Tim Aumiller (MFA directing '99) Since departing Athens in winter of ’99, Tim has worked at the Cleveland Play House with Pavel Dobrusky, The King's Head Theatre in London and at both the Contemporary American Theatre Festival and Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, WV as well as extensively in the New York off-off Broadway theatre scene as both a director and a writer. He co-wrote and directed DOSE! –a new musical at the Kraine, wrote and directed male homosexual in america at manhattantheatresource and co-wrote and directed 2 evenings of new music CLUSTERF*CK I and II, both at the Duplex. His play relief was selected as part of the Homogenius Festival in June 2004. Most recently his work tapping the soul was also seen at manhattantheatresource. Recently he guest directed The Shape of Things at his undergrad alma-mater Kansas State University . He is currently the Associate Director of Training for the international theatre organization Blue Man Group.
Doug Armentrout (MFA '95) appeared in the Aegean Theatre's production of A Memory of Two Mondays, by Arthur Miller.
Tencha Avila-Freidenberg (MFA '95) taught English in Shanghai last year and rendezvoused with Putnam visiting professor Fan Yi Song there. (5/98)
Michael Bachman (BFA '96) appeared in the Aegean Theatre's production of A Memory of Two Mondays, by Arthur Miller. He also won 1st place in the 2nd Lifestyles Condom commercial competition with another alum J.W. Wolterman.
Julie Baker (BFA '93) is a spoken word performance poet in the Chicago poetry scene. Currently, she is featured around the city in The Jude and Lola Show. Julie also works for the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago , IL . (4/99)
Katie Bales (MFA '95) is an actor, director, and vice-president of the Shotgun Players in Oakland , CA . She directed Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Dalliance at the Shotgun Players as well as the Maids and Susan Weigand's play Approach. Her Shotgun credits include Yelena in Uncle Vanya, Sophie in Baal, and Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream. (5/98)
Martha Baron-Bishop (MFA '99) is Staff Costumer at the Costume Collection in New York City.(2/01)
Andrea Bechert (MFA 94) has been very busy lately in California and her designs are winning praise in reviews. Some of her recent projects include Brimstone for The Willows Theater, Talley's Folley and Night of the Iguana for TheatreWorks, Auntie Mame for The Little Theatre in Hayward , Avenue X for The Marin Theatre Company, as well as Oklahoma (for which she won the Shellie Award), Battleship Potemkin, Man of La Mancha, The Lower Depths, and even Babes in Toyland. She recently received a Dean Goodman Choice Award for her designs of Angels in America (also nominated for an ARTIE Award)and Night of the Iguana with Theatre Works in San Francisco . (10/98)
Tonya Beckman (MFA '96) has recently appeared at Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Magical Theatre Co. ( Akron ) and played Shelby in Steel Magnolias at the Public Theatre of Maine. More recently she had the pleasure of playing Kate in the Taming of the Shrew for the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival's inaugural season. She also appeared as Suzy in the regional premiere of Don't Dress for Dinner at Baldwin-Wallace Summer Theatre. She will be joining the acting company of Cleveland Signstage Theatre for the 1998-99 season. (7/98)
Anthony Bishop is freelancing in New York , Anthony was recently assistant designer for the national tour of Cabaret. He will be installing the production in Japan and London 's West End . He is currently designing for Toy Fair.(2/01)
Lisa Blankenship (MFA 97) appeared in the Monster[less] Actors production and the world stage premiere of The After-Dinner Joke at the Currican in New Jersey . (5/99)
Erica Blum (BFA '93) is production stage manager sub for Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back, NYC. She will also be starting graduate school this fall. (6/98)
Elizabeth Boykewich (97) is still living in Los Angeles and working as a casting director, she is currently working on "Jack & Jill" the hour series for Warner Bros. and did "Big Daddy" and Adam Sandler's next movie "Little Nicky" which is filming right now and due in theatres November 2000 and "X-Men" which is due July 2000. Elizabeth is also training for a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia Society of America and Brendan Alvarez a 6 year old boy battling leukemia. (1/00)
CJ Breland (MA '98) has been Theatre Director at Asheville High School, Asheville, NC, since 2000. She is also the current director of the North Carolina Educational Theatre Association, umbrella organization for NC Thespians. CJ appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird and Incorruptible at the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre in Mars Hill during the summer of 2007 and directed her original adaptation of A Christmas Carol for the Montford Park Players of Asheville in December. Her son David, who will graduate from Asheville High in June 2008, has decided to major in technical theatre. Egad!
Shannon Briggs (BFA '95) was married to Eric Wayne Stewart. They live at Fort Drum , NY . (/)
Brandy Burre (BFA '96) is in the MFA professional actor training program at Ohio University .
Melanie Masters Burzynski (BFA '94) After working for Disney and an exciting theater life Melanie is now Assistant Dean for Development at Ohio University 's College of Fine Arts . She is married to Doug Burzynski, and they have a new baby.
Nathan Butcher (BFA '99) is in Minneapolis , attending the grad program at University of Minnesota . He recently designed "Foot Flight By Night", a dance piece based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream, and is now designing Spoon River Anthology with Wendy Lehr (who just came from a production of "Cinderella" at the Minneapolis Children's Theatre). (2/00)
Ashley Butler (MFA '96) appeared in the Aegean Theatre's production of A Memory of Two Mondays, by Arthur Miller.
Michael Byrnes (BFA 95) is attending a one-year graduate program in London , run by Alisson Chitty. He will go on to NYU's grad program as a 2nd year student in Scenic Design. While at PCPA, Michael designed Hay Fever, You Can't Take It With You and 1776. (12/98)
Janet Cadmus (BFA '96) Janet is very pleased to be working with the Michael Curry Design, Inc. team. She has been with the company a little over a year helping to create puppets and specialized works for clients such as Disney World (Lion King Stage Attraction), Epcot (Tapestry of Nations Millennium Project), Momix, and the Lion King on Broadway. She previously practiced her talents as a Costume Crafts Artisan and Painter/Dyer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Old Globe Theatre, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Santa Fe Opera.(1/00)
Marion Campbell (BFA '99) currently works as an assistant at a talent agency in L.A. in the Youth division. The agency's clients include Haley Joel Osment ("The 6th Sense") and the young actor who plays Julia Roberts' son in "Erin Brockovich". (4/00)
Heather Ockler Carey (MFA '95) is a freelance costumer and has an in-home sewing studio. She was a first hand/cutter at Porthouse Theatre at Kent State during the summer of 1996. She married Randy Carey in December of 1995. (/)
Mary Cipolla (MA '99) is the Box Office Manager for San Jose Repertory Theater, Silicon Valley 's Non-Profit Professional Season. Mary is looking forward to next season. You can check out the web-site at www. sjrep.com (4/00)
Karen Chan (MFA '98) in December 1999 performed in Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women" portraying "B" with Pat Elisar (MFA '99) portraying"A" and OU Junior, Jessica Colley portraying "C". Proceeds went to benefit , Sida, an AIDS foundation in Puerto Vallarta , Mexico . This production was directed by George Sherman and Tencha Avila-Friedenberg(MFA '97). Karen has also directed Susan Glaspell's, "Triffles" for Wired for Books on the internet and is currently directing and narratoring Lewis Caroll's " Alice in Wonderland" for same. Check out the web site:www.tcom.ohiou.edu/books.(2/00)
Eric Coble (MFA '93) wrote Sound Biting which premiered in fall of 1996 at Dobama Theatre. He has also had 2 of his works produced off-Broadway in addition to productions mounted in Chicago , LA , throughout Ohio , and Houston . He has several screenplays in production at Warner Brothers, JWP, and Paramount to be produced with such familiar names as Pat Morita and Gary Busey. As a member of the Cleveland Play House Playwrights Unit, he has written several popular children's plays. (/)
Andy Cook (MFA '93) co-directed Arthur Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays, produced by the Aegean Theatre. (/)
David Coyle (BFA 94) acted in The Atlanta Opera's production of Don Giovanni playing a demon. Next he played a singing monkey at a small equity theater. David has also choreographed fights for Gryphon Productions' Macbeth and Hamlet in Knoxville , Camelot at the Seaside Music Theater in Daytona and Twelfth Night and Macbeth for the Atlanta Classical Theatre. He also finished up a contract as Artist In Residence at Georgia College and State University where they did Macbeth as well. (11/98)
Scott Coppock (MFA '99) was Design Assistant at the Santa Fe Opera and a crafts artisan at the Pioneer Repertory last year. He is currently freelancing in New York and based at the Lyn Mackey craft studio. (2/01)
Triste Crawford (MFA '95) appeared in Sound Biting by Eric Coble in fall of 1996 at the Dobama Theatre. (/)
John Curran, Jr. (MFA '97) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre (scenic and lighting design)at Indiana University NW in Gary , IN. Last year John was honored with the Meritorius Acheivement Award from the Kennedy Center 's American College Theater Festival for his set design of Medea at IUNW. John's wife, Tavia DeFelice ('91) is also teaching and designing at North Central College in Naperville , IL and freelancing in the Chicago area. Since leaving OU, John and Tavia have worked in many theaters across the country including The Washington Opera, Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theater,Santa Fe Opera, and the Minnesota Opera. Their proudest acheivements, though, happen on a daily basis with Emily, their 3 year old daughter.(1/00)
Meghan Davis (MA 98) completed internships at Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago , and is currently working as a free-lance dramaturg in Seattle . (12/98)
Tavia DeFelice ('91)is teaching and designing at North Central College in Naperville , IL and freelancing in the Chicago area. Tavia's husband John Curran ('97) teaches at Indiana University NW in Gary , IN. Since leaving OU, John and Tavia have worked in many theaters across the country including The Washington Opera, Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theater, Santa Fe Opera, and the Minnesota Opera. Their proudest acheivements, though, happen on a daily basis with Emily, their 3 year old daughter.(1/00)
Colleen DeJohn (BFA 98) is currently long-term temping for an internet company called Net Perceptions. Colleen joined an improv troupe called the Grown-Up's Playground at the New York Comedy Club and just finished a showcase at NYU. She is also in an eleven week original script reading series with Bravo Theater Productions. Colleen did some extra work on "Sex in the City". She and some friends have just started their own improv group called "5 Actors in Search of a Script" and are heading into competition. (1/99)
Emily Dugan (BFA '99) is currently calling herself a "Freelance Theater Artist." She is supporting herself through work in various areas of Theater as well as other art forms. Most recently this includes work as a dance teacher, improv teacher, costume designer, fine art model, choreographer, stage manager, and actress/singer/dancer. She is also an Associate at WNEP Theater, where she will be making her Chicago directing debut in February of '03. (7/02)
Anna Kristen Durish (BFA '97) is presently touring with "Rugrats-A-Live Adventure" touring theater show as the Head Sound Engineer. (1/00)
Jay Duval (98) is appearing in Wallace Shawn's Marie and Bruce at the Lunar Theater in Chicago . He is also working in public relations at the Goodman Theater. (2/99)
Erin Edminster (BFA '99) is working as a Shop Assistant at the Goodman Theater in Chicago . (4/00)
Anne Marie Elder (MFA '95) designed sound for The Rainmaker at the American Stage in St. Petersburg , FL. (5/98)
Xin Fan (MFA '91) won the 1996 Annual Best Screenplay Award in Taiwan with his musical film Burning Melody and was selected from a worldwide field of 152. He was honored at a ceremony in Taipei , Taiwan in June of 1996. Other recent works include Out of Junkyard, a novelette published in Novelist Magazine, in Tianjin , China and reprinted by Fiction Monthly Magazine, 1996 where it was featured as one of the nation's best selling stories. His The Code of Silence of Charlestown , MASS was published in Novelist Magazine and his In Love with Selena was published in Beijing Literature Magazine, 1996 in Beijing . He is a copywriter in PanCom International, Inc., Los Angeles , an advertising agency for Asian markets.
Jamie Forehand (BFA '94) is in the MFA acting program at FSU/Asolo. (/)
Christopher French (BFA '99) is working for 3-B Productions, a production company that specializes in lighting and sound, based in San Jose . (4/00)
Anita Gabrosek (MFA '98) spent winter quarter 98 in New York City , where she was an intern for New Dramatists. She was accepted into the master playwriting class at the New American Theater School , where she studied with Milan Stitt and worked on her play Disengaged, part of the OU School of Theater's 98-99 mainstage season. (5/98)
Matt Gallagher (MFA Playwriting '95) Matthew is an Associate Professor at Norwalk Community College, where he teaches acting, directing, playwriting, and public speaking. In addition to his teaching, he has written and performed his own musical compositions, one of which was chosen for NCC's 2006 Commencement Exercises, performed by its College Choir. He has formed a partnership with his college and Music Theatre of Connecticut, based in Westport, Connecticut, which has resulted in Broadway performers coming to NCC to perform and do workshops with his students. He would love to hear from past and present Ohio U Theatre Students at mgallagher@ncc.commnet.edu
Ned Gallaway (BFA 96) is a full-time theatre teacher at Shaker Heights High School . He teaches playwriting, acting and continues to direct. Last fall Ned also worked with Dobama Theatre's Night Kitchen as writing director and co-director for Untitled, an original writing production for local young playwrights ages 15-30. (3/99)
Marcus Geduld (MFA 96) co-directed the Monster[less] Actors production and the world stage premiere of The After-Dinner Joke at the Currican in New Jersey . (9/98)
Meganne George (MFA '94) recently designed costumes for the Actor's Fund Benefit performance of A Wonderful Life at the Shubert Theatre. She has also been working extensively with Mabou Mines and Lee Breuer. She designed costumes for their off-Broadway productions Dollhouse (NYC, national and international tour), Red Beads, and Cara Lucia (American Theatre Wing Hewes Nomination). Other off-Broadway designs include Superpowers, Two Little Indians, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Macbeth. She has designed costumes for Robin Becker Dance, Maffei Dance Company, Nicholas Andrea Dance Theatre and Sal LaRussa Dance Theatre. Opera designs include scenery for la Traviata, l'Quivico Stravegante (American Premiere), la Boheme, Dido and Anaes, and Susannah. She has served as the production designer on several independent short films including Don't Nobody Love the Game, which aired on PBS' Independent Lens. Currently, she is in Greece designing costumes for Lee Breuer's Choephorae premeiring in Patras as part of the 2006 European Capital of Culture events and is then off to Hong Kong and Australia for more Mabou Mines' Dollhouse.
Nikoiya Ghanbari (BA '99) is working as an associte producer at Fox 8 in Cleveland . (2/00)
Ellen Gjervan (MA 96) is pursuing her Ph.D. from the University of Trondheim, Norway.
Bradley Goodwill (MFA '95) appeared in the Aegean Theatre's production of A Memory of Two Mondays, by Arthur Miller.
Justin Hagan ('96) reprised his role in Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive at the Mark Taper Forum in LA. Justin played the role off-Broadway until it closed in Fall 98. He was also cast in the Washington , DC production of Beauty Queen of Lenane. (11/98)
Bill Hairston ('98) was nominated in the best actor category at the Chicago Alternative Film Festival. (10/98)
Marianne Hales Harding (MFA '98) is having her " New York debut" at the Theatre Studio, Inc. of her ten minute play, Hold Me. Marianne has been asked to be the Playwright in Residence for the Utah Shakespearean Festival this summer. She is workshopping her latest full length, Next Rest Stop 78 Miles, as well as a few short pieces. (4/00)
Michelle Hamilton ('99) will have a monologue from her 4 Square Blocks published in "Contest Monologues" by Meriwether. (1/99)
David Hansen (BFA '91) is Artistic Director for the Bad Epitaph Theatre Compnay in Cleveland , where he directed Hamlet in April '99 and will be directing Lysistrata, opening May 2000. He also acted last fall in two shows directed by fellow OU alum Roger Truesdell; as Michael in BETC's production of Sin, and at the Beck Center for the Arts in The Complete Works of Wllm. Shkspr. (abridged). Dave recently had a role on the "Drew Carey Show." He is married to Cleveland Free Times arts editor Toni K. Thayer (2/00)
Catherine Head (MFA '93) is currently the casting associate at Jane Alderman Casting where she works on several episodic television shows including: Early Edition, Turks, E/R,and feature films including: Return to Me, The Straight Story, Payback, and U.S. Marshals. She also serves as resident casting director of Red Hen Theater and serves as casting consultant to several other Chicago theaters. She served as primary casting director on the independant feature film Charming Billy starring Michael Hayden and is currently working on Brigid Murphy's film The Prince in the Projects starring David Cale. In addition to her casting duties, Ms. Head teaches an audition class at the Actor's Center. Catherine married Joe Ferguson, Joe owns and runs Truckstop recording studios and record label in Chicago . (1/00)
Maggie Heaman (MFA '95) was crafts artisan at American Musical Theater of San Jose, CA. She was also costume shop manager at Berkshire Theater Festival and designed costumes for Wilder, Wilder! (four one-act plays by Thornton Wilder) for their second stage. (5/98)
Lisha Hocking (BFA'98) was hired as a Resident Stage Manager at the Asolo Theatre for the 1999-2000 Season. (1/00)
Greg Hubbard (MFA'99) works in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching Shakespeare and Acting in the outreach programs of TheatreWorks and Marin Theatre Company, directing occasionally and doing casting. He is the Associate Director for Calaveras Repertory Theatre, a five-year-old classical and language-based theatre in Milpitas . This summer he will be teaching and directing a condensed version of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Young Conservatory at the California Shakespeare Festival.(4/00)
Matthew G. Jackson (MFA '95) is currently the chief engineer/draftsman at Showman Fabricators,Inc. in New York . While at SFI he has teched The Peoples Court, the new diamond exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in New York , as well as a 2 million dollar renovation of the museum's rain forest exhibit. (/)
David M. Jaffe (MFA '96) is an adjunct faculty member in the theater department at Lycoming College in Williamsport , PA. In addition to his classes, he directed a production of Scotland Road by Jeffrey Hatcher. Last July, David played Dr. Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest at the college's summer theater. (9/98)
Harris Jahim (MFA '95) This fall 1999/ winter 2000 season Harris has been working on The Mousetrap as Paravicini, The Last Leaf as Tom Crocker at Theatre Charlotte, Bondage as Mark at Chickspeare (NC) and The Man Who Came to Dinner as Banjo. He is also teaching acting and theatre appreciaiton as an adjunct at Central Piedmont Community College . The summer 2000 will be spent at the Lessac workshop where he is working on getting his Lessac Certification. (1/00)
B.C. Keller (MFA '97) Still knockin' 'em dead in California . He is Staff Audio Engineer with the South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa , CA . His free lancing on the West Coast continues; and, last year his work got nominated for two major awards. SCR is building a new wing which will include a studio space for the Audio Department, and this makes B.C. very happy we think.(8/02)
Raymond Kent (BFA '92) Raymond recently became a theater consultant with the award winning firm of Westlake Reed Leskosky in Cleveland , Ohio . Raymond also is the Vice Commissioner for Programming for the Architecture Commission within USITT as well as an associate editor for TD&T Magazine. Previously he has worked and won many design excellence awards (including the Roby Award and the Garland Award for his scenic design of the West Coast Premiere of "The Spitfire Grill") as a scenic and lighting designer for many regional and commercial venues and as Technical Director for the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, California. He made the switch to architecture in 2003 designing archi-tainment style lighting for big box retail. He continues to pursue side projects in industrial and theatrical automation. He is the author of "A Spin Around Moving Lights" (High End Systems, 1999) , the first book ever written solely on automated lighting, Electronics for Theater (SIU Press), and numerous pieces for technical journals such as Architectural Lighting, Metal Architecture, Tech Briefs, and Tech Expo. He is happily married to his wife Karen (BA '93) and has a chip off the old block - Parker Nicholas (18 mnths).
Jonathan Kronenberger (MFA '94) directed Reckless for the Aegean Theatre Co. in their inaugural season and Eastern Standard in their second season, as well as The Hot L Baltimore for Circle in the Square Theatre School . Jonathan also acted the role of Dr. Polidori in the Aegean Theatre's third season production Bloody Poetry. (7/98)
Jennifer Kronk (BFA '97) began working a s the Business Manager for the Shattered Globe Theater in October. (1/00)
James Krouse (BFA '95) has been on an island in the middle of the Danube in Budapest clearing his mind and writing. Trips to the city to see theater, ballet, and opera have also been on his schedule.
Maureen (Krueger) Wagner (MA '98) is Director of Marketing and Development of the Ohio University School of Theater. (1/00)
Jason Lee (MFA '98) is currently playing Cullen in Charles Smith's (OU Faculty) new play Knock Me A Kiss opening to rave reviews at the Victory Gardens Theater. Jason also appeared in View of the Dome at Victory Gardens . (2/00)
Elizabeth (Lee) Dollar (MA '98) Liz is the Director of Theatre and an Assistant Professor at King College in Bristol , TN. She has recently directed productions of Camelot, Tartuffe, The Glass Menagerie, Life Is a Dream, and The Boys from Syracuse . She also teaches courses in Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, Directing, and Acting. Liz is currently working on her most important production with her husband Mark. They are expecting their first child in May 2005.
Jason Lee (MFA 98) starred in the MPAACT Theater Ensemble's The Abesha Conspiracy by Shepsu Aakhu at Victory Garden 's Theater in Chicago . He was also cast understudying two shows down at The Court in Chicago, Little Foxes and LeBette, this spring. (4/99)
Jill Leffler (MA 96) teaches speech at a branch of Central Texas College , and theater and fine arts at Averett College in Virginia . (12/98)
Erika Hauberg Lunbra (BFA '91) directed Princess and the Pauper and Jack and the Bean Stock with K-5 graders in an after-school program at the YMCA. (5/98)
Helen Ma (BFA 98) is in New York working in the production office at the soap opera Another World. (1/99)
David Makuch (BFA 99) Congratulations are in order - David got married this summer! He and his wife are living in the Chicago suburbs; and David works for SCS Productions. He is currently traveling the country lighting corporate presentations, ice shows, fashion runways, you name it. (8/02)
Jeni Mahoney (MFA '91) Jeni's play, The Feast of the Flying Cow...and other Stories of War was presented at the 1997 National Playwrights Festival Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Center, the Lark Theater Company and the Midwestern New Play Festival. Other plays: Mercy Falls (Aegean Theater, Cornelia St. Cafe), Bad Water Juju (Village Repertory Theater), Martyrdom of Washington Booth (Finalist, 1999 National Playwrights Conference). She received and Independant Artist's Grant from the Field. Until Sept. '99 she was Associate Director of Playwrights Horizons Theater School / NYU Tisch - where she taught actors and mentored directors. Jeni continues to teach playwriting at Playwrights, and is now Associate Director of the Mint Theater in Manhattan and a reader for the Public Theater. (1/00)
Ashley Maresch (MA 97) is Director of the Academic Support Center for the DeVry Institute in New York . (12/98)
David May (BFA 96) recently closed a very successful run of a one-man show of Diary of a Mad Man at Seven Stages in Atlanta . (1/99)
Josh Aaron McCabe (AB '96, BFA '96) is performing in Ronnie Larsen's Peep Show at Actors' Playhouse in Greenwich Village . (5/98)
Sean McCain (BFA '98) is living in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland after spending 6 months in Dublin with Andy Keitch ('98). Sean is running a hostel called "The Marina" and hopes to soon be working with a local theatre troupe called the Beehive Theatre Company. Sean has appeared as an extra in a couple Irish TV shows and films, he also played a cop (or Gardai) in the Irish soap opera Fair City . Sean is applying to Trinity's Irish Dramatists master's degree program. (1/00)
Ellen McKeown (98) starred in Sweet Chalybete written and directed by Josh Weil (BFA 99) at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was also nominated for the award in "acting excellence" by Stage Magazine, the U.K. 's national theater newspaper. (10/98)
Brian Mear (MFA '95) Continues to assist on Broadway, currently for Marty Pakledinaz and David Murin. He is Design Assistant to William Ivy Long, Splendora; Assistant to William Ivy Long for Big Broadway (1995/96); Costume Designer for Tristan and Isolde, Agean Theater Company; Costume Designer for Club Soda, directed by Susan Einhorn, Queens College . (2/01)
Josh Mertz (AB '94) played the part of Jimmy in The Rainmaker at the American Stage in St. Petersburg , FL. (5/98)
Sean Mitchell (BFA '96) is in the MFA acting program at FSU/Asolo.
Dipankar Mukherjee (MFA '93) directed Ajax by Sophocles at the Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis . Dipankar is cofounder and Artistic Director of Pangea World Theater, now in its third season. (1/99)
John Nelson (MFA '95) appeared in the Aegean Theatre's production of Arthur Miller's A Memory of Two Mondays.
Sarah-Irene "Sarene" Nehrig (BFA 98) is currently an intern in Stage Management at Dallas Theatre Center . (3/99)
Karen Ogle (MFA '95) appeared in the Aegean Theatre's production of A Memory of Two Mondays, by Arthur Miller.
Katie Inman Orr (BFA '95) was lighting designer for The Lion in Winter. She was also assistant lighting designer for the Indianapolis Opera Company's production of Othello. (5/98)
Matt Parker (BFA '92) was composer/sound designer for the Asolo Theater Company's production of Nicholas Nickleby.
T. Reid Parker, Jr. , (MFA '97) who graduated last year from the PD&T technical directing program, is working as an interim instructor teaching design and tech classes at Mars Hill College in Marshall North Carolina. Reid designed the scenery and TD'd Mars Hill College 's production of El Capitan which opened October 3rd.
Piper Perabo , (BFA '98) is featured in the Feb. 2000 edition of Premiere Magazine in the article about her movie Coyote Ugly, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (Armageddon) and directed by David McNally. Piper had her first movie break playing the lead female part, "Sara" in the film Whiteboys. The film starred Danny Hoch and was directed by Mark Levin, whose last film Slam won at Sundance. After filming Whiteboys, she quickly followed with several other auditions and was cast in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Movie at Universal Studio with Robert DeNiro, Jason Alexander and Rene Russo. Piper plays the role of Karen Sympathy. She has also been named one of 20th Century Fox's Top Ten Talents to Watch. (2/99)
Victoria Pero (MFA 94) co-directed the Monster[less] Actors production and the world stage premiere of The After-Dinner Joke at the Currican in New Jersey . (9/98)
Phil Peron (BFA 97) was nominated in the best actor category at the Chicago Alternative Film Festival. (10/98)
Edward Pierce (MFA '95) Broadway productions include Disney's Aida (Associate Lighting Designer), Ragtime and Cabaret (Assistant Lighting Designer), Bring in 'Da Noise/Bring in 'Da Funk (Associate Scenic Design, and The Tempest (Assistant Scenic Design). Since Edy went to work for Jules Fisher and was featured as a young designer in TCI (February, 1997; pg 28), he has designed sets and/or lights for some two dozen shows in New York . (2/01)
Doug Powers (MFA '94) After getting his MFA in acting in 94, Doug joined Actors' Equity, went on to earn an MA in theatre history and dramatic literature from the University of MO-Kansas City, and then finished a PhD in theatre with an emphasis in ritual and performance studies at the University of MO-Columbia . He is currently an assistant professor of theatre at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove , PA , where he teaches acting, directing, and theatre history. (7/02)
Amanda Rebel (BFA '99) is living in Seattle and acting in an Indie film that starts shooting in Jan. She's been working with the Bread and Puppet Theater making puppets, she has also done some street theater and dance working with the Bread and Puppet and Art and Revolution based in San Fransisco. (1/00)
Melissa Reeves (BFA 91) is now Events Assistant at Educational Theatre Association in Cincinnati after having wandered the British Isles for two years and getting her MA in Creative Writing at Bath College of Higher Education in England ('96). (2/99)
Barry Rountree (BFA 94) received his MS in Computer Science from Florida State University in December 97. He is married to Kathryn Sturch Rountree (AB 89). (10/98)
Matt Ross (MFA '98) has been an Associate Sound Designer for Paramount Cruise lines. He and his wife Sonya, recently moved to Atlanta , where Matt has taken a position doing editing for Yahoo. They are expecting their first child. (1/00)
Paul Rubenstein (BFA 1993, HTC) has finally settled into a career as a High School English / Drama teacher at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood , NY . At GCHS, he has directed A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Princess Who Would Not Marry, and is currently directing Leader of the Pack--the Ellie Greenwich Musical. He has also taught an improvisation class for the past five summers at the Staten Island Mental Health Society Teen Center . Paul has found a niche (which probably no one ever thought he would do) and is looking forward to the challenges of the future. "All the world's a stage; do what you will with it." (3/00)
Gregory Sanders (BFA '96) is in the MFA acting program at Case Western where he has been cast in Three Sisters and Scenes from an Execution.
Micki Selvitella (MFA '96) directed Limoges in June 98 as her third and final installment in the Upstairs Theatre's New Play Festival in Pittsburgh prior to moving west to Arizona.(6/98)
Julya Baker Sembrat (BA '91) earned an MA in Performing Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago ('95). She is currently development associate for Manhattan Theatre Club in New York . (2/97)
Dale Shields (BFA '75 MFA '95) 's production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf was called "magnificent and a tribute to all who participated" in a fan letter from a vice president of Wooster College , where Dale is an assistant professor. (5/97)
Bryan Smith (MFA '93) followed his internship at the Cleveland Play House by a lengthy stay in Chicago , where he worked with North Avenue Productions, most notably as a member of the ensemble of the Jeff-recommended "Songs Of The Pogo" during its extended run at the Victory Gardens Theater in the winter of 1995. In the spring of that year, he was invited to participate in the Chicago Dramatists' Workshop's staging of a number of new plays, after which he relocated to New York, where he was a founding member of The Aegean Theatre Company, appearing in Andy Cook's production of "Bury The Dead," and Jeni Mahoney's "Mercy Falls." Regretfully, Bryan has been nowhere near a stage in more years than he would care to count, but rock radio listeners in southern Illinois are very familiar with his voice, especially loyal fans of his Monday night blues feature, the first of its kind anywhere between St. Louis and Louisville , Chicago and Memphis . He has also had the opportunity to interview a number of rock icons, including Dickey Betts (Allman Brothers Band), Ted Nugent, Paul Rodgers (Bad Company), Don McLean, and Tom Johnston (Doobie Brothers). His interview with Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally resulted in definitive plans on the part of Grateful Dead Productions to include the rarely-seen 1974 "Mars Hotel" television commercial as a bonus feature on an upcoming DVD release. While this is quite a feather in Bryan 's cap as a long-time Dead Head, a dream really came true in March of 2001 when he and his wife were granted some face-to-face time with Grateful Dead member Bob Weir. And even though their daughter Katelyn hardly understood its significance at the time, at some point in her life she may learn to cherish her personally autographed, "This is Katie's Shirt," baby-sized, dancing bear tie-dye.
Jim Smith (MFA '92) is working as technical director at Oberlin College .
Bradley Speck (BA '99) is working at Playhouse Square Center as a Programming Assistant and will be performing in the Cleveland Playhouse's Production of "A Dream Play" opening in January.(1/00)
Jeanette Staman (BFA ) is in the MFA directing program at Columbia .
R. Eric Stone (MFA '94) Eric has been the Chair of the Scenic Design Program for the BFA and MFA programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (KCPA) starting in 2001. He has designed 9 productions for UIUC, previous productions including Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, Nine, Twelfth Night, Othello, and The Threepenney Opera. In 2004, Eric was the Associate Scenic Designer for Ralph Lemon’s Come home Charley Patton, Part 3 of the Geography Trilogy, which premiered at KCPA before touring around the country. During the summers of 2003, 2004 and 2005, Eric designed the three-production repertory in the Randall Theater for the Utah Shakespearean Festival, including Camelot, My Fair Lady, 1776, Mornings at Seven, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His design for A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been accepted into the United States Design Exhibition at the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. Eric is also serving as the Assistant to the Exhibition Designers for the Quadrennial Exhibition. From 1995 to 2001, he was the Resident Scenic Designer for PCPA Theaterfest, designing 36 productions for the company. A member of the United Scenic Artists, Local 829 since 1997, Eric has also designed for the Skylight Opera Theatre, American Players Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and Sacramento Theatre Company, and University of California at Santa Barbara. He has designed 73 productions to date, since finishing his MFA at OU.Samples of his design work can be viewed at: www.rericstone.com.
Kohl Suddeth (AB 96) appeared in the film 54 and was featured in an episode of Sex in the City. Look for Kohl to star in a major motion picture, yet to be titled. (10/98)
Eileen Sweeney (BFA '98) is currently living in L.A. and is working as the assistant director for "The Elephant Man" at the Attic Theater. (4/00)
Ed Teer (MFA '97) is production manager of the Vineyard Theater, New York, where the Pulitzer Prize winning play for drama, How I Learned to Drive, by Paul Vogel opened. (5/98)
Chris Todd (93) assisted sound designer Scott Stauffer on the Lincoln Center production of Twelfth Night which included a number of live musicians on stage throughout the play. (10/98)
Jason Tolub (BFA 98) came back to OU last fall to visit (and show off his new car). Jason has been made Head of Moving Light Technology for Upstaging, a Chicago-based production company. (11/98)
Pat Tomlinson (MFA '92) is a faculty member of Sinclair Community College in Cleveland where she has established the Teen Acting Workshop for teens ages 13-18. She has been an instructor at Colonel White High School for the Arts. She has also guest directed at Centerville High School and The Dayton Playhouse. She has been artistic director of the Kettering Children's Theatre for the past 4 years. (/)
Steven Townshend (AB 97) recently joined the cast of the Star Wars based musical The Fandom Menace. In addition, Steven continues his improv work, having made it to the "level 5" class at Improv Olympic. (3/99)
Roger Truesdell (MFA '91) directed Sound Biting, by Eric Coble in fall of 1996 at the Dobama Theatre. (/)
Ann Turner (MFA '96) has been appointed as artistic director of the Naa Kahidi Theater based in Juneau , AK . (/)
Karl A. Ulfsson (MFA '94) Karl's one act "Grandpa's Chair" produced by the Hafnarfjordur Theater opened in April '99 and is currently being performed on a tour of factories and firms. "A Cozy Evening" was performed at a peace rally in May '99 by the Pacifist Company. His latest translations include "Peter Pan" for the Reykjavik Theater Company and "Rent" for the National Theater of Iceland. He did the lyrics for and co-wrote a cabaret called "Mayday, mayday" for the Castle in the Sky Theater, which is enjoying great popularity. His musical "Sentinals" premiered in October and he is currently working on lyrics for the children's play "Trouble in Lazy Town " for the National Theater. (1/00)
Derek Wadlington (MFA 95) is now with the Corporate Purchasing department at ABC Television Network (a division of The Walt Disney Company). In February 2000, Derek and his wife Kim were blessed with a son, Augustus Byrd Wadlington. Hooray!
Josh Weil (BFA 99) wrote and directed Sweet Chalybete which was produced last summer as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The play was showcased as the "Pick of the Fringe." His short film Wild Geese won the best short film category at the Chicago Alternative Film Festival. Josh was also nominated for most promising director. (10/98)
Jennifer Wiech (BFA '97) Jennifer is currently working as the Arts Administrator for the Hippodrome State Theatre in Gainesville , Florida . You can check out the website at www.hippodrometheatre.org. (8/02)
Matt Williams (BFA '93) recently closed the final run of Loose Lips Comedy Inc., which he co-founded in '95 at San Diego 's Sledgehammer Theatre. He is hoping to make it to Charlotte , NC , to showcase A Life According to Theatre. The show is and outreach project for North Coast Repertory Theatre. (5/98)
Tara Winkler (BA '99) is getting married in April of 2000, Tara is currently working as a dispatch for the western and central states for technicians that service companies such as Kinko's. (1/00)
J. W. Wolterman (BFA '95) won 1st place in the 2nd Lifestyles Condom commercial competition with Michal Bachman. He also appeared in the Aegean Theatre's production of A Memory of Two Mondays, by Arthur Miller. (/)
Stephen Wylie (BFA '92) currently working with his theatre/dance company "The Bleeding Hearts Ensemble" on an original production written and directed by Stephen entitled RUBHERWHERE: A study in fetishism with choreography by Vanesa Gebers. (1/00)
Alyssa G. Younger (BFA '98) worked as the box office manager of the Man in the Moon Theatre, a small fringe theater in central London , while attending classes. (5/98)