Arthur Miller Foundation Honors Program

NYC Programs

AMF Scholars Program

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

GOAL:

Diversify and increase the number of theater teachers in the New York City public school pipeline.

• SCHOLARSHIP: Select candidates receive 50% tuition scholarships to earn their M.S. Ed Degree and Theater Certification to teach theater in NYC public schools.

• EVENTS: Scholars are included in networking events with AMF, CCNY faculty, and the NYC theater education community.

• DOE CONNECTION: Scholars are introduced to Peter Avery, NYC DOE Director of Theater.

• READY FOR HIRE: Upon completion of their certification, AMF Scholars are in the pipeline to become NYC DOE theater teachers who are eligible to apply for the AMF Fellows Program.

AMF Fellows Program

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

GOAL:

Build and sustain quality in-school theater programs by providing tailored resources, training and support for theater teachers.

• MENTORSHIP: Teachers are matched with a master theater educator who serves as their dedicated mentor throughout the 3-year program.

• THEATER RESIDENCIES: Teaching artists from celebrated NYC cultural institutions work in the classroom with students on a specific topic of theater for 8-10 weeks.

• RESOURCES: Teachers receive classroom toolkits and funds for students to attend Broadway productions.

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMEN

Teachers participate in workshops and events on various topics of theater and attend inter-visitations to observe veteran theater educators in action.

Department of Education Chancellor David C. Banks

We invest in public school theater teachers to help the students of today become the creative, empathetic, forward-thinking INDIVIDUALS of tomorrow.

AMF IMPACT

THEATER TEACHERS at NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS in 5 BOROUGHS of NYC reaching nearly 43,500 ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

10% 2015-16 20% 2022-23 100% 2024 and beyond

When AMF programs began in 2015, approximately 10% of NYC public schools had a certified theater teacher. Since then, that percentage has grown to over 20%, thanks to the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) Office 10% 20% 100% of Arts and Special Projects. While the NYC DOE is making significant strides, 2015-162022-23 2024 and beyond together we must continue moving the needle to reach our goal.

We are determined to increase the number of public school theater teachers in New York City and, when the time is right, across the country.

Recruitment Efforts

Students of color comprise 85% of the New York City public school system, yet theater educators do not reflect those demographics and AMF is asking: How can we be a catalyst for change?

We recognize that the barriers of entry to graduate theater programs can be an obstacle for students of color. In partnership with the CCNY Graduate Program in Educational Theatre, AMF is in the process of active outreach to undergraduate theater programs across the country––particularly at HBCUs––as we work to dismantle systemic inequity, and pave the way for inclusion and opportunity. Our goals are to highlight theater education as a viable career option, promote the accessibility of the Scholars Program, and diversify the field.

Cultural Partners

An investment in the Arthur Miller Foundation is an investment in the NYC cultural economy.

We are proud to work with the following cultural partners who are also centering equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives:

We need your help.

What’s Next?

Through recent strategic planning sessions, AMF Board and leadership established two key objectives:

1. Sustain and deepen New York City programs

2. Expand programs and impact beyond New York City

Those objectives have resulted in exporting AMF programs to Connecticut.

Why Connecticut?

AMF believes, just as Arthur Miller did, that arts education should be a right––not a privilege. The AMF Fellows Program was created in collaboration with Peter Avery, Director of Theater for the New York City Department of Education. The AMF Scholars Program was created in partnership with Dr. Jennifer Katona, founder of the Graduate Program in Educational Theatre at The City College of New York and current Director, Sobha Kavanakudiyil. Support for these flagship NYC theater education programs will continue to grow and deepen.

AMF is now at an opportune inflection point for expansion to Connecticut, based on its successful NYC program model. As a neighboring state that Arthur Miller called home, and where several AMF Board members have roots, the state of Connecticut is the most natural location in which to pilot AMF expansion.

Connecticut administrators and school leaders have cited the following values of theater education, among many others:

• Promotes student engagement

• Improves learning throughout all academic areas

• Enhances critical thinking, problem solving, communication & collaboration skillsment

AMF CONNECTICUT THEATER EDUCATION PROGRAM

With an eye toward national expansion, AMF is piloting its next theater education program in Bridgeport Public Schools. Almost half of Connecticut public schools are in Title I districts and only 1.5% of the CT public school student population has access to theater education. All schools require that 60% of high school students take one semester of an arts course, however most recent data shows that only 3% of schools meet that requirement.

Given the value the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) places on social and emotional learning and development, the Arthur Miller Theater Education Program is directly in line with the CSDE goals: “Schools need to create an environment ensuring that all students feel emotional and physically safe. The integration of SEL is a vital component in K-12 education and it contributes to whole-child success.”

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Arthur Miller Foundation Honors. We are so happy that you have joined us.

We are so grateful to you—each of you with us tonight—for making a difference in the education of children in this city, the capital of theater in the United States, by contributing whatever you can to support our mission and partnership with the New York City Department of Education Office of Arts & Special Projects and The City College of New York Graduate Program in Educational Theater.

We at the Arthur Miller Foundation believe that arts education is a right, not a privilege. Theater arts have been proven to increase literacy, empathy, confidence, and team building in students from elementary school through high school. And yet, too few schools are able to offer theater education as an integral part of the school day.

Our teacher-centered AMF Fellows Program is dedicated to supporting theater teachers within the public school system with the tools they need to succeed, and was developed with Peter Avery, Director of Theater for the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE).

When we began our work 8 years ago, this program was impacting approximately 7,500 students. Now we are impacting over 43,000 students from elementary through high school.

Our AMF Scholars Program, developed in partnership with Dr. Jennifer Katona and Sobha Kavanakudiyil, supports teachers in earning their theater certification at CCNY, thereby diversifying and increasing the pipeline of theater teachers in New York City public schools.

We are thrilled to have joined the arts education movement in this country, adding volume to the wave of thought and data that places the arts not at the bottom of the necessary elements of a school day—forgotten behind science, technology, engineering, math, and the humanities—but squarely in the middle of a rounded education. After all, as a nation, we are storytellers. Our media and entertainment industry is the largest in the world. Our young entrepreneurs must communicate their ground-breaking ideas with confidence. Our nascent scientists must understand how to work in teams. And, if theater itself is to remain alive and relevant to future generations, young people must experience it, both as audience members and as theater makers.

We have seen a great deal of cultural growth in our Fellows’ schools. Taking what we learned in New York City, we have now exported our program model to another district in need of support: Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut.

As we continue to deepen and grow our impact in a focused, sustainable way, we hope you will continue to support our mission.

Rebecca Miller AMF Trustee

Sandi Farkas AMF Trustee

Dear Friends,

We are gathered here tonight to celebrate the arts and – more specifically – theater education, but – most especially – theater teachers.

Theater has the power to transform. It has the ability to cut to the core of human emotion. It inspires, it enriches, it helps us grow. Studies have shown that engaging young people in theater education promotes critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration, among many other life skills. What it takes for a student to receive a fully enriched arts education is a dedicated teacher; someone who creates a safe space where students can be their authentic selves, provides consistency, and cultivates a sense of community.

The Arthur Miller Foundation has chosen to specifically focus our attention on theater education for several key reasons:

1 ) Theater teaches essential soft skills that foster empathy and effective interactions with others, aiding in human development regardless of the career path one chooses to pursue.

2 ) Theater is the most comprehensive art form, enveloping all other forms of art – music, dance, fine arts, film & visual arts.

3 ) Theater arts must be recognized as an integral part of a well-rounded education.

As we further develop our programs and continue to expand our reach, the Arthur Miller Foundation is working to optimize our impact. We are driving awareness of theater education as a change agent in creating successful schools and high-performing students, who are enriched by the social emotional learning an in-school theater education provides.

We are sincerely grateful to the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) for their collaboration and rich partnership. Thanks to New York City Public Schools Chancellor, David C. Banks, who has proclaimed his advocacy for arts education. To Paul Thompson for his leadership as Executive Director of the NYC DOE Office of Arts and Special Projects. And to Peter Avery, Director of Theater for the NYC DOE, for his vision, insight, and passion, as we work together to sustain lasting theater programs in our public schools.

We also extend our appreciation to The City College of New York (CCNY) and their exemplary Graduate Program in Educational Theatre, spearheaded by Director, Sobha Kavanakudiyil, who is a deeply valued thought partner in this work. Wholehearted thanks to Dr. Edwin Lamboy, Dean of the CCNY

School of Education, for his stalwart support of our mission. It is through our partnership that we are diversifying and increasing the number of certified theater teachers in public schools, feeding the pipeline and recognizing theater education as a viable career option.

As we expand our programs into Connecticut through a new collaboration with Bridgeport Public Schools (BPS), we thank Dr. Sarah-Jane Henry, Director of Performing and Visual Arts, who has paved the way for theater education to reach an entirely new region of teachers and students. We also thank Dr. Jennifer Katona, a true leader in our field, for collaborating with us to make this program exportation a reality.

Finally, we thank you — our cherished supporters — for standing by our side to champion this cause, as we strive to make arts education a right, not a privilege, for all students. We could not do this work without your commitment and generosity.

Here’s to the transformative power of theater and to our teachers!

Jaime Hastings AMF Executive Director

David Homan AMF Board Chair

Dear Friends,

Curiosity. What comes next? Or perhaps what might come next?

A crucial question whether watching theater, considering a small or significant choice, and certainly applicable to the above quotes from our honored artists.

It’s why we have partnered with the Arthur Miller Foundation (AMF) for eight dynamic and evolving years to support theater teachers in NYC. What’s next? The question begs for collaboration, per Paula Vogel, demands seeking and integrity, per Lynn Nottage, and sounds the alarm to prioritize inclusivity, per Christina Anderson. And what better way to honor our Arthur Miller Fellows than by centering what comes next at the heart of this incredible initiative, supporting them and their schools.

You may be curious about what came before, as well. I am thrilled to share that nearly 100 NYC public school theater teachers to date have received significant AMF support, including master mentorship, resources, training, and funding to take students to see professional theater. By investing in theater teachers across the city and at diverse grades and demographics, AMF’s deep and intentional collaboration helps our DOE theater teachers develop the capacity to build sustainable programs reaching hundreds of students every year at their schools. We are changing how theater teaching and learning looks, sounds, and feels.

”I think I love teaching for the reason I love being in a rehearsal room .” – Paula Vogel

“Replace judgment with curiosity .” – Lynn Nottage

“There’s no singular voice that should occupy our stages . Women playwrights are out here creating dynamic, important, engaging work across class, race, and generations .” – Christina Anderson

A dynamic theater program, across all ages and abilities, includes skillbuilding but also must represent a space for students to explore possibilities creatively; to find their sparks. Our larger culture is catching up to the arts, recognizing that social emotional learning is crucial for academic instruction but also as a stand-alone barometer for how our youth prepare for what comes next. Dedicating time and space to creatively problem solve through play – through a resilient trial and error.

How powerful for AMF to offer professional development and workshops for teachers to learn how to facilitate safe spaces so students can explore brave bold choices with text, movement, improv, musical theater, playwriting or design? To develop life skills that transcend the studio. Perhaps this is why Paula Vogel loves rehearsal and the classroom. When infused with intention, both provide brave spaces for youth (and their teachers) to experiment, individually and collectively, with good choices and better choices for the task at hand.

With the invaluable collaboration and support of AMF and a shared focus on supporting teachers to develop into master artist educators, we prepare theater teachers annually to facilitate and unleash their students’ curiosity, creativity, and empathy.

Attention is clearly being paid. At the heart of our successful partnership is the foundational idea that artistic and educational growth requires owning one’s own learning. AMF and my Arts Office know that engaged youth learn actively and the theatrical processes of creating, revising, listening, making choices, reflecting, collaborating, and problem solving translate to life skills throughout all stages of life. A shared value that the root of good teaching requires an investment in students and teachers as lifelong learners.

On behalf of Chancellor David Banks and Executive Director Paul Thompson, thank you. To Rebecca, Sandi, Jaime, and the Arthur Miller Foundation Board–– thank you for your partnership as we strive for a city where all youth have the opportunity to unleash their curiosity and never lose a sense of play.

Director of

Department of Education

Peter Avery

Theater Chancellor David C. Banks

Tony Award for Best New Play given to Arthur Miller for Death of a Salesman at the third annual Tony Awards, held at the Waldorf-Astoria on April 24, 1949 .

It was the first year physical awards were given, designed by Dutch scene designer Herman Rosse .

PRESENTS

The Songs of STEPHEN SONDHEIM

Centennial Dinner of the American Academy of Arts and Letters on November 10, 1998.

Seated: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

Standing left to right: Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Milton Babbitt

-Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Miller testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 28, 2004, regarding the Playwrights Licensing Antitrust Initiative Act.

Official Senate photograph

“To me, teaching is a sacred profession. My life was shaped by teachers.”

Photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Honoring Linda Ames Key

ARTHUR MILLER FOUNDATION EXCELLENCE IN ARTS EDUCATION AWARD

Linda Ames Key is the CTE Drama Teacher at Fordham High School for the Arts in the Bronx. She teaches Drama, Grades 9-12, and manages the Work Based Learning Internship Program which provides her students with paid, professional internships throughout their high school career. Representative directing credits include: Fordham Arts: Fame, Evita, Macbeth, The Trojan Women, A Chorus Line, Into the Woods, In the Heights, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, and Ranked, The Musical, which is featured in the HBO Documentary “My So-Called High School Rank” premiering November 29th on HBO. At Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Paul Lucas’ Trans/Scripts (Fringe First Winner), The Laramie Project (Fringe First Winner), Bang, Bang You’re Dead (Fringe First Winner), The Laramie Project: Cochrane Theatre, London; No Exit at The Pearl Theatre; Full Bloom at Vital Theatre; Alison’s House and Of Sleep and Shadow at the Mint Theatre; Anton in Show Business at Dreamcatcher Rep, Clowning the Bard at FringeNYC; The Drummers and The Last Town on Earth, devised at Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda, (under the tutelage of Chris Vine and Helen White). Ten shows at Vital Theatre Company including The Butterfly Girl, A (Tooth)Fairy Tale, and My New York. She was Artistic Director of Six Figures Theatre Company which championed new plays by women and directed over twenty NYC Premieres during her tenure there and the Education Director at Vital Theatre Company for 10 years and partnered with 12 K-12 schools to bring theatre arts into the classroom, including founding Brooklyn Theatre Arts High School in Canarsie with the NYC DOE. Affiliations/Honors: Arthur Miller Foundation Scholar, Arthur Miller Foundation Fellow, Script Liaison for Melbourne Theatre Company, State Theatre of South Australia and Mannie Manim Productions, South Africa; 2013 Fulbright Specialist in Applied Theatre and Fulbright Specialist Peer Reviewer. Blue Ribbon Committee Member and IAAP Committee Member for the NY State Education Department. Special thanks to Jacqueline Key, Jim Gossett and Ledonna (Don) Peters, for their steadfast support and love.

Honoring Christina Anderson

ARTHUR MILLER FOUNDATION LEGACY AWARD

Christina Anderson is a 2022 Tony Award Nominee for Outstanding Book of the Broadway musical Paradise Square. She is a playwright, screenwriter, educator, and creative. Plays include: The Ripple The Wave That Carried Me Home, How To Catch Creation, pen/man/ship, Man In Love, and Good Goods.

Her work has appeared at The Goodman Theatre, OSF, The Public Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Rep, and other theaters in the United States and Canada.

Awards and honors include: 2021 Prince Prize, 2020 United States Artists Fellow, MacDowell Fellowship, Lily Awards Harper Lee Prize, Herb Alpert Award nomination, Barrymore Nomination, and New Dramatists Residency. Her work has appeared multiple times on the annual Kilroy’s List, an industry survey of excellent new works by female playwrights. She taught playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama, Wesleyan University, Rutgers University, SUNY Purchase College, and served as the interim Head of Playwriting at Brown University. Christina was a television staff writer on the CBS series Tommy.

Current projects: a collection of plays to be published by Tripwire Harlot Press in the Fall of 2022, Public Theatre commission for the stage adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon, and Ericka Huggins’s biographical screenplay.

Honoring Lynn Nottage

ARTHUR MILLER FOUNDATION LEGACY AWARD

Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter, and the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Recent work includes MJ (Broadway), the libretto for the opera Intimate Apparel (LCT), and Clyde’s (Broadway, 2ST), and co-curating the performance installation The Watering Hole (Signature Theater). Past work includes Sweat, Ruined, the musical adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees; Mlima’s Tale; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers; and POOF!. She has also developed This is Reading, a performance installation in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Ms. Nottage is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship (among other awards), is an Associate Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Honoring Paula Vogel

ARTHUR MILLER FOUNDATION LEGACY AWARD

Paula Vogel is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose plays include How I Learned to Drive (Tony Award nomination for Best Revival of a Play, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lortel Prize, OBIE Award, two Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Awards for Best Play), Indecent (Tony Award nomination for Best Play), The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Mineola Twins, The Baltimore Waltz, Hot’n’Throbbing, Desdemona, And Baby Makes Seven, The Oldest Profession and A Civil War Christmas. Her digital theatre series Bard at the Gate, produced in collaboration with McCarter Theatre Center, is now entering its third season. Upcoming projects include The Mother Play; a memoir; and a book on playwriting.

Awards include a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony nomination, the American Theatre Hall of Fame Award, two Obies, the Lily Award, the NY Drama Critics Circle Award, a Guggenheim and a Pew Charitable Trust Award. She founded and ran the MFA playwriting program at Brown University and served as the O’Neill Chair of Playwriting at Yale School of Drama. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and is honored by awards given in her name by The American College Theater Festival and the Vineyard Theatre.

Honoring

ARTHUR MILLER FOUNDATION ARTS AND CULTURE AWARD

Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, is dedicated to its mission to ignite a universal passion for reading by creating books for everyone. The company, which employs more than 10,000 people globally, was formed on July 1, 2013, by Bertelsmann and Pearson. As of April 1, 2020, Bertelsmann is full owner of the company. With more than 300 imprints and brands on six continents, Penguin Random House comprises adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital English- Germanand Spanish-language trade book publishing businesses in more than 20 countries worldwide. With over 16,000 new titles, and more than 700 million print, audio and eBooks sold annually, Penguin Random House’s publishing lists include more than 80 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.

Madeline

McIntosh

CEO, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE U.S.

Madeline McIntosh has been CEO of Penguin Random House U.S. since 2018. She has worked in publishing for almost three decades, and in that time has held positions in publishing, sales, operations, and audio, and was a pioneer in the early development of online sales and in the digital transition. She serves on the Board of Directors of Poets & Writers, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to serving creative writers, and of Sourcebooks, in which Penguin Random House is an investor. She lives in New York with her husband Chris Pavone, a writer, and their twin sons.

Allison Dobson

PRESIDENT, PENGUIN PUBLISHING GROUP

Allison Dobson is the President of the Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House. She has served in this role since 2018, following 10 years working in various roles in the company. Prior to her time in publishing, Allison worked in communications for Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Paul Wellstone (D-MN) on Capitol Hill and on Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Elda Rotor

VICE PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER, PENGUIN CLASSICS

Elda Rotor is Vice President and Publisher of Penguin Classics. She oversees the U.S. editorial program including the works of Arthur Miller, John Steinbeck, Shirley Jackson, William Golding, Amy Tan, and the Pelican Shakespeare series. She acquires nonfiction for Viking and Penguin Books. Elda is a board member for the Academy of American Poets and Kundiman, a national organization dedicated to Asian American creative writing.

Hosted by Sasha Hutchings

Sasha Hutchings returns to NYC this fall after starring as Laurey Williams in the North American tour of Oklahoma!, winner of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival. Hutchings is an original cast member of Hamilton and can be seen in the Hamilton Film on Disney+, and additional Broadway credits include My Fair Lady, Rocky, Motown, and Memphis. Hutchings can be seen next in AMC’s Premiere season of Demascus as Budhi Bankss (2023) and returns as Hope for season 2 of Run The World on STARZ (2023). Additional television credits include Paula Kelly on Fosse/ Verdon, The Bold Type, Jessica Jones, Master of None, Blue Bloods, The Dangerous Book for Boys, and SMASH. Hutchings is repped by Innovative Artists and The Boothe Group.

Nik Walker

Nik Walker is an actor, writer, cinephile and theme park nerd, who’s been on Broadway for a decade and counting. Currently starring as Aaron Burr in the mega-hit Hamilton, he’s also the cohost of the arts/activism show The Chaos Twins, and his movie podcast, Little Justice, is streaming wherever podcasts are imbibed. In the free time between all of this, Nik is a highly unqualified professor at NYU.

@nikkywalks

Presenters McKinley Belcher III

McKinley Belcher III stars as Happy Loman in the current Broadway hit revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Since graduating with an MFA from USC, McKinley Belcher III has been steadily building a very strong body of work. Belcher III appears on the critically hailed Netflix series “Ozark” as Agent Trevor Evans, in the limited series “The Good Lord Bird” opposite Ethan Hawke for Showtime, and was seen as Mark Fein, in the Simon Curtis directed film “The Art of Racing in the Rain” for Fox 2000. He can currently be seen as the series lead in David Simon’s “We Own This City” for HBO and will next be seen in a recurring role in Netflix’s live action adaptation of “One Piece”.

He has recently come off playing the pivotal series role of convicted murderer and death row inmate Anthony Carter, in the FOX drama series “The Passage”. He was noticed for his work as Samuel Diggs, a free slave and self-educated laborer with the hopes of becoming a doctor on the PBS series “Mercy Street” and on David Simon’s HBO miniseries, “Show Me a Hero” as the blue-collar Dwayne taking care of his diabetic mother. Prior to this, McKinley recurred on the Starz drama “Power”. His other film credits include the biopic Mapplethorpe opposite Matt Smith which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, Trial By Fire for director Ed Zwick and John Sayles’s independent film Go For Sisters.

On stage, McKinley starred in The Light at MCC Theater for which he was nominated an Outer Critic Circle Award. He made his Broadway debut in the revival of A Soldier’s Play for Roundabout Theatre Company.

Khris Davis

Khris Davis made his New York stage debut in Marco Ramirez’s The Royale at Lincoln Center Theater.  Loosely based on the life of Jack Johnson, Davis played a charismatic boxer who has the burning desire to become the first African-American heavyweight champion of the world.  His star turn in this incredibly physical and emotional role garnered him a Clive Barnes Award, an Obie Award and a Theatre World Award for Best Actor. Davis also starred in the off Broadway and Broadway productions of the Tony-nominated Pulitzer Prize-winning Lynn Nottage play Sweat and Atlantic Theater Company’s production of Fireflies with DeWanda Wise.

Davis recurred on FX’s award-winning Atlanta opposite Donald Glover and for which he received a SAG Award nomination as part of the ensemble.  His feature credits include Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, Space Jam: A New Legacy with LeBron James and the Oscarnominated Judas and the Black Messiah.

After an extensive casting search, Davis was cast as the lead of Heart of a Lion, Sony’s biopic about two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman. George Tillman Jr. co-wrote and directed the film, which is being released on March 31, 2023. Davis is currently starring on Broadway as “Biff Loman” in the first portrayal of a Black Loman family in the critically acclaimed production of Death of a Salesman.

Performances by Brian d’Arcy James

Brian d’Arcy James was awarded the 2016 SAG Award, Critics Choice Award, Gotham Award and the Independent Spirit’s Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble, for his portrayal of “Matt Carroll” in the 2016 Best Picture Oscar®-winning film “Spotlight” starring opposite Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel McAdams.James appeared in the Academy Award nominated firm “West Side Story” from Steven Spielberg. He is receiving rave reviews for his performance in The Cathedral,” which premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival and Sundance this year. Brian just completed “Where All Light Tends to Go,” - a movie with Billy Bob Thornton and “Love and Death” opposite Elizabeth Olsen for producers Nicole Kidman and David E Kelly in the spring.

Brian is currently shooting “Pain Hustlers” for Netflix opposite Emily Blunt and Chris Evans. He just wrapped Rebecca Miller’s “She Came to Me” opposite Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei, and the Jason Katims Apple TV+ limited series “Dear Edward.” Other film credits include the short film “The Rightway” from Hopper Penn and Destry Spielberg, “The Kitchen” opposite Melissa McCarthy, “Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies,” “Song of Back and Neck” opposite Rosemary DeWitt, “All These Small Moments” opposite Molly Ringwald, “First Man,” opposite Ryan Gosling, and played the President of the United States in “X-Men: Dark Phoenix,” “Molly’s Game,” opposite Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain. “Mark Felt: The Man Who Took Down The White House,” with Liam Neeson; Stephen King’s 1922, directed by Zak Hilditch and starring Thomas Jane, Danny Strong’s JD Salinger biopic “Rebel and The Rye,” starring Nicholas Hoult, and Theresa Rebeck’s “Trouble,” starring Anjelica Huston.

At the 2017 Toronto Film Festival, The Creative Coalition awarded James with their Spotlight Award presented to him by Aaron Sorkin on behalf of Brian’s work in ‘Felt” and “Molly’s Game.” On television, James portrays Derek Bishop in Marvel’s “Hawkeye, ” received rave reviews for his recurring guest performance in “Evil”, appeared in the miniseries “The Comey Rule” on Showtime, “Devs” on Hulu, and Andrew Baker in the hit Netflix series “13 Reasons Why.” Other credits include a critically acclaimed guest starring role as Harvard Professor Henry Murray in Discovery Channel’s “Manhunt:

Unibomber,” as well as roles in “The Big C,” and “Smash.” He is an Executive Producer on the CBs series “How We Roll,” based on the true story of Tom Smallwood from Brian’s hometown of Saginaw, Michigan.

James is a celebrated stage actor who most recently played The Baker in the 2022 revival of Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” having prior starred in The Ferryman on Broadway, directed by Sam Mendes. He has received three Tony nominations for his work on Broadway in the hit musicals “Something Rotten,” “Shrek the Musical,” and “Sweet Smell of Success.” In 2015, he originated the role of King George III in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” off-Broadway and was honored to reprise it on Broadway in the summer of 2017. As a concert artist, James has performed worldwide at venues that included The White House, Madison Square Garden, and Carnegie Hall.

Nikki Renée Daniels

Nikki Renée Daniels played Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton at the CIBC Theater in Chicago. Broadway: Company (Jenny), The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Clara), Les Miserables (Fantine), Anything Goes, Promises, Promises, Aida, Nine, Little Shop of Horrors, Lestat, and The Look of Love. Other New York credits include Martha Jefferson in 1776 at City Center Encores, Rose Lennox in The Secret Garden at David Geffen Hall and Tracy in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. TV/Film: The Other Woman, “Chappelle’s Show,” “Madam Secretary,” “The Equalizer,” and “The Sound of Music: Live.” She has performed as a soloist with numerous symphony orchestras across the country and in Canada, and at Carnegie Hall. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Her debut solo CD, “Home” is available on iTunes and CDBaby.com. For more information please visit nikkireneedaniels.com. @nikkireneesings

Sidney DuPont

Sidney DuPont is a 2022 Tony Award nominee, originating the role of Washington Henry in Paradise Square at the Barrymore Theater. He made his Broadway debut in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and continued on with the 1st National Tour and Australian Company. Other National Tours include Memphis: the Musical and A Chorus Line. DuPont has also appeared in regional productions all over the country including the world premiere of Paradise Square at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (TBA nomination), Man of La Mancha (The Shakespeare Theater), In the Heights (The Geva Theater), and Gypsy (North Carolina Theater). Television/ Commercial: FBI: Most Wanted (CBS) & Cartier. You can continue to follow Sidney’s journey on Instagram @SidneyDuPont.

Mary Kate Moore

Mary Kate Moore is a proud graduate of OCU’s Bass School of Music. Broadway: Into the Woods (u/s Baker’s Wife, Cinderella, Little Red, Florinda). National Tours: Les Miserables (Fantine), Into The Woods (standby Witch/Baker’s Wife/Cinderella). Cruise: CATS (Grizabella). Regional: Songs For a New World (The Gateway Playhouse), Spring Awakening and The Rocky Horror Show (Lyric Theater of Oklahoma). TV: The Other Two (2021).

Heath Saunders

Heath Saunders is an actor, composer, multi-instrumentalist, director, teacher, diversity dramaturg, and founder and Chief Creative Officer at Spectra Media Collective. All of their free time (in the before-pandemic times) was devoted to readings, workshops, and new works, and this new world has been mostly populated with aural experimentation. They returned to the stage last summer as Guy in Once (Hangar Theater), and then to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning revival of Company. Now, they’re slowly getting back to the good, good musical theater development they love. Selected pre-pandemic credits: Jesus Christ Superstar (NBC Live!, Chicago Lyric), Alice By Heart (MCC Theater), and The Great Comet (Broadway). Their 2020 EP Does Not Play Well With Others (I Hope You’re Not ‘Others’) can be heard wherever you stream music, except maybe Tidal – they don’t know, they don’t have an account. www.thesaunderscollective.com

Eleri Ward

Eleri Ward is a New York City-based actor, singer, and musician. In 2021, she recorded and produced her full length indie-folk Sondheim album, “A Perfect Little Death,” in her closet. After gaining a viral TikTok following, it was released by Ghostlight Records and has been hailed as “a harmonious marriage of musical theater and indie folk music, with hauntingly beautiful arrangements” by Forbes and “an incandescent new record, something genuinely new” from American Theater Magazine. Her original pop music has been called “soaring” (Nexus Music Blog), “astonishing” (Rising Artists), and “dreamy” (Neon Music). Her most recent pop EP, “Friction,” was released in 2021. Eleri has been singing and acting since she was eight years old, and has always strived to carve out her own space with the uniqueness she brings to the theater. She studied songwriting at Berklee College of Music before transferring and graduating from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Musical Theater and an emphasis in Songwriting, which shows itself clearly in the way she has taken on the Sondheim canon. www.eleriward.com @eleriward

Announcer Greg Kamp

Greg Kamp is a performer and producer whose career has spanned stage, screen, and concert venues across the country and internationally. Stage appearances have included the Tony Award Winning Center Theatre Group and Alliance Theatre, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, York Theatre, Feinstein’s 54 Below, and The Cincinnati Pops as well as Lifetime, FOX, NBC, and Cartoon Network on the small screen. As a producer, Greg has worked with names and companies such as Rosie O’Donnell, Sara Bareilles, Paul Taylor Dance Company, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, as well as MT Shorts, the production company for which he Co-Founded. www.gregkamp.com

Artistic Director

Paul Canaan

Broadway: Kinky Boots (dance captain/ original Angel), Legally Blonde, Miss Saigon, Thoroughly Modern Millie, La Cage Aux Folles, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. National Tour/ NY: Annie Get Your Gun, Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Paul recently choreographed “Curtain Up – Broadway is Back,” a national commercial for Prudential.

He served alongside casting director Bernie Telsey and author Heather Hach as a judge on the MTV reality show “Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods.” He also appears in the films “Sex In The City 2” and “Across the Universe.”

He partnered with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell to launch The Original Production, which offers schools and theaters resources including the licensing rights to learn and perform original Broadway choreography: www.theoriginalproduction.com.

As a passionate theater educator, Paul co-founded (along with Tony Award nominee Laura Bell Bundy) the non-profit arts organization Take It From The Top, which provides professional mentoring, training, and performance opportunities for aspiring young artists. He also served as artistic director of The Broadway Dreams Foundation and as a judge for The National High School Musical Theatre Awards (The JIMMY AWARDS).

Associate Choreographer

Alison Solomon

Alison Solomon (AMF Honors Associate Choreographer) recently returned from London where she was choreographing a new Broadway/West End bound musical. Recent credits: Fiddler on the Roof (featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2nd National Tour, and Swing!. Upcoming: Sunday in the Park With George at Pasadena Playhouse, Sweeney Todd at the Signature Theater, and Into the Woods at the Guthrie Theater. She has been working as an Associate on Broadway and around the world for 10+ years. Her credits include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Broadway, Australia, and National Touring companies), Gigi, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, I Married an Angel (City Center), Sweet Charity with Sutton Foster, Bandstand, The Honeymooners, and In the Heights (The Kennedy Center). She had the honor of choreographing a spot for Acer Electronics featuring Lauren Froderman (“SYTYCD”), Gillian Murphy (American Ballet Theatre), and Ashley Bouder (New York City Ballet). She also assisted on the NFL Super Bowl LII “Dirty Dancing” commercial featuring Odell Beckham Jr., Eli Manning, and the NY Giants.

Student Ensemble

New York City Department of Education Public School

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FORDHAM HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS – BRONX, NY

Mamon Alivio

Madesen Amadeo

Kareem Anderson

Sydney Burnett Eren Carrasco

Capone Cruz

Leslie Gil

Jonathan Hernandez Diaz

Alyssa Johnson

Music Director Julie McBride

GUITAR

Skye Knight

Karla Lazala Coronado

Aiden Martinez

Joey Nelson Michelle Njamcu

Ryan Vasquez

Abril Vite

Jayla Volquez

Julie McBride is currently the music director for Moulin Rouge! on Broadway. Other Broadway credits: SpongeBobSquarePants! (music director), INK at Manhattan Theatre Club (music director), Head Over Heels (music director), Pretty Woman (associate conductor), Amazing Grace (associate conductor), Finding Neverland (associate conductor). Off-Broadway/regional: Unknown Soldier (Playwrights Horizons), Row (Williamstown), Next to Normal (Second Stage), These Paper Bullets! (Yale Rep, Atlantic Theatre Company), Deathless (Goodspeed), Miss You Like Hell (La Jolla, Public Theatre), Dadd Long Legs (11 regional productions).

House Band Shelagh Abate

FRENCH HORN

Shelagh Abate is unquestionably one of New York’s most soughtafter musicians. Known for her simultaneously warm and assertive sound, her versatility and musical intuition has earned her a place in the lexicon of NYC’s busiest performers. Shelagh has opened more than one dozen Broadway productions. Among them are Mary Poppins, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof (2015), Anastasia, Disney’s Frozen, and most currently The Music Man. Since arriving in New York in 2006, she has performed regularly with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The Mostly Mozart Festival, The American Ballet Theater, The American Symphony Orchestra, and other prestigious New York based institutions. During the course of her career, she has been conducted by some of the great musicians of our time; Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Andre Previn, James Conlon, Gunther Schuller, James DePriest, Robert Spano, Carl St. Clair, John Williams, Marin Alsop, Jaime Laredo, Keith Lockhart, and Placido Domingo, among others.

Shelagh has established fluency in the commercial realm as well as the classical, having performed as part of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and is a member of many jazz and commercial ensembles. She has recorded, performed live in concert, as well as on televised events with Sting, The Who, Tony Bennett, Rufus Wainwright, Lady Gaga, Barry Manilow, Joni Mitchell, The O’Jays, Trey Anastasio, Club d’Elf, Josh Groban, Brian Wilson, Linda Ronstadt, and at the 2019 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall. Shelagh is currently on faculty at the Berklee College of Music and Boston University. www.shelaghabate.com.

Craig Magnano

GUITAR

Craig Magnano been playing guitar on Broadway for almost 20 years. Craig currently plays in Moulin Rouge.

ShVivi Rama

BASS

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Vivi Rama received classical music training before she started playing bass. Some of her credits include; Kesha, Ben Platt, Tegan and Sara, Orianthi, PetShop Boys, Will.i.am, Nicole Scherzinger, Macy Gray and Jordin Sparks. She’s held the bass chair for Girlfriend at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles and Miss You Like Hell at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and at the Public Theatre in New York. She currently plays bass for Kinky Boots at Stage 42 in NYC.

Dena Tauriello

DRUMS

Dena Tauriello is a long-time pop/rock drummer, who began playing at the age of eight. For 20 years, she worked with NYC rockers Antigone Rising (Lava/Atlantic), who toured relentlessly, made numerous TV appearances (Today Show, Tonight Show), served as cultural ambassadors to Israel, Palestine and Vietnam and landed opening slots for artists like the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and the Allman Brothers.

In 2018, after being offered the drum chair for Head Over Heels, Dena made the switch to Broadway. Since then, she held the chair for Kristin Chenoweth’s For the Girls, and has done readings/workshops for Galileo, Magic Mike, Fat Kid Rules the World and Ten Brave Seconds. She currently holds the chair for the off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors and is a sub at Hamilton, Six and Beetlejuice. Most recently, she was featured as the guest drummer on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers.

In addition to her playing experience, Dena has also been an adjunct professor of music, clinician, private instructor, a certified drum therapist for the Drums and Disabilities (D.A.D.) program, contributing writer for Modern Drummer and a featured commentator in Carpenters: An Illustrated Discography. She has been featured in Modern Drummer, Drum! and Sticks ‘n’ Skins, a photography book about the drumming community. Dena proudly partners with Pearl drums, Zildjian cymbals, Evans drumheads, ProMark drumsticks, Sledgepad Innovations, DrumTacs, Ultimate Ears, Big Fat Snare Drum and SKB cases.

Stage Manager Katherine Shea

Broadway: Travesties, Arthur Miller’s The Price, Fiddler on the Roof, It Shoulda Been You, Once. Off-Broadway: You Will Get Sick, Apologia; (Roundabout); Once (New York Theatre Workshop). Selected Regional theatre: Last Days of Sumer (George Street Playhouse); A Play Is A Poem (CTG); Prometheus Bound, The Blue Flower, Cabaret, Endgame, Donnie Darko (American Repertory Theater).

Assistant Stage Manager

Olivia Gunderson

Broadway: Gary, Travesties, Sunset Boulevard, Fiddler on the Roof National Tours: Curious Incident Off Broadway: Lessons in Survival: 1971 (Vineyard Theater), Darling Grenadine (Roundabout Theater Company), Tiny Beautiful Things (Public), Gently Down the Stream (Public), The #BARS Workshop (Public)

entrepreneurs who are changing the world by solving meaningful problems.

2022 ARTHUR MILLER FOUNDATION Honors www.firstmarkcap.com

Arthur Miller Foundation extends heartfelt thanks to:

PAUL CANAAN, AMF Honors Artistic Director

JULIE McBRIDE, AMF Honors Music Director

ALI SOLOMON, AMF Honors Associate Choreographer

SASHA HUTCHINGS & NIK WALKER, AMF Honors Hosts

We are sincerely grateful for your generosity and gracious commitment to our mission.

We also thank our esteemed program partners:

Department of Education

PAUL THOMPSON – Executive Director, Office of Arts & Special Projects

PETER AVERY – Director of Theater, Office of Arts & Special Projects

EDWIN LAMBOY, PhD – Dean, CCNY School of Education

SOBHA KAVANAKUDIYIL – Director, CCNY Graduate Program in Educational Theatre

SARAH-JANE HENRY, PhD – Dir. of Performing and Visual Arts, Bridgeport Public Schools

Special thanks to:

Nancy Abraham

Kyra Armstrong

Sarah Jane Arnegger

Jody Arnhold

Catherine Bartolomeo

Courtney Battle

Katia Bienenfeld

Julia Bolus

Stella Bowles

Damon Cardasis

Sean Cercone

Kevin Champoux

Echelle Childers

Eric Colleary, PhD

Katie Conklin

Stephanie Cowan

Paul Dietz

Emily Dombroff

Asheba Edghill

Donzell Evans

K’yana Faulkner-Smith

Scott Feinstein

John Gore

Jordan Haynes

Kathryn Jacobson

Talia Jaime

Michael Johnson Jr.

Elena Kontogiannis

Gess LeBlanc, PhD

Patrick Herold

Melanie Hopkins Greg Kamp

Julie Katims

Jennifer Katona, PhD

Barbara Leff

Jeremy Levine

Kemba Lodescar

Emily Masters

Michael Mayer

Casey McLain

Amanda Mendez

Katy Miller

Caitlin Moynihan

Kimberly Olsen

Eva Price

Trenton Price

Lauren Pasternack

Pete Sanders

Alison Savino

Steve Smith

Sara Steinweiss

Rosey Strub

Ian Subsara

Lindsey Sullivan

Jasmine Suzuki

Madison Tobin

Cindy Tolan

Abbie Van Nostrand

Barbara von Borstel

Veronica Van Pelt

Fil Vocasek

Elizabeth Vogt

Kennedy Woodard

Paul Wontorek

Jacob Yandura Nesma Youssef

...and the guy in the freight elevator at Ripley Grier Studios.

Chancellor David C. Banks

Jaime Hastings, Executive Director

Meghan Gunther, Operations Manager

Daryl Embry, Program Manager

Janie Slavens, CT Project Manager

Board

Rebecca Miller, Trustee

David Homan, Chair

Thank

for championing the crucial need for theater education in public schools, making it a right, not a privilege, for all students