ALUMNI IN THE NEWS
Charitable Contributions
Sevanne on Stage Sevanne Kassarjian ’87, known professionally as Sevanne Martin, spent the summer performing with the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, NH. What was special about this summer, her fifth with the company, is that they performed Thorton Wilder’s Our Town, written about the town of Peterborough while Wilder was at the nearby renowned MacDowell Artists Colony. Vanni, as “Emily,” played alongside Emmy-Award-winner James Whitmore and Mary Beth Hurt. After five years teaching and acting in New York, Vanni moved to Los Angeles this fall “to pursue her career there even in the extra-dubious environment of the actors’ union strikes.” Her husband, Paul Griffin, runs a nonprofit organization called City at Peace. The subject of a recent HBO documentary, the group works with teenagers using the performing arts to teach conflict resolution, violence prevention, and leadership skills. Vanni’s classmate Garrett Wyman ’87 is now on the group’s national board of directors.
Deb Porter-Hayes
Planned Parenthood Association of the Mercer area in Trenton, New Jersey, recently presented Edgar M. Buttenheim ’40 with its distinguished Sanger Circle Award. The award is presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of Planned Parenthood’s mission and acknowledges outstanding loyalty and generous support. Geg Buttenheim is a long-standing member of the organization’s Board of Trustees, having served as both board president and chairman of the agency’s enormously successful $3.2 million Campaign for the Future. Geg and his wife, Elizabeth, also a longtime supporter of Planned Parenthood, live in Princeton.
Sevanne Martin ’87, center, with James Whitmore and Kraig Swartz in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Taft Bulletin
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