Alumni and Friends

1960s

Peter Lawrence BA '66  received a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre in 2013 and recently published a book entitled, Production Stage Management for Broadway: From Ideas to Opening Night & Beyond.

1970s

Randy Skinner BS '74 recently choreographed Dames at Sea on Broadway, which he received nominations for: The Astaire Award, Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle, and a Tony Award. He also recently returned to Ohio State and led a dance masterclass for theatre and dance students.

1980s

Megan Freeman MFA '89 published a new website featuring her new book of poetry, Lessons on Sleeping Alone.

Chris Jones MA '86, PhD '89 won the 2015 George Jean Nathan Award, the nation's richest and most prestigious award for drama criticism. Past winners include John Lahr, Frank Rich, Elliot Norton, Jack Kroll, Robert Brustein, Alisa Solomon, Hilton Als and Walter Kerr. The award, founded in 1958, honors the best piece of dramatic criticism of the year, both scholarly and journalistic. It is given jointly each year by the heads of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton and Yale Universities. Jones share the $10,000 prize with the Princeton professor Brian Eugenio Herrera. 

Rob Roznowski MFA '89 is now head of acting and directing at Michigan State and a widely published and award-winning playwright.

1990s

Emily Bach BA '96 is currently studying for a degree in Nutrition & Dietetics at Columbus State. She is also collaborating with the for/word company, playing the title role in its next original work, Patience Worth, which premieres in Columbus in early 2017 before heading to St. Louis and New York. This fall, Emily is marrying her long-time friend and onscreen husband in several film projects, Bryan Michael Block.

Molly Elston BA '96 narrated Disney's "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day" at the Manassas Symphony Orchestra annual family concert, "Child's Play," December 2015 in the Hylton Performing Arts Center. 

L.J. Houdyshell MFA '90 was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-Hour Or Less).

Fereshteh Rostampour MFA '95 presented "Function Follows Form!" at the International Conference "Theatre Between Tradition and Contemporaneity" at Retzhof Castle in Styria, Austria December 17-21, 2015. "Function Follows Form!" is a talk and video on the idea and process of making Matrix II, a visual and conceptual movement piece, created by a true and seamless collaboration between the designer and the choreographer.

Roy Sexton MA '97 On September 27, 2015 Roy married long-time partner John Mola in a ceremony officiated by Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor and Pastor Ian Reed Twiss and attended by a small gathering of family and friends. The couple honored their guests with donations to the Huron Valley Humane Society, Equality Michigan, 826Michigan, and the Jim Toy Center. Dinner at Weber's in Ann Arbor immediately followed the ceremony.

2000s

Dwayne Blackaller MFA '09 starred in Boise Contemporary Theater's production of Constellations by Nick Payne.

Curtis Brown BA '06 received the Joseph F. Scharrer Phantom of the Theatre Award. This award is given annually to a person or persons who provide critical tasks to make a production company work, but are truly an un-sung hero. 

Laura Gale BA '02 former director of the Coro Fellows Program, is now supervising the new director and running Coro's new external training and consulting practice.

Kiana Harris MFA '09 accepted the position of publicity manager at Goodman Theatre in Chicago.

Jason Hedden MFA '06 is dhair of the Division of Visual and Performing Arts at Gulf Coast State College.

Sarah Helgesen BA '08 started working as an assistant stage manager for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder for the 1st national tour, preceded by a brief stint as a sub ASM at the Broadway production.

John Houston BA '07 has been able to produce a few different projects Over the last year and a half, with his production company, Footprint Productions; some that he's written and some that he was fortunate to join.

Eric Mayer BA '03, MFA '11 is stage manager for the national tour of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Tanya Thai McBride MFA '06 and husband Thanh Thai introduced James Tue (pr. TWAY) Thai, born on March 30th at 4:16 PM at 7lbs 4 oz., 19.5 inches long. They like to call him JT.

Bonnie Milligan BA '02 was cast as Daphne in Vineyard Theatre's New Musical GIGANTIC, which played at The Acorn Theatre @ Theatre Row on Off-Broadway.

Ashlee Mundee BA '09 recently completed the short film, “Dime Crimes #34," which is currently Film Festival touring.

Anthony Peeples BA '01 played Claudio in Shakespeare Tavern's Much Ado About Nothing in Atlanta.

Robin Post MFA '06 is an assistant professor for the Department of Theatre of University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Cole Simon BA '07 played Postumus/Cloten (Cymbeline) and Lucentio (Taming of the Shrew) at the Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre in Benzie County, Michigan.

2010s

Megan Corbin BA '10 is now an English and theatre teacher at Big Walnut High School.

Jane Elliott MFA '15 is a lecturer at Borough of Manhattan Community College teaching 3 sections of Introduction to Theatre.

Phil Garrett MFA '12 received the 2015 Media Arts Fellowship Awards, which recognize work by Franklin County artists exhibiting outstanding talent and ability in film, video and time-based digital images.

Margaret Glaser BA '12 accepted a full-time position at Zya--a music, technology, and video game company in Los Angeles. Zya holds multiple patents for audio manipulations, gamification, and playback innovations as well as licensing agreements with several major companies. Glaser will be assisting the CEO, Grammy-winning producer and former Chairman/CEO of Virgin Records, Mat Serletic.

Kyle Hatfield Minor '15 served as the arts administration intern with Actors Theatre of Louisville during the 2015-2016 season. He is now the membership assistant at the Ohio State Wexner Center for the Arts.

Chris Hill PhD '13 wrote chapter one of The Supernatural Revamped: From Timeworn Legends to Twenty-First-Century Chic, edited by by Barbara Brodman and James E. Doan, available now on Amazon.

Riley Hutchinson BA '15 is the production manager at Short North Stage. He also serves as assistant director and stage manager for different shows in their season.

Melonie MFA '15 and Sifiso MFA '15 Mazibuko welcomed their daughter Nolitha Serena-Grace Mazibuko into the world March 9, 2016.

Sifiso Mazibuko MFA '15 has been cast as Marvin Gaye in the London West End production of Motown: The Musical.

Divya Murthy MFA '12 is now assistant designer/lead drafter at Hotopp Associates. She is also now a lecturer at University of California, Riverside.

Brent Ries MFA '15 was been hired at Chemical Abstracts Service as the new sales training coordinator. He was also been hired as the assistant theatre director at Hilliard Bradley High School and will be working with Kelsey Durham.

Ibsen Santos MFA '12 performed at UNICEF in front of an audience comprised of the most influential people in the world, United Nations ambassadors. "Apple of My Eye" was a part of a panel for "end violence against women with disabilities", as well as the international celebration for Down Syndrome day. He also appeared in a work-in-progress presentation of A House of Skin and Bone with the Nettles Artists Collective in New York.

Marty Savolskis MFA '12 is the property coordinator at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.

Lowri Sion BA '12 is now addictions project worker at Living Room Cardiff/Stafell Fyw Caerdydd.

Colton Weiss BA '14 was accepted to the American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre Master of Liberal Arts in Voice Pedagogy Program.