Alumni Notes Series, which included Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. He also had a chapter, “A Prince in Pittsburgh: Recasting a Contemporary Staging of The Constant Prince,” accepted for a forthcoming book on new ways to translate and stage the drama of the Spanish Golden Age. The YSDGeorge Mason theatre community continues strong with Clayton Austin ’86 and Kristin Johnsen-Neshati ’92, dfa ’02 holding forth in their respective areas of technical production and dramatic literature/dramaturgy, while Rick teaches on a somewhat reduced basis due to the administrative assignments that come his way. In March 2013, Sabrina LeBeauf ’83 was in the cast of Love, Loss and What I Wore at the Delaware Theatre Company. She also did a production of the same play at the Westside Theatre in New York and reunited with Dawn Wells in the Scottsdale cast in June 2013. With their children Tim and Amelia in high school, James Bender ’85 and wife Rhodessa Bender adopted a toddler. Brandon turned 2 on May 31 and is a joy to the other four Benders. Perfecting Your English Pronunciation, by Susan Cameron ’85, was published as a book, DVD, and CD by McGraw-Hill last year; it is a tool for accent reduction for non-native speakers of English. Susan’s methodology involves using hand positions to sync the tongue to the hands and find the exact physical placement of sound, even if the student can’t hear it. She was just awarded a trademark for the Cameron Method of accent reduction. The book and DVD are available as apps for Apple and Android and they will be translated into seven other languages and released globally. Jim Sandefur ’85 is working as the resort set designer for the Club Med-Turkoise in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. It is a sort of “one man band” of set design. Jim designs, builds, paints, sets up, tears down, acts as his own TD, and does all that needs to be done from a visual point of view. Luckily the water truly is turquoise and the views are so lovely that no one pays much attention to his efforts. There are greatly limited resources, so everyone shares one ladder, one staple gun, and one standard-size domestic broom. It is a challenge getting things done sometimes, but he is learning to go with the flow and lower his standards a bit. The Huntsmen, Quincy Long’s ’86 play with songs, was produced by Portland Playhouse in January. Kathleen Dimmick ’85 directed, and Mead Hunter ’88 was the dramaturg.
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Susan Jonas ’87, dfa ’90
Tina Navarro ’86 recently finished teaching a class in theatre design at Our Lady of the Lake University. OLLU is undergoing some radical changes—a new president and the termination of several academic programs, including theatre—but with new leadership perhaps some of these departments can be saved. Tina continues to work with Dr. Arnulfo T. Carrasco and his video program. He has developed a game show, which he shares with a live audience in his new TV studio. Tina assisted with the scenic elements and hopes to be designing scenery and costumes for a fall production of ’night, Mother at OLLU. Adam Versényi ’86, dfa ’90, yc ’80 delivered the keynote address at the Drama Translation in the Age of Globalisation Symposium at the University of Salford in Manchester, England, where he described the genesis and continuing work of the journal he founded and edits, The Mercurian: a Theatrical Translation Review. Adam continues to teach dramatic art at the University of North Carolina. He also serves as senior dramaturg for the school’s professional company, PlayMakers Repertory Company, where he was dramaturg for Molière’s Imaginary Invalid in a newly commissioned translation/ adaptation by David Ball, directed by Dominique Serrand; and Cabaret, directed by PlayMakers’ Producing Artistic Director Joe Haj. Tales of the Old West, written by Barbara Bragg ’87 and directed by Corey Madden (former associate artistic director of the Mark Taper Forum), opened at the Autry Museum of the American West to sold-out audiences. The production had its first reading with the Association of Yale Alumni in Los Angeles. It was a busy year for Michael Chybowski ’87. He did the lighting for three new pieces for the Mark Morris Dance Group, Kammermusik #3 for Pacific Northwest Ballet, As You Like It for the Acting Company’s national tour, and Fallaci, a new play by Lawrence Wright, at
YSD 2013–14
Berkeley Rep. Michael also taught at University of Connecticut and as of this fall is the new head of lighting at UConn’s Department of Dramatic Arts. Bill Clarke ’87 recently made forays into production design for film and TV. He just wrapped a sitcom pilot called Today’s Special and a short feature film called The Master Cleanse. Bill designed the sets for Glengarry Glen Ross at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, and sets and costumes for The Submission, a play whose characters include two YSD graduates, at the Olney Theatre near D.C. Susan Jonas ’87, dfa ’90 is back in the Big Apple after teaching in upstate New York for two years. She is the founder and director of the Legacy Project, which is dedicated to restoring the contribution of women in theatre to history, the canon, and the living repertory. Susan is also spending more time writing for and about the stage, editing a new anthology on dramaturgs that looks at the widest applications of their work in theatre and without. Susan is also looking at the evolution of the field since the 1997 publication of Dramaturgy and American Theatre, which she co-edited. McCarter Theatre Center continues its mission of commissioning, developing, and producing new plays, and the highlight of
Cheryl Mintz ’87 and Christopher Durang ’74, on opening night of the world premiere of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Photo by McCarter Theatre.