Becca Owen '18
Becca Owen '18 curated Gender Euphoria: Contemporary Art Beyond the Binary, an exhibition for the Five Oaks Museum featuring twelve contemporary transgender and gender non-conforming artists from the Pacific Northwest. The exhibit is entirely non-location based, including a website gallery, online programming and events, and more. You can see the art and participate no matter where you are located.
Alyssa Paparella '19
Alyssa Paparella '19 was awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Dylan Doyle-Burke '12
Dylan Doyle-Burke '12 announces Radical AI, a podcast he hosts featuring the voices of the future in the field of Artificial Intelligence Ethics. Radical AI lifts up people, ideas, and stories that represent the cutting edge in AI, philosophy, and machine learning. In a world where platforms far too often feature the status quo and the usual suspects, Radical AI is a breath of fresh air whose mission is “To create an engaging, professional, educational and accessible platform centering marginalized or otherwise radical voices in industry and the academy for dialogue, collaboration, and debate to co-create the field of Artificial Intelligence Ethics.”
Sarah Olmsted Thomas '08
Sarah Olmsted Thomas '08 announces that her puppet theater company "Alex and Olmsted" was recently awarded a 2020 Jim Henson Foundation Grant to further develop their outer space show, "Marooned! A Space Comedy."
Rebekah Driscoll '08
Thompson Street Opera Company will present a short opera by Rebekah Driscoll '08, *Apart/ment* during their *Faulty Systems: Hope & Home* in Chicago. This work tells the stories of how four individuals became homeless and aims to deepen the audience's understanding of our national homelessness crisis. The multidisciplinary event will bring together artists of many mediums with social activists to engage as a community with the issue of homelessness and housing insecurity.
Gina Femia MFA '11
Sydney Chaffee '05
Maggie Winston '05
Maurice Dawkins '15
Caitlin O'Keefe MA '19
Sam Stein '05
Sam Fein '08
Christopher Wool '76
David Byers '02
Abigail Oswald MFA '18
Lisa Shirley MFA '02
Chanel Blancett ’13, Chia-Ying Kao MFA ’12, Sifiso Mabena MFA ’18, and Myra M. McPhee MFA ’19
Chanel Blancett ’13, Chia-Ying Kao MFA ’12, Sifiso Mabena MFA ’18, and Myra M. McPhee MFA ’19 are among seven artists unveiling their work in Prospect Park on November 15, starting at the Boathouse and ending at Lefferts Historic House. The project, put on by The Creators Collective and Prospect Park Alliance, is the second wave of Artists Elevating Immigrant Narratives, "a series of projects and events that elevate the narrative of immigration in America and engage art and activism in an environment that nurtures collaboration and results in meaningful action.”
Dr. Gabriela Sheets '02
Christin Ayers '02
Michelle Janikian '11
Clay McLeod Chapman '00
Tina Barr '77
Corey Morris MFA '12
Alison Walls MFA '07
Alison Walls MFA '07 will be a guest scholar participating in New York Shakespeare Exchange's next Freestyle Lab: Our Own Voices, Our Own Tongues on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 7 p.m. at the 53rd Street Library. "Led by our curators and guest scholars, this lab will invite a discussion on Shakespeare and translation, asking us to consider how the work of a playwright who is known around the world might change as that work is "adopted" by other countries and cultures outside of his native England. What do we lose or gain when Shakespeare is translated out of its original text, and what are the different ways that translation can be its own creative act?"
Alexandra C. Klarén '02
Emma Bolden '02
Sky Mihaylo '17
Tania Pabon Acosta MFA '17
Gloria Kisch '63
Eric Wright '03
Myra Batchelder '01
Mary J. Mahoney MFA '91
Julia Barry '04
Ian Spencer Bell '13
Cheryl Savitt-Spielman '69
Khaliah Williams '02
Vrinda Manglik '08
Todd Dillard MFA '08
Jennifer Fischer '00
Abigail Welhouse ’09
Abigail Welhouse '09 teaches therapeutic horseback riding lessons at GallopNYC: "After I graduated and moved to New York City, I wanted a way to stay involved with horses. We're in real need of volunteers to assist with our lessons for people with disabilities. You don't need to have prior experience—we will teach you what you need to know. If you're interested or someone you know in the New York metro area might be, please check out the website and feel free to email me with questions: abigail@gallopnyc.org."
Hannah Wirta Kinney '08
Kendra Ware '99
Leah Hennessey '12
Katie Pedro MFA '17
The Dare Tactic presents Models of Perfection, written and directed by Katie Pedro MFA '17, with performances will take place September 20 & 21 at WOW Cafe Theatre (59-61 E 4th St #4). Tickets available online.
Johnny Dwyer '98
Kait Crowley '10
Jennifer Steil MFA '96
Sarah Hunter ’82
Elsa Sjunneson-Henry MA '11
Gloria Muñoz '09
Tovah Feldshuh
Arisa White ‘01
Joanna Beacom '86
In summer 2019, Joanna Beacom '86 studied ongoing research projects such as radio tracking, cheetah conservation, and ecosystem management as well as the design of school and community programs in Namibia as part of Miami University's Earth Expeditions global field course. Joanna, a music composer, lives in Los Angeles, California, and is a graduate student in Miami University's Global Field Program.
Laurie Nadel '69
Brian Birnbaum MFA '15
Deidre Robinson MFA '18
Kathleen Donegan '88
Lisa Anderson '72
Jennifer Portman '91
Eric Wright '03
Talya Boisjoli MS ’18 and Sarah Stewart MS ’18
Linda Rhodes '70
Amy Nawrocki '96
Jessica Wilkerson MA ’06
Jessica Wilkerson MA ’06 will speak on “Prison Activism and the Organizing Tradition” at The Making and Unmaking Mass Incarceration (MUMI) Conference at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, December 4-6, 2019. “[MUMI] will bring together scholars, activists, policymakers, lawyers, students, and Mississippians to better understand the history of mass incarceration and shape the future of prison abolition.”
Clay McLeod Chapman ’00
Clay McLeod Chapman ’00 will write for Marvel’s Scream series, beginning with Scream: Curse of Carnage with art by Chris Mooneyham, to be released in November. “This is my first series beginning with a big ol’ numero uno up front and it’s an honor to be able to tell this story.”
Darcey Merritt ’88
Dominique Fluker '14
Dominique Fluker '14 joined the Package Your Genius personal branding podcast for "Episode 78: Safeguarding Your Mental Health as a High Achiever."
Tovah Feldshuh
Miranda Spivack '73
Moriah Ella Mason '09
Barbara Kolsun '71
Joan Countryman '62
Christianne Karefa-Johnson '13
Eric John Meyer MFA '09
Michael Ronall '75
Carolyn Newberger '63
Justin Wayne Lutz ’10
Justin Wayne Lutz ’10 is currently featuring the work of fellow Alabama native and Director of the Alabama Prion Arts + Education Project Kyes Stevens, MA '99, MFA '00 on a panel for 2019 Civic Institute, connecting civic-minded change-makers and thought leaders from across Alabama, taking place August 16. The panel is titled, "Inside Out: Strategies for Resisting Disconnection and Crafting Civic Identity in Alabama Communities and Prisons," which Lutz says, “Sounds like a conference paper if I ever heard one!”
Komal Mathew MFA '06
Simona Zaretsky '18
Linh Valerie Pham '15
Kate Knapp Johnson ’79, MFA ’81
The Wind-Bike is the fourth book of poetry by Kate Knapp Johnson ’79, MFA ’81 (Writing), out now.
Erica N. Cardwell MFA '16
Estha Weiner ’72
Audrey Heimler MS '71
Ciara Darnise Miller '09
Tania Pabón Acosta MFA '17
Jeannine Marie Pitas '05
Judith Mary Gee '75
Camasin Pedroja '06
Lois Farfel Stark '65
Nusrat Hossain MFA ’18
Kacen Callender '11
Kacen Callender '11 was awarded the Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Award for their book Hurricane Child at the 2019 Stonewall Book Awards Ceremony on June 24.
Rohena Gera MFA '97
Adam Chandler MFA ’09
Tania Pabon Acosta MFA '17
A. Nora Long '02
Elizabeth Hart Bergstrom MFA '15
James Tynion IV '10
Maryann Aita MFA '17
Shay Siegel '15
Jessica Wilkerson MA '06
Shay Siegel '15
Marcia Bradley MFA '17
Melissa Febos MFA '08
Barbara Garber '63
Elizabeth Hart Bergstrom MFA '15
Stephanie Brody '76 and Frances Arnold '73
Rachel Lit ’19
Rachel Lit ’19 spent her spring semester interning at the Climate Museum on a program called Climate Speaks, a spoken word poetry program for NYC area high school students about climate change, which culminates in a spoken word concert at the Apollo Theater on June 14 at 7 p.m. Tickets available online.
Craig Jaster '83 and Sarah Olmsted Thomas '08
PANTHEON by Happenstance Theater, featuring Craig Jaster '83 and Sarah Olmsted Thomas '08, will be at Joe's Movement Emporium (3309 Bunker Hill Rd, Mt Rainier, MD 20712) June 18-July 1. "The Happenstance quintet delves into Ancient Greek Mythology with guest artist Craig Jaster generating a live musical score. In a pared-down 1940’s aesthetic, a chorus of workers assembles lightning bolts and mines the Underworld. Like Sisyphus they must endlessly repeat their tasks. With an ample smattering of amusement, the performers invoke the Muses, offer Sacrifice, suffer Hubris, consult Oracles, and meet Fate as they portray an array of mortals and Gods whose flaws reflect their own." Tickets available online.
Oriole Farb Feshbach '53
Kathleen Swenson MS '00
Nicole Dennis-Benn MFA '12
Michael LeVasseur ’04
Severine Reisp '18
Robin Richardson MFA '12
Sit How You Want by Robin Richardson MFA '12 is a finalist for the 2019 Trillium Book Award/Prix Trillium for Poetry in English language, the Ontario Government’s prestigious award for literature for four separate prizes. The winners will be announced on June 13, 2019.
Ann Cefola '81, MFA '97
Ann Cefola '81, MFA '97 is the translator of French poet Hélene Sanguinetti's The Hero (Chax Press, 2018), a book-length poem that explores the delusions of war.
Elisabeth von Uhl MFA '05
Elisabeth von Uhl MFA '05 has two poems in Watershed Review.
Emilia Grace Dominguez Skidmore ’03
Cuando Callo Mi Cuerpo Habla, the first book of poems in English and Spanish by Emilia Grace Dominguez Skidmore ’03, has been published and is available for purchase online. The translated title is When I Am Silenced My Body Speaks. Her first reading will be in July in Mexico City.
Camille Darby '05
Jeremy Konner '02
Samantha Paige Rosen MFA '17
Joni Iraci '13
Kendra DeColo '05
"I Am Not Trying To Hide My Hungers From The World Anymore," a poem by faculty member Kendra DeColo '05 was published in American Poetry Review.
Cecily Tyler '97
Alex Dimitrov MFA '09
Shireen Abrishamian ’15
The Columbia University MFA Thesis Exhibition will open Saturday, April 27, 3-6 p.m. at Wallach Art Gallery, where Shireen Abrishamian ’15 (as Xirin) will be showing a performative film and installation titled Hope Eats the Soul, which will remain on view through May 26, 2019. You can view a teaser for the project here.
Keegan Cook Finberg '06
Rosa Leff '11
Cynia Barnwell MA '14
Meg Lindsay ’98
Christine Benvenuto ’82
Lock Down by Christine Marglin, aka Christine Benvenuto ’82, is one of the short plays selected for production in the 21st Boston Theater Marathon at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.
Regan Kramer ’79
Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08
The award-winning Happenstance Theater announces the world premiere of Pantheon. The Happenstance quintet delves into ancient Greek mythology with guest artist Craig Jaster ’83 generating a live musical score. In a pared-down 1940’s aesthetic, a chorus of workers assembles lightning bolts and mines the Underworld. Like Sisyphus they must endlessly repeat their tasks. With an ample smattering of amusement, the performers invoke the Muses, offer Sacrifice, suffer Hubris, consult Oracles, and meet Fate as they portray an array of mortals and Gods whose flaws reflect their own. Featuring Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Gwen Grastorf, Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08, Alex Vernon and Craig Jaster ’83. Two sets of performances are currently scheduled for April 4-14 at Baltimore Theater Project and June 18-July 1 at Joe’s Movement Emporium in Mt Rainier.
Melanie Griffith MFA ’11
Melanie Griffith MFA ’11 has co-founded the Rhode Island School for Progressive Education (RISPE). RISPE is Rhode Island’s first and only residency-style graduate school of education. Its purpose is to recruit, train, and support teachers and school leaders of color for Rhode Island’s urban public schools. RISPE believes strongly in social justice, anti-racist pedagogy, and the power of public education to transform society. RISPE was unanimously granted initial institutional approval by the Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education on March 20th, 2019, and it the first stand-alone institution of higher education approved by the council since 1964. RISPE anticipates a launch in June 2020.
Abigail Welhouse ’09
A poem by Abigail Welhouse ’09 has been adapted into choral work by composer and poet Dale Trumbore that will be performed in two concerts in New York City on April 28 and 29.
Jonathan Vatner MFA ’11
Carnegie Hill, the first novel from Jonathan Vatner MFA ’11 comes out August 20 from Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press. The novel chronicles the lives of four couples in a wealthy Upper East Side co-op apartment building, a hotbed of gossip and neighborly feuding.
Christine Quattro MFA '17
“The Supplicant Undertaker” by Christine Quattro MFA '17 has been published online in The Rumpus.
Tania Pabon MFA ’17
"Self-Contained," an essay by Tania Pabon MFA ’17, has been published online by Cosmonauts Avenue.
Lynne Golob Gelfman ‘66
Meredith Monk '64
Veera Hiranandani MFA ’96
Veera Hiranandani MFA ’96 will be presented with the Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature for her book The Night Diary on Tuesday, April 9, at Konover Auditorium in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut (405 Babbidge Road, Unit 1205, Storrs, CT).
Susan Meiselas ’70
Nicaragua 1978–2018: Susan Meiselas, an exhibition featuring works by U.S. documentary photographer Susan Meiselas ’70 opens at the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury on Monday, March 25 with public talks by Susan Meiselas and Mercedes Doretti at 1 p.m. and an opening reception at 4 p.m.. Taken mostly in color, Meiselas’s photographs of the Nicaraguan revolution sparked by the assassination of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, the editor of the opposition newspaper La Prensa, have become iconic images that epitomize the courage and resolve of ordinary people. Meiselas’s book, Nicaragua June 1978– July 1979, originally published in 1981, became a contemporary classic that makes a significant contribution to the literature of concerned photojournalism. The exhibition runs through May 2, 2019.
Mary L. Bianco '61
On Saturday, March 23, 2019 at 4 p.m., the Manhattan Chamber Players will perform a new composition by Mary L. Bianco '61 along with musical works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Max Bruch in the Conservatory's Recital Hall in White Plains for a free, public concert.
Ali Liebegott '98, MFA 99
In 2010, Ali Liebegott '98, MFA 99 took a road trip by train. Destination: the Emily Dickinson house. Along the way, she interviewed poets, including faculty member Marie Howe. The Believer is reposting the series to celebrate the release of Liebgott’s new book, The Summer of Dead Birds.
Aura Rosenberg ’71
Statues Also Fall In Love, a solo exhibition by Aura Rosenberg ’71, features lenticular prints and sculpture and is on view at Martos Gallery (41 Elizabeth St) in New York through April 14, 2019.
Nancy Glassman '73
The Sanctuary Gallery at the Rockland Congregational Church in Maine will reopen with a show by Nancy Glassman '73, Sunday, April 14. The show will continue until Sunday, May 12.
Catherine Lee '88
The dessert menu at Le Virtù in Philadelphia, co-owned by Catherine Lee '88, includes Sanctuary Bread Pudding, with all proceeds going to an asylum-seeking family. The fundraiser was featured in an article by The Inquirer.
Jane Freeman ’71
A talk given by Jane Freeman ’71 about her art is now available to view on YouTube.
Ann Cefola '81 MFA '97, Sally Bliumis-Dunn MFA ’02, and Margo Stever MFA ’88
Ann Cefola '81 MFA '97 and Ann Lauinger (literature) will be reading with Sally Bliumis-Dunn MFA ’02 and Margo Stever MFA ’88 in a new poetry series at the Desmond Fish Library in Garrison, New York on April 13 from 2-4 p.m. Cefola and Stever will also be reading at the JCC of Tarrytown on April 28 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. in the Sundays with George Poetry Series. View a selected reading from Cefola's Free Ferry online.
Adam Chandler MFA ’10
Flatiron Books has published Drive-Thru Dreams, a look at American culture, history, and identity through the prism of fast food, by Adam Chandler MFA ’10.
Marilynn Talal ’59
Burden Sparked with Eternity: ABC Poems and Others of a Grandchild's First Decade, a chapbook by Marilynn Talal ’59, will be published in April by Presa Press. Presa Press also published her chapbook The Blue Road: Poems of Marriage and Caregiving last year.
Heather Winters '84
The film The Rest I Make Up from producer Heather Winters '84 will be screened at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London April 5-9.
Estha Weiner ’72
at the last minute, the third full-length poetry collection by Estha Weiner ’72, will be published by Salmon Poetry in March.
Stephanie Watson ’01
Best Friends in the Universe by Stephanie Watson ’01 is a finalist for the 2019 Minnesota Book Awards. Winners will be announced on April 6, 2019.
Lauren Palmor '08
Elizabeth Hart Bergstrom MFA '15
Pam Tanowitz MFA ’98
Pam Tanowitz MFA ’98 was named Bard Fisher Center’s first Choreographer in Residence. A major component of the residency will be the development of a digital archive of Tanowitz’s oeuvre, including the remounting and documentation of several of her performances. These archival initiatives will make her body of work more widely accessible to dance scholars, students, and the general public.
Malkia Cyril ’96
“Watching the Black Body” by Malkia Cyril ’96, which was originally published in The End of Trust (McSweeney's 54), has been published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation online.
Joni Iraci ’13
Joni Iraci ’13 announces the publication of her debut novel Reinventing Jenna Rose by Fat Dog Books Inc in June. The novel’s first draft was written in Sarah Lawrence’s visiting professor Martha Southgate’s writing workshop in 2008. “Martha refused to let me give up and I didn’t. Thank you Sarah Lawrence.”
Adrienne Dawes ’04
Casta, a bilingual hybrid performance piece by Adrienne Dawes ’04, premieres in The Blanton Museum of Art (200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd) this fall alongside exhibit Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America, which will feature casta paintings from Lima and Puebla. Casta is inspired by a series of casta paintings by Miguel Cabrera. Casta paintings were a unique form of portraiture that grew in popularity over the 18th century in Nueva España that depicted different racial mixtures arranged according to a hierarchy defined by Spanish elites. Performances will run from November 2-21.
Mujah Mariani-Melehi ’92
Mujah Mariani-Melehi ’92 will show her personal visual memoir film/documentary Haiku on a Plum Tree at the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò NYU (24 West 12th St) on Monday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. with her aunt, Italian author Dacia Maraini.
Chloe Honum '03
Chloe Honum '03 was awarded the 2019 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship, New Zealand’s most prestigious writing fellowship. “It will allow me to research and work on a manuscript of poems for four months at the Sargeson Centre, in the heart of Auckland City. I grew up in Auckland, and to be returning with the purpose of writing as a Sargeson Fellow is beyond thrilling.”
Jen Sage-Robison ’95
Exposition Review nominated Jen Sage-Robison ’95 for a Pushcart Prize for her poem, “Before I Knew What Mania Was.”
Severine Reisp '18
Ann Cefola '81, MFA '97
Alex Bernstein ’85
Miserable Adventure Stories, a new short story collection from Alex Bernstein ’85, has won the Best Indie Book Award for 2018 in the Novella/Short Story Collection category. The Best Indie Book Award™ is an annual international literary award contest recognizing independent authors in twelve major genres. Entries are limited to independently (indie) published books, including those from small presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors. Featuring stories from New Pop Lit, The Big Jewel, Frontier Tales, Near to the Knuckle, Headstuff, and other literary journals with equally fancy names, Miserable Adventure Stories is available in paperback and as an e-book at Amazon.com and fine bookstores everywhere.
Shay Siegel MFA ’15
“Pharmacy,” a short story by Shay Siegel MFA ’15, was selected for publication in Z Publishing House's anthology of America's Emerging Writers in December, 2018.
Michaela Brady ’17
Michaela Brady ’17 will be on a panel at BETT, London's leading educational technology industry show, on January 24th. As part of Microsoft Education's Transformation Leadership Forum, she will discuss social and emotional learning, provide insight on student mental health, and present an app she developed for Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2018 Finals that connects college students to their institution's mental health services.
Meg Lindsay ’98
Meg Lindsay ’98 has 3 paintings juried into the Upstream Gallery’s Small Works show January 3-27 (8 Main Street, Hastings-on-Hudson). Regular hours are Thursday-Sunday 12:30-5:30 p.m.
Jannie Wolff ’87
Jannie Wolff ’87 shares that the episode of The Cooking Channel’s “Late Night Eats” that she was a part of the filming for in the restaurant Antique Bar & Bakery had its first showing. It can be viewed online here.
Eugenia Lovett West ’42
Eugenia Lovett West ’42 is publishing her fourth book, Sarah's War, in April 2019. Set during the Revolutionary War, West paints the riveting tale of Sarah Champion–a young Patriot from rural Connecticut– as she spies on British officers, goes to Valley Forge about a plot to kill Washington, and ultimately digs deep for the strength and courage to overcome the threats she faces. Champion's efforts are driven by her determination to realize her only dream: being part of the formation of a new and independent country.
Gabrielle Calvocoressi '96
A poem by Gabrielle Calvocoressi '96, “Hammond B3 Organ Cistern,” was recently published in The New Yorker.
Donna Stonecipher '91
The New York Times named Transaction Histories by Donna Stonecipher '91 one of the ten best poetry books of the year.
Rebecca Wellner '14
Rebecca Wellner '14 co-authored a paper in Cortex on the use of brain stimulation for speech production. Wellner is currently an MS candidate in Speech Pathology at NYU.
Yehuda Hyman MFA ‘14
The new production of The Mar Vista: In Search of My Mother’s Love Life, a play with music and dance created by award-winning Brooklyn-based playwright/choreographer Yehuda Hyman MFA ‘14, will run at the Pershing Square Signature Center on West 42nd Street in Manhattan from Tuesday, March 5 through Sunday, March 24.
Samantha Paige Rosen MFA ’17
Necessary Fiction has published a short story by Samantha Paige Rosen MFA ’17, “Hollywood & Highland.”
Rena Trefman Cobrinik ’92
Rena Trefman Cobrinik ’92 recently published the memoir A Different Mother, which just won first prize at the Independent Authors Book Expo. “The memoir portrays a strong vibrant woman—the backbone of a lively and creative immigrant family—and follows her into old age and a compassionate care facility. As she declines, she reveals unexpected strength—sometimes subtle and sometimes jarringly blunt—of a victorious life.”
Heather Winters ’84
The Rest I Make Up, a documentary from producer Heather Winters ’84 made The New Yorker’s list of “The Best Movies of 2018.”
Alice S. Kandell ’60
Alice S. Kandell ’60 was profiled in The New York Times about her 50-year passion for Tibetan Buddhist Artifacts.
Missy Pfohl Smith MFA ‘02
Missy Pfohl Smith MFA ‘02 is the Artistic Director of the modern dance company BIODANCE and the Director of the Institute for the Performing Arts and the Program of Dance and Movement at University of Rochester.
Yehuda Hyman MFA ’14
"Three Hasidic Dances," an essay by Yehuda Hyman MFA ’14 will be included in the new anthology, Dance in America, published by Library of America, edited by Mindy Aloff, with a foreword by Robert Gottlieb. The essay was originally published in Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance by Judith Brin Ingber.
Rakia Seaborn MFA '14
Rakia Seaborn MFA '14 will perform as part of Alex Romania's Hot Consumer Trash at Brooklyn Studios for Dance (210 Lafayette Avenue). Tickets are $20.
Pamela Hart MFA ’04
An article featuring Pamela Hart MFA ’04 and her work as a writing mentor for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project is in the new December issue of O The Oprah Magazine, "Writing Wrongs.” There are links to information about her soon-to-be-published poetry collection, Mothers Over Nangarhar, which will be released in January 2019.
Jedd Novatt ‘80
Waddington Custot, London, presents the first solo exhibition of American sculptor Jedd Novatt ‘80, “Conversations with Gravity,” on view on November 20, 2018. The exhibition will be on view through January 30, 2019 at Waddington Custot (11 Cork Street, London).
Jenna Ruth ’11
Jenna Ruth ’11 spoke to VFX Voice about her role as associate VFX artist at Insomniac Games and working on Marvel's Spider-Man.
Michele Turchin Mirman ’73
Michele Turchin Mirman ’73 was listed in City & State's “The 2018 Women Power 100,” a list of the 100 most powerful women in New York. "Michele Mirman, the former president of the Brooklyn Women's Bar Association, was elected to lead the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, an organization whose members Gov. Andrew Cuomo once referred to as 'the single most powerful political force in Albany.'"
Pam Tanowitz MFA ’98
Pam Tanowitz MFA ’98 has begun to choreograph a dance on the Paul Taylor Dance Company to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach as a Guest Resident Choreographer of Paul Taylor American Modern Dance. Her new work will premiere as part of Orchestra of St. Luke's Bach Festival next June, and will then be part of PTAMD's Fall Lincoln Center Season.
Heidi Howard ’08
Heidi Howard ’08 collaborated with her mother, sound artist Liz Phillips, on “Relative Fields in a Garden,” a multimedia mural and sound work at the Queens Museum until August 2019 as part of the eighth Queens International.
Sarah Kornfeld ’90
Michael Carter ’89
Jannie Wolff '87
Jannie Wolff '87 is curating an art event at Antique Loft at Riverview in Hoboken Tuesday, November 13. Contact Jannie via email or on Instagram @jannie_wolff for more information.
Gary Eldon Peter MFA ’96
Oranges, a short story collection from Gary Eldon Peter MFA ’96, was published by New Rivers Press.
Jaclyn Gilbert MFA ‘15
“Core Being” by Jaclyn Gilbert MFA ‘15 was published online by Tin House.
Rick Negron ’83
After playing the patriarch in Lin Manuel Miranda's In The Heights on Broadway, Rick Negron ’83 will join Lin in his return to the title role of Alexander Hamilton for the Puerto Rico run of Hamilton. Rick is returning to his homeland playing King George III. This production will be a fundraiser for Lin's Flamboyan Arts Foundation. Supporting the arts on the island after the devastation of hurricane Maria. The National tour will then move for an extended run in San Francisco from February 2019 till January 2020.
Sloane Tanen '92
Emma Bolden ’02
Emma Bolden ’02 shares: “My third full-length poetry collection, House Is an Enigma, won the Cowles Poetry Book Prize and was published by Southeast Missouri State University Press. Written after my radical hysterectomy, the poems launch an investigation of the language used to house descriptions of the body, which so often seek to define and determine the boundaries and behaviors of the spirit that lives within.”
Mary Bianco ’61
“Goblins in N’Awlins,” a recent composition by Mary Bianco ’61, will premiere this Sunday, October 28, on the final day of the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival for which it was commissioned at Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church (3900 St. Charles Avenue) in New Orleans.
Beverly Falk ’70
Beverly Falk ’70 is pleased to announce the release of her new book, High Quality Early Learning for a Changing World by Teachers College Press. "This concise and accessible resource provides an overview of the fundamentals of teaching in early childhood settings (pre-K–2), with a focus on what high-quality practices look like. It details the features of developmentally appropriate, linguistically responsive, culturally relevant/sustaining teaching and how this approach can prepare our youngest citizens for the challenges of our 21st-century world. Beginning with what the research tells us about how young children develop and learn, Falk shows how to create learning environments, plan, teach, and assess in ways that support children’s optimal development. Specific strategies are described and explained, such as setting up the classroom environment and schedule, making smooth transitions, using effective communication strategies, and creating home–school partnerships.”
Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08 and Caleb Jaster ’16
Barococo by Happenstance Theater, featuring Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08 and Caleb Jaster ’16, will be playing at Baltimore Theatre Project Oct 25-Nov 11, 2018. “In this collaboratively devised ensemble work, Happenstance Theater portrays oblivious entitlement on the brink of extinction. We take a physical comedy dive into the late Baroque. We flaunt 18th century finery, wigs, panniers, gestural styling, elaborate ornamentation and the excesses of Rococo. We navigate the dangerous curves of manners and the Age of Enlightenment from the exquisite to the revolting. What fun we will have puncturing one percent pomposity!” Information and tickets for Barococo online.
Judy Klass ’88
Judy Klass ’88 shares: “My new, fairly topical musical, riffing on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens will have a reading next Sunday. I'm flying in to NYC for the event. You can buy a ticket for $10, but if you show up and say you are being comped in, you will be!” Information and tickets for Senator Scrooge online.
Judith Inglese '65
A.P.E. Gallery in Northampton will display ceramic murals by Judith Inglese '65 and assemblages by Bernice Rosenthal for the month of November. The exhibit, entitled “Lost and Found,” speaks to the process of re-incarnation and transformation.
Celia Bland ’85
In the current issue of The Georgia Review, Jonathan Blunk, author of the recent biography of James Wright, A Life in Poetry considers Cherokee Road Kill, the third collection of poetry from Celia Bland ’85, in the lights of her previous books, Soft Box and Madonna Comix.
Soledad Fox Maura ‘90
Soledad Fox Maura ‘90, author of the new biography Exile, Writer, Soldier, Spy: Jorge Semprún (published by Arcade Publishing), will introduce a rare screening of Alain Resnais’ La Guerre est Finie, starring Yves Montand on Sunday, October 7 at Film Forum in NYC. Semprún’s screenplay, based largely on his own experiences as an agent for the Spanish Communist party, earned him his first Academy Award nomination. On Monday, October, 8 she will introduce a screening of Jorge Semprún’s sole directorial credit, Les Deux Mémoires, an interrogation of the origins, course and legacy of the Spanish Civil War, with all-star narrators Yves Montand, Maria Caesares, Costa-Gavras, et al. This film has never been screened in the U.S. English-language subtitles were created especially for this screening.
Elizabeth Schwartz ’81
Elizabeth Schwartz ’81 shares: Arc Music UK releases Yale Strom's Broken Consort: "Shimmering Lights", a new recording of ancient to brand-new Khanike songs performed by strings and voice; the songs come from Morocco, Turkey, Greece, Israel, Poland and America and are presented with lush and dynamic new arrangements. Available where all music is sold on CD and download.
Marian Hyun ’77
Marian Hyun ’77, Artistic Director for Jazz Choreography Enterprises, shares this upcoming event: The JCE Jazz Dance Project is a celebration of jazz dance featuring original works by emerging and established choreographers. Audiences of all ages will be treated to dances in a variety of jazz styles—from swing to contemporary—and the chance to see the richness of this great American art form. Performances are on October 27 at 8:00 and October 28 at 4:00. For more information: http://www.jazzchoreography.com/project/october-2018
Pieter Estersohn ’82
Pieter Estersohn ’82 shares, “This week marks the publication of my newest Rizzoli book, Life Along The Hudson, The Historic Country Estates Of The Livingston Family. Although I have provided photography on more than 60 books on architecture, design, and travel, this is the first book I researched in depth and wrote as well as photographed. The book covers the homes of these erudite and fascinating relations , built between 1680 and 1946, and covers the history of American design as well as the political, social, and artistic legacy of this most eccentric family.”
Erica Ryan '98
Erica Ryan '98 announces the publication of her second book, titled When the World Broke in Two: the Roaring Twenties and the Dawn of America's Culture Wars. The book is a history of the deep cultural divides of the 1920s, which are, in sometimes surprising ways, the same cultural divides America battles over today.
Estha Weiner ’72
Estha Weiner ’72 is teaching a one-day intensive with the Writing Institute on campus, Stealing from the Poet's Tool Box: A Workshop for Fiction Writers, on Saturday, November 3. For more information and to register, visit the website.
Regan Kramer '79
After decades of translating catalogues, cookbooks and whatnot, Regan Kramer '79 is exceedingly proud to announce Simon & Schuster's publication of her translation of Waiting for Bojangles by Olivier Bourdeaut. The novel, an international best-seller that has been translated into over 30 languages, is the "dark, funny and wholly charming tale of a young boy and his eccentric family, who grapple with the harsh realities of mental illness in unique and whimsical ways."
Amy Laprade MFA '15
Max Gordon Moore ’00
The Nap, featuring Max Gordon Moore ’00, is running at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) through November 11, 2018. Moore takes on two characters in the comedy about competitive snooker: the tournament emcee and Tony DanLino, the young snooker whiz's oily agent.
Miles Coon MFA ’02
Miles Coon MFA ’02 shares the details for the upcoming 15th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival January 21-26, 2019. Faculty poets include: Ellen Bass, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Stuart Dischell, Sarah Lawrence faculty member Aracelis Grimay, Campbell McGrath, Matthew Olzmann, Sarah Lawrence faculty member Gregory Pardlo, and Eleanor Wilner. Special guest poet Sharon Olds will be interviewed by Laure-Anne Bosselaar and give the Annual Thomas Lux Memorial Reading. I-on-I Conferences: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn MFA ’02, Nickole Brown. The deadline to apply for workshops is November 12, 2018.
Kathy Curto ’89, MFA ’12
Not for Nothing: Glimpses Into a Jersey Girlhood by Kathy Curto ’89, MFA ’12, Writing Institute faculty member, will be released by Bordighera Press this December.
Amelia Parenteau ’13
Voyage Theater Company/PARTS UNKNOWN Play Reading Series will present a staged reading of Turkish playwright Sedef Ecer's e-smuggler.com, in a new English-language translation by Amelia Parenteau ’13, at the 53rd Street New York Public Library (18 W 53 St), Thursday October 18 at 7 p.m. RSVP online.
Meridel Rubenstein ’69
Eden Turned on its Side, an exhibition of works by Meridel Rubenstein ’69 is currently being presented by Peters Projects in Santa Fe and will run through October 27. “The three series being exhibited are Photosynthesis, Volcano Cycle and Eden in Iraq. Together they engage ecologies on the telescoping scales of human, geological and mythical time. Photosynthesis reveals the cycles of the seasons, Volcano Cycle the deep spanning of time over tens of thousands of years and Eden in Iraq by the eternal time of religious cosmologies. These works are presented in formats including archival pigment on aluminum, linen, dye sublimation on aluminum and jacquard woven tapestry.”
Jedd Novatt ’80
New work from sculptor Jedd Novatt ’80 will be exhibited at Waddington Custot in London November 20 to January 30. The exhibition will comprise of new, large-scale sculptures from Novatt’s Chaos series.
Chesta Wadhwani MFA ’17
“Rocket Rabbit Saves The Day” by Chesta Wadhwani MFA ’17 was published in an anthology titled Seven Minute Stories for Seven Year Olds by Scholastic India.
Caitlin Saylor Stephens ’08
When We Went Electronic, a new play written by Caitlin Saylor Stephens ’08, will be at The Tank (312 West 36th Street, First Floor) October 25 – November 11. Tickets available online.
Mariah Smith ’13
Mariah Smith ’13 is hosting Pick Me Up, a new podcast from Lyft and Gimlet Creative all about Lyft drivers who are chasing big dreams, both on and off the road.
Meghann Plunkett ’09
Meghann Plunkett ’09 has been named a finalist for Best New Poets 2018. Her poem "In Which I Name My Abuser Publicly" will be included in the annual anthology.
Alexis Isabel ’09
Alexis Isabel ’09 invites alumni to her Alexis Isabel Trunk Show at Wolf & Badger (95 Grand St, New York) on Saturday, October 6 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Meet the designer and shop the new collection. 20% of proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research. RSVP to info@alexisisabel.com.
Marguerite Bennett MFA ’13
Marguerite Bennett MFA ’13 is now a writer for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic series, beginning with issue #31, released September 26.
Christine Toy Johnson ’81
Christine Toy Johnson ’81 will star in the touring production of Come From Away, which begins in Seattle beginning October 9.
Soledad Fox ’90
Chelsea Catalanotto ’12
Lynne Golob Gelfman '66
Grids: A Selection of Paintings by Lynne Golob Gelfman '66 opens September 15 at the Perez Art Museum Miami and runs until April 21, 2019.
John Jasperse ’85
John Jasperse ’85, Director of the Dance Program returns to The Joyce (175 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10011) September 24-28 to present Hinterland. “A varied group of dancers, including Jasperse, comes together with a commissioned score by Hahn Rowe, to build a micro-community, where dance is both celebration and a refuge from the wreckage of culture and history. Hinterland is performed by DeAngelo Blanchard, Eleanor Hullihan, Jasperse, Mina Nishimura, and Antonio Ramos, with costumes by Kota Yamazaki and lighting by Joe Levasseur.” Visit The Joyce online for more information and tickets.
Oliver Conant ’77
Dietrich Rides Again, the one-woman show about Marlene Dietrich written and directed by Oliver Conant ’77, will be presented at the United Solo Festival on September 24 at 7:30 p.m. on Manhattan's Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Tickets available through www.telecharge.com or call 212-239-6200.
Mai Perkins MFA ’06
Mai Perkins MFA ’06 published her first manuscript, The Walking Nerve-Ending. “TWNE is a 120-page collection that takes readers on a fanciful journey. It represents everything love, family, friendship and community, meticulously crafted in rhyming/free-verse poetry and prose. Many of these poems I toiled with during workshop at Sarah Lawrence while working on my MFA with my thesis advisor, Tom Lux.” The Kindle version debuted on Amazon as the "#1 New Release in African American Poetry" during the first week.
Jeremie Gluckman ’13 and Charles Peoples III ’12
Jeremie Gluckman ’13 and Charles Peoples III ’12 will be performing contemporary dance for the first-ever Trans and Friends Rally as part of Silicon Valley Pride on Saturday, August 25, at Plaza de César Chávez (1 Paseo De San Antonio, San Jose) beginning at 4:30 p.m. The rally will showcase local Bay Area speakers and performers and is free and open to the public.
Wren Hanks '08
The Rise of Genderqueer, the third collection of poetry from Wren Hanks '08, will be released in September from Brain Mill Press. The collection "marks a new departure for this accomplished poet, exploring intimate themes with broad appeal and taking on challenging questions about what it means to write about trans bodies with empathy and desire in our current political moment."
Rachelle Cruz ’07
Rachelle Cruz ’07 has been recognized with a 2018 American Book Award for God’s Will for Monsters. The winners will be formally recognized on Sunday, October 28 at the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco, California.
Tommy Pico ’06
Tommy Pico ’06 has been recognized with a 2018 American Book Award for Nature Poem. The winners will be formally recognized on Sunday, October 28 at the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco, California.
Charles Peoples III ’12
Charles Peoples III ’12 recently started an Indiegogo campaign for his debut album. “I've always been a singer, and I've always wanted to do my own music. Now I am finally directing all of my energy toward that and going for it!”
Maryann Aita MFA ’17, Tania Pabon MFA ’17, and Paige Lockard MFA ’18
Susan Bingham ’66
Julia Miele Rodas ’86
Julia Miele Rodas ’86 is happy to share news about the publication her new book. “Autistic Disturbances argues that autistic uses of language have been present in and an important contributing factor in many familiar texts. Includes chapters on Andy Warhol, Frankenstein, and Robinson Crusoe (the latter influenced by a seminar I taught as a visiting professor at SLC--thanks!). If this is your sort of thing, please come hear more at my talk in NYC on the evening of September 5.”
Lucinda Ziesing '73
Carole Darden-Lloyd ’66 and Norma Jean Darden ’61
The cookbook Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine, co-authored by Carole Darden-Lloyd ’66 and her sister Norma Jean Darden ’61, has been listed by Southern Living as one of the best 100 cookbooks ever written. The book was first published by Doubleday in 1978 and follows the history of their family through recipes, reminiscences and very old photographs. It is available on Amazon.
Cynthia Kane MFA ’06
Cynthia Kane MFA ’06 shares: “My latest book Talk to Yourself Like a Buddhist was published in April 2018 by Hierophant Publishing. My DailyOM course ‘How to Communicate Like a Buddhist’ has had over 25,000 people take the course, and I've created a certification program in Intentional Communication for coaches, therapists, educators, social works and those in the healing profession to be able to use the practice in their work.”
Stephen Fife ’77
On Monday, August 13, at 6 p.m., Stephen Fife ’77 will be at the Cornelia Street Cafe in the West Village, giving an hour-long reading from his new novel, Angel's Glance (coming out mid-August from Cune Press). “This will be the 11th book I've had published, but my first novel, so I'm very excited about it.” There's a $10 cover and a one drink minimum.
Ian Spencer Bell ’13
Ian Spencer Bell ’13 will be performing Marrow at the Sommers Studio at Jacob's Pillow (358 George Carter Rd, Becket, MA) on Sunday, August 5, at 1:15 p.m. Marrow is a dance with 10 original poems about growing up queer in rural Virginia. Dancers Gary Champi and Joshua Tuason join him in the performance. The 20-minute show is free, but seating is limited. For more information, visit Bell’s website, and read his poem from Marrow, “Repast,” in The Gay and Lesbian Review.
Joanne Oppenheim ’60
The Knish War on Rivington Street by Joanne Oppenheim ’60 was chosen as a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for 2018, it was a PJ Library selection and won the Guides of New York Apple Award for Fiction. It's a picture book, for 5-8's, a work of historic fiction based on a true event that happened on the Lower East Side in 1916. “I'm having good fun sharing the story with family groups around the country in person and via skype.” You can learn more at her website.
Mike Soto MFA ’09
Mike Soto MFA ’09 was awarded a James Merrill Poetry Fellowship at Vermont Studio Center for the spring of 2018.
Sarah Kendzior ’00
Gaslit Nation, a politics podcast from DAME hosted by Sarah Kendzior ’00 and Andrea Chalupa, launched July 9.
Jason Irwin MFA ’04 and Jee Leong Koh MFA ’05
Spoken Word Sundays NYC on Sunday, September 2, from 4-6 p.m. at The Parkside Lounge (317 East Houston Street) will feature Jason Irwin MFA ’04 and Jee Leong Koh MFA ’05. There is a $3 suggested donation and two drink minimum.
Corelyn Senn ’64
Corelyn Senn ’64 was featured in a piece for the Pen Bay Pilot, “This Week in Lincolnville: One Determined Woman.”
Elsa Sjunneson-Henry MA ’11
Fireside Magazine, with managing editor Elsa Sjunneson-Henry MA ’11, was nominated for a Hugo Award this year in the Best Semiprozine category. The Hugo Award winners will be announced at a ceremony on the evening of Sunday, August 19, 2018 at Worldcon 76 in San Jose, California.
Melissa Faliveno MFA ’11
Melissa Faliveno MFA ’11 published an essay in the Summer 2018 issue of Prairie Schooner. "The Finger of God" is about tornadoes, faith, myth, and the Midwest. It was the runner-up for the 2017 Nonfiction Prize, judged by Esmé Weijun Wang.
Andrea Reese ’84
Kimani Fowlin ’90
Tommy Pico ’06
Tommy Pico ’06 has a new podcast with Tin House Books called Junk. Pico “interviews a treasure trove of cultural luminaries about relics, keepsakes, and rando baubles in their apartments, sussing out the stories of their Junk.”
Victoria Smolkin ’02
Victoria Smolkin ’02 wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post, “This is what it feels like to be separated at the border.”
Marilynn Glick Talal ’59
Marilynn Glick Talal ’59 has released a poetry chapbook, The Blue Road – Poems of Marriage and Caregiving. “Talal shares her experiences as wife and caregiver in twenty-one autobiographical poems that evoke tenderness, humor, sadness and longing.”
Mallory Craig-Karim ’15, Nate Montalto ’15, and Ari Jones ’14
Three alumni reported graduating from top ten law schools this year: Mallory Craig-Karim ’15 from University of Virginia School of Law, Nate Montalto ’15 from the University of Michigan, and Ari Jones ’14 from UC Berkeley School of Law.
Gabriel Judet-Weinshel ’01
Gabriel Judet-Weinshel ’01 shares, “I wrote-directed-scored an award-winning indie film, 7 Splinters in Time, that just landed a theatrical distribution deal and will be out in select US theaters (and video on demand) July 13. The film was DP-ed by former SLC faculty member George Nicholas, our associate producer/unit production manager was Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn ’02, and finally, one of our starring roles is named after SLC's Ilja Wachs! It's a tiny movie, but we have ambitious hopes for it, and we're hoping it propels a handful of fledging careers.” Watch the film’s trailer online.
Patricia Bosworth ’55
Patricia Bosworth ’55 was interviewed by CBS This Morning about her book, Dreamer With a Thousand Thrills: The Rediscovered Photographs of Tom Palumbo, a collection of photographs taken by her husband, who passed away in 2008. Palumbo was a fashion photographer in the 50s and 60s. The book includes photos of Miles Davis, Gloria Vanderbilt, Grace Kelly, Jack Kerouac, and Mia Farrow.
Kate Scelsa ’02
Everyone’s Fine With Virginia Woolf, written by Kate Scelsa ’02, was reviewed in The New York Times. "Fortunately, Ms. Scelsa has a take-no-prisoners approach to satire that sends deconstructionist theories of feminist and gender studies way up into the ether, where they flare and fizzle like fireworks."
Paula Rudnick ’72 and Beth Rowe ’09
Paula Rudnick ’72 was a guest on Episode 4: Paula Rudnick on her poetry, coping with Trump, and Lil Wayne of Persisters Podcast, hosted by Beth Rowe ’09.
Michael Leong MFA ’03
The latest volume of poetry from Michael Leong MFA ’03, Words On Edge, was recently released by Black Square Editions. In a review that appeared in Seedings #5 (Spring 2018), John Olson says, "Michael Leong’s poetry is exquisite. We say something is exquisite when it is alluring and elegant, but also when it is razor-fine, when it has an edge, and that edge might be used to slice open a section of air and pull something out of it that hadn’t existed before, something that we did not know existed, something that existed outside of language and was conjured into being by an unorthodox employment of that very same language. This is called invention, and can lead to great and wonderful things, what André Breton would call the marvelous.”
Molly Fuller MFA ’07
For Girls Forged by Lightning: Prose & Other Poems, the debut poetry collection from Molly Fuller MFA ’07, was published by All Nations Press. Fuller's book has been reviewed in Rain Taxi Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2018 (#89) by Matthew Duffus and in Poetry Matters by Barbara Sabol. Both Duffus and Sabol commend the unique hybrid form and the timely and topical relevance of this collection in relation to the #metoo movement.
Danny Katz ’99
Danny Katz ’99 is excited to announce his return to the late night NYC cabaret stage, courtesy of Billy Anderson's semi-annual punk/rock/pop cabaret! #RIPSEYRESISTS: An Election Night PTSD Musical Comedy will be Saturday, July 21, at 11:30 p.m. at Feinstein's/54 Below (254 W 54th St.). Tickets available online.
Lucinda Childs ’62
The Lucinda Childs Dance Company makes their Mostly Mozart Festival debut with Available Light at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall (Broadway at West 60th Street, 5th floor) July 12–13. “Renowned postmodern choreographer Lucinda Childs ’62 arranges and rearranges her dancers in the three-dimensional space of Frank Gehry’s stark, split-level set, creating kaleidoscopic textures that echo the restless phase shifts, ambient washes, and fractured fanfares of John Adams’s work for synthesizer and recorded brass, Light Over Water.”
Cosima Littlewood ’15
Cosima Littlewood ’15 is at the Cannes Film Festival with her film, Be Natural: the Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché. The documentary, which Littlewood co-produced, premiered on Friday in the Cannes Classics category.
Chongren Fan MFA ’13, Merrick Williams’14, Rourou Ye MFA ’17, and Jim Shankman MFA ’06
Chongren Fan MFA ’13 is directing Friedrich Durrenmatt's Romulus the Great for Yangtze Repertory Theatre's 26th season. Merrick Williams’14 is the production stage manager, Rourou Ye MFA ’17 is the movement director and Jim Shankman MFA ’06 plays the title role. Set in a fictional Roman Empire, emperor Romulus the Great chose not to be “great.” Facing the increasing peril of the Germanic invasion and the demise of the Empire, Romulus prefers to stay at home breeding chickens. Is his refusal of responsibility to govern stupidity? Or does he have other plans? Tickets on sale: http://www.yzrep.org/romulus
Elizabeth Schwartz ’81
American Socialist by Elizabeth Schwartz ’81 has opened in SoCal. “From May 4-10, our film plays at the Laemmle theatres in Santa Monica and Pasadena. May 11-16, the film runs at Digital Gym in San Diego. See it before November!”
Amy Nawrocki ’96
The Comet's Tail: A Memoir of No Memory, a memoir from Amy Nawrocki ’96, was published by Little Bound Books Essay Series, through Homebound Publications. The memoir chronicles Nawrocki's journey into and out of an encephalitic coma. She contracted the illness after her first year at Sarah Lawrence but recovered and returned to graduate in 1996.
Rona Carr ’74
Rona Carr ’74 is offering individual private workshops from May 7 - September 21 at The Goddard Community Center (647 Columbus Avenue, between W. 91st & 92nd Streets). “Working, directly, one-on-one, we will focus on re-imagining yourself, by identifying:
- Work/life issues that have been difficult to navigate,
- Overcoming obstacles along the way to your satisfaction and success
- Work habits that you want to change,
- Attitudes about work that may be handicapping your success, and
- Setting meaningful goals to achieve your ambitions
In an informal setting, we will spend 90-minutes each session, addressing what you want to work on, and how to sustain the change you have envisioned for yourself. Email rona@uritunltd.org and be sure to include your telephone number and email, so we can discuss your opportunity.” View the brochure.
Beatrix Gates MFA ’84
Beatrix Gates MFA ’84 has been awarded one of two Alan Jutzi Non-Traditional Scholar fellowships at The Huntington Library in academic year 2018-2019 for "Good Seeing: Poem of the Full Sky," which highlights 20th c. astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt who discovered the means for Hubble’s measuring the universe. “Good seeing” defines available dark for viewing the night sky; the history of astronomy; human desire for connectedness across time; and the history of optics. The Huntington established The Alan Jutzi Fellowship for Non-Traditional Scholars in recognition of former chief curator of rare books, Alan Jutzi, and to honor Alan’s long service to the intellectual needs of researchers, regardless of academic pedigree. The Alan Jutzi Fellowship provides up to two months of annual research support and in keeping with Alan’s breadth of interests, applicants are not limited by field or profession, and may include writers, journalists, urban and city planners, architects, collectors, independent scholars, librarians, and others. Gates' time at the Huntington will be focused on Henrietta Swan Leavitt to understand the context for her brilliant achievement within the technology of the day. Writing about Leavitt requires studies in Astronomy, Music, Photography, Deafness, Disability Studies and Women’s History. The long poem, a form of fluid memory, includes experiments in biography in a lyric exploration of Leavitt’s story and of observation itself. There are rewards for “good seeing,” including curiosity and discovery, which speak globally and defy contemporary binary oppositions.
Alex Dimitrov MFA ’09
Christopher Warren ’82
Rachael Heather Solomon ’09
The Dating Profiles, a series from Rachael Heather Solomon ’09, has been picked up by Seeka TV. "Seeka TV is a next-generation curated platform carrying the best independent web series content and is available free to the public." Enstratius founders David Bagley (CEO) and George Reese (VP of Programming) joined with Dell Software CTO Donald Ferguson to build the filmmaker-oriented social viewing platform.
Lucy Thurber ’92
Transfers, written by Lucy Thurber ’92, is running at the Lucille Lortel Theater (121 Christopher St.) until May 13. “Cristofer and Clarence are two gifted students from the South Bronx. After two years at a local community college being coached by faculty members, the young men are competing for a life-changing scholarship at an elite northeast university. During a campus visit, the young men are unexpectedly confronted with their shared past while trying to break through a system that seems designed to keep them on the outside.”
Faith Shearin MFA ’93
Faith Shearin MFA ’93 has published her sixth book of poems, Darwin's Daughter, with Stephen F. Austin University Press.
Allison Havey ’88
Allison Havey ’88, cofounder of The RAP Project, is featured in 200 Women, “a book and exhibition founded on original interviews and accompanying photographic portraits. This landmark project is the realisation of an epic global journey to find two hundred women with diverse backgrounds, and to ask them what really matters to them.”
Lisa Rybovich Crallé ’03
Lisa Rybovich Crallé ’03 presented a public artist talk at Cornell University on March 19, 2018. The talk coincided with the opening of a group exhibition featuring her work entitled “Gross Domestic Product” at Cornell's Olive Tjaden Gallery. The show also features work by Bessie Kunath (LA), Emma Spertus (Oakland), and Richard Zimmerman (NY). For more info: www.lisaRcralle.com.
Manal Abu-Shaheen ’03
John Freeman Gill MFA ’95
The Gargoyle Hunters, a novel by John Freeman Gill MFA ’95, was released in paperback by Vintage Books, “complete with a spiffy new 1970s cover image shot on a Bronx rooftop for LOOK magazine on the very last day of that publication's existence (the magazine went belly-up, but the photographer kept shooting).”
Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08 and Karen Hansen MFA ’88
Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08 and Karen Hansen MFA ’88 have been nominated for Helen Hayes Awards for their work with Happenstance Theater in the show, Bon Voyage: A Happenstance Escapade. Sarah was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress and Karen was nominated for Outstanding Musical Direction.
Laurie Nadel ’69
Laurie Nadel ’69 has published The Five Gifts: Discovering Hope, Healing ad Strength When Disaster Strikes (HCI Books) based on her work as a journalist, founder of the Committee to Protect Journalists and trauma specialist who directed a program for teenagers whose fathers were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Legendary newsman Dan Rather wrote the Foreword. He and Laurie will have a joint book signing at Barnes and Noble, Pembroke Pines, FL on April 19, 12 - 1:30 pm. For media/events: www.laurienadel.com.
Suhasini Yeeda MFA ’15
Suhasini Yeeda MFA ’15 has published a short story "Original Skin" in The Indian Review. Her short story "Dream State" featured in Madcap Review's Issue 4, was recently nominated for the Pushcart Prize XLI, The Best American Short Stories, and Best of the Net.
Kamilah Aisha Moon '06
Kamilah Aisha Moon '06 was recently featured on Poem-A-Day through the Academy of American Poets. Her poem was selected by the guest curator for National Poetry Month, U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.
Leah Umansky MFA '04
Susan Wood ’53
Susan Wood ’53 will celebrate the publication of Women: Portraits 1960-2000 at the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (100 11th Avenue at 19th Street) on Thursday, April 19 at 6:00 p.m. The compilation includes photographs of “some of the most prominent and influential women of the 20th century,” including Diane von Furstenberg, Martha Stewart, Nora Ephron, Alice Waters, Jayne Mansfield, and Gloria Vanderbilt. RSVP to rsvp@pointedleafpress.com.
Lynn Gilbert ’59
Lynn Gilbert ’59 photographed 46 women for her book Particular Passions: Talks with Women Who Have Shaped Our Time. Twelve of those portraits will be exhibited at The Photography Show at Throckmorton Fine Art April 5-8. Gilbert told The Washington Post, “Change will continue, but these are the women who were the pioneers of this change.”
Lucy Andrews-Cummin '76
Lucy Andrews-Cummin '76 recently published her first novel, The Hounds of Spring. Cummin is donating $1 of every book sold to the Humane Society of Chittenden County, Vermont.
Mark Benedict '13
Janice Moore ’86
Janice Moore ’86 is the creator and guest curator of the exhibition Industrial Maine: Our Other Landscape, hosted by The Atrium Gallery at University of Southern Maine Lewiston- Auburn College (51 Westminster St) and featuring 27 Maine artists. Her painting Beer Plant is also included in exhibition, which will be on view through June 1.
Sreshtha Sen MFA ’17
The Shoreline Review, coedited by Sreshtha Sen MFA ’17, recently released their inaugural issue. The journal publishes South Asian and South Asian diasporic poets, and this issue features ten poets from the US, UK, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir, and interviews with 2017 Ruth Lilly Fellows Fatimah Asghar and Sumita Chakraborty.
Carolyn Newberger ’63
Carolyn Newberger ’63 will present her exhibition, In Concert, at Galatea Fine Art (460B Harrison Avenue) in Boston from April 4-29. “For the past several years, my husband Eli and I, both musicians, have been reviewing music and dance performances at the Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, and Aston Magna festivals. We work for The Berkshire Edge, a newspaper of ideas, news and culture serving Western Massachusetts. Integrating drawings with music and dance commentary fits naturally into my complex identity as an artist, writer and musician. In this show, the first of its kind, I offer illustrative reviews with their attendant drawings that express my respect for art’s capacity to exalt and inspire.” An opening reception will take place Friday, April 6, at 6 p.m. An artist talk and closing reception will be held on Sunday, April 29, at 2 p.m.
Eric Wright ’03
Snow Child, with puppetry direction by Eric Wright ’03, is playing at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 6th Street SW) in Washington, DC from April 13 – May 20, 2018. Wright is a co-founders of the Puppet Kitchen, which has designed and built puppets for stage and screen productions around the world since 2008.
Sophie Auster ’09
Singer-songwriter Sophie Auster ’09 was featured on the cover of the April 2018 issue of Cosmopolitan España.
Moncho Alvarado MFA ’17
Moncho Alvarado MFA ’17 is a 2018 Poets House Fellow. The Emerging Poets Fellowship at Poets House provides poets an opportunity to receive guidance and instruction from distinguished and diverse faculty, and camaraderie and support from a cohort of engaged emerging voices.
Marian Hyun ’77
Marian Hyun ’77, Artistic Director for Jazz Choreography Enterprises, shares this upcoming event: The New York Jazz Choreography Project is a celebration of jazz dance featuring 14 original works by emerging and established choreographers. Audiences of all ages will be treated to dances in a variety of jazz styles from classic to contemporary and the chance to see the richness of this great American art form. Performances: April 28th at 8:00, April 29th at 4:00. A talkback with the choreographers will follow the Sunday, April 29th, performance.
Sally Bliumis-Dunn MFA ’02
Gabriel Zuger ’09
Jed Distler ’78
Jed Distler ’78, Artist-in-Residence for WWFM.Org The Classical Network, was named the 2017 recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Radio Broadcast/Internet Award for his weekly program Between the Keys, a creative, imaginative and unique journey through the keyboard repertoire.
Stephanie Bernheim ’62
Pixels and Particulates, an exhibition by Stephanie Bernheim ’62 that embraces and challenges the use of everyday technology in art while wresting with our 21st century obsession with seeing and responding to images, opens Saturday, March 24, at 5 p.m. at Hudson Hall in Hudson, New York.
Dana Williams '11
George Cochrane '95
Illustrated Manuscripts of the Inferno from La Divina Commedia, an exhibit by George Cochrane '95 in celebration of the 750th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri will be on view at the Esther Raushenbush Library, main level, Exhibit Area from Monday, March 19th – Sunday, May 20th. An artist talk and reception will be held on April 3rd in the Library Pillow Room at 5:30. Refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the Italian and Literature Departments of Sarah Lawrence College. Click here for more information on Cochrane’s Inferno project. Working with Thornwillow Press, Cochrane uses the illuminated manuscript format while expanding the tradition by intermingling references to Dante-inspired artworks and illustrations by well and lesser-known artists, including comic book artists.
Samantha Paige Rosen MFA ’17
Samantha Paige Rosen MFA ’17 has essays in The Passed Note literary magazine and the anthology My Body, My Words: A Collection of Bodies. She will be reading on March 14 at MBMW's book launch at KGB Bar (85 E. 4th St, 2nd Fl) and would love to see some friendly faces!
Christine Quattro MFA ’17
Molly Tolsky MFA ’11
Molly Tolsky MFA ’11 was interviewed by Time Out Israel.
Jessica Halem ’94
Jessica Halem ’94 shares, “I am thrilled to announce that I have a new appointment at Harvard Medical School. I am now the LGBT Program Director in the Program for Medical Education. This new appointment allows me to support students as they navigate their identities and career successes, to engage with curriculum, training, research, admissions, and recruitment efforts. I will continue in my current role as LGBT Program Director in the Office for Diversity Inclusion, where I build stronger ties between all members of the Harvard Medical School community and our affiliates.”
Walton Burns ’99
Alphabet Publishing is launching its newest course book series, Integrated Skills Through Drama with the publication of Her Own Worst Enemy by Alice Savage. The series editor is Walton Burns ’99, senior editor of Alphabet Publishing. Each book in the series is a complete curriculum for ESL or ELA classes built around an original one-act play. Students learn communication skills such as pragmatics and pronunciation, do background readings on the theme of the play, and engage in academic and creative writing. And the play itself is fun for students, raising the question of how you chose a major. Aida wants to get a university degree in science. But her performance in a school play has caught the attention of the theatre director at a famous performing arts college. Which passion should she pursue, her love of science or her talent for acting?
Annie Rachele Lanzillotto MFA ’90
Annie Rachele Lanzillotto MFA ’90 shares that her new double book of poetry and short memoir prose is out from Guernica Editions. Hard Candy: caregiving, mourning, and stage light and Pitch Roll Yaw are upside down in relation to one another; a flip book that meets in the middle with a gallery of Lanzillotto's spiral poetry. Book tour events listed at www.annielanzillotto.com/events.
Frederica Freyberg ’81
Frederica Freyberg ’81, anchor of Wisconsin Public Television’s “Here and Now” program on Friday nights, was profiled in Madison magazine.
Joanne Braxton ’72
Joanne Braxton ’72 was awarded the the 2018 Thomas Jefferson Award, given each year to a member of the William & Mary family for “significant service through his or her personal activities, influence and leadership.”
Julie Bolkin O'Connor ’96
Adrienne Dawes ’04
Adrienne Dawes ’04 was interviewed for 50 Playwrights Project.
Susan Bingham ’66
The National Opera Association awarded Susan Bingham ’66 a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Joan Silber ’67
Improvement, the most recent novel from Writing faculty member Joan Silber ’67 released in November, has been nominated for a National Book Critics Award in Fiction.
Kathy Westwater MFA ’01
Kathy Westwater MFA ’01 was named one of the debut choreographers for the Stephen Petronio Company’s dance residency center in the Catskill Mountains, in upstate New York, which will open in July.
Rachel Marie Kerschhofer ’08
Rachel Marie Kerschhofer ’08 wrote a book of bedtime stories in honor of her legendary grandpa, Mr. Bernard Gross. Everybody Loves Bernie: A book of bedtime stories from a legendary Grandpa is a book of bedtime stories. Stories about children like you – wild adventurers, sneaky siblings, grandma’s favorite helper…These kids are strong and smart, dare I say, even kind! They have fun with their friends, and sometimes get into trouble. Like you, they dream of growing up, and doing something in the world, living happy and free, maybe even having some children of their own.
Thomas Brown MFA ’78
Thomas Brown MFA ’78 was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, in recognition of outstanding and distinguished contribution to dance.
Jane M. Saks ’85
Working in America initiative, created by Project& and curated by Jane M. Saks ’85, is currently installed at the Oakland Public Library Main Branch.
Laura Checkoway ’00
Edith + Eddie, directed, edited, and produced by Laura Checkoway ’00, has earned a 2018 Academy Award® Nomination for Best Documentary Short. The film recently won the Best Short at the 2017 IDA Documentary Awards.
Rachel Parsons MFA ’17
Rachel Parsons MFA ’17 published an essay, “My Mother’s Secret Ballot” with Guernica magazine.
Chris Hansen-Nelson MFA ’06
Chris Hansen-Nelson MFA ’06 published his first book of poems, The Book of Clay, under the pen name C.S. Nelson. Published by Wicked Rufous Press, the book is narrative verse and follows the journey of a simple farmhand from the dust bowl of the Great Depression who is compelled to respond to the suffering of those he sees around him and the journey on which that calling takes him. For more information, visit the publisher’s website.
T Kira Madden MFA ’12
Maryann Aita MFA ’17
Maryann Aita MFA ’17 published a pop culture commentary piece, “Where’s My Emotional Male Lead?” in The Collapsar.
Estha Weiner ’72
Estha Weiner ’72 will be teaching “Stealing from the Poet's Tool Box: A Workshop for Fiction Writers” for the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute on Saturday, February 24, on campus. “Please join us at this one-day intensive, or pass along to people you feel may be interested!”
Ann Patchett '85
In a recent episode of “Literary Arts: The Archive Project” on Oregon Public Radio, Ann Patchett '85 retraced the steps that lead to her 2013 essay collection, “This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage.”
Judith Steinberg ’62
Memories and Desire, an exhibition of work by Judith Steinberg ’62, is on display at the Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan, Connecticut through February 4, 2018. "Bits of flora and fauna began popping out here and there, soon demanding more space and definition. When my world disappeared, a new world came to life in my studio."
Andrea Reese ’84
Andrea Reese ’84 once again made Expertise’s list of the top 25 wedding photographers serving New York City.
Rachel Feldman ’76
Rachel Feldman ’76 compiled the stories of female directors, including herself, who shared their experiences of sexism and discrimination in the industry for The Wrap. “I wrote a multiaward-winning screenplay to which I was again attached to direct. I found an Oscar-winning female producer and an Oscar-winning actress to star, both outspoken ‘feminists’ — who called me a ‘TV director’ and tried to boot me off my own project to hire a male director.”
Mira Singer MFA ’16
Mira Singer MFA ’16 published an article analyzing the new Star Wars film entitled “The Last Jedi and the Power of Failure” on the blog Mythcreants.
Dr. Amanda Foreman ’91
Dr. Amanda Foreman ’91 presented “Stories from the Royal Collection” this Friday on BBC Radio 4. “I had no idea how many fascinating secrets lie hidden inside Windsor Castle.”
Elizabeth Schwartz ’81
Elizabeth Schwartz ’81 announces the roll-out of a new documentary film, American Socialist: The Life & Times of Eugene Victor Debs, described as “essentially a course in Resistance 101”. A portrait of the co-founder of the American Socialist party, architect of FDR's New Deal, champion of labor rights and income equality and de factor progenitor of Bernie Sanders, the film is narrated by Amy Madigan and directed by Yale Strom. Premiering March 3-8 at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago, followed by a run at NYC's Cinema Village April 27-3 and the Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles and Pasadena May 4-10.
Joni Iraci ’13
A conference paper Joni Iraci ’13 wrote for Bill Shullenberger’s “Slavery in Literature” class, entitled, “Diary of Phillis Wheatley,” has been published in the winter edition of Review Americana, an online literary journal popular culture magazine. It is the second work published.
Milah Libin ’15
Milah Libin ’15 was selected by Brooklyn magazine for their annual issue highlighting 30 Brooklynites under 30, “who are marching fearlessly into the future, taking the borough with them―wherever they go.” Libin is the editor-in-chief of Dizzy magazine and a music video director.
Molly Tolsky MFA ’11
The Tempest named Molly Tolsky MFA ’11 one of 40 women to watch, “the boldest leaders transforming the world through music, art, journalism, business, philanthropy, politics and more.” Tolsky founded the website Alma, which is geared toward young Jew-ish women or, as the site puts it, “Ladies with Chutzpah.”
Celia Bland ’85
Cherokee Road Kill, the third collection of poetry from Celia Bland ’85, will be published in February 2018 by Dr. Cicero Books. Set in the 1970s in the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina, these poems describe the inhabitants of this isolated place, and in a series called “Bird Bone,” a woman killed by her lover. Artist Kyoko Miyabe’s numerous pen and ink drawings correspond with individual poems, presenting detailed and sometimes metaphorized elements from the text. In the book’s introduction, poetry editor Robert Kelly, writes: “These poems do not turn their backs on the places from which they come, and they don’t obsess, either. They move with deftness, forgiving and lamenting and adoring what happens, but quick, quick. I read them admiring the nimble social alertness of the writer, able from all sorts of human actions, interactions, to extract and express the moment —which is momentum— of their keenest meaning.”
Carol Zoref ’76, MFA ’97
Barren Island by Carol Zoref ’76, MFA ’97 won the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction in the 2017 National Jewish Book Awards.
Ouida Maedel '06
Mikhaelle Schiappacasse ’01
Mikhaelle Schiappacasse ’01 has been elected as partner of global law firm Dechert LLP.
Karen Hansen MFA ’88 and Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08
Happenstance Theater's BrouHaHa is, “a comedic, existential escapade inspired by images of refugees fleeing on foot, Edwardian workers, cinematic treasures like Fellini's La Strada and Bergman's The Seventh Seal, and the dark comedy of Samuel Beckett. In this devised, clownesque piece, Happenstance Theater's troupe of eccentrics walks the precipice at the end of the world. Their play lights up the darkness like a firecracker. This show appeals to audiences of any age.” Happenstance Theater includes Karen Hansen MFA ’88 and Sarah Olmsted Thomas ’08. Brouhaha is running January 4-21, with performances Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm with an additional performance on Monday, January 15 at 8pm at the Theatre for the New City on the Lower East Side (155 1st Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets). This run is also showcasing as part of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP). Tickets are $15 student/senior and $25 general admission.
Estha Weiner ’72
Estha Weiner ’72 will read at McNally Jackson book store in Soho with Elizabeth J. Coleman and Andrea Fry on Wednesday, January 10 at 7 pm. They will “read poems that explore their own emotional geography, and invite us to travel beyond it.”
Erica Cardwell MFA ’16
Erica Cardwell MFA ’16 wrote an essay on racial trauma and self-esteem for The Believer, “Kara Walker and the Black Imagination.”
Michael LeVasseur ’04
Michael LeVasseur ’04 published a study in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, entitled “The Effect of PrEP on HIV Incidence Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in the Context of Condom Use, Treatment as Prevention, and Seroadaptive Practices.”
Mirabelle Marden ’00
Mirabelle Marden ’00 was featured in a Vogue piece written by Carmen Rosy Hall ’16 and edited by Ella Riley-Adams ’14. Marden has opened a holiday market in Chinatown and is collaborating with Jaclyn Hodes ’01 of Awaveawake along with curating gift items from local artists.
Laura Curran ’89
Newly-elected Nassau County executive Laura Curran ’89 was featured in The New York Times.
Aja Monet ’09
My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter by Aja Monet ’09 is a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Poetry.
Leslie Rott MA ’15
Leslie Rott MFA ’15 was a contributor to Real Life Diaries: Living with Rheumatic Diseases, which was published in October 2017.
Hyung Seok Jeon MFA ’17
Underwater New York, a digital arts project run by Nicole Miller MFA ’09, Nicki Pombier Berger MFA ’09, Nicole Haroutunian MFA ’08, and Helen Georgas MFA ’09, is producing A Held Posture. A Held Posture is a solo performance by multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker Hyung Seok Jeon MFA ’17. The piece explores the image impulse of sinking into the deep ocean. What would you see when you get to the bottom? Through a visual investigation of the abyss, the piece explores the sensation of falling and the experience of generational loss. Formal experiments, including puppetry, a live video feed, and a soundscape created with wireless headphones, guide the audience into the intimate and minimal space within the self. Performances will be held the first weekend in January at Theaterlab (357 W 36th St, New York). Tickets available online.
Barbara Goldstein Mathes ’61
Barbara Goldstein Mathes ’61 shares that the Barbara Mathes Gallery is pleased to participate in Art Basel from December 7-10 at Booth C12.
Ilana Masad ’13
Ilana Masad ’13 has joined Prairie Schooner, a literary journal based at the University of Nebraska where Masad is a PhD candidate in English and Creative Writing, as Assistant Nonfiction Editor.
Joy Passanante ’69
Adrienne Dawes ’04 and Amir Levi ’04
Alexi Hawley ’89
Patrick Rosal MFA ’99
David Grimm ’87 and David Adjmi ’93
David Grimm ’87 and David Adjmi ’93 were included in a feature of playwrights thriving in the world of television writing by the Los Angeles Times.
Rickey Laurentiis MFA ’11
Rickey Laurentiis MFA ’11 has won the 2017 Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship for Poetry. The Lannan Literary Awards and Fellowships honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional quality.
Michael Hovance '94
Michael Hovance '94 stars in “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” presented by Surf City Theatre Company. Opens Saturday evening (November 18) at 8 pm in the Second Story Theatre (710 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach). Additional performances, through Sunday, December 3, are Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 2 and 8, and Sundays at 2. Tickets, $28. Call (424) 241-8040, email surfcitytheatre@gmail.com, or go to surfcitytheatre.com.
Vrinda Manglik ’08 and Isis Tatiana Hockenos ’09
Vrinda Manglik ’08 talked with Isis Tatiana Hockenos ’09 about an exhibit, "Rhizosphere," she curated last spring at San Francisco's Midway Gallery about the creative legacy of West Marin.
Michelle Koehn MFA ’12
Michelle Koehn MFA ’12 is The Community Table’s new executive director. The group’s mission is reducing food insecurity in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Darcey Merritt ’88
Academic publisher Elsevier has appointed NYU Silver Associate Professor Darcey Merritt ’88 to a two-year term as Associate Editor of Children and Youth Services Review (CYSR) effective January 1, 2018. A CYSR reviewer and editorial board member since 2009, in her new position, Dr. Merritt will oversee submissions to the publication in the area of public child welfare, including identifying reviewers and making recommendations based on reviewer evaluations.
Sahra Motalebi ’99
Sahra Motalebi ’99 returns to The Kitchen (512 West 19th Street) - following her 2015 performance Sounds From Untitled Skies-with Directory of Portrayals, an open-form opera based on an ongoing online exchange between the artist and her sister. The show will be performed on Thursday, December 14 and Friday, December 15 at 8pm. General admission tickets are $20, and member tickets are $15. They can be purchased at www.thekitchen.org, by phone at 212.255.5793 x 11, or in person at The Kitchen, Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2-6pm.
Michael Leong MFA '03
Michael Leong MFA '03 recently published a new electronic collection of poetry entitled Who Unfolded My Origami Brain? (2017), which is one of the inaugural titles of Fence Digital, a new imprint of Fence Books. He is currently Assistant Professor of English at the University at Albany, SUNY, where he teaches creative writing and literary study.
Jon Grinspan ’06
Jon Grinspan ’06 wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, “The Right to Vote Is Never Safe.”
Joan Grubin ’67
Current and upcoming shows featuring Joan Grubin ’67: Color: Primary to Tertiary, curated by Lilly Wei at Site:Brooklyn (165 7th Street, in Brooklyn), November 3-December 3; a new body of work, The Detritus Series, at Garvey Simon Gallery (547 West 27th Street in Chelsea), November 16-December 23; the annual Casheesh show at the Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, MA, opening December 3, presenting affordable small works; participating in a three-person show at ODETTA in Bushwick, kicking off the new year on January 19, 2018. Stay tuned for more details.
Sam Robbins MFA ’16
Sam Robbins MFA ’16 published a dance review, “The Power of Vignette: 10th Anniversary for the New York Jazz Choreography Project.”
Lucy Grealy ’85, Diana Jones ’84, and Ann Patchett
Robyn Ravlich interviewed Diana Jones ’84 and alumna Ann Patchett for an ABC Australia radio program about former faculty member Lucy Grealy ’85. “My Brilliant Friend” is available online.
Michelle Yasmine Valladares MFA ’00
Poet and filmmaker Michelle Yasmine Valladares MFA ’00 is the Americas Poetry Festival of New York’s Poet of the Year. The award is for her “lifelong literary achievements and for her poetry that reflects the rich multicultural spirit of The Americas.”
Erin Leigh Schmoyer ’04
Erin Leigh Schmoyer ’04 co-wrote a Shakespearean adaptation of Mean Girls, Meaneth Girls, or The Tragedy of Regina George. It will premiere at the Players Theatre (115 MacDougal St) on Friday, November 3, at 10 pm. Tickets are now available.
Penny Wolfson ’76, MFA ’00
Penny Wolfson ’76, MFA ’00 has launched an online international literary and arts magazine, called Dark Wood. “Work by three other alumni –Kim Larsen ’80, MFA ’04, Barbara Feinberg ’78, and Dan Azulay ’75 –also appears there, all beautiful, fresh, and original. Although the magazine is in no way connected to the college, and the first issue includes work by writers from Europe and the U.S.—including the prize-winning British poet George Szirtes, we are hoping that SLC students, alumni, and faculty will contribute.”
Rachel Feldman ’76
Rachel Feldman ’76 wrote a guest column in The Hollywood Reporter, “How to Fix Hollywood's Toxic Gender Exclusion Problem.”
Marjorie Suisman ’70
Boston-based attorney Marjorie Suisman ’70 has been listed among the 2017 rankings for Massachusetts and New England Super Lawyers, a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The results will be published in Boston magazine and in New England Super Lawyers.
Eric Glover ’09
Eric Glover ’09 received the Grand Prize in the WeScreenplay Television Competition for his dramatic screenplay “Panthers.”
Andrew Lichtenstein ’88
West Virginia University Press has published Marked, Unmarked, Remembered, a new book on American history from photojournalist Andrew Lichtenstein ’88.
Lynne Golob Gelfman ’66
Lynne Golob Gelfman ’66 presents new paintings from thu, a series of paintings that she began in the 1960s in New York City. sometimes random will be at Marisa Newman Projects (38 West 32nd St, Suite 1602 New York, NY) October 11 – November 10, 2017. An opening reception will be held Wednesday, October 11 at 6 pm.
Miles Coon MFA ’02
Miles Coon MFA ’02 invites alumni to apply for a workshop at the 14th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, presented in loving memory of Thomas Lux, January 15-20, 2018 in Delray Beach, Florida. Nine rewarding workshops led by Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Chard DeNiord, Beth Ann Fennelly, Ross Gay, Rodney Jones, Phillis Levin, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Tim Seibles will provide careful critique and/or inspire new work. Special guest, Coleman Barks, will read his renowned translations of Rumi, a poet of the 13th century, proof positive that great poems transcend time and distance; and performance poets Elizabeth Acevedo and G Yamazawa will scintillate with sizzling spoken word! Individual conferences with Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn and Nickole Brown are available. Apply online by November 10, 2017 at www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.
Janlori Goldman MFA ’09
Janlori Goldman MFA ’09 recently published her first full-length poetry book, Bread from a Stranger's Oven, which won the White Pine Poetry Prize.
Samantha Stark ’05
Samantha Stark ’05 led the New York Times team that won an Emmy for Outstanding New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture for the documentary The Forger.
Alexi Hawley ’89
Alexi Hawley ’89 wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter on on-set safety.
Soledad Fox ’90
Soledad Fox ’90 is presenting her third book, Round Trip: The Life of Jorge Semprún, at the Americas Society (680 Park Ave, New York) on Friday, October 27. As the book is about to be published in English, she discusses her approach of 20th-century Europe through the biographical genre with Juan José Herrera de la Muela, Consul of Spain for Cultural Affairs.
Carol Zoref ’76, MFA ’97
Barren Island by Carol Zoref ’76, MFA ’97 has been longlisted for the National Book Award. Winners will be announced in November.
Ann Green ’90
Kathy Westwater MFA '01
Wendy Whelan and Kathy Westwater MFA '01 recently shared the in-process "Sophie," a solo Westwater choreographed over fifteen years ago and never before performed in New York City, and talked about working together for the first time and their dancing friendship since growing up together. Kathy also continues to teach ShakeWalk classes at the Brooklyn Studios for Dance.
Manal Abu-Shaheen ’03
Manal Abu-Shaheen ’03 has a solo show, Beirut, at York College Fine Arts Gallery in Jamaica, Queens. The opening reception is Thursday, September 14, 12-2pm. The show will be open through October 13.
Chongren Fan MFA ’13
Chongren Fan MFA ’13 has been appointed Artistic Director of Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America.
Laurie Nadel ’69
Laurie Nadel ’69, author of The Five Gifts: Finding Hope, Healing and Strength When Disaster Strikes (Health Communications, Inc., April 2018) was mentioned on Dan Rather's News and Guts Facebook page for her essay, "For the Victims of Houston: Top Ten Things Superstorm Sandy Taught Us." The Top Ten List was the idea of classmate Bernice Green ’69 who published it in Our Time Press, a Brooklyn weekly newspaper that she and her husband publish.
Suhasini Yeeda MFA ’15
Suhasini Yeeda MFA ’15 recently had a short story, “Dream State,” appear in Madcap Review. The story has since been nominated for the Pushcart Prize XLI, The Best American Short Stories, and Best of the Net.
Erica Abeel ’58
Jay Strong '78
Bethany Ball MFA ’13
Bethany Ball MFA ’13 has made the short list for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize for her debut novel What to Do About the Solomons. The winner will be announced at The Center for Fiction’s Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner held on December 5.
Nicholas Pollack ’10
Freddy, Newark, New Jersey from the series Nothing Gold Can Stay by Nicholas Pollack ’10 is now part of the collection of the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University where it will be on view in the upcoming exhibition Subjective Objective: A Century of Social Photography alongside photographers Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Larry Fink, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, and Weegee, among others. The exhibit runs through January 7, 2018.
Camryn Hellwarth ’17
Tiana Nobile ’09
Amanda Bankert ’03
In July 2016, Amanda Bankert ’03 and her husband Louis Scott opened Boneshaker Doughnuts in the second arrondissement of Paris (77 Rue D'Aboukir). The bakery serves traditional American raised doughnuts made from scratch with seasonal ingredients.
Sreshtha Sen MFA ’17
Kay Chernush ’66
Laurie Blauner ’75
Yoshi Kuroi ’12
Abbie Heffelfinger ’10
Jaclyn Vorenkamp MFA ’15
Jaclyn Vorenkamp MFA ’15 has a story in Post Road Magazine #32.
Sam Robbins MFA ’16
“We make our own games,” a Paper Dances production and show choreographed by Sam Robbins MFA ’16, will be performed at Dixon Place (161 Chrystie St) on Tuesday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m. “As children, our freedom and creativity, sense of play, storytelling ability, and constructive tendencies inspired our parents and teachers to believe in our ability to do and be more. As grown-ups we’ve lost the ability to play, and live in a world full of anger, hostility, war, and violence. This performance revisits a time when the world was full of innocence, happiness, wonder and, most importantly, play.” Robbins will be performing with Stephanie Coleman ’07 and Emily Goucher ’04. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door, $12 for students, seniors, and those with an NYC ID.
Sam Reetz ’12
Millennial Ethics Productions, founded by Sam Reetz ’12, will make its formal company debut at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP (30 John St) on Wednesday, August 9, at 6:30 p.m.
Julia Barry ’04
Julia Barry ’04 invites alumni to an evening of new music spanning theater, art song, and opera by New York City writers (including herself). “Tickets support our wonderful working performers, and also Cornelia Street Cafe, one of the few listening rooms left in NYC that's struggling to stay afloat. Music, friends, food & drink...all good things. See you August 8 at 8:30 p.m.!” Details for the event can be found on Facebook.
Susan Haskins-Doloff ’71
Susan Haskins-Doloff ’71, Executive Producer and co-host of "Theater Talk," accepted the 2015-16 NYC Emmy Award for "Best Interview/Discussion Program" on May 6, 2017. The series, now in its 20th year on PBS, won in a field of 8 nominees for its retrospective episode, "Talk to Remember," which featured interviews with guests including Danielle Brookes, Jeff Daniels, Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, Ivo van Hove, George Takei and critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times.
Alice O'Keefe ’15
With her company, My Photo Preservation, Alice O'Keefe ’15 provides in-home photo preservation and restoration services to her Brooklyn clients, with searchable drives that make finding photos easy. O’Keefe says the easiest way to reach her is via email, awokeefe@gmail.com, or through the contact page on her website.
Joanna Bettelheim ’09
Ellen Winter ’14, Sam Monaco ’11, A. Sarr ’13, and Lily Desmond ’16
Ellen Winter ’14, Sam Monaco ’11, and A. Sarr ’13, members of NYC indie group Chamber Band, all recently collaborated on the musical theatre podcast “36 Questions,” which can be streamed for free on iTunes, and is the first of its kind. It also features violin from Lily Desmond ’16 and many other talented writers and musicians. The podcast was recently featured in The New York Times.
Sarah Gottlieb ’09
Sarah Gottlieb ’09 will be hosting a workshop developed in collaboration with Catalina Mahecha in Madrid, Timing in Contact Improvisation, in Chicago at Jam Links Hall on July 22. “Our research focuses on 1) Bio-rhythms, or rhythms and time signatures produced by anatomic functions 2) Membranes, kinespheres or auric spaces that separate and conjoin 3) Gravity, which we track by studying cycles of suspension, dynamic falling, undercurrents and over-currents, and spatial trajectories. The work incorporates various forms of energetic and somatic practice into Contact Improvisation.” Information and Registration: Sarahgcircle@gmail.com
Lauren Palmor ’08
Lauren Palmor ’08 is a contributor to the catalogue "Revelations: Art From The African American South," published on the occasion of the exhibition at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The exhibition and catalogue celebrate the Fine Arts Museums’ major acquisition from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation in Atlanta of sixty-two paintings, sculptures, drawings, and quilts by twenty-two acclaimed contemporary artists, including Thornton Dial, Ralph Griffin, Bessie Harvey, Lonnie Holley, Joe Light, Ronald Lockett, Joe Minter, Jessie T. Pettway, Mary T. Smith, Mose Tolliver, Annie Mae Young, and Purvis Young. The catalogue, co-published with DelMonico Books / Prestel, is filled with compelling content and gorgeous color plates.
Ryan Strong MFA ’14
Ryan Strong MFA ’14 is now a publicist at Penguin Random House.
Elizabeth Schwartz ’81
"American Socialist: The Life & Times of Eugene Victor Debs", co-written and executive produced by Elizabeth Schwartz ’81 has just been acquired by First Run Features for North American theatrical and non-theatrical distribution. Directed and co-written by Yale Strom (Schwartz's partner in BlackStream Films) and narrated by Amy Madigan, this feature-length documentary explores the life and legacy of the co-founder of the American Socialist movement (and not coincidentally, hero and inspiration to Bernie Sanders) in the context of American populism and social and economic injustice 100 years ago and today.
Joni Iraci ’13
"Distractions," a short story by Joni Iraci ’13, was published in Review Americana.
Bronwen Mullin ’06
Bronwen Mullin ’06 has been appointed by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as its rabbinic artist in residence. She will create a performing arts wing for the Artists’ Beit Midrash.
Pamela Hart MFA ’04
Sarabande Books is pleased to announce Rowan Ricardo Phillips has selected Mothers Over Nangarhar by Pamela Hart MFA ’04 as the winner of the 2017 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry.
Heather Wedvick Mathews ’95
Heather Wedvick Mathews ’95 and her filmmaking partner, Tiffany Rhynard, made a documentary about rising senior Moisés Serrano ’18. Beginning before he even dreamed of going to Sarah Lawrence, the film ends on campus, at the start of his first year. Forbidden: Undocumented & Queer in Rural America will premiere on Logo TV on August 3rd. It also won the first ever Social Justice Award from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Freedom Award at OutFest 2016, where it premiered last summer.
Molly Bess Rector ’10
Molly Bess Rector ’10, along with poets M.D. Myers and J. Bailey Hutchinson, founded and co-curates the nonprofit poetry series Open Mouth Reading Series in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Bonnie Acker ’70
Green Mountain Fine Art Gallery presents “Summertime,” an exhibit of new landscape paintings by Burlington-based artist Bonnie Acker ’70. The show opens on Saturday, June 24, with a public reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at the gallery at 64 S. Main St., Stowe.
Natasha Yglesias ’14
Waypoints Magazine recently published “Slate,” a short story by Natasha Yglesias ’14.
Rosalinde Block ’74
Magda Bogin ’73
Under the Volcano, a modular program of writing master classes in Tepoztlán, Mexico directed by Magda Bogin ’73, is now officially a not-for-profit organization. Visit their website to learn more about their upcoming program in January 2018, their 15th year.
Nicole Dennis-Benn MFA ’12
Nicole Dennis-Benn MFA ’12 won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction for her novel, Here Comes the Sun.
Theresa Sullivan MFA ’17
Theresa Sullivan MFA ’17 interviewed Writing faculty member and Brooklyn Poet Laureate for Garrison Institute.
Elizabeth Sochko MFA ’17
"Address," a poem by Elizabeth Sochko MFA ’17, was published online in Interrupture.
Lindsy Van Gelder ’66
Lindsy Van Gelder ’66 shares: “Many classmates and other 60s era Sadie Lou-ers may appreciate a memoir on birth control back in the day that I recently wrote for Allure.”
Allan Mann MFA ’70
Allan Mann MFA ’70 is looking for help, “putting together stage production, book, video recording, documentary and possible feature of Earthlight, my 1969-72 New Age stage revue company, the one that saved the Woodstock Festival.”
Katie Longofono MFA ’14
AmpLit Fest, a NYC literary festival co-produced by Katie Longofono MFA ’14, is taking place Saturday, June 10 on Riverside Park. It is a free, daylong festival that brings authors of all backgrounds, styles, and levels of recognition to center stage. With readings, workshops, panels, and a community market, AmpLit Fest makes one of life’s most solitary acts — writing — a public celebration.
Leah Rudick '06
Sweet Parents, a feature film co-written and co-starring Leah Rudick '06 will premiere at the Brooklyn Film Festival this June followed by a run at the Lower East Side Film Festival.
Sacha Yanow ’99
Sacha Yanow ’99 wrote and performed Dad Band at Joe's Pub in June. “An intimate psychological portrait of the artist’s father, her internalized dad, and patriarchy in general, ‘Dad’ covers and lip synchs to his favorite songs from the 50s and 60s, shares footage of his 1970s winning appearance on the To Tell the Truth game show, presents motivational speeches, and more. His button-down shirts become his costumes, his yellow notepad—usually reserved for stock market details—contains his set list, and his Agatha Christie novel collection and Wall Street Journal become his props. Over the course of the evening, we get to know Dad as he dances, sings, screams, and lectures.”
Eli Rosenblatt ’06
Eli Rosenblatt ’06 has earned his PhD in Jewish Studies from University of California at Berkeley. His dissertation was titled, "Enlightening the Skin: Travel, Race, and Rabbinic Intertextuality in Yiddish Literature, 1860-1960."
Chelsea Catalanotto ’12
Chelsea Catalanotto ’12 has joined the staff of the CW show iZombie as a writer.
Matti Leshem '83
Built to Fail, a streetwear documentary co-produced by Matti Leshem '83, will premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival this summer.
Pamela Hart MFA ’04
Pamela Hart MFA ’04 has been named the inaugural winner of the Brian Turner Literary Arts Prize for poetry. Poems from her manuscript, Over Nangarhar, will be published in the upcoming issue of the Sierra Nevada Review.
Adrienne Dawes ’14
Salvage Vanguard Theater (SVT), an Austin, Texas-based theater company, will be in New York City May 22-25, 2017 for a “Next Stage” residency with the Drama League Theater Center (32 Avenue of the Americas). Director Jenny Larson will be developing performance piece Casta written by Adrienne Dawes ’14 in collaboration with composer Graham Reynolds and visual artist Beth Consetta Rubel. Casta is inspired by a unique genre of portraiture that grew in popularity over the 18th century in Nueva España (Mexico). Casta paintings depicted various different racial mixtures in the New World, arranged in a specific hierarchy of race and status, as defined by Spanish elites. The complexities of contemporary racial and ethnic identity(ies) are echoed in this distant mirror of casta paintings. How do Old World anxieties about ambiguous identities reflect contemporary biases? How can the interaction between performance and visual art, specifically portraiture, open a window for a unique audience experience about racial identity? Reservations available online.
Anita Silvers ’62
Anita Silvers ’62 was featured in Diverse: Issues In Higher Education for her work as an advocate for students and others with disabilities.
Ann Cefola ’81, MFA ’97
Bernice Green ’69 and Laurie Nadel ’69
Bernice Green ’69 quoted classmate Laurie Nadel ’69 in the April 13th issue of Our Time Press. Nadel said, “Artists are our canaries in the coal mine. The president’s decision to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities should remind us that dictators are threatened by artists and writers. It is an ominous sign. After the military seized power in Chile after President Salvador Allende’s assassination in 1973, soldiers raided artists’ homes and burned ‘Cubism’ because they thought it referred to Castro’s Cuba and ‘Revolution in the Arts.’ In the present climate, art challenges us to face our fears and get stronger.” Green and Nadel came to Sarah Lawrence from Brooklyn's Midwood High School where they met in 1963.
Dylan Brody ’85
Dylan Brody ’85 shares, “This July my theatrical solo show Dylan Brody’s Driving Hollywood, based on my award-winning special of the same name comes to the People’s Improv Theater (PIT) in New York for a weirdly intermittent three-week run. I would love to have you come see what I’m doing in this show. It’s about the friction between art and commerce, the need for critical thinking, and the whole thing feels more salient and needed under the Trump administration than it did when I wrote it.” Visit Brody’s website for more information.
Mira J Spektor ’50
The Theater for the New City (155 First Avenue) presents GIOVANNI THE FEARLESS, a commedia dell’arte folk opera for young and old audiences with music by Mira J Spektor ’50 from May 12-21. More information and tickets online.
Vanesa Evers ’13
Inspired by the poetry of M. Nourbese Philip and Ntozake Shange, Vanesa Evers ’13 re-invisioned the intended audience (and victims) of the Declaration of Independence by dissecting every word in the historical document and turned it into a play. Come and reimagine this historical document with Evers at Studio 34 Yoga Healing Arts (4522 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia) on Saturday, July 8 at 6 p.m. Tickets online.
Elana Greenfield ’82
Part IV of WRENCH, a play by Elana Greenfield ’82, will be presented at LABAlive OTHER: THREE. Inspired by ancient Jewish text, Greenfield is among the last Fellows will presenting their new work in an evening of art, drinks, and celebration at The 14th Street Y Theater (344 East 14th St) on Thursday, May 11 at 7:30 p. m.
Kate Scelsa '02
Everyone’s Fine With Virginia Woolf, a new play by Kate Scelsa '02, was read by Obie-winning theater company Elevator Repair Service (ERS) at Little City Books. In this queer, irreverent parody of Edward Albee’s iconic "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf," no one is left unscathed by Martha's feminist ambitions. Rubbing alcohol will be consumed, imaginary pregnancies will be indulged, and gender constructs will be destroyed.
Heidi Howard ’08
Sonja Sekula ’41
Kate Pincus-Whitney ’16
Meg Freitag ’05
Robert Beto Hopper ’93
Lauren Wimmer ’13
FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade in association with Cave Theatre Co. will present the World Premiere of Divorce Party, written by Lauren Wimmer ’13 and directed by James Masciovecchio, April 21-May 7 at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A) with performances Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets ($20) may be purchased in advance.
Marian Goldstein Fontana ’89
Marian Goldstein Fontana ’89 will be honored 15th anniversary benefit for the New York Writers Coalition (NYWC) this May.
Allison Mitchell MS ’99
Jenni Konner '94
John Freeman Gill MFA '95
Geno Carr MFA ’05
Lois Farfel Stark ’65
Lois Farfel Stark ’65 gave a TedEx presentation at SMU in December of 2016 on Shape: Hiding in Plain Sight.
Robin Black ’86
Boni Alvarez '96
Boni Alvarez '96 was featured in The Inquirer for the success of his play Bloodletting. Alvarez "has been adding Filipino American stories to the fabric of the US stage."
Christopher Cole ’06
The Honolulu Museum of Art will feature a series of photographs by Maui artist Christopher Cole ’06 as part of its Contemporary Hawai’i Artist program in the John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery. “The Global South” exhibit runs through July 9. Read more in the Maui News.
Josh Gannon ’03
Josh Gannon ’03 will be running this year’s Boston Marathon for St. Francis House, a day shelter in downtown Boston. Gannon placed second in the cross country championship his first year at Sarah Lawrence College. “Marathon Monday is a very special day in Massachusetts and to be able to be a part of that while supporting St. Francis House is a really big deal for me.”
Kathy Westwater MFA ’01
Performances of Anywhere and Extemporaneous, choreographed by Kathy Westwater MFA ’01, will be held April 19, 20, 21, and 22 at Brooklyn Studios for Dance (210 Lafayette Avenue). Tickets available online.
Corrine Yap ’16
Marian Hyun ’77
Marian Hyun ’77 is an artistic director of the New York Jazz Choreography Project, a celebration of jazz dance featuring 14 original works by emerging and established choreographers. On April 29th and 30th at Salvatore Capezio Theater at Peridance 126 E. 13th Street, audiences of all ages will be treated to dances in a variety of jazz styles from swing to contemporary and the chance to see the richness of this great American art form. Featured choreographers include Antuan Byers, Ashley Carter, Sharlane Conner, Rachel Leigh Dolan, Kavin T. Grant, Billy Griffin, Karin Kawamoto, Ali Koinoglou, Gregory Kollarus, Cat Manturuk, Vanessa Martínez de Baños, Bryan Menjivar, Sue Samuels, Jaime Shannon, Ashley Stafford, and Kyle Weiler. Tickets available online.
Kyle Chu ’10
Kyle Chu ’10 aka Panda Dulce was part of San Francisco Public Library’s "Drag Queen Story Hour" at the Harvey Milk branch, in a FUSION viral video.
Mary McDonough '10
Erica Abeel '58
Phillis Levin '76 and Robyn Schiff '95
Reynolds Tenasas-Norman '78
Reynolds Tenasas-Norman '78 has been named a Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) Artist In Residence in Kentucky. Tenasas-Norman began her two-week residency on February 12 at Pinecone Art Studio & Gallery (421 N 7th Street). An exhibit of a selection of her small drawings inspired by The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850s historic work of fiction, will be on display at StudioMars (418 N 7th Street) Friday, February 24, from 5-7 p.m. Tenasas-Norman’s drawings will be presented as a mosaic-style exhibit that showcases the diversity of women who choose their own destiny.
Julia Norton '07
Joelle Wallach '67
Kati Agocs '98
Clay McLeod Chapman '00
Estha Weiner '72
Joni Iraci '13
Kamden Hilliard '16
David Hollander MFA '97
Nan Bauer-Maglin '63
Rachelle Cruz '07
Gail Nickerson '70
Judy Klass '88
Matthew Cole '00
Liza Ketchum '68
Erica Abeel '58
Suhasini Yeeda MFA ’15
Suhasini Yeeda MFA ’15 recently had a short story, “Dream State,” appear in Madcap Review. The story has since been nominated for the Pushcart Prize XLI.
Noah Sheldon '98
Leah Wellbaum '11, Kyle Bann '10, and Will Gorin '11
Slothrust, a band composed of Leah Wellbaum '11 (guitar/vocals), Kyle Bann '10 (bass), and Will Gorin '11 (drums), announced new tour dates for their most recent album, Everyone Else.
Donna Gigliotti '76
Donna Gigliotti '76 spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how she started her career after Sarah Lawrence, her work with producer Harvey Weinstein, and her upcoming project.
Amy Laprade '05
Emma Bolden ’02
Emma Bolden ’02 has been awarded a 2017 Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Erica Abeel ’58
Erica Abeel ’58 will be at Cornelia Street Café (29 Cornelia Street, New York) January 26 reading and talking about her new novel Wild Girls about 3 women rebels of the 50s who live against the grain. One theme explored will be: Can you truly live outside of your time? A second theme: female self-invention in a conformist age.
Kat Long ’97
Kat Long ’97 is working on a biography of her ancestor William Scoresby, a 19th century Arctic explorer and whaling ship captain who is considered the first polar scientist. Kat has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.com to raise money for a book research trip to England. While there, she plans to investigate his personal letters and scientific discoveries, which are helping today's scientists understand climate change.
Melissa Febos MFA ’09
Tess Leopold ’82
Tess Leopold ’82 shares, “Peter and I have moved to Connecticut. I am working in property & casualty insurance at Beazley. We are renovating a 1962 house on a lake and enjoying the Hartford area. We expect to be playing in the snow soon.”
Judy Klass ’88
In response to the election, Judy Klass ’88 recorded an album, Protest Songs in an Age of Trump. “Because the recount is ongoing, I did not do a full band recording, and have not (at this time) pressed a CD.” The entire album is posted on YouTube.
Mira J Spektor ’50
Lady Of The Castle, a chamber opera with music and lyrics by Mira J Spektor ’50, based on a true story & an Israeli Play by Lea Goldberg, is at Theater for the New City (155 1st Ave, New York, between 9th & 10th Street) November 30 through December 11, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8pm - Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $18, contact mirajspektor@earthlink.net for more information.
Ellen Kaye ’82
Ellen Kaye ’82 will perform songs from her album Ice Wine: Songs for Christmas and Dark Winter Nights at The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd St, New York) on Tuesday, December 13 at 7 pm. The performance is a part of Cabaret Productions' "New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits" series. Make reservations online or call 212.206.0440.
Lynne Golob Gelfman ’66
Noguchi Breton (8375 NE 2nd Ave, Miami) proudly presents “sometimes random,” an exhibition of new paintings by Lynne Golob Gelfman ’66 from November 18, 2016 - January 14, 2017. In some paintings, the clarity of the grid becomes muted by an all over color field. In others, the triangular patterns are fractured and almost disappear. In all the paintings, the structure of the support quietly emerges, and the patterning may evoke associations with the handwoven textiles of Africa, South America and Japan. A vernissage will take place on Friday, November 18 from 6-10 p.m.
Kyes Stevens MA ’99
Kyes Stevens MA ’99 has been recognized as one of 2016's Women Who Shape the State, for changing neighborhoods, cities and Alabama for the better. Stevens is a poet and founder and director of the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project at Auburn University.
Claudia Cortese MFA ’09
The first book of poetry by Claudia Cortese MFA ’09, Wasp Queen, will be published by Black Lawrence Press in December 2016.
Kathy Westwater MFA ’01
Kathy Westwater MFA ’01 has begun a yearlong residency at Brooklyn Studios for Dance that includes leading four SHAKE/WALK workshops 31-Oct thru 20-Nov, curating a performance and installation, hosting a reading group, open rehearsal, and panel discussion, and presenting the New York premiere of Anywhere in the spring of 2017. A benefit performance for Anywhere and Brooklyn Studios for Dance with invited artists will take place Saturday, November 5.
Nima Etemadi ’04 and Lily Fischer ’04
Nima Etemadi ’04 and Lily Fischer ’04 will open Cake Life Bake Shop in its Fishtown location in Philadelphia on Saturday, November 5. The new shop will sell a full menu of savory and sweet pastries, including cookies, scones, pies, muffins, cakes by-the-slice, whole cakes to-go.
Matthew Holloway ’01
Matthew Holloway ’01 will return to The Duplex (61 Christopher Street @ 7th Ave, New York) on November 5th, 2016 at 9:30 p.m. to present Mother Always Said!, a cabaret performance featuring Josh Kight on piano. Tickets may be purchased at matthewhollowaysings.com or at theduplex.com. $10 online and $15 at the door with a two drink minimum; 21+ only.
Claire Jeanine Satin ’56
Claire Jeanine Satin ’56 presents Concrete, a documentary that “traces the mission and devotion of Ruth and Marvin Sackner’s exceptional archive of visual and concrete poetry created by Sara Sackner,” at Cinema Paradiso (503 SE 6th Street, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301) on Thursday, November 3 at 7 p.m. Bookworks by Claire will also be on display as part of the event.
Lauren Hilger MFA ’11
Rachelle Cruz ’07
Rachelle Cruz ’07 won the 2016 Hillary Gravendyk Poetry Prize, judged by rob mclennan and Megan Gravendyk Estrella. Her first full-length collection of poetry, God's Will for Monsters, will be published by Inlandia Institute in Spring 2017.
Zoe Keating ’93
Daniel Traub '94
John Kelly MFA ’94
John Kelly MFA ’94 was named Executive Director of The ToonSeum, Pittsburgh's museum of comics and cartoon art. “The ToonSeum is one of only two museums in the US to be dedicated to the art and history of comic and cartoon art. I am very excited by this opportunity and hope to grow the presence of the museum, which is currently celebrating its 10th year of existence. Prior to this job, I had served as Senior Director of Communications at the National Basketball Association and Director of Communications at Columbia University. I am still writing for The Comics Journal and other places and am currently finishing up a book on the history of the comics of the Alternative Weekly Newspapers, which will be published by Fantagraphics Books in a year or so.”
Marian Rich ’79
Marian Rich ’79 recently returned from a clowning and caring trip to Costa Rica with Dr. Patch Adams. “As a longtime teacher and performer of improvisational comedy, I use improv and performance to train and coach people, helping them grow and develop their life performances. Spending time with Patch Adams has given me a way to provide attentive care to people who are suffering. I will be bringing this approach to the Lillian Booth Actors Home (run by the Actors Fund) on October 15th when I will be "clowning around' with their residents, which includes my father, Allan Rich.”
Vinny Mraz MFA ’15 and Josh Rice MFA ’14
Secret Saturdays: Performance Series is a once-a-month evening of new work with a rotating theme, curated by Theatre alumni, Vinny Mraz MFA ’15 and Josh Rice MFA ’14. Featuring short pieces of theatre, comedy, and new devised work, SS:PS gives new and emerging artists a chance to showcase their work, on its feet, in front of an audience. Featuring: Clara Elser MFA ’14! Jesse Heffler MFA ’13! Carolina Ordonez MFA '15! Patrick Vermillion ’15! Keisha Zollar (SLC Lampoon Instructor)! Andrew Kimler! Among others! Tickets are $10 at the door. The Secret Theatre is in Long Island City, Queens, only 3 stops into Queens off the 7 train from Grand Central. October 22, November 19, December 17 at 10 pm.
Marianne Glick Brown ’59 and Joanna Halpert Kraus ’59
Rebekah Driscoll ’08
Gail Nickerson ’70
Jenn Woodward ’99
Bernice Green ’69 and Laurie Nadel ’69
Leah Umansky MFA ’04
Sally Greenhouse ’75
Eleanor Chai Beer ’88
Nell Minow ’74
Bea Mora ’12
Ioana Preda Buburuzan ’14
Sarah Canberg ’03
Marian Hyun ’77
Patrick Metzger ’10
Rebecca Marks ’67
Erica Abeel ’58
Kathy Westwater MFA ’01
Sarah Manning ’03
Sarah Rose Nordgren ’04
John Freeman Gill MFA ’95
Shakira Provasoli ’98, MSEd ’99
Estha Weiner ’72
N. West Moss ’90
Rebecca Johnson MFA ’07
Janet Kaplan MFA ’95
Justin Lutz ’10
Barbara Schoichet MFA ’81
Dianalee Velie ’93
Ian Schulz ’09
Noah Hawley ’89
Pam Tanowitz MFA '98
Rachel Berks ’00
Alex Cuadros ’05
Lili Sar-Graycar ’11
Tommy Pico ’06
David Kessler ’75
John Justin David '79
Kristin Malko ’05 and Rose Rossi ’05
Lisa Rhodes-Ryabchich ’99
Susie Stein ’74
Larisa Oleynik ’04 and Giulia Melucci ’88
James Jack ’01
Jason Irwin MFA ’04
Adrienne Willis '01
Madeline Kearin ‘11
Sally S. Booth ’81
Sanaa Hamri '96
Miranda Wilkotz ’91
Stephen Fife ‘77
Jason Irwin MFA ’04
Lena Coakley ’90
Brandi Megan Granett MFA ’98
Phillis Levin ’76
Kevin Buckelew ’07
Ann Cefola ’81, MFA ’97
Jacqueline Dee Lewis Parker ’84
Jon Grinspan ’06
Laurie Nadel ’69
Abigail Welhouse '09
Chloe Honum '03
Daniel Traub ’94
Meredith Monk ‘64
Craig Slonczewski ’81
Michele Brody ’89
Joelle Wallach ’67
Dr. Amanda Foreman ‘91
Dave Porter ’94
Elissaveta Iordanova MFA ’00, MS ’15
Elissaveta Iordanova MFA ’00, MS ’15, Artistic Director and choreographer of GORANA DANCE -Bulgarian folk dance collective, announces tickets are now available for “Rhythms & Patterns”, a gala concert to commemorate the company’s 10th anniversary, at JCC Manhattan on April 2 at 7 p.m.
Michele Brody ’89
Kay Chernush ’66
ArtWorks for Freedom founder and artistic director Kay Chernush ’66 joined partnering artists to help raise awareness about human trafficking at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai. Chernush was also recognized at the Anne Frank Awards and the McCain Institute Human Trafficking Symposium for her compelling photographs as part of "Bought & Sold: Voices of Human Trafficking".
Sarah Gottlieb ’09
Yolk, a full-length dance-theater piece from BodyCompass Dance Project directed by Sarah Gottlieb ’09, is now touring in Mexico, including performances at international festivals Festival Internacional de Teatro Susana Alexander and Puebla Baila.
Carolyn Newberger ’63
In the Blink of an Eye, the latest showing of work by Carolyn Newberger ’63, will be exhibited at Galatea Fine Art in Boston throughout April. An opening reception will take place April 1 from 6-8 p.m. Learn more about Newberger’s work at her website.
Tara Passoni ’98
Alysson Light '07
Alysson Light '07 recently accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. “I'll be starting in the Fall, and looking forward to connecting with other alumni in Philly!”
Ariel Dougherty '69
Ariel Dougherty '69 announces that her film Sweet Bananas will be screened in Albuquerque at Experiments in Cinema on April 6, 5:30 p.m. at the Guild Cinema. The film also features two alumni, Ann Taylor '69 and Gina Gilmour '71 as well as Weba Garretson, younger sister of Julie Garretson Strand '66.
Bianca Rose Ambrosio MFA ‘14
Bianca Rose Ambrosio MFA ‘14 announces that her play Gracey was selected to premiere at Manhattan Repertory Theatre's Spring Play Competition. The competition will run from March 16-19 at 6:30 pm, and possibly go onto finals which will take place on March 31st at 6:30 and 9:00 pm, as well as April 1st at the same times.
Faith Shearin MFA '93
Faith Shearin MFA '93 announces that her fifth book of poems, Orpheus, Turning, won the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize and was published by Broadkill River Press in December.
John Powell '09
John Powell '09 announces that his first children's book, The Pitkin Kids Learn About Recycling, has been published through Young Street Publishing. The book is about a group of environmentalist kids who visit a recycling center to learn what happens to recycling after you put it in your bin. The book is meant to also inform adults so that families can become stewards of their environment. You can get it on Amazon or ask your local bookseller to stock a copy or two!
Ian Spencer Bell '13
Ian Spencer Bell '13 will be dancing a new solo with poems, Marrow, at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division (The Center, 208 West 13th Street, Room 101, New York City) on Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18 at 8 pm. There is a $15 suggested donation, with proceeds supporting The Center's youth programs and BGSQD. For more information on upcoming performances, visit his website.
Jean Erdman '38
The Earle Ernst Lab Theatre recently held a retrospective celebration of the Aloha Legacy of Dance of Jean Erdman '38. Dancers, musicians, friends, and other professional associates gathered to celebrate her distinguished career on her 100th birthday.
Jenna Esposito ‘00
Jenna Esposito ‘00 is delighted to announce that she is teaming up with NYC nightlife favorite Bill Zeffiro, for an open-ended run at Restaurant Row's La Rivista (313 W 46th St, New York). They'll be there every Wednesday from 8 pm – midnight singing standards, pop, Italian songs, and whatever else pops into their heads! Check her website for all upcoming shows.
Lisa Rhodes-Ryabchich MFA '99
Lisa Rhodes-Ryabchich MFA '99 announces the that her first poetry chapbook entitled We Are Beautiful Like Snowflakes is now available for pre-order sales. It is being published by Finishing Line Press.
Erik Hammerstrom '97
Erik Hammerstrom '97 published his first book, The Science of Chinese Buddhism: Early Twentieth-Century Engagements, with Columbia University Press in August 2015. Examining dozens of previously unstudied writings from the Chinese Buddhist press, this book maps Buddhists' efforts to rethink their traditions through science in the initial decades of the twentieth century. Showcasing the rich and progressive steps Chinese religious scholars took in adapting to science's rising authority, this volume offers a key perspective on how a major Eastern power transitioned to modernity in the twentieth century and how its intellectuals anticipated many of the ideas debated by scholars of science and Buddhism today.
Janet Dephoure '60
Janet Dephoure '60 Just began a new job as a senior technical writer at Digital Guardian, a computer security company in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Jay Strong '78
Jay Strong '78 invites alumni to another reading of his play, The Demi-Orphans, February 21 at 6 pm at Workshop Theater (312 West 36th Street) in New York.
Annie Lanzillotto MFA '90
Annie Lanzillotto MFA '90 invites alumni to attend the launch of her audiobook "L is for Lion" Saturday, February 13 from 6 to 9 pm at CityLore (59 East 1st St, New York). “Beads, masks, libations, antics…Mardi Gras and San Valentino energies abound. Have a listen: http://tiny.cc/kikk8x
Connie Calloway '71
Connie Calloway '71 announces that her book, 100 Pieces of Sun, Diary of a Potted Plant, was published in January. In it, Calloway traces her roots from Alabama to her time at Sarah Lawrence.
Eric John Meyer MFA '09
Eric John Meyer MFA '09 announces the opening of his play, Due to Events, by Human Head Performance Group at The Brick (575 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn) on February 5 at 8 pm. Due to Events tells the story of Hero, a woman under house arrest, and her lawyer who travels the world trying to find information that will set her free. The show runs until February 27, go to the website to find tickets.
Erica NewHouse '03
Erica NewHouse '03 will be teaching a new six-week acting workshop in New York City beginning Sunday, February 7 from 4 to 6 pm at Larry Singer Studios (118-122 Baxter St, Suite 403). To sign up or to get more information, call 917.327.5406.
Kristin Leong '03
Kristin Leong '03 spoke at Ignite Education Lab, a talk on education featuring 11 speakers. She teaches middle-school humanities at the International School in Bellevue. Follow her on Twitter @kristinleong and connect with her on LinkedIn.
Lisa Rybovich Cralle '04
Lisa Rybovich Cralle '04 and Sophia Wang will be taking over Interface Gallery (486 49th St, Oakland) from February 14-28, constructing an immersive installation as part of their “Bodily Engagements” series. See the gallery's website for performance times. Cralle will also be participating in a group show, “Unstable Labor” at Syracuse University February 12. “Adler & Edmark have invited a group of artists to submit instructions for artworks that will be made on site by the curators (who are also artists) during their residency at Sculpture Space.”
Beth Hahn MFA '00
Beth Hahn MFA '00 announces that her book, The Singing Bone, will be published by Regan Arts in March 2016.
Emily Gropp Carlson '03
Argos Books published a chapbook of poems by Emily Gropp Carlson '03, Symphony No. 2 in fall 2015. Carlson mentions “the great SLC poetry teacher” Suzanne Gardinier in the opening poem.
Gloria Norris '77
KooKooLand, by Gloria Norris '77, was published by Regan Arts. In the true crime memoir, Norris tells the story of growing up in Manchester, New Hampshire with her “charismatic yet cruel” father.
Jim Melillo '72
Jim Melillo '72 announces the unveiling of the first wine offerings from Melillo and winemaker Jerry Van Vort. “We will be pouring our 2015 whites as well as our 2014 reds after two years in oak. We have brought Santa Barbara quality wines to the east coast and invite all of our fellow wine snobs and winos to come and be amazed.” The tasting will be held March 10 at Priam Vineyards (11 Shailor Hill Road, Colchester, Connecticut 06415).
Joy Ladin '82
Joy Ladin '82 is excited to finally share the link to "Ain't I a Woman?", the TEDxBeaconStreet talk she gave in November.
Justin Okin '03
Justin Okin '03 will be performing in the West Coast Premiere of Samuel Hunter's Pocotello presented by the award-winning Rogue Machine Theatre Company, opening February 13. The cast includes Eden Brolin, Anne Gee Byrd, Matthew Elkins, and Tracie Lockwood. Eddie manages an Italian chain restaurant in Pocatello—a small, unexceptional American city that is slowly being paved over with strip malls and franchises. But he can't serve enough Soup, Salad & Breadstick Specials to make his hometown feel like home. Against the harsh backdrop of Hunter's Idaho, this heartbreaking comedy is a cry for connection in an increasingly lonely American landscape.
Leah Umansky MFA '04
Leah Umansky MFA '04 has a new dystopian-themed chapbook of poems forthcoming from Kattywompus Press, Straight Away the Emptied World, this February. More information is available at http://leahumansky.com.
Leslie McGuirk '82
Leslie McGuirk '82 has launched her latest project, Quirkyville, an imaginary sea world inhabited by quirky sea creatures. “They deal with the same feelings and issues we humans face everyday. Their positive messages inspire us to be ourselves. Each of these creatures teach us that when you take the time to look below the surface, it's cool to be quirky."
Nina Gibans '54
WVIZ ideastream public broadcasting will be airing a film by Nina Gibans '54 on January 31. University Circle: Creating A Sense of Place is a comprehensive look at the history and resurgence of Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood.
Patricia Dunn MFA '98
Rebels By Accident by Patricia Dunn MFA '98 received honorable mention for the Middle East Outreach Council 2015 Children and Young Adult Books on Middle East Awards.
Stuart Diamond MFA '73
Master of the Astral Plane, the 1982 opera by Stuart Diamond MFA '73, will be broadcast on WBAI 99.5 as part of Ear Massage with Mark Laiosa Sunday, January 17th at 3 a.m. The program is in honor of the great voice of classical music Harry Fleetwood and the opera itself is a tribute to Fleetwood as it incorporates his narration into the storyline. “For those who would rather not wake up in the middle of the night to listen, you can catch the opera here: Master of the Astral Plane.”
Annie Novak '05
Annie Novak '05 announces the upcoming release of her book for urban gardeners, The Rooftop Growing Guide, in February.
Diane Cantor '76
Diane Cantor '76 announces the publication of her historical novel The Poisoned Table. It tells the story of the rivalry between fictional actress Isabel Graves and real-life 19th century stage sensation Fanny Kemble, and also deals with first-person accounts of American slavery and the roles and conditions of women and children in the 19th century.
Elissa Sussman '05
Elissa Sussman '05 continues her young adult series with the release of her new novel, Burn, January 12.
Erin Boyle '06
Erin Boyle '06 will have her first book, Simple Matters, published by Abrams Books on January 12, 2016. Boyle shares her philosophy of small-space living and conscious consumption—values she developed living with her husband in a 240-square foot apartment for three years.
Eva Kittay '67
This year, Eva Kittay '67 received an NEH Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship for a book she is writing on the challenges that cognitive disability poses to a number of important philosophical conceptions. She was also elected Vice President of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, automatically becoming President next year.
Jane Freeman '71
Jane Freeman '71 will be showing her work with Bix Lye and Dee Shapiro in a show at Art 101 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Art 101 was founded in 2004 by Ellen Rand '62. The exhibition, which features Freeman's small watercolors and gouaches, opens January 8 with a reception from 6-9 p.m. and runs through February 14. View more of Freeman's work at janefreemanart.com.
Jay Strong '78
Jay Strong '78 invites alumni to join the next SLC Playwrights Workshop on Sunday, January 10 at 6 p.m. If you'd like to be a part of this exciting opportunity to read, present, and develop new works by up and coming playwrights, please contact slcnymetro@yahoo.com to join their mailing list.
Manissa Maharawal '05
Manissa Maharawal '05 was interviewed for and featured extensively in a recent publication by Greg Jobin-Leeds. When We Fight, We Win! looks at the past decade of activism, from #BlackLivesMatter to Occupy Wall Street.
Pepper Fajans '07
Pepper Fajans '07 and Kay Ottinger '10 were recently featured in The New York Times for their work with the Brooklyn Studios for Dance, “a space devoted to the pedagogy and practice of dance that opened in May in the gymnasium of Cadman Congregational Church.”
Stephanie Brody '76
Stephanie Brody '76 is pleased to announce the release of her book Entering Night Country, published by Routledge as part of the "Psychoanalysis in a New Key" book series.
Ashley Beldon-Egbuna '98
Ashley Beldon-Egbuna '98 invites everyone to check out her Pilates mat videos on her website, Move to Thrive.
Elissaveta Iordanova MFA '00, MS '15
Elissaveta Iordanova MFA '00, MS '15, an Artistic Director and choreographer of GORANA DANCE -Bulgarian folk dance collective, announces the 10th Anniversary of the company making. "Rhythms & Patterns" is a performance, which will be presented on April 2, 2016 at 7 p.m. at JCC Manhattan and commemorate the celebration. All are welcome!
Leah Umansky MFA '04
Leah Umansky MFA '04 will have a new dystopian/sci-fi poetry chapbook out in Spring 2016 with Kattywompus Press called Straight Away the Emptied World.
Leslie Feinberg '07
Leslie Feinberg '07 opened Prohibition Bakery in New York City in 2012, and this fall published a cookbook of the same name. Prohibition Bakery includes more than 50 recipes for boozy mini cupcakes adapted for the home cook.
Maggie Kneip MFA '81
Maggie Kneip MFA '81 recently published her memoir Now Everyone Will Know: The Perfect Husband, His Shattering Secret, My Rediscovered Life, which was highlighted in the New York Post.
Mike Levine '07
A highly infectious collection of Dr. Seuss spoofs, Oh, the Flesh You Will Eat! By Dr. Vireuss (aka Mike Levine '07) has been released in hardback. There's the tale of a man who would not—could not!—let a doctor save his life, a sick boy who puts healthy people into quarantine, and a little flesh-eating virus who goes on a big adventure.
Virginia Pye MFA '87
Virginia Pye MFA '87 published her second novel, Dreams of the Red Phoenix, in October. The novel is set in the summer of 1937 in North China, taking her grandmother's life as inspiration.
Ellen Perecman ‘75
New Worlds Theatre Project will present the world premiere of David Pinski's comic tragedy, Professor Brenner, in a translation by Ellen Perecman ‘75, beginning Sunday, November 1 at 2pm at 145 Sixth Avenue. See more information here.
Georgia Lee Hussey '01
Georgia Lee Hussey '01 announced that she recently launched Modernist Financial. She wishes to educate and empower creative thinkers through financial planning and asset management. Learn more at www.modernistfinancial.com
Jay Strong '78
Jay Strong '78 announced that November 8 is the NEXT SLC Playwriting Workshop. Attention Playwrights and Screenwriters: Need a fresh perspective? Have all or part of your current work in progress read by professional actors, then supportively discussed in a relaxed atmosphere at the SLC Playwriting Workshop. SLCPW is a FREE informal writing development group, we meet second Sunday of every month at 6pm. Our next meeting is Sunday, November 8. If you'd like to participate, contact SLCNYMetro@yahoo.com
Judith Silverman '77
Judith Silverman '77 was recently featured on PBS television, along with her award-winning film, The Hidden Face of Suicide. Watch the interview with Judith on Youtube. For more information on The Hidden Face of Suicide and Judith's other works, please see: http://www.yehuditsilverman.com/
Margo Stever MFA '88
Margo Stever MFA '88 announced the publication of the book, Looking East: William Howard Taft and the 1905 U.S.Diplomatic Mission to Asia, that she co-authored with her son, James Taft Stever. The book was first published by Zhejiang University Press in 2012 and then through a collaboration of the University of Cincinnati and Zhejiang University Press in 2015. Looking East documents a historic trip led by William Howard Taft during his tenure as secretary of war during Theodore Roosevelt's administration.
Mike Soto MFA '09
Mike Soto MFA '09 announced his nomination for the 2015 Best of Net Anthology, for his poem, When the firing squad lined up, honeyoriginally published in Radar Poetry. See more information on Radar Poetry's web site.
Robert Danberg '96
Teaching Writing While Standing on One Foot, by Robert Danberg '96, was published by Sense Publishers in June 2015. A work of creative nonfiction bends genres such as the lyric essay, instructional manuals, midrash and self-help. It invites readers to meditate on their own lives as learners and teachers, alongside their reading to create a commentary of their own on the essential uncertainty of teaching what must be learned from experience.
Brooke Ciardelli '87
The Arthur Miller Society presents the premiere of a Syrian-Muslim interpretation of Arthur Miller's A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE created and directed by Brooke Ciardelli '87 on October 17 at the Arthur Miller Centennial. Learn more about Brooke athttp://brookeciardelli.com/
Whitney Biancur '13
Whitney Biancur '13, Associate Producer, announced The Elephant In Every Room I Enter, at La MaMa through October 31. Tickets online at http://lamama.org.
Audrey Heimler MS '71
Audrey Heimler MS '71 shared with us that in 1991, she wrote an article about an unidentified genetic syndrome, that has since been known as Heimler syndrome. Recently a geneticist identified the gene for Heimler syndrome. He was successful and this report was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics -- so now there is a Heimler syndrome and a gene for Heimler syndrome!
Kaui Hart Hemmings MFA '02
The new YA novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings MFA '02, Juniors, is released by Penguin Putnam today. It is available on Amazon and other booksellers.
Kate Scelsa '02
Kate Scelsa '02 will be promoting the publication of her novel Fans of the Impossible Life with a reading and conversation with fellow YA author Nicola Yoon at the Los Angeles Central Library (630 W. 5th St) on Sunday, September 20 at 3pm.
Lynn Gilbert '59
Photographer Lynn Gilbert '59 is blogging for Cornucopia with a series of posts that take us on a journey through Turkish homes. Read them here.
Prilla Smith Brackett '64
Prilla Smith Brackett '64 will be featured in two exhibits this fall: Prilla Smith Brackett: Fractured Vision II will be at Catamount Arts (111 Eastern Avenue, St. Johnsbury, Vermont 05819) September 16 through October 25 with an artist reception on Friday, October 2, 5-7 pm. Reveal: Grace Bentley-Scheck, Prilla Smith Brackett, Nina Wishnok opens at 13 Forest Gallery (167A Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02474) on September 19 with an opening reception and print fair 4-6 pm, running through November 13. The 3 artists and 2 others will discuss process October 17, 4-6pm.
A.M. Homes '85
A.M. Homes '85 talks with Salman Rushdie about his first adult novel in six years, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, on Wednesday, September 16 at 7:30 at Symphony Space. Tickets available online.
Kate Scelsa ‘02
Calling all YA fans: Join Kate Scelsa ‘02 and Mariko Tamaki as they chat about Scelsa's new book, Fans of the Impossible Life. The reading takes place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight St.) at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 15.
Nancy Donehower '79
Nancy Donehower '79 announced the publication of her book, College Admissions Without the Crazy (Senza Pazzia Press, 2014). The book draws on Nancy's background as a psychologist and thirty years of experience helping students navigate the college admissions process. It helps students understand why they get stuck as they search for, apply to, and ultimately choose a college to attend.
Brigitte Gouchoe MFA '11
Brigitte Gouchoe MFA '11 (aka Brigitte Quinn) has published Anchored, a novel based on her experience as a broadcast journalist for 1010 WINS and Fox News.
Dr. Laurie Nadel's '69
Read The Huffington Post article, "Pastrami and Wisdom: Dr. Wayne Dyer on 'The Afternoon of Life", by Dr. Laurie Nadel's '69.
Kay Chernush '66
Kay Chernush '66 announced that her organization, ArtWorks for Freedom launched its new web site, with a new display of their arts portfolio and a new emphasis on storytelling through their blog. ArtWorks for Freedom is committed to building widespread public awareness of human trafficking and modern slavery, and inspiring creative action toward its eradication.
Meredith Monk '64
Meredith Monk '64 will be among the recipients of the 2014 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal today for her "contributions as a composer, singer, and performer. Renowned for her groundbreaking vocal techniques, Ms. Monk has reimagined the instrument of voice with her innovative work." See whitehouse.gov for more information.
Joelle Wallach '67
Joelle Wallach '67 will be speaking 14 times this Fall as part of the New York Philharmonic Insights Pre-Concert Lectures series. November 4, 5, 6 and 7 - Mozart in Vienna, November 11, 12, 13, 14 and 17 - Rachmaninoff: Melancholy & Marchand's, December 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 - Handel's Miraculous Messiah. More about these and her other upcoming lectures athttp://joellewallach.com/current-season/lectures-broadcast/.
Kate Scelsa '02
Kate Scelsa '02 announced the publication of her debut novel, Fans of the Impossible Life, on September 9, 2015. It's been chosen as an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Fall Pick and just got a starred review in Publishers Weekly. The book is available for pre-order at Amazon.
Laurie Blauner '75
Laurie Blauner '75 is winner of the 2015 Leapfrog Fiction Contest and her novel called The Solace of Monsters will be published in Fall 2016. See leapfrogpress.com for more information.
Alexandra Davin '98
Alexandra Davin '98 will be offering a therapeutic drama group for support and personal growth through creative play, this September on Friday mornings. Using theater, movement, music, and art as tools, the class will build a supportive environment to explore uncertainy and to promote positive change. Sessions are 90 minutes long weekly and run for eight weeks. The location is in midtown Manhattan and the cost is $350. For more information, please email alexandra.devin@gmail.com.
Robert Ivey MFA '08
Robert Ivey MFA '08 announced that his chapbook, Letters to My Daughter, is being published by Blue Lyra Review on February 15, 2016. It will be featured in Vol. 1 of the Delphi Series of books. Blue Lyra Review will sell the book on kindle and in print and at Association of Writers and Writing Programs. The book will contain three chapbooks by three authors: Robert Ivey, Anna Leahy, and Karen George.
Cynthia Bardes '63
Pansy in the Palace by Cynthia Bardes '63 (the first in what is now a series of children's books featuring the adventurous brown poodle and a young girl named Avery) has been adapted into a musical called Poodleful! Presented by Riverside Theatre (3250 Riverside Park Dr, Vero Beach, Florida), the show is “Broadway ready” and debuts with performances September 18-20. Tickets are available at Riverside box office or online.
Amanda Foreman ‘91
The Ascent of Woman is a landmark four-part documentary series for BBC Two written and presented by Amanda Foreman ‘91 that charts the role of women in society over the course of 10,000 years. Amanda argues that the history of women isn't a straight line from Eve's apple to Margaret Sanger's Pill. Over the past ten thousand years it has veered wildly between extremes of freedom and oppression, inclusion and exclusion. The Ascent of Woman starts 2nd September on BBC Two at 9pm.
Judson Simmons MFA '04
Judson Simmons MFA '04 announced that his new chapbook, "Sparrow, Sparrow", will be published by Finishing Line Press this September. See the Finishing Lines Press web site for more information.
Carol Zoref '76, MFA '97
Carol Zoref '76, MFA '97 has won the 2015 AWP Award Series for the Novel for Barren Island (New Issues Press). Judge Paul Harding said: "Barren Island is a wonderful synthesis of character and history… the author immerses us in a world most readers would never otherwise have known existed.”
Jeffrey McDaniel '90
Jeffrey McDaniel '90 will be reading at The Ugly Mug Cafe in Orange on Wednesday, August 26th at 8 pm, $3 cover.
Leah Umansky MFA ‘04
Leah Umansky MFA ‘04 will make her Chicago debut with a poetry reading later this summer.
David Schiller '66
David Schiller '66 announced the revised version of his two-volume translation and study of Confucius' Analects entitled, CONFUCIUS: Discussions/Conversations or, the Analects [Lun-yu]. Volume I and Volume II are now available for sale on Amazon. Included with the translation are a short history of early China, a short biography of Confucius, extensive summaries of the important commentaries from early Chinese philosophers, chronologies of dynasties and personages, and a concordance of key Chinese characters (both with original characters and transliterations) used in the text.
Jesse Heffler MFA '13 and Vinny Mraz MFA '15
Win for Life: A Corny Play is playing now at The New York International Fringe Festival. Directed by faculty member Kevin Confoy (and written by his daughter Quincy, a long ago alum of the ECC), it features the talents of Sound Designer Jesse Heffler MFA '13, Assistant Director Vinny Mraz MFA '15, and Production Assistant Claribel Gross MFA '16.
Remaining performances will be Friday, 8/21 (9 pm), Sunday, 8/23 (12:15 pm), and Thursday, 8/27 (4:30 pm) at The Celebration of Whimsy Theater. http://www.winforlifenyc.com/
Nicole Grabow '95
Nicole Grabow '95 will a public lecture on Art Conservation at the Des Moines Art Center. Have you ever wondered what happens when artwork is damaged? How does the passage of time affect sculpture? What issues are considered when conserving priceless artworks? Did you know that artist David Smith sometimes did his own touch-up painting or that Henry Moore's bronze sculpture was once rolled down a hill? Nicole Grabow, who has worked to repair and conserve several Art Center sculptures in the last year will share images, research, and stories in this fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse of art conservation at the Des Moines Art Center.
Kate Scelsa '02
The upcoming Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa '02 was included in a discussion in the NY Daily News.
Stephanie R. Cooper '65, MFA '76
Stephanie R. Cooper '65, MFA '76 featured in the New York Times fighting a new kind of vertical development on the UWS.
Kaui Hart Hemmings MFA '02
Kaui Hart Hemmings MFA '02 announced that her first young adult novel, JUNIORS, will be published by Penguin Putnam September 2015. It is available for pre-order on Amazon.
Melissa Crowe MFA '99
After serving as a member of the editorial board for five years, Melissa Crowe MFA '99 has been named co-editor, with Rachel Contreni Flynn, of Beloit Poetry Journal.
Michael Leong MFA '03
Michael Leong MFA '03 received a 2016 Literature Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to translate, with Ignacio Infante, the avant-garde Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro.
Rhona Free '78
Rhona Free '78, became president of the University of Saint Joseph on July 1, 2015.
Robert Perry Ivey's '08
"To Home," a poem by Robert Perry Ivey's '08, which was first published in Lumina, has been selected for publication in Negative Capability Press's Stone, River, Sky: Anthology of Georgia Poems. The anthology features Sarah Lawrence's Thomas Lux as well as current Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey and former president Jimmy Carter. It is available on Amazon.
Carolyn Newberger '63
Carolyn Newberger '63 has been illustrating her husband Eli Newberger's performance reviews for The Berkshire Edge. She says, "It's been fun and challenging, drawing in real time, in the dark, during performances." Check out her latest illustrations and find more throughout the website.
Chelsea Catalanotto '12
Chelsea Catalanotto '12 was recently awarded an official selection for her film "Someone Else" which was selected out of 1000+ global entrants, to screen at the prestigious Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival, an indie event held annually in Hollywood.