Alumni and Friends News
By MA Student Shelby Brewster and Damian Bowerman
1970s
Laralu Smith (BA, 1971) appeared in A Bright Room Called Day with Columbia Stages at The Connelly Theatre/NYC in April, and in The Practice Child at the NYC Int’l Fringe Festival in August. She also directed a short one-act for a festival at one of the NY Public Libraries up in Harlem in June.
1980s
Chris Jones (PhD, 1989) was appointed Director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute. The NCI is an intensive program that offers training and professional development for theatre critics.
1990s
Roy Sexton (MA, 1997) published his first book, Reel Roy Reviews, Vol. 1: Keepin’ It Real, a collection of essays in tribute to cinema. He also became senior vice president of corporate affairs at Trot & Trot, P.C.
2000s
David Atkinson (BA, 2004) is the Technical Director at Michael Riotto Design in New York.
Marni Balint (MFA, 2014) received a volunteer fellowship with the Israel Teaching Fellows to teach English as a second language to elementary school students in Netanya, Israel. She also worked with the Actors’ Theatre of Columbus.
Charles Alexander Berlepsch (BA, 2010) created a new television comedy series, Terminal B.
Andrew Blasenak (PhD, 2012) accepted a tenure track position at Emory and Henry College.
Trenton Bean (MFA, 2014) designed the set for three shows for Actors’ Theatre of Columbus: Hamlet, The Barber of Seville, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Trent moved back to Utah to marry Simone Judd. They honeymooned in Europe, visiting Spain, France, Italy, Austria, and The Czech Republic.
Alex Boyles (MFA, 2012) joined the company of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as an understudy in Richard II and Family Album, a new musical.
Jason Bush (PhD, 2011) accepted a position as a Spanish Teacher at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, a brand new school arising from an organization that has created some of the highest performing independent schools in the United States. He will be teaching Spanish from 5th grade through high school.
Laura Butler (BA, 2003) appeared in the new Coen Brothers’ film Inside Llewyn Davis. Check out her recent work at http://laurabutlernyc.com.
Raymond Caldwell (MFA, 2009) joined Arena Stage’s Voices of Now program. He traveled to several cities in India with eight other artists and created devised works focusing on local communities. He is in his 5th season with Arena Stage and joined the fine arts faculty at Howard University.
ChuYoung Chon (PhD, 2014) taught as a part-time lecturer at the Korean National University of Arts. Currently she is working as a freelance translator and private tutor.
James Creighton (BA, 2000) appeared in two episodes of CBS’s Person of Interest. Check out his work at http://creightonjames.com.
Amani Davidson (BA, 2011) was accepted to Harvard Law School.
Nakia Deon (BA, 2012), Liz Light (BA, 2014), Charlesanne Rabensburg (MFA, 2012), Leela Singh (BA, 2014), Michelle Golden, and Emily Myrin performed in Nicola McCartney’s new play Rachel’s House. The production was performed at the Gladden Community House in Franklinton on May 15th, the Van Fleet Theatre on May 16th, and at Wild Goose Creative on May 17th. It was also performed for the inmates of the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, OH.
Lise “Kat” Evans (MFA, 2006) was nominated for an Audioverse Award for her portrayal of Dora in the audiodrama Our Fair City.
Phil Garrett (MFA, 2012) was awarded an Old School Arthouse Residency in Hrisey, Iceland, for June 2014. He was also a finalist for the 2013 Media Arts Fellowship, awarded through the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Columbus Film Council.
Margaret Glaser (BA, 2012) was accepted to the Filmmaker Institute Component of the 2014 Creative Minds in Cannes Film Program at the Cannes Film Festival.
Robin Gordon (MFA, 2000) received the Kendall Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Scholarship for demonstrating excellence in research that provides significant contribution to the academic discipline and to the classroom at Warner Pacific College.
Jason Hedden (MFA, 2006) performed his solo show Resurrecting van Gogh to benefit Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast Arts in Medicine.
Sarah Helgesen (BA, 2008) stage managed the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Other credits include Broadway: Big Fish. National Tours: Memphis (1st National), Phantom of the Opera (North American Tour), Off- Broadway: Lucky Guy.
Chris Hill (PhD, 2013) is Artistic Director of a new theatre he started called the Athens Repertory Theatre. He directed their summer production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It.
John Houston (BA, 2012) traveled to China with the College of Arts and Sciences to perform his solo theatrical piece When a Man Stands Alone: The Life of the Louisville Lip, about Muhammad Ali.
Jim Hutchison (MFA, 2003) became Customer Engagement and Education Manager at Chauvet Professional. He was awarded the 2013 VIP for Innovation Award from Chauvet Professional.
Caleb G. Inboden (BA, 2014) worked at the Ohio State Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute and got married in September.
Kayla Jackmon (BA, 2010) received an Acting Apprenticeship at the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville.
Julia Langholt (BA, 2014) attended the CAP21 six week summer workshop in New York. She also worked on a local indie film.
Anna Leeper (BA, 2014) accepted a position as the new Marketing Communications Coordinator for Dublin Arts Council.
Michael Mauldin (PhD, 2000) is now chair of the Theatre Department at Cleveland State. His department recently moved into a spectacular new facility at Playhouse Square, which is shared with Cleveland Play House, and CSU’s Departments of Dance and Art.
Eric Mayer (MFA, 2011) Eric was the Production Stage Manager for the World Premier Off-Broadway production of Strawberry and Chocolate, written by Senel Paz and translated to English by Roy Arias. The production is directed by Tony Award winning actor, Roger Robinson, and features a cast of three in the intimate 777 Theatre. He also joined Troika Entertainment’s Equity tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Production Assistant and Sister Act as Assistant Stage Manager.
Tanya McBride (MFA, 2006) appeared as a nurse on Season 1, Episode 12 of Chicago P.D. on NBC.
Bonnie Milligan (BA 2006) was cast in The National Tour of Tony Award winning Kinky Boots.
Paul Moon (BA, 2011) appeared in recurring roles on the television series All My Children, Tainted Dreams, and CAWL to Arms. Paul also turned his award-winning short film Through the Flowers into a feature film with the production company NYC Brand Productions. Through the Flowers won the Best Halloween Teaser award last year at the Lady Filmmaker’s Festival in Beverly Hills, California.
Ashton Montgomery (BA 2014) participated in an internship at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Allyson Morgan (BA, 2004) appeared in the episode “Jersey Breakdown” of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, which aired January 22. She had a recurring role on the CBS series Hostages. Her short film The Need for Speed Dating premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in April. The film made it to the finals for the Bombay Sapphire Imagination Series Competition.
Monica White Ndounou (PhD, 2007) authored Shaping the Future of African American Film: Color-Coded Economics and the Story Behind the Numbers (Rutgers University Press, 2014).
Barbie Papalios (BA, 2009) received her Master’s in Higher Education Student Affairs from Boston College and is now working at Brandeis University as the Department Coordinator in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Charlesanne Rabensburg (MFA, 2012) had a summer understudy gig with Griffin Theatre in Chicago.
Christopher Marlowe Roche (PhD, 2012) became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Rowan University, New Jersey.
Joel Searls (BA, 2007) became the Watch and Action Officer at Marine Central Command. He also was accepted into UCLA’s MBA program. His goal is to gain an understanding of the entertainment world, while taking electives (in production, scriptwriting, and acting courses) through the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. He continues to serve as a Marine while in the Reserves in Los Angeles.
Amany Seleem (PhD, 2013) published her first book, The Interface of Religious and Political Conflict in Egyptian Theatre.
Karin Maresh-Silva (PhD, 2002) contributed a chapter to the book International Women Stage Directors, edited by Anne Fliotsos and Wendy Vierow.
Cole Simon (BA, 2007) joined the House Theatre of Chicago’s spring 2014 production of Dorian as Dorian Gray. Glass City Films premiered their new work Chrysalis at the Logan Theater in Chicago in April with alumni Cole as Joshua, Tanya Thai McBride (MFA, 2006) as Abira, and Mark Soloff (MA, 2006) as Infected. Check it out at http://therestaredead.com/. Check out some of his work showcased on his websites: www.colesimonphotography.com - photography, www.colesimon.tumblr.com - theatre/film/circus blog, www.coleedwardsimon.com - theatre/film.
Leela Singh (BA, 2014) worked as a Multicultural Fellow in the Literary Department at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Ben Sostrom (BA, 2010) began carving miniatures of Columbus landmarks, available through his Etsy shop Every Day Props.
Adam M. West (MFA, 2004) and Rebecca Graves (MFA, 2001) worked together as costumers on the set of Teen Wolf. They are both now working as union costumers (Motion Picture Costumers Local 705) in Los Angeles.
Matthew Yde (PhD, 2011) published his first book, Bernard Shaw and Totalitarianism: Longing for Utopia.
Friends News
Amy Drake wrote the article “Jean-Francois Ducis: Re-Creating Shakespeare for an Eighteenth-Century Audience,” which was published in the Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference, Volume V.
Jonathan Marballi (BS, 2006) appeared as Greer in the episode Chapter 15 of House of Cards.
Sue Ott Rowlands was appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Northern Kentucky University.
Alan Woods had his short piece “Not the Delany Sisters” performed by Readers Theater Unlimited in Olympia, Washington.
ALUMNI & FRIENDS
We want to hear from you! Please send updates and photos by June 30 to:
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Encore
The Ohio State University
Department of Theatre
1089 Drake Performance & Event Center
1849 Cannon Drive
Columbus, OH 43210-1208
