Scene - Spring 2020

SPRING 2020

“WEST SIDE STORY”: THE EVOLUTION OF A CLASSIC The School of Drama evolves as a modern-day classic reinvents itself on stage and screen with Isaac Powell ’17 and Paloma Garcia-Lee ’08.

POWERING COMMUNITY Art unites us through these uncertain times. Discover the creativity of our students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends by searching #poweringcommunity on social media.

THE MAKING OF AN AWAKENING

1.

2.

3.

4.

1. Adia Matousek (BFA D&P ’21) paints and stains a chair built in the Gothic-revival style to create a weathered, period-appropriate look.

2. Heather Hardin (BFA D&P ’22) applies makeup to age the facial features of Jasper Keen (BFA Drama ’20).

3. Romello Huins (BFA D&P ’21) and Electra Georgiades (BFA D&P ’20) hang color-filled screen pieces to create a stained glass window effect.

4. Praveer Gangwani (BFA D&P ’23) hand finishes a garment.

1

Top photo by Peter J. Mueller All other photos by Raunak Kapoor

Eight-time Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening” explores a critical collision: confining, repressive 19th-century German society and a teenager’s world of sexual awakening, curiosity, confusion and pain. Drama and Design & Production students brought the story to life for audiences over the show’s two-weekend run earlier this school year.

The cast of “Spring Awakening” is composed of fourth-year Drama students, many portraying multiple characters.

Letter from the Interim Chancellor

“I look forward to

Photo by Wayne Reich Cover photo by Dario Acosta Back cover photo by Daniel Brown

the day when we are able to be together in person, and to create art with live audiences once more – and that day will come.”

D

ear UNCSA Community, I am pleased to present Scene, the relaunch of the UNCSA magazine. We are proud to be bringing this publication back for our alumni and the entire UNCSA community, but recognize that it comes to you in unprecedented times, as our nation and the world have been plunged into crisis by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our faculty, alumni, students and staff have been removed from the theaters, concert halls, stages and studios where we do our work, as well as from the audiences with whom we share it.

Over the past two months, UNCSA and other arts and higher education institutions across the country have been forced to rapidly transition to remote instruction, which has created a physical distance between faculty and students to which we are not accustomed.

These are challenging moments for us all, but we are moving forward and making great progress each day. We will get through this, and will do so by caring for and supporting one another – working together to see that our community of artists across the country and the world comes out even stronger on the other side.

It has been inspiring to see artists everywhere find innovative ways to continue to share their work in our now almost exclusively online world; helping, as art does, to give a voice and face to what people are experiencing and provide a salve in these trying times. Despite the challenges, the distance has not kept our student artists from sharing their creative work. You can see for yourself how UNCSA artists are inspiring our community by following #poweringcommunity on social media. I invite you to join our campaign from wherever you are currently sheltered. Please share images and videos of your work, and we’ll be actively reposting and sharing through the UNCSA channels.

We named this publication “Scene” because it is most representative of all the work we create on stage, behind the scenes, and in the field. Though the stories in this issue were written before the current national crisis, they continue to inspire, and that’s a feeling we wanted to share right now.

I look forward to the day when we are able to be together in person, and to create art with live audiences once more – and that day will come. And when it does, our world will need the arts, and artists like you, more than ever. Stay strong, Pickles!

Sincerely,

Brian Cole, Interim Chancellor

2

THE EVOLUTION OF A CLASSIC

by Isaac Klein

How a celebrated musical and a celebrated school are innovating

O

n a cool January night in New York City, I made my way to The Broadway Theatre to see a preview performance of Ivo Van Hove and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s reenvisioning of the landmark musical “West Side Story.” As the hour drew closer to eight inside the packed house, the tension was palpable. How was the show we loved about to change?

Most Americans know “West Side Story” whether they know it or not; its music, language, imagery, and perhaps most of all its choreography have traversed the bounds of theater to pervade the culture’s collective consciousness. The creative team behind the 2020 Broadway revival was granted unprecedented permission to make changes, including the removal of songs and the replacement of the show’s choreography,

3

which sent a ripple of astonishment through the theater community. But many are excited for the metamorphosis.

“Art is not meant to be preserved in amber; it’s meant to be engaged with in its most visceral way,” says Isaac Powell, a 2017 graduate of the School of Drama who stars as Tony in the new revival. “I have to be cognizant of the fact that we’re not trying to do it the way that it’s always been done. There was definitely a process of unlearning what I thought I knew about ‘West Side Story,’ and exploring what it really is beyond my impression of it. We did all of that labor of forgetting what we knew about the show, and now it’s the audience’s turn to do their bit of this imaginative labor, engaging with it in a way that they never have before.”

“We’re not

Photo by Dario Acosta

trying to do it the way that it’s always been done.”

4

The Evolution of a Classic

Isaac Powell and Shereen Pimentel in the Broadway revival of “West Side Story”

of the masterpiece. But that may be about to change. Dec. 18, 2020 marks the release of a new film version directed by Steven Spielberg, with an updated screenplay by Tony Kushner, featuring UNCSA alumna Paloma Garcia-Lee as Graziella.

Garcia-Lee played Graziella in Freedman’s production at UNCSA. At the time, she was a sophomore in the high school ballet program, but her ambitions leapt beyond the world of dance. “I was very daring, and Gerald recognized that in me from the beginning. Gerald had an ability to clearly communicate what he wants from you, and what he wants in a scene, while also allowing room for the people within the scene and within the world to remain authentic to the choices they’re bringing forward. Approaching the role in the movie, and working on new text with Tony Kushner, and under Steven, I thought of things that Gerald had opened up in me then, and they served me now.”

While Garcia-Lee must remain tight-lipped about the specifics, it seems that Spielberg and Kushner are not veering away from the musical’s origins, but rather diving deeper into them. “That was a huge thing that Steven and Tony wanted to focus on, real authenticity,” she says. “They really believed there was much more nuance and complexity.”

“West Side Story” and UNCSA are in Garcia-Lee’s DNA. Her mother, Teresa “Terri” Garcia, attended the UNCSA School of Dance in the 1970s and went on to perform in numerous professional productions of “West Side Story” herself, as a Shark girl. “Of course it’s fascinating for me to share so much with my mom,” Garcia-Lee says. “It’s a very interesting meld of worlds we’re getting to experience. So those are stories for my kids one day.”

Powell is now part of the history of a worldwide phenomenon that took hold 63 years ago. He sees powerful parallels between this new revival and the show’s premiere in 1957: “This must be what it felt like then for that first audience to see ‘West Side Story,’ because for their time it wasn’t a period piece; it was contemporary, it was edgy.

So I think it’s probably every bit as exciting and confusing and challenging for audiences right now as it was then.”

UNCSA has a long history with “West Side Story.”

Gerald Freedman, a legend of the American theater who was dean emeritus of the School of Drama, passed away on March 17, 2020 at the age of 92. Early on in Freedman’s epic career, he assistant directed the original production of “West Side Story” for Jerome Robbins, who conceived, directed and choreographed the show. Freedman co-directed the 1980 revival with Robbins, and directed numerous productions of the musical around the world, including his 2007 all-school production at UNCSA, which featured stars on the rise like Dane DeHaan, Anna Wood, Billy Magnussen, Paloma Garcia-Lee and Wesley Taylor (who is now Isaac Powell’s fiancé).

The 1961 film version of “West Side Story” has long reigned as the world’s iconic representation 5

Even as a child—as her mother can attest—Garcia-Lee always believed in manifesting her destiny: “When I was little, I wrote down, ‘I’m gonna do five Broadway shows before I’m 25.’ And I opened my fifth Broadway show just shy of a week before turning 26,” she says. “And when I heard that Steven was remaking ‘West Side Story,’ I wrote down, ‘I’m playing Graziella in Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story.’”

Inspired by her work with Freedman, Garcia-Lee spent the summer after “West Side Story” studying at a community college so that she could skip her junior year and proceed directly into the UNCSA School of Drama program for high school seniors, headed by alumnus Kelly Maxner. From there she went straight to New York and hasn’t stopped working since.

She’s performing in “Moulin Rouge!,” her sixth Broadway musical.

Isaac Powell has also had a rocketing trajectory since leaving UNCSA. Mere months after graduation, he booked the role of Daniel in the Broadway revival of “Once on This Island.” Less than a year after the final performance, he was back on Broadway as Tony. Powell and Garcia-Lee both lovingly attribute their success to the training they received at UNCSA. But like the classic musical, the classic model of training they received is changing.

The late Gerald Freedman ushered in a golden age at UNCSA’s School of Drama, serving as dean from 1991 to 2012. Freedman passed the torch to Carl Forsman, who led with vigor and brought exciting innovations to the program. While Forsman continues to teach and direct at UNCSA, in 2017 he passed the torch to the current dean: Scott Zigler, who previously served a 20-year tenure as the director of actor training at the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

“We have embraced on-camera work for the actor,” says Zigler, who regularly brings in renowned on-camera acting expert Bob Krakower to work with students. Zigler has also increased the program’s focus on devised work, led by faculty member Andy Paris, a founding member of Tectonic Theater Project. Zigler explains: “I think by embracing on-camera and devising at the same time, it allows us to say, ‘These are both equally valid forms of storytelling that utilize different vocabularies,’ and we want actors who are now equally facile in both vocabularies who can move back and forth seamlessly.”

As the School of Drama curriculum evolves, so too does the student body.

Photo by Jan Versweyveld

Powell spent his high school senior year and four years of college at UNCSA. “Those were some of the most magical years of my life,” Powell recalls.

“Some of the biggest learning and growing experiences I’ve ever had happened there. The training was extraordinary, and it’s the only reason that I’m able to do any of the things that I’m doing right now.”

“I wrote down, ‘I’m gonna do five

Photo by Dario Acosta

Broadway shows before I’m 25.’ And I opened my fifth Broadway show just shy of a week before turning 26.”

6

The Evolution of a Classic

As the School of Drama curriculum evolves, so too does the student body. There is greater diversity, and a growing awareness of the importance of inclusion. “One of the best ways to create diversity and equity and inclusiveness in the artistic community is by bringing to the fore stories of communities that have not always been able to find a seat at the table,” Zigler says. “I think we see this dynamic playing out right now where there is a lot of push for a greater amount of diversity in the storytelling, in the people who are telling the stories, and the people whose stories are being told.”

While there is much about the performing arts that can and should continue to adapt, there are essential components which are bound to endure. As Zigler puts it, “I believe where we’ll always have great continuity in acting training is in the importance of the training of the physical instrument. I think it’s something that the UNCSA School of Drama has always made a central point of focus, which is why it’s always been such a

Isaac Powell and the cast of “West Side Story” on Broadway

See photos from the 2007 UNCSA production of “West Side Story” at uncsa.edu/wss

highly regarded school. I think where change occurs is in the nature of the stories that are being told, and the vocabularies and mechanisms by which stories are being told in modern society, and any school of performance has to keep up on that evolution, I think, to remain relevant to the larger society.”

As I sat in The Broadway Theatre watching this new “West Side Story,” there were moments when I felt upset by the changes that had been made. There were other moments when I felt the thrilling magic of what brave, innovative theater can be.

Watching this revival, I grieved for some of what was gone, and I delighted in much of what was new.

As the world evolves, so too must art and the training of artists. But beneath the shifting façade of style and articulation, the beating heart of the essential human story endures.

Who will tell that story in the future, and how will they choose to tell it? Who knows.

7

Photo by Jan Versweyveld

Change is difficult; we all find comfort in the familiar. Change is also essential; neither growth nor progress can happen without it. Change need not mean a banishment of the past. We can choose to honor that past as we find the way forward.

The Evolution of a Classic

New vision for f legendary design P

aul Tazewell, the prolific costume designer known for his work on musicals such as “The Color Purple,” “The Wiz! Live” and “Hamilton,” also designed the costumes for Steven Spielberg’s new film adaptation of “West Side Story.” He started his design journey at UNCSA, receiving his BFA in 1986.

Photo by Raunak Kapoor

“I still look back at that time very fondly,” he says. “I left having developed all of the skills that I needed to be able to design a production effectively, to understand fully the scope and scale of what it was to be a costume designer. Understanding the technical side as well as the creative artistic side of designing was really what the institution gave me, and excellent instructors that really understood how to approach text, how to approach drama, how to approach dance, opera, any of what we would be faced with as designers, and then backing that up with the know-how of building the costumes. That’s a strength that I’ve not seen duplicated even to this day. It still exists [at UNCSA], but in many other institutions I don’t see that represented. So, it continues to be a really amazing program.”

Tazewell also has a long history with “West Side Story.” “[The show] has been in my life definitely since I was in junior high, because I was in a production of it. And watching the film was my first professional kind of representation of the world of ‘West Side Story.’ So, when Steven asked me to do his version of it, I went back to watch it, definitely not to research, but just to understand: What is my relationship to this musical visually that I’ve held from that point, from the time that I was in junior high?”

Tazewell and his creative collaborators all had to consider the question of how this film adaptation would compare to the 1961 version. “Steven’s hope was to attain more grit and more New York texture, meaning the naturalism of the city. That was foremost in how we wanted to represent the story. And I thought, well, that makes perfect sense, because we’ve come so far from how the original film kind of cleaned up the world of New York at that time. I think that our vision is a fuller vision of what naturalism is. And so that was what we were about, to still honor the beauty of the music, and the beauty of the story, and also have the lens feel truer to and create an appeal for a modern audience.”

Just like Isaac Powell and Paloma Garcia-Lee, Tazewell was faced with the challenge of how to bring his personal creativity to an already legendary work. “It’s no easy task. I am in huge admiration of Irene Sharaff, who designed the original musical and then designed the costumes for the subsequent movie.” (Tazewell even won an Irene Sharaff Award in 1997.) “I’ve always loved her design … and see her as a great inspiration.

I’m always mindful of, how do I not copy what she has done? Or any great designer. How do I create my own vision, make my own statement about a piece? I don’t design in the way that she designs.

If I end up making choices that feel like what she did, it’s because they were such an impression on me that as an icon it lives with the production. So, it’s okay to use that, and then as the rest of the vision opens up and fills out, it will be my vision.

I’m still in control of creating a world.”

•

Isaac Klein is a writer, director, teacher and performer. He is a graduate of the UNCSA School of Drama’s Directing Program, class of 2006. He is the author of the book “The School of Doing: Lessons from theater master Gerald Freedman.” Isaac-Klein.com.

8

Changing mindsets, soaring on stage SUSAN JAFFE SHARES TIPS TO SHIFT YOUR NARRATIVE

by Erin Shaw Street

Photo by Wayne Reich

She has witnessed it again and again: a talented and promising young dancer who cannot perform at the height of their abilities because of crippling self-doubt. She knows this struggle well.

9

D

ean of the School of Dance, once dubbed “America’s Quintessential Ballerina” by The New York Times, Susan Jaffe once struggled with her own negative beliefs.

And then, she found a solution that transformed her craft and her life. That’s why Jaffe developed a course and method called “The Effect of Intention: A Creative’s Mindset,” to help dancers and other creatives break free from what she calls the “programming” holding them back on stage and in life.

“Our mind is a wild animal, like an untamed horse,” Jaffe says. “We have to become the person that tames that animal.” Her course draws upon three decades of her own study of practices such as intention-setting, affirmations and mindfulness/ meditation, assembled in practical lessons to help students break through self-limiting beliefs.

Jaffe designed the course to help students recalibrate their perceptions and limiting beliefs — beliefs that may have been instilled in them at a young age (even inadvertently) by parents, teachers or friends. Through the lessons, she draws upon scientific research and personal experiences from her storied dance career, including serving as principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) for 22 years.

She says that like so many other dancers and creatives who strive for excellence, she had to learn how to break free of speaking negatively to herself. But it’s not just creatives who struggle with negative self-talk. Everyone walks around with limiting beliefs, Jaffe explains. For instance, a parent may have scolded a child and in an instant, the child believes they are “bad” or “wrong,” impacting their self-esteem. If they are not addressed, these beliefs can carry on through life, impacting one’s ability to realize one’s full potential, whether on stage or off.

“Our programming literally runs the show,” Jaffe says. “The good news is that if there is programming that isn’t serving you, you actually have the ability to change your thoughts and beliefs.”

Photo by Peter J. Mueller

She reveals: “When I was a (beginning professional) dancer, I struggled with simple self-esteem: ‘You’re not good enough, you’re going to fall out of your pirouette.’” In the 1990s, she started to truly examine the obstacles that were holding her back — specifically her own perfectionism. She began to change her mindset by practicing meditation and affirmations.

As her spiritual practice deepened, Jaffe also worked with teachers like Juliu Horvath, the creator of the Gyrotonics movement system, who helped her learn a series of deep breathing and yoga exercises. She also pored through meditation books. The results on stage were striking.

“When I started doing this work and moving to a more life-affirming mindset, it was like Cinderella’s

fairy godmother came down to help. My career took off,” Jaffe says.

Though her course isn’t exclusively for dancers, she draws from her own experience as a dancer. One example she gives is when she worked with the famous French dancer Sylvie Guillem. “The first day of rehearsal, Sylvie could not do her arabesque turns to save her life. She tried several times and when she couldn’t do it, she confidently shrugged and said in her very French way, ‘Tomorrow!’” Jaffe saw how Guillem didn’t beat herself up for not being able to complete the move, but rather gave herself permission to try again the next day, which worked.

Jaffe instructs Lizzie Devanney (HS Dance ’19) during a class.

Jaffe says this moment helped her understand that how we talk about ourselves impacts our abilities to achieve goals.

In this case, she believes negative phrases, like “I can’t do it,” impact a dancer’s ability to perform. “Things became so much easier when I stopped reprimanding myself for every mistake.”

In addition to gleaning from her own experience, Jaffe says that during her career she has learned tips about resilience and power from some of the greats, like her former ABT partner, Mikhail Baryshnikov.

When Jaffe retired from the stage and began coaching and teaching, she realized that so many dancers, both students and professionals alike, struggle with poor self-esteem. Without a balanced mind and heart, the work is affected, she says. “I watch dancers and think, ‘If you could just drop that mindset you could be so free and do so much more, but you have all this “stuff” in the way that impacts the way you move. We are all energy, and what we think impacts how we move and how we show up.’”

She says she developed “The Effect of Intention” to share a lifetime of what she’s learned about how one’s inner landscape affects their art and their success – in any field.

Jaffe has presented the six-hour workshop around the country, from the Orlando Ballet to the University of Utah, and from Point Park University to UNCSA (where it’s free for students and faculty). Anyone can use the principles, she maintains, whether they are a dancer, artist, or just someone in search of a more positive mindset.

The course is available online, at susanjaffe.com.

Jaffe says she’s seen the principles espoused in the course transform students time and time again. She points to the example of a student who had immense talent, but had trouble auditioning for the role of Sugar Plum Fairy for an upcoming performance of “The Nutcracker.” “I pulled the student aside and shared some of the concepts of the course,” Jaffe says. “This young lady’s eyes became so big! It had never occurred to her to think about how her mindset impacted her experiences.” The dancer applied the principles and in a very short period of time her dancing completely transformed.

“A few days later, a fellow faculty member said, ‘I don’t know what you told that student, but I guess she’s going to dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy now!’”

•

10

Speaking of engagement

by Lauren Whitaker

11

Photos by Raunak Kapoor

Ann-Louise Wolf uses voice and speech training to prepare children for reading

lessons for first-graders. “First grade was too late in the process for children who first learned a different language. Research shows that whatever language you hear from birth to about one year of age, those are the sounds you can perceive. Anything after that you struggle to hear the difference between the sounds you know and those you don’t know.”

I

t’s a cold morning just before the holidays. Ann-Louise Wolf (BFA Design & Production ’11) sits cross-legged on the floor of a pre-K classroom that’s decorated with paper-plate wreaths and other colorful craft projects. It’s not where the stage management major ever thought she would be, but it’s a happy landing: for her, the children she is teaching at Easton Elementary School in WinstonSalem, and for ArtistCorps, UNCSA’s unique community service initiative.

Modeled after the nationwide AmeriCorps program, ArtistCorps was created five years ago to utilize the skills of students and alumni by providing arts instruction, integration and exposure to schoolage children and seniors in the Winston-Salem community. Wolf discovered the program when she returned to UNCSA after working around the world for three years as a stage manager for opera productions and then earning an MFA in voice studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Now she teaches voice and speech in the School of Drama and is a research fellow with ArtistCorps, leading UNCSA students to teach phonics to highneeds children.

“My ArtistCorps experience has hugely changed my values as a person and a teacher,” she says. “I never thought about how to use my skills other than training actors. Community service fills me up and feeds me. It makes me a better teacher of actors.”

More than 100 graduate students and upper-level undergrads participate regularly in ArtistCorps projects in local schools, Head Start programs and community service organizations, says Rebecca Nussbaum (BM Music ’97), director of career development and community outreach. In addition to Wolf’s project, UNCSA students provide music, dance and visual arts instruction; teach filmmaking techniques to synthesize elementary science and history lessons; deliver meals and a song through Meals on Wheels; and use music to engage with adults who have dementia.

In the classroom at Easton, Wolf begins the lesson with a ukulele in hand. Music and linguistics, she says, occupy the same area of the brain. After singing the “Good Morning Song,” she moves into mouth formation exercises, using pictures to illustrate different sounds.

“What’s a sound I can make with my lips?”

“B b b bunny,” the children call out, matching the cartoon figure to an illustration of the mouth formation.

The lessons incorporate movement and play-based learning as well as music, in a method that Wolf created, based on the premise that every speech sound can be heard, seen and felt.

“If you come from a language that doesn’t have the same set of sounds that English does, you have a disadvantage,” Wolf explains.

“When children enter elementary school and begin to learn to read, they can’t hear some of the sounds, and they can’t make those sounds, so they start to fail. Once you get labeled as failing it gets harder and harder and harder to catch up.”

She worked with Nussbaum (and former Easton principal Colin Tribby (BM Music ’04, HS ’84) to create the Wolf Method, now in its third year in Easton’s pre-K classes.

“Bringing ArtistCorps on site provides exposure to high-quality art programs for students they normally would not have access to,” says Tribby. “The arts help students develop critical thinking skills, visual literacy, and verbal creativity. Arts experiences also blend social, emotional and sensory motor skills. These are all essential ingredients to promote literacy and language development.”

Wolf hopes to expand the program into other elementary schools, and will present her method to the international conference of the Voice and Speech Trainer’s Association in Sydney, Australia, next year.

While excited by opportunities to share her techniques, her primary focus remains on helping those children at a high-needs school in southeast Winston-Salem. “The challenges are so enormous. When I see these little kids struggle, it gives me perspective,” she says.

“Whatever I’m facing, it’s not the end of the world compared to what some of these kids are going through.”

On that cold morning at Easton, Wolf’s student and ArtistCorps member is working on the Z sound, holding a picture of a zipper and demonstrating how he forms his mouth to make the sound.

“ZZZZZZZ” hisses through the group as the children try it themselves.

Wolf says it isn’t easy for students to find time for ArtistCorps or any other community service project. “UNCSA students work hard. It’s hard to act in a play. It’s hard to perform in an orchestra,” she says.

“But through ArtistCorps, students begin seeing themselves as artists who have so much to offer. Their skills can be used in ways they never thought of, and their definition of what it means to be an artist begins to expand.”

As one of ArtistCorps’ staunchest supporters, Wolf encourages her Drama students to get involved. “Community service can seem like another thing to add to the to-do list. But it’s so impactful for the community and the school. And for you as an artist.

“You became an artist because you want to make a difference,” she tells them. “You don’t have to wait for that until you leave school.

Engage with this community and let it fuel you. How can that make you anything but a better artist?”

•

Every speech sound can be heard, seen and felt.

Wolf discovered that gap in literacy education her first year in ArtistCorps, when she was assigned to integrate arts into phonics 12

Through his lens Filmmaker Raunak Kapoor captures human connection

by Hannah Callaway

ou’ll hear him before you see him, the wheels of his skateboard clicking along the pavement as he glides across campus. Fourth-year directing student Raunak Kapoor rolls down Hollywood Boulevard before disappearing into an editing suite in the School of Filmmaking. The thesis film he wrote and directed, “Lost in the Red Snow,” is wrapping up, and he will soon receive his degree from UNCSA. “I thought of making this film as a necessity instead of something I wanted to do,” says Kapoor. “I felt like if I didn’t make it, I was going to lose something in my artistic practice.”

The film follows the journey of a young soldier in Kashmir—a region known for its mountainous beauty and hospitality, but plagued with bitter territorial conflict. It’s a story that has lived with Kapoor since his childhood in New Delhi, where he attended school with Kashmiri classmates. “I always wanted to go there,” recalls Kapoor.

“They would tell me that it was a paradise on earth. I wanted to go with them and visit, but they weren’t going back … because they couldn’t.”

Kapoor believes it’s the duty of filmmakers to tell these human stories, bringing attention to underrepresented populations and building global connections.

It was difficult to establish connections and form an identity as a child in the second most populous country in the world. Kapoor initially considered a career in engineering at the behest of his parents. His direction changed the first time he borrowed his brother’s camera and began taking photographs. Through the constant, overcrowded buzz of the city, he found quiet meditation in photography.

When he told his parents that he wanted to pursue photography, “They were supportive, but told me I was making a mistake,” says Kapoor. After high school, he spent a year exploring and photographing everything from street scenes to food, fashion and products. He traveled to Nepal, where he documented the aftermath of the Gorkha earthquake.

After a year building his portfolio, Kapoor researched film schools in the United States. UNCSA was a top contender, in large part due to the opportunity students have to create fully funded thesis projects.

Studying abroad in the United States was a financial strain for Kapoor and his family, and receiving the William R. Kenan, Jr. Excellence Scholarship was life-changing.

The scholarship provides full tuition, fees, and room and board for all four years of undergraduate education.

The scholarship “not only solidified that I was doing what I was meant to do,” says Kapoor, “but it also showed my family and the community around me that I was doing something right.”

Stepping onto his first fourth-year film set is an experience Kapoor won’t soon forget. “I was on the rigging crew, which gave me time to work, but also to observe,” says Kapoor. Fellow student Trent Spivey walked him over to the equipment truck and explained each piece. “I immediately wanted to pursue all of the programs. I wanted to be a good screenwriter and learn about production design and cinematography.”

He settled on the directing track, but has enjoyed opportunities for hands-on experience in many of the film school concentrations, such as producing. “It was a shocking experience for me to learn how films were made,” recalls Kapoor. “My first year was formative in understanding the scale and reach of the film industry.”

During his third year, Kapoor traveled to Mexico with the Center for Design Innovation to participate in an endangered species study. As part of the National Science Foundation-funded exploration, he worked as a cinematographer and photo technician with a team capturing 3D scans of populations of monarch butterflies.

The experience changed the way Kapoor thinks about his work.

“I’m striving to bring my own knowledge to each project for the betterment of society,” he explains. “This was the perfect way to do that. It’s the biggest thing I’ve done in my life so far. You see something beautiful, and that moment stays with you. I felt that my heart was going to collapse.”

Another defining project for Kapoor will be released later this year. Filmed over seven days in Varanasi, India, his documentary film “Kashi: Life in the Holy City” tells the story of how city dwellers make a living. One storyline follows two children, solely responsible for their family’s income, cosplaying as gods and taking photographs with tourists for money.

When considering his path after graduation, Kapoor is certain. “I want to pursue pure documentational experiences. One of my bigger life goals is to make films that highlight and celebrate Asian culture. I want to tell the stories I’m familiar with, the stories that represent what the majority of the population looks like.

“I do know for a fact that I’m always interested in telling human stories … (of) people and their places,” Kapoor concludes. “That’s never going to change. Everything that connects us as humans is a story to tell.”

•

13

Photo by Rebecca Walters

Y

BELOW: This portrait was captured by Kapoor as he returned home from a trip to Agra, India. It is part of his ‘Leaders’ series, which captures leaders of various faiths and societies.

14

Photos by Raunak Kapoor

TOP: Kapoor traveled to Nepal during his gap year after high school, photographing daily life in the lakeside town of Pokhara.

Meet them where they are STUDENTS EMBRACE ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO BRING MUSIC TO THE COMMUNITY

by Corrine Luthy

I

t’s not a revelation to say that artists are masters of entrepreneurship. It’s part of what makes them artists—being risk-takers, owning their work, innovating, creating, leading society toward new ideas.

What is perhaps a more recent idea is the intentional integration of an entrepreneurial mindset into the formal education of artists-intraining in conservatories like the UNCSA School of Music. And, in true entrepreneurial fashion, students are taking the initiative into their own hands through the creation of their own studentled organizations that also serve the community.

Two of these organizations, the Cross The Line Project and Grace Notes, bring the joy of music to the broader community in diverse and meaningful ways; specifically, by broadening access to classical music and by putting instruments into the hands of student musicians at local middle and high schools.

These projects and others like them have grown organically through student participation in UNCSA’s ArtistCorps program, run by Rebecca Nussbaum in the Office of Community Engagement. ArtistCorps utilizes the skills of UNCSA students and graduates to provide arts instruction, integration and exposure to schoolage children and seniors in the Winston-Salem community.

15

As a graduate student in the School of Music and member of ArtistCorps, Sami Eudy Bruemmer (MM Music ’17) founded the Cross The Line Project as a way to make classical music accessible to a broader audience.

“It began as a group of students trying to find ways to reach out into the community and make the arts something that all can understand, connect with and enjoy,” Bruemmer says. Since then, the organization has hosted free performances in diverse venues like Krankies café, Old Salem Museums & Gardens and Malloy Jordan / East Winston Heritage Center.

Cross The Line was also awarded a grant by the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte, allowing the group to work with students in that city’s schools this year. The group brought in an SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) choir and string quartet for four workshops that included performances, warm-ups and other activities for the students.

Grace Manning, a third-year undergraduate voice student, is currently at the helm as executive director of Cross The Line, now rounding out its fourth year. The group continues to brainstorm programming that is interactive and builds relationships with the audience – an important part of its mission.

And that sense of connection goes both ways. “Being in Cross The Line has really allowed me to have a different sense of community outside of the School of Music and UNCSA,” Manning says. “It makes a lot of what we’re doing as music students feel meaningful.”

Bruemmer’s work has translated into professional skills that she calls on in her photography business and as a freelance musician and music teacher.

“I draw on the skill set that I learned from Cross The Line every single day, especially in my ability to communicate the value of the arts, to create a budget and manage finances, to be adaptable and resourceful, and to have strong organizational skills.”

Grace Notes shares a similar origin story. Like Bruemmer, its founder, Brittany Thomas (PAC Music ’19, MM ’18, BM ’16) was a member of ArtistCorps when she saw a need in the community.

Left photo by Jeremy Cowart Right photo courtesy of Cross The Line

While working at a local school, Thomas realized some of the students in the band program had instruments that didn’t work properly. In other cases, they had no instruments at all. Thus, Grace Notes was born.

During the 2018-19 year, Grace Notes began collecting donated instruments through the nonprofit Sunnyside Ministries, a UNCSA neighbor. The instruments are repaired at B & F Repairs in Greensboro, which offers a significant discount in exchange for help with repairs from current Executive Director Sarah Smith.

For Thomas, building the foundation of Grace Notes was an exercise in listening. “I learned it’s really important to show up and ask ‘How can I help?’” she says. “Make sure you are listening to the community’s needs before saying ‘I am doing this.’”

Smith’s work with Grace Notes has led to the discovery of a new career path. The fourth-year undergraduate will be joining the band instrument repair program at Minnesota State College Southeast in Red Wing, Minnesota, this fall.

The ongoing value in student-run organizations at UNCSA is that they provide opportunities to build entrepreneurial skills and relationships in the community for each round of students who inherits them.

Some alumni, like Kendra Harding (MM Music ’17), also carry their community work and relationships with them beyond graduation. In 2016, Harding brought the Lullaby Project to ArtistCorps, working with mothers in the community to write and record original lullabies for their children.

The Lullaby Project currently partners with Imprints Cares, an organization that has been serving Winston-Salem families for 50 years. Harding aims to serve eight to 12 families this year.

RIGHT: Emani Barber (BM Music ’17) and Alex Bonéy (HS Music ’17) perform with Cross The Line at Krankies in downtown Winston-Salem.

LEFT: Brittany Thomas began collecting donated instruments to restore and partnered with Sunnyside Ministries to found Grace Notes in 2018.

“I’ve learned the value of long-term engagement in service in the community,” she says. “It’s about investing your time rather than donating it.”

For Interim Chancellor Brian Cole, these student-led organizations are the embodiment of the evolving role of artists through what he sees as social entrepreneurship.

“These projects are examples of ideas that students had that came out of instilling that mindset of enterprise and entrepreneurship,” he says, “combined with the desire to make a difference.”

•

16

POWERING CREATIVITY: THE CAMPAIGN FOR UNCSA is the single largest fundraising effort in school history, with an ambitious goal: to raise $65 million by June 2021.

% 120

SCHOLARSHIPS

Goal

$25 million Raised

$29,998,708

% 60

% 124

FACULTY SUPPORT

Goal

INNOVATION

Goal

$8 million Raised

$4,791,169

$18 million Raised

We believe that passion and skill—not financial circumstance—should determine who can access the high-caliber training that UNCSA offers.

Our faculty are the lifeblood of our institution, providing unparalleled educational opportunities and connections to the professional world.

The arts have always been about innovation: new ideas, new voices and new methods of expression.

$22,244,208

% 53

% 57

FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT

Goal

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Goal

$12 million Raised

$6,400,143

Our students stand ready to become champions of the arts for all.

$2 million Raised

$1,149,184

Since the silent phase of the campaign began in 2016, we have raised more than $64M (as of March 31, 2020) including $3.1M from alumni.

17

Our students perform at the highest level and their training ground should be equal to the task.

Your gift of any size can help us reach and exceed our goal and, more importantly, help us in powering creativity: uncsa.edu/giving

Left photo by Bryan Bedder Other photos by Chris Lee

n Vaugh Tichina ), 9 ’8 (Music ance and (D Mark L bel o ilana L ’78), G 5), ’0 g in ak (Filmm s edge Peter H a ’84) m ra (D

usic ’87), Brian Tony Oakley (M hn r (D&P ’71), Jo ele Cole, Suri Bi ’88) Carden (Music

R IG HT : Sasha Papern ik, Justin Poinde xter (Music ’01, ’0 6 )

Photos courtesy of students pictured

Powering Community: Together and Apart!

ABOVE : Ebony Cawtho rne (Filmm aking ’1 8), Nile Ha rris (Dra ma ’17), Cri cket Bro wn (Drama ’19), Ha nnah Myers (Drama ’18), Henry W ilen (D& P ’18), Ra chyl Du ffy (Music ’14)

Powering Creativity: The Campaign for UNCSA launched publicly at UNCSA in September 2019 and in New York City in January 2020. Each event brought us together to celebrate the impact of the arts. Now, we stand apart in solidarity, helping to overcome a global pandemic. Through challenging times, the arts inspire, guide and sustain us. See how our students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends are #poweringcommunity from home on social media. @uncsa

@uncsa

@uncschoolofthearts @uncsaalumni

@uncschoolofarts

: FROM LE FT aro Am an th na Jo ma Em , 9) (D&P ’1 ce an (D e ilk C Lewis ’23), Layne g ’24) (Filmmakin

18

1533 SOUTH MAIN ST. WINSTON-SALEM, NC 27127-2738

Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 1 Winston-Salem, NC

Powering Creativity

Join the campaign for UNCSA. Support the next generation of artists and creative innovators.

uncsa.edu/giving

—Trey Gray ’20 School of Design & Production