Arts and Culture

College of Arts & Science

Richard Scott Larson (CAS ʼ07, GSAS ʼ15, ʼ17) is publishing his debut memoir, The Long Hallway, with the University of Wisconsin Press in April 2024. (Spring 2024)

Gil Varod (CAS ’03) was awarded a fellowship by the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts to develop his new musical, The Carousel of Inevitability and Certain Foreboding. A staged reading will be held in the fall of 2023. (Fall 2022)

Ana Elena Garuz (ARTS ’95), a Panamanian resident, has been included in the book Latin American Artists from 1785 to Now by Phaidon Editors. Garuz opened her first solo show in the US at the Proxyco Gallery in Manhattan on November 9, 2023, and the exhibition will run until January 2024. (Fall 2023)

James Yerrill (CAS ’93) and his production team at Song Supply Co. have released “The Old D&H Canal”—a song celebrating the historic Delaware & Hudson Canal. Constructed from 1825 to 1829, the Old D&H transported anthracite coal from mines in northeastern Pennsylvania to markets up and down the Hudson River. (Winter 2024)

Diana Rojas (WSUC ʼ92) published her debut fiction, Litany of Saints (Arte Publico Press), which describes the cultural dissonance experienced by Costa Rican immigrants, challenged by their perceptions of who they think they're supposed to be and who they really want to be. (Spring 2024)

Louis Altman (CAS ’89, LAW ’93) has just released his first album of original songs on all streaming platforms, Songs of citizen lou: Hide in Plain Sight, (vol. 1). It is an eclectic collection of tunes he has written and produced over the last couple of years. (Summer 2023)

Sharon Esther Lampert (WSC ’84, STEINHARDT ’88, GAL ’97) is celebrating the publication of her book, Unleash the Creator, The God Within: 10 Esoteric Laws of Genius and Creativity. Students use her poetry for their poetry school projects and teachers use her poetry for their lesson plans all over the world. (Spring 2023)

Cathy Lesser (WSC ’82) has written The Sparks Fly Upward, a Holocaust Opera which will be performed in Cleveland, Ohio and livestreamed June 9-12, 2022. (Spring 2022)

Frank Meola (WSUC ʼ81) is pleased with the paperback publication of his novel Clay and its recent choice as a notable book by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses in both the LGBTQ and the Hispanic categories. (Summer 2023)

Scott Hacker (WSC ’80) will fulfill a life long ambition as a classical guitar enthusiast on Wednesday, June 21st when he will play in a members concert at the 2023 Guitar Foundation of America Annual Meeting at the Manhattan School of Music. (Spring 2023)

Gary Steuer (WSC ’79) has been working at the intersection of arts, philanthropy and cultural policy for over 40 years and is now serving as President and CEO of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation in Denver, CO, advancing equitable arts, culture and nonprofit leadership. (Spring 2023)

Mark Kernes' (WSC ’71) first book, Preachers Vs. Porn: Exposing Christianity's War on Sexxx, is a finalist for Best Non-Fiction Book at the LA Press Club's Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for 2023. (Fall 2023)

Nancy Kelton (WSC ’69) won the Long Beach, California Playhouse's New Play Competition with her full-length play Finding Mr. Rightstein which will have a staged reading April 1, 2023 at the Long Beach Playhouse followed by a Q&A with the cast, director, professional drama critic, and Nancy. (Winter 2023)

Marcia H. Marcus (WSC ’47) will have her piece, "Self-Portrait as Athena," on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art this spring. Marcus was a vital figure on the art scene in both New York and Provincetown, MA, and one of several important women artists of the period. (Winter 2022)

Gallatin School of Individualized Study

Anna Tatelman's (GAL, LS ’15) full-length play Life on the Moon will receive its first professional production this season at the Detroit Repertory Theater. (Fall 2022)

Tara McCauley (GAL ’14) was named to House Beautiful's Next Wave Interior Designers Class of 2023. (Spring 2023)

Kassandra Khalil (GAL ’12) was appointed Co-Director of Arts In A Changing America (ArtChangeUS), a national BIPOC- and artist-led initiative developing arts-focused experiences and bringing unheard voices and fresh thinking to both the arts and cross-sector tables. (Spring 2023)

Avi Wisnia (GAL  ’05) is featured in the PBS documentary How Saba Kept Singing which follows the musician and his grandfather, singer and Holocaust survivor David Wisnia, on a concert tour of Poland where David recounts his story of survival. Wisnia also composed music for the film. (Summer 2023)

Justin Baer (GAL ’04) was featured on Shark Tank for his innovative apparel company, Collars & Co. Justin secured a deal for $1 Million from Mark Cuban and Peter Jones. (Fall 2022)

Jessica Kantor (GAL ’03) recently produced Be Water My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee, which opened on July 9, 2022 at Seattle's Wing Luke Museum in partnership with The Bruce Lee Foundation. (Summer 2022)

Leigh Anne Rehkopf (GAL ’02) was named General Manager of the Anheuser-Busch-owned Major League Pickleball team, the Atlanta Bouncers. (Summer 2023)

Bryonn Bain (GAL ’99) is a renowned artist and activist who will play a historic performance to a live audience at the world-famous Apollo Theater in Harlem. The performance will feature a simultaneous livestream made available to over a thousand incarcerated men, women, and youth in correctional facilities across the country and in prisons in Africa and Europe. (Fall 2022)

Ali Smith (GAL ’94) celebrates the release of her memoir, The Ballad of Speedball Baby (Blackstone, Jan 16, 2024), about being the only girl in a notorious 90s New York band, and surviving the slings and arrows society reserves for women who refuse to comply. (Winter 2024)

Dr. Suki John (GAL ’91) premiered her dance film Sh'ma: A Story of Survival at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City on October 19, 2023. The film tells the story of her mother during the Holocaust, using the languages of dance, music, and film. The film is part of a larger educational and artistic initiative, The Sh'ma Project: Move Against Hate. (Fall 2023)

Marya Triandafellos (GAL ’91) received an award from New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) to mint an NFT. (Winter 2023)

Duston Spear's (GAL ’90, ’98) essay, “Writing About Art,” is included in the anthology Higher Education and the Carceral State, published by Routledge Press, March 2024. (Winter 2024)

Jay Goldberg (GAL ’82) was selected as a 2023 Artist-in-Residence by The Factory on Willow in Manchester, NH. (Spring 2023)

Graduate School of Arts & Science

Miguel Antonio Chávez (GSAS ʼ18) has been chosen as the first Hispanic writer-in-residence for the Writer/Storyteller-in-Residence program in the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture at the University of Manitoba. His tenure will last from January to April 2024. (Winter 2024)

William Ramirez (GSAS ʼ16) is celebrating having his short poetry film, The Bellybutton of My Universe, selected for and screening at the 2nd International Poetry Film Festival at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA. (Spring 2023)

Peter Krause (GSAS ʼ15) completed his PhD at Fordham University, and in September of 2023, began as assistant director & career advisor in the Center for Professional Development at Dartmouth College where he is a specialist in careers related to the humanities. (Winter 2024)

Diana Keren Lee (GSAS ʼ14) was selected for a 2024 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. Diana graduated from NYU's MFA program in creative writing. (Summer 2024)

Alissa Mello (GSAS ʼ07), currently an EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the University of Exeter, is premiering a new Punch & Judy at the 49th Annual Covent Garden May Fayre & Puppet Festival in London, England on May 12 with Spike Bones and Promenade Promotions. (Spring 2024)

Ada Limon (GSAS ʼ01) was named by the Library of Congress as the nation's 24th poet laureate. (Summer 2022)

Danielle Legros Georges (GSAS ʼ98) edited the anthology Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters (Pangyrus, 2023) with Artress Bethany White (GSAS ʼ95), in which 20 award-winning poets reimagine the work of the iconic literary figure in original poems meant for a new generation. (Winter 2024)

Tsipi Ben-Haim (GSAS ʼ81) is celebrating her 35th anniversary as founding director of CITYarts, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth through public art. (Spring 2024)

Institute of Fine Arts

Cristina Sol A. Aldrich (IFA ’21) has been appointed as the 2023–2024 Center for Spain in America Curatorial Fellow at The Meadows Museum alongside two other curators. (Fall 2023)

Jessica Hong (IFA ’14) was awarded Toledo's 20 Under 40, which celebrates leaders in the Toledo community. She was recognized for work as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Toledo Museum of Art. (Fall 2022)

School of Law

Alice Scovell (LAW ’84) has written The Rewards of Being Frank, a sequel to Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest, an off-Broadway production, at the ART/NY Theatre, which runs from March 3-26. (Winter 2023)

School of Professional Studies

Jessica Chew (SPS ʼ22) created the Helen and Joe Chew Foundation, a non-profit in honor of the Chew family's 150 year legacy in California, one of the first original Chinese families in a rural town called Red Bluff, CA. The foundation saved a California Chinatown from being forgotten in history. (Summer 2022)

Margarita Zulueta (SPS ʼ15) was featured at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, the leading Swiss museum of design, as part of their Design for All? Diversity as the Norm exhibition on view until October 2024. Her concept speculates how we might incorporate the size accessibility in our built environment. (Summer 2024)

Christopher Skura (SPS ʼ05) had a solo show of recent artwork at Art Center Sarasota called "Social Studies" which ran from January 25 to March 2, 2024. (Spring 2024)

Silver School of Social Work

Eric Alimoh (SSSW ’18) has established Ampoh Foundation, a nonprofit organization helping people with disabilities in Ghana and the communities in New Jersey. (Fall 2022)

Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Riley Burke (STEINHARDT ʼ23) is releasing her debut album Reconfiguration on June 1, with an album release show at The Cutting Room. Reconfiguration, mixed by Erin Tonkon (TSOA ʼ15), explores emotions mapping onto queer bodies, bound and untethered states, and female power. (Spring 2024)

Max Heitmann (STEINHARDT ’23) joined the Broadway National tour of Moulin Rouge in the role of Baby Doll on August 18. (Fall 2023)

Darius N. Farhoumand (STEINHARDT ’21, ’22) graduated with a master of music from Yale School of Music. (Summer 2024)

Renate Tsuyako Rohlfing (STEINHARDT ’21) was recently featured in the Wallace Foundation’s podcast series, where she discusses the Connected Arts Learning framework and how to utilize it in arts program development. (Winter 2024)

Diana Montalvo (STEINHARDT ’21) is honored to have introduced the First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s opening of In America: An Anthology of Fashion. (Winter 2023)

Alex Wakim (STEINHARDT ’20), is putting on an off-broadway production of Dust and Ions, an exclusive concert experience featuring award-winning music, poetry, and dance combined to a night under the stars, at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater on May 6th and 7th. (Spring 2023)

Kehui Pan (STEINHARDT ’19) founded a global creative artist agency in NYC and Shanghai. (Fall 2023)

Heather Seltzer (STEINHARDT ’18) was a 2023 Big Break Screenwriting Contest Finalist and recently launched a YouTube show, Dance Party Time, a comedic variety show for kids that stars neurodivergent young adults and reflects their unique experience of the world and sense of humor. (Summer 2024)

Monica Albornoz (STEINHARDT ’18) recently licensed her De Stijl Tumbling Tower for exclusive production and distribution by the MoMA Design Store. This is a new product in homage to the modern art movement that emerged in the Netherlands in the early 1900s. (Winter 2024)

Aina Hunter (STEINHARDT ’14) is pleased to report that editors at Kirkus have chosen to print their review of her debut novel, Charlotte and the Chickenman: the Inevitable Nigrescence of Charlotte-Noa Tibbit (Whiskeytit ‘22) in the upcoming December issue. (Fall 2023)

Nell Shaw Cohen (STEINHARDT ’14, ’15) is celebrating the release of her album Sauntering Songs, featuring her vocal and choral music commissioned and recorded by three-time GRAMMY®-nominee Skylark Vocal Ensemble. (Fall 2023)

Agustin Muriago (STEINHARDT ’13) has recently released his debut solo recording, SUR. The album features piano works from Muriago's native Argentina and was produced with support from the Peabody Institute, where he serves as an assistant professor of Keyboard Skills. As a Yamaha artist, Muriago recorded the CD on Yamaha's new CFX at their piano salon in New York City. SUR was released by Albany Records and is available for streaming on all major platforms. (Winter 2024)

Leah Sayad (STEINHARDT ’13) is the choral coordinator for the Assyrian Arts Institute's Assyrian Women and is thrilled to share that the choir released an Aramaic album in December 2023 titled The Joy of Christmas. (Winter 2024)

Candace Harrison-Disler (STEINHARDT ’13) is newly appointed as Director, Communications - Prostate Cancer/Radioligand Therapy at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. (Spring 2023)

Samuel Marques (STEINHARDT ’13) has recorded a piece by composer Barbara Jazwinski as the clarinet soloist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow, Scotland. (Spring 2023)

Andrew Jannetti (STEINHARDT ’12) was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Dance Education Association at the Annual Conference of the National Dance Education Organization in October 2022 in Atlanta, GA for his extensive career as a dancer, choreographer, producer, and educator. (Winter 2022)

Kelly Kuvo Richardson (STEINHARDT ’05) has two articles recently published in The Lumpen Times: “30 Years of Radical Media and Building Communities of the Future” (Hat & Beard Press) and “Not Just Happy Together: The Turtles From AM Radio to Zappa” (Genius Music Books) in conjunction with a current exhibition of her new art work at Small World Books in Venice Beach, CA. (Winter 2024)

Kathleen Holland (STEINHARDT ’04) has been awarded the 2023 Herbert D. Gregg's Merit Award from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) for her article Dying to Make Theatre published in Theatre Design and Technology (TD&T), Summer 2022. (Winter 2023)

Marj Kleinman (STEINHARDT ’03) is a 2023 Brooklyn Arts Council grantee of both the Brooklyn Arts Fund and Local Arts Support grants for her documentary storytelling series "Stoop Stories". These funds will be used to support an intergenerational storytelling video pilot in central Brooklyn. (Spring 2023)

Vijay S. Jodha (STEINHARDT ’96) trained three young people in photography who have disabilities, one of whom won a bronze medal at the recent International Abilympics in France. Vijay and his team were felicitated by the Indian President for India's best ever Abilympics performance. (Summer 2023)

Karen Cherie Cogane (STEINHARDT ’93) was inducted into the "Marquis Who's Who" in March 2022 for her career achievements in the performing arts, literature, and education. (Spring 2022)

Eric Dever (STEINHARDT ’88) is pleased to announce his third exhibition of paintings, Eric Dever: To Look at Things in Bloom, September 15th thru October 15th 2022 at Berry Campbell Gallery in Chelsea, featuring 19 recent paintings created in the artist’s Water Mill, New York, studio. (Fall 2022)

Dawn Eden Goldstein (STEINHARDT ’89) won a 2023 Christopher Award for her book Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.'s Spiritual Sponsor, a biography of the Jesuit priest who was a spiritual advisor to the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. (Spring 2023)

Madeleine Hsu Forte (STEINHARDT ’84) recently produced two e-CDs: Hungarian Program Live and Historic Live Performance 1980. (Spring 2022)

Stern School of Business

Joseph Legasto (STERN ʼ15) is the Deputy CFO of DMCI Holdings, Inc., a publicly-listed investment holding company in the Philippines. Joseph looks to nurture relationships with investment bankers and financial advisors in pursuing investment opportunities in the heavy industry and engineering space. (Fall 2022)

Kara Howard (STERN ʼ08) is launching SI HER to onboard more women and non-binary individuals into web3. (Fall 2022)

Rena Anakwe (STERN ʼ06, TSOA ʼ13) just presented her two-part, public art project, Lifting the Ground Up [iter.02] at the Lincoln Center this fall and will be presented again in the spring of 2024. The project features a native planting ceremony, with local NYC residents, that pays tribute to the neighborhood and people of San Juan Hill. (Fall 2023)

Michael Justin Lee (STERN ’92) has achieved global distribution for his third album Romeo and Juliet: The Rock Opera (concept album) on all the major streaming sites. The album is a modernization of the Shakespearean classic, interpreted with Rock music. (Fall 2022)

Jane Dubin (STERN ’88) is being honored by Houses on the Moon Theater Company at their annual Amplify gala on October 3 at Green Room 42 in Manhattan, NYC. (Summer 2022)

Chuck Mansfield (STERN ’76) has published his eighth and ninth books in 2023: FATHERS TRUE: Stories of Commitment, Courage, Honor, Love and Strength and MARINES: A Brotherhood Unrivaled. (Fall 2023)

Yolene Legrand (STERN ’75) will be one of the three women artists in the upcoming exhibition at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba in celebration of Women History Month. A wide range of her landscape paintings and monotypes will be on view featuring Haiti, France and various parts of the US. (Spring 2023)

Tisch School of the Arts

Jake Schick (TSOA ’21) is performing in the New York Comedy Festival on Sunday November 13th at Littlefield in Brooklyn. (Fall 2022)

Giorgia Valenti (TSOA ’20) is producing her biggest play to date with her theater company of international women. Until Dark by Federica Borlenghi is running February 15 through March 3, 2024 at Out of the Box Theatrics in New York City. (Winter 2024)

Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş (TSOA ’20), Hamilton Guillén (TSOA ’20), and Camilla Dely (TSOA ’21) were officially selected to premiere their dance performance at this year's World Stage Design in Calgary, Alberta, Canada — the most prestigious theater design exhibition in the world. (Spring 2022)

Karen Chilton (TSOA ’19) opened the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis' 2023 season as librettist of Scott Joplin's seminal work TREEMONISHA, in collaboration with composer Damien Sneed, conducted by George Manahan. (Fall 2022)

Samantha Vita (TSOA ’18) and Jett Fink (TSOA ’20) are participating in this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival with their show Terminal—a play about 0 planes, 1 person, and a 6-hour delay. (Summer 2023)

Kamran Saliani (TSOA ’16) has been named as a 2023 Westchester Wunderkind for his work as Founder, Artistic Director & Actor of the Irvington Shakespeare Company. (Spring 2023)

Carl Hendrick Louis (TSOA ’13) is starring in the world premiere Off-Broadway production of, THE FEARS, produced by acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh. (Spring 2023)

Poet Karen Eilbacher (TSOA ’10), GLADD Media award winner, and actor from the national tour of Fun Home, introduces the show t)re(equilt in United Solo International Theatre Festival's inaugural Spring Season at Theatre Row. (Spring 2023)

Ari Gold's (TSOA ’08) first book, the Scribner Award-winning Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems, is being released in March 2024 with readings at City Lights, Skylight, and other bookstores in California. (Winter 2024)

Joyce Miller (TSOA ’08) won Best Satire for autobiographical absurd satire The Handmaid's Dianetics Episode One at United Solo Festival. She has a forthcoming play anthology, Stage It, Stream It, and upcoming poetry collection, Pyramid Scheme. (Spring 2023)

Vershawn Sanders-Ward (TSOA ’07), founding artistic director and CEO of Red Clay Dance Company, was named a recipient of the Walder Foundation's inaugural Platform Awards, which support accomplished Chicagoland mid-career music, theater, dance, and interdisciplinary performance artists who are enriching the city’s creative and civic landscape through a commitment to honing their craft and meaningful community engagement. (Summer 2024)

Branden Jacob-Jenkins (TSOA ’07) was recently quoted as "one of this country's most original and illuminating writers" (The New York Times) for writing Signature Theatre's The Comeuppance, directed by Eric Ting. (Summer 2023)

Samantha Eve (TSOA ʼ07) and Michelle Hernandez (TSOA ʼ07) have come together for a production of Miss You Like Hell, produced by Out of the Box Theatre Company in Santa Barbara, California. Samantha Eve (Director) is the Artistic Director for Out of the Box Theatre Company, a local community theatre company dedicated to bringing contemporary musicals to the Santa Barbara stage. Michelle Hernandez (Beatriz) coaches private voice lessons in Los Angeles, performs in various musicals, and travels abroad and domestically with her cover band Retro Soul. (Summer 2023)

Tom Patterson (TSOA ’05) recently appeared on an episode of The Equalizer and was a guest star for an installment of Blink of an Eye, an improv comedy-based podcast. He is going into rehearsals for Partnership with Mint Theater Company which will perform at Theatre Row from September 30 through November 12, 2023. (Summer 2023)

Sari Nordman (TSOA ’02), an environmental artist, is a recipient of the 2024 New York State Council on the Arts grant fiscally sponsored by Korea Art Forum. (Winter 2024)

Clint Lutes (TSOA ’02) is a Paris-based dance artist working with inclusive dance and dance and health, including work with people living with Parkinson's, refugees, professional dancers, healthcare workers and researchers. He is associated artist at DaPoPa and has been working regularly with the Theatre de la Ville de Paris. (Winter 2022)

Meron Langsner's (TSOA ’00) play, BURNING UP THE DICTIONARY, has been published in an acting edition by Next Stage Press. (Winter 2023)

Hank Willis Thomas (TSOA ’98) unveiled his long-awaited Boston monument to the married civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King on Friday, January 13, 2023. Thomas’s new sculpture, titled The Embrace, features two pairs of disembodied arms that appear to hold each other. (Winter 2023)

Alex Karvounis (TSOA ’94) was recognized for his creative work at the Community College Public Relations Organization at their annual awards gala this year in Lake Tahoe, CA. Earlier in the year he won Gold at the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations annual rewards held in Denver, CO, and is currently up for a national award through the American Advertising Federation. (Spring 2022)

Elizabeth Wong (TSOA ‘91) was recently commissioned by Boston Conservatory@Berklee to write a modern adaptation of Lysistrata. (Winter 2022)

Lloyd Khaner (TSOA ’90) has been selected for the TRU Voices New Play Reading Series for his play, No One Cries For The Blacksmith. (Summer 2021)

Debra Cardona (TSOA ’80) has joined the cast of Michael John LaChiusa's new musical The Gardens of Anuncia at Lincoln Center Theater, directed by Graciela Daniele. (Fall 2023)

Norma Wellington (TSOA ’55) was a TV producer, writer, and performer in New York. Due to extenuating circumstances, she has changed careers and became a fine jewelry designer and goldsmith. Several of her designs were featured in Jewelers of America's Holiday Gift Guide 2023. (Fall 2023)