates a larger vision for her career. “We want to make sure Lupita’s in charge of whatever happens next,” says Novack. Or as Lupita says, “I definitely want to create my own work. I’m not so keen to wait by the phone and hope it rings.”

Mark Blankenship ’05 is editor of TDF Stages and producer-director of Theatre Development Fund (TDF)’s documentary video series Meet the Theatre.

02 Lupita Nyong’o ’12 with Ron Van Lieu (Faculty).

03 Tim Hassler ’13 and Lupita Nyong’o ’12 in Yale Repertory Theatre’s 2012 production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Photo by Joan Marcus.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Was It Really Forty Years Ago? by d o n l ow y & a r t h u r n ac h t

Barry Marshall ’75 (top) and Walt Jones ’75 (Former Faculty) (bottom) show off the first Yale Summer Cabaret sign.

4 2

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

ome say that Yale Summer Cabaret is just the term-time Cabaret plus the garden, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Summer Cabaret began 40 years ago in much the same way summer itself begins: gradually, languidly, lazily. The things students were doing all year wound down and finally came to a halt. Most everyone left town, and those who were still here were hanging around, with nothing much to do. In 1974, facing such a summer in New Haven without paid theatrical employment, Walt Jones ’75 (Former Faculty) and Barry Marshall ’75 got to talking about (what else?) starting their own theatre. “The Cabaret space was vacant during the summer,” Walt recalls, “so we figured it might be available. And we thought we could attract some students if we had money to offer them.” Barry and Walt did a little fund-raising in the community, and then found out that YSD had unspent work study funds. Eureka! A group of actors—who would be paid!—came on board: Christine Estabrook ’76, Franchelle Dorn ’75, Marcell Rosenblatt ’76, Chuck Levin ’74, YC ’71, Ken Ryan ’76, Joel Polis ’76 and Meryl Streep ’75, DFAH ’83. Joining the team as set designer, William Ivey Long ’75 created a multi-purpose set by covering

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

01 The first Yale Summer Cabaret production, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, by Christopher Durang ’74, in 1974. left to right kneeling Christine Estabrook ’76, Charles Levin ’74, YC ’71, Joel Polis ’76; standing Barry Marshall ’75, Karen Marshall, Meryl Streep ’75, DFAH ’83, Franchelle Dorn ’75, Marcell Rosenblatt ’76, Kenneth Ryan ’76; back row Walt Jones ’75 (Former Faculty). Photo by Karen Marshall.

02 left to right William Ivey Long ’75, Pat Quinn ’76, Barry Marshall ’75, Marian Godfrey ’75 and Thomas Russell ’75, DFA ’79, YC ’69. Photo by Karen Marshall.

4 4

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

03 Casey MacLynn, Theresa McElwee ’86, Courtney Vance ’86, Melissa Weil ’85, and Michael Quinn ’84 in An Evening With George and Ira, 1984, directed by Evan Yionoulis ’85, YC ’82 (Faculty).

the floor and the proscenium arch with gray industrial felt. Someone drove to Junior’s in Brooklyn, bought a cheesecake, and sliced it thin as onion skin to serve the audience for a pre-show treat. From its very first season to the summer of 2014, the Summer Cabaret earned a reputation as a place where the experimental was encouraged. “There was a spirit of ‘anything goes’ and risk-taking,” says Walt Jones. “Summer Cabaret offered the chance to try something and see what you had.” The first season opened with a play by Christopher Durang ’74. “I wrote a one-act version of The Marriage of Bette and Boo that had a YSD production in 1973,” Chris recalls. “It featured lots of wonderful people, including Kate McGregor-Stewart ’74, John Rothman ’75, Sigourney Weaver ’74, and Walt Jones ’75 as Friar Donnally. I had just graduated but was still in New Haven. Walt directed The Marriage of Bette and Boo for Summer Cabaret which cast Christine Estabrook, Franchelle Dorn, and Meryl Streep as the nasty sister Joan. I’m pretty sure Walt performed his role of the priest again, who imitates bacon during a sermon.” Such were the humble origins of Christopher Durang’s acclaimed dark comedy, which went on to win an Obie award in 1985. The 1940s Radio Hour, another play developed during that summer of 1974, was also destined for future success—it moved to Broadway in 1980 and has been performed at countless regional theatres ever since. The musical Fly by Night, by Kim Rosenstock ’10, Michael Mitnick ’10 and Will Connolly ’10, which was developed for the Summer Cabaret in 2009, has enjoyed successful runs at Theatre Works in Palo Alto, the Dallas Theater Center and Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. For the first 30 years of its existence, Summer Cabaret was essentially an independent entity of creative and technical people, similar in its independence to a theatre company in the outside world, with a Board composed of local volunteers. The sense of independence was treasured by those involved. In 2008, the Summer Cabaret changed its 501(c)(3) status to become a formal part of YSD. At the time, students worried that the independent nature of Summer Cabaret would change. “We were very concerned that faculty and administration members would now be on the Board telling us what to do and that Summer Cab would be like any other assignment we got during the school year,” says Arthur Nacht ’06, manager of the 2004 Summer Cabaret. “In the end, none of those worries came to be.” Gretchen Wright ’16, the 2014 managing director of Summer Cabaret, says, “The stakes were still very high. We didn’t have the budget that term-time Cabaret has. And we pay everyone. We

Someone drove to Junior’s in Brooklyn, bought a cheesecake and sliced it thin as onion skin to serve the audience for a pre-show treat.

04 Kristine Nielsen ’80, Tony Shalhoub ’80, and Katherine Clarke ’79 in The Bat, 1978. Photo by Penelope Fearon. YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

04 4 6

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

have to sell tickets and advertise dinner as a draw.” With its givens—modest physical trappings, lofty artistic ideals that occasionally demand the impossible, breakneck rehearsal periods and a company of YSD students working tirelessly in and out of their disciplines—there have been many memorable performances and many exceptional summers. “It’s a bit like throwing paint at a wall—in the best possible way,” says Mickey Theis ’14. “Since the shows often rehearse very quickly, it grants an artist the opportunity to create with abandon and without over-thinking or being too precious with the work at hand.” Summer Cabaret also fosters an espirit du corps among its artists that brings to mind that famous line Mickey Rooney says to Judy Garland in Babes in Arms: “Let’s put on a show, right here in the barn!” As Ethan Heard ’13 recalls, “The length of the runs—usually 10 days—allowed the company to bond in a deeper way than is possible during the school year, when each Cabaret production plays only from Thursday to Sunday. We made the Billiards Room in 217 Park Street into a comfortable green room with a couch, yoga mats, and space to stretch. We were all responsible for changing over the sets between shows, and some of us worked in the kitchen on off-nights—everything and everybody was very hands-on, so we developed a special ownership of the productions.” Indeed, the original ethos that surrounded the Yale Summer Cabaret in its early days is alive and well today. On this 40th anniversary, alumni chests swell with pride in celebrating the accomplishments of 40 companies, 380 actors, 222 shows, and more than 1,500 performances. It is the grit, the wit, the stamina, the invention, the daring and the thrill of the work that keeps Summer Cabaret cool. Don Lowy ’76 is a marketing and communications consultant. Arthur Nacht ’06 is the principal of Nacht Theatre Consulting, LLC.

01 Charles Andrew Davis ’76 and Joyce Fideor ’77 singing “Deep Purple” in The 1940s Radio Hour. Photo by Karen Marshall. 02 The Importance of Being Earnest, 1976. left to right Alma Cuervo ’76, Marcell Rosenblatt ’76, Laurence Gewirtz ’77, Christine Estabrook ’76, Andrew Davis ’76, Joel Polis ’76, and Joyce Fideor ’77. Photo by Karen Marshall. 03 left to right Barry Press ’77, William Roberts ’78, Mark Linn-Baker ’79, YC ’76, and Richard Bey ’76 in the 1977 Summer Cabaret production of Seven Keys to Baldpate. Photo by Karen Marshall. 04 Max Gordon Moore ’11 and Austin Durant ’10 in The Mystery of Irma Vepp by Charles Ludlam, directed by Michael Walkup ’06, 2009. Photo by Eric Pearson ’09.

05 left to right Vivian Keh ’98, Matthew Austin Jones ’99, Preston Lane ’96, and Joshua Grubb Robinson ’98 in the world premiere of Curtis Wade MacIntyre’s ’98 Bad Intentions, 1997.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

The Face Behind the Makeup by a n n e l is e l awso n

4 8

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

One of the most sought-after designers of theatrical makeup on Broadway, Angelina Avallone ’94 has brought color and character to shows such as Gypsy, The Little Mermaid, and Young Frankenstein, and many others. Most recently, she’s worked her magic on three very different productions: Cabaret, Bullets Over Broadway, and Sweeney Todd. It’s easy to see why she’s so busy: the master designer radiates a keen aesthetic and imaginative awareness. Her assured sense of taste, meticulous attention to detail, and (above all) devotion to telling a story have earned her a place in the upper echelons of Broadway. She talked with us about how she brings characters to life.

Angelina Avallone ’94, in the Roundabout Theatre applying makeup to Jessica Pariseau, one of the Kit Kat Klub girls in Cabaret. Photo by Mark Ostow.

How did you begin working in theatrical makeup design? I studied fashion in Florence, costume design at YSD, and I trained in makeup. For me they’ve always been parallel careers. I approach my work as a storyteller first. It’s not really about the makeup, it’s not really about the costume. The training at Yale was absolutely invaluable. The community is an oasis for a young professional. It’s a wonderful place to experiment and explore while being supported by the university and the teachers. I feel privileged to have been a student of Ming Cho Lee (Faculty), Jane Greenwood (Faculty), Jennifer Tipton (Faculty), Stephen Strawbridge ’83 (Faculty), Jess Goldstein ’78 (Faculty), and Michael Yeargan ’73 (Faculty). The design classes were very much about dramaturgy, about storytelling. As a designer

you have to collaborate to tell the story—not only with the actor but also the director, the costume designer, the set designer, and the lighting designer. You’re so aware of the lights and the style of each production, and the research that goes behind it. When the set and costumes are lit a certain way, you understand what you need to do as a designer to compensate. That’s what sets Yale apart. What is your process when working with actors? When approaching a play, we all start with the written word. We break down the script and try to understand what type of story we’re going to tell. The actor is going through the same process, developing their character, while you create the physical appearance. Every detail is emotional. There is so much in a tube of lipstick, when you think

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

When something is seamless and effortless, when you get it right, that’s when you have that moment of magic onstage. — angelina avallone ’94

about it. It can trigger so many questions that shape a character. This year, I designed Cabaret with Michelle Williams and Alan Cumming. So, for example, what kind of red did Sally Bowles wear? Where did she buy her lipstick? Who did she aspire to be? She probably watched a lot of movies and fell in love with Marlene Dietrich. She probably sat at home with her movie magazines and copied that makeup. The lip shade we’ve come up with for Michelle is specific, and we mixed three different colors to get it. We customized everything. Every actor brings something individual to a role, and it’s important that there be some individuality to the makeup. It may be just the eyeliner, maybe just an eyelash, maybe just a slightly different shade of red. With shows that are technically more complex—those involving prosthetics, for example—is that level of individuality still possible? You always have to tailor to the actors because facial proportions are not the same. It’s like a custom suit or shoe—it’s the same look, but you have a different cut. When I designed How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Patrick Page, our original Broadway Grinch, had all these tiny details that were important to him and we added tufts of eyelashes and little lines for

01 5 0

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

02 expression. A couple of seasons later we had Stefán Karl, whose face was very elastic, so we had to create makeup that worked with his face. It was a total redesign. I would do a sketch, we’d put on the wig, and they’d be running their lines and all of a sudden you’d see this actor in street clothes transform into the Grinch before your very eyes. The creation process is so fascinating, and when you have an actor who’s ready to play and experiment it can be so much fun. Is your process for fantastical shows different from how you approach naturalistic shows? The no-makeup look can be just as challenging as a lot of makeup— sometimes even harder. Bullets Over Broadway has a very specific palette: New York in the 1920s.The lighting is of a certain time period, and it’s a warm light. You may have to color correct an actor’s skin

because their natural skin tone, when lit with that very warm light, washes them out. We had to go back to classic Hollywood makeup, because nowadays everything is much more natural-looking. We looked at all those beautiful Hollywood portraits and illustrations, and they inform you of the time: its spirit, its culture, its taste. Then you have to look at everybody in the show, because it’s like a painting. They’re part of the same world, they’re telling the same story. After the immense amount of research behind each look, how do you maintain the design through the course of a production? You have to consider the backstage rhythm, like quick changes for example, when you establish the looks. We go through the show for every character and every costume change and every

01 Joel Grey and Sutton Foster in Anything Goes, Roundabout Theatre Company, 2011. Makeup by Angelina Avallone ’94. Photo by Joan Marcus, courtesy of Polk and Company. 02 Eric Sciotto, Shannon Lewis, Kyle Coffman, Nicholas Barasch, Will Chase and Chita Rivera in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Roundabout Theatre Company, 2012. Makeup by Angelina Avallone ’94. Photo by Joan Marcus, courtesy of Polk and Company.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

01 Alan Cumming with the Kit Kat Klub girls in Cabaret, Roundabout Theatre Company, 2014. Makeup by Angelina Avallone ’94. Photo by Joan Marcus. 02 Angelina Avallone ’94 mixed three colors to get a customized lipstick shade for Michelle Williams in Cabaret, Roundabout Theatre Company, 2014. Photo by Joan Marcus, courtesy of Polk and Company.

scene. You have to pick makeup based on what will cover and what can be fast. Time dictates everything. You find the right product, and document everything. We create a makeup bible with everybody’s looks for the show— every little detail down to the types of brushes. There are hundreds of pieces of makeup to organize— sometimes thousands—depending on the production. What are the most rewarding or challenging moments for you in your process? When something is seamless and effortless, when you get it right, that’s when you have that moment of magic onstage. That’s a great moment in the theatre, whether it’s small or whether it’s epic and big and glittery. The Little Mermaid was beautiful: a spectacular world. Or you have intimate moments like

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

those in The Normal Heart, which were heart-wrenching and so real. They are quite different, but those are the moments when you feel like you’ve done your job: you’re supporting the story. As an artist and designer, your primary job or mission is to tell the story as best as you can. And when the process is collaborative, that’s when you have the best results. It seems that, in your process, you’re designer, dramaturg, and actor—you incorporate parts of every field. You have to be. This is my approach to every play. It’s not an easy life and it’s not an easy industry, but on the other hand, I think we’re incredibly privileged to live this life. We have our oasis that we go to everyday. Annelise Lawson ’16 is a secondyear acting student.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Making a Scene: Lessons from Ming Cho Lee by sa r a h h o l d r e n

n a chilly, gray Saturday morning in New Haven, a group of students wrapped in scarves and clutching Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cups assembles in an unassuming room on the first floor of 205 Park Street. We chat, wolf down bagels, rub the sleep from our eyes, and get to work pinning sketches to the walls and setting up small, meticulous set models around the perimeter of the room. We’re waiting for our teacher: Ming Cho Lee (Faculty). The fact is, I am insanely, indescribably lucky. I am a second-year directing student enrolled in Ming’s famous Saturday morning scenic design course, alongside the first-year designers of all disciplines: sets, costumes, lights, and projection. Almost every week, we discuss a new play, and our classroom is filled with sketches, models, and research images, all fresh attempts to flesh out a new scenic world. We have worked on Shakespeare, Ibsen, Wilde, Puccini, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Caryl Churchill, and August Wilson. We’ve gone from the storm-swept banks of the Volga River in Katya Kabanová to the hustle and bustle of bygone Broadway in Guys and Dolls. With Ming firmly and gently in the lead, we have considered not only the space of the stage, but first and foremost how to read a play, how to turn words on a page into a dynamic, tangible world for flesh-and-blood humans to move about in, to talk in, to fight, laugh, and die in. Ming encourages directors and designers to be rigorous dramaturgs. His first question is never, “What does the set look like?” but, “Who are these characters? What are the rules of this world?” When I ask him about this teaching practice, he answers in classic Ming fashion: He gives someone else the credit. He recalls a time in the 1980s when he invited John Hirsch, at that time the artistic director of Canada’s Stratford Festival, to visit his scenic design class. “We called him the Rabbi,” Ming says, grinning. “He could talk about a play like nobody’s business. He said to the class, ‘We’re going to discuss The Winter’s Tale and The Dybbuk, plays about miracles.’ And a second-year directing student said, ‘Why are you talking about 5 4

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

left to right Jennifer Salim ’11, Summer Lee Jack ’11, Alan Edwards ’11, Dede Ayite ’11, Chien-Yu Peng ’11, and Ming Cho Lee (Faculty). Photo by Joan Marcus.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

With Ming firmly and gently in the lead, we have considered not only the space of the stage, but first and foremost how to read a play...

stage designs by ming cho lee an exhibition at the yale school of architectur november 20, 2013â&#x20AC;&#x201C;february 1, 2014 02

01 K2 (1982) Kreeger Theatre 02 Don Juan (1979) Arena Stage, Fichandler Theater

5 6

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

03 Lorenzaccio (2005) Shakespeare Theatre, DC 04 The Woman Warrior (1994) Berkeley Repertory Theatre

05 Boris Godunov (1974) Metropolitan Opera Opera 06 Electra (1970) New York Shakespeare Festival Mobile Unit

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

5 8

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

left to right Ming Cho Lee (Faculty), Dede Ayite ’11, Aaron Mastin ’11, and Jess Goldstein ’78 (Faculty). Photo by Joan Marcus.

miracles nowadays? With Reagan in office?’ John was a little taken aback, and said, ‘Do you ever question the fact that you wake up?’ Then he walked to the window and said, ‘If you are a man from Mars, and I tell you that this gray world you see out there, in six months will be filled with green, would you believe it?’” This is the kind of passion, the kind of open-eyed, unconventional thinking that Ming encourages in his students. With his guidance, we explore each play as if it were, in the words of dramaturg Elinor Fuchs (Faculty), a “small planet,” with its own rules of climate, space, and time. Fuchs’s canonical essay, “Visit to a Small Planet,” lays the groundwork for this kind of deep listening to a play’s heartbeat, and it’s no great leap to John Hirsch’s “man from Mars.” Born in China, Ming might joke about his struggles with English (he grins as he recalls his undergraduate years at Occidental College, where he “failed any class that involved English—which was every class”), but he is absolutely fluent in the language of theatre. At 84 years old, his eyes still light up when he talks about Salome or Hedda Gabler, and the sketches that he roughs out on the classroom dryerase board are still a wonder to behold. They convey an absolute understanding of the space required to tell a particular story. Last winter’s major exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture, “Stage Designs by Ming Cho Lee,” was, in one very special way, the first of its kind. While there have been multiple retrospectives of Ming’s work in both the United States and China, there has never been one at Yale—Ming’s home as a teacher—until now. On the opening night of the exhibit, Arnold Aronson, a theatre historian and professor at Columbia University who is completing a book on Ming, spoke of the significance of showcasing Ming’s work here and now: “A younger generation today may not know the work of Ming Cho Lee,” Aronson said. “Unlike paintings, unlike music, unlike movies, theatre disappears. But to actually see his design work done 50 years ago and to understand why this was revolutionary when it was done … things that today we might think are old fashioned were new at one time, and they were new in many cases because Ming Cho Lee did them first. What is now the common vocabulary of the American theatre started, in many cases, with things that Ming Cho Lee did.” And so I sit in the classroom at 205 Park Street, the home of Ming’s scenic design class for 45 years, and as the April breeze comes in through the window, Ming and I chat. I listen as he tells me about his favorite movies (Gone With the Wind and Forbidden Games rank high on the list), his memories of his mother taking him to the theatre in Shanghai as a child, where both wept over a Chinese-language stage adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and the sudden start to his astounding career: “In 1961 I had to go to all the way to San Francisco just to find a job,” he recalls. “And in 1962 I was all over the place! Everyone was calling me.” And while he speaks, I have a thought. Next May I will be handed a sheet of paper that adds a few letters to my name. I’ll be a Master of Fine Arts. That’s good. But what’s better is the amazing experience I’ve had at YSD, learning from a true master like Ming Cho Lee. Like the seemingly endless New Haven gray blossoming into green, it’s a kind of miracle. Sarah Holdren ’15, YC ’08 is a third-year directing student.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

left Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ’15 and Ato Blankson-Wood ’15 in He Left Quietly, directed by Leora Morris ’16, at the Yale Cabaret 2014. Photo by Nick Thigpen. right Brendan Pelsue ’16, Annelise Lawson ’16, and Jenelle Chu ’16 in The Crazy Shepherds of Rebellion, conceived and directed by David Bruin ’16, at the Yale Cabaret 2014. Photo by Nick Thigpen.

6 0

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Phillip Christian ’94, Joe Manganiello, Sara Sokolovic ’11, Marc Damon Johnson and René Augeson ’96, in Yale Repertory Theatre’s 2013 production of A Streetcar Named Desire, direted by Mark Rucker ’92. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Aaron Profumo ’15 and Ashton Heyl ’14 in Radio Hour, conceived by Tyler Kieffer ’15 and Steven Brush ’14, directed by Paula Bennett, at Yale Cabaret 2013. Photo by Nick Thigpen.

6 4

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Bookshelf PUBLI C AT IO NS BY & ABO U T YAL E S C H O OL O F DRA MA A L U MN I

03 05

02 04 01 Art, Vision & Nineteenth-Century Realist Drama: Acts of Seeing by Amy Strahler Holzapfel ’01, DFA ’06 2013 Routledge

03 Edwin Booth: A Biography and Performance History by Arthur W. Bloom ’66 2013 McFarland & Co.

02 Physical Expression on Stage and Screen: Creating Performances with the Alexander Technique by Bill Connington (Faculty) 2014 Methuen Drama

04 Blood on the Stage, 480 B.C.–1600 A.D. by Amnon Kabatchnik ’57 2014 Scarecrow Press

06 05 Losing Tim by Janet Burroway ’63 2014 Think Piece Publishers

08 Having the Time of Your Life: Little Lessons to Live By by Allen Klein ’62 2014 Viva Editions

06 The World of Rae English by Lucy Rosenthal ’61 2014 Black Lawrence Press

09 Let Me See It by James Magruder ’88, DFA ’92, GRD ’84 (Former Faculty) 2014 TriQuarterly Books

07 Tween Hobo: Off The Rails by Alena Smith ’06 2014 Gallery Books

10 The Last Bizarre Tale by David Madden ’61 2014 The University of Tennessee Press

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Events 2013 NEW YORK HOLIDAY PARTY

AT THE YALE CLUB OF NEW YORK CITY

07 01 Chris Henry ’12, Robert Chikar ’14, William DeMeritt ’12, Ashton Heyl ’14, Caitie Hannon ’14, SOM ’14

6 6

a l l p ho to s by sa mu e l s t u ar t h olle n s h e ad

08 02 Fran Kumin ’77, Geoffrey Johnson ’55, Kathy Houle ’88, Herb Scher ’86 03 Carol Murray Negron, James Bundy ’95 (Dean), Peter McCandless ’64

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

04 Thomas McGowan ’88, Cathy McGowan, Walker Jones ’89, Todd Berling ’89 (Former Faculty) 05 Paul Pryce ’13, Sheria Irving ’13

06 Stéphanie Hayes ’11, Ethan Heard ’13, YC ’07 07 John Rothman ’75, Jeremy Smith ’76, Marc Flanagan ’70

08 Carmen Martinez ’14, Kate Noll ’14, Monique Barbee ’13

Alumni Events 2014 WEST COAST ALUMNI PARTY AT THE HOME OF ASAAD KELADA ’64

ph otos by r yan m i lle r / c apt ur e i m agi n g

01 Aga Kunska ’02, Greg Copeland ’04, Kirsten Parker ’11, Sarah Olivieri ’08, Laura Patterson ’03 02 Stephen Godchaux ’93, Asaad Kelada ’64, Denise Hudson ’93, James Bundy ’95 (Dean)

03 Obi Ndefo ’97, YC ’94, Dyanne Asimow ’67, Gabriel Olds YC ’95

07 07 Allan Havis ’80, Jim Kleinmann ’92, Patricia Mario, Joshua Fardon ’91

04 Asaad Kelada ’64, Marcus Henderson ’11

08 Carol Schlanger ’70, Kathleen Gray ’70, Sharon Stockard Martin ’76

05 Stephanie Nash ’88, Amy Aquino ’86, Bever-Leigh Banfield ’77 06 Pam Rank ’79, Aimee Scribner, Alexander Scribner ’80, Jeff Rank ’79

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Graduation

p ho to s by s te ven k o er nig ’16

CLASS OF 2014

Congratulations to our newest alumni — the Class of 2014! Master of Fine Arts/ Certificate in Drama acting Mamoudou Athie Christopher Bannow Jabari Brisport Prema Cruz Cecilia Fernandez Ashton Heyl Merlin Huff Gabriel Levey Matthew McCollum K. Michelle McGregor Elia Monte-Brown Mariko Nakasone Daniel O’Brien John Michael Theis Sophie von Haselberg Mitchell Winter Carly Zien

design Christopher Ash Michael Bergmann Seth Bodie Elivia Bovenzi Brian Dudkiewicz Benjamin Ehrenreich Samuel Ferguson Nicholas Hussong Hunter Kaczorowski Kyungjin Kim Carmen Martinez Katherine Noll Reid Thompson Oliver Wason

playwriting Hansol Jung Mary Laws Kathryn Tarker

directing Nicole Lewis Katherine McGerr Dustin Wills

technical design & production Kaitlyn Anderson Justin Bennett Nicholas Christiani Matthew Groeneveld Michael Harvey Nicholas Johnson Sanghun Joung Christina Keryczynskyj Courtney Mills Jacqueline Young

dramaturgy Whitney Dibo Lauren Dubowski Ilya Khodosh Sarah Krasnow Jessica Rizzo Jennifer Schmidt Dana Tanner

6 8

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

sound design Joel Abbott Steven Brush Samuel Ferguson stage management Robert Chikar Carolynn Richer Hannah Sullivan Sonja Thorson

theater management Brittany Behrens Caitlin Hannon Shane Hudson Alyssa Simmons Lauren Wainwright Melissa Zimmerman technical internship certificate Kelly Fayton Daniel Hutchinson Kevin Klakouski Alexandra Reynolds Gahyae Ryu Stephanie Smith Elizabeth Zevin doctor of fine arts Maya Cantu Jacob Gallagher-Ross (Dec. 2013)

Graduation CLASS OF 2014

GRADUATION PRIZES ascap Cole Porter Prize Mary Laws ’14 Edward C. Cole Memorial Award Justin Bennett ’14 John W. Gassner Memorial Prize Helen Jaksch ’15 Bert Gruver Memorial Prize Robert Chikar ’14 Allen M. and Hildred L. Harvey Prize Courtney Mills ’14

Jay and Rhonda Keene Prize Seth Bodie ’14 Leo Lerman Graduate Fellowship in Design Elivia Bovenzi ’14 Dexter Wood Luke Memorial Prize Shane Hudson ’14 Courtney Mills ’14 Mentorship Award Nicholas Christiani ’14

Morris J. Kaplan Prize Caitlin Hannon ’14

Donald and Zorka Oenslager Fellowship Oliver Wason ’14 Katherine Noll ’14

Julian Milton Kaufman Memorial Prize Dustin Wills ’14

Pierre-André Salim Prize Dustin Wills ’14 Nicholas Christiani ’14

The Frieda Shaw, Dr. Diana Mason OBE, and Denise Suttor Prize for Sound Design Steven Brush ’14

01 Alyssa Simmons ’14 and Prema Cruz ’14.

Oliver Thorndike Acting Award Christopher Bannow ’14 John Michael Theis ’14

02 Dramaturgs Lauren Dubowski ’14, Whitney Dibo ’14, and Ilya Khodosh ’14.

George C. White Prize Shane Hudson ’14 Herschel Williams Prize Mariko Nakasone ’14

03 Members of the Yale School of Drama Class of 2014.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Graduation FELLOWSHIPS & SCHOLARSHIPS John Badham Scholarship Dustin Wills ’14 The John Badham Scholarship in Directing Andras Viski ’15 The Mark Bailey Scholarship Dana Tanner ’14 The George Pierce Baker Memorial Scholarship Ilya Khodosh ’14 Helen Jaksch ’15 Kelly Kerwin ’15 The Herbert H. and Patricia M. Brodkin Scholarship Carly Zien ’14 The Patricia M. Brodkin Memorial Scholarship Carolynn Richer ’14 Sonja Thorson ’14 The Paul Carter Scholarship Nicholas Christiani ’14 Nicholas G. Ciriello Family Scholarship Christina Keryczynskyj ’14

The Caris Corfman Scholarship Ato Blankson-Wood ’15

Edgar and Louise Cullman Scholarship Leora Morris ’16 Cullman Scholarship in Directing Nicole Lewis ’14 Sarah Holdren ’15 Luke Harlan ’16

The Jay and Rhonda Keene Scholarship for Costume Design Soule Golden ’15

The Donald M. Oenslager Scholarship in Stage Design, 3rd year Christopher Ash ’14

The Eldon Elder Fellowship Hugh Farrell ’15 Samuel Ferguson ’14 Chika Shimizu ’15 Michael Bergmann ’14 Brian Dudkiewicz ’14 Kyungjin Kim ’14 Sanghun Joung ’14 Yagil Eliraz ’16

The Ray Klausen Design Scholarship Mariana Sanchez Hernandez ’15 Gordon F. Knight Scholarship Fund Jing Yin ’15

The Donald and Zorka Oenslager Scholarship in Stage Design Montana Blanco ’15 Grier Coleman ’15 Nicholas Hussong ’14 Oliver Wason ’14

The Lotte Lenya Scholarship Fund Mitchell Winter ’14

The Eugene O’Neill Memorial Scholarship Lindsay Ferrentino ’16

Victor S. Lindstrom Scholarship Nicholas Johnson ’14

The Mary Jean Parson Scholarship Jessica Holt ’15

The Lord Memorial Scholarship Melissa Zimmerman ’14

The Jeff and Pam Rank Scholarship Justin Bennett ’14

The Virginia Brown Martin Scholarship Cornelius Davidson ’15

The Mark J. Richard Scholarship Phillip Howze ’15

The Stanley R. McCandless Scholarship Josef Moro ’15 Caitlin Smith Rapoport ’15

Lloyd Richards Scholarship in Acting Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Wesley Fata Scholarship Fund Aaron Bartz ’15 The Foster Family Graduate Fellowship Alyssa Simmons ’14 The Dino Fusco and Anita Pamintuan Fusco Scholarship K. Michelle McGregor ’14 The Annie G. K. Garland Memorial Scholarship John Rucker ’15 The Earle R. Gister Scholarship Gabriel Levey ’14

The August Coppola Scholarship Emika Abe ’15

The Cheryl Crawford Scholarship Brendan Pelsue ’16

Holmes Easley Scholarship Fund Kurtis Boetcher ’15 Reid Thompson ’14

Randolph Goodman Scholarship Jungah Han ’15 Jerome L. Greene Endowment Chris Bannow ’14 Ashton Heyl ’14 Mariko Nakasone ’14 John Michael Theis ’14 Pamela Jordan Scholarship Prema Cruz ’14 The Sylvia Fine Kaye Scholarship Fund Chasten Harmon ’14

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

The Alfred L. McDougal and Nancy Lauter McDougal Endowed Scholarship Fund Merlin Huff ’14 Katherine Noll ’14 Benjamin Mordecai Scholarship for Theater Managers Shane Hudson ’14 The Kenneth D. Moxley Memorial Scholarship Thomas Harper ’15 G. Charles Niemeyer Scholarship Fund Kee-Yoon Nahm ’12, DFA cand. Ryan Davis ’11, DFA cand.

Barbara E. Richter Scholarship Fund Hannah Sullivan ’14 Cecilia Fernandez ’14 The Rodman Family Scholarship Rosalie Bochansky ’15 Pierre-Andre Salim Memorial Scholarship Pornchanok Kanchanabanca ’16 Jeong Sik Yoo ’15 Hansol Jung ’14 Scholarship for Playwriting Jiréh Holder ’16

Graduation FELLOWSHIPS & SCHOLARSHIPS The Richard Harrison Senie Scholarship Elivia Bovenzi ’14 Benjamin Ehrenreich ’14

01 Stage Management graduates Robert Chikar ’14, Carolynn Richer ’14, Sonja Thorson ’14, Hannah Sullivan ’14. Photo by Steven Koernig ’16.

Daniel and Helene Sheehan Scholarship for Yale School of Drama Students Brittany Behrens ’14

02 Christopher Bannow ’14

Howard Stein Scholarship Emily Zemba ’15 The Stephen B. Timbers Family Scholarship for Playwriting Kathryn Tarker ’14

03 left to right Edward Martenson (Faculty), Brittany Behrens ’14, Melissa Zimmerman ’14, and Eric Gershman ’15, SOM ’15.

The Frank Torok Scholarship Robert Chikar ’14 The Richard Ward Scholarship Sarah Williams ’15 The Zelma Weisfeld Scholarship for Costume Design Seth Bodie ’14 The Constance Welch Memorial Scholarship Celeste Arias ’15 James Cusati-Moyer ’15

The Rebecca West Scholarship Matthew Raich ’15 Zenzi Williams ’15 The Audrey Wood Scholarship Mary Laws ’14

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Awards & Honors 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards 2013

86th Annual Academy Awards 2014

30th Annual Helen Hayes Awards 2014

29th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards 2014

Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series Adam Scher ’94 (Art Director) Winner, Boardwalk Empire

Best Actress in a Leading Role Meryl Streep ’75, DFA ’83 Nominee, August: Osage County

Outstanding Lighting Design, Resident Production Andrew F. Griffin ’16 Winner, Henry V (Folger Theatre)

Outstanding Scenic Design Matt Saunders ’12 Nominee, Good Person of Szechwan

Outstanding Art Direction for Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming Eugene Lee ’86 (Production Designer) Winner, Saturday Night Live Akira Yoshimura ’71 (Production Designer) Winner, Saturday Night Live Derek McLane ’84 (Production Designer) Nominee, Oscars

Best Actress in a Supporting Role Lupita Nyong’o ’12 Winner, 12 Years a Slave Best Production Design Adam Stockhausen ’99 Nominee, 12 Years a Slave 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards 2014 Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy Meryl Streep ’75, DFA ‘83 Nominee, August: Osage County

Outstanding Children’s Program Sheila Nevins ’63 (Executive Producer) Nominee, A YoungArts Masterclass Nominee, The Weight of the Nation for Kids: Quiz Ed! Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special Sheila Nevins ’63 (Executive Producer) Nominee, Ethel Winner, Manhunt: The Inside Story of the Hunt for Osama Bin Laden

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Lupita Nyong’o ‘12 Nominee, 12 Years a Slave Best Actor in a TV Series, Drama Liev Schreiber ‘92 Nominee, Ray Donovan 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards 2014 Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Meryl Streep ’75, DFA ’83 Nominee, August: Osage County Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Lupita Nyong’o ’12 Winner, 12 Years a Slave

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Andrew F. Griffin ’16 Nominee, The Tempest (Synetic Theater) The Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Play Julian (Elijah) Martinez ’16 Nominee, 9 Circles (Forum Theatre) The James MacArthur Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor, Resident Play Ted van Griethuysen ’60 Winner, The Apple Family Plays (The Studio Theatre) Outstanding Visiting Production David Muse ’03 (Artistic Director) Nominee, Baby Universe: A Puppet Odyssey (The Studio Theatre) Outstanding Resident Musical David Muse ’03 (Artistic Director) Nominee, The Rocky Horror Show (The Studio Theatre 2ndStage)

Outstanding Costume Design Anita Yavich ’95 Nominee, The Explorers Club Outstanding Costume Design Catherine Zuber ’84 Nominee, Far From Heaven 68th Annual Tony Awards 2014 Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Tony Shalhoub ’80 Nominee, Act One Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Bryce Pinkham ’08 Nominee, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Best Scenic Design of a Musical Christopher Barreca ’83 Winner, Rocky Alexander Dodge ’99 Nominee, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Santo Loquasto ’72 Nominee, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical Best Costume Design of a Play Jane Greenwood (Faculty) Nominee, Act One Rita Ryack ’80 Nominee, Casa Valentina

Awards & Honors Best Costume Design of a Musical Linda Cho ’98 Winner, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder William Ivey Long ’75 Nominee, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical Best Lighting Design of a Musical Christopher Akerlind ’89 Nominee, Rocky Donald Holder ’86 Nominee, The Bridges of Madison County Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre Jane Greenwood (Faculty) 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards 2014 Outstanding Actor in a Musical Bryce Pinkham ’08 Nominee, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Lighting Design Christopher Akerlind ’89 Winner, Rocky 80th Annual Drama League Awards 2014 Distinguished Performance Award Tony Shalhoub ’80 Nominee, Act One 64th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards 2014 Outstanding Actor in a Musical Bryce Pinkham ’08 Nominee, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Outstanding Actor in a Play Tony Shalhoub ’80 Nominee, Act One Outstanding Costume Design Linda Cho ’98 Nominee, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder William Ivey Long ’95 Winner, Bullets Over Broadway

Outstanding Director of a Play Anna D. Shapiro ’93 Nominee, Domesticated

Outstanding Set Design Christopher Barreca ’83 Winner, Rocky

Alexander Dodge ’99 Nominee, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Alexander Dodge ’99 Nominee, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Santo Loquasto ’72 Nominee, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical

45th Annual Jeff Equity Awards 2013 Outstanding Scenic Design (Large) Todd Rosenthal ’93 Nominee, The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Steppenwolf Theatre Company) Walt Spangler ’97 Nominee, Good People (Steppenwolf Theatre Company) Nominee, Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre) Outstanding Scenic Design (Midsize) Kevin Depinet SRF ’06 Nominee, Wasteland (TimeLine Theatre Company) Outstanding Lighting Design (Large) Philip S. Rosenberg ’59 Nominee, Julius Caesar (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) Nominee, Sunday in the Park with George (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) Outstanding Costume Design (Large) Jacqueline Firkins ’00 Nominee, The Misanthrope (Court Theatre) Outstanding Sound Design (Midsize) Martin Desjardins ’94 (Former Faculty) Winner, columbinus (American Theater Company)

45th Annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards 2013 Set Design Adrian W. Jones ’00 Winner, The Nether (Kirk Douglas Theatre @ Center Theatre Group) 24th Annual Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards 2013 Outstanding Playwriting for an Original Play Kathryn Walat ’03 Nominee, Creation (The Theatre @ Boston Court) Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play Bo Foxworth ’94 Nominee, The Crucible (The Antaeus Company) Outstanding Scenic Design (Large Theatre) Andrew Boyce ’09 (Faculty) Nominee, The Royale (Center Theatre Group: Kirk Douglas Theatre) Myung Hee Cho ’95 Nominee, Miss Julie (Geffen Playhouse) Adrian W. Jones ’00 Winner, The Nether (Center Theatre Group: Kirk Douglas Theatre) Takeshi Kata ’01 Nominee, American Buffalo (Geffen Playhouse)

Outstanding Costume Design William Ivey Long ’75 Winner, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical Zane Pihlstrom ’06 Nominee, Nutcracker Rouge

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Awards & Honors 24th Annual Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards 2013 (continued)

Alexander Dodge ’99 Nominee, The Show-off (Westport Country Playhouse)

Outstanding Costume Design (Large Theatre) Tobin Ost ’01 Nominee, Jekyll & Hyde (La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts)

Michael Yeargan ’73 (Faculty) Winner, These Paper Bullets! (Yale Repertory Theatre)

59th Annual Obie Awards 2014 Special Citations Jiyoun Chang ’08 (lighting) and Hannah Wasileski ’13 (projections) Winners, The World is Round (Ripe Time @ BAM Fisher) Connecticut Critics Circle Awards 2013–2014 Outstanding Director of a Play Jackson Gay ’02 Winner, These Paper Bullets! (Yale Repertory Theatre) Patricia McGregor ’09 Nominee, The House that will not Stand (Yale Repertory Theatre) Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play Jeanine Serralles ’02 Nominee, These Paper Bullets! (Yale Repertory Theatre) Outstanding Ensemble (member of) Laura Woodward ’09 Winner, Love/Sick (Hartford TheaterWorks) Outstanding Set Design Kate Noll ’14 Nominee, Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Repertory Theatre)

Outstanding Costume Design Jessica Ford ’04 Winner, These Paper Bullets! (Yale Repertory Theatre) Jess Goldstein ’78 (Faculty) Nominee, The Underpants (Hartford Stage/Long Wharf Theatre) Wade Laboissonniere ’03 Nominee, Hello, Dolly! (Goodspeed Opera House) Katherine O’Neill ’09 Nominee, The House that will not Stand (Yale Repertory Theatre) K. J. Kim ’14 Nominee, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Repertory Theatre) Outstanding Sound Design Charles Coes ’09 (Faculty), Nathan Roberts ’10 Nominee, Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Repertory Theatre) Broken Chord (Daniel Baker, Aaron Meicht, and Philip Peglow ’04) Winner, These Paper Bullets!, (Yale Repertory Theatre) Jane Shaw ’98 Nominee, Macbeth (Hartford Stage) Chad Raines ’11 Nominee, The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Repertory Theatre)

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Outstanding Lighting Design Matthew Richards ’01 Winner, Macbeth (Hartford Stage) Philip S. Rosenberg ’59 Nominee, Somewhere (Hartford Stage) Paul Whitaker ’02 Nominee, These Paper Bullets! (Yale Repertory Theatre)

Honors Nicholas Christiani ’14 was awarded the 2014 Frederick Buerki “Golden Hammer” Scenic Technology Award from United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT). Jane Greenwood (Faculty) received a 2014 Lifetime Achievement Tony Award for costume design. She has been nominated 18 times for a Tony Award. David Henry Hwang ’83 and Tarell Alvin McCraney ’07 are both 2014 recipients of a Doris Duke Artist Award for Theatre. Launched in 2011, the awards program supports individual artists in contemporary dance, theatre, jazz and related interdisciplinary work. C. Nikki Mills ’14 was awarded the 2014 KM Fabrics Technical Production Award from USITT. Sarah Sokolovic ’11 and Molly Bernard ’13 both received Annenberg Fellowships, two-year grants awarded by The Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts to earlycareer dancers, musicians, actors, and visual artists. Meryl Streep ’75, DFAH ’83 was honored with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s 2014 Monte Cristo Award, one of the most distinguished achievement awards an actor can receive. The award celebrates a theatre artist who exemplifies Eugene O’Neill’s pioneering spirit, unceasing artistic commitment to excellence, and accomplishment.

Awards & Honors

01 01 The YSD table at the 2014 Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s 2014 Monte Cristo Awards ceremony in New York. standing left to right Joseph Grifasi ’75, P. Kenneth Ryan ’76, William Ivey Long ’75, Meryl Streep ’75, DFAH ’83, Jeremy Smith ’76, Marcell Rosenblatt ’76, Carmen de Lavallade (Former Faculty), Victoria Nolan (Deputy Dean), Alma Cuervo ’76, Richard Bey ’76. seated Deborah Berman (Faculty), Alvin Epstein (Former Faculty), Betsy Parrish (Former Faculty). Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

02 Nicholas Christiani ’14 (right) with award sponsor Bernhard R. Works at the awards reception during the USITT 2014 Annual Conference and Stage Expo. Photo by Tom Thatcher. 03 C. Nikki Mills ’14 and KM Fabrics Founder Richard Heusel at the awards reception during the USITT 2014 Annual Conference and Stage Expo. Photo by Tom Thatcher.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

In Memoriam Elizabeth Norment Actress

Elizabeth Norment ’79

Elizabeth Norment ’79 was born December 31, 1952 in Washington, DC, and partly raised in Japan and Germany while her father was in the CIA. Her career as a professional actor began in 1980 when she graduated from Yale School of Drama and was invited by Robert Brustein (Former Dean) to join the American Repertory Theatre (ART) in Cambridge, MA. Elizabeth had a long career in television, film and theatre. She was most recently seen in the Netflix series, House of Cards. Many of her early roles were with regional theatre companies such as Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and the Colony Theater in Los Angeles. She credited much of her success to her early work in Shakespeare, particularly roles in As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing as her breakthroughs: “A lot of people in the business either saw them or heard about them,” she once said. “I’ve been working steadily ever since.” Her friend Rick Elice ’79 writes: When Liz and I first met 40 years ago, we were auditioning for a production of Antony and Cleopatra at Cornell. Liz was gorgeous. I was anxious. We were both cast as spear-carriers and revelers, you know the drill. So, of course, Liz and I behaved very badly backstage, having quickly recognized in each other a kindred, subversive spirit. Three years and several plays later, we egged each other on to audition for YSD. Liz’s appointment was a couple of weeks before mine. She called me in Ithaca from the Old Heidelberg and told me she’d gotten a callback. My audition finally rolled around. I called her from the Old Heidelberg to say I’d gotten a callback too. We lived together on Lake Cayuga that summer, then at the end of August, we drove to New Haven, rented an apartment together at 80 Howe Street, and started our professionYA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

al training. There wasn’t much we didn’t know about each other during the next three years. Six months after we graduated, we joined the spanking new ART as charter company members, and were together pretty much every day for another two years. When I saw her on the day she died, she sat up in bed, opened her arms wide, and cried, “O Noodle!” (This was a line we shared decades ago in a Yale Cabaret production of Tom Thumb the Great). “O Noodle,” I hollered back. She may have been physically diminished, but she was still her essential, gorgeous, subversive self; the living, breathing embodiment of the woman described in the first play Liz and I were in together, thus: “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.” Bravo, Liz! Elizabeth died on October 13, 2014 in New York.

Eric Bercovici Screenwriter

The story of how screenwriter Eric Bercovici ’55 got the job of adapting the blockbuster novel Shōgun into a television movie is Hollywood legend. Knowing he was not the producer’s first choice, Eric met with Shōgun’s author James Clavell and told him

In Memoriam that major plot points and characters would have to be cut. The next day Clavell handed Eric a copy of the novel with whole sections torn out. Eric wrote the script from that copy and went on to produce the 12-hour miniseries in 1980. The ratings were higher than those for any other miniseries up to that time with the sole exception of Roots. Shōgun won 3 of its 14 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Miniseries, and all three of its Golden Globe nominations, including Best TV Series, Drama. It was the biggest hit of Eric’s career. Eric studied playwrighting at YSD, but when his father, screenwriter Leonardo Bercovici ’31, who wrote The Bishop’s Wife and Portrait of Jennie, was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, the family moved to Europe. Eric’s first professional job was cowriter for the 1961 film Square of Violence, directed by his father, and starring Broderick Crawford and Bibi Andersson. As a feature film writer, Eric’s work ranged from such classics as Hell in the Pacific, a 1968 World War II film starring Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune and directed by John Boorman, to Change of Habit, a 1969 musical starring Elvis Presley and Mary Tyler Moore, to The Culpepper Cattle Co., a 1972 revisionist Western whose tagline read: “How Many Men Do You Have to Kill Before You Become the Great American Cowboy?” Switching to television in the late 1970s into the 1980s, Eric wrote episodes for Hawaii Five-O, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and I Spy, and created the series Assignment Vienna and its pilot, Assignment: Munich. In 1977, he adapted John Ehrlichman’s novel, The Company, into a miniseries titled Washington: Behind Closed Doors. Eric also wrote crime novels: Wolftrap, So Little Cause for Caroline, and Tread Lightly, My Dear. Although this was less lucrative than writing for television, Eric didn’t care. “When you write scripts, the minute you write ‘fade out’, all these people—directors, producers, studios, some

times other writers, networks—enter your life,” he said in a 1981 interview with The New York Times. “When you write a book, you are all these people.” Eric Bercovici was born on February 27, 1933 and died on February 9, 2014 at his home in Kaneohe, HI. He was 80 years old. He is survived by his wife, Chiho Adachi, whom he met while making Shōgun, and their three sons Luca, Hilary and Jacob; his half-brothers Adam and David; his half-sister Christina; and two grandchildren.

Eric Bercovici ’55

George Morrison

Acting Teacher

Born in Evanston, IL in 1928, George Morrison ’53 developed an interest in acting at a young age, and joined the Children’s Theatre of Evanston. The Theatre was founded by Winifred Ward, a professor at Northwestern University who developed the fields of children’s theatre and creative dramatics. By age 13, George was playing Tom Sawyer in an elaborate production with a cast of Northwestern University students. Upon graduating from high school, he spent three summers in a stock company directed by the legendary Alvina Krause, where he played parts ranging from John “Ernest” Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. After a two-year stint in the United States Army, George attended the University of Chicago, where he became close friends with Mike Nichols and Paul Sills. He would continue to work with these friends throughout his life. He enrolled in Yale School of Drama as a directing student and then moved to New York in 1953, where he YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

In Memoriam studied in Lee Strasberg’s private class and at The Actors Studio. George had several early successes as a director in New York, including the OffBroadway productions Harry, Noon, and Night with Dustin Hoffman and Joel Grey, and John Osborne’s Epitaph for George Dillon. He also directed a long-running production of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker in Chicago. On Broadway, he directed Jack Klugman and Jill Clayburgh in The Sudden & Accidental Re-Education of Horse Johnson, and in 1964 was the fifth director hired for Any Wednesday with Gene Hackman and Sandy Dennis, a production from which he was fired a week before the play opened to rave reviews. During this period, he also directed improvisation-based revues at the Off-Broadway theatre The Premise (with a company that included Gene Hackman, George Furth, Cynthia Harris and Ron Leibman), a cabaret revue that included Mary Louise Wilson and Jane Alexander, and, for ABC, two musical revues with scripts by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It was as a teacher that George found his true calling, creating an indelible mark on the world of theatre and influencing some of its most illustrious actors. He taught acting in New York for more than 50 years, training several generations of actors, directors, playwrights, producers, and teachers, first at the George Morrison Studio, then, beginning in 1972, as a co-founder of the Theatre Arts department at SUNY Purchase along with Norris Houghton and Joseph Anthony. George was a senior professor there for 18 years and was awarded the Chancellor’s Citation for Outstanding Teaching. In l988, George co-founded New Actors Workshop with Mike Nichols and Paul Sills, which offered a two-year conservatory course in professional actor training. He served there as president for 22 years before retiring in 2009. In his long theatre career, George taught, mentored, directed, and inspired genera78

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

tions of actors, including Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Klugman, Sandy Dennis, Judy Collins, Susan Dey, Jane Alexander, Jill Clayburgh, Joel Grey, Stanley Tucci, Scott Glenn, Edie Falco and Ving Rhames. Gene Hackman said in an interview that George had “the most influence on me of anybody in the business. He saw something in me that others didn’t. I am eternally grateful to him.” In his acceptance speech for the 1971 Academy Award for Best Actor, Hackman said, “I just want to start at the beginning just for a second and say: Sitting out there next to Barbara Harris reminds me of my first acting scene ever. It was in New York, and the gentleman sitting in front of us when we were doing that scene was my acting teacher, and I just have to mention his name: George Morrison.” George died on June 28, 2014. He was 86 years old.

William Cohen Actor

When Bill Cohen ’84 laughed, his shoulders were like pistons rising up and down. He loved to laugh. Bill had a great affection for many things: history, comic books, dragons, and his many friends. His acting career was not his legacy, although he made it to Broadway (The Green Bird), television (many of the shows shot in New York), and film (Hit and Runway). I think his biggest impression was made in a 25-year teaching career in the New York City public school system. He had classes full of kids who had been transferred out of other schools for various reasons or circumstances. He taught every subject thrown his way from American and world history to math and public speaking. He constantly worked to keep his kids engaged, even though European medieval history was not usually their first priority. After his diagnosis of stage IV brain cancer in January 2013, Bill fought his way back

In Memoriam into his gym routine, then back into the school system, teaching summer school as well as during the regular school year. He worked until he collapsed inside the classroom. I don’t think he knew how much his knowledge, enthusiasm, and good humor helped hundreds of kids throughout the years. It cost him emotionally and physically, but he kept giving. Bill died on January 20, 2014. — b il l ku x ’83

Henry Lowenstein Cultural Leader

Henry Lowenstein ’56, a cultural icon of the Denver community, was born on July 4, 1925, in Berlin. His father Max Lowenstein was a doctor, his mother Maria Baetge Lowenstein an artist. Their home was the scene of nightly parties for artists of all kinds. One of his father’s best friends was composer Kurt Weill, who worked out his The Three Penny Opera on the Lowenstein family piano. During the Nazi occupation in 1938, Henry was among the 10,000 Jewish children taken to London as part of the kindertransport, a rescue mission which saved refugee children in the months leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War. His parents were sent to forced labor camps but survived the Holocaust and emigrated to the United States in 1945. After nine years of separation, Henry joined them in 1947 at age 22. He served three years in the United States Air Force as an illustrator during the Korean War and was accepted into the design program at Yale School of Drama in 1953, on the basis of his designs for a Kurt Weill production. While at Yale, he also worked part time as a stagehand at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre. After graduating from YSD in 1956, Henry was recruited as a set designer by Helen Bonfils, the publisher of The Denver Post, for the Bonfils Memorial Theatre in Denver. From 1956 to 1975 Lowenstein designed

hundreds of plays, ballets, and operas. He was named general manager in 1967 and was charged with elevating the professionalism of a community theatre where celebrities like Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone mingled with local talent. Henry consciously modeled the Bonfils after The Public Theater in New York. Henry’s work at the Bonfils made him one of the most significant and influential figures in the Colorado performing arts scene. He was not only a gifted theatre artist, but created opportunities for many other artists—particularly women and artists of color—inviting to the Bonfils such companies as El Teatro Campesino, Black Arts West, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Covillo Parker Ballet Company (which became the Colorado Ballet) and the National Chicano Dance Theatre. He also developed a touring theatre program for children. By the time the Bonfils closed in 1986, it was renamed the Lowenstein Theater. Henry retired when the Lowenstein Theater closed, but soon went back to work at the new Denver Civic Theatre, continuing to design and produce more than 90 shows

Henry Lowenstein ’56 in his easy chair. Photo by Sonny Wasinger.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

In Memoriam until retiring again in 1995. “No single person has exercised more influence in the theatre community than Henry Lowenstein,” said Steve Wilson, executive artistic director of the Mizel Arts and Culture Center in Denver. Henry was held in such esteem that the Colorado Theatre Guild’s annual awards became the annual Henry Awards in his honor. Henry Lowenstein, who many considered the father of theatre in Denver, died on October 7, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Deborah, whom he married in 1994, and three sons with first wife Doris Brewer, who died in 1990. He was 89 years old.

Paul Binai Artist

Paul Binai ’57 in 1985 with one of his latest paintings, “The Embrace II.” Photo by Bill Levis/PostGazette.

8 0

Paul Binai ’57 was a painter who attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania and studied design at Yale School of Drama. He taught at Purdue University and Carnegie Mellon University, and was a curator at Detroit Institute of Arts, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. Paul had a rather exotic family story. His grandfather was the Siamese ambassador to Germany and to the Imperial Court of Russia, and his grandmother was one of the first female doctors in Europe. His father and his father’s twin brother were adopted by the King of Siam, and his father was the first Thai national to become a naturalized American citizen. Although Paul had been painting since he was a young man, it was not until 1994 that he began to focus exclusively on his original work and to create paintings that were exhibited nationally, including at the Univer-

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

sity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State University New Kensington and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, as well as internationally. He removed himself from the kind of curatorial work he’d been doing, to do what he’d always wanted to “since I was a little kid,” he told a reporter in 2002. “Paint and draw.” As a painter, Paul was influenced by German Expressionism, and often dealt with controversial issues in his work. His first painting, “Blue Shutters,” completed when he was 19 years old, depicted a transvestite standing at a window wearing women’s clothing and was influenced by his reading of Truman Capote’s Other Voices, Other Rooms. Paul used the Holocaust as a subject for a painting, as well as capital punishment, marginalized groups and suicide. His paintings from the 1950s stood out for being representational at a time when American painting was becoming increasingly abstract. In 2011, Paul’s work was the subject of Paul Binai: Fifty-Year Retrospective at the University Museum at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The exhibit showcased Paul’s earliest paintings and included his most recent work with collage. In her review of the show, Professor Brenda Mitchell, said that “the emotive quality that resides within and defines it, continues through Mr. Binai’s oeuvre, in later years playing out in spectacular color associations that seduce the eye even before the often shattering scene becomes apparent.” Paul was born in Lancaster, PA in 1932 and died on May 15, 2014.

Paul Pierog Performance Artist

Paul Pierog ’68 was an actor, director, and playwright, who made his most indelible mark as an alternative performer in a oneman performance piece called Paul Pierog (Not Your President). After graduating from Yale School of Drama, Paul acted Off-Off

In Memoriam Broadway in Ron Tavel’s Theater Genesis production of Bigfoot. Paul wrote over 25 plays, including Why You Shouldn’t Go Rabbit Hunting On Your Honeymoon, and invented a system for teaching and manipulating the English language, both in a written and spoken form, called WordSpace. He made his first forays into comedy playing language games and exercises. His first public reading was at an open mic night hosted by Zero Boy at Symphony Space in Manhattan. He took his act to the New Word Works Festival at the Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble, which led to one-man show presentations at Collective Unconscious. Paul started a television show on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), which the network described as “a semimotivational experiment in wordplay and uncomfortable TV silence, a spoof on talking heads and having something to ‘say.’ In fact, nothing Paul Pierog ‘says’ is purely said. It is stammered, brooded upon, quipped, the television equivalent of a Thomas Pynchon novel.” In 2005, after a lengthy adjudication process, Paul and his solo show, Paul Pierog (Not Your President), were selected to inaugurate the first annual Festival of One: New York’s Only One-Show Festival. According to Aaron Beall, the festival creator who also co-created the New York International Fringe Festival, Paul’s show was alternative comedy at its edgiest and “fringiest”—an evening of epigrams, short monologues, political fantasy, wild dances, stealth poetry, lip syncs, and media commentary. In the show, Paul Pierog played an American corporate executive only tenuously connected to reality (or perhaps just speaking the truth). Beall described him as a mash-up of John Kerry and Frankenstein. “If Al Gore and Marshall McLuhan had a love child,” he said, “it would be Paul Pierog.” Paul Pierog died in New York City on January 5, 2014. He is survived by his sister, Patricia (Pierog) Disch.

Helen Quinn (Pennie) duPont Casting Director and Teacher

After attending Yale School of Drama, Helen Quinn (Pennie) duPont ’62 studied acting with Uta Hagen in New York and then appeared on and Off-Broadway and in films. Pennie began casting for movies when producer Ray Stark hired her as a casting assistant for John Huston’s film version of Annie. She went on to cast five other films for Stark, then worked for producer Daniel Melnick, as well as Columbia Pictures and Tri Star Pictures in Los Angeles. Her casting career included such major motion pictures as Roxanne, Quicksilver, The Karate Kid, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Seventh Sign, Arizona Dream, and Star 80. “She knew who was talented and how to speak to them,” recalls actress Karen Ludwig. “She was a fine teacher and a loyal friend.” When Pennie returned to New York, she co-founded the City Center Young People’s Theater and produced The Shrinking Bride Off-Broadway, in which Danny de Vito made his debut. She also co-hosted the television show The Good Life with John Newcomb, which was syndicated in the United States and Australia. As a writer, Pennie sold a number of screenplays, including the awardwinning ABC Afterschool Special Torn Between Two Fathers. During the 1990s, she directed and produced short archival films for the New York School of Interior Design. Pennie was also an acting and directing teacher at NYU—both in New York City and Singapore—and at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. One of the high points of her long career was working with Karen Ludwig on the production and direction of Uta Hagen’s Acting Class, a teaching documentary of the work of Pennie’s incomparable teacher and friend. Born in Johnstown, PA, in 1939 Pennie graduated from Miss Porter’s School in YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

In Memoriam Farmington, CT, and Bradford Junior College in Haverhill, MA, before going on to study acting at Yale School of Drama. She passed away in Wilmington, DE on June 13, 2014. She is survived by her sister Deborah duPont Riegel of Wilmington, and by two brothers, P. Coleman duPont of Wilmington and Jamie MacKenzie of Taconic, CT, as well as by two nieces, two nephews, two grandnieces and one grand-nephew.

which we were converting to a theatre. Despite the numerous difficulties, Neveen never complained, and made the challenges seem adventurous and fun. She was always happy and made all our lives a little easier.” Neveen toured nationally with productions of The Book of Mormon, Dirty Dancing, Chicago, and The Graduate. She died unexpectedly on December 21, 2013 at age 37. She is survived by her parents, her two sisters, and her large theatre family.

Neveen Nasr Mahmoud

Television Producer

Neveen Nasr Mahmoud ’00 was born on June 10, 1976 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. When she was five years old she and her family moved to the United States. She attended Royle Elementary School in Darien, CT where she distinguished herself by winning the state spelling bee competition. The Mahmoud family moved to Charlottesville, VA in 1984, where Neveen’s father was accepted into the University of Virginia’s Systems Engineering PhD program. Neveen became a US citizen in 1986 at the age of 10. She went on to earn a BA from the University of Virginia in 1997 and received her MFA from Yale School of Drama in 2000. Following her graduation from Yale, Neveen moved to New York City where she quickly became a member of the theatre community, working as a stage manager on such Broadway productions as The Graduate, Jitney, Gem of the Ocean, The Color Purple, Dirty Dancing, Lysistrata Jones, La Cage aux Folles, and Mamma Mia! OffBroadway, she worked at The Public Theater, Lincoln Center Festival, City Center Encores!, the Working Theater, and Classic Stage Company. Lewis Flinn, composer of Lysistrata Jones for which Neveen was stage manager, said, “We were staging Lysistrata literally in a church basement

Once Robert Costello ’47 found broadcasting, on-air is where he stayed. After returning from military service in Europe during World War II, he graduated from Yale School of Drama with an MFA in directing. His first television job was during the new medium’s “golden age,” producing for Armstrong Circle Theatre. Robert had an eye for new talent, and was responsible for the casting of future movie stars James Dean, Grace Kelly, Paul Newman, Jack Lemmon, and Carroll O’Connor in some of their earliest on-camera work. He also produced many hit shows, including Mister Peepers, Kukla, Fran and Ollie, and the soap opera Another World. Robert made television history in the 1960s and 1970s, producing The Patty Duke Show and the vampire-themed Dark Shadows, where his expertise as both producer and designer helped to establish the latter show’s unique look and production methods. It was his decision to cast Jonathan Frid ’57, who became a television icon as the vampire Barnabas Collins. And he inadvertently made a lasting impact on one of the show’s most recognizable fashion choices: deciding on Barnabas’s “Napoleon-style” haircut. While working on Dark Shadows he married his third wife, Sybil Weinberger, the program’s music director. Robert later won a Peabody Award for

Robert Costello

Stage Manager

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

In Memoriam the 1976 PBS series The Adams Chronicles and received nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special for the program in 1976 and 1977. He also won two Emmy Awards in 1976 and 1978 as producer for ABC’s daytime series, Ryan’s Hope. After leaving active producing in the 1980s, Robert taught at New York University’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. Robert was born in Chicago on April 26, 1921. His family moved to Jackson Heights, NY, when Robert was five. He entered Dartmouth College in 1939, but when America went to war, he left school to join the Office of Strategic Services. Robert received his diploma 50 years later (like many in the Dartmouth class of 1943 who enlisted before graduation) with the class of 1993. Before broadcasting, his first job out of Yale was in the theatre research unit of the Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT), a private research university in Hoboken, NJ, where he illustrated a book called Theaters and Auditoriums. This led to an odd career turn. After seeing Robert’s book, a wealthy Dutch businessman hired him as the lighting and theatre designer of his team of performing Lipizzaner horses, and Robert traveled with them through Switzerland, supervising their performances in a onering circus. He met his first wife, Mary Eddy, while he was a code-cracker stationed in North Africa during the war. They subsequently divorced and he married his second wife, Barbara Bolton, in 1950 and moved to Amagansett, NY. This marriage also ended in divorce in the 1960s. His marriage to Sybil Weinberger lasted for 37 years until he died at age 93 on May 30, 2014. He is survived by three daughters, a son, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Farewell John G. Althoff ’48 / 5.9.2014 Haskell Barkin ’63 / 2.27.2013 Joseph Theodore Barna ’81, YC ’71 / 6.8.2014 Eric Bercovici ’55 / 2.9.2014 (see page 76) Paul Binai ’57 / 5.15.2014 (see page 80) Beverly Brumm ’65 / 12.3.2013 Barbara Burrows ’60 / 5.10.2013 James Chesnutt III ’71 / 10.4.2014 Anne (De Coursey) Clapp ’53 / 12.25.13 William Cohen ’84 / 1.20.2014 (see page 78) Robert Costello, Jr. ’47 / 5.30.2014 (see page 82) Laila S. Dahl ’65 / 9.2.2012 Helen Q. (Pennie) DuPont ’62 / 6.13.2014 (see page 81) David B. Ebbin ’57 / 1.6.2014 Nancy (Partridge) Eichsteadt ’45 / 7.21.2013 Linda Giese ’72 / 9.11.2014 James William Gousseff ’56 / 1.25.2014 Elinor Randolph Graper ’43 / 9.12.2013 Joe. A. Greenhoe ’53 / 3.29.2014 Richard A. Harrison ‘66 / 9.21.2014 Francis I. Hefferen III ’65 / 4.27.2014 Virginia H. Honneus ’64 / 9.11.2013 Clinton P. King, Jr. ’39 / 9.9.2013 James Kerney Kuser ’59 / 5.20.2014 Henry Lowenstein ’56 / 10.7.2014 (see page 79) Neveen Mahmoud ’00 / 12.21.2013 (see page 82) Edwin C. Meyer ’68 / 3.2.2014 Donald W. Moreland ’60 / 2.5.2013 George Morrison ’53 / 6.28.2014 (see page 77) Elizabeth Norment ’79 / 10.13.2014 (see page 76) Paul Pierog ’68 / 1.5.2014 (see page 80) Eilene (Crawley) Pierson ’50 / 6.13.2014 Merrill Sindler ’57 / 7.11.14 Barbara (Bennett) Stevens ’45 / 1.24.2014 Nancy F. Swortzell ’59, DFA ’64 / 7.30.2011 Marjorie Williams ’55 / 12.17.2013

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes 1950s Robert Barr’s ’52 10-minute play, The Star is Out, was performed August 21–31, 2014 as part of Rollercoaster at Laugh/ Riot Performing Arts Company in Edinboro, PA. This is the sixth of Bob’s plays to be produced and/or published. He has now moved to Portland, OR. ● Michael Onofrio ’53, YC ’50 continues to interpret at Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills, NY. Michael recently used his bilingual skills to guide a tour for Italian nationals from Milan. He writes: “No matter the language, it is always rewarding to make tours come alive using all the tools of theatre. Coaching docents and guides is equal to directing beginning actors: make it real.” ● Grace (Tuttle)

“No matter the language, it is always rewarding to make tours come alive using all the tools of theatre.” — m ich a e l onof r i o ’53, yc ’50

Noyes ’54 stays happily involved in theatre with Nantucket’s Armchair Theatre and Nantucket Short Play Festival. Both are script-in-hand performances, so an aging memory is not a problem. ● Since 2008, Melvin Bernhardt ’55 has been retired and enjoying life. On September 10, 2011, Mel married Jeff Woodman, an actor, in the garden of their house in the Shawangunk Mountains. Mel and Jeff are now celebrating 25 years together. ● Geoffrey Johnson ’55 is an active trustee of the Noël Coward Foundation, 8 4

which, thanks to Geoffrey's stewardship, supports an annual Noël Coward workshop led by actress and director Maria Aitkin at YSD. ● Lucile Lichtblau ’56 was invited to develop her newest play, Sorrento, at the Southern Writers Project of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival last May. ● In four volumes of Blood on the Stage published during the last several years, Amnon Kabatchnik ’57 has examined hundreds of crime-tinged plays produced in the 20th century. In his latest book, Blood on the Stage, 480 b.c–1600 a.d., he goes back to dramas of blood, treachery, and horror mounted in ancient Greece, ancient Rome, the Dark Ages, and Elizabethan England. The book analyzes more than 50 plays and provides a critical view of some of the most significant representations of criminal behavior on stage. ● Robert Kalfin ’57 is currently involved with several projects, including My Parsifal Conductor, a Wagnerian Comedy by Allan Leicht, optioned for a New York production; Chance, a new musical by Richard Isen, presented July 2013 in San Francisco; Nanny Doss, The Folly Black Widow by Marsha Sheiness; and Burnt Offerings by Julienne Berk. Robert also just completed his handbook for young directors, Making it Safe to be Unsafe About Directing. ● Margaret Linney ’58 became a first-time grandmother on June 8, 2014 when her stepdaughter Laura Linney (daughter of Romulus Linney ’58) gave birth to Bennett Armistead Schauer. Marge and Romulus’s daughter Susan is a freelance content and production editor and writes a regular column for TueNight, a weekly online magazine. ● Gordon Micunis ’59 and his husband, Jay Kobrin, have moved to permanent residence in New York City. They welcome old and new friends to share stories and new projects.

1960s Wendy (Oehlert) Adams ’61 continues to paint, doing commissioned portraits, still life, and landscapes. ● Stephen Arnold ’60 retired in 2001 and settled in the northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

at the end of the Mainline. His last job was as general manager and tour manager for Ballet Folklorico de Mexico from 1991– 2000. ● The Modern Graphic History Library at Washington University in St. Louis is establishing in perpetuity Bold Strokes and Finesse: The Stage Designs of John Ezell ’60. The collection will include more than 400 of John’s renderings, scale models and production archives. ● Michael Rutenberg ’60, DFA ’65 is professor of theatre at Hunter College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Edward Albee: Playwright in Protest, and a modern adaptation of Oedipus of Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Michael is the former head of Israel’s National Conservatory of Stage and Cinematic Art and a life member of The Actors Studio. He was recently granted a Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship and returned to Israel as director/artist-inresidence at Haifa University. ● It has, by fluke, been an extraordinary year for Janet (Burroway) Ruppert ’63. This year marked the release of new editions of her books Writing Fiction and Imaginative Writing; a re-issue of her novel Raw Silk by Open Road Media; a collection of essays she edited for the University of Chicago called A Story Larger Than My Own: Women Writers Look Back on Their Lives and Careers; and, most important to her, Losing Tim, a memoir of the life and death of her son, who fought in Iraq and took his own life in 2004. Janet is traveling for this last book, both reading and meeting with suicide and veteran support groups. ● Lucy Rosenthal ’61 has published her second novel, The World of Rae English. She continues to teach writing at Sarah Lawrence College. ● Patricia (Slavin) Cochrane ’62 has been presenting foreign films at the Atwater Library in North Branford, CT, for the past several years. Rod Bladel ’61 has contributed suggestions and audiences seem to enjoy the selections. ● Viva Editions published Allen Klein’s ’62 latest book, Having the Time of Your Life: Little Lessons to Live By. The book contains 500 inspiring and uplifting quotations and answers such questions as “What’s Life?”, “Why are we here?”,

Alumni Notes and “How to Enjoy the Journey.” ● Leslie Stark ’62 most recently directed and appeared in David Ives’s Sure Thing and Rich Orloff’s The Whole Shebang at the Katharine Cornell Theater. She writes that on Martha’s Vineyard, there is an ongoing series of abbreviated—but textually accurate—productions of Shakespeare’s plays at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse called “Shakespeare for the Masses.” Additionally, she continues to offer programs in the appreciation of classic jazz at libraries, senior centers and arts communities, as well as classes in the adult education curriculum at the high school. ● Enjoying theatre and the arts worldwide, Susan Barber ’63 is principally working in sales and marketing for upscale properties and hotels. She recently returned from the tourism summit in Goa, India, and was one of 100 people worldwide chosen to attend. Susan is fluent in French, Italian and Spanish. ● Now in his 45th year at Smith College as the Anne Hesseltine Hoyt Professor of Theatre, Len Berkman ’63, DFA ’70 just received his second Fulbright specialist grant to return to Hamburg, Germany, where he has been a guest professor teaching US and Canadian drama for three previous semesters since 2008. Len’s current full-length play, We Three, is inspired by the self-portraits and life of German romantic painter Philipp Otto Runge. Len is also back again as dramaturg for New York Stage & Film’s new play development projects, and as guest playwright/dramaturg for the University of Iowa’s New Play Festival, a festival guided by two YSD alumni, Dare Clubb ’82, DFA ’91 and Art Borreca ’86, DFA ’93. Len’s article, “Obama,” was in the Fall 2013 issue of the German periodical Vorbilder. ● Robert Cohen DFA ’64 has begun his 50th year as a professor of drama at University of California Irvine with the debut of his memoir, Falling Into Theatre, which includes a chapter on his years earning a DFA at Yale School of Drama. Also on Robert’s activity sheet in 2014 were the publication of his translation of Machiavelli’s Clizia, and professional performances of his plays in both Cluj, Romania

(Machiavelli and The Möbius Strip) and Amsterdam (Bzaap!). ● Since leaving Yale, Richard Fuhrman ’64 has had a grand run designing sets, ranging from Broadway to soap operas The Guiding Light and The Edge of Night, the movie The Godfather, and the sets for the Rolling Stones’s video

“The basic concept of theatrical design is to bring the playwright’s best intentions to the stage.” — ri c ha rd fuhrm a n ’64 of That Girl. “The basic concept of theatrical design,” Richard writes, “is to bring the playwright’s best intentions to the stage.” A wider application of this precept is how Richard came to write Expectations, a book about a dog, a flood, and a life. “The art, craft, and passion that go into designing a set transfers easily to writing. Both require showing exactly what needs to be seen.” ● Theater Breaking Through Barriers, the company founded by Ike Schambelan ’64, DFA ’67, produced its fourth festival of short commissioned plays in June on Theatre Row. Ike was thrilled to work with Yale alumni John Guare ’63 (Former Faculty) and David Henry Hwang ’83 who contributed plays, Julius Novick DFA ’66, who acted as dramaturg, and Russ Treyz ’65, who directed. ● With a BA in physics and an MFA in theatre engineering, Dennis Carnine ’65 (Former Faculty) has 21 years of experience in electronics manufacturing of lighting control systems for theatres, TV, auditoriums, and other venues. During this time he became vice

president and chief engineer for Theatre Techniques, Inc. Since 1987 he has taught various courses at community colleges in pre-calculus, AC/DC circuits, microprocessors, troubleshooting, and video editing. He has also developed and taught customized training programs for workers re-entering the workforce, and for various companies such as Schick and Bic. His other professional activities include vocational rehabilitation engineering, web site design, and software sales and marketing. In 2010 he and his wife of 53 years, Shirley, moved to Naples, FL, and entered the blissful state of semiretirement. ● McFarland & Company has just published Edwin Booth: A Biography and Performance History by Arthur W. Bloom ’66, GRD ’66. It is the first scholarly biography of America’s foremost tragic actor and contains a list of every known performance that Booth ever gave. Earlier this year Bloom gave talks about Booth to the Henry Irving club in London and to the National Arts Club in New York. He is currently working on a biography of the early nineteenth century actor Edwin Forrest. ● In 2007, after 29 years as director of design at the University of Illinois, James Berton Harris ’66 retired to Ann Arbor, MI, where he has been busy researching Michigan’s historic theatres and opera houses. This endeavor has resulted in a series of lectures, some consulting gigs, and preparations for a book on the subject. This year, he was lured out of retirement by Daniel Sullivan, with whom James has worked several times since they did their first show together at Lincoln Center 40 years ago. Daniel invited James to design costumes for a new David Auburn play in development at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. James writes that “it was both wonderful and weird to be back in the costume design saddle again.” No sooner had he finished that project when he was commissioned by the Calumet Theatre in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to adapt a script for production in August. “And I was afraid retirement would be boring!” ● 2012 and 2013 have been difficult for F. Mitchell Dana ’67. His wife,

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes Jim Metzner ’69 spent the first few years after

minute shows, and Bank of Boston came on as

graduating as an actor from Yale School of Drama

sponsor. You’re Hearing Boston was launched.”

trying to discover where he fit in the world. Influ-

Found Sound

Jim Metzner ’69

Jim used the same format for You’re Hearing San

enced by a

Francisco at KYUU-FM and followed it with the

YSD

nationally syndicated radio series, You’re Hearing

production

America, a sound portrait of American people and

of The

local customs, sponsored by Maxell Corporation. His

Bacchae, Jim travelled to Denmark, met Jean-Louis

next venture, Sounds of Science, a radio exploration

Barrault and Jerzy Grotowski, and worked as a

of technology and the universe, earned six grants

professional “shill” in a commedia dell’arte perfor-

from the National Science Foundation (NSF). This

mance of Italian clowns. The

lead to his most widely listened to radio show, Pulse

following year, Jim applied to

of the Planet, funded by the NSF.

study with Grotowski but was

About five years ago, two threads of Jim’s career,

rejected, and moved to London

acting and radio, came together when he wrote,

where he auditioned for Andrew

directed, and produced Passover Dreams, a radio play

Lloyd Webber, acted in Sam

distributed by Public Radio International. The

Shepard’s Red Cross, and worked as a folksinger, opening for Three Dog Night. Upon returning to the United States, he played the Exit Coffeehouse in New Haven and studied ethnomusicology at the University of Massachusetts, where he made the discovery that would change his life: the

“It was as if the sounds of the world came into being at that very moment.”

recording of sound. The ease of using tape

Jim Metzner ’69 recording at Great Gull Island, CT, circa 1990.

recording equipment opened the

program won a Gabriel Award, given by the Catholic

world to Jim. “I put on ear-

Academy for Communication Arts Professionals,

phones and listened,” he says. “It was as if the

which honors excellence in broadcasting. It featured

sounds of the world came into being at that very

classmates Roger Hendricks Simon ’67 and

moment.” He laughs now at his naiveté. “They

Charles Turner ’70.

had always been there, of course, but I had never

a grant from the Grammy Foundation, which

“The tape recorder woke me up to this world of

helps facilitate a range of research, archiving, and

vibration that is sound,” he says. “And that awaken-

preservation projects on a variety of subjects. “The

ing launched me into a career exploring that

grant is to help preserve my 40 years’ worth of

world—to listen to it, to respect it, to record it.” He

archives,” he explains.

took his taping equipment to Brazil, made record-

Recently, the Library of Congress has expressed

ings, went home to Boston, and created Sound

interest in buying Jim’s archives. “This would mean

Image, a soundscape recording he sold out of the

that anyone could have access to all my sounds,”

back of his car.

Jim says. “What a cool thing that would be.”

Then he had an epiphany. “One night, I heard the sound of horse hooves on a cobblestone street,” he recalls, “and it gave me the idea for a radio series. I put together a five-minute show and presented it to the local radio station, WEEI-FM. The program director liked it. I assembled a week’s worth of three8 6

This year, Jim was the only individual awarded

paid attention.” It was a transformative experience.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes Wendy Bensinger Dana ’68, passed away last October after more than 46 years of marriage. On a brighter note, Mitchell writes, “The children are doing well, as are the grandchildren, and my health is good.” Mitchell retired from Rutgers University at the end of June, but will work part-time for two more years. He is looking to design more and hopes to travel and to continue as vice president of United Scenic Artists and trustee of its pension fund. ● Most recently, Robert Greenwood ’67 toured in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Mexico, India, and Tunisia. He performed, taught, and researched the folktales, myths, legends, arts, crafts, and histories of these countries. He is planning a return to Great Britain and a trip to France, while continuing to perform in festivals, communities, and schools internationally and in the United States. He and his company, Sun.Ergos, have created 62 shows in 37 years. The company’s mandate is to celebrate the differences and recognize the similarities among peoples and cultures, through timeless stories in theatre, dance and the visual arts. In 2014, Robert celebrated 68 years in theatre, 46 as a professional actor/ director. ● Stephen Hendrickson ’67 has completed five years as production designer for the CBS award-winning prime-time drama, The Good Wife. He and his design team are looking forward to next season. Stephen and his wife Calista are grandparents to three little ones, and live in New York City, with spare time spent in Pennsylvania. ● Ray Klausen ’67 recently designed the set for Vanya & Sonya & Masha & Spike at Asolo Rep. Ray produced La Sargento de la Concepcion, an opera in Spanish composed by Patricio Molina. He also produced a Broadwaybound musical called Cold as Ice and recently had a video made of over 60 images from his set design career. Ray has begun lecturing on set designing, his career, some of the interesting people he’s worked with, and how students can be better motivated and more successful. To date he’s lectured at Temple University in Japan, St. Bonaventure University, Florida State University (where he was awarded

the Hoffman Eminent Scholar Chair), and Stockton College. Ray finds it rewarding to give back some of the knowledge he’s gained along the way. ● This May and June, Sawbones and The Diamond Eater, two one-act plays written by Carrie (Fishbein) Robbins ’67, based on true stories from her late husband, RD Robbins, MD, appeared in full production at HERE Arts Center. Directed by Tazewell Thompson, the ensemble of actors included Erika Rolfsrud, Wynn Harmon, Tony Naumovski, and Greg Marlow. Each play is set within a war, 100 years apart, and demonstrates the individual human cost of war. The Times Square Chronicles review noted: “In a year of mostly badly written plays, Sawbones and The Diamond Eater stand out.” ● Since stepping down after 20 years as managing director of Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles (Mark Taper, Ahmanson and Kirk Douglas Theatres), Charles Dillingham ’68, YC ’65 has been active as vice president of Arts Consulting Group, providing management advice to a variety of non-profit arts groups. He has also done a lot of traveling, including China, Venice, Galapagos Islands, India and Spain. ● Howard Pflanzer’s ’68 new play, Luddite, was given a staged reading at Medicine Show Theatre directed by Joel Bernstein, in the Jump/ Start play series in May 2014. Walt Whitman Opera, Howard’s adaptation of Whitman’s poetry—performed by George Tynan Crowley ’90, with musical settings of selected text by composer A.C. Menes, and sung by Beth Griffith—was presented under Howard’s direction in July 2014 as part of the undergroundzero festival in New York. Part poetic recitation, part song and part remix, this hybrid performance celebrates New York City’s most famous poet and the 19th century composers and operatic superstars he loved. ● Frank Boros ’69 has done a lot of traveling, including China, the ancient ruins of South and Central America, Europe, and the magical kingdom of Bhutan; he has also created a body of art work from this trip. Frank had a one-man show at the Greenlane Gallery on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris two years ago. He lives and works in

a small yet unique atelier on New York’s Upper West Side on the corner of 74th and Columbus. Great light, high ceilings, doorman, elevator and rent stabilized. ● Robert Einenkel ’69 has been teaching at Nassau Community College for 25 years. During that time he has mounted at least two productions a year at the school. His training and experience at YSD have been no small part of his ability to do all of this. ● Thanks to The Irish Rep in New York,

“And I was afraid retirement would be boring!” — j a m es berton ha rris ’66

Linda Fisher ’69 designs about one show per year. She designed the clothes for Transport, a new musical, with book by Thomas Keneally and music and lyrics by Larry Kirwan. Transport is about Irish female convicts transported to Australia in the 1830s. ● In March 2014, Richard Olson ’69 directed Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera, The Burning Fiery Furnace, at Manhattan’s Church of the Transfiguration (a.k.a. The Little Church Around the Corner), where in 2012 and 2013 he staged the other two parts of the trilogy, The Prodigal Son and Curlew River. He also continues to perform improvised movement to tracks of music he’s never heard before, along with talking to the audience about the experience. Meanwhile, he is developing a dance/theatre collage, grounded in a nursing home, with a chorus of non-speaking dancers and four actors playing various roles. ● In response to the massive changes in publishing and entertainment technology and aesthetics, Stefan Rudnicki ’69 is shifting gears from audiobook production to audiobook publishing and performance. Named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile Magazine, Stefan added a second Grammy Award to his collection in 2013 for producing Janis Ian’s autobiography, Society’s Child.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes

03 01 Janet (Burroway) Ruppert ’63 02 Robert Greenwood ’67

03 Everett Lunning ’69, YC ’67 as Ben Weatherstaff in the St. Edward’s University production of A Secret Garden. 04 F. Mitchell Dana ’67 05 Lonnie Carter ’69 with his daughter Calpurnia in Las Vegas 2006. Calpurnia is now 13 and is a terrific tapper and ballerina. 06 Frank J. Boros ’69 with some of his artwork. 07 Stefan Rudnicki ’69. Photo by Alex Linares. 08 Len Berkman ’63, DFA ’70

05 8 8

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes

This was soon followed by the massive audio play, Ender’s Game Alive, which he produced, and in which he co-stars as Colonel Graff. As publisher at Skyboat Media, distributed through Blackstone Audio, Stefan has been acquiring the audio rights for many of his favorite books from the good old days, mostly science fiction, fantasy, and horror. As a special tribute to his Yale professor, mentor, and friend, Jan Kott (Former Faculty), he will be voicing, producing and publishing audiobooks of Shakespeare Our Contemporary and Eating of the Gods. ● Last summer, Everett (Ev) Lunning ’69, YC ’67 appeared as Ben Weatherstaff in St. Edward’s University production of A Secret Garden, with costumes by Susan Branch ’92, directed by Robert Westenberg. This spring Ev directed Merrily We Roll Along with costumes again by Susan Branch. In August, Ev appeared in Breaking String’s production of The Black Monk.

1970s

The screen rights to Carol Schlanger’s ’70 forthcoming memoir, Far Out: Life and Love on an Oregon Wilderness Commune have been optioned by writer/producer Will Reiser. Carol’s fingers are crossed that the producers will allow her to play the role of her own mother. As the artist in residence at the acclaimed Jewish Woman’s Theatre, she is billed as “the baby boomer’s answer to Lena Dunham.” ● Marc Flanagan ’70 spent a few days in Manhattan last December and attended the YSD holiday party at The Yale Club of New York City. He loved seeing his friends at the party and was very glad to spend time with Joe Grifasi ’75, who filled him in on the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which Joe was performing in Brooklyn. Marc was also happy to see Steve Zuckerman ’74 and his wife and daughter at their first New York alumni holiday party. Steve and Marc worked on Murphy Brown for a season, and Marc had just attended a Murphy Brown event at MoMA, celebrating 25 years since its debut on CBS. Marc reports that he recently saw

Henry Winkler ’70 in London performing Captain Hook in a pantomime production of Peter Pan. Marc and Cathy O’Connor were married in the spring in Ireland. It is Marc’s fourth marriage. “I have a taste for wedding cake that must be satisfied,” he says. ● Mark Travis ’70 thanks YSD for stimulating his curiosity, creativity, and desire to push the envelope. Without YSD there would be no Travis Technique, which is now being used successfully by directors in Germany, Ireland, Russia, Australia, and the United States. Stefan Najib, one of Mark’s film students, is currently filming a documentary, The Sorcerer and the Apprentice, as he follows Mark on his around-the-world teaching tour. Mark resides in his hillside home in Shadow Hills, CA, when he is not traveling the world teaching, consulting, and directing. ● This has been a very busy year for Walter Dallas ’71. He directed Lynn Nottage’s ’89 (Faculty) By the Way, Meet Vera Stark for Everyman Theatre in Baltimore; Athol Fugard’s Boesman and Lena for Arizona State University/Black Theatre Troupe co-pro; Lydia Diamond’s Stick Fly and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun for Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. Walter then went to Accra, Ghana, for his annual photo safari to reunite with good friends, sun, fun, and relaxation. ● Stephen Goldman ’71 is still working as executive director of the Holocaust Memorial Center in metro Detroit. Stephen considers theatre design excellent preparation for what he considers the “somewhat unusual work” that he has been doing for 25 years at several institutions. His principal consultant in the design and fabrication of exhibits is one of his students. Wife, kids, and grandkids are all well and spread out from coast to coast. ● Stephen Mendillo ’71 went from YSD in 1971 directly to Yale Rep for a season, then to Hartford Stage, Theatre Company of Boston, The Public Theater, and Long Wharf Theatre for several seasons, seven Broadway shows, many Off-Broadway shows, and just about every regional theatre there is. Stephen is also a member of The Actors Studio. He is now based in Los Angeles, though still

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes active in New York, involved in all aspects of the acting profession and full of fond memories at Yale and the work there. He sends his best regards to all with whom he had the good fortune to know and work. ● William Purves ’71 continues in his 20th year with Harris Goldman Productions, Inc. producing industrial shows for corporate clients nationwide from its base in San Diego. ● Charles Steckler ’71 was

“I have a taste for wedding cake that must be satisfied.” — m a r c f la n ag an ’70

appointed to the position of Dwane W. Crichton Professor of Theater at Union College in Schenectady, NY, where he has been teaching and designing stage sets for 42 years. Charles’s other artistic interests include work in puppet and toy theatre, dioramas, collage, and drawing. He exhibits his work widely, most recently in a one-person show of drawings at The Annex Gallery of Albany International Airport, NY. Last summer Charles participated in Professor John Bell’s Toy Theater Workshop during the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. In February, on an invitation from Eugene Warner ’71, Charles presented his work to theatre and photography students at the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA. “The most memorable and deeply satisfying experience,” he writes, “was the day I travelled to New Haven with my wife to see with my own eyes Stage Designs by Ming Cho Lee, the extraordinary career exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture Gallery. It was February 1, the very last day of the exhibit, but the only time I could get away. Long anticipation and promise gave way to exquisite pleasures of the eye and mind as I spent two and a half intense hours gazing 9 0

into Ming’s evocative worlds. I couldn’t look hard or long enough. And then, best of all, as if magically conjured, Ming arrived.” ● Barnet Kellman ’72 continues to teach directing as vice-chair of the production division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. As co-founder and director of Comedy@SCA, the school’s comedy initiative, he presented the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy to James Burrows ’65. Barnet ran a comedy directing demo workshop with James L. Brooks and Larry Moss. This year he also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the launch of Murphy Brown with events at the Museum of Modern Art. ● Marty Lafferty ’72 completed his watch as the 2013-14 Commander of US Power Squadrons District 5, which covers five states in the mid-Atlantic region and Washington, DC. There have recently been dramatic improvements in membership growth and participation. Marty continues as CEO of the DCIA, an international trade group focused on adopting cloud computing for high-value entertainment content. ● Joel Schechter ’72, DFA ’73 (Former Faculty) directed a production of the rarely-seen satire, The Stage Mutineers, at San Francisco State University, where he continues to teach theatre history and dramatic literature. ● Secretary-Treasurer of the Yale Club of the Palm Beaches Lani Click ’73 writes that the Club welcomed Yale University President Peter Salovey as a guest speaker this year. The Club just finished its fourth season of Clicking In Forums at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach. Clicking In Forums are based on thought leadership and the exchange of ideas. This season they had keynote speakers representing medicine, comedy, and visual arts; two authors, John Long and Valerie Ramsey; and Yale’s undergraduate female a cappella group Whim ’n Rhythm. ● Robert Gainer ’73 directed two performance projects at Bucknell University last spring—a presentation of 21 historical characters rooted in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement, and a staged reading of five original short plays developed from a study

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

of French drama and theatre. ● Nicholas Hormann ’73 performed in Beijing with L.A. Theatre Works, the first American theatrical troupe to play in China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. ● Steven Robman ’73 took some time off from directing television to stage a revival of Sebastian Barry’s The Steward of Christendom, with Brian Dennehy, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Later in the season he directed a new play, Bernard Weinraub’s Above the Fold, with Taraji P. Henson, at the Pasadena Playhouse. ● Ben Slotznick ’73, YC ’70 recently led the Yale Global Alumni Leadership Exchange (YaleGALE) trip to Europe, where Yale alumni met and exchanged best practices with alumni relations professionals and alumni volunteers from universities in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. In May 2013 the YaleGALE exchange with Highland University was led by Cliff Warner ’87. YaleGALE will be visiting India in January 2015. ● Dirk Epperson ’74 is now on the full-time faculty of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he teaches musical orchestration for film scoring in the MFA program. ● Tony Straiges ’74 recently designed sets for The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Classic Stage Company, Noises Off for People’s Light & Theatre Company, and A Christmas Carol for Hartford Stage. ● Ralph Redpath ’75 appeared as Selsdon in Noises Off at The

“And then, best of all, as if magically conjured, Ming arrived.” — eugen e wa rn er ’71 Pittsburgh Public Theater in June. ● John Rothman ’75 was on Nantucket in late April, shooting Peter and John, a movie set in 1870 and based on a Guy de Maupassant story, with Jacqueline Bisset. John

Alumni Notes Shea ’73 was also on the island directing another movie. John’s daughter Lily Rothman YC ’08 is a reporter for Time Magazine covering art and culture, and his son Noah manages actors and writers at Underground Films and also produces movies. John’s brother Tom has revived Tristar Pictures at Sony. ● Charles Andrew Davis ’76 is in his 18th year at Garfield High School (of Stand and Deliver fame) which, Charles writes, is not nearly as dangerous as the film makes out...anymore. Charles has coached the academic decathlon speech team to first place in Los Angeles and for the past 14 years the team has finished in California’s Top 10. In the fall, Charles directed a black box production in the school’s new $33 million theatre. The project is adapted from Everyman, with inserted scenes of characters based on Madoff, Cheney, the Kochs, and others. It has nine original songs, Day-Glo costumes and dancing under black lights: very 1960s. ● In May 2013 Christine Estabrook ’76 performed in Bekah Brunstetter’s Be A Good Little Widow at The Old Globe in San Diego and Sam Hunter’s A Great Wilderness at Seattle Rep. Christine has a recurring role on Mad Men, and is the narrator for the Lifetime Movie Network series Deadly Wives. She is in the process of creating a class for trained actors in auditioning and playing roles for television. ● Robert Long ’76 (Former Faculty) is working on a new theatre in Mt. Crested Butte, CO, and has completed work on a new concert hall in La Jolla, CA, a new college performing arts center in Maryland, and a new home for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in a renovated historic bank building in Baltimore. The sluggish arts economy is showing signs of coming back to life! ● Joel Polis ’76 recently completed a sold out, extended, and critically lauded run of My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, adapted for the stage by Aaron Posner, at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood. ● William Otterson ’76 is currently playing Junius Brutus Booth, father of John Wilkes and Edwin Booth, in The Brothers Booth, an immersive live theatre performance at the historic Players

Trained at Yale School of Drama in Theater Management, Elizabeth MacKay ’78 has never actually had a job in regional theatre. Her peripatetic career has taken her from Broadway to radio, television news and entertainment, to her current job as Director of Broadcast Integration and Operations at the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Organizing Committee, one of the world’s largest international multi-sport events. “It’s not that I avoided working in regional theatre,” Elizabeth says. “At YSD we studied as if we’d all be managing theatres.” Following an internship at the Guthrie Theater, Elizabeth returned east and became an assistant to Broadway producer Alexander Cohen, helped in casting, and worked on the Broadway musical I Remember Mama and the 1979 Tony Awards show. Like all Elizabeth MacKay ’78 producers, Alexander Cohen went on hiatus during the summer and Elizabeth found herself in Chicago as the managing director of station WFMT, producing radio drama. “We did The Odyssey, we did new plays with great actors like Irene Worth and John Glover. It was a very ambitious undertaking.” While in Chicago, Elizabeth was approached by executives at ABC Television News. “I said to the interviewer, ‘I know nothing about television.’ He said, ‘You’ve worked with creative people, which is what we want and can’t teach. But we can teach you about television.’” This is when it became clear to Elizabeth that the skills she learned at YSD were eminently transferable to a multitude of industries—and could take her to many interesting places. Her job history includes director of operations, director of communications operations, and consultancies for organizations as varied as CBC News in Canada to Middle East Broadcasting Networks, to CNN and MTV. Although almost all of her career thus far has been in broadcasting, her experience has given her a somewhat skeptical view of the current state of television. “The problem is that the entire television news industry is now MBA driven, meaning it’s all about the bottom line. I saw the transition occur while I was at ABC. It used to be that television news was seen as a service. Then it started to make money. And once it made money, it was expected to make more money. There are still wonderful projects, but the way things work today, there has to be a business model. It’s one thing to pitch an idea and another to show how it can come to life, that it can be done in a real world situation.” Nevertheless, Elizabeth is dedicated to her work in broadcasting. “My job is to establish the platform and environment—producing an event, setting up a company—in which creative people can do their jobs and so the creative content can come forth. The same kind of discipline is required for theatre training.” That’s something she learned at YSD and it continues to hold true in all her work.

Broadcasting Creativity

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes Club, Edwin Booth’s real-life home in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park. This allows him to provide an entire evening of Shakespeare as Junius Booth would have performed it. Other historical characters he has or will play this season on TV for Biography, Tru TV, The Travel Channel, MTV and Discovery include: Stephen Jumel, owner of the oldest house in Manhattan, where he was able to lie in Aaron Burr’s actual bed; William Jay Gaynor, the only mayor of New York City to be shot; Commodore Vanderbilt; Patrick Fleming; Fred Keller; Max Wylie and numerous other victims, killers, policemen, and private detectives of note. In a Tru TV sketch spoofing Free Willy he plays the Whale Slaver who kills (instead of captures) numerous whales. William also portrays men of the cloth including Amish bishops and Catholic priests. Sarasota, a major motion picture soon to enter production, will feature him as the ultimate evil Beauregard Valerian, the Confederate colonel who never surrendered. William continues to produce numerous commercials and museum installations, as well as dance films for the George Balanchine Foundation, utilizing projection mapping and the Pepper’s Ghost technique. ● The nearer Julie Haber ’77 (Former Faculty) gets to retirement age, the busier she is. During the past few years she has worked several times at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, most recently with director Jackson Gay ’02. At the beginning of 2014, thanks to Jackson, Julie braved the polar vortex in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Cynthia Kocher ’00 and Terri Ciofalo ’00. The production she stage managed was Lost Lake, a new play by David Auburn, directed by Dan Sullivan, and well worth freezing for a month. Following that, lighting designer Peter Maradudin ’84 was her colleague for A Song at Twilight at Pasadena Playhouse. Julie has spent several summers at the newly-renamed Santa Cruz Shakespeare, and also dedicates a few months each year at Main Street Theater for children. The only downside to all this work is missing the annual YSD spring reunion in L.A. ● Martha (Gaylord) Lidji ’77 saw 92

Brian McEleney ’77 as King Lear at the Dallas Theater Center. “He was brilliant in the role,” Martha writes, “and I was thrilled to have a reunion with my dear friend after over 25 years.” ● At Princeton’s 2014 commencement, Bob Sandberg ’77 received the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. Bob is proud to report that many of his students have gone on to YSD, including, recently, Lileana

“It’s an exciting time to be directing television when the writing, the performances, and the cinematography are all at such high levels of quality.” — d e n n i e gord on ’78

Blain-Cruz ’12, Irene Lucio ’11, Alex Ripp ’13, DFA cand., and many years ago (when Bob taught at Cornish College of the Arts) Barbara Somerville ’83 (Former Faculty), Charlie Lee ’98, and Ed O’Blenis ’01. ● Having just wrapped an episode of Rectify, a new series on the Sundance Channel, Dennie Gordon ’78 headed to Calgary to do another Hell on Wheels for AMC. Dennie writes: “It’s an exciting time to be directing television when the writing, the performances, and the cinematography are all at such high levels of quality.” ● Jay Parikh ’78 is vice president of content for Maryland Public Television (MPT). In his post, Jay manages more than 150 hours annually of original

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

local and national productions; and oversees the program development, production underwriting, and production and distribution of MPT content across the PBS system. Jay also directs the sales and underwriting efforts of the station among local and regional sponsors, and oversees the programming of the station’s two channels. ● Thomas Bruce ’79, YC ’75 recently returned from giving talks at the Code X: Future Law conference at Stanford, and the World e-Parliament Conference in Seoul, organized by the Inter Parliamentary Union. Thomas’s organization, the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School, draws an audience of 26 million visitors per year to its website. ● This year Walter Klappert ’79 had a great time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas showing his new invention, “Brainwaves Rovi,” with which people can change television channels using nothing but their brains. Even more fantastic was the Yale Cabaret Hollywood’s season. Bob Barnett ’89 came to Los Angeles from New York and saved the season financially with the company’s reading of his play One Good Tree. Donations came in and put the Cabaret 10 dollars in the black for the year, enough to claim palpable theatrical success for the season. Other YSD alumni working with the Cabaret last year included playwright Victor Kaufold ’05 with his play Brick, in which Obi Ndefo ’97, YC ’94 read a part at Gregory BergerSobeck’s ’98 theatre. Next, was a reading of Dyanne Asimow’s ’67 play Day of the Dead at the Pico House near Olvera Street as part of the city’s annual Día de los Muertos celebration. Then Nick Hormann ’73 suggested a reading of Bill Ludel’s ’73 play Red and Scooter, and Tessa Auberjonois ’98 read the play at the Cabaret’s Heritage Square presentation. ● In early March, Jeff Rank ’79 decided to let his spouse Pam Rank ’78, support him in the manner he clearly deserves, so he retired after 17 years working with the wizards at Walt Disney Imagineering. Retirement was short lived, however, as Jeff was quickly lured back into the rat race after a mere four weeks by the folks at Universal Studios Creative.

Alumni Notes

02 01 Lani Click ’73, Yale President Peter Salovey ’83 M.S., ’84 M.Phil., ’86 Ph.D., David Click, and Charlie Johnson YC ’54 at a recent Yale Club of the Palm Beaches reception. 02 Thomas Bruce ’79, YC ’75 03 Christine Estabrook ’76 (left) with Zoe Winters in The Old Globe’s 2014 production Be A Good Little Widow. 04 Cynthia Kocher ’00, Julie Haber ’77 (Former Faculty), and Terri Ciofalo ’00 04

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes

04 01 01 William Otterson ’76 (right) as Junius Brutus Booth, along with Jonas Barranca, in The Brothers Booth at Players Club in Manhattan’s Grammercy Park. 02 Charles Steckler ’71 03 Marc Flanagan ’70 and wife Cathy O’Connor

04 Joel Polis ’76 05 Carol Schlanger ‘70 and husband Clinton Helvey. Photo by Kate Harnedy. 06 James Burrows ’65 and Barnet Kellman ’72 at the Comedy@SCA Festival, University of Southern California. Photo by Carell Augustus.

06 9 4

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes He’s working only a couple of days a week, so he views it sort of as a half-way house on the way to full-scale laziness and indolence. It also gives Jeff an excuse not to do all the household chores.

1980s 07

09 07 Brian McEleney ’77 and Martha Gaylord Lidji ’ 77 08 Mark Travis ’70 09 Charles Andrew Davis ’76

Early in 2014, Mark Bly ’80 (Former Faculty) was the dramaturg on Molly Smith’s Arena Stage production of Mother Courage, featuring Kathleen Turner. Mark was recently named to the At Large Board of Directors of the internationally known National New Play Network organization. ● The second chamber opera written by Allan Havis ’80, Lear on the Second Floor, with composer Anthony Davis, had a broadcast and online viewing by UC San Diego Television in 2013. There were two readings at The Lark Theatre in New York in June and October 2013 for Havis’s plays, The Landlady and Garments & Threads. ● In February, Kate Mendeloff ’80 restaged her production of Spirit of Detroit by Mercilee Jenkins at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. The production revisited the events of the 1967 riot/rebellion, and was followed by a series of talk-backs with audience members about their experience during that time and the impact of 1967 on Detroit today. Kate also staged Tennessee Williams’s Orpheus Descending in the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens Conservatory, and directed As You Like It in the University Arboretum as the featured event of Shakespeare in the Arboretum’s 14th season. ● John Gould Rubin’s ’80 production of Double Indemnity at The Old Globe, with lighting by Steve Strawbridge ’83 (Faculty) and sets by Chris Barreca ’83, was the highest grossing show in the history of that theatre. John then directed Riding the Midnight Express in Los Angeles, Edinburgh, New York, and London, and then The Cherry Orchard with Ellen Burstyn in New York. John is looking forward to taking The Caucasian Chalk Circle to Shanghai and Beijing next year, and workshopping a new translation of Brecht’s play, Drums in the

Night. This summer, at the New York Stage and FIlm's Powerhouse Theatre Festival at Vassar, John directed Gretchen Law's Turn Me Loose, a project about Dick Gregory. He also continued developmental work on two devised pieces, one on Sargent Shriver, the founding of the Peace Corps, and the US invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965; and another on the political polarization of America. In the spring, he’ll be taking Queen for a Day, about a gay mobster, Off-Broadway. ● After Alec Scribner’s ’80 wife, Aimee, finished work as associate producer on Frozen, they headed for Paris, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast. The Vatican tour was the highlight, in addition to the food and wine. Alec has moved over to the Hong Kong Disneyland Park as the creative executive director of the first Iron Man attraction for their global parks. He is having a blast and thanks YSD every day for the opportunities it has given him. ● Jan Eliasberg ’81 has completed her move back to New York City, living in a loft in the Financial District, with views of the Hudson River and Freedom Tower from every window. Jan’s daughter, Sariel, was accepted at Barnard. Jan’s career directing episodic television continues. Her episode of Unforgettable was the show’s season premiere, receiving a positive review in The New York Times. Reckless, the drama she directed for CBS in Charleston, SC, aired in June. Jan writes: “The television business in New York is booming, thanks to the city and state’s generous tax credits, so possibilities are opening up and down the East Coast.” Jan is also writing and directing an independent feature entitled Traveling Light, adapted from her own novel, as well as developing a television series. In addition to all that, she began teaching at NYU Film School this fall. Jan loved seeing Tony Shalhoub ’80 in Act One and Kathie Borowitz ’81, YC ’76 and John Turturro ’83 in Andrei Belgrader’s The Master Builder. ● Robert Curtis Brown ’82, YC ’79 starred in Ken Ludwig’s Moon over Buffalo, directed by Roy Steinberg ’78 at Cape May Stage. Roy co-created the National Playwrights’ Symposium at Cape May. This year Amy Herzog ’07, YC ’00, Terrence McNally,

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes Israel Horovitz, and Ken Ludwig were in attendance. ● Eugene Leitermann ’82 (Faculty) and Tony Forman ’83 have formed a new theatre consulting firm, Nextstage Design, on Chapel Street in New Haven. John Coyne ’97 (Former Faculty) and Matt Welander ’09 (Faculty) are also working with the new firm. ● Pat Skipper ’83 is still living and working in Los Angeles. His wife Jenny is an orchestrator/arranger of film music and works for Disney. Their twins, Jack and Amelia, are 11. Pat has also been coaching

“The television business in New York is booming, thanks to the city and state’s generous tax credits, so possibilities are opening up and down the East Coast.” — ja n e liasb e r g ’81

young actors for the last year and is currently finishing up the second draft of his book, The Working Actor, available on Amazon.com in the fall. ● Royston Coppenger ’84, DFA ’98 is professor of drama at Hofstra University, where he teaches classes in directing, scene study, and dramatic literature. He most recently directed Horvath’s Don Juan Comes Back from the War at Hofstra. Other recent directing credits include The White Devil and The Marriage of Bette and Boo at Hofstra, The Great White Hope and 9 6

Fahrenheit 451 for the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival in Prospect Park, and The Tender Land and Orpheus in the Underworld, among others, for The Bronx Opera. Royston’s new translations of Hedda Gabler, The Seagull, and Strindberg’s Playing with Fire were recently produced by The Private Theatre in New York. Royston’s daughter Matilda is a student in the visual art program at LaGuardia High School in Manhattan. ● Ken Marks ’84 fell into a great gig earlier this year when he was asked to replace an actor for the final weeks of Sarah Ruhl’s (Faculty) Stage Kiss at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Rebecca Taichman ’00 and co-starring Ken’s dear friend Patrick Kerr ’87. Along the way Ken got to see a bunch of familiar YSD faces who stopped by to check out the show including Walker Jones ’89, Bill Kux ’83, Jim Glossman ’88, Susan Knight ’89, Frances McDormand ’82, Jane Kaczmarek ’82, and Ken’s good friend and classmate David Jaffe ’84. Ken returned to YSD last year to participate in a new play reading by playwright Brendan Pelsue ’16 only to discover that the playwriting class is now being held in the basement of 305 Crown Street, which in his day was home to the first year acting class! It has been 33 years since Ken’s first impressions of YSD were forged under those flourescent lights. ● Dianah Wynter’s ’84 series, Vegan with Joy, picked up an award in the educational category at the 2013 Best Shorts Competition and is now available for streaming on Amazon.com. ● Michael Engler ’85 directed an episode of the second season of Showtime’s Masters of Sex that introduced the character played by Courtney Vance ’86. Michael spent the summer in London, where he directed the season five finale of Downton Abbey. ● It has been quite a year of change for Jim Sandefur ’85. He left Los Angeles and returned to his hometown, St. Louis, MO, and the theatre. Between leaving one place and settling in the other, Jim spent six months working at Club Med Turquoise as the resort set designer. It was a good place to clear the head, break bad habits, and relearn how to get the most on stage

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

with the least at hand. He is currently closing in on a new place to hang his hat and trying to rebuild his design career in the Midwest. ● Jan Breslauer ’86 is happy to be practicing law in Southern California, representing YSD grads and other artists. ● Anne Hamburger ’86 has relaunched En Garde Arts—the Obie, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle award-winning site-specific theatre company she ran in the ’80s and ’90s. Her first show is Basetrack, a theatre piece that uses verbatim texts from interviews with Marines in Afghanistan in combination with an electro-acoustic score, photographs, and videos. In 2014 Basetrack toured to 20 cities across the country, including a show at BAM on Veterans Day. Basetrack has a social media and community engagement component that has brought military and civilian audiences together for a meaningful conversation about the impact of war. Prior to En Garde Arts, Anne was the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse and executive vice president for Disney Creative Entertainment. ● Buried Alive, an opera by Quincy Long ’86, had its premiere in March at Fargo Moorhead Opera, and will be produced in 2015 by Fort Worth Opera. The opera, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s A Premature Burial, was commissioned by American Lyric Theater in New York City. ● This year Charles McCarry ’86 was the production designer for Taiwan and Shanghai television dramas Material Queen and Lady and Liar. In the United States, he was most recently art director for HBO’s The Normal Heart. Charles is the head of the new production design program at Emerson College in Boston and is anticipating designing sets for Merrily We Roll Along—which was his Yale MFA thesis—at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston in the spring of 2015. ● Adam Versenyi ’86, DFA ’90, YC ’80 became chair of the department of dramatic art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in January 2014, where he continues as senior dramaturg for PlayMakers Repertory Company. This past season he was dramaturg for Katori Hall’s The Mountain-

Alumni Notes Mark Brokaw ’86 began his career directing plays by some of the best writers in the contemporary canon, including Kenneth Lonergan (This is Our Youth), Douglas Carter Beane (As Bees in Honey Drown), Wendy Wasserstein ’76 (Old Money), and Paula Vogel (Faculty) (Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive). He has worked extensively in Mark Brokaw ’86 regional theatres—Seattle Rep, South Coast Rep, Sundance, New York Stage and Film, to name a few—and recently has become a regular on Broadway, with credits including a revival of Craig Lucas’s Reckless, the musical Cry Baby, and Douglas Carter Beane’s 2013 adaptation of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella. For the past five years, Mark has also brought his considerable talents back to New Haven as the first artistic director of Yale Institute for Music Theatre (the Institute), a program of the Binger Center for New Theatre. The program’s mission is “to bridge the gap between training and the professional world.” That means inviting two or three teams of young composers, book writers, and librettists (they must be within five years of completing school) to New Haven every summer, and providing them with actors, rehearsal space, and whatever other resources they need to help bring their musical vision to life. Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs, creators of the musical POP!, participated in the Institute in its inaugural summer. After their workshop, the play moved to a full production at Yale Rep in 2009, a 2011 production at The Studio Theatre’s Studio 2nd Stage in Washington, DC, followed by other productions. Mark says his work at the Institute feels like both a new chapter and a natural continuation of his career. He has always loved musicals—his first encounters with the genre were listening to albums of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals and television broadcasts as a youth. “Musicals ask a different set of questions than straight plays,” he says. “Librettists and composers don’t just have to know why their story matters. They have to know why it needs to sing.” Allowing artists to explore those questions requires a different focus than is seen in a traditional, production-driven rehearsal room. During their time at the Institute, composers and writers engage in a period of extended collaboration, getting to know their own work inside and out, and Mark says the final showings often feel more like “open rehearsals”—a

Music Man

public sharing of a two-week long investigation— than polished presentations. The freedom that Mark creates for the Institute artists is rare anywhere in the theatre, but it’s especially rare for musicals because of the resources required to hire singers, dancers, and musicians. Mark

“Musicals ask a different set of questions than straight plays.”

Mark Brokaw ’86 (middle) with Afterland authors Benjamin Velez and Kathryn Hathaway during rehearsal at Yale Institute for Music Theatre in 2014.

— m a rk brokaw ’86 says that lesson hit home in 2011, when he watched Julia Meinwald and Gordon Leary sit in stunned silence in the rehearsal room after the first reading of their musical, Pregnancy Pact. “Is anything wrong?” he asked. “Not at all,” they said. “We’ve just never heard the whole thing before.” Apparently, they’re not alone, considering the difficulty of putting together a reading of a musical. Yale Institute for Music Theatre received a record number of applications this year, and in the future Mark hopes he can develop an “umbrella of continuing support” to help the program’s writers and composers even after they complete their New Haven workshops. As a director who both mentors emerging artists and collaborates with writers and composers at the top of the field, that will be just one more way that he’s helping to shape the future of the American theatre. — brendan pelsue ’16 YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes Reg E. Cathey ’81 has the laugh of a man who has seen a lot, and who wants you to know that, despite it all, everything’s going to be all right. Best known for roles on HBO’s The Wire and Netflix’s House of Cards, Reg recently finished filming the new Fantastic Four movie and playing Prospero in The Tempest at La MaMa, directed by Karin Coonrod (Faculty). The road to success has not been easy, beginning with his time at Yale School of Drama. “It was a competitive place,” Reg says. “It was hard and mean. If you got through it, nothing else was going to be that hard.” After 10 years struggling with long periods of unemployment as an actor in New York, Reg moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to see if he could carve out a career in television and film. “For a while I worked only in films, and I was a snob about it. But then it dried up. I did theatre, but doing Reg E. Cathey ’81 theatre in L.A. is basically advertising that you’re unemployed—that’s a Samuel L. Jackson joke. The film and television people literally have no clue what theatre is. I used to go to auditions, and I would say that I had won a Drama League award, which is L.A.’s equivalent to a Tony. Everyone would get all interested, and the minute I said it was for a play, I would watch their eyes glaze over. Sam Jackson used to say: ‘Take all the theatre off your resume. Get rid of all that Shakespeare, all that classical stuff.’ The only thing you need for L.A. is a student film. Maybe if you have a Law and Order. That’s better than playing Hamlet, because they don’t care about Hamlet. All they’re lookReg E. Cathey ’81 ing for is someone who can talk, listen, and look good. I know that sounds cynical and hard, but it’s true.” During his eight years in Los Angeles, Reg acquired voice-over contracts with National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, and the BBC, which allowed him to move back to New York and work on the stage. In 1998, he played Philoctetes in The Cure at Troy at Yale Rep, directed by Liz Diamond (Faculty), and then went on tour with a production of Dante’s Inferno. “For three years I did nothing but classical theatre,” he says, “and those three years were fabulous. I loved it. It’s harder now to get a voiceover contract so you can pay rent and afford to do a play.” One of his most rewarding theatrical ventures has been with the company Theater of War, which brings notable actors—Viggo Mortensen, David Strathairn, Marin Ireland, and Bill Camp—to perform readings of plays like Sophocles’ Ajax or Philoctetes, to soldiers on military bases. Reg explains, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s amazing to see several hundred soldiers come in, all these 20-year-old guys, and at first they’re like, what is this? And at the end of the 45 minutes, they’re on the edge of their chairs. Then they talk about how they relate to this play that was written 2,500 years ago, their issues with suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder, about how the drama unfolds, and how it relates to their lives.” Reg uses the skills he has learned as an actor in real life too. “When times are tough, the best way through it is to be in the moment. Don’t project anything into the future, stay in the moment, give every moment all of your spirit, all of your energy, even if it’s a day job. If you’re auditioning, then really prepare, so you can walk through the door with confidence. You can get in there, levitate, and spin your head around, but if you walk through the door the wrong way, it’s not going to matter.” — by joel abbott ’14

Walking Through the Door

9 8

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

top, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. His article “The Mercurian and the Dissemination of Theatrical Translation” was published in the Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, and his translations of contemporary Chilean playwright/director Ramon Griffero’s plays, Your Desires in Fragments and Midday Lunches or Petit Dejeuner du Midi, received staged readings in the Teatro Latino Series at UNC and at the ATHE conference in Scottsdale, AZ. ● Barbara Bragg’s ’87 first full-length play, Tales of the Old West, was funded by the Autry Museum of the American West and directed by Corey Madden, former associate director of the Mark Taper Forum. It sold out! Her indie film, The Olivia Experiment, opened in Los Angeles and New York after several film festivals and received distribution. The pilot episode was shot this summer for her web series Old Bitches—which she wrote and will co-star in with Kimberly Scott ’87. ● Bill Clarke ’87 is very busy designing for various regional theatres. He recently designed Driving Miss Daisy at NC Theatre in Raleigh, NC, and the first two shows of the 2014–2015 season at Virginia Stage Company—K2 and The Book Club Play. Other recent projects include: Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical at Cincinnati Playhouse; 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti and The Best Brothers, both at Merrimack Rep; and The 39 Steps at the REP theatre, University of Delaware. ● Michael Giannitti ’87 recently completed his 22nd year on the faculty at Bennington College, and is now in his fifth year as producing director and resident lighting designer at the Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont. Earlier this year he designed lighting for Water by the Spoonful at the Studio Theatre and The Mountaintop at Capital Rep. His fall designs include Henry VIII at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and Other Desert Cities at Capital Rep. ● Wendy MacLeod’s ’87 new play, Women in Jeopardy!, will have its premiere at Geva in February, directed by Sean Daniels. The Ballad of Bonnie Prince Chucky opened at A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory in November. Wendy is the artistic director of the Kenyon Playwrights

Alumni Notes Conference. ● McCarter Theatre’s Resident Production Stage Manager Cheryl Mintz ’87 hit a milestone this season, reaching her 500th performance of A Christmas Carol, which only took 19 years to accomplish! The production, designed by Ming Cho Lee (Faculty), Jess Goldstein ’78 (Faculty), and Stephen Strawbridge ’83 (Faculty), is remounted each season, maintained by the McCarter Theatre production staff. The other highlight of the season was the huge and lavish undertaking of The Figaro Plays—productions of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro rehearsed and performed in repertory—which McCarter Theatre commissioned Stephen Wadsworth to translate, adapt and direct. Cheryl previously stage managed both operas at New York City Opera, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to do both rarely produced Beaumarchais plays. Cheryl was honored to be featured in The New York Times article “Remembering the Spark That Ignited a Creative Fire,” which reflected on her early career collaborations with Athol Fugard, beginning with her thesis production at YSD in 1987, as well as her 25-plus collaborations with Emily Mann. ● Sharon Brady ’88 acted at Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre in Women and Scarecrow, helped daughter Oona relocate to Chicago, taught acting at Point Park University and planned, with husband Vidya, a trip to Nepal and India in celebration of their soon-to-be 33 years together. ● Rick Butler ’88 spent another busy year as production designer for the CBS television series Person of Interest, and also designed the feature film A Case of You. In February 2014 he accompanied his Brooklyn College theatre students to a master class with Ming Cho Lee (Faculty) and enjoyed an exciting group tour of the retrospective of Ming’s work at the Yale School of Architecture Gallery. ● Jane Macfie ’88 enjoyed another great season at A Noise Within, playing Dionyza in Pericles and Madame Pernelle in Tartuffe. Fellow Yalies in the season were Elijah Alexander ’96 and Robert Dean ’79. She continued to have fun playing Doris the cleaning lady in

03 01 Sharon Washington ’88 and Marin Hinkle in Luce at LCT3 in 2013. Photo by Jeremy Daniel. 02 Ken Marks ’84 on York Street, New Haven, April 2014. 03 Jan Eliasberg ’81

04 Royston Coppenger ’84 DFA ’98 YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes multiple episodes of The Mindy Project, and her daughter is graduating from elementary school (how did that happen?). ● In mid-March, after nine months of living in Kampala, Uganda, James Magruder ’88, DFA ’92, GRD ’84 (Former Faculty) and his partner Steve, were called home to Baltimore by Steve’s employer, Johns Hopkins Hospital, in light of the anti-gay legislation signed into law by President Museveni. Things have since gotten worse for the Ugandan LGBT community. Living in East Africa provided daily challenges and delights. While there, James helped two high school girls write the book for a Broadway-style musical about “defiled women” called Mango Roses and taught a translation and adaptation seminar in film director Mira Nair’s film lab. This summer James promoted his linked story collection, Let Me See It, from TriQuarterly Books, and had a happy time workshopping a new play, Joan & Bootsie, at the Kenyon Playwrights Conference, under the aegis of Wendy MacLeod ’87. ● Stephanie Nash ’88 continues to guest star on TV shows and do plenty of commercials. For more than 15 years she has been associate professor adjunct at the Art Center College of Design, where, in addition to coaching actors, she teaches film directors how to work with actors. In 2012 Stephanie was a guest expert on a Deepak Chopra Show, where she taught laughing meditation. At UCLArts and Healing, she teaches a class on how body language can affect thoughts and feelings. Stephanie also teaches mindfulness meditation workshops in the United States and Europe, and is working on a book about “extraordinary spiritual experiences.” Her brain was studied at Harvard Medical School as part of a special mindfulness study of advanced meditators, during which she spent three hours meditating inside a magnetic resonance scanner while researchers measured her brain activity using fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging. ● Sharon Washington ’88 has been working on readings and workshops of some new plays. She considers it a joy and a privilege to be in the room for the birth of new works. Sharon 10 0

has had the good fortune to continue with some of them into full production: Wild with Happy by Colman Domingo at The Public Theater in 2012; Luce by JC Lee at Lincoln Center/LCT3 in 2013 directed by May Adrales ’06 (Faculty), and While I Yet Live by Billy Porter at Primary Stages in 2014. ● Todd Berling ’89 (Former Faculty) is running his theatre/audiovisual/acoustical consulting business from his native Kentucky, with partners and an office in New York. Todd travels quite a bit to do what he loves, and loves where he lives. He still teaches at YSD every other year as an adjunct lecturer, which is very rewarding. His three kids are 16, 15, and 13, and doing all the great things kids of those ages do. ● Ether Dome by Elizabeth Egloff ’89 received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for a three-theatre co-production. The play, directed by Michael Wilson and designed by Elizabeth’s husband Jim Youmans, began in July at La Jolla Playhouse before moving on to Hartford Stage in September and the Huntington Theatre in October. Elizabeth is also working again with her YSD Cabaret and Phaedra (Winterfest ’89) pal, Patrick Kerr ’87. She lives in Nyack, NY, with husband, their two teenage sons, and a very loud barking dog. ● Judy Gailen ’89 is still an adjunct faculty member at Bowdoin, and taught last fall at Bates College, while also designing shows at each, as well as productions of Other Desert Cities at Asolo Rep and Giulio Cesare for Wolf Trap Opera. Son Gabe just finished his first year at University of Vermont; Michael performed in China, France, Italy, Mexico, and Switzerland; and Judy has been sticking closer to home. ● At Yale’s Off-Broadway Theater in New Haven, Robert Russell ’89 directed Ian Cohen’s new play He Who Laughs, produced by DeDe Jacobs-Komisar ’12, then participated in a staged reading of I’m Not Like You at the Slifka Center, directed by DeDe. Now in his ninth year as professor of speech and drama and artistic director at Yeshiva University, Robert also began teaching acting at the University of New Haven this fall.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

1990s Ed Check ’90 traveled to Beijing this summer to design the set for a production of Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl (Faculty). After its run in Beijing, the show moved on to a theatre in Shanghai. ● Betsy Richards ’90 was made a board member of the New England Foundation for the Arts. Betsy is currently the senior creative fellow at The Opportunity Agenda, a progressive communications think tank based in New York City, where she leads their work at the intersection of arts and social justice. She previously served as a program officer in media, arts, and culture at the Ford Foundation, where she oversaw grant making to Native American and placebased cultural communities in the United States. A theatre artist and teacher, Betsy has served on the board of Grantmakers in the Arts and the Connecticut Commission on Arts and Education. ● Sean Cullen ’90 played Franz in NBC’s live broadcast of The Sound of Music. This past spring he played Doc Gibbs in David Esbjornson’s production of Our Town at George Street Playhouse, and was very happy to work again with costume designer Beth Clancy ’91. 2014 marked Sean’s 11th year working to create The American National Theatre, whose mission is to present distinguished new American plays and musicals with their original companies and creative teams in New York. Finally, Sean’s wife Tess gave birth to their first child in early August. ● Alex Draper ’91 was recently awarded tenure at Middlebury College, and thanks Elizabeth Margid ’91, YC ’82, Daniel Kramer ’91, Wendy MacLeod ’87, and Dare Clubb ’82, DFA ’91 for their advice along the way. Alex is also continuing as associate artistic director of the OffBroadway theatre company PTP/NYC, which presented Gertrude: The Cry with Pamela J. Gray ’91. ● Charles Evered’s ’91 new film, Out, produced by his wife Wendy Rolfe Evered ’89 and starring Gloria LeRoy, Marty James, and Joshua Fardon ’91, had its premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival in April.

Alumni Notes Charles’s new play, Knock Knock, opened in London at Theatre503 in June. Wendy has started singing again and playing music at Cafe Improv at the Arts Council of Princeton. ● Sarahbeth Grossman ’91 is happy to be on the producing team of her third Broadway production, An American in Paris, which opens in Paris in December 2014 and moves to Broadway in the spring of 2015. The Irish Curse, which Sarahbeth produced Off-Broadway in 2010, had its European, foreign-language premiere at the Divadlo Aréna Theater in Bratislava, Slovakia in May 2014. It will then go into the Aréna’s repertory for the next two years. ● Framji Minwalla ’91, DFA ’00 has been asked to serve on the Pakistan Academy Nomination Committee, which selects Pakistan’s entry for the Foreign Language Motion Picture award. ● After spending 20 years as a university professor and starting Oakland School for the Arts, Loni Berry ’92 opened a production company in Bangkok, Thailand. The company, Culture Collective, produces theatre and television projects and offers acting classes in both English and Thai. ● After 13 years at HB Communications, Darren Clark ’92 decided it was time for some new challenges. Darren now works for the recently opened New England office of McCann Systems as director of engineering. He is still designing AV systems but with more focus on large-scale creative projects. Darren’s wife Marjorie is celebrating the 16th year of Little Fish Studios, her web design and marketing firm. ● Catherine Sheehy ’92, DFA ’99 (Faculty) was the dramaturg for Antony and Cleoptra, directed by her former student Tarell Alvin McCraney ’07, for the Royal Shakespeare Company/GableStages/ The Public Theater. Charise Smith ’10 played Octavia/Iras and Steven Strawbridge ’83 (Faculty) designed the lighting. ● The Burriss-Tse family welcomed a new baby girl this year! Harper is Elaine Tse’s ’92 second child. Elaine has been teaching Shakespeare to BFA2 actors at CalArts and making original music with her band. ● In November 2013, Jeffrey Bledsoe ’93 (Faculty) became

the director of finance and administration for the dance company Pilobolus. Jeff also married his partner of 24 years, Tim Salamandyk, in September 2013 at the New York City Courthouse. ● In his fourth season with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Al Espinosa ’94 played Alonso in The Tempest, directed by Tony Taccone, and Rivers/Tyrell in Richard III, directed by James Bundy ’95 (Dean). ● Jessica (Mann) Gutteridge ’94 and husband Corin Gutteridge ’96 embarked on a new adventure this summer, relocating from Long Island to Vancouver, Corin’s hometown, with their three boys. Jessica has been pursuing a new-old career change, working towards teacher certification in theatre. She’s thrilled to be getting back to her theatre roots after nearly two decades in the law. ● Narda Alcorn ’95 managed the revival of A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway starring Denzel Washington. In June she went back home to her family in Chicago and her students at The Theatre School at DePaul University. ● In June of 2014, Frances Egler ’95 began her job as the new director of Broadway programming and co-presentations at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. ● Anne GarcíaRomero’s ’95 play, Paloma, appears in New Playwrights: The Best Plays 2013, published by Smith and Kraus. She was also a member of the 2013-2014 Goodman Theatre Playwrights Unit, and is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists. ● Last fall, Mercedes Herrero ’95 worked with Phillip Smith ’94 and Rene Augesen ’96 in A Streetcar Named Desire at Yale Rep, directed by Mark Rucker ’92. This fall Mercedes made her Broadway debut in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. ● Chris Weida ’95 is still operations manager at Derse Inc., a national face-to-face marketing company, concentrating on designing, building, and providing service for tradeshows, marketing environments, permanent installations, museums, and executive briefing centers. Chris had a visit from Doug Harvey ’95 and his family this past summer when they were in the area for a

triathlon competition. ● The year brought reunions for Michael Goodfriend ’96 with many fellow alumni, including classmate Susie Stevens ’96 at Peterborough Players in New Hampshire and Lucile Lichtblau ’56 in a return engagement of her play The English Bride, this time at 59E59 Theaters in New York. Michael also reunited with Eleanor Holdridge ’97 while performing in Richard III at the Folger Theatre in DC, which led Eleanor to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to direct a concert reading of Michael’s play, Dear Father. Ashland brought Michael together with fellow Yalies James Bundy ’95 (Dean), Al Espinosa ’94 and Elijah Alexander ’96. ● Jennie Israel ’96 just finished playing a female Jacques in As You Like It for the Actors’ Shakespeare Project, while teaching acting at Emerson College, directing various productions in Boston, and continuing her best project and theatrical experience yet: helping Liam, age 6, and Stella, age 2, grow and blossom. ● Clark Jackson ’97 was in Bronx Bombers on Broadway but it closed after one month. Clark is preparing a pitch package of a TV pilot, Parallels, which he co-wrote and produced and appears in briefly. He shot the independent drama I Smile Back with Sarah Silverman and Josh Charles, and appeared on The Blacklist last March, as a politician running for City Council in Boston. Clark is also teaching public speaking at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, doing corporate consulting work for ImprovEdge, and working on some writing projects. ● Elizabeth Greer ’97 has been shooting several projects this past year. Her most recent credits include a role in the independent feature The Sphere and the Labyrinth with Joanna Going, Bill Sage, and Lesley Ann Warren. She also has a recurring role on Showtime’s Ray Donovan. Elizabeth resides in Los Angeles with the loves of her life, her husband David and their nine-year-old daughter Samantha. ● Meg Neville ’97 recently designed costumes for The Cocoanuts at Oregon Shakespeare Festival with Marcus Doshi ’00 designing

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

101

Alumni Notes lights; worked with director Jonathan Moscone ’93 on Tribes at Berkeley Rep with Christopher Akerlind ’89 designing lights and Todd Rosenthal ’93, sets; and did the costumes for Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures at Berkeley Rep. ● James Shanklin ’97 began filming season four of the AMC network show Hell on Wheels in April. He also filmed an episode of CSI and performed in the west coast premiere of Bethany at The Old Globe in San Diego. ● After 17 years of living in New York, Liza Vest ’97 moved to Greensboro, NC, in July to join fellow alumni Preston Lane ’96 and Richard Whittington ’98 at Triad Stage, becoming their production manager. Liza is very excited about the move and will finally get the chance to work with her sister, set designer Robin Vest ’02. ● Brooks Ann Camper ’98 recently opened the Sewing Room, where she designs and creates custom couture wedding dresses and teaches couture dressmaking skills both in person and online. She first learned to sew as a YSD costume shop intern. ● Julius Galacki ’98 finished post-production of his 36-minute short film, All Things Chicken, which he wrote, directed, and produced. The film is based on the full-length play of the same name that he first wrote at YSD, and all the restaurant and bar scenes were filmed at Joe Reynold’s ’97 M Bar in Hollywood. His screenplay The Lost Treasure of the Mayans was a finalist in the New Hope Film Festival script competition. ● This year Mahayana Landowne ’98 formed Calling All Parties, an art collective that builds interactive projects to support a culture of engagement. Mahayana’s passion has always been to empower people and encourage self-expression, and she is having a lot of fun manifesting that on the streets of New York and internationally. She has also been leading creativity workshops through Radiant Axis and the Alternative Speakers Bureau. Activism projects include Women Stage the World and Dance Parade. In general Mahayana is expanding her artistry and creating celebratory interactive events. While still very 10 2

interested in directing theatre projects, currently her focus is meeting the audience where they are and using theatricality to shake up daily life. ● Wade McIntyre ’98 has joined the writing staff of the CW sci-fi drama The 100, working alongside playwright Dorothy Fortenberry ’08. Wade continues to write Clone, a monthly comic book for Image, and recently sold a comedy feature pitch to New Line Cinema. When not working, Wade dedicates himself to helping his four-year-old daughter achieve her life dreams of developing mutant superpowers and living at Disneyland. ● Ed Blunt ’99 has been leading wealth and leadership trainings throughout the United States, Israel, Greece, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Ed continues to do voice-over work thanks to great agents and clients’ willingness to work with his schedule. He was particularly excited about training 12,000 people in Las Vegas at Millionaire Boot Camp this summer. Ed considers it an honor to be among so many YSD grads doing such amazing things in virtually every sector. ● So the Arrow Flies by Esther Chae ’99 was published by No Passport Press this summer. The book was edited by Obie Award winner Caridad Svich and features a foreword by David Henry Hwang ’83, who writes, “Esther K. Chae has created one of the freshest, most far-reaching, and profound explorations of this issue (identity) in years.” Esther is looking forward to having other actors and students performing her solo performance piece and witnessing its growth. ● The fall of 2014 marked Jim Hart’s ’99 third year as director of the Arts Entrepreneurship program at Southern Methodist University. This past summer his department hosted the inaugural Arts Entrepreneurship Educators Society conference. Over 70 individuals attended, representing schools from across the country. In addition to full-time teaching and administrative responsibilities, Jim is doing a good deal of writing. ● Raymond Kent ’99 was recently appointed commissioner of United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s Architecture Commission and started his first year of tenure at the Fort Worth

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

national conference. He is the first non-architect to hold this position. Additionally, Raymond was a major speaker at the international Staging Sustainability Summit in Toronto, Canada, presenting on sustainability and technology in both renovations and new construction to participants from over 40 countries. His company, Sustainable Technologies Group, continues to thrive, with new commissions in the U.S. and in Asia and Africa. Raymond continues to write his column, Aeifoia Technos, for rAVe Publications and blog for InfoComm International on technology and sustainability. ● After a not-so-brief detour to law school and legal consulting, Maria Matasar-Padilla ’99, DFA ’05 is back in the world of documentary filmmaking, producing films again for The Documentary Group, where she has the good fortune of collaborating with people who actually know what a dramaturg does. Maria and her husband Matt Matasar are parents to two girls and a boy, ages 8, 6, and 3. She is proud to say that from the looks of things, her theatre genes have been passed down to all three. She writes: “It makes for a happy, though definitely rather loud, household!”

2000s In addition to life in front of the lens, Alexa Fischer ’00 is sharing everything she’s learned with business people, entrepreneurs, and anyone who just wants to make a good client presentation or wedding toast. She has helped clients such as Trader Joe’s, Sony, and the Milken Institute through one-on-one coaching and inperson and online workshops. She is on a one-woman mission to help people become confident and comfortable speaking anywhere. ● Although he still lives in Austin, last year Christopher Baker ’01 joined AMCAP Mortgage, Ltd., a Houstonbased private mortgage lender. He currently serves as the compliance counsel for the company and supervises all internal legal affairs. Also last year, Christopher was accepted into the College of the State

Alumni Notes

05 01 James Shanklin ’97 in a 2013 episode of AMC’s Hell On Wheels. Photo by AMC. 02 Jeffrey Bledsoe ’93 (Faculty) with his husband, Tim Salamandyk. 03 Stella, daughter of Jennie Israel ’96. 04 Mercedes Herrero ’95 with her son in Mallorca in 2013. 05 Elaine Tse’s ’92 second daughter, Harper Burriss-Tse, was born in 2014. 06 The Weida family (left to right): Connor, Chris Weida ’95, his wife Rosanne, Danny, Alex, and Emily.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

10 3

Alumni Notes

11 07 Alexander Dodge ’99, and his husband, Charles Stewart, welcomed their new son, Nicholas Horace Stewart-Dodge, into the world Feb 15, 2014 in San Francisco. 08

08 Betsy Richards ’90 was made a board member of the New England Foundation for the Arts. 09 Raymond Kent ’99 was recently appointed commissioner of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s Architecture Commission. 10 Leo Boevers, son of David Boevers ’96, was born March 5, 2014.

09 10 4

11 Loni Berry ’92 YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Bar of Texas, an honorary society comprising fewer than five percent of the licensed attorneys in the state. Christopher still occasionally finds the time to do theatre, most recently developing the production and lighting design for the Austin Bar Association’s annual Bar & Grill fundraiser for Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts. ● Rio Puertollano’s ’01 View of the Sound won the Bronze Award in the Treatment category at the Hollywood Screenplay Contest. The film explores ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and its effect on one man and his family. He is currently working on a feature film. ● Camille Benda ’02 most recently designed costumes for the newly released film The Quiet Ones, with Jared Harris and Sam Claflin. She and her husband, Mike Elam, have relocated to Los Angeles with their daughter, Mina, 13 months, and are enjoying the amazing weather! ● It has been a busy year for Shannon Flynn ’02. She worked with Greg Derelian ’01 and TV legends Florence Henderson and Marion Ross on the Nickelodeon show Instant Mom. For the Disney Channel, she directed episodes of Jessie and Austin & Ally. Other Nickelodeon shows include The Thundermans; The Haunted Hathaways; Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn; and Belle and the Bulldogs. The kids keep growing. Molly, 8, has decided to be a scientist/writer/photographer and has started writing a book about famous women. Jack, 6, loves ballet and performed in The Nutcracker and Copelia this year. Five-year-old Nora is getting ready to graduate from pre-school and enter the fast-paced world of kindergarten. Kelly is still busy writing as an artist-inresidence at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro. ● Clara Rice ’02 married Andrew Hlavac on September 21, 2013 at Mt. Airy Forest in Cincinnati, OH. Clara is currently the director of Digital Engagement and Media Relations for JRA, a company that designs and realizes theme parks, attractions and museums all over the world. She is also currently chair of the NextGen Committee for the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), a nonprofit business association representing creators of compelling experiences world-

Alumni Notes wide. In that role, she connects the TEA’s 200+ student members with professional networking and career development opportunities. ● Heather Violanti ’02 works as institutional giving manager at Theatre for a New Audience. She was dramaturg on A Guided Tour by Peter Snoad and is a member of the America-in-Play cohort of artists. ● In 2013, Sarah K. Bartlo ’04 relocated to Washington, DC, as the general manager of The National Theatre. In addition to a major paint project for the auditorium, four union negotiations, and the launch of a new website, Sarah also led the theatre through the first successful Broadway subscription series The National has had in over 10 years, which included the world premiere of If/Then starring Idina Menzel. In the heart of the nation’s capital, Sarah is surrounded by phenomenal theatre, metro train delays, and daily motorcade sightings. ● Last summer was the third in a row during which Gia Forakis ’04 travelled to Europe (Greece in 2012, Macedonia in 2013, Serbia in 2014) to lead workshops in One-Thought-OneAction (OTOA), a rehearsal and performance technique she began developing while still at YSD. This year, Gia was invited, courtesy of John Hanlon ’04, to lead workshops in Wyoming, and this past summer she led workshops in northern Vermont. 2014 marks the fourth year of GF&CO (GiaForakisandCompany.com) the ensemble theatre company dedicated to OTOA. It is also the year OTOA is producing its first full production: O.REX: The Ultimate Murder Mystery!, a new translation of Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, re-envisioned by Gia, as a “Greek-Noir” classic (Greek Noir = Greek Tragedy + Film Noir). This site-specific production is designed as a full-immersion, black and white experience, with original music. ● This past year, Jennifer Lim ’04 has appeared this past year in Cry, Trojans! (Troilus & Cressida) with The Wooster Group at The Performing Garage and at REDCAT in Los Angeles, The Most Deserving with Women’s Project Theater at New York City Center, and The Urban Retreat as part of the Public Studio series at The Public Theater. Other YSD alumni involved in the production were

When James Hart ‘99 moved to New York after graduating from Yale School of Drama, he found he could compete artistically as an actor, but didn’t know how to survive in the industry. “I looked around at my colleagues and saw they were living from job to job,” he says. What he was missing, he felt, was an understanding of how to turn an artistic

meaningful career in the arts. “Arts entrepreneurship is about creating and building your own opportunities,” James says. “I want to inspire

Training Artists as Entepreneurs James Hart ’99

dream into a sustainable business plan. James recognized this gap in his arts education, sought to educate himself, then decided to create an educational environment to help other artists learn as he had. Over the years, James has acted, directed, and taught at schools in several countries, including the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, New York University, Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan, and Kirkenær Ballettskole in Oslo. He is the founder and former dean of TITAN Teaterakademi in Norway, a professional theatre training program and the first school in Europe to offer training in arts entrepreneurship. Now, James is the assistant professor of practice in the division of Arts Management and Arts Entrepreneurship at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where he has created the first and only arts entrepreneurship program in the United States. The program seeks to empower students to create opportunities for themselves and to further ensure their chances of a steady income. It is James’s belief that neither artistic nor business abilities are enough on their own for a fruitful and

others to do that, and give them the courage, mental fortitude, and perseverance to pursue their dreams.” Students take courses such as Arts Budgeting and Financial Management, Entrepreneurship and the Hero Adventure, Attracting Capital, and Social Entrepreneurship. In their classes, James explains, “Students gain a solid understanding of legal structures, pathways towards funding and numerous other business related matters. But simultaneously, they learn through a process of experiential learning and game-playing so that they have fun while learning and have a sense of ownership of their knowledge.” The hands-on program challenges students to think and learn on their feet. Not that everyone is, nor should be, an entrepreneur, but it is nevertheless valuable to train artists in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavior. That behavior is about cooperation, perceiving opportunities, and thinking creatively for an organization. As James says, “Such behavior leads to longer-lasting companies and projects, creative sustainability in the arts, and ensures that dreams can come to fruition.” — by emely zepeda ’16

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

10 5

Alumni Notes Geoff Boronda ’13, Shane Rettig ’99, Ji-Youn Chang ’08, and Dede Ayite ’11. ● The short film Human Resources: Sick Days Aren’t A Game, written by Ken Ferrigni, produced by Tijuana Ricks ’04, and directed by Jeff Barry ’05, had its New York premiere on May 18, 2014 at the Soho International Film Festival. The team also received laurels from the film’s premiere at LA Comedy Festival, as well as the esteemed Atlanta Film Festival where the three creators were nominated for the Filmmakers to Watch Award. The film stars Rey Lucas Pena ’04 and Tijuana, and features Vicki Shaghoian (Former Faculty), Jennifer Lim ’04, Christie Evangelisto ’03, Tony Manna ’04, and Brian Hastert ’09. ● Cloe Chapin ’05 spent the first half of 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden on a Fulbright grant producing a project about the history of men’s suits. ● Thanks to all the voice and speech training at YSD, Amanda Cobb ’05 has had the pleasure of recording several new audio books. She is also teaching scene study at NYU’s Playwrights Horizons Theater School. ● Erin (Billings) Olson’s ’05 business—providing fine art for live events—has really taken off and Erin is now hiring artists throughout the country to do live quick sketching and painting for corporate and private events worldwide. A highlight of this year for Erin was a huge commission from the Dallas Mavericks, including 17-foot-high portraits of the whole team and official NBA posters, banners, programs, and Jumbotron images featuring her Maverick paintings. Life has definitely gone in interesting artistic directions Erin never would have imagined. ● In February 2014, Elisa SpencerKaplan ’05 accepted a new position as managing director of CAP21 Musical Theatre Conservatory and Theatre Company. “It is a great challenge,” Elisa writes, “and it’s both fun and inspiring to be back in an academic theatre environment.” Elisa and her husband, composer/musician Russ Kaplan, recently moved to Maplewood, NJ, with their 16-month-old daughter Emilia. ● The Clarence Brown Theatre, where David Byrd ’06 is managing director, presented Robert (Bob) Cothran ’57 10 6

with its annual Artistic Achievement Award at its annual gala on June 8, 2014. Bob spent three decades training scenic designers at the University of Tennessee/ Clarence Brown Theatre, in addition to keeping up with his own professional pursuits. ● Bryan Terrell Clark ’06 is currently starring as Marvin Gaye in Motown the Musical on Broadway. Bryan writes: “This experience has been a blessing! It’s surreal to be making my Broadway debut playing such an icon!” ● Anna Jones ’06 and Jamel Rodriguez ’08 founded their theatre company, NYLon Projects, in 2010

“This experience has been a blessing! It's surreal to be making my Broadway debut playing such an icon!” — b rya n t errel l cl a rk ’06 with a production of Alena Smith’s ’06 play Plucker, at Southwark Playhouse in London. Last year, Anna and Jamel collaborated with dramaturg Margaret Glover ’88, YC ’81 and received Arts Council funding to develop a one-man play called The Brooklyn Bumpkin, inspired by Jamel’s childhood trips from New York to the Dominican Republic. They recently toured the show in east London schools and intend to bring the production to the US in the near future. They are now working toward another Arts Council-funded production, this time Ben Jonson’s Volpone, or the Fox, a classic satire on greed which feels (too) timely. Jamel and Anna have edited and reconceived it and given it the new title The Hackney Volpone, to reflect the diverse neighborhood in which it will be performed. ● Brian McManamon ’06

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

appeared Off-Broadway at the Theatre at St. Clements in The Clearing, written by Jerome Fellowship recipient Jake Jeppson ’12 and directed by Drama Desk Award winner Josh Hecht. ● Alena Smith’s ’06 book Tween Hobo: Off the Rails, based on her fictional Twitter account @TweenHobo, was published last summer by Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. Alena lives in Los Angeles, where she is a writer for HBO’s The Newsroom. ● Amy Altadonna ’07 wrapped up her second year heading the new sound design program at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She collaborated on several shows, including Take Me Back at Walkerspace in New York. Amy’s favorite production was definitely her sister’s wedding in April. ● Cindy BrizzellBates ’00, DFA ’07 was awarded the Empire State College Susan H. Turben Chair in Mentoring for 2014-2015. This chair provides Cindy with release time and funds for studying a specific area of teaching/mentoring. In the coming year, Cindy will be studying pedagogical techniques for teaching theatre and performance studies in online and blended courses. ● Jenn Lindsay ’07 is finally all but done in the PhD program in Anthropology of Religion at Boston University. Jenn moved to Rome in June to live with her boyfriend and conduct dissertation fieldwork at an interfaith arts organization. This year, Jenn also released her 10th album, Allora Eccola, and made a short documentary film about a secular humanist Jewish community in Boston. ● Tiffany Rachelle Stewart ’07 has been happily splashing around in several different areas. She starred in the independent film Hotel Pennsylvania, in which she played an Egyptian woman in modernday Manhattan searching for love and success in the big city and finding neither. The film was shown at several international film festivals. She also choreographed the world premiere musical The Unfortunates, directed by her friend Shana Cooper ’09, at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2013. The production is set to receive a run as part of the 2015-2016 season at A.C.T. In the fall of 2013, Tiffany performed in By the Way, Meet Vera Stark in her hometown

Alumni Notes

04 01

05 01 The Brown Family: (left to right) Michael (5), Katie, Gracie (3), and Chris Brown ’10

02 Jamel Rodriguez ’08 in a scene from The Brooklyn Bumpkin, a one-man play inspired by Jamel’s childhood trips from New York to the Dominican Republic. 03 Amanda Cobb ’05 04 Bryan Terrell Clark ’06 as Marvin Gaye in Motown the Musical on Broadway. 05 The album cover of Jenn Lindsay’s ’07 10th album, Allora Eccola. 03

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

107

Alumni Notes

01 Greetings from Ashland! YSD alumni in the 2014 company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. (clockwise from top left): Sarah DeLong ’08, Moria Clinton ’09, Sofia Jean Gomez ’06, Barret O’Brien ’09, Miranda O’Brien, Tyrone Wilson ’84, Erica (Sullivan) O’Brien ’09, Al Espinosa ’94, Franchelle (Stewart) Dorn ’75, Sarah Pickett ’08, James Bundy ’95 (Dean), Andrew Boyce ’09 (Faculty), Alys Holden ’97, Ted DeLong ’07. Not pictured: Lydia Garcia ’08, Ilona Somogyi ’94 (Faculty).

04 Peter Kim ’04 with David Henry Hwang ’83 at the opening night of Kung Fu by David Henry Hwang in New York, with costumes by Anita Yavich ’95 and featuring Peter Kim.

02 Brian McManamon ’06 and Jake Jeppson ’12 on the opening night of The Clearing at Theatre at St. Clements. Photo by Hunter Canning.

07 Joseph Cermatori ’08 (right) on his wedding day to longtime partner Ryan Homsey on May 23, 2014.

03 Shannon Flynn ’02 (middle) with TV mom legends Marion Ross and Florence Henderson on the set of Nickelodeon’s show Instant Mom.

04 10 8

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

05 Erin (Billings) Olson ’05 with one of the fine art works she created for the Dallas Mavericks. Her paintings are featured in various media at live events. 06 Clara Rice ’02 on her wedding day with husband Andrew Hlavac, September 21, 2013 in Cincinnati, OH. Photo by Marc Le Roux.

Alumni Notes

07 of Atlanta, GA, and was very happy to be doing her art where her family could see her. The first several months of this year, Tiffany had the joy of collaborating with Yalies Patricia McGregor ’09, Katherine O’Neill ’09, and Marcus Gardley ’04 on The House that will not Stand, which premiered at Berkeley Repertory and Yale Repertory Theatres. She is currently developing an Interview Project-style piece with classmate Tommy Russell ’07, centered on the humorous, heartbreaking, and surprising stories of a dynamic group all over age 65. ● Joseph Cermatori ’08 has finished his PhD at

Columbia University and entered the theatre studies job market this fall. Joseph is happy to report that he recently married his longtime partner Ryan Homsey. They tied the knot on May 23rd in a small ceremony in Central Park, joined by their immediate families. Another celebration followed the next day with a larger group of family and friends at Maritime Parc in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, under the glittering lights of the downtown Manhattan skyline. Members of the Yale family in attendance that evening included Jason Fitzgerald ’08, Tommy Russell ’07, and Gregory Ruben LAW ’08. ● Snehal Desai ’08 was recently named the literary manager at East West Players in Los Angeles. This past spring he also directed the world premiere of A Nice Indian Boy by Madhuri Shekar and was the recipient of a 2013 Tanner Award. ● Jason Fitzgerald ’08 is moving back to New Haven for the 2014-15 academic year to be with his partner, who is beginning a PhD program in American Studies. Jason will be “enjoying” his fellowship year, which means mostly freaking out about his dissertation (in Columbia’s Theatre PhD program) and the impending terror of the academic job market. In addition to maintaining his stance as a neurotic graduate student, Jason continues to write theatre criticism for the Village Voice, Slant.com, and EDGE New York. ● This spring Dorothy Fortenberry’s ’08 play Partners was performed at the Humana Festival of New American plays. She developed the piece with Michael Walkup ’06, DFA ’11, and several YSD students as part of a Page 73 residency. She had a wonderful time in Louisville and met amazing folks. Dorothy is also a staff writer on the CW’s new show The 100 and is developing an hour-long drama for Bravo. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Colin and their 3-yearold daughter, Lee, and it seems like more and more Yale friends are moving out there every year. ● Tilted Field, a theatre collective cofounded by Jacob Padron ’08 and Becca Wolff ’09, produced its first show in New York City as a part of the New York International Fringe Festival in August. The show, No Static at All, is a one-man play written and performed by

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

10 9

Alumni Notes “My job, as I take it, is to make a cohesive evening, to take the audience on a journey from point A to point Z in an engaging way.” It’s a loose definition of directing, but it allows Patricia McGregor ’09 to be flexible and far-reaching in the projects she chooses. She can direct shows and curate whole seasons. She can attach herself to a living playwright and dig into the classics. She can put on interdisciplinary shows, and is increasingly asked to work with dancers, musicians, and visual artists on pieces that reject scripts, genres, and labels. She can, somehow, do it all. When Patricia speaks, it’s with a mix of wonder and toughness. If she says that anything is possible, it’s one part optimism and two parts determination. She made this tenacity evident in her student days at YSD when she chose a musical for her third-year directing project— Jelly’s Last Patricia McGregor ’09 Jam—against the advice of faculty. Their skepticism only made her more determined. “I was a habitual underdog growing up. If you tell me I can’t, that’s only going to give me more fuel to do it.” Her drive is infectious, and her enthusiasm has helped create lasting relationships with both artists and theatres. She’s collaborated multiple times with playwrights Katori Hall and Marcus Gardley ’04, and 2014 marks her third consecutive year directing at California Shakespeare Theater; this year’s A Raisin in the Sun followed 2013’s The Winter’s Tale and 2012’s Spunk. After graduation, Patricia threw herself into nontraditional projects that combined theatre, poetry, dance, hip-hop, and jazz—collaborations which expanded her range as a director. These projects, she says, are like “teaching myself another language. I’ve learned to listen to the body in ways I think, as theatregoers, we’re used to listening to the words.” Patricia gravitates toward undertold stories, particularly those of women and the African diaspora. Current social relevance is a must. “I have a special fire for the works of new writers,” she explains. “Usually the fact that it’s in the mind of this writer right now speaks to a certain pertinence.” Nevertheless, she finds that alternating between new and old scripts is rejuvenating. “There will be a moment when I’m working on Shakespeare and I’ll say, ‘God, I hunger for a writer in the room,’ and then, after doing a couple of those, I say ‘Okay, I just want to know what the script is, and I want to execute that from toe to top.’” Right now, Patricia’s life is full of what others might call challenges—halfway through 2014, she’s directed four shows and has several more lined up, in addition to a baby on the way. “It’s not the model most people would associate with at this point in my career, or with pregnancy, or with marriage,” she admits. “But only I will define, or life will reveal to me, when I’ve really hit a barrier. You might hit a wall, and that might be the truth of your experience, but that might not be true for me.” She doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon; she and Marcus Gardley are developing a musical based on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, and she is slated to direct another musical—Stagger Lee—at Dallas Theater Center in early 2015. Eventually, she says, she’d like to settle into more of an artistic director’s role, where she can satisfy her appetite for leadership and begin to build a culture around curating and sustaining artists. Until then, she’ll keep doing what she’s doing. “Whatever your version of a mission is, until something—whether it’s systematic, or actually reaching a limit of exhaustion—until something really stops you, you keep pursuing it in a full-hearted way.”

Pushing Against the Grain

— by jane youngberg 110

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alex Knox ’09. Roberta Pereira ’08, Michael Locher ’08, and Ji-Youn Chang ’08 produced and designed, with Wolff directing. ● Drew Lichtenberg ’08, DFA ’11 has had a busy year, one marked by a number of new jobs. In addition to his day job as literary associate and resident dramaturg at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, Drew became a lecturer at Catholic University, where he taught two graduate-level seminars: Dramatic Structures [Gitta Honegger’s (Former Faculty) old class!] in the fall, and a dramaturgy seminar in the spring. Students spent time with 13 dramaturgs from the Washington theatre community. Drew also joined the Helen Hayes Awards for a three-year term as a new plays judge, and served for the third year in a row as a guest teacher at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, where he got the chance to meet and work with Mark Bly ’80 (Former Faculty). Back at Shakespeare Theatre Company, the year was filled with exciting production work, highlights including Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 with Stacy Keach ’66 as Falstaff, and Private Lives with Maria Aitken. ● Roberta Pereira ’08 was recently awarded an Olivier Award for Best Revival as one of the producers of Merrily We Roll Along in the West End. She also co-produced Terrence McNally’s Mothers and Sons, starring Tyne Daly, which was nominated for a 2014 Tony Award for Best New Play.  ● Brian Hastert ’09 accepted a tenure-track appointment at the Pace School of Performing Arts as the head of Pace’s BFA in Acting for Film, Television, Voiceovers and Commercials program. It is the first undergraduate program in the U.S. focused entirely on training the actor for work in front of the camera and microphone. ● Kyoung-Jun Eo ’09 set up an office named TDS (Technical Design Studio). The office focuses on technical design, technical direction, and automation engineering. He has also just started a small stage automation shop with several colleagues. ● Timothy Mackabee ’09 has done design work on Broadway for The Elephant Man (starring Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson ’85), and Mike Tyson:

Alumni Notes Undisputed Truth; Off-Broadway: Heathers (New World Stages), Luce (Lincoln Center Theater), Much Ado About Nothing (The Public Theater), Our New Girl (Atlantic Theater Company); Opera: Tosca (Mill City Opera). Regional: Amadeus (Center Stage, Baltimore), Chinglish (Portland Center Stage and Syracuse Stage), and The Whale (Marin Theatre Company). ● Lily Twining ’09 started Blackbird Production Services, Ltd., her own production/ management company. She has served as production manager for Rocky on Broadway and If/Then, while collaborating with her new partner, Jake Bell, and her assistant on Rocky, Shaminda Amarakoon ’12. Next up for Blackbird and Lily is Titanic on Broadway.

2010s Chris Brown ’10, wife Katie, and their two kids, Michael, 5, and Gracie, 3, are happily planted in Orlando, FL. Chris is in his fifth season as general and production manager at Orlando Repertory Theatre, which is among the most well respected theatres for a young audience in the country, and a leader in the Central Florida arts community. Michael writes: “I get the wonderful opportunity to introduce kids to theatre every day and it is a very fulfilling job.” ● Liz Groth ’10 was nominated in 2013 for American Theater Wing’s Henry Hewes Design Awards in both scenic and costume design for her work on Pocahontas and/or America with the theatre company Little Lord, presented by The Bushwick Starr. Also involved with the show were Mike Floyd ’06, Jane Jung ’10 and Sarah Bishop-Stone ’10. ● Tara Kayton ’11 spent 2013 working for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, then spent the summer in Greece with One Year Lease Theater Company, touring The Birds. Recently, Tara accepted the position of executive director of the Bear Valley Music Festival in Alpine County, CA. ● As a producer and director, Ali Pour Issa ’11 has been making his second short fiction film, Bahar (Spring) for Abbas Kiarostami’s filmmaking workshop, and a documentary

film, Unheard Voices, about the contemporary Iranian theatre. He received citations for working as a jury member of dramaturgy and performance in the Second Theater Week Festival at University of Art in Tehran; and for being a critic for the Farda play reading series at the Dramatists’ Guild, House of Theater in Tehran. Ali was a submission jury member of the Official Selection for the 9th Annual European Independent Film Festival in Paris. In October, he presented his paper “Performing the World 2014: How Shall We Become?” at East Side Institute in New York. Ali continues writing reviews for magazines, journals and websites. ● Upon graduation in 2013, Katie Liberman ’13, SOM ’13 began work as the general manager at The Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA. She recently completed her first season with the company. ● Michael Skinner ’11 is an assistant professor of theatre at Southern Connecticut State University. ● Delilah Dominguez ’12 earned a MS in social work from The University of Texas at Austin in May 2014. ● After founding JCC Theaterworks at the New Haven Jewish Community Center, DeDe JacobsKomisar ’12 and family moved to Boston this past summer, where her husband Yaakov landed his dream job as a high school administrator. Nani, 4, and Itai, 8 months, are very excited. As of this writing, DeDe is looking for a job in the Boston theatre community. ● Jennifer Timms ’12 is currently pursuing her MFA in sound design at Boston University, where she has just completed her second year of the program. ● Kate Wicker ’12 and Andrew Wallace ’12 were married by Shaminda Amarakoon ’12 on June 15, 2014 in Lititz, PA. ● On July 13, 2013, Josiah Bania ’13 and Martyna Majok ’12 got hitched in the Catskills, surrounded by much YSD love. The ceremony was officiated by “Reverend” Paul Pryce ’13. ● Ethan Heard ’13, YC ’07 directed A Little Night Music at Berkshire Theatre Festival this summer. Reid Thompson ’14 and Oliver Wason ’14 designed it, Hannah Sullivan ’14 was stage manager, and Monique Barbee ’13,

Ashton Heyl ’14, and Chris Ghaffari ’16 were in the cast. ● On June 14, 2014, Reynaldi Lolong ’13 married Tyler Lindner DIV ’11 at Fort Washington Collegiate Church in New York. The best man was Jonathan Wemette ’13. Also in attendance were Lico Whitfield ’13, Michael Bateman ’13, Caitie Hannon ’14, SOM ’14 and Jenny Lagundino ’13. ● Amelia Roper’s ’13 play She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange had its premiere in San Francisco in March, as did Remix 38 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival. She is now writing for Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab, Playwrights Realm, and The Rose Theater, working with Matthew Gutschick ’12, Laura Gragtmans ’12, Miriam Hyman ’12, Sarah Sokolovic ’11, and Irene Sofia Lucio ’11.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

111

Alumni Notes

01 Several YSD alumni were part of the artistic/production staff of University of Connecticut’s 2014 Connecticut Repertory Theatre Nutmeg series. (front row) Lisa Loen ’10, Nicole Marconi ’13. (back row) Vincent J. Cardinal ’90, Timothy Brown ’10, Geoff Boronda ’13, Michael Skinner ’11. Not pictured: Alyssa Howard ’13. 02 Yalies in Sag Harbor: Rob Chikar ’14 (middle) is flanked by actors Aloysius Gigl ’86 and Emily Trask ’11 outside the Bay Street Theater, where they worked together on a production of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, which ran from June 24 to July 20, 2014. 03 Martyna Majok ’12 and Josiah Bania ’13 were married on July 13, 2013. Photo by Christopher Ash ’14.

04 Tara Kayton ’11 is Executive Director of the Bear Valley Music Festival in California.

112

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Alumni Notes Yale School of Drama Legacy Partners We invited you to join fellow alumni and friends who have included YSD in their estate plans or made other planned gifts to The School. Through Yale School of Drama Legacy Partners you can directly influence the future of Yale. You are eligible for membership if you have named YSD as a beneficiary of your will, trust, life income gifts, IRA or other retirement plan, life insurance policy, or other planned gift. To learn more about making a planned gift to Yale School of Drama, please contact Deborah S. Berman, director of Development and Alumni Affairs, at 203 432 0289 or deborah.berman@yale.edu. 2013-2014 YSD Legacy Partners Cynthia Kellogg Barrington* Donald I. Cairns ’63 Raymond Carver ’61 Elizabeth S. Clark ’41* David M. Conte ’72 Converse Converse YC ’57 Sue Anne Converse ’55 Eldon J. Elder ’58* Peter Entin ’71 Joseph Gantman ’53 Albert R. Gurney ’58 Robert L. Hurtgen Joseph E. Kleno* Richard G. Mason ’53* H. Thomas Moore ’68 Tad Mosel ’50* Arthur F. Nacht ’06 George E, Nichols III ’41, YC ’38* G.C. Niemeyer ’42*

Joan Pape ’68 Mary B. Reynolds ’55 Mark Richards ’57* Barbara Richter ’60* William Rothwell, Jr. ’53, GRD ’53* Forrest E. Sears ’58 Eugene Shewmaker ’49 Kenneth J. Stein ’59 G. Erwin Steward ’60 Edward Trach ’58 Carol Waaser ’70 Phyllis C. Warfel ’55 William B. Warfel ’57, YC ’55 Wendy Wasserstein ’76* Zelman H. Weisfeld ’56 Edwin Wilson ’57

Save the Dates! Yale School of Drama 2014–15 Alumni Events alumni holiday party Monday December 8, 2014 The Yale Club of New York City 6–9PM west coast alumni party Sunday March 15, 2015 At the home of Jane Kaczmarek ’82 1–4PM

* deceased

Stay in Touch Please remember to send us your current email to ensure you receive invitations to alumni events as well as our quarterly e-newsletter. Visit drama.yale.edu/alumni to read past issues. Contact the Development and Alumni Affairs office at ysd.alumni@yale.edu or 203 432 1559.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

113

Donors 1940s Lawrence D. Amick ’49 Patricia F. Gilchrist ’44 Alfred S. Golding ’49 Joan Kron ’48 Mildred C. Kuner ’47 Pamela Stiles Roberts ’46 Eugene F. Shewmaker ’49 Yun C. Wu ’49

1950s

Robert A. Baldwin ’55 Robert M. Barr ’52 Ezekial H. Berlin ’53 Melvin I. Bernhardt ’55 Warwick V. Brown ’53 Robert Brustein ’51, HON ’66 Ian W. Cadenhead ’58 Joy G. Carlin ’54 Sami J. Casler ’59 Patricia J. Collins ’58 Forrest S. Compton ’53 Sue Ann Gilfillan Converse ’55 John W. Cunningham ’59 Allen Davis III ’56 Jose A. Diaz ’52 Philip R. Eck ’59 Sonya G. Friedman ’55 Joseph Gantman ’53 Robert W. Goldsby ’53 James W. Gousseff ’56* Bigelow R. Green ’59 Albert R. Gurney ’58 Carol T. Hemingway ’55 Betsy N. Holmes ’55 Evelyn H. Huffman ’57 James E. Jewell ’57 Geoffrey A. Johnson ’55 Marillyn B. Johnson ’50 Donald E. Jones ’56 Amnon Kabatchnik ’57 Lloyd A. Kaplan’58 James D. Karr ’54 Jay B. Keene ’55 Roger L. Kenvin ’59, DFA ’61 Bernard Kukoff ’57 Henry E. Lowenstein ’56 Elizabeth Lyman ’51 Jane B. Lyman ’51 Marvin M. March ’55 David R. McNutt ’59 Ellen L. Moore ’52 George Morfogen ’57

114

Marion V. Myrick ’54 Franklin M. Nash ’59 Grace T. Noyes’54 Kendric T. Packer ’52 Eilene Pierson* ’50 Virginia F. Pils ’52 Gladys S. Powers ’57 Mary B. Reynolds ’55 Philip Rosenberg ’59 A. Raymond Rutan ’54 Raymond H. Sader ’58 Stephen O. Saxe ’54 Alvin Schechter ’59 William T. Schneider ’56 Forrest E. Sears ’58 James A. Smith ’59 Kenneth J. Stein ’59 Pamela D. Strayer ’52 Edward Trach ’58 Fred Voelpel ’53 Phyllis C. Warfel ’55 William B. Warfel ’57, YC ’55 Betsy B. Watson ’53 Zelma H. Weisfeld ’56 Barbara M. Young ’53

1960s

Richard J. Ambacher ’65 Leif E. Ancker ’62 Barbara B. Anderson ’60 Rita Aron ’69 Mary Ellen O. Atkins ’65 Thomas R. Atkins ’64 Robert A. Auletta ’69 John Badham ’63, YC ’61 James R. Bakkom ’64 Boris I. Baranovic ’61 Philip J. Barrons ’65 Warren F. Bass ’67 John Beck ’63 Jody Locker Berger ’66 Roderick L. Bladel ’61 Jeffrey A. Bleckner ’68 Carol Bretz Murray-Negron ’64 James Burrows ’65 Donald Cairns ’63 Suellen G. Childs ’69 Sarah E. Clark ’67 Katherine D. Cline ’60 Patricia S. Cochrane ’62 Robert S. Cohen DFA ’64 John M. Conklin ’66, YC ’59 Kenneth T. Costigan ’60 Peggy Cowles ’65 Stephen C. Coy ’63, DFA ’69 F. Mitchell Dana ’67

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

Michael David ’68 Mary Lucille DeBerry ’66 Ramon L. Delgado ’67 Charles Dillingham ’68, YC 65 John Duran ’68 Robert H. Einenkel ’69 Bernard Engel ’60 David Epstein ’68 Leslie D. Epstein DFA ’67, YC ’60 Jerry N. Evans ’62 John D. Ezell ’60 Ann Farris ’63 Richard A. Feleppa ’60 William Firestone ’69 Linda K. Fisher ’72 Hugh Fortmiller ’61 Keith F. Fowler DFA ’69 David Freeman ’68 Richard D. Fuhrman ’64 Bernard L. Galm ’63 John E. Guare ’63 David Hale ’61 Ann T. Hanley ’61 Jerome R. Hanley ’60 Patricia Helwick ’65 Stephen Hendrickson ’67 Elizabeth Holloway ’66 John R. Hood ’61 Derek Hunt ’62 Peter H. Hunt ’63, YC ’61 Laura Mae Jackson ’68 John W. Jacobsen ’69, YC ’67 Asaad N. Kelada ’64 Abby B. Kenigsberg ’63 Carol S. King ’67 Marna J. King ’64 Richard H. Klein ’67 Harriet Koch ’62 Robert W. Lawler ’67 Peter J. Leach ’61 Gerard Leahy ’67 Lance Lee ’67 Stephen R. Leventhal ’69 Bradford Lewis ’69 Irene Lewis ’66 Richard E. Maltby, Jr. ’62, YC ’59 Peter L. McCandless ’64 B. Robert McCaw ’66 Margaret T. McCaw ’66 Robert A. McDonald ’68 Bruce W. McMullan ’61 Donald Michaelis ’69 Ronald Mielech ’60 H. Thomas Moore ’68 Robert B. Murray ’61 Gayther L. Myers ’65 David A. Nancarrow ’63 S. Joseph Nassif ’63

Ruth H. Newman ’62 Dwight R. Odle ’66 Janet Oetinger ’69 Richard A. Olson ’69 Sara Ormond ’66 Joan Pape ’68 Howard Pflanzer ’68 Louis R. Plante ’69 Michael B. Posnick ’69 Brett Prentiss ’68 Barbara Reid ’62 Lucy Rosenthal ’61 Carolyn L. Ross ’69 Janet G. Ruppert ’63 Clarence Salzer, Jr. ’60, YC ’55 Lucia C. Scala ’61 Isaac H. Schambelan DFA ’67 Georg Schreiber ’64 Talia Shire Schwartzman ’69 Winifred J. Sensiba ’63 Paul R. Shortt ’68 E. Gray Smith ’65 Helena L. Sokoloff ’60 Mary C. Stark ’61 James Beach Steerman ’62 Louise Stein ’66 John W. Stevens ’66 G. Erwin Steward ’60 Douglas C. Taylor ’66 John H. Thomas ’62 David F. Toser ’64 Russell L. Treyz ’65 Richard B. Trousdell ’67, DFA ’74 Joan Van Ark ’64 Steven Waxler ’68 Gil Wechsler ’67 Charles Werner ’67 J. Newton White ’62 Peter White ’62 Albert J. Zuckerman ’61, DFA ’62

1970s

Sarah J. Albertson ’71 John Lee Beatty ’73 Judith H. Brown ’71 Thomas Bruce ’79, YC’75 Michael W. Cadden ’76, DFA ’79, YC ’71 Ian R. Calderon ’73 Victor P. Capecce ’75 Lisa Carling ’72, Cosmo A. Catalano ’79 David M. Conte ’72 Marycharlotte C. Cummings ’73 Julia L. Devlin ’74 Dennis L. Dorn ’72

Donors Christopher Durang ’74 Nancy R. El Bouhali ’70 Peter Entin ’71 Dirk Epperson ’74 Christine Estabrook ’76 Heidi Ettinger ’76 Femi Euba ’73 Douglass M. Everhart ’70 Marc F. Flanagan ’70 Abigail Franklin ’78 Lewis A. Folden ’77 Robert Gainer ’73 Paul Gallo ’77 Marian Godfrey ’75 Jess Goldstein ’78 Michael E. Gross ’73 William B. Halbert ’70 Charlene Harrington ’74 Barbara B. Hauptman ’73 Ira Hauptman ’75, DFA ’78 Jane C. Head ’79 Jennifer Hershey ’77 Louis Hoffman ’73 Nicholas A. Hormann ’73 Barnet K. Kellman ’72 Alan L. Kibbe ’73 Daniel L. Koetting ’74 Frances E. Kumin ’77 Mitchell L. Kurtz ’75 Rocco Landesman DFA ’76 Stephen R. Lawson ’76 Charles E. Letts ’76 George N. Lindsay ’74 Jennifer K. Lindstrom ’72 Robert H. Long ’76 Donald B. Lowy ’76 William Ludel ’73 Patrick F. Lynch ’71 Barbara E. Mackay ’72, DFA ’74 Lizbeth P. Mackay ’75 Alan M. MacVey ’77 Brian R. Mann ’79 Jonathan E. Marks ’72, DFA ’84, YC ’68 Peggy A. Marks ’75, YC ’71 Robert Marx ’75, DFA ’79 Deborah Mayo ’73 Neil A. Mazzella ’78 John A. McAndrew ’72 Brian R. McEleney ’77 Patricia McMahon ’72, GRD ’72 Stephen W. Mendillo ’71 Jonathan S. Miller ’75 Lawrence S. Mirkin ’72, YC ’69 George E. Moredock ’70 James Naughton ’70 Patricia Norcia ’78 Elizabeth Norment ’79*

Richard Ostreicher ’79 Jeffrey Pavek ’71 Bill M. Peters ’79 Stephen B. Pollock ’76 Daniel H. Proctor ’70 William Purves ’71 Arthur I. Rank ’79 Pamela A. Rank ’78 Ronald P. Recasner ’74 William J. Reynolds ’77 Peter S. Roberts ’75 Steven I. Robman ’73 Howard J. Rogut ’71 Robin P. Rose ’73 John M. Rothman ’75 Ben Sammler ’74 Robert Sandberg ’77 Suzanne M. Sato ’79 Joel R. Schechter ’72, DFA ’73 Michael D. Sheehan ’76 Richard R. Silvestro ’76 Benjamin Slotznick ’73, YC ’70 Jeremy Smith ’76 Marshall Spiller ’71 Jaroslaw Strzemien ’75 Russell Vandenbroucke ’77, DFA ’78 Eva M. Vizy ’72 Carol M. Waaser ’70 David J. Ward ’75 Eugene D. Warner ’71 Lynda L. Welch ’72 Carolyn Seely Wiener ’72 Henry Winkler ’70 R. Scott Yuille ’77 Stephen E. Zuckerman ’74

1980s

Christopher Akerlind ’89 Michael G. Albano ’82 Sandra L. Albers ’89 Amy L. Aquino ’86 Clayton M. Austin ’86 Dylan Baker ’85 Michael H. Baumgarten ’81 James B. Bender ’85 Todd Berling ’89 William J. Bletzinger ’83 Anders P. Bolang ’87 Sara Braun ’87 Mark Brokaw ’86 Claudia M. Brown ’85 William J. Buck ’84 Richard Butler ’88 Benjamin Cameron ’81 Jon E. Carlson ’88

Anna T. Cascio ’83 Lawrence Casey ’80 Joan Channick ’89 Melissa Cochran ’81 Donato J. D’Albis ’88 Richard S. Davis ’83, DFA ’03 Kathleen K. Dimmick ’85 Merle G. Dowling ’81 Terrence Dwyer ’88 Anne J. D’Zmura ’89 Sasha Emerson ’84 Teresa Eyring ’89 Michael D. Fain ’82 Terry K. Fitzpatrick ’83 Joel C. Fontaine ’83 Alison Ford ’82 Anthony M. Forman ’83 Raymond Forton ’85 Randy R. Fullerton ’82 James H. Gage ’80 Judy Gailen ’89 J. Ellen Gainor ’83 Steven J. Gefroh ’85 Michael J. Giannitti ’87 Jeffrey M. Ginsberg ’81 William A. Glenn ’87 Charles F. Grammer ’86 Rob Greenberg ’89 Allan Havis ’80 James W. Hazen ’83 Roderick L. Hickey ’89 Donald S. Holder ’86 Catherine MacNeil Hollinger ’86 Kathleen A. Houle ’88 Thomas K. Isbell ’84 Chris P. Jaehnig ’85 Michael D. James ’89 Walker Jones ’89 Jane Kaczmarek ’82 Jonathan F. Kalb ’85, DFA ’87 Carol M. Kaplan ’89 Bruce A. Katzman ’88 Rik Kaye ’80 Patrick Kerr ’87 Colette A. Kilroy ’88 David K. Kriebs ’82 William Kux ’83 Wing Lee ’83 Eugene Leitermann ’82 Kenneth J. Lewis ’86 Peter Gray Lewis ’87 Jerry J. Limoncelli ’84 Quincy Long ’86 Mark E. Lord ’87 Andi Lyons ’80 Jane Macfie ’88 Wendy MacLeod ’87 Peter A. Marshall ’89, YC ’83

Thomas J. McGowan ’88 Katherine Mendeloff ’80 Isabell M. Monk-O’Connor ’81 David E. Moore ’87 Tina C. Navarro ’86 Thomas J. Neville ’86 Regina L. Neville ’88 Christopher Noth ’85 Lynn Nottage ’89 Arthur E. Oliner ’86 Erik A. Onate ’89 Carol Ostrow ’80 Robert J. Provenza ’86 Carol A. Prugh ’89 Margaret A. Quinn ’81 Joumana Rizk ’87 Laila V. Robins ’84 Lori Robishaw ’88 Constance E. Romero ’88 Russ L. Rosensweig ’83 Cecilia M. Rubino ’82 Steven A. Saklad ’81 Frank Sarmiento ’81 Kenneth Schlesinger ’84 Alexander Scribner ’80 William Skipper ’83 Tony Spiridakis ’85 Neal A. Stephens ’80 Mark Stevens ’89 Mark L. Sullivan ’83 Thomas Sullivan ’88 Bernard J. Sundstedt ’81 Courtney B. Vance ’86 Rosa Vega Weissman ’80 Craig F. Volk ’88 Mark Wade ’88 Jaylene G. Wallace ’86 Clifford Warner ’87 Darryl S. Waskow ’86 Geoffrey J. Webb ’88 Susan West ’87 Dana B. Westberg ’81 Robert M. Wildman ’83 Alexandra R. Witchel ’82 Carl Wittenberg ’85 Steven A. Wolff ’81 Evan D. Yionoulis ’85, YC ’82 Donald R. Youngberg ’83

1990s Narda Alcorn ’95 Angelina Avallone ’94 Edward L. Blunt ’99 Debra Booth ’91 Tom J. Broecker ’92 James Bundy ’95

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

115

Donors Katherine D. Burgueño ’90 Kathryn A. Calnan ’99 Aaron Copp ’98 Robert C. Cotnoir ’94 Susan M. Cremin ’95 Christopher Cronin ’96 Laura Janik Cronin ’96 Sean J. Cullen ’90 Sean P. Cullen ’94 Scott T. Cummings ’85, DFA ’94 Sheldon Deckelbaum ’92 Michael L. Diamond ’90 Frances L. Egler ’95 Cornelia A. Evans ’93 Glen R. Fasman ’92 Donald S. Fried ’95 Edward John Freedman ’93 Stephen L. Godchaux ’93 Naomi S. Grabel ’91 Constance M. Grappo ’95 Elisa R. Griego ’98 Regina S. Guggenheim ’93 Corin L. Gutteridge ’96 Jessica Gutteridge ’94 Alexander T. Hammond ’96 Scott Hansen ’99 Douglas R. Harvey ’95 Jeffrey C. Herrmann ’99 Christopher B. Higgins ’90 Nathan Hinton ’95 John C. Huntington ’90 Suzanne Jackson ’90 Elizabeth A. Kaiden ’96 Samuel L. Kelley ’90 Ashley York Kennedy ’90 Mark Kupferman ’96 Patricia Lewis ’98 Chih-Lung Liu ’94 Sarah E. Long ’92, YC ’85 Suzanne Cryer Luke ’95, YC ’88 Elizabeth S. Margid ’91, YC ’82 Craig P. Mathers ’93 Marya Mazor ’92 William F. McGuire ’91 Paul S. McKinley ’96 Robert A. Melrose ’96 Bruce Miller ’99 Marjorie C. Mitchell ’97 Richard R. Mone ’91 Daniel E. Mufson ’95, DFA ’99 Margaret L. Neville ’97 Dw Phineas Perkins ’90 Michael Potts ’92 Amy Povich ’92 James W. Quinn ’94 Joe Reynolds ’97 Peggy Sasso ’99 Liev Schreiber ’92 116

Paul F. Selfa ’92 James E. Shanklin ’97 Jeremy M. Shapira ’97 Jane M. Shaw ’98 Graham Shiels ’99 Vladimir Shpitalnik ’92 Paul Spadone ’99, YC ’93 Douglas Spitz ’91 Kris E. Stone ’98 David L. Sword ’90 Patti Thorp ’91 Deborah L. Trout ’94 Erik W. Walstad ’95 Lisa A. Wilde ’91, DFA ’95 Marshall B. Williams ’95

2000s

Paola Allais Acree ’08, SOM ’08 Alexander G. Bagnall ’00 Michael D. Banta ’03 Sarah Bartlo ’04 Shira D. Beckerman ’06 Sarah E. Bierenbaum ’05, YC’99 Ashley E. Bishop ’02 Joshua R. Borenstein ’02 Christina Bullard ’07 Jonathan Busky ’02, SOM ’02, YC ’94 David Calica ’08 Joseph P. Cermatori ’08 Wilson Chin ’03 Aurelia F. Cohen ’09 Kristen Connolly ’07 Gregory W. Copeland ’04 Katherine M. Cusack ’06 Sarah DeLong ’08 Ted DeLong ’07 Michael M. Donahue ’08 Janann B. Eldredge ’06 Kyoung-Jun Eo ’09 Miriam R. Epstein ’02 Dustin O. Eshenroder ’07 Rachel Fink ’00 Alexandra J. Fischer ’00 Sarah M. Fornia ’04 Marcus D. Fuller ’04 Carter P. Gill ’09 Sandra Goldmark ’04 Amanda J. Haley ’10 John J. Hanlon ’04 Judith Hansen ’04 Heidi Hanson ’09 Brian Hastert ’09 Caitlin M. Hevner ’07 Amy S. Holzapfel ’01, DFA ’06 James G. Hood ’05

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

David C. Howson ’04 Melissa Huber ’01 Heide L. Janssen ’08 Rolin Jones ’04 Peter Y. Kim ’04 Timothy R. Mackabee ’09 Michael Madravakis Tarell Alvin McCraney ’07 Brian McManamon ’06 Jennifer Y. Moeller ’06 Elizabeth D. Morrison ’05 Matthew Moses ’09 David R. Muse ’03, YC ’96 Rachel S. Myers ’07 Arthur F. Nacht ’06 Erica R. O’Brien ’09 Grace E. O’Brien ’04 John B. O’Brien ’09 Phillip Owen ’09 Maulik Pancholy ’03 Sarah Pearline ’09 Roberta Pereira Da Silva ’08 Bryce Pinkham ’08 Jonathan A. Reed ’08 Thomas E. Russell ’07 Shawn B. Senavinin ’06 Amanda Spooner ’09 Frances A. Strauss ’09 Carrie E. Van Hallgren ’06 Arthur T. Vitello ’05 Elaine M. Wackerly ’03 Bradlee M. Ward ’05 Nathaniel Wells ’06 Elena Whittaker ’03 Jennifer L. Wishcamper ’02, YC’96 Becca Wolff ’09

2010s

Emika S. Abe ’15 Acting Class of 2014 Steven Albert ’14 Shaminda Amarakoon ’12 Alyssa Anderson ’10 Kaitlyn Anderson ’14 Zachary S. Appelman ’10 Taylor Barfield ’16 Michael Barker ’10, SOM ’10 Brittany Behrens ’14 Matthew A. Biagini ’11 William Connolly ’10 Ryan Davis ’11 Katherine A. Day ’10 Lauren Dubowski ’14 Laura J. Eckelman ’11 Whitney Estrin ’10 Hugh Farrell ’15

Anne Flammang ’14 Eric Gershman ’15, SOM ’15 Ethan Heard ’13, YC ’07 Molly Hennighausen ’15 Jean Kim ’16 Kate E. Liberman ’13, SOM ’13 Paul Lieber ’13 Peter A. Malbuisson ’10 Anne Middleton ’16 Meg Miroshnik ’11 Belina Mizrahi ’10, YC ’02 Seamus Mulcahy ’12 Niall Powderly ’16 Meghan Moreland Pressman ’10, SOM ’10 Art Priromprintr ’11 Jorge Rodriguez ’10, DFA ’13 Kimberly Rosenstock ’10 Hannah Shafran ’13 Alyssa Simmons ’14, YC ’09 Erik Sunderman ’10 Lauren Wainwright ’14 Solomon Weisbard ’13 Jonathan Wemette ’13 Gretchen Wright ’16 Carly Zien ’14, YC ’08

julie harris scholarship fund The Loreen Arbus Foundation The Alec Baldwin Foundation Janice Johnson Barnum Melvin Bernhardt ’55 Cyndi Brown John Conklin ’66, YC ’59 John Erman Diana and David Jacobs Linda and David Kalodner Mildred Kuner ’47 William Kux ’83 Michele Lee Vanessa Marshall Donna Mills Victoria Nolan and Clark Crolius Fred A. Rappoport Jeremy Smith ’76 Vicki Shaghoian Joan van Ark ’64 Warner Brothers Entertainment

Donors stanley kauffmann scholarship James Bundy ’95 Ira Hauptman ’75, DFA ’78 Louis Hoffman ’73 Rocco Landesman DFA ’76 Robert Marx ’75, DFA ’79 Lucy and Piers Playfair Gordon Rogoff YC ’52 Joel Schechter ’72, DFA ’73 Maron and Nahum Waxman Carolyn Seely Wiener ’72 Gary and Josephine Williams

friends** Nina R. Adams GRD ’69, NUR ’77 and Moreson Kaplan Aged In Wood, LLC Ameriprise Financial The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation Americana Arts Foundation Deborah M. Applegate GRD ’98 and Bruce Tulgan Kirk Baird YC ’66 Robert L. Barth YC’66 John B. Beinecke YC ’69 Sonja Berggren and Patrick T. Seaver YC ’72 Deborah and Bruce M. Berman LAW ’79 Debbie Bisno and David Goldman LAW ’76 Carmine Boccuzzi YC ’90, LAW ’94 and Bernard Lumpkin YC’91 Lee-ann Boatwright Lynne and Roger Bolton Clare and Sterling Brinkley YC ’74 Donald and Mary Brown Mary L. Bundy Joyce Carmen Lois Chiles and Richard Gilder YC ’54, LHDH ’07 Susan C. Clark Converse M. Converse YC ’57 The Noel Coward Foundation Edgar Cullman YC ’68 Bob and Priscilla Dannies Scott M. Delman YC ’82 The Educational Foundation of America Janna Ellis

Ruth M. Feldman Deborah Freedman and Ben Ledbetter Anita Pamintuan Fusco YC ’90 and Dino Fusco YC ’88 Bruce W. Graham Betty Goldberg Eduardo Groisman F. Lane Heard III YC ’73, LAW ’78 Ruth and Stephen Hendel YC ’73 Dr. Lothar Hennighausen Stephen J. Hoffman YC ’64 Arthur and Mary Hunt Ellen M. Iseman YC ’76 Frederick J. Iseman YC ’75 Adrian YC ’87 and Nina Jones YC ’87 David G. Johnson YC ’78 Richard Lalli MUS ’80 and Michael O. Rigsby MED ’88 Stephanie Lamassa Ellen Lange George A & Grace L Long Foundation Lucille Lortel Foundation Romaine A. Macomb Sally McCauley Deborah McGraw George I. Miller GRD ’83 and Virginia Fallon Dawn G. Miller Susan Morris Barbara Moss and Aziz Dekhan James C. Munson YC ’66 Janice L. Muirhead Eileen and Jim Mydosh Merle Nacht Victoria Nolan and Clark Crolius Jane Nowosadko F. Richard Pappas YC ’76 James M. Perlotto YC ’78 and Thomas Masse MUS ’91 Bennett Pudlin William Rall Robert W. Riordan YC ’66 Robina Foundation Linda Frank Rodman YC ’73, GRD ’75 Abigail Roth Edward and Alice Saad Ruth Hein Schmitt Vicki Shaghoian Sandra Shaner Theodore P. Shen YC ’66, MAH ’01 The Shubert Foundation, Inc. Matthew Specter and Marjan Mashadi Ted Stein

Joseph Stevens* R. Lee Stump Trust for Mutual Understanding Suzanne Tucker Marguerite and Gregory Tumminio Cheever and Sally Tyler Deborah McGraw Kara J. Unterberg YC ’87 Esme Usdan YC ’77 Patricia and Charles Walkup Paul Walsh Vera F. Wells YC ’71 David Willson

in kind Clare and Sterling Brinkley YC ’74 Sasha Emerson ’84 Anita Pamintuan Fusco YC ’90 and Dino Fusco YC ’88 Asaad Kelada ’64 Jeremy Smith ’76 Kara Unterberg YC ’87

* Deceased ** Donors who have made contributions of $100 and above to Yale School of Drama.

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

117

Steven Epp, Jesse J. Perez, Molly Bernard â&#x20AC;&#x2122;13, Liam Craig, Allen Gilmore and Eugene Ma in the 2013 Yale Repertory Theatre production of Accidental Death of An Anarchist, by Dario Fo, directed by Christopher Bayes (Faculty), a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Photo by Joan Marcus.

118

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

119

A Year in the Life of YSD 01 Seth Bodie ’15 02 Andrew Burnap ’16, Gabriel Levey ’14 03 Lee O’Reilly ’15 04 Tanya Dean ’11, DFA cand., Dana Tanner ’14, DFA cand., Sean Walters ’16, Jenny Schmidt ’14, DFA cand., Lauren Dubowski ’14, DFA cand. 05 Stephanie Rolland ’15, Kevin Klakouski ’14, Sarah Williams ’15

06 Party time in the Yale Cabaret

07 Kevin Klakouski ’14, Alexander Woodward ’16 08 Sinan Zafar ’16, Ashley Chang ’16, Nahuel Telleria ’16, Kate Marvin ’16 09 Lauren Dubowski ’14, DFA cand., Whitney Dibo ’14, DFA cand., Kelly Kerwin ’15, Shane Hudson ’14, Cristal Coleman, Stephanie Rolland ’15

10 Path in front of the Yale Cabaret

11 Kelly Kerwin ’15 12 James Bundy ’95 (Dean), Anne Tofflemire (Faculty) 13 Sophie von Haselberg ’14

14 Jake Thompson

15 Steven Brush ’14 16 Christopher Ash ’14 17 Elivia Bovenzi ’14, Hunter Kaczorowski ’14 18 front Christopher Ash ’14, Kate Noll ’14, Brian Dudkiewicz ’14. back Oliver Wason ’14, Seth Bodie ’14, Carmen Martinez ’14, Reid Thompson ’14, Nick Hussong ’14, Hunter Kaczorowski ’14, Elivia Bovenzi ’14. 19 Maura Hooper ’15, Fabian Aguilar ’16, Sonja Thorson ’14 20 Chalia Ayers LaTour ’16 21 Hunter Kaczorowski ’14, Elivia Bovenzi ’14, Carmen Martinez ’14, Kate Noll ’14, Brian Dudkiewicz ’14, Oliver Wason ’14, KJ Kim ’14, Reid Thompson ’14

12 0

YA L E S C H O O L O F D R A M A A N N UA L 2 014

18 20

2014 ANNUAL MAGAZINE YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA P.O. BOX 208244 NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06520

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID NEW HAVEN, CT PERMIT NO. 167