Alumni Notes lights; worked with director Jonathan Moscone ’93 on Tribes at Berkeley Rep with Christopher Akerlind ’89 designing lights and Todd Rosenthal ’93, sets; and did the costumes for Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures at Berkeley Rep. ● James Shanklin ’97 began filming season four of the AMC network show Hell on Wheels in April. He also filmed an episode of CSI and performed in the west coast premiere of Bethany at The Old Globe in San Diego. ● After 17 years of living in New York, Liza Vest ’97 moved to Greensboro, NC, in July to join fellow alumni Preston Lane ’96 and Richard Whittington ’98 at Triad Stage, becoming their production manager. Liza is very excited about the move and will finally get the chance to work with her sister, set designer Robin Vest ’02. ● Brooks Ann Camper ’98 recently opened the Sewing Room, where she designs and creates custom couture wedding dresses and teaches couture dressmaking skills both in person and online. She first learned to sew as a YSD costume shop intern. ● Julius Galacki ’98 finished post-production of his 36-minute short film, All Things Chicken, which he wrote, directed, and produced. The film is based on the full-length play of the same name that he first wrote at YSD, and all the restaurant and bar scenes were filmed at Joe Reynold’s ’97 M Bar in Hollywood. His screenplay The Lost Treasure of the Mayans was a finalist in the New Hope Film Festival script competition. ● This year Mahayana Landowne ’98 formed Calling All Parties, an art collective that builds interactive projects to support a culture of engagement. Mahayana’s passion has always been to empower people and encourage self-expression, and she is having a lot of fun manifesting that on the streets of New York and internationally. She has also been leading creativity workshops through Radiant Axis and the Alternative Speakers Bureau. Activism projects include Women Stage the World and Dance Parade. In general Mahayana is expanding her artistry and creating celebratory interactive events. While still very 10 2
interested in directing theatre projects, currently her focus is meeting the audience where they are and using theatricality to shake up daily life. ● Wade McIntyre ’98 has joined the writing staff of the CW sci-fi drama The 100, working alongside playwright Dorothy Fortenberry ’08. Wade continues to write Clone, a monthly comic book for Image, and recently sold a comedy feature pitch to New Line Cinema. When not working, Wade dedicates himself to helping his four-year-old daughter achieve her life dreams of developing mutant superpowers and living at Disneyland. ● Ed Blunt ’99 has been leading wealth and leadership trainings throughout the United States, Israel, Greece, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Ed continues to do voice-over work thanks to great agents and clients’ willingness to work with his schedule. He was particularly excited about training 12,000 people in Las Vegas at Millionaire Boot Camp this summer. Ed considers it an honor to be among so many YSD grads doing such amazing things in virtually every sector. ● So the Arrow Flies by Esther Chae ’99 was published by No Passport Press this summer. The book was edited by Obie Award winner Caridad Svich and features a foreword by David Henry Hwang ’83, who writes, “Esther K. Chae has created one of the freshest, most far-reaching, and profound explorations of this issue (identity) in years.” Esther is looking forward to having other actors and students performing her solo performance piece and witnessing its growth. ● The fall of 2014 marked Jim Hart’s ’99 third year as director of the Arts Entrepreneurship program at Southern Methodist University. This past summer his department hosted the inaugural Arts Entrepreneurship Educators Society conference. Over 70 individuals attended, representing schools from across the country. In addition to full-time teaching and administrative responsibilities, Jim is doing a good deal of writing. ● Raymond Kent ’99 was recently appointed commissioner of United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s Architecture Commission and started his first year of tenure at the Fort Worth
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national conference. He is the first non-architect to hold this position. Additionally, Raymond was a major speaker at the international Staging Sustainability Summit in Toronto, Canada, presenting on sustainability and technology in both renovations and new construction to participants from over 40 countries. His company, Sustainable Technologies Group, continues to thrive, with new commissions in the U.S. and in Asia and Africa. Raymond continues to write his column, Aeifoia Technos, for rAVe Publications and blog for InfoComm International on technology and sustainability. ● After a not-so-brief detour to law school and legal consulting, Maria Matasar-Padilla ’99, DFA ’05 is back in the world of documentary filmmaking, producing films again for The Documentary Group, where she has the good fortune of collaborating with people who actually know what a dramaturg does. Maria and her husband Matt Matasar are parents to two girls and a boy, ages 8, 6, and 3. She is proud to say that from the looks of things, her theatre genes have been passed down to all three. She writes: “It makes for a happy, though definitely rather loud, household!”
2000s In addition to life in front of the lens, Alexa Fischer ’00 is sharing everything she’s learned with business people, entrepreneurs, and anyone who just wants to make a good client presentation or wedding toast. She has helped clients such as Trader Joe’s, Sony, and the Milken Institute through one-on-one coaching and inperson and online workshops. She is on a one-woman mission to help people become confident and comfortable speaking anywhere. ● Although he still lives in Austin, last year Christopher Baker ’01 joined AMCAP Mortgage, Ltd., a Houstonbased private mortgage lender. He currently serves as the compliance counsel for the company and supervises all internal legal affairs. Also last year, Christopher was accepted into the College of the State