Alumni Notes and “How to Enjoy the Journey.” ● Leslie Stark ’62 most recently directed and appeared in David Ives’s Sure Thing and Rich Orloff’s The Whole Shebang at the Katharine Cornell Theater. She writes that on Martha’s Vineyard, there is an ongoing series of abbreviated—but textually accurate—productions of Shakespeare’s plays at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse called “Shakespeare for the Masses.” Additionally, she continues to offer programs in the appreciation of classic jazz at libraries, senior centers and arts communities, as well as classes in the adult education curriculum at the high school. ● Enjoying theatre and the arts worldwide, Susan Barber ’63 is principally working in sales and marketing for upscale properties and hotels. She recently returned from the tourism summit in Goa, India, and was one of 100 people worldwide chosen to attend. Susan is fluent in French, Italian and Spanish. ● Now in his 45th year at Smith College as the Anne Hesseltine Hoyt Professor of Theatre, Len Berkman ’63, DFA ’70 just received his second Fulbright specialist grant to return to Hamburg, Germany, where he has been a guest professor teaching US and Canadian drama for three previous semesters since 2008. Len’s current full-length play, We Three, is inspired by the self-portraits and life of German romantic painter Philipp Otto Runge. Len is also back again as dramaturg for New York Stage & Film’s new play development projects, and as guest playwright/dramaturg for the University of Iowa’s New Play Festival, a festival guided by two YSD alumni, Dare Clubb ’82, DFA ’91 and Art Borreca ’86, DFA ’93. Len’s article, “Obama,” was in the Fall 2013 issue of the German periodical Vorbilder. ● Robert Cohen DFA ’64 has begun his 50th year as a professor of drama at University of California Irvine with the debut of his memoir, Falling Into Theatre, which includes a chapter on his years earning a DFA at Yale School of Drama. Also on Robert’s activity sheet in 2014 were the publication of his translation of Machiavelli’s Clizia, and professional performances of his plays in both Cluj, Romania
(Machiavelli and The Möbius Strip) and Amsterdam (Bzaap!). ● Since leaving Yale, Richard Fuhrman ’64 has had a grand run designing sets, ranging from Broadway to soap operas The Guiding Light and The Edge of Night, the movie The Godfather, and the sets for the Rolling Stones’s video
“The basic concept of theatrical design is to bring the playwright’s best intentions to the stage.” — ri c ha rd fuhrm a n ’64 of That Girl. “The basic concept of theatrical design,” Richard writes, “is to bring the playwright’s best intentions to the stage.” A wider application of this precept is how Richard came to write Expectations, a book about a dog, a flood, and a life. “The art, craft, and passion that go into designing a set transfers easily to writing. Both require showing exactly what needs to be seen.” ● Theater Breaking Through Barriers, the company founded by Ike Schambelan ’64, DFA ’67, produced its fourth festival of short commissioned plays in June on Theatre Row. Ike was thrilled to work with Yale alumni John Guare ’63 (Former Faculty) and David Henry Hwang ’83 who contributed plays, Julius Novick DFA ’66, who acted as dramaturg, and Russ Treyz ’65, who directed. ● With a BA in physics and an MFA in theatre engineering, Dennis Carnine ’65 (Former Faculty) has 21 years of experience in electronics manufacturing of lighting control systems for theatres, TV, auditoriums, and other venues. During this time he became vice
president and chief engineer for Theatre Techniques, Inc. Since 1987 he has taught various courses at community colleges in pre-calculus, AC/DC circuits, microprocessors, troubleshooting, and video editing. He has also developed and taught customized training programs for workers re-entering the workforce, and for various companies such as Schick and Bic. His other professional activities include vocational rehabilitation engineering, web site design, and software sales and marketing. In 2010 he and his wife of 53 years, Shirley, moved to Naples, FL, and entered the blissful state of semiretirement. ● McFarland & Company has just published Edwin Booth: A Biography and Performance History by Arthur W. Bloom ’66, GRD ’66. It is the first scholarly biography of America’s foremost tragic actor and contains a list of every known performance that Booth ever gave. Earlier this year Bloom gave talks about Booth to the Henry Irving club in London and to the National Arts Club in New York. He is currently working on a biography of the early nineteenth century actor Edwin Forrest. ● In 2007, after 29 years as director of design at the University of Illinois, James Berton Harris ’66 retired to Ann Arbor, MI, where he has been busy researching Michigan’s historic theatres and opera houses. This endeavor has resulted in a series of lectures, some consulting gigs, and preparations for a book on the subject. This year, he was lured out of retirement by Daniel Sullivan, with whom James has worked several times since they did their first show together at Lincoln Center 40 years ago. Daniel invited James to design costumes for a new David Auburn play in development at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. James writes that “it was both wonderful and weird to be back in the costume design saddle again.” No sooner had he finished that project when he was commissioned by the Calumet Theatre in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to adapt a script for production in August. “And I was afraid retirement would be boring!” ● 2012 and 2013 have been difficult for F. Mitchell Dana ’67. His wife,
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