IPA Winter 2014 Newsletter

Tisch School of the Arts

WINTER 2014 NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the first IPA newsletter! The Institute of Performing Arts at Tisch School of the Arts includes the Department of Dance, Design for Stage and Film, Graduate Acting, Department of Drama, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing, Graduate Theatre Production and Department of Performance Studies. We are also working closely with Open Arts and Art & Public Policy. Chairs, Associate Chairs, faculty and students from these departments are meeting on a regular basis and sharing concerns, ideas and plans for the future. The IPA was formed under Dean Allyson Green during her tenure as Associate Dean of the Institute of Performing Arts and is now being led by Sarah Schlesinger.

This newsletter highlights events sponsored by IPA and significant happenings in each of our Departments . What we’re able to share here represents only a small portion of the exciting work that is going on in all corners of the IPA in both our conservatory and academic programs.

In the coming months, the IPA will be offering more and more programming with the goal of encouraging members of the Tisch community to encounter each other and our respective disciplines more frequently. We hope to involve not only IPA students but those from the Kanbar Institute and Emerging Media as well.

Our IPA office is in Room 267 at 715 Broadway, Second Floor. It is being run by Hali Alspach and her office hours 9:00am-­‐5:00pm, Monday through Friday. Julianne Wick Davis is the Program Coordinator and can be reached at 212-­‐992-­‐9322. Sarah Schlesinger can be reached at ss4@nyu.edu.

We’re anxious to hear your ideas for collaborative programming, events etc., so feel free to contact us at any time.

Sarah Schlesinger Associate Dean, IPA

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-­‐IPA Department Highlights-­‐

Art & Public Policy

SUSTAINING & GROWING CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN NYC : THE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED CULTURAL PLAN

Wednesday, Oct 29th, 6.30 PM 721 Broadway, 12th floor Dean's Conference Room

Randy Martin, Chair of Art and Public Policy

A panel discussion moderated by Marta Moreno Vega, founder and director of The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and NYU Tisch Art and Public Policy Adjunt Professor, with Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Tom Finkelpearl, City Council Members Laurie Cumbo, Stephen Levin, and Jimmy Van Bramer.

The panelists spoke to a room filled with Arts Politics alumnae, students, and community cultural leaders including Tisch Dean Emeritus and former NYC Cultural Commissioner Mary Schmidt Campbell, who offered an historical perspective on the question of cultural policy. Professor Kathy Engel opened the evening with an excerpt from the poem “The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ Into the New World” by Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet and former NYU Professor, Galway Kinnell, who died on October 28, 2014. Art and Public Policy’s Randy Martin introduced Dr. Vega, following a rousing poetic offering composed for the event by 2014 Tisch graduate Amy Leon.

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The officials and audience engaged in a lively back and forth regarding the proposed New York City Cultural Plan and promised ongoing public discussion. The Department of Art and Public Policy looks forward to hosting ongoing vital dialogue regarding cultural policy in New York City.

This is the kind of vibrant public dialogue regarding the artistic and cultural life of this city we believe we should be engaging and hosting, for our students and the larger community.

A FLAWLESS EVENING: A PUBLIC CONVERSATION WITH FLAWLESS SABRINA

Art and Public Policy Professor Karen Finley hosts "A Flawless Evening: A Conversation with Flawless Sabrina"

On Friday, November 14th, 5pm at 721 Broadway, room 109, Professor Karen Finley co-­‐ hosted “A Flawless Evening: A Public Conversation with Flawless Sabrina.” Professor Finley was joined by Joe E. Jeffreys (Department of Drama) and Darrell Willson (Department of Film and Television) and introduced by Sheril Antonio (Departments of Art and Public Policy, Clive Davis Recorded Music, Film and Television).

Legendary drag impresario and gender activist Flawless Sabrina (aka Jack Doroshow) is an influential entrepreneur for establishing queer public performance in a pre Stonewall era. As a trailblazer Flawless Sabrina appropriated the art form of the beauty pageant to cross gender boundaries and award visibility of the transgressing and beholding of beauty. While challenging societal heteronormative norms at a time when the term cross dresser was not only pathologized but illegal. Arrested, detained Flawless refused to be kept in the closet as an oddity or a secret but continued to celebrate and encourage the expansion and public awareness of queer fluid expression and representation without shame or apology.

The conversation featured clips and out-­‐takes from the 1968 documentary Queen.

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ERNEST COLE GALLERY TALK

Wednesday, November 19th, 6:30pm at NYU's Grey Art Gallery

Professor Pato Hebert was joined in a public gallery talk by MA Arts Politics alumna Refilwe Nkomo and Robert Sember to discuss the work of legendary South African photographer Ernest Cole. Refilwe and Robert will speak about Cole's photographs in the context of their own experiences as South Africans, and as arts organizers working in both local and international realms.

The November 19th event is part of a series of programs related to the exhibition: http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/programs/prog rams.html

(To the left) Refilwe Nkomo, Arts Politics alum, performs a creative response to Ernest Cole's photography at Grey Gallery

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Dance

The Department of Dance chair Seán Curran recently took his innovative dance work to the opera, fusing literature and choreography at the Santa Fe opera, and with the Opera Lafayette at the Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center, creating roles for NYU students and alums in the process.

By creating roles for students Sean Curran continues to provide a bridge from life as a student to one as a professional dancer. The recent grads from Tisch not only made their professional premiers but also earned their American Guild of Musical Artists Union affiliation.

ALUMNI WORK

TISCH DANCE MFA ALUM DANA KATZ RECEIVED THE KEVIN SPACEY FOUNDATION GRANT TOWARDS HER CONTEMPORARY DANCE PERFORMANCE CALLED THOUSAND PLATEAUS Thousand Plateaus is a highly conceptual live performance combining the elements of architecture and movement. This contemporary art event brings an international group of artists together, exhibiting visual art and video dance screenings in the wild setting created at the Irondale Theater in Brooklyn, NY. Produced by NYU Tisch faculty member Paul Galando.

CHOREOGRAPHER / FILMMAKER and TISCH DANCE & NEW MEDIA MFA ALUM MARY JOHN FRANK WAS FEATURED IN VOGUE DISCUSSING HER INTERACTIVE DANCE PERFORMANCE "DEBUTAUNT".

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Design for Stage and Film

PROJECT RUNWAY FEATURED COSTUME DESIGNS BY TSOA DESIGN CHAIR SUSAN HILFERTY

On November 13th’s episode of Lifetime's Project Runway All-­‐Stars (Season 4), the designers created couture-­‐inspired garments using the themes of the hit Broadway musical Wicked, the world of Oz, and Department of Design for Stage & Film Chair Susan Hilferty's Tony Award-­‐winning costume designs as inspiration.

The episode was filmed onstage at New York's Gershwin Theater, and Wicked stars Christine Dwyer and Jenni Barber introduced the challenge to the contestants in costume.

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TISCH DESIGN FACULTY MEMBERS AT OPERA VLAANDEREN, ANTWERP

Faculty members Constance Hoffman and Paul Steinberg designed the costumes and sets, respectively, for Khovanshchina (Khovansjtsjina) by Modest Mussorgsky at Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp. In this monumental folk opera Modest Mussorgsky describes the turbulent transition from the old to the new age in Russian history.

Mussorgsky conceived his opera with lofty melodic vocal lines that are partly an expression of the aristocratic status of the protagonists and partly a mystical longing for a better world. The final chorus of the opera, the collective self-­‐ immolation of the ‘Old Believers’, is considered to be one of the most poignant scenes in the Russian repertoire. The American director David Alden was acclaimed by Opera Vlaanderen audiences for his gripping Peter Grimes (Britten) and now returns for a new Russian episode.

Video trailer: vimeo.com/110572191

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INTERVIEW WITH DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN FOR STAGE & FILM ALUMNI SET DESIGNER JASON ARDIZONNE-­‐WEST

Tisch Design distributes a monthly newsletter to students, faculty, staff, and friends of the department. A highlight of the newsletter is a column by full-­‐time faculty member Allen Lee Hughes titled Alumni Alley, in which Allen interviews an alum about current and past work, the impact of TSOA on their careers, and solicits advice for current students. November’s Alumni Alley featured Set Designer Jason Ardizonne-­‐West:

What are you currently doing in your life and career that you are proud of?

After spending a year and a half working pretty intensely as an associate set designer to Santo Loquasto on “Bullets Over Broadway”, I am currently enjoying a broad mix of medium-­‐sized projects: I’m in tech for “Rabbit Hole” at Juilliard, where I am also designing “Measure For Measure” and “The Winter’s Tale”. I’m in the midst of designing a large event for Cornell University’s Sesquicentennial Celebration which is additionally fun because it’s my alma mater (I received my B Arch there), and I’ve just started designing the set for The New 42nd Street’s Gala event honoring John Lithgow & The Rudin Family at the New Victory Theater (David Bengali ’12 is designing projections).

I have recently become the Associate Teacher of Scenic Design / Head of Scenic Design Training here at Tisch in the undergraduate drama department (Production and Design Studio), which I am enjoying very much. As I continue to build my career as a freelance set designer, I am happy that I get to keep one foot firmly planted in academia where I find the flow of energy between teaching and designing to be truly symbiotic.

You graduated in 2012 and your career has been very productive. What secrets, principles, talents, assistance, and support do you feel have made you so successful?

Pursuing my MFA at NYU has been the catalyst for much that has come since. I had a career as an architect before deciding to pursue set design (which had always been my secret real passion) so I already had some significant professional design experience and technical skills. NYU helped me develop my visual storytelling and critical thinking, and introduced me to so many people in the theater world.

Those introductions were very important to how my career has progressed so far. Just as an example: I spent a summer during school assisting Christine Jones with “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever”, which prompted me to create an independent study through NYU where I studied with the scene shop that built it, which introduced me to Neil Mazzella, who owns Hudson Scenic and is a friend of Susan Hilferty’s (which is how the independent study got set up). Neil then introduced me to a lot of people, including Santo Loquasto who later hired me to be his associate for “Bullets Over Broadway”, which introduced me to Jeff Whiting, the associate director, who just hired me to design the set for the New 42nd Street Gala Event, and hopefully so on…

How are you currently involved with the department? Are there any ways that you would like to be more involved?

I have been helping to fill in for David Stein occasionally while he is working on his MFA in film, so I helped with the first year orientation week model building workshops in August, and more recently I’ve been filling in for him on Saturdays for Open Studio, all of which I have really enjoyed. I absolutely love and owe a lot to this department, and I hope to continue being involved in all sorts of ways in the future. Now that I’m teaching set design on the other side of the wall in undergrad, I am looking

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forward to finding more opportunities to be involved with the department on a personal as well as departmental level.

Do you have an anecdote that you think current students and faculty would find amusing or learn from?

I occasionally have a reoccurring nightmare that it’s opening night and I’ve forgotten to design the set – or the set falls down, or something similar (a riff on the archetypal standing-­‐in-­‐front-­‐of-­‐class-­‐in-­‐ your-­‐underwear dream maybe…). I came very close to living this nightmare when I attempted to design an inflatable set for a workshop production of “The Orion Experience” a few years ago at Dixon Place. It’s a very long story, but it was essentially the most horrific, ugly, sad, lame set that was every displayed in public – and it was still being installed as the audience was waiting to come in on opening night. Somehow the show went on (despite the offensive set) and was good enough that someone wanted to fund an Off-­‐Broadway version of it and they actually hired me back to design what ended up being not such a bad set (not inflatable) with a bigger budget.

I learned a number of important lessons – one was to NEVER attempt inflatables without an adequate budget and without hiring professional inflatable fabricators. The second, and perhaps more important lesson was to accept the underwear-­‐in-­‐front-­‐of-­‐the-­‐class moment with grace and patience, because if you can keep your calm in those moments, you might strengthen a relationship and receive a second chance.

What moment(s) of your career are you most proud of?

My career as a set designer is still quite “young”, and I have sincerely been enjoying the fairly wide range of work that I’ve been able to do so far. I was particularly proud though to have been involved with “Bullets Over Broadway” as the associate set designer. Having the opportunity to spend 18 months working with and learning from one of the masters of our profession, Santo Loquasto, (who I believe designed his first Broadway show the year I was born…?) was a sincere honor.

When did you get interested in theater and how?

I have been a set designer and lover of theater since I was in middle school (and even earlier if you count neighborhood puppet shows, set model science projects, and Legos). I fell in love with the theater as a child, helping my father build scenery for the local children’s theater in Worcester, MA (there are still people who, when they see me, say: “I remember when you used to follow your dad around with your cute little toolbelt!”). I learned all I could from the designers, technicians, and directors around me and quickly got drawn in; first building scenery, then becoming a technical director, master electrician, and stage manager before ultimately finding my focus as a set designer, which I pursued as a mini-­‐career in high school.

I chose to major in architecture in undergrad (Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art & Planning ’95), worried that theater wasn’t a sufficiently stable career (no comment). As I developed a successful architectural career designing theatre buildings with Mitchell Kurtz Architect PC (Playwrights Horizons, Bratton Theater), I also maintained a freelance career as a set designer, working on a variety of Off-­‐Off-­‐ Broadway, regional theatre, and corporate event design projects. After taking some time off to focus on raising my (then) young children, and after some real soul searching post-­‐9/11, I realized that I needed to “follow my bliss” back to theater, my true passion, and I applied to graduate school (NYU MFA ’12).

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What or who were your influences?

Just to name one: Joseph Campbell, particularly his books, “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” and “The Power of Myth”. I still remember watching the Bill Moyers interview with Joseph Campbell on public television when I was a kid. Listening to him talk about the shared cultural storytelling and the “hero’s journey” was what probably started my conscious understanding of why I loved theater so much.

As you design and meet the challenges of being a freelance artist, are there any voices that you particularly hear from the aggregation of voices?

From school: “Contrast Equals Interest” – Sal Tagliarino. This axiom applies to so much more than just design…

“They are going to say the words…!” – Lowell Detweiler

From outside of school: “I can help you negotiate a better fee” – my 13 year old son, who for some reason thinks he should be my agent…

Are there any challenges and/or rewards that you feel set designers have that are different ones that other designers may have?

Despite best intentions, we set designers are often the first ones to begin the conceptual conversation with the director. It isn’t always this way (particularly when I’m working with fellow NYU alumni!), but more often than not, we are the ones who tend to initiate the design process and find the world in which the story is going to be told.

What are some of your other interests in life?

We just got a ping pong table, which barely fits in our garage, but my 13 year old son and I have been having some pretty amazing matches. I can still usually beat him 2 games out of 3, but it’s quickly getting more difficult…

What was your favorite snack that your assistant brought to you during tech?

My assistants don’t bring me snacks during tech, but if they did it would want to be a “Grande Quad Americano” with room for milk (2 %) and dark chocolate covered almonds…

Any final thoughts?

I try to remember to not take for granted that I am able to spend my days observing the human condition and applying those observations to a design process with other creative people to tell the stories of our culture.

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TISCH DESIGN STUDENTS VISITED NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT LINCOLN CENTER

Tisch Design Students Visit New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center

On November 12, Campbell Baird and Barbara Cokorinos took their “Transitioning into the Profession” class on an excursion to the Library for the Performing Arts branch of NYPL at Lincoln Center. Curator of Exhibitions, Barbara Cohen-­‐Stratyner, TSOA MFA '74/PhD '80, spoke about the two current exhibitions at the library and about her job as a curator.

"Broadway Revealed: Photographs by Stephen Joseph Behind the Theater Curtain," showcases artist Stephen Joseph’s sweeping images of studios, designers, and workshops, revealing the process and complexity of creating theater. Tisch Design faculty and alumni including Susan Hilferty, Hugh Landwehr, Andrew Jackness, John Conklin, Robert Wierzel, ML Geiger, Gregg Barnes ‘83, Andrea Lauer ‘08, David Zinn ‘91, Amy Clark ‘01, Paul Hackenmueller ‘06, Constance Hoffman ‘91, and Christine Jones ‘92, are all represented in the exhibition. The exhibit “Somebody Come and Play: 45 Years of Sesame Street,” gives fans of all ages the opportunity to experience what it’s like to create an episode of the show and get close to their fuzzy and furry friends from the street. See all details from behind the scenes – scripts, storyboards, scores, scenic models, etc. Both exhibits run through January 31, 2015 and are absolutely worth the trip uptown to see!

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Drama

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA

The Department of Drama’s recent production of Troilus and Cressida gave students a cross-­‐ disciplinary view of performance training and theatre studies

Emily Seal as Cressida. Cross-­‐disciplinary collaborations enabled Drama students to explore “Troilus and Cressida” from academic and performance viewpoints.

When Drama’s Associate Professor Laura Levine learned that the 2014-­‐15 StageWorks season would open with a production of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, she knew that an exciting opportunity had arrived. In 1996, when Levine first joined the Drama faculty, the department’s Experimental Theatre Wing had just mounted a production of the classic tale set during the Trojan War.

ETW’s Troilus and Cressida riveted Levine, who has published work about the play. “I talked about it for hours with the director, Steve Wangh, “ she recalls. “Ever since then, I’ve been hoping that Drama would do another production so I could build a Theatre Studies course around it.” This fall, Levine’s hope was realized.

So was a key goal of the department. Whenever possible, the Department of Drama encourages collaboration between its academic and conservatory faculty and programs.

Theatre Studies faculty often serve as dramaturges on department-­‐wide productions, and in instances like Levine’s, honors seminars are offered concurrent with a production. These courses enable students to conduct an academic study of a play while a production is in

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rehearsal and performing. The objective: A cross-­‐disciplinary approach to training with the goal of producing “artists who are scholars and scholars who are artists.”

During this season’s Troilus and Cressida, about one hundred twenty five Drama students from around the department practiced the performance, design, and production management skills taught in studio classes. At the same time, students in Levine’s Theatre Studies honors seminar, Four Adaptations, examined the play—and the ongoing production—from an academic viewpoint.

Students in Four Adaptations engaged with the issue of adaptation in four ways. One of these involved an examination of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida in relation to works that the playwright may have known, such as the first seven books of Chapman’s Iliad.

On being admitted to the honors seminar, students were told that six papers would be selected for a colloquium during the October run of Troilus and Cressida. The chosen papers went through many incarnations before being deemed presentation-­‐worthy. Some were even work-­‐shopped in class.

The students who presented their analysis represented a variety of the department’s professional training studios, including Playwrights Horizons Theater School, ETW, the Meisner Studio, and the New Studio on Broadway.

Many of Drama’s faculty members attended the colloquium and asked energetic questions.

Associate Dean of Faculty and Arts Professor Louis Scheeder represented The Classical Studio. Theatre Studies Professor Carol Martin brought an expertise on Greek tragedy to the conversation. Associate Teacher Kitty Leech recalled the 1996 ETW production of Troilus and Cressida. Honors students from past years brought their experiences to the discussion.

“I found the intensity and candor of discussion between students and faculty particularly satisfying,” said Levine. “It cut across disciplinary boundaries and studio training approaches.

An Associate Dean and a student debated passionately.

Academic faculty grilled a student from the Meisner Studio on the relation between The Iliad and

Shakespeare.”

Drama students Ruby Wolf, left, and Kristin Winters play

Achilles and Hector, respectively, in the StageWorks Whether Drama’s students production of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida were involved directly in the

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production of Troilus and Cressida or the correlating Four Adaptations honors seminar and colloquium, each group harnessed the analytical and creative skills taught in the department to bring the playwright’s work from the page to the stage to their imagination.

INTERVIEW WITH MARCIA MILGROM DODGE:

NURTURING A GARDEN

In December, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, a 2010 Tony-­‐Award nominee for Best Direction of a Musical, auditioned students for the Tisch Drama StageWorks production of The Secret Garden. Based on the beloved children’s novel, the musical explores themes of abandonment and the search for belonging. Throughout the production, some one hundred forty Drama students training in performance, design, and production management will collaborate with Milgrom Dodge to bring The Secret Garden to life in the Burrows Theater. Performances run February 19th-­‐28th. The director recently shared her thoughts about the musical and on mounting it at Tisch Drama.

What is your vision for the production?

I have loved this musical since first seeing it in an early production pre-­‐Broadway. I always wanted to present it from the lead character’s, young Mary Lennox's, point of view. Our production design will play with scale and proportion in order to emphasize that idea, while creating a physical world that will allow the various locations and realities of the piece to come alive.

How is The Secret Garden relevant to you and students?

Themes of isolation, loneliness, grieving, friendship, and redemption resonate today. Having this timeless story told in design and performance by promising NYU/Tisch Drama students is a wonderful way to investigate these complicated characters as they journey to a life of joy and fulfillment.

What do you expect from working with Tisch Drama students and what do you hope they take away from the experience?

I expect the best from these students: in talent, technique, and professionalism. I hope that I can provide a nurturing environment where they can apply their craft and come to understand how important their choices are in creating a powerful piece of theatre.

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DEPARTMENT OF DRAMA FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS

David Brimmer, Associate Teacher, Department of Drama, was elected President of the Society of American Fight Directors.

Una Chaudhuri, Professor of Drama and English, published two books: Animal Acts: Performing Species Today. Co-­‐edited with Holly Hughes, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014, and Research Theatre, Climate Change, and the Ecocide Project, co-­‐authored with Shonni Enelow, Palgrave Pivot Series, 2014.

Louis Scheeder, Associate Dean of Faculty, TSOA, and Director of the Department of Drama’s Classical Studio, was awarded the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award, presented annually by the university to outstanding full-­‐time faculty members in recognition of exceptional teaching.

Liz Swados, Associate Teacher, Department of Drama, had a short film, My Depression: The Ups and Downs of It, screened in the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2015, it will be broadcast on HBO.

Edward Ziter, Chair, Department of Drama, had a new book published in November 2014: Political Performance in Syria; From the Six-­‐Day War to the Syrian Uprising, Palgrave Macmillan

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Graduate Acting

ALUMNI UPDATE

Carra Patterson (Class of 2011) appeared in Universal's N.W.A. biopic, "Straight Outta Compton" playing Eazy-­‐E's wideo, Tomica Woods.

Andre Holland (Class of 2006) appeared on Cinemax's "The Knick" playing Dr. Algernon Edwards.

Josh Radnor (Class of 1999) and Karen Pittman (Class of 2007) both appeared on Broadway in Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced at the Lyceum Theater.

Corey Stoll (Class of 2003) was seen in the film "This Is Where I Leave You" as well as "House of Cards" and "The Strain."

Natalie Paul (Class of 2012) appeared in HBO's miniseries "Show Me A Hero".

Danielle Skraastad (Class of 1999/ Faculty), Olivia Gilliatt (Class of 2014) and Christopher Kelly (Class of 1997) all appeared in Tomorrow in the Battle at Stageworks Hudson.

Kevin Isola (Class of 1995/ Faculty) appeared in The Alchemist at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

Michael C Hall (Class of 1996) starred on Broadway as Hedwig in the most recent revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

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Graduate Musical Theatre Writing

SERIES OF MASTERCLASSES

American singer-­‐songwriter Duncan Sheik (Tony Award-­‐winning composer of Spring Awakening, as well as the musical theatre pieces American Psycho, Alice By Heart, and Because of Winn Dixie) held a master class at the Department on October 15th. In an interview led by Fred Carl, Sheik discussed his entry into the music business and how his career led him to musical theatre writing. Sheik also shared selections from Alice By Heart and Whisper House (Music and Lyrics by Duncan Sheik, Book and Lyrics by Kyle Jarrow), which had its world premiere at The Old Globe this past January.

American opera composer-­‐librettist Mark Adamo (The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Lysistrata, Little Women) visited GMTWP in October to conduct a master class in opera. Prior to the class, Adamo had presented writing prompts to five Cycle 24 composer-­‐ lyricists teams, along with three distinct operatic textures he wanted the teams to use. The composer-­‐lyricist teams had a few weeks to write their pieces, and then at the master class mid-­‐October the teams performed their work for Adamo, Randall Eng, and classmates. Topics ranged from facelifts to World AIDS Day-­‐-­‐and Adamo gave spirited and thoughtful feedback.

Winnie Holzman (Cycle 1) and Danny Rubin (screenwriter of the film Groundhog Day and bookwriter of the musical adaptation with songwriter Tim Minchin) held a master class on September 23rd with the GMTWP Year II students. Each thesis team was given the opportunity to pitch their thesis idea and receive feedback from Holzman and Rubin.

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STEVEN LUTVAK HOSTS WEEKLY CLASS

Steven Lutvak (Cycle 1) taught a course for Year I called “The Stand-­‐Alone Song,” geared toward writing for cabarets. In addition to his prolific career writing cabaret and stand-­‐alone songs, Lutvak wrote the music and co-­‐wrote the lyrics to A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, earning him a Tony Award Nomination for Best Score.

COLLABORATION WITH THE NEW STUDIO This Fall, GMTWP’s collaboration with The New Studio on Broadway (undergraduate musical theatre) continued with the Scene-­‐to-­‐Song Class.

Each week, Year II thesis teams brought in untested material from their projects and had the opportunity to hear the material performed on its feet for the first time by senior performance majors.

The class was jointly taught by Kent Gash (Associate Arts Professor and Director of NSB) and GMTWP’s Julianne Wick Davis (Cycle 16).

GMTWP ALUMS AT NEW VICTORY LABWORKS

Composer and alum Mike Pettry (Cycle 15) and bookwriter Lila Rose Kaplan have been named Resident Artists in the New Victory LabWorks Artist Residency Program for 2014-­‐ 2015. They will spend the year working on their new musical, The Pirate Princess, based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which reimagines Orsino as a pirate king and Viola as his first mate. Pettry, Kaplan, and the other residents will work out of the New 42nd Street Studios, and throughout the year they’ll have support from the New Victory artistic staff and an international community of artists that write for children and families.

MAX VERNON SELECTED BY THE CIVILIANS AND THE JFUND

The Civilians, the Obie Award-­‐winning theatre company, has selected Max Vernon (Cycle 22) as a member of its 2014-­‐2015 Research and Development Group. The Group, comprised of writers, composers, and directors, meets for nine months, during which time each member will develop a new piece of theatre through the creative investigation of a subject of their choosing. Vernon also recently received a grant from the The American Composers Forum Jerome Fund for New Music (JFund) to write his first song cycle, Show

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and Tell. The cycle will feature six singers playing misfit characters on the night of the apocalypse and will be produced by Rebecca Feldman of the Public Theater Casting Office.

HONORS, PRODUCTIONS, WORKSHOPS AND READINGS

Pete Mills (Cycle 8) had his musical, The Underclassman, produced by Prospect Theatre Company in November. Mills wrote the music and lyrics, and he co-­‐wrote the book with Cara Reichel (who also directs the production). Time Out New York called it one of the six Off-­‐Broadway musicals to see this fall.

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Open Arts

LEAVING NEW YORK FOR LONDON

Back in summer 2009, Fran DaSilveira ’14 (BFA, Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing) spent four weeks in the Tisch Summer High School Program. She was in the dramatic writing track and it was during this time before her senior year of high school that she was first exposed to Anton Chekhov. Fran said, “We read his short play The Proposal, and now consider him the playwright that has influenced my writing most.”

Fran’s writing was also influenced by spending some time away from New York City. In fall 2012, she was part of the Tisch Playwriting in London program. The city left such an impression on Fran that she moved to London after completing her degree! Here’s more from Fran:

Why did you want to study in London?

I read Pride and Prejudice in the 7th grade and have always had a very romantic view of England. When I found out that Tisch had a study abroad program in London, I had idyllic views of sitting in the moors writing my hit play in a leather bound notebook. This image was partly why I wanted to study in London. The other reasons were a bit more practical.

Aside from Cape Verde where I was born, I'd never traveled outside of the US and going to London would mean that it would be easy to travel all over Europe as well. It's also a city that is perhaps just as rich in the theatre arts as New York is.

How did studying abroad change your writing?

My semester abroad was incredibly influential not only to my work but also to the way I viewed myself as a writer. I arrived in London as a dramatic writing student and left as a professional pursuing a career. It's a very important transition for any writer to make; otherwise, you find yourself only writing for the sake of a class or deadline or grade.

What made you want to come back to London?

I get this question a lot, especially from British people who are confused as to why I would leave New York for London. The two cities are similar in terms of industry and the vibrancy of the theatre world. What drew me back, however, was the physical history and culture that permeates throughout the city. London is absolutely beautiful and the UK is a nation that takes pride in preserving its age. There are dozens of free opportunities to take in the city's culture, from museums to parks to architecture. During my study abroad here, I connected to the city and I found myself subconsciously leaving things undone, like seeing a play at Shakespeare's Globe, with the intention of coming back.

What's your theatre experience been so far?

One of the things I did to prepare for my trip was to compile a list of theatres in London in order to find the ones that were particularly receptive of new writing. When I got to the city, I booked tickets to see various shows, including Freak, a play by Anna Jordan produced

by Theatre503, a small but very popular and well respected venue. One of the great things

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about Theatre503 is that they hold monthly writer's nights for half price and put on something called Rapid Write Response where writer's send in 10 minute plays in response to their main stage productions. I sent something in after seeing Freak and my piece was one of seven chosen to be performed for a two day run. It was an incredible experience, and encouraging since I'd only been in London for a couple of weeks at the time. London is a city that tries to do as much as possible for young people, especially in terms of theatre. Concessions are usually always available for shows, workshops are offered, and short play nights a fantastic way for people to get their work out there.

What's your advice for students thinking of studying playwriting in London?

Do it! Even if you're on the fence, apply and speak to other's who have done the program to find out their experience. I'm a big advocator of studying abroad in general. New York can become a bit consuming at times and it's extremely useful to experience other ways of life.

The great thing about London is that there's enough familiarity so you don't feel completely out of place but there's more than enough within and outside the city to explore.

EVENTS RECAP On October 20, Geoff Bullen, Shakespeare in Performance at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) course supervisor and RADA associate director, led a panel of RADA program alumni on the specialized training this London program has to offer.

Prospective students heard from Marcela Biven, Christopher Brown, and Kimberly Chatterjee.

From left to right, Kimberly, Christopher, Geoff, and Marcela.

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TISCH OPEN ARTS FACULTY NEWS Jeffrey Stanley was selected as one of 24 writers for the first Amtrak Residency.

There were over 16,000 entries for this program and Jeffrey will travel for one week in a private cabin on any one of Amtrak’s long-­‐distance routes. Jeffrey and all the residents will each work on a writing project of their choice.

Jeffrey Stanley

Students in the Tisch Open Arts course Steps, Rhythm, and Movement: Flamenco, were treated to a special guest performance of Roots of Flamenco: A Dance Journey from India to Spain. Flamenco dancer Barbara Martinez and guitarist Jose Ramos joined Najma Harissiadis, instructor of the course, for this unique presentation.

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Performance Studies

MATERIALITY OF AFFECT IN NORTH AFRICA: POLITICS IN FLUX | A WORKSHOP

On October 3rd and 4th, 2014, the Department of Performance Studies in cooperation with The Nordic Africa Institute brought together scholars of North Africa whose work bears upon questions of aesthetics, politics, and performativity. Led by Professor Deborah Kapchan and Visiting Scholar Maria Malmström, the workshop engaged research about North Africa to spark cross-­‐disciplinary dialogue and about recent events in conversation with 'the new materialism' as well as the wider literature on sound and affect.

CONVERGENCE 2014 BODIES-­‐IN-­‐TRANSIT: ARTICULATING THE AMERICAS (AND BEYOND) | A GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE

The Hemi-­‐Convergence 2014 took place from October 2-­‐5 and was an invitation to mobilize bodies throughout the Americas (and beyond) towards a better understanding of our own places in current socio-­‐political transformations. This graduate event combined scholarly discourses, artivist actions, and art processes and products in the joint project of "articulating" and exploring the multiple bodies in motion in the global/globalized sphere.

Performance Studies PhD candidates co-­‐convened of a working group called “Sound of the City”. This event was co-­‐sponsored by the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (NYU); the Canadian Consortium on Performance and Politics in the Americas, funded in large part through Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRD); The Department of Performance Studies (NYU); The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (NYU); Tisch School of the Arts (NYU); and the Department of Iberian and Latin American Cultures (Columbia).

TAKING OFFENSE: TRIGGER WARNINGS & THE NEOLIBERAL POLITICS OF ENDANGERMENT | A PANEL

On October 14th, 2014, Lisa Duggan, Avgi Saketopoulou, Jack Halberstam, and Performance Studies Professors Tavia Nyong’o, Ann Pellegrini, and Performance Studies Chair, Karen Shimakawa gathered for Taking Offense: Trigger Warnings & the Neoliberal Politics of Endangerment. This panel had overwhelming attendance across generations and disciplines.

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ANXIETY, WHITMAN, AND SYMPATHY: JANE BENNETT | A LECTURE

The NYU Center for the Study of Gender & Sexuality and Department of Performance Studies collaborated to bring Jane Bennett to present her lecture Anxiety, Whitman, and Sympathy. Performance Studies Professor Ann Pelligrini introduced Professor Bennett to a room overflowing with young and seasoned scholars alike. In her lecture, Professor Bennett addressed the anxiety of American public culture ceaselessly renewed by the news and entertainment media, by government claims and policies, by everyday exposure to extensive surveillance, disciplinary, and militarized technologies. She claimed anxiety is, by and large, a system-­‐maintaining affect; it has supported the regime of neo-­‐liberal capitalism by de-­‐policizing the experience of its violent and unjust effects. She looks to Whitman’s Leaves of Grass to suggest sympathy as a political strategy to address national anxiety.

FRED HERKO: A CRASH COURSE | A SYMPOSIUM

Josh Lubin-­‐Levy, Performance Studies PhD Canidate, organized “Fred Herko: A Crash Course” on the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Judson dancer and Warhol superstar Fred Herko, featuring a range of interdisciplinary thinkers exploring and experimenting with how we read the life and work of one of New York’s most iconic queer performers.

Using archival photographs of Herko as a point of departure, speakers were invited to think broadly about how we teach and write queer performance histories, as well as how we might differently attend to the lives of performers -­‐ those crucial though often fleeting figures who remain primarily in the ways they appear scattered throughout the archives of others. A range of opportunities will be available for “course” attendees to ask questions and to experiment with their own reading of Herko’s life. The day began with a welcome reception and the opportunity to explore some of the archival materials and existing scholarship related to Herko. Immediately following the symposium participants celebrated the opening of an exhibition of the archival photographs at the Emily Harvey Foundation, launching a weeklong series of events celebrating Herko’s life. For information on the “course” visit fredherko.tumblr.com, for information on the week of events curated

by Gerard Forde visit freddieherko.com. This event was co-­‐presented by the Department of Performance Studies, NYU and the Goethe-­‐Institute New York, Tisch Institute for Creative Research and Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory. Associated programming by the Department of Art & Public Policy (NYU) and the Department of Art History (NYU).

BEING WITH: A SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE WORK OF JOSÉ ESTEBAN MUÑOZ | SOCIAL TEXT ISSUE RELEASE PARTY

Since its founding in 1979, the journal Social Text has forged creative connections between critical theory and political practice. Interdisciplinary and interventionist, the editorial collective has sought to expand and redefine what scholarship can do. This has always included being at the forefront of cultural and technological change.

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The Department of Performance Studies, CLAGS, and the editorial collective of Social Text celebrated the release of ST 121, “Being With," a special issue of the journal dedicated to the intellectual legacies of José Esteban Muñoz. This coauthored introduction reflects on some of the impacts of José Esteban Muñoz’s life and work—from his scholarship through his friendship and mentoring to his collaborations in intellectual and social life. The coauthors emphasize Muñoz’s commitment to both the production of minoritarian knowledge and the thought of plural singularity, or what this issue as a whole indexes with the name “Being With.”

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Institute of Performing Arts

THE IPA STUDENT COUNCIL

The Institute of Performing Arts has formed a student council to assist in communications between departments and to foster cross-­‐departmental events. Please welcome the inaugural IPA Student council of 2015-­‐2016.

Art and Public Policy -­‐Anastasia Myasnikova Dance -­‐Patrick Corbin Drama Meisner -­‐Katherine Schneider Experimental Theatre Wing -­‐Patrick Connor Sweeney New Studio on Broadway -­‐Ysabel Jasa Design for Stage and Film -­‐Oona Curley Graduate Acting -­‐Margret Odette Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program -­‐Laura Barati Performance Studies -­‐Kiran Rajagopalan

IPA SHARING GRANTS

In order to foster cross-­‐departmental participation and involvement, The Institute of Performing Arts is offering a $1,000 Sharing Grant to any IPA department to host an event and share it with the rest of the school. The first two Sharing Grants went to Open Arts and Graduate Musical Theatre Writing.

ALL-­‐UNIVERSITY CHOIR VOCAL PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP

On Saturday, November 15, 2014, undergraduate students from across New York University joined Open Arts Choirmaster Ralph Affoumado for a one-­‐time vocal performance workshop and seminar with special guests Eric Campos, Amy Gillman, Prentice Onayami and T.J. Sclafani, all former students in the Tisch All-­‐School Choir.

Students were treated to a hands-­‐on workshop in preparing and presenting vocal pieces for performance and received valuable feedback from visiting professionals. Participants

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expressed enthusiasm for the workshop and appreciation for the chance to study with and perform for working alumni, as well as the opportunity to sing as a large group. The Open Arts Program extends special thanks to the faculty, students and staff of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Department for use of their black box theatre for this cross-­‐Tisch, cross-­‐university event.

AN AFTERNOON OF MUSIC AND LYRICS BY THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITING PROGRAM Twelve faculty members joined forces to present a concert of their work. Selections ranged from Grand Opera to Blue Grass. The audience included current students, alumni and faculty from a variety of IPA Departments

IPA SPONSORED EVENTS

FILM SCREENING: SPECTRUM OF HOPE

On October 6th, 2014 the Institute of Performing Arts and Tisch School of the Arts presented “Spectrum of Hope”, a film about theatre as an agent of change in the lives of children with disabilities.

“Spectrum of Hope”, produced by Danny Mendoza, 2009 alum of Tisch Film & Television Production is the story of 10 musical theater students, their families, and their teachers as they go on a journey from P94M, their special needs school in New York City's Lower East Side to a Theater Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a beautiful moment in all of their lives -­‐ a celebration of the power of arts education, musical theater, and what can be accomplished when students are allowed to flourish on their own terms.

The film is a reminder about our responsibility as artists to share our gifts and a look at the opportunities that exist for Teaching Artists in the schools.

After the screening, Danny Mendoza led a post-­‐show talkback in which students were able to ask questions about his process as a documentarian and his experience with the P94M, The Spectrum School.

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INNER VOICES

On October 24th, 2014, IPA sponsored a trip to see INNER VOICES 2014, a double bill of two new works commissioned by PREMIERES starring Andrea Frierson and Phoebe Strole. The two pieces were:

GRACE by Charlayne Woodard with music by Kirsten Childs (Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Alum and Adjunct Professor) is a haunting and soulful tale about brilliant, arrogant, award-­‐winning novelist, Grace Monroe, as she faces the most devastating challenge of her life, forcing her to reassess her past, present and future. GRACE was directed by Shirley Jo Finney, music directed by Rona Siddiqui with Maurice Belle on bass, and starred Andrea Frierson in the title role.

THE OTHER ROOM by Mark Campbell with music by Marisa Michelson is a moving and often humorous musical work celebrating the power of friendship and political engagement during the early years of the AIDS crisis in New York. Lena reflects on her profound love for her friend Steve after he becomes seriously ill.

LARRY MASLON’S BOOK RELEASE CELEBRATION

Faculty, students and alumni came together on November 10th, 2014 to celebrate the book release of AMERICAN MUSICALS: The Complete Books and Lyrics of 16 Broadway Classics (1927-­‐ 1969), edited by Laurence Maslon, Arts Professor, TSOA. The two-­‐volume set includes such classics as Show Boat, Pal Joey, My Fair Lady, and Fiddler on the Roof, several in print for the first time.

To celebrate, Mindi Dickstein hosted an evening of scenes, songs, and stories from the great Broadway canon performed by students from the New Studio on Broadway and alumni of the Graduate Acting Program.

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TRIP TO TWO RIVER THEATER TO SEE “CAMELOT”

On November 23rd, 2014, the Institute of Performing Arts, Tisch School of the Arts hosted a trip to see “Camelot” at Two River Theatre. 50 students from various departments of the IPA travelled by bus to New Jersey to enjoy a afternoon in Redbank, attend a preshow talk by John Dias, Artistic Director of Two River Theatre, Stephanie Coen, Associate Artistic Director and Press Contact and Anika Chapin, Literary Manager, and finally to see the Two River Theatre’s new interpretation of the legendary tale of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot performed by an eight-­‐person ensemble.

“Camelot” featured costume design by design for Stage & Film department alum Tilly Grimes.

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UPCOMING RESIDENCIES ADAM GUETTEL

Adam Guettel will be leading a series of master classes in the upcoming semester with students from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, Graduate Acting and The New Studio on Broadway.

Adam Guettel is a composer/lyricist living in New York City. His musical, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (cast album on Nonesuch Records), with a book by Craig Lucas, premiered on Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater in April 2005, following a world premiere at Seattle's Intiman Theater in Summer 2003, and a second engagement at Chicago's Goodman Theater in early 2004 (where it received three Joseph Jefferson Awards including Best Musical). THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA received six 2005 Tony Awards including two for Mr. Guettel – Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations and a Grammy nomination for best cast recording. PIAZZA also received 5 Drama Desk Awards, including two for Mr Guettel -­‐-­‐ Best Music, and Best Orchestrations.

He wrote music and lyrics for FLOYD COLLINS (cast album on Nonesuch Records), which received the 1996 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical and earned Mr. Guettel the Obie Award for Best Music. FLOYD COLLINS has been presented at Playwrights Horizons, New York; Prince Theatre, Philadelphia; Goodman Theatre, Chicago; Old Globe, San Diego; Bridewell, London; and elsewhere.

His other works include LOVE'S FIRE, a collaboration with John Guare for The Acting Company, and SATURN RETURNS, a concert at Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. SATURN RETURNS was recorded by Nonesuch Records under the title MYTHS AND HYMNS. Four of Mr. Guettel's songs were featured on Audra McDonald's Nonesuch Records album, WAY BACK TO PARADISE (1998), and Mr. Guettel performed a concert evening of his work at New York's Town Hall in 1999. Film scores include ARGUING THE WORLD, a feature documentary by Joe Dorman, and the score for JACK, a two-­‐hour documentary for CBS by Peter Davis (1994).

Mr. Guettel is currently working on four new musicals and an opera. He just performed material from these new projects for a week at the Hippodrome Casino in London and will be performing for a week at 54 Below in New York in February 2013. Accolades for Mr. Guettel include the Stephen Sondheim Award (1990), the ASCAP New Horizons Award(1997), and the American Composers Orchestra Award (2005).

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LIZA GENNARO

Dance historian and choreographer Liza Gennaro will be giving three lectures on the roots of dance in musical theatre. The first class will be a general introduction to dance in musical theatre, the second will be about the roots of ballet in musical theatre and the third will be about the roots of modern in musical theatre.

DANCE IN MUSICALS: History and Function, 1943-­‐2015 2/5, 7-­‐8:30pm -­‐ Agnes de Mille: 1943-­‐44

Between 1943-­‐44 Agnes de Mille altered the function of dance in the American musical. We will examine how her choreography in Oklahoma! (1943), One Touch of Venus (1943) and Bloomer Girl (1944) caused an ideological shift on Broadway and developed a paradigm for making dances in the musical theater.

Her employment of modern dance methodologies and her dramaturgical sensitivity will be discussed.

2/6, 10-­‐11:30am -­‐ Jerome Robbins: 1944-­‐64 Robbins’ meticulous attention to the “where, when and why” of drama and comedy and his expansive knowledge of dance styles in his musical theater choreography will be examined.

How Robbins perfected the “book number” and integrated dance seamlessly into librettos will be explained in a close analysis of his choreography for West Side Story (1957) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964).

2/6, 3-­‐4:30pm Bob Fosse’s staging of “Big Spender” from Sweet Charity (1966) will be interpreted in relation to his fusion of the choreographic methods developed by de Mille and Robbins.

Current musical theater choreography will be discussed with special focus on Sergio Trujillo, Hands on a Hard Body (2013) and Steven Hoggett, Once (2012).

LIZA GENNARO choreographed the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of The Most Happy Fella directed by Gerald Gutierrez and the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress starring Sarah Jessica Parker. She has choreographed Off-­‐Broadway and in regional theaters across America including: Roundabout Theatre, Actor’s Theatre Of Louisville, The Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Guthrie Theater, The Goodspeed Opera House, Pioneer Theatre, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Paper Mill Playhouse and The St. Louis “Muny” Opera. She collaborated with Stephen Flaherty and Frank Galati on their chamber musical Loving, Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein for the About Face Theater in Chicago. Liza choreographed the Troika Tour of Annie, currently performing nationwide, and created a dance-­‐pantomime, Rudolph the Red-­‐Nosed Reindeer for the New York Pops 2014 Christmas Concert at Carnegie Hall. She is a member of the Tony Award Nominating Committee and on the Executive Board of the Stage Director and Choreographers Society. Liza has taught at Barnard College, Princeton University, Yale University and is currently on faculty at Indiana University. Her essay, “Evolution of Dance in the Golden Era of the American 'Book Musical'” appears in The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical.

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Dean Allyson Green -­‐-­‐ Associate Dean of the Institute of Performing Arts Sarah Schlesinger Program Coordinator, Institute of Performing Arts Julianne Wick Davis Administrative Assistant, Institute of Performing Arts Hali Alspach

Institute of Performing Arts Tisch School of the Arts 715 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 Second Floor, Room 267 212-­‐998-­‐1654

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