Spring 2024 Mason Gross Magazine

National Rankings │ Remembering R. Michael Miller │ Scarlet

MGSA BANDING TOGETHER

MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

RUTGERS FACULTY AND STUDENTS

MENTOR MUSICIANS FROM NEW BRUNSWICK HIGH SCHOOL

HIGH NOTES

Art & Design alum  Marissa Paternoster has been named one of the 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by  Rolling Stone.

Music alum Amanda Batista returned to the Metropolitan Opera in December to perform in a holiday presentation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and did another turn at The Met in the spring as part of the cast of Puccini’s La Rondine . She is set to perform her role debut as Mimi in Puccini ’s  La Bohème  at Wolftrap Opera in July.

Theater alum Roger Bart is nominated for a Tony Award —his third nomination—for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical in Back to the Future , while alum Amith Chandrashaker is nominated for Best Lighting Design of a Play, for Prayer for the French Republic

On November 23, the Marching Scarlet Knights made their way through Midtown Manhattan as part of the 97th Annual Macy ’s Thanksgiving Day Parade . Watch the band perform the Spice Girls ’ Spice Up Your Life at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag .

BY THE NUMBERS MGSA 998

STUDENTS 28 FROM STATES 23 AND COUNTRIES

Davinara Marcario performing in the Student Dance Concert last fall at Loree Dance Theater.

Source: Office of Institutional Research and Academic Planning, spring 2024. JOHN EVANS

OUR LEADERSHIP

J ason Geary

Dean

R

e becca Cypess

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Annabelle Luu

Associate Dean for Finance and Administration

Marshall Jones III

Associate Dean for Equity

Mandy Feiler

Assistant Dean for Admissions and Enrollment Management

Lisa Sanon-Jules

Assistant Dean for Advising and Student Success

Denyse Reed

Director of Development

Jacqueline Thaw

Chair of the Art & Design Department

Gerald Casel

Chair of the Dance Department

Amanda Eubanks Winkler

Director of the Music Department

Ellen Bredehoft

Chair of the Theater Department

Patrick Stettner

Director of the Rutgers Filmmaking Center

Kevin Bott

Director of Rutgers Arts Online

I nterim Director of Rutgers Comm unity Arts

LETTER FROM THE DEAN

The 2023–24 school year was defined by several generative partnerships established across the university and beyond, as Mason Gross deepened its commitment to the school’s core pillars: Inclusive Excellence, Collaboration, and Community.

The Marching Scarlet Knights (featured in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade), individual Music faculty, and students in our music education program mentored New Brunswick High School musicians by coaching ensembles, working closely with students on campus for a free, public concert with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra. Alum Jessie Mersinger, New Brunswick High’s director of instrumental music, proved key to the ongoing collaboration’s success, while alum Stephanie Tubiolo, director of Voorhees and University choirs, has worked with her choral students to strengthen our engagement with budding vocalists at the city’s Lincoln Elementary School.

Two academic minors launched this year, underscoring the role that the arts play in addressing a range of pressing global issues: Creative Expression and the Environment, a multidisciplinary program in partnership with the School of Arts of Sciences (SAS), as well as the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS); and Disability Studies, housed at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, representing a collaboration with the School of Management and Labor Relations, SAS, SEBS, and the Schools of Communication and Information, Social Work, and Education.

In the coming year, we look forward to the launch of Scarlet Arts Rx, part of the school’s Arts in Health Research Lab, a collaboration with the School of Public Health and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. The initiative’s goal: to research and quantify the degree to which the arts contribute to health and well-being. Scarlet Arts Rx will bring Rutgers students into our performance and exhibition spaces to experience the work of our dynamic student artists. We anticipate that Rutgers-New Brunswick students will recognize what we at Mason Gross have long known: that the arts are an essential component of our lives.

T ELL US ABOUT IT

+ Share kudos, news, and career moves via our online form at go.rutgers.edu/mgsaalumninews

+ Join the Mason Gross LinkedIn community to network, share news and job opportunities, and interact.

+ Connect with the Rutgers University Alumni Association at alumni.rutgers.edu to update your info or to access alumni resources, benefits, events, and more.

THIS MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED FOR ALUMNI, FACULTY, STUDENTS, EMPLOYEES, DONORS, AND FRIENDS OF THE MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS. YOUR FEEDBACK AND NEWS ITEMS ARE WELCOME. PLEASE WRITE TO ALUMNI@MGSA.RUTGERS.EDU OR TO MGSA MAGAZINE, MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, 33 LIVINGSTON AVENUE, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ 08901.

© 2024 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

KEITH MUCCILLI

“H

e taught me how I wanted to work.”– Theater alum Michole Biancosino on the late R. Michael Miller. Read a tribute to our former head of scenic design on page 13.

6

BANDING TOGETHER

Rutgers faculty and students mentor

New Brunswick High School musicians.

17

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Initiatives linking the arts to health, the environment, and disability studies launch at MGSA.

22

“ TRULY GREAT DESIGN TRANSCENDS AESTHETICS; IT FOSTERS UNDERSTANDING AND MOBILIZES ACTION. ”

A lum Heather Pinheiro has designed an awardwinning website spotlighting information on reproductive rights access.

ON THE COVER : The Marching Scarlet Knights welcome New Brunswick High School’s Marching Zebras to one of their fall rehearsals at SHI Stadium.

Photo by Mel Evans/Rutgers University.

14

16

Music alum named a MacArthur “Genius.”

Student conducts the university’s first collective of all queer musicians and allies.

22

Theater alum masterminds the costuming tricks and treats on LIVE with Kelly and Mark’s Halloween special.

EDITORIAL STAFF

Editor: Laurie Granieri

Contributing writers: Risa Barisch, Evie Duvert, Lisa Intrabartola, Debbie Meyers, Heather Pinheiro (BFA’10), Emily Soper

Designer: Mónica Toledo-Fraginals

HEATHER PINHEIRO

LYNNE DELADE

Alum Jessie Mersinger has been named a quarterfinalist for the Grammy's 2025 Music Educator Awards! Finalists will be announced in December.

BandingTogether

RUTGERS FACULTY AND STUDENTS MENTOR MUSICIANS FROM NEW BRUNSWICK HIGH SCHOOL

By Risa Barisch

Jessie Mersinger remembers her high school band days as “life changing.”

“I had a beautiful experience,” says Mersinger, who grew up in Florida. “I had a great band director, who I still talk to to this day, and I still hang out with my friends who I sat next to. It was such a special thing, and I feel like every kid deserves that.”

Mersinger, who earned a doctoral degree in French horn from Mason Gross School of the Arts, is now working to create that same experience for her students at New Brunswick High School (NBHS), where she is the director of instrumental music and oversees the marching band as well as concert band, jazz band, and orchestra.

Under her leadership, the NBHS marching band, the Marching Zebras, has been steadily growing over the past two years after more than two decades of inactivity due to a series of budget cuts and changes in directors.

Around 50 students now participate in the band, and the larger music program in New Brunswick Public Schools is getting a boost thanks to a partnership with the Mason Gross Music Department, which provides an opportunity for Rutgers students to coach and instruct in community classrooms.

The Marching Zebras are eager to perform at football games and competitions—but most of all, they want to work hard together to rebuild what was once a high-achieving, highly visible marching band.

“Our kids are thirsty,” says Mersinger. “They want to learn; they want to get better.”

For inspiration and to learn from an established program, in fall 2022 Mersinger began taking her students to observe rehearsals by the Rutgers Marching Scarlet Knights as they practiced for fall home games.

The field trips continued, and on a warm early-autumn weeknight this past October, nearly two dozen NBHS students sat in the stands high above the field at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, mesmerized by the movement and music swirling from down below.

As the voices of Todd Nichols, director of the Marching Scarlet Knights, and Julia Baumanis, assistant director, beamed out of the press box and

bounced around the field, the marching band took their cues, refining a medley of steps and songs in preparation for Homecoming weekend and a halftime show during the game against Michigan State.

“The Marching Scarlet Knights are awesome—they’re my idols,” declares junior Deandrae Robinson, who plays the tuba for the Marching Zebras. “I’m definitely feeling excitement being here.”

Robinson and his classmates were equal parts animated and quietly taking it all in as they moved around with Mersinger to get different perspectives of the rehearsal.

“We’re all brand-new band kids, so we’re all learning from each other,” says Yulissa Avila Martinez, a senior and the Marching Zebras’ drum major. “We don’t have any students before us to look up to, so we’re all learning from each other, from our band directors, and from the Scarlet Knights.”

Sophomore Isis Cox was inspired to join the marching band because her mother had done it in her high school days.

“It’s been the best experience,” says Cox, who plays the trombone and serves as the uniform manager. “My favorite part is all of us together, on the bus going to games or coming back from games. It’s like a little family in a way. We’re all singing, laughing, having a good time. You never know what’s going to happen at the game—if we’ll win or lose—but us just being together, even playing in the stands, is fun.”

Cox appreciated seeing the Marching Scarlet Knights practicing their drills, moving together and then changing directions in unison.

“It’s really cool watching them take steps,” Cox says. “Even though we practice, and we do it too, it’s nice to see it on a massive scale, and how it’s all synchronized.”

G OOD NEIGHBORS

Mersinger wanted her students to not only get an idea of what marching band could be like, but also to familiarize themselves with Rutgers and the idea that music can be a viable career. She reached out to her connections at Mason Gross to build on nascent partnerships that had formed as part of a broader initiative within the Music Department to engage with local public schools.

LYNNE DELADE

Jessie Mersinger, right, onstage with Mason Gross and New Brunswick High School musicians at a joint holiday concert. Mersinger conducted the concert on December 13 at Nicholas Music Center.

The collaborations have included Jonathan Spitz, head of strings at Rutgers and principal cello of the New Jersey Symphony, teaching master classes at NBHS as well as Nichols presenting professional development sessions to Plainfield middle school and high school faculty and working with students in the Plainfield High School Wind Ensemble.

Ching-Chun Lai, director of orchestral activities and engagement at Mason Gross, sees these efforts in music education and outreach, especially early in a child’s schooling, as imperative to building both an interest in the arts and creating opportunities within a community.

“All of this is [beneficial] to us, because the kids doing music might go to Rutgers—or somewhere else—and somehow stay in music education or the music field,” explains Lai. “They feed back to their groups, too. You start with them, and they’ll come back to serve their own communities.”

Lai and five of her graduate students are working in fourth- through eighth-grade classrooms in New Brunswick to enhance string education programs in particularly understaffed schools. In February, Lai conducted the New Brunswick All-City Orchestra, made up of 100 public school students from third grade to high school.

Establishing connections with public school students also introduces those students to life beyond their own neighborhoods, including the idea of advancing their education at Rutgers—which, Baumanis points out, isn’t always viewed as a possibility because of financial concerns or uncertainty about how to transition from high school to college.

“We’re trying to break down that barrier, because here are people who are closer to your age, from all different walks of life,” says Baumanis, who in November was honored with the university’s Committee to Advance Our Common Purpose Torchbearer Award for her dedication to diversity and inclusion. “It’s powerful when you see somebody like you doing something that you want to do in the future. It makes you feel like it’s for you, that it’s possible—that if I can see it, I can believe it.”

STUDENTS TEACHING STUDENTS

The collaboration between the schools has grown into a mutually beneficial program in which Baumanis’s music education students work with the NBHS ensembles in a series of observation, conducting, and coaching sessions.

Baumanis calls these “collaborative teaching projects,” and they’re meant to get Rutgers students comfortable in front of a class before they start student teaching in their final semester to fulfill degree requirements— “a little sweet spot where it’s a great time for them to hop in and interact,” Baumanis says.

“It’s really the middle point between being a freshman just figuring it out or you’re about to finish your full-time student teaching semester and hop fully into getting your first job,” says Baumanis. “It’s a nice stepping-stone.”

The partnership has been part of two programs funded through the Arts Institute of Middlesex County: the High School Development Program

and Pop-Up Arts at Mason Gross, which brings together student artists and community organizations for meaningful experiences in the arts. These programs include training for Rutgers musicians in community engagement and culturally responsive teaching methods, led by Pop-Up Arts artistic director and theater faculty member John Keller MFA’10.

Amanda Corujo, a senior at Mason Gross, admitted she was nervous to begin her collaborative teaching project and lead the student ensembles.

“I don’t have very much experience with strings, so I just tried to help with the musicality and dynamics and making it sound fluid and like something the student wanted to hear,” says Corujo, whose primary instrument is flute. “I’d ask what they were looking for in their playing so that I could help them make that sound, rather than directing them and telling them what to sound like.”

Corujo even extended her time with the high school students after the spring semester ended at Rutgers, coaching a string quartet to play Brahms’s “Theme from Symphony No. 1 (Finale).” The four musicians performed the piece in June at their spring concert.

In addition to helping the students progress musically, Corujo says these interactions open the door to the university for the high schoolers.

“

IT'S POWERFUL WHEN YOU SEE SOMEBODY LIKE YOU DOING SOMETHING THAT YOU WANT TO DO IN THE FUTURE. IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE IT'S FOR YOU, THAT IT'S POSSIBLE — THAT IF I CAN SEE IT, I CAN BELIEVE IT. ”

“They’re getting more familiar with [the university], which I feel is important because there are so many opportunities that they can take advantage of that are 10 or 15 minutes down the road from them,” says Corujo. “They don’t have to go New York to see a good group or meet a cool person who’s teaching a master class.”

This fall, Mersinger has taken her students to Rutgers Band Day and a dress rehearsal and concert by Rutgers Symphonic Winds and Rutgers Symphony Band.

On December 13, the NBHS orchestra collaborated with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra (RSO) in a side-by-side free holiday concert at Nicholas Music Center—another idea Mersinger came up with and pitched to Lai, who conducts the RSO.

All of this has Mersinger’s students “feeling a part of the Mason Gross community,” she says, cementing a positive relationship with Rutgers and the idea that music can be a part of their lives, no matter where their paths may take them.

“Even if they become a biology major, they’re still going to want to play with the symphony band or the concert band or play with the marching band, or do music studies,” Mersinger says. “These are the kids who really want to do this. And music is so important to people in this community, so we should foster that and make it happen.”

LYNNE DELADE

MEL EVANS/RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Mason Gross and Marching Scarlet Knights percussionist Elena Cuesta at a rehearsal attended by the New Brunswick High School Marching Zebras; New Brunswick High School violinist Daisy Santiago preparing for a joint concert at Nicholas Music Center with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra.

FACULTY + STAFF NEWS

Kevin T. Allen sounddesigned and mixed two films that screened last fall at the New York Film Festival (NYFF): Nowhere Near, an exploration of director Miko Revereza’s family’s experiences as undocumented Filipino immigrants in the United States, which had its U.S. debut September 30 at the NYFF; and The Night Visitors, a documentary-essay on the moth that had its world premiere on October 1 at the festival.

Jacqueline Thaw, chair of Art & Design, received the Provost Award for Excellence in CrossDisciplinary Research. Thaw’s design work and research have delved into various areas, such as food equity and health.

After a nationwide search, Brandon Williams was chosen as director of choral activities. Williams is an associate professor of music education and conducting. He joined the faculty in 2016 and had been serving as interim director of choral activities over the 2023–24 school year.

Pam Tanowitz’s eponymous company performed at the Barbican Theatre in London October 11–14 and at New York City Center November 9–11. The New York City Ballet performed Tanowitz’s Gustave Le Gray No.1 for several dates in May and performed her Law of Mosaics later that month. And in June, Tanowitz accepted the 2024 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. Jacob’s Pillow leadership describe her as “an influential collaborative and creative force, admired for her abstract treatment of classical and contemporary movement ideas, informed by rigorous research.”

Jeff Friedman of the Dance Department is a recipient of a Cheryl Wall Faculty Fellowship. These fellowships recognize full-time faculty committed to the university's diverse student population. Friedman helped launch the Disability Studies minor this year. Read more about the minor on page 17.

From September 22 through October 7, Bille Bruley starred as Steve Wozniak in the San Francisco Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs

Caroline Key’s film Khôra screened on November 24 at the Tate Modern in London as part of Science, Body, Anatomy, a series examining film and medical technology. Key’s work there delved into what the Tate describes as the “exploitative origins of medical techniques still used today.”

In October, Scott Ordway was one of 10 composers to receive a Copland House Residency Award. The honor is given by Copland House Inc., a creative center for American music housed at Aaron Copland’s home, a National Historic Landmark in Cortland Manor, New York. Ordway’s song cycle “Expanse of My Soul,” a collaboration with Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, made its world premiere in February at Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall. And his multimedia symphony “The End of Rain,” a response to the recent spate of California wildfires, made its New York City premiere on April 25 in a performance by the Riverside Choral Society at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Distinguished Professor Emeritus Patrick Gardner directed the performance, which blends choral music with photography, video, and text messages sourced from those at the center of these environmental catastrophes.

Steffani Jemison was the recipient of a 2023 Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW) award. The $25,000 grant is given in “recognition of an artist’s accomplishments, artistic growth, originality, and potential” according the AWAW website, and is by nomination only.

Dance Department Chair Gerald Casel was honored with an Isadora Duncan Dance Award, aka “Izzie,” for Outstanding Achievement in Direction/Choreography for Not About Race Dance

Filmmaking’s Ryan Silbert co-wrote the Audible Original scripted drama

The Coldest Case: A Black Book Audio Drama. Aaron Paul and Krysten Ritter lend their voices to the second season, set for release this year. The project is a collaboration with James Patterson Entertainment.

Jeanine Oleson, also an alum, is the recipient of a 2023–24 Rome Prize in visual arts from the American Academy in Rome. The annual prize is awarded to American artists and scholars for research and work in the arts and humanities.

Nancy Yunhwa Rao, head of Music Theory, was elected this year to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a distinguished learning society established by the nation's Founding Fathers. Members include Charles Darwin, Margaret Mead, and Alexander Hamilton. Rao told Rutgers Today that her research, which explores the influence of Chinese opera on American life, is “not a recognition of me alone, it’s the recognition of the community, this history. It’s the recognition of Asian Americans, of people before me and their history.”

On November 15, the university’s Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes (CACP) honored Music faculty Julia Baumanis with the Torchbearer Award. According to CACP, the Torchbearer Award recognizes those who work

to further “diversity, inclusion, equity, and access…through their academic research, teaching, community engagement, and/or workplace engagement, program development, and leadership.” One of Baumanis’s students, Zoë D’Amico, nominated her for the award. “She works tirelessly to provide the best environment for her students, teach future educators how to be inclusive and incorporate diversity in their own teaching, and use her own platform to empower her own students, community, and women in her field,” D’Amico said in her speech at the ceremony.

Music and Jewish Culture in Early Modern Italy: New Perspectives, edited by Lynette Bowring, Rebecca Cypess, and Liza Malamut (Indiana University Press, 2022), earned the Ruth A. Solie Award from the American Musicological Society and the book award from the Jewish Studies and Music Study Group.

Collective Wisdom, the new album by Louis Levitt’s indie-classical quintet, Sybarite 5, debuted at No. 1 in October on Billboard’s Traditional Classical charts.

Ani Javian received a 2024–25 Fulbright Scholar Award for her project “Listening Inward, Moving Outward: Dance and Memory, Story, and Trauma,” to teach and conduct research in Yerevan, Armenia. She will travel to Yerevan in the fall.

CONCERTS FROM YOUR COUCH

Catch live-streamed music performances from Nicholas Music Center! Stream performances at go.rutgers.edu/nmcstream, or browse the events on our website and click on the “View the Live Stream” button.

Matt Hekking, from left, Karma Price, Abby Sanchez, Kagen Albright, and Eden Jing Rollé in Rutgers Theater Company’s 2022 production of Carlo Gozzi’s The Little Green Birdie, directed by Head of Dramaturgy Christopher Cartmill. Cartmill spent part of the spring 2024 semester as a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome, prepping a translation of the play for publication.

MATT PILSNER

NEW FACULTY

DEANGELO BLANCHARD

“I feel as though art has its place to both reflect and imagine what life is and could be. As much as it has answers, I think it must also ask questions, both from the participant and the observer.” Blanchard is assistant professor of professional practice in the Dance Department.

B ILLE BRULEY

“You know what makes you who you are…No one else can tell you that. So, lean into what makes you a person…and what makes you an artist.” Bruley is an assistant professor of voice in the Music Department.

A MANDA EUBANKS WINKLER

“Music history has taught me the ways in which music can promote understanding among people— playing and singing together can foster deep and abiding relationships. In essence, my knowledge of music history frames the way I engage with the world.” Eubanks Winkler is the director of the Music Department.

ENABLING

MELANIE GEORGE

“Each creative project I undertake involves a three-pronged approach to inquiry–pedagogy, choreography, and research–simultaneously exploring the topic in the classroom, while creating original work for the stage, and investigating it through the written word. My role is as the conduit to learning, not the container of knowledge.” George is an assistant professor in the Dance Department.

S HELLEY ZHANG

“When I was in university, I couldn’t find much writing about people like me, even though there were so many Asians in music schools. It inspired me to do the research and create the writing I so craved about Chinese involvement in Western classical music and the diversity that does exist in this musical practice, but that is not talked about enough.” Zhang is an assistant professor of ethnomusicology in the Music Department.

CREATIVITY

In October, Park McArthur, the Tepper Family Endowed Chair in Visual Arts, wrote a short essay that appeared on the Rutgers Today website as part of a National Disability Employment Awareness Month feature, “Rethinking Our Understanding of Disabilities.” McArthur began: “Disability is a consistently instructive force in my life, teaching me about everything from the nature of love to the imperative of humor. What I’ve learned from disability is creativity, finding connections across distance and isolation, intergenerational knowledge, and care.

”

In April, McArthur was named a Guggenheim Fellow in Fine Arts, one of three Rutgers faculty in the 2024 cohort.

NICK ROMANENKO

Kristina Zaidner

JD Urban

Rosalind Zhang

Curtis Brown

Jason Winkler

ALUMNI + STUDENT NEWS

Theater alum Manon Stieglitz appears in the Netflix fantasyhorror film Damsel, alongside Millie Bobby Brown, Angela Bassett, and Robin Wright. The film premiered at New York City’s Paris Theater in March.

From March 16 through April 20, Art & Design alum Jamian JulianoVillani had a solo show, It, at Gagosian Chelsea, one of the most high-profile galleries in the contemporary art world. Concurrently, one of Juliano-Villani’s paintings was featured on the April cover of Artforum “The delirious excess that courses through Jamian Juliano-Villani’s irreverent paintings thwarts any easy effort at interpretation,” Lola Kramer wrote of the show in Artforum

In April, the Imagen Foundation included Dance alum Eric Ortega in their 2024 class of Influential Latinos in Media. The awards ceremony took place in Los Angeles. Ortega is an executive producer for ABC News.

Theater alum Camila Canó-Flaviá is in the cast of Peter Morgan’s (The Crown) new play Patriots, which opened April 22 on Broadway and runs through June 23.

Art & Design alum Malcolm Peacock was named one of this year’s artists in residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. The residency supports artists of African and Afro-Latinx descent with, among other things, studio space, professional development guidance, and an exhibition. Peacock is the recipient of a 2024 Grant to Artists from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

We welcomed back several dance alumni in September to kick off our fall season at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The Alumni Dance Concert featured choreography and performances by Chantal Taluba, Rebecca Pavelko, Erin Ambry, Taja Fooks-Thornton, Camille Rennie, Elena Yasin, Anne Tantuico, Michayla Pannullo, Marianna Allen, Julia Ramirez, Juliana Martino, Madison Meredith, Leah Hansen, Nayaa Opong, Rachel Calabrese, Sawyer Newsome, and Mamie Green. Thank you all for reminding the New Brunswick arts community what a dance powerhouse we are!

Music alum and soprano Sonya Headlam made her debut with the New York Philharmonic in October at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall.

In November, the American Cinematheque honored Theater alum Kevin Goetz and his company, Screen Engine, with the Power of Cinema Award. As the founder and CEO one of the few firms that conducts specialized research on Hollywood’s movies and TV content, Goetz is “often the ‘go-to’ person when filmmakers and studios need insights into how to fix or market their pictures,” American Cinematheque says. Screen Engine has test-screened thousands of movies, including Hollywood blockbusters Titanic, Forrest Gump, 12 Years a Slave, Green Book, and Nomadland. The awards were hosted by Helen Mirren at The Beverly Hilton.

A huge thank-you to alumni Merli Guerra (Dance), Landon G. Woodson (Theater), Emily Eng (Filmmaking), Cass Sicherer (Art & Design), and Patrick B. Phillips (Music) for speaking to our first-year students and sharing their experiences on November 3 as part of “MGSA Alumni Interplay.” Introduced in 2022, the one-credit “Interplay” class is designed to bring all five MGSA departments together to focus on the themes of play, experimentation, and exploration.

Film alum Zack Morrison’s pilot Canusa Street won Best Episodic Series at the 2023 Big Apple Film Festival. Canusa Street is a Scarlet affair: Theater alum Sierra Tothero stars as Harley, and Christopher Pasi (SCI) serves as executive producer along with David Lonski (SOE, Law). Jon Newman (RC) serves as associate producer, and David Seamon (SCI) is the composer on the show.

In the fall, Art & Design student Jonathan Wenur received the school’s inaugural Liu Shiming Scholarship from the Liu Shiming Art Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of modernist Chinese sculptor Liu Shiming.

In April, Theater alum Lia Romeo wrote an essay in Newsweek about her decision process for reconstructive surgery after breast cancer. “I’d like to be kind to myself. I’d like to not feel weak if I decide that I don’t want to put myself through pain in order to be like other people,” she wrote. Romeo’s play STILL, starring Jayne Atkinson and Tim Daly, ran off-Broadway in April and May.

Theater alum Sebastian Stan’s latest film is The Apprentice, in which he stars as former president Donald J. Trump. The biopic debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The BBC calls Stan’s turn as Trump an “excellent, nuanced performance.” Stan is set to reprise his role as the Winter Soldier/ Bucky Barnes in Marvel’s Thunderbolts, set for a May 2, 2025, release.

Alum Pope.L (William Pope), a conceptual and performance artist who examined themes of race and class, died in December 2023 at age 68. Pope.L worked in a variety of media but was perhaps best known for his “crawls,” including a 2001 performance in which he crawled the length of Broadway in Manhattan wearing a Superman costume. He was also a teacher at Bates College in Maine and taught in the visual arts department of the University of Chicago. Read tributes to Pope.L from across the art world on the alumni page of our website.

The Polish Ministry of Culture selected Open Group, which counts MFA Art & Design student Anton Varga among its members, to represent Poland at the Venice Biennale. The group’s work is featured in the Polish Pavilion through November 24.

Music alums Mariana Ramirez, Mesia Austin, and Mikayla Bertelsen seem to be everywhere: Ramirez plays electronic percussion and midi keyboard for SIX on Broadway; Bertelsen played an array of orchestral percussion instruments with The Broadway Sinfonietta on a recent national tour of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” Live in Concert; and Austin plays “a lot of equipment,” Austin says, for the first national tour of MJ The Musical.

GRACE KATHRYN LANDEFELD

Alum Kyle Marshall’s dance company, featuring alums José Lapaz-Rodriguez (left, also on faculty) and Alexandria Francois (right), made its Joyce Theater debut in November with three New York City premieres, including Ruin, pictured. Alum Meagan Woods constructed the costumes for the run.

HOW WE MET

Theater alum Mike Colter gained recognition for his portrayal of Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while his wife, Rutgers alum Iva Colter, is vice president of talent acquisition at Netflix.

Their own adventure started off-screen, in New Brunswick.

“We met at the gym on Douglass Campus in 2000,” Mike Colter says. “We used to often spend any money we had thrift shopping at a second-hand store near the College Avenue campus or meeting friends at the original Doll’s Place near the train station. We often frequented Evelyn’s for food and occasionally Makeda’s Ethiopian restaurant when we could afford it. The experience would definitely not have been the same for either of us if we hadn’t met.”

PROUDLY "FIRST GEN"

By Emily Soper

Jazz saxophonist Brandon Mejia is determined to make the most of his college experience. The first-generation college student is busy double-majoring in jazz studies and information technology and informatics—plus, he’s shouldering two minors, in Latino and Hispanic Caribbean studies and music technology.

“I come from a family of immigrants,” says Mejia, whose mother emigrated from Ecuador and father from El Salvador. Mejia grew up in Newark, which he describes as, “filled with generations of diverse immigrant families that

seek bigger opportunities for their children.”

Mejia says he was relieved to encounter students with similar backgrounds when he arrived at Rutgers.

“Meeting other first-generation students on campus, it only made me prouder to have ‘first-generation student’ as part of my identity,” says Mejia, who is set to graduate in 2025 with a bachelor of music degree. “My parents worked hard to get me to college, and now I work hard to be the first in my family to earn a college degree.”

COURTESY OF MIKE COLTER

Mike and Iva Colter frequented the original Doll's Place bar and restaurant (RIP, Doll's!) on French Street.

ELZBIETA KACIUBA

CAPITOL STEPS

D ANCE ALUM’S IMPROV SKILLS SERVE HER WELL AS A CONGRESSIONAL STAFFER

By Debbie Meyers

C ourtesy of Rutgers University Alumni Association

Keeping on your toes; remaining flexible; learning to pivot; landing on your feet, with grace. Megan Amen has translated the skills she mastered as a dancer at Mason Gross, and the knowledge she gained from her Rutgers political science classes, into a job as a congressional staffer for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC). Amen has served in the position of executive assistant and legislative aide since 2022.

“My friends here ask, ‘Why dance?’” she says. “‘What does that give you?’ And I say, it makes me think in a different way. For example, problem solving: In dance, you would be in the most awkward positions on the floor. How do you get out of this twisted pretzel? You’d have to think of multiple ways. Spatial awareness: I definitely have it.”

EMPLOYERS LIKE MY DANCE BACKGROUND WITH POLITICAL SCIENCE. THAT BACKGROUND SHOWED I COULD MULTITASK AND ACCLIMATE TO DIFFERENT THINGS.”

As a Mason Gross student, Amen attended a one-year program at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich, England. During Amen’s free

DEATH DATES AND DEATH NOTIFICATION DATES THAT WERE RUN FOR THIS LIST: APRIL 1, 2023, to MARCH 31, 2024

THE MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS COMMUNITY REPORTS WITH GREAT SADNESS THE LOSS OF ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE SCHOOL. WE EXTEND OUR CONDOLENCES TO EACH OF THEIR FAMILIES AND CLASSMATES.

Raymond H. Battle, COOK ’51 BS, Donor, November 30, 2023

Hannah H. Blakeman, MGSA ’84 BFA, January 22, 2022

Richard B. Blumstein, RC ’62 BA, Donor, March 14, 2024

Sara M. Bober, GSNB ’79 MA, Donor, November 11, 2023

Cathy A. Bonett, M.S.Ed., MGSA ’89 BFA, June 23, 2023

Diane M. Booth, UCNB ’72 BA, SSW ’75, Donor, June 27, 2023

Meredith C. Boyan, MGSA ’07 BM, GMGA ’13, Donor, August 10, 2023

Ruth Ann M. Burns, DC ’67 BA, GSNB ’75, Donor, April 9, 2023

David Ross Caffery, ED ’63 BS, Donor, November 19, 2023

Charlotte Ferris Casey, PHAR ’50 BS, Donor, June 6, 2023

Donald E. Cook, RC ’71 BA, Donor, October 24, 2023

Blair D. Foster, ENG ’56 BS, Donor, December 29, 2023

Dr. Joyce Y. Freundlich, DC ’57 BA, GSED ’80, Donor, July 31, 2023

Walter M. Godwin, RC ’49 BS, Donor, September 19, 2022

Samuel Goldfarb, ENG ’45 BS, Donor, August 21, 2023

Joseph E. Gonzalez Jr., GSNB ’59 MA, Donor, April 27, 2023

The Honorable Martin L. Greenberg, RC ’54 BA, NLAW ’56, Donor, March 22, 2023

Frederick E. Gruninger, ED ’53 BS, GSED ’61, Donor, December 1, 2023

Edward W. Hazen, ENG ’70 BS, Donor, June 17, 2023

William J. Healey, Esq., RC ’74 BA, CLAW ’77, Donor, November 6, 2023

Barbara J. Ikeler, Esq., SCILS ’79 MLS, NLAW ’98, Donor, December 14, 2023

Larry V. Jones, MGSA ’86 BM, October 3, 2023

Frederick Kramps, RC ’55 BA, Donor, October 15, 2023

12 MASON GROSS

After graduating from Rutgers, Amen entered a new online program to earn a master’s degree in international affairs at Arizona State University, while interning at a law firm and working part time. Then a professor recommended her for the job in Washington, D.C., which involved scheduling, communications, and social media. She interviewed, and two weeks later she got the job.

Amen describes the initial experience as “otherworldly.”

“I could walk into the Capitol whenever I want, because I have a badge,” says Amen. “And I felt like that was the coolest thing at the time.”

time, budget allowing, she traveled throughout Europe, to places like Austria, Scotland, France, Italy, and Ukraine.

Living abroad for her junior year is “what made me fall in love with international relations, because I had the opportunity to travel the world,” she says. The world “was in my backyard. It was that easy. And dance on top of that—I had teachers from all over the world. I didn’t want to leave.”

It’s also hard work and long hours. During session weeks, she says, you never know when the day starts and when the day ends. But she remains ambitious to climb the D.C. ladder. For her next move, Amen is considering working with the State Department as a foreign service officer, or possibly with the Department of Defense, or the CIA or FBI.

“Employers like my dance background with political science,” she says. “That background, that I’ve traveled abroad, that I danced for a long time—it showed I could multi-task and acclimate to different things.”

Robert H. Levan, Esq., RC ’52 BA, Donor, April 28, 2022

Wilbur W. Lewis, GMGA ’97 MM, June 26, 2023

Wolfred L. Margolies, RC ’52 BA, Donor, June 25, 2021

Jean Van Welden McCloughan, DC ’44 BA, Donor, July 28, 2023

Norman H. McNatt, RC ’64 BA, GSNB ’66, Donor, July 26, 2023

M. Richard Mekenian, AG ’59 BS, GSNB ’75, Donor, July 26, 2023

R M. Miller, Retired Faculty, MGSA, Donor, February 2, 2024

Dr. Brent J. Monahan, RC ’71 BA, GSNB ’74, Donor, August 31, 2023

Dr. Jay Monari, AG ’55 BS, Donor, April 1, 2023

Jay O'Neill, ENG ’62 BS, Donor, April 27, 2023

David Alan Petras, RC ’62 BA, Donor, May 2, 2023

Pope.L (William Pope), MGSA ’84 MFA, Donor, December 23, 2023

Betty H. Raby, DC ’68 BA, Donor, January 24, 2023

Gary Ramsey, MGSA ’84 MFA, September 15, 2023

Bernhard A. Rosenstein, RC ’69 BA, Donor, October 17, 2023

Dr. William R. Safarjan, GSNB ’80 DP, Donor, August 12, 2023

Lucas Samaras, RC ’59 BA, March 7, 2024

Dr. Ronald R. Sauers, Retired Faculty, Donor, December 2, 2023

Lauren E. Bye Schwiers, MGSA ’07 BM, May 7, 2023

Marilyn Strauss, SCILS ’69 MLS, Donor, January 14, 2023

Ruth Van Duyne Tait, DC ’47 BS, Donor, June 10, 2023

Professor Josef S. Thanner, Retired Faculty, Donor, January 17, 2024

Leonard Sheldon Wane, RC ’54 BA, Donor, November 1, 2022

Michael E. Wanzie, MGSA ’91 BFA, Donor, November 15, 2023

Alan O. Wilson, ENG ’53 BS, Donor, December 27, 2023

Benjamin S. Wolfe, SB ’59 BS, RBSG ’64, Donor, July 8, 2023

All death notifications included in this issue of our magazine were submitted to the university after our last issue in spring 2023 and before going to press on this issue. We apologize for any omissions and ask that loved ones of deceased alumni, friends, donors to the school, faculty, and staff notify us by emailing records@rutgersfoundation.org. Please be sure to include the full name of the deceased (and name as a student), death date, class year, and major. Thank you.

COURTESY OF MEGAN AMEN

SETTING THE SCENE

RENOWNED SCENIC DESIGNER R. MICHAEL MILLER TAUGHT THE CRAFT AT RUTGERS WITH A METICULOUS WORK ETHIC AND A LEGENDARY SENSE OF HUMOR

By Risa Barisch

R. Michael Miller, former head of scenic design in the Theater Department who taught at Rutgers for nearly three decades until his retirement in 2019, died February 2 at age 70.

Miller’s work was seen on Broadway (Souvenir, Eminent Domain, The Boys in Autumn), off-Broadway, and at storied regional venues across the country including the Guthrie Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among many others. He was an assistant art director on the feature films Falling in Love, Shadows and Fog, and Bullets Over Broadway, and he assisted on several productions for American Ballet Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera House.

But in the classroom, he was best known for his dedication to teaching and love for storytelling.

“Sometimes, we would casually talk about a play, like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, and our discussion of character or concept would bring tears to his eyes,” remembers MFA alum Gennie Neuman Lambert “Then, he would stop, acknowledge the importance of the work, and get back to that ground plan or sketch.”

Through education in classic skills like hand drafting and integrating architectural history into a work, Miller taught design “almost like a language,” says Lambert, “an art that helped you learn how to think in a fluid and confident way.”

“He taught you how to solve problems in a way that elevated your storytelling sensibilities and expression,” says Lambert, a scenic designer and assistant professor of theater at Kent State University. “Artistically, he let you be yourself but always pushed us to create complete ideas to bring out the best in our directors and collaborators.”

Miller helped countless theater students realize their visions for oncampus performances as they worked toward their degrees.

Alum Michole Biancosino had the opportunity to work with Miller on a production of Maria Irene Fornés’s Mud, which she directed at Levin Theater as a thesis project to earn her MFA in directing in 2006.

Miller and Biancosino met for months to discuss the play before laying a groundwork of ideas about the set, lighting, and costumes. Miller encouraged Biancosino and the student designers to explore the play

from all angles: reading articles and books and sharing in-depth research collected over weeks of study.

“It was the best process I’ve had to date, and I use it as a model each time I embark on a new piece with designers,” says Biancosino, the co-founding artistic director of Project Y Theatre Company in New York City who has also taught courses at Rutgers. “He taught me how I wanted to work.”

Miller’s dedication to teaching was so strong that he used a phrase—“the Rutgers Guarantee”—to describe the support he offered to students throughout their careers, says Ellen Bredehoft, chair of the Theater Department and head of costume technology. On May 18, the department hosted a memorial for Miller at Levin Theater.

Miller emphasized that, as a teacher, “we are always there for the students, even after they walk at graduation and receive their degree,” says Bredehoft. “We’re all a part of the Rutgers Theater family.”

“Michael was the best of all of us,” Bredehoft says. “He was compassionate, funny, and supportive of every student, staff, and faculty member. He was the gentle giant who constantly challenged us to be the best version of ourselves.”

Perhaps even more legendary than Miller’s designs—which were featured in Setting the Stage: The Art of Theatrical Design, an exhibition in 2007 at SUNY Brockport—was his sense of humor.

Biancosino recalls that Miller collected toys and would bring them to class on occasion as a sort of stress reliever in what could be an intense environment. He had a “sense of joy and mirth, which was palpable and contagious,” Biancosino says.

“He loved to laugh, and he loved theater and play. I will never forget how he’d light up when responding to students’ ideas in the room—he was curious and he [gave] us an opportunity to take part in a path of creativity and curiosity.”

For Lambert, Miller’s generosity and helpful nature, along with his funloving attitude, are qualities she strives to bring to her own work.

“I’m sure I’m not the only MGSA alum who puts little toys and monsters in scale models to make the carpenters smile,” says Lambert. “I think those big-picture theater-artist values and those small traditions will keep going in his students.”

DRAWING ON EXPERIENCE

In December, first-year Art & Design student Hope Clemens took up our challenge to sketch a day in her crazy-busy life as a commuter. Clemens posted a six-panel graphic narrative, along with commentary detailing trips on the EE bus toting her supplies, and six-hour collage and graphic novel studio classes, which she calls “a labor of love.” View the entire narrative at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag, or on our Instagram feed @mgsarutgers.

MATT RAINEY

MACARTHUR “GENIUS” GRANT

C OURTNEY BRYAN STUDIED JAZZ PIANO PERFORMANCE AT MASON GROSS

In October, Music alumna Courtney Bryan was named among 2023’s cohort of MacArthur Fellows. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has administered the prestigious awards, also known as “genius grants,” annually since 1981, to 20–30 individuals in fields such as physics, public health, visual arts, and American history. Fellows each receive a five-year, $800,000 grant. Recipients cannot apply for MacArthur Fellowships; they must be nominated.

Bryan, a composer and pianist whose socially conscious work is steeped in jazz, classical, and sacred music, studied jazz piano performance at Mason Gross.

“I take this MacArthur award as an affirmation of my own unique path that I’ve been pursuing for many years and an encouragement to keep dreaming bigger,” says Bryan, who studied at Rutgers primarily with late jazz pianist and composer Stanley Cowell, as well as with Conrad Herwig, current head of jazz studies. “I will be thinking a lot during this time about ways to expand my creative process as a composer and pianist, and as an educator and curator.” Bryan serves as the Albert and Linda Mintz Professor of Music at Tulane University in New Orleans. In 2022, Opera Philadelphia named her their Composer in Residence.

Bryan credits her time at Rutgers with exposing her to a wider world of piano styles. Her work has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

“With Stanley Cowell, I did a deep dive into many piano styles, starting with early stride piano pianists like Jelly Roll Morton and [New Brunswicknative] James P. Johnson, to introducing me to the music of Vijay Iyer,” a 2013 MacArthur Fellow. “I loved learning Cowell’s compositions and remain fascinated by his unique form of virtuosity at the piano,” says Bryan, who also points to Cowell’s practice of Buddhism and her time studying with George Lewis at Columbia University as critical to her work. “My time in New Brunswick was foundational as it was my move to the East Coast, and I met a lot of musicians that I worked with while getting my first gigs as a bandleader

CHANGEMAKER

ALUM HAS SPEARHEADED A COMMUNITY ARTS MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR NEARLY THREE DECADES

“

MY TIME IN NEW BRUNSWICK WAS FOUNDATIONAL."

in New York. My recent piano concerto, House of Pianos, was largely inspired by thinking of my lessons with Stanley Cowell and the expansiveness of the repertoire we covered together.”

Among Bryan’s works is “Yet Unheard,” which sets poetry by Sharan Strange to Bryan’s score as a musical memorial to Sandra Bland, whose death in police custody in 2013 raised questions of racial injustice and racial profiling. Several Rutgers students performed “Yet Unheard” in 2022 in New York City.

“As an artist, the best way for me to deal with emotions brought on by these questions is through music,” Bryan told Rutgers music students when she visited campus in 2022. “Through music, my aim was to mourn the tragedy of what happened to Sandra Bland and her unfinished contributions to the world, and yet celebrate the strength of her spirt and recognize her humanity.”

On May 9, Bryan served as the Mason Gross School’s convocation speaker. Past Rutgers “geniuses” include Art & Design alum Joan Snyder and artist Kara Walker, former Tepper Chair in Visual Arts.

By Evie Duvert

Alum Claudio Mir is a co-founder and artistic director of Artists Mentoring Against Racism, Drugs & Violence: Healing Through the Arts (AMARD&V), a communitybased summer program in operation for nearly 30 years. The initiative pairs local artists with New Brunswick youth ages 10 to 16. The mentorship allows participants to use the arts—film, sculpture, dance, etc.—as a tool for exploring and communicating about issues such as identity, inequalities, race, and discrimination. Mir, senior program coordinator for community outreach

at the university’s Collaborative Center for Community Engagement, says of the program: “I kept working and pushing to create a safe space for art to happen within our communities. I’m always so proud of all the young people the program has touched and everything we have been able to accomplish since then.” In 2023, Mir was inducted into the Rutgers African-American Alumni Alliance (RAAA) Hall of Fame, and in May, he served as Middlesex College’s commencement speaker.

NICK ROMANENKO

COURTESY OF THE JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION

BELOVED COMMUNITY

THE DEPARTMENT OF ART & DESIGN HAS PRIORITIZED CONNECTING MGSA'S NEIGHBORS WITH STUDENT ART

THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION MGSA MERCH

Art & Design BFA class of 2024 design student Disha Basu created this year’s Mason Gross Signature Collection of tees, magnets, and tote bags (pictured). View the collection at go.rutgers.edu/shopmgsa

The Mason Gross-branded e-shop features a variety of apparel and all kinds of merch, such as coffee mugs and keychains. T-shirts and sweatshirts can be personalized with identifiers such as “Actor,” “Artist,” “Dancer,” “Designer,” “Musician,” “Filmmaker,” etc. Keep checking the site: New offerings are added periodically.

In September, the newly opened Mexican Consulate in New Brunswick hosted a reception to honor Art & Design students for their exhibition Welcome to Your New Home. The show was part of a public art initiative Mason Gross launched in partnership with the New Brunswick Cultural Center and the Arts Institute of Middlesex County. Participating student artists were Maurice Gordon, Beatryz Mendes, Rosiris Ramirez, Elena Escobar, and Amanda Spinweber Mendes’s work also is installed in President Holloway’s office suite at Winants Hall, along with the works of students Kabi Lama and Henry Wang The president hosted the trio on February 21 at a reception celebrating the installation.

Meanwhile, work by student Alfred Dudley III, alum Krishna Schroth, and senior

advisor and student success counselor Amee Pollack was on view from January 15 through March 31 in public spaces as part of the annual Windows of Understanding community-building series of art installations. The initiative pairs 20 nonprofits with artists to produce installations reminding viewers that strides are being made by community members committed to addressing issues such as climate change, food equity, violence prevention, and human rights. Works were spread throughout New Brunswick and four other communities in Middlesex and Union counties.

Windows of Understanding was co-founded in 2018 by Art & Design staff member and Rutgers alumna Cassandra Oliveras-Moreno

SUPPORT THE NEW MASON GROSS STUDENT EMERGENCY FUND

Increasingly, our students are facing unanticipated challenges that negatively impact their academic career. These sudden disruptions not only have an emotional and mental impact, but they often also demand financial resources. This inevitably leads to additional pressure and anxiety as students struggle to support themselves while simultaneously striving to maintain satisfactory academic progress.

Please consider making a gift to the Mason Gross Student Emergency Fund to support our students. The fund, launched in March 2024, provides access to necessary financial relief for all Mason Gross students.

"Our students have financial needs that range from meeting their tuition bills, buying supplies for classes, dealing with unexpected medical costs, and meeting their rent payments," says academic and faculty affairs administrator Alexis White White co-founded the fund with Lisa Sanon-Jules, assistant dean for advising and student success.

Have questions? Please contact Denyse Reed, Director of Development, at (848) 932-5197 or denyse.reed@mgsa.rutgers.edu

Give now at go.rutgers.edu/givemgsa

Who Am I? by student Elena Escobar was on view throughout the school year at the new Mexican Consulate on George Street in downtown New Brunswick. Oil on canvas, 36 inches-by-48 inches.

COURTESY OF ELENA ESCOBAR

STUDENT

GIVES VOICE

TO QUEER MUSICIANS AND THEIR ALLIES VIA A NEW ENSEMBLE

By Lisa Intrabartola Courtesy of Rutgers Today

Mal Malone knew she was a musician long before she knew she was a trans woman.

Nearly a decade after picking up the recorder in elementary school, the bass trombone player embraced her full identity as a queer musician last year.

After coming out, Malone felt empowered to take on a new challenge: cofounding Rutgers Rainbow Symphony, the university’s first collective of all queer musicians and allies performing music by queer and other underrepresented composers.

“This is a piece of the puzzle I’d been missing for a while,” says Malone, who graduated in May with a BM in music performance. “I’ve grown into myself more as I’ve taken on this leadership position in Rainbow Symphony.”

Her friend and cofounder, Brian Yumiguano, who has had a front-row seat to Malone’s trajectory at Rutgers as an artist and trans woman, says she’s flourished in the role of musical director and conductor for the new ensemble.

“Before Rainbow Symphony, she was still exploring her gender and everything that comes with that, but in the last year I did see her really delve into being a trans person—especially in our field, where there aren’t a lot of women to begin with, let alone queer people,” says Yumiguano, a junior music education major who plays the horn and identifies as nonbinary.

The pair first formed a Queer Quintet on a whim in the fall of 2022 around the time Malone came out. The informal collective of five queer brass musicians specifically sought out arrangements by queer composers.

“I’ve been playing band music since middle school, and one of the striking things I notice is that we are just playing music by straight white men,” says Malone. “There’s a lot of established people in the band repertoire, and these are the safe people who get programmed instead of people digging for new options."

While queer composers are hardly a rarity, they—along with female and underrepresented composers—do tend to be less visible in the canon of classical music, says Associate Director of University Bands Julia Baumanis, who co-advises Rainbow Symphony with Todd Nichols, director of university bands.

“What we are talking about is who was hired and who was given a chance. It’s all these stereotypes and strange social constructs that have kept people marginalized in these areas,” Baumanis says. “Until the scales are adjusted, and equity is achieved, we must celebrate and do more to include those who have been historically marginalized.”

The group’s shared goal of intentional representation is why Nichols refers to Rainbow Symphony as “an ensemble of purpose.”

“For me it’s a beautiful celebration of those in the LGBTQIA+ community and allies of the community,” Nichols says. “It’s a safe space where your voice is amplified, and you can come together and not only celebrate these composers and musicians but expose them to a wider audience so that more people can be aware of this great music.”

The first Queer Quintet experience was such an “uplifting” experience, says Malone, that the group was considering an expansion by the summer.

“We just wanted to take that idea and put it on a bigger scale,” she says. “The

“

THIS IS A PIECE OF THE PUZZLE I'D BEEN MISSING FOR A WHILE."

brass quintet seemed like something that would stop after me and the other trombone players graduated. We wanted to create something that would have a lasting legacy.”

The quintet put out feelers among all the existing ensembles at Rutgers.

As a member of eight other groups at Rutgers—Marching Scarlet Knights, Symphony Band, Jazz Ensemble 1 and 2, Scarlet Knights Jazz Trombones, Rutgers Trombone Choir, Latin American Chamber Music Ensemble, and Rutgers Sinfonia—Malone made the most of her established connections.

By fall, they had more than 40 queer musicians and allies on board, and the collective Rainbow Symphony was born. Yumiguano took on the role of group president, handling communications and paperwork, while Malone guided the group musically.

“I’ve gained a lot of sympathy for the people who I’ve seen on the podium in my life,” she says. “I never realized how much work you have to put in to run an ensemble officially and well.”

The pair says they feel seen and safe at Rutgers, but that growing incidents of violence and bias toward the queer community do weigh on them and were instrumental in their decision to form this group.

“Queer people and trans people are being attacked for just being who they are,” says Yumiguano. “We are taking space that wasn’t available to us before.”

Their first performance in November featured works by underrepresented composers—including those who are queer, women or Black, brown, and indigenous. Malone, who did most of the conducting, says the performance left her feeling energized.

“Usually, the second I’m done with a performance, it’s like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” she says. “But this time, when I got to take a moment to relish all the work that had gone into it and the wonderful outcomes, I was really happy.”

Watch the Rutgers Rainbow Symphony in rehearsal at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag.

SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE

Chancellor Francine Conway (front, in plaid), from

President Jonathan

, and his

Aisling

gather with third-year actors and Theater faculty Ellen

and

Knight

on the steps of the legendary Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. Conway, Holloway, and Colón stayed on for the students’ production of Much Ado About Nothing, which took place in February and served as the culmination of the actors’ months-long participation in the Rutgers Conservatory at Shakespeare's Globe program.

LYNNE DELADE

left,

Holloway

wife,

Colón,

Bredehoft

Cameron

(both at right)

CESARE DE GIGLIO

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

TWO NEW ACADEMIC MINORS INTEGRATE THE ARTS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL AND DISABILITY STUDIES

In the fall, Mason Gross collaborated with several other schools at Rutgers to launch two interdisciplinary minors: Creative Expression and the Environment and Disability Studies.

Mason Gross partnered with the School of Arts of Sciences (SAS), as well as the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) to launch Creative Expression and the Environment. The minor is a multidisciplinary program that helps students gain familiarity with fundamentals of environmental issues and learn to respond to them through a variety of disciplines and media in the arts and humanities.

The minor was designed by Rebecca Cypess, MGSA

THE HEALING ARTS

associate dean for academic affairs and professor of musicology; Mary Nucci, associate teaching professor in the Department of Human Ecology at SEBS; and Jorge Marcone, associate dean in the Division of Humanities and a professor of Spanish and Portuguese and comparative literature at SAS.

“A major point to why this minor is so valuable is that students will have a basic grounding in environmental science, humanities, and arts,” Nucci said in The Daily Targum. “And, given the range of possible electives, [students will] be able to follow their own interests to build out their education in environmental concerns.”

Jeff Friedman of the Dance Department participated in a multiyear effort to create the Disability Studies minor. Friedman serves as the director of the Integrated Dance Collaboratory (IDC), a research center promoting dance as an intervention for public health, wellness, and education, among other areas. The IDC has a particular interest in integrating people with a variety of disabilities. To that end, the IDC

S CARLET ARTS RX COLLABORATION LAUNCHES AS PART OF ARTS IN HEALTH INITIATIVE

The Chancellor’s Office at Rutgers-New Brunswick has awarded Mason Gross $555,000 over two years to launch Scarlet Arts Rx, an Arts on Prescription program to be implemented in collaboration with the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP). Scarlet Arts Rx allows GSAPP’s doctoral-level clinicians working to support student wellness and mental health to be trained and supervised in “prescribing” free, enriching arts experiences provided by MGSA in its own spaces and at locations across Rutgers-New Brunswick.

MGSA’s Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will oversee Scarlet Arts Rx, while the lab manager of the Arts in Health Research Lab, Peichi Waite, will implement the program. This project is part of MGSA’s larger Arts in Health Initiative in partnership with the School of Public Health and Newark’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The initiative’s goal: to research and quantify the degree to which the arts contribute to health and wellbeing. The Arts in Health Initiative is also meant to create opportunities for MGSA students to share their artistry on campus and in the community while potentially opening up new career pathways.

has hosted classes for people with neuromuscular conditions as well as a lab for disabled choreographers.

The minor, housed at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, consists of three required courses: Introduction to Disability Studies; Disability Policy & Law; and Field Experience for Special Populations

A MOVING EXPERIENCE

Students will also select three electives from more than 60 options offered by participating schools and departments, which include, in addition to MGSA and Bloustein, the School of Management and Labor Relations, SAS, as well as SEBS and the Schools of Communication and Information, Social Work, and Education.

As a volunteer with Mason Gross’s Integrated Dance Collaboratory (IDC), BFA alum and EdM Dance Education student Lyla McLeod, left, assisted in dance and movement classes specially designed for neurodivergent individuals and for those with Parkinson’s disease. McLeod assisted faculty Natalie SchultzKahwaty, helping students to modify or master movements, and sometimes moving right alongside them.

“Working with the IDC has expanded my ideas and thoughts on how to help dancers of all ages and abilities experience the same joy that I feel from dance,” McLeod says, adding: “Each dancer was so unique, and I loved dancing with them and learning about who they are as individuals. After our dance classes, I truly felt as if I learned more from them than they learned from me.”

—As told to Emily Soper

COURTESY OF BLOUSTEIN SCHOOL/RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

The Disability Studies faculty committee, including Dance’s Jeff Friedman, second human from right.

JOHN EVANS

Trumpeting a "Master"

GRAMMY-WINNING ALUM REMEMBERS WILLIAM “PROF” FIELDER

0n October 27, Music alum Terell Stafford returned to campus to appear as guest trumpeter with the Rutgers University Jazz Ensemble. Stafford, director of jazz studies and chair of instrumental studies at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia, was there to participate in what has become a beloved tradition organized by Head of Jazz Studies Conrad Herwig:

the annual “Prof” Fielder Memorial Concert. The evening’s program featured works by Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Shaw, among others.

“I met Prof, and my whole life changed from the first day,” the Grammy winner told WBGO FM’s Doug Doyle in an interview previewing the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center performance. William “Prof”

Fielder was on faculty at Mason Gross from 1980 until his death in 2009. In addition to Stafford, Prof’s students include Wynton and Branford Marsalis, alum Sean Jones, and Grammy-winning former Rutgers student Terence Blanchard. In fact, Stafford says Wynton Marsalis advised him to study with Prof.

He’s glad he took the advice.

“From my first lesson with him, [Prof] was something else,” Stafford said. “He was a source of knowledge, and he had a particular way of teaching which evolved as you got to know him. He was an encyclopedia of wisdom when it comes to trumpet, trumpet literature, and pedagogy. He was a master.”

View the entire interview at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag.

FILM AND ACTING PROGRAMS EARN NATIONAL RANKINGS

The Wrap ranks the Rutgers Filmmaking Center 27th among its listing of 2023’s Top 50 Film Schools in the United States, and No. 7 among public film schools. “One of the jewels of the Rutgers film program is its Documentary Film Lab, which gives students the chance to make full-length, festival-worthy docs and is led by Academy Award-winner Thomas Lennon,” the entry reads. In April, Variety ranked the Filmmaking program among the Top Film Schools in North America, citing our new VR studio lab and students’ film collaborations with faculty.

Meanwhile, our acting program received some love from Backstage: The publication names the program among their list of 27 Acting Colleges You Should Know, saying: “With proximity to New York City, a small-school-on-a-big-campus feel, and alumni who are successful across TV, film, and stage, the BFA program at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts is not to be overlooked.”

LYNNE DELADE

Alum Terell Stafford onstage at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center with tenor sax student Christopher McCrum at the annual “Prof” Fielder Memorial Concert.

Excerpted from a story

by Lisa Intrabartola Courtesy of Rutgers Today

Last summer, design BFA student Disha Basu worked as a product development intern for Macy’s International Concepts Ready-to-Wear division. While working at Macy’s Manhattan flagship on Fifth Avenue, she was part of a team whose concept for a gender-neutral fashion line took first place in the department store’s “Win with Fashion” pitch competition.

“From the very beginning, I was involved in the product development process, collaborating with designers, and assisting in sample reviews,” Basu says. “This hands-on experience allowed me to understand the intricacies of bringing a fashion product from conception to the sales floor.”

Over eight weeks, her team of six interns researched buying, sustainability, marketing practices and more to design a product line of several pieces, including a blazer, cargo pants, graphic T-shirt, and bomber jacket. The all-neutral line from colors to sizing and even non-gendered display location were pegged

FASHIONING INCLUSIVITY

to a Pride month release.

“We see the LGBTQ+ community is growing big time and women and men like to wear bigger, baggier clothes these days,” she says of the concept, which may ultimately end up on in a Macy’s retail display. “We noticed some people

like buying from the men’s section regardless of gender.”

The interns on past winning pitch teams typically received call-back offers to start their postcollege careers with Macy’s—an opportunity Basu says she would certainly accept.

ESTABLISHING AN ARTISTIC LEGACY

Since 2022, when Joe and Patty Sacco’s (PHAR ’83, SPH ’00) son, Gabe Sacco, graduated with an MFA from the Department of Art & Design, the Saccos have reflected on how MGSA has impacted Gabe’s vocation. They are proud of Gabe and how he, along with other members of their family, continues an artistic legacy that originated with Joe’s maternal grandfather, D. Francis Mazzeo.

To that end, the Saccos have pledged a gift of $50,000 to establish the D. Francis Mazzeo Endowed Fund for the Arts. This endowment supports Mason Gross Art & Design students devoted to community service, particularly through research, collaborations, and creative projects involving the arts and public health. The fund will provide financial support for students to create community projects that promote physical and emotional healing through the Arts in Health Research Lab, a new partnership between Mason Gross, the School of Public Health, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

MY GRANDFATHER WAS A VISIONARY AND OPENMINDED IN HOW HE CREATED ART,” JOE SAYS.

“HE WAS PASSIONATE ABOUT ART AND OPENED THE DIALOGUE ABOUT ITS IMPORTANCE. WE HONOR HIM BY JOINING ART AND PUBLIC HEALTH, SOMETHING WE HAVE DEDICATED OUR CAREERS TO.”

All of us at Mason Gross thank the Sacco family for their generosity. To support the D. Francis Mazzeo Endowed Fund for the Arts, visit go.rutgers.edu/mazzeofund.

To learn more about how you can establish a scholarship fund or endowment, or include Mason Gross in your estate plans, please contact Denyse Reed, Director of Development, at denyse.reed@mgsa.rutgers.edu or (848) 932-5197

NICK ROMANENKO

COURTESY OF THE SACCO FAMILY

A self-portrait by D. Francis Mazzeo. Oil on canvas, 24 inches-by-18 inches.

MGSA

GRADUATION 2024

This year’s MGSA convocation was held May 9 downtown at the State Theatre, where approximately 223 students crossed the stage in recognition of receiving their degrees. The ceremony was followed by a reception at the Civic Square Building that included food, beverages, music by a student jazz ensemble, and plenty of celebratory hugs and high-fives among groups that spilled out onto the plaza.

Music alum Courtney Bryan, right, addressed the graduates, quoting from several of her mentors and inspirational figures including the late Rutgers jazz professor Stanley Cowell, artist-activist and Rutgers alum Paul Robeson, Albert Camus, Toni Morrison, and Nina Simone, among others.

Bryan, a pianist and composer, used the language of jazz in her advice to the graduating class: “As you enter this new and exciting chapter of your life with your hard-earned degrees, please embrace the idea that life is an improvisation,” said Bryan, who teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans. “...You have the tools needed to navigate, listen,

and respond to an ever-changing world and ever-growing self. When choosing your pathways, check in with yourself time to time on how your choices reflect your internal sense of purpose and of joy, and be welcome to new perspectives and approaches as you pursue this next stage of your career and life.”

Meghan Correll, bottom left, earning a BM degree in music education, acknowledged the challenges of getting to graduation day during the upheaval of the pandemic, a historic faculty strike, and continuing violence around the world.

“It’s a long journey to get where we are now,” Correll said. “The journey is never easy, but I have faith that in the dark moments, we will turn to art as both a channel and an outlet. So I implore you to go out there and continue to share your creativity and unabashed joy with the world.”

View more photos and watch the ceremony at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag

PHOTOS BY AMANDA BROWN

BINGE

Theater alum Calista Flockhart stars in one of the most buzzed-about streaming series of the year, playing socialite Lee Radziwill in Ryan Murphy’s FEUD: Capote vs. The Swans on FX. Flockhart stars alongside Demi Moore, Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Molly Ringwald, Chloë Sevigny, and Tom Hollander.

LISTEN

Several faculty and alumni were part of ensembles that took home Grammy Awards at the February 4 ceremony:  Mark Dover, faculty, and Ilmar Gavilán, alumnus: Best Classical Compendium for Passion For Bach and Coltrane; Javier Diaz , faculty, and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra: Best Opera Recording for former jazz student Terence Blanchard ’s Champion; Isrea Butler and Shawn Edmonds, alumni, with The Count Basie Orchestra: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Basie Swings The Blues

WATCH

Music alum Promise Ashu was selected as a semifinalist from more than 6,600 submissions to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, NPR Music's annual search for the next great undiscovered artist. Watch the video for Ashu's song Me, Myself & I, along with thoughts from contest judge Julien Baker (of boygenius fame), in the Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf livestream series at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag

PARI DUKOVIC/FX; COURTESY OF FX NETWORKS Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill.

ART

& DESIGN ALUM CREATES AWARD-WINNING WEB RESOURCE

FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

By Heather Pinheiro

Website designer Heather Pinheiro won the 2022 365: AIGA Year in Design award for Power + Voice, a website that serves as a resource for those seeking reproductive rights access and provides information on the history of the Roe v. Wade case. Here, she discusses her motivation for the project.

My grandmother was a passionate human rights activist. When I was young, she would tell me stories about protests she organized and rallies she attended. She fought tirelessly for women’s rights, and I had always admired her for paving the way not just for her own family, but for all women.

My grandmother passed away just before the landmark Roe v. Wade decision was overturned in 2022. I thought about everything she fought for, the impact this would have on all women, and I felt a surge of anger. This anger became the driving force behind Power + Voice.

The aftermath of Roe v. Wade’s reversal inundated women with conflicting information. It became increasingly difficult to discern reputable sources from deceptive ones. Questions swirled around abortion laws, access to birth control, clinic regulations, and the legal implications of seeking an abortion post-Supreme Court ruling. Determined to provide clarity, I decided to gather as much information

SARTORIAL TRICKS AND TREATS

THEATER ALUM OFFERS A PEEK AT HER COSTUME DESIGNS FOR LIVE WITH KELLY AND MARK 'S HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

By Emily Soper

In her work on LIVE with Kelly & Mark’s Halloween special, costume design alum Tori Sterling’s costume work is all about impressive tricks and visual treats, from a full-body Velcro suit to a candy-colored re-creation of roller-skating Barbie. Sterling’s designs for LIVE over the last two years have also included iconic characters like Marvel’s Wanda Maximoff, House of the Dragon’s Targaryen clan, and the cast of Stranger Things

“The producers work with [host] Kelly [Ripa]…and then let me know what themes we are going with, and then my assistant, Clare, and I spring into action,” Sterling told People magazine last year, referring to fellow alum Clare Lippincott. Lippincott served as a costume assistant on the 2023 show; alums Lauren McLoughlin and Jenna Swatt served as drapers.

“

WE ARE VISUAL CREATURES, SO THIS STORY NEEDED TO BE TOLD THROUGH POWERFUL DESIGN.”

as possible and compiled all these comprehensive resources in one accessible platform. I spent months conducting interviews with legal experts, lawmakers, and women sharing their abortion experiences.

I have been a web designer for more than 10 years, and I could not think of a better time to put my design skills to use than on this project. I sought to craft not just an informative platform but a narrative-driven experience. We are visual creatures, so this story needed to be told through powerful design. Through this project, I aimed to showcase the transformative potential of design in effecting positive change. I hope that emerging designers recognize the capacity of their craft to empower and uplift communities. Truly great design transcends aesthetics; it fosters understanding and mobilizes action.

Visit the Power + Voice website at powerandvoice.com

As resident costume designer for The Walt Disney Company/ ABC Television’s LIVE since 2022 (she has also worked as an exhibition consultant for shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Brooklyn Museum), Sterling oversees a variety of special episodes, including LIVE’s After Oscar Show, and LIVE’s Guinness World Record Week. Also working on the 2023 special: Theater Department chair and head of costume technology Ellen Bredehoft and faculty/alum Brian Mulligan, both serving as crafts artisans.

“Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos choose between sketch concepts and costumes,” Sterling says of the process. “I’m grateful both of them are good sports and [are] willing to put up with wearing some ridiculous stuff.”

View more of Sterling’s LIVE costume creations at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag.

Alum Tori Sterling’s designs for LIVE with Kelly and Mark’s Barbie spoof. Co-hosts Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa donned the costumes for the talk show’s 2023 Halloween special.

A screenshot from Pinheiro's Power + Voice website.

THE LAST WORD

The biggest thing for me, especially being a Black, plus-sized woman in this industry, is blurring the lines of what certain identities can play. The reason why I chose Mason Gross is how it is a community-centered program. I trust that they want to strengthen my skills and give me the tools that I need to be the artist I want to be. I want to change the world and society for the better, and it starts with seeing people that you can trust in the industry, that will fight for you and will open the doors.” – BFA acting student Alena Rose

View an extended cut of this conversation in a video at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag.

MATT PILSNER

Alena Rose, third from left, in Rutgers Theater Company’s 2022 production of Carlo Gozzi’s The Little Green Birdie

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

33 Livingston Avenue New Brunswick, NJ 08901

THE LAST LOOK

Jason Baerg: Selected Works from Tawâskweyâ was on view last fall at the Mason Gross Galleries. The MFA alum’s show was part of our annual exhibition series featuring contemporary Indigenous artists. View a timelapse video of the installation of Baerg’s laser-cut painting at go.rutgers.edu/mgsamag

LYNNE DELADE