Alumni Notes Charles Turner ’70 has, over the past few seasons, played Gloucester in King Lear, directed by Hal Scott at Yale Repertory Theatre; Norman in On Golden Pond at the Cort Theatre; The Man opposite Marian Seldes in The Play about the Baby; Dr. Sykes in the recordbreaking production of To Kill a Mockingbird at Hartford Stage with Matthew Modine; been in the Tony-nominated Dividing the Estate company at the Booth on Broadway; and, most recently, been in Horton Foote’s Orphans’
Home Cycle at Hartford Theatre Company and the Signature Theatre in New York City. His daughter, Dr. Shairi Turner-Davis, was just appointed Deputy Secretary of Health for the state of Florida, and his son Kai is developing the website for the London Olympics in 2012. Jeff Wanshel ’72 has been teaching Playwriting at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY, for Michael Posnick’s Dance & Theatre Department. He also substitute teaches at SUNY Purchase. Last year he
Nancy El Bouhali ’70 with her daughter Leyla. Naphtali Daggett. Artist Unknown, XVIII Century. Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery.
Did You Know?: An Alumna’s Historical Factoid Next time you’re looking to improve your Yale University trivia knowledge, ask Nancy (Reeder) El Bouhali ’70 to tell you about her great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Naphtali Daggett, D.D. 1748 YC, who not only held Yale’s first professorship of divinity, but the first named professorship in the school’s history. After serving as a Presbyterian pastor in Smithtown, Long Island, Daggett was called back to Yale in 1755 to become Livingston Chair of Divinity. Two years later, Daggett became the first pastor of the newly founded Yale College Church. Daggett was a man of passionate loyalty to God, country, and College. Modest and with no taste for controversy, he became President of Yale College pro tempore after his conservative and contentious predecessor, Thomas Clap, was forced to resign. Daggett served in that capacity for eleven years, without once asking for the pro tempore to be removed from his title. Daggett is chiefly remembered, however, for an act that was out of character. In July 1779, as a group of Yale students prepared to defend New Haven against an invading British force, one student was shocked “to see Dr. Daggett riding furiously by us on his old black mare with his long fowling piece [a light shotgun for shooting birds] in his hand ready for action” (Sprague’s Annals of the American Pulpit by Elizur Goodrich 1779 YC). After standing his ground against the British army, Daggett was captured, beaten, and forced to march, barefoot and in sweltering heat, through the city and onto the Green. A Loyalist friend interceded on his behalf; he was saved and eventually returned to preach at Yale, but he never fully recovered from his wounds. Daggett died in 1780. Great-great-great-great-great granddaughter El Bouhali never spoke about her famous ancestor while a design student at Yale School of Drama, but years later she brought her daughter Leyla back to New Haven to visit Daggett Street, the only visible reminder, aside from his gravesite in Grove Street Cemetery, of Daggett’s heroism in defense of a city he loved. She’s especially proud of one of her ancestor’s accomplishments during his presidency: abolishing the policy of ranking Yale students by their fathers’ social positions and listing them alphabetically instead. Yale School of Drama should also be proud of another accomplishment: At a time when either attending or taking part in a theatrical production was officially forbidden by the law of the College, Daggett looked the other way as student literary societies presented some of the first Jason Fitzgerald ’08 plays on Yale’s campus.
YSD 2009–10
brought acquaintances Derek Walcott and Edward Albee to his Playwriting 2 class there. Jeff’s play Ophelia (published by Playscripts) enjoyed a couple of productions around the country this year and last. Scott Yuille ’77 is still in the Upper Connecticut River Valley in New Hampshire. Last month he was asked to work with Scott Silver ’96 in the final rigging and set-up of Dartmouth College’s production of Grapes of Wrath. Due to the economy, he has had to cut back on his riding, but hopes to own his own land and horses in a couple of years. Laura Zucker ’75 continues her work as Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and at the same time is the new director of the Masters in Arts Management program at Claremont Graduate University. Steve Zuckerman ’74 has written episodes of television shows According to Jim, Hannah Montana, and a new show, Ruby and the Rockits. He directed the premiere of Garry Marshall’s Everybody Say at the Falcon Theatre in Los Angeles. He also directed the reading of Beat and a production of Michael Zettler’s Waiting for Mert starring Steve Mendillo ’71, for Yale Cabaret Hollywood. He also took the first two plays in Shem Bitterman’s (2008 PEN Award Winner) Iraq War trilogy to New York.
80s
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Billy Aronson ’83 has new plays that will be produced by Ensemble Studio Theatre, SF Playhouse/Z Space Studio, and Philadelphia’s 1812 Productions. A children’s musical for which he wrote the book will also premiere at the Lucille Lortel. billyaronson.com Mark Bly ’80 (Former Faculty) continues his work as Senior Dramaturg and Director of New Play Development for Houston’s Alley Theatre, in addition to his appointment as Distinguished Professor of Theatre at the University of Houston. In the spring of 2009, Mark also served as dramaturg for the Broadway production of 33 Variations, directed by Moisés Kaufman and starring Jane Fonda. This past season at the Alley, Mark was dramaturg for The Farnsworth Invention, directed by OBIE Award-winner David Cromer; and Eurydice by Yale Rep Associate Artist Sarah Ruhl, directed by Gregory Boyd. Mark has also been a part of the Alley Theatre’s expanded commitment to new plays. Sharon Brady ’88 is still teaching at Point
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