Yaddo, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Six of his one-acts appeared in Best Short Plays. Included in Best Plays of the Year, 1988–1989, his adaptation of his novel Heathen Valley won the National Critics Award; he won the same award during the 1989–90 season, when it was produced for the Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. But commercial success eluded him; he never had a Broadway hit or a West End success. As the Village Voice’s Michael Feingold pointed out in a recent appreciation of Romulus’s work, the playwright was simply too uncompromising to bend his vision to suit the demands of the marketplace: “the artistic complexities [Romulus] embodied kept even his simplest works from being readily marketable…he did not tailor his scripts to fit any conventional set of demands.” Rather, Romulus remained true to his own, more stringent, criteria: reaching across chasms between myth and reality, past and present, and the more concrete divisions between stage and auditorium or teacher and student, always aiming for that elusive point of intersection. Romulus Linney died at his home in Germantown, NY, on January 15, 2011. He was 80 years old. He is survived by his wife Laura Callanan, daughters Laura and Susan and sons-in-law Marc Schauer and Andy Kropa. Jacob Gallagher-Ross ’09, dfa ’14
Artist and Teacher Spencer Beglarian ’86 Spencer Beglarian ’86 was a man of exceptional breadth and depth. He brought passion and talent not only to a wide range of artistic exploits, but also to the lives of students of various disciplines from New York to Los Angeles. Spencer died on April 19, 2011, of lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends. He was 50 years old. Born in Ridgewood, NJ, in 1960, Spencer and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1969 upon his father’s acceptance of the deanship at the School of Performing Arts at the University of Southern California. Spencer earned his BFA from the USC School of Drama in 1983 and his MFA from Yale School of Drama in 1986; he also studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. He then performed in productions Off Broadway and at Yale Repertory Theatre in addition to teaching and directing theatre in Harlem and South Bronx public schools. In 1991 Spencer returned to Los Angeles to act, write and direct for television and film. His projects included documentaries, short films, educational videos and a 13-episode half-hour weekly TV series on an ABC affiliate channel. Spencer also appeared in films, including his own short, Just Don’t Do It, and on a number of prime-time TV shows. He wrote award-winning feature-length screenplays as well as short films that aired on Bravo and IFC. Additionally, Spencer was an official juror for the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, an event whose winners qualify for Oscar consideration.
Spencer Beglarian ’86 (looking straight at camera), surrounded by his classmates. Top row (left to right): Timothy Douglas, Neal Lerner, Holly Felton, Mark Rafael. Second row (left to right): Courtney B. Vance, Spencer Beglarian, David Officer (deceased 1991), David Wayne Nelson, Kitty Crooks. The “triangle” of women are: Kimberleigh Burroughs Aarn, Amy Aquino, Devora Milman. Acting Class of 1986 members not shown in cropped photo included: Abba Elfman, Aloysius Gigl and Theresa McElwee. Even while his own artistic career was blossoming, Spencer was devoted to teaching others. In 1994 he joined the faculty of Califor nia’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, where he taught such classes as Critical Thinking and Effective Speaking. In 1996 Spencer began to teach in the International MBA program at USC, in addition to the summer Law and English Program and the USC Language Academy’s intensive English programs. There he created both online and live courses and helped many MBA students to secure jobs by teaching them professional skills. In 2008 Spencer joined the faculty of the American Musical & Dramatic Academy, where he was active as an advisor and mentor and taught both academic and performing-arts classes. He also guided students who were developing their own scripts for stage and screen, which were then produced as short films. At the time of his death, Spencer had recently been appointed academic dean of the criticalstudies department. He was an enthusiastic and generous teacher, who derived inspiration from his students. “Spencer’s contribution to AMDA LA and to the AMDA community was profound and ongoing,” said AMDA’s executive director, Jan Martin. Spencer is survived by his sister, composer Eve Beglarian of New York City and Brandon, VT; his aunt, Jeree Pawl, and her partner, Judith Pekarsky, of San Francisco; his uncle, Joseph Pawl, of Beulah, MI; his cousins Amy Pawl and Frank Grady and their children Emma and Spencer Grady-Pawl, of St. Louis; Meg and Dave Johnson and their children Victoria and Lillian Johnson, of Farmington Hills, MI; and his great-aunt and great-uncle, Ireta and Roy T. Janiec, of Bend, OR. Alexandra Ripp ’13
YSD 2011–12
51