PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK & BEYOND
Robert J. Wagner'07 and Brigitte CHoura'07 join Jamie McKittrick'05 performing in the Philadelphia-based Enchantment Theatre Company for the national tour of The Velveteen Rabbit. This new musical version of the tale uses puppets, masked actors and magic and is set to an original score by Grammy and Tony Award-winning composer Don Sebesky and award-winning lyricist Gloria Nissenson. (Check out Jamie's feature on South Philly's review.com.)
Chris Sheer'07 is a member of the 2007 Acting Apprentice Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He is currently developing a solo performance called Ur-boy and later in the season will appear in A Christmas Carol, as well as the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Chris spent last summer as an acting intern at the Peterborough Players in New Hampshire.
George Psomas '05 wins Broadway Idol contest and earns ensemble role in cast of the Lincoln Center Theatre's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC in the NYC revival. BROADWAY IDOL is part of the NYMF @ Nite party series, where ten aspiring stars battle for the coveted crown and a solo concert produced by Ars Nova. George's Muhlenberg summer theatre credits include: Godspell (Judas), Once Upon A Time in New Jersey (Rocco), Made in America: Irving Berlin (Juan), and Joseph…Dreamcoat (Levi). George is a proud member of Actor's Equity and is represented by agent Nancy Carson.
Madeline Hoak '05 is a member of the DANIEL GWIRTZMAN DANCE COMPANY in New York City. A not-for-profit organization, the company is a performing and teaching dance company that works in a variety of styles and idioms. She is also a dance/theatre educator for Young Dancers in Repertory, a Brooklyn-based arts organization which provides professional training and fosters growth and communication through dance. Madie has worked as an actor/educator with Children's Stage Adventures and for KidSpot Theater Co. in NH teaching, directing, and writing plays for students. Daniel will be coming to MUHLENBERG SUMMER MUSIC THEATRE this summer to choreograph Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate.
Frankie Grande'05 continues performing in the New York cast of MAMMA MIA! as Ensemble, Eddie u/s in NYC. He received his equity card on Dora the Explorer Live!, playing Boots, the monkey all over the US and Canada, including at Radio City Music Hall and on the Today Show. He won the title of "Mr. Broadway"
Justis Bolding'00 is playing Sarah Roberts on the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live. The character of Sarah is the daughter of Cord Roberts and Tina Clayton Lord, well-known characters from OLTL history. Most recently, she completed a demo recording for a new musical, Swimming Upstream, where she performed the role of Sally Jo. Justis has also appeared in New York at the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, American Theatre of Actors, Wings, Riant, and Inverse Theatres. A member of the Harbor Theatre Company, she has appeared on the American TV series 7th Heaven (2005) and on-camera in commercials, industrials, and independent films as well as MTV's Undressed (2002). . When not acting, Justis spends her time working with dogs and is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. SAG AFTRA.
Lanie MacEwan'94 continues her professional acting career following completion of an M.F.A. from Rutgers Unviersity. She made her Denver Center debut in Lisa Loomer's Living Out; her New York credits include Rexie Gordon (photo) opposite Tony Award-winner John Rubinstein in the Off-Broadway production of Elmer Rice's Counsellor-At Law with the Peccadillo Theater Company (2005 Lucille Lortel Award Winner); Bridget (u/s) in Give Me Your Answer Do! with the Roundabout Theater; Amy in Victor Kahn's Fit to Kill at the Clurman Theatre, and Portia in The Merchant of Venice with the Revolving Shakespeare Company.
The American College Dance Festival
ACDFA is the only national organization dedicated to fostering artistic excellence in dance choreography and performance in higher education. Meeting in 10 regional conferences across the nation for classes, workshops, and performances, the centerpiece of each Conference is a series of Adjudicated Concerts: each participating college or university may send one or two dance works for critique by nationally recognized dance professionals. The adjudication is considered ‘blind’ because the adjudicators are only told the name of the dance and the composer, if music is used. Adjudicators do not know what institution is presenting the dance, or even if the choreographer is a student or a professional. Forty to fifty works are seen at each conference, and of those works approximately a dozen are chosen, based on excellence in choreography and performance, for the Gala Concert on the Saturday evening of the conference. On alternate years, ACDFA holds a National Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When the National Festival is held, a select few works deemed the best from each Regional Conference are chosen for presentation at the National Festival.
Muhlenberg College Dancers at ACDFA – regional and national success!!!
- (2008) evidence of things (un)said, choreographed by Assistant Professor Charles Anderson was selected for the Mid-Atlantic Gala Concert and was one of only 30 works from across the nation selected for presentation at the National Festival to be held in New York City in June.
- (2007) Chris Shepard '07 and Kate Thompson '07 earned top honors at the
American College Dance Festival Northeast Conference. Only 10 of the 41 adjudicated pieces were deemed excellent by the adjudicators and performed again as part of the conference's gala concert. Shepard and Thompson were two of the 10. Muhlenberg was the only school to have both submitted works selected for the gala and both pieces were choreographed by students. (non-national year)
- (2006) Tango X Three, Choreographed by Erica Cenci, Kara Senich, and Adam Reich, all from the class of ’06, was selected for the gala concert of the Northeast Regional Conference.
- (2005) (re)Singing from the Underspace, choreography by faculty member Charles O. Anderson was selected to perform in the Gala Concert for the Mid-Atlantic region in a non-national year.
- (2004) Business or Pleasure, choreographed by student, Mary McLaughlin’04, was selected for the NE Gala concert and was one of only 37 works from across the nation selected for presentation at the National Festival at the Kennedy Center.
- (2003) Rubbish Overrunneth, choreographed by student, Julie Danton’03 was one of only eight works selected for the NE Gala Concert. (non-national year)
- (2002) Black Raspberry, a ballet choreographed by faculty and guest artist Jennifer Kayle and Megan Bonneau-McCool was presented at the NE Gala and subsequently selected for the National Festival at the Kennedy Center.
In 2002 Muhlenberg College hosted the Northeast Festival. More than 475 dancers and choreographers from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio gathered in Allentown for four days of classes, workshops and performances. Thirty colleges were represented and eighty Muhlenberg students stayed on campus to lend a hand and be a part of this festival.
PROFESSIONAL CAREERS
Kristy Greener'05 has been appointed the full-time drama teacher/productions director at The Langley Private School in Mclean, VA. She will be teaching Middle School drama and public speaking and directing three productions for Langley, which is completing a new fine arts building in the Spring. Kristy has been working with four educational theatre companies in the Washington D.C./Baltimore area and performing with the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Katie Most'07 joined the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre as an Equity Stage Manager. Megan Prima'07, math and theatre major, is currently designing the costumes for a play called "The Why" for the Simpatico Theatre Company in Philadelphia. Annie Simon’05 is attending NYU's graduate program in Costume Design. Becca Lindsey'05 has worked with Milwaukee Repertory Theatre for two seasons and will serve as the Tour Manager and ASM of The Bachelors in 2008. She is currently ASM for the American Players Theater on productions of Misalliance, Timon of Athens and Much Ado About Nothing. Kate Foretek'06 continues her job as Assistant Audio Coordinator at Lehigh University for the Zoellner Arts Center and has recently designed fo the Virginia Stage Company. Jen Corman-Greene'03 is the assistant master electrician for the Zoellner Center for the Arts in Bethlehem, PA.
Cole Bonenberger'93 stage managed the U.S. premiere of Neil Labute's Wrecks, a solo performance piece featuring Ed Harris, at The Public Theater in New York City. Other recent credits include production stage manager for John Guare's The Landscape of the Body and Horton Foote's A Trip to Bountiful at the Signature Theatre Company, Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson for The Acting Company at the Lucille Lortel Theater, and The Taming of the Shrew at the Long Wharf Theater.
Amy Cohen'93 continues her arts administration career at the Wang Theatre of Boston - now the Citi Performing Arts Center, one of the nation's foremost nonprofit performing arts institutions. Amy has been at the Wang Theatre for six years and is currently the Assistant Treasurer of the Box Office. As guardian of the Wang Theatre and the Shubert Theatre, Citi Performing Arts Center honors all aspects of performing arts through its numerous community outreach efforts, collaborations and partnerships with the Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, and Commonwealth Shakespeare.
Liz Jurist '02 earned an MA in Performing Arts Administration from New York University and is currently the senior sales analyst for Disney Theatrical Productions, where she forecasts sales and revenue for the Broadway productions of The Lion King, Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid, as well as national and international companies of The Lion King, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, and High School Musical. Benji Shaw '07 has recently begun his position as an assistant to the President of Disney Theatricals. Ruben Ortiz'00 completed an M.F.A. in Acting at Rutgers University and is now living in California. He was featured as the matador in the televised "Taco Bell" commercial that premiered on the Superbowl 2008.
Anthony Azizi'91 returned to Primetime television in ABC's "Comander in Chief" as Vince Taylor, aide to the nation's first female president, played by Gina Davis. He has more recently been seen on Desperate Housewives and NCIS. Azizi has played several other recurring roles on television, with credits as Mohammed Hassain on Threat Matrix, Rafique and Mamud Rasheed Faheen on episodes of 24 and Petrosh on The Shield among others. He has guest starred on Malcolm & Eddie,Breaking News, The West Wing, Gilmore Girls, J.A.G., The Agency, That's Life, Strong Medicine and War Stories.
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