Check out the inside scoop on faculty, students, staff, and more. See the Alumni Spotlight page for news on alumni.

Mason Gross School of the Arts
Area Update January 3, 2006

Faculty Activities and Accomplishments

Visual Arts

Thomas Nozkowski has work in group exhibition entitled New World Orders: Vision and Re-Vision at the domogallery, Summit NJ. The exhibition runs through January 21.

Martha Rosler was awarded the Oskar Kokoschka 2006 prize. The prize was founded by the Austrian government in 1981 and is the most important prize for the fine arts in Austria. Professor Rosler has work in an exhibition entitled Persistent Vestiges:  Drawing from the American Vietnam War at the Drawing Center in SoHo, NY.

Dance

Jeff Friedman was the choreographic and oral history consultant for HIStory, HERstory, OURstory, and oral history-based production choreographed by Pat Debenham at Brigham University in Provo, Utah in November.  He was also director for The Mable Douglass Show: SPECIAL EDITION, Save Douglass College? An oral history-based performance work produced by the students of Douglass Honor Seminar Oral History and Performance performed on December 7 at Corwin Lodge, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.   Professor Friedman had a paper accepted for the International Oral History Association biennial conference in Sydney, Australia.

Randy James choreographed a piece With Alligators in the Bayou for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst student dance company which they performed at the faculty/guest artist concert series in December.  Professor James taught master classes for the dance department at the Somerset County Vo-Tech High School in Somerset, New Jersey on November 15-18, 2005.   His company Randy James Dance Works performed for the Dance Department Seeing Dance class on November 17, 2005.

Randy James, John Evans, Christian Von Howard and special guest choreographer Trisha Brown presented the department’s annual Fall DancePlus concert and was performed by BFA dance majors in honor of Margery Turner on December 2-4 in the New Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey.   The concert was a tremendous success with the choreography.

Julia Ritter and her company Julia Ritter Performance Group presented a day-long residency at The East Amwell School in New Jersey for over 400 children in December.

Music

Rufus Hallmark presented a pre-concert lecture on Franz Schubert's song cycle Winterreise at Lincoln Center, on December 11, preceding a performance of the songs at Alice Tully Hall by tenor Christoph Pregardien. He was assisted by Christine Pato, a collaborative pianist in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at Rutgers.

Patrick Gardner conducted Haydn's Creation with faculty soloist Frederick Urrey, Mark Schnaible, and Julianne Baird with the Rutgers University Symphony Orchestra and the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City in November.  Professor Gardner also conducted the Fauré Requiem and works by Duruflé and Messiaen at the Church of the Heavenly Rest with the Riverside Choral Society and Orchestra in November.

Theater Arts

Kevin Kittle directed a reading of Full Disclosure by Dean Imperial for the Drove Theater Company.  The first reading of this play took place on December 3 at Ripley Greer Studios on 8th Ave in New York City.

Eileen Blumenthal wrote an article for American Theater magazine entitled The Animated Worlds of Basil Twist. The article was featured in the December issue of the magazine.

Shane Rettig composed the music for Dawn’s Early Light, which had a showing at the Queens International Film Festival on November 18.

R. Michael Miller designed the set for George Street Playhouse’s production of Inspecting Carol. The play opened on November 29 and ran through December 31, in New Brunswick, NJ.

F. Mitchell Dana finished lighting two scenes for The Good Shepard a new motion picture starring Matt Damon and Robert DeNiro.

Lee Blessing had a reading of Lonesome Hollow done by Floodtide Productions on November 25. This is the third year in a row the London Company has done a reading of one of Lee’s plays.

Student Activities and Accomplishments

Visual Arts

Neil  Callander and Jeff Thompson (MFAs) have work in an exhibition entitled First Look 2006-emerging artist series, spotlight on MFA candidates.  The exhibition is at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, New Jersey and will be there until February 3.

Dance

  Thirty-one BFA dance majors performed in the department’s Fall ’05 DancePlus concert in December at the New Theater in New Brunswick.

Academic Programs

Theater Arts

The third show of the Fall 2005 season was Audrey by MFA III playwright Sarah Kate O’Haver. The play was directed by returning guest director Larry Kornfeld and featured MFA III actor Therese Cator MFA II actors included Teresa Stephenson, Rico Rosetti, and Christopher Halladay, BFA IV actors included were Burt Brooks and Benjamin Garrett along with guest canine Sir Winston. The set was designed by MFA II Kina Park, lights by MFA II Lara Cornish, costumes by MFA II Samantha Fromm and sound by Shane Rettig. MFA II Louise Rawson was the stage manager. The play opened on December 2 and ran through December 10 in Levin Theater.

The third Midnight Special, a series of 10-minute readings of brand new plays, continued on Friday, November 18 at 11:15 in Art History 100. The evening featured The Roads That Lead Here by Lee Blessing with MFA II actors Jonathan Karp, Josh Pfefferkorn and Brett Williams, Hillary by MFA II Dano Madden with MFA III actor Lauren Singerman, and MFA II actor Jonathan Karp, Routine by Sarah Kate O’Haver with MFA II Elizabeth Wettig and MFA I actors Helen Farmer and Kristen Hanson, The Last Noel by MFA I Lia Romeo with MFA I Jim Shalkoski, and Indian Names MFA I Demetra Karman with MFA I actor Helen Farmer.

The second Jameson production of the season included 2 one acts, which ran December 6-11. Welcome to Andromeda by Ron Whyte and directed by MFA I Reggie Phoenix. The play included MFA II actor Tai Bosmond and BFA IV Patrick Carroll. The second play was The Siren Song of Stephen Jay Gould by Benjamin Bettenbender and directed by MFA I director Jeff Stanley. The play included BFA IV Natalie Knepp and Douglas Calhoun. The sets were designed by BFA III Ali Stine, Costume by BFA III Kristen Dempsey and lights by MFA I Victoria Miller.

The final Midnight Special of the fall semester took place on Friday, December 9 at 11:15pm. The evening featured readings of Chesapeake written and read by Lee Blessing, The First Year The First Year by Demetra Karman read by Rachel Evans, Alana Dauter, Kristen Hansen, Two Uncles by Dano Madden read by Lauren Singerman, Grown Up Christmas List by Sarah Kate O’Haver read by Stacie Lents and The One Eye Whore by Lia Romeo with guest readers.

Public/Community Service; Outreach Efforts

Dance

The dance department hosted approximately 300 high school students on November 30 at their annual College Dance Day.  Students were taught modern dance in master classes, and the program ended with a dance performance by BFA dance majors.

Conferences, Seminars, Other Events

Visual Arts

Several of Thomas Nozkowski’s paintings are illustrated in a book Abstract painting-Concepts and techniques by Vicky Perry, publishers, Watson & Guptill, pp. 31, 83, 111. Thomas Nozkowski  participated in a panel discussion entitled The Making of Singular Expressions at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln NE. on November 19. As a result of the group exhibition Singular Expressions:  Nine Artists, there have been several published catalog essays mentioning Professor Nozkowski and his work in the exhibition.

A performance by Raphael Ortiz in 1974 was mentioned in an article in the December 11th issue of the Sunday New York Times, State of the Art essay section. His 1985 work, What is it?, was mentioned in an article in the December issue of Artforum.  The article was written by Martin Herbert, a writer and critic based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.  

Martha Rosler’s work Bringing the War Home; House Beautiful (1967-72) and an illustration of her work entitled Red Stripe Kitchen appeared in an article written by Holland Cotter.  The article entitled “Two Sides’ on the War in Vietnam” was in the Friday, December 9, 2005 issue of The New York Times

Music Performances

January 27 – Rutgers Opera Company, Street Scene, Pamela Gilmore, director, NMC, 8 pm

January 29 – Rutgers Opera Company, Street Scene, Pamela Gilmore, director, NMC, 2 pm

Other

Visual Arts (Staff Activities)

Damian Catera, our video tech, performed an evening of deCompositional duets at the Hogar Gallery, Williamsburg, NY in December.

Anne McKeown, paper maker had an exhibition at 55 Mercer Gallery, New York, NY in December.  The exhibition is entitled Disruptive Pattern.

Visual Arts (Alumni Relations)

Tiffany Calvert ’05 (MFA) was part of an exhibition at the Lisa Boyle Gallery, Miami, FL.  The exhibition is entitled Aqua Art Miami, December 1-4, 2005.

Jasmine Justice 03, Wes Sherman 03 and Aaron Williams ’02 (MFAs) have work in a group exhibition entitled New World Orders:  Vision and Re-Vision at domogallery, Summit NJ.  The exhibition dates are December 9, 2005-January 21, 2006.

Andrea Parkins ’93 (MFA) will be performing an evening of deCompositional duets at the Hogaar Gallery, Williamsburg, NY on Saturday, December 17, 2005.

Dance (Alumni Relations)

Laurence Edwards - BFA ’05, Lori Betz Katz - BFA ’03, Kristen Lamb - BFA ’04, Marybeth Eibeler - BFA ’04, performed in Randy James’ piece Flying Lobsters at the Fall ’05 DancePlus on December 2, 3, and 4, 2005 at the New Theater in New Brunswick.

Andria Angelico - BFA ’00, and Christine Bodwitch - BFA ’92 were guests of the Department of Dance in Dance Assembly on December 5, 2005.

Theater Arts (Alumni Relations)

Roger Bart (MFA) reprises his role as Carmen Ghia for the film version of The Producers. The movie musical by Mel Brooks opened nationwide on December 25. Mr. Bart also continues his work as George Williams on the hit show Desperate Housewives.

Bill Bowers (MFA) has a 3 week limited engagement of his solo show Under a Montana Moon appearing at The Performance Factory – The Garment District Theater, December 3 through December 18. Before the show’s stop in New York City, it was on tour through the western United States. While in New York, Mr. Bowers is also performing his solo play It Goes Without Saying December 10 through 12 at the Rattlestick Theater.

Tom Pelphrey (BFA) a reading of Full Disclosure by Dean Imperial for the Drove Theater Company.  The first reading of this play took place on December 3 at Ripley Greer Studios on 8th Ave in New York City.

Derek Sonderfan (BFA) has a new one-act play entitled The Naughty List appearing as part of several nights of holiday themed plays. The plays were on December 15, 16, 17 and 22, 23 at the 13th Street Repertory Theater in NYC.

Raymond McAnnally (MFA) just finished filming a national commercial for ESPN’s X-Games. Mr. McAnnally also finished filming a public service announcement for the Department of Defense.

Gina Alvarado (MFA) appeared in FX’s Rescue Me and at the Seven Angel’s Theater’s production of Wild Mushrooms. The play opened on November 10 and ran through December 4 in Waterbury, CN.

Joel Bassin (MFA) has recently accepted an assistant professor position at Hunter College in New York.

Reggie Burch (BFA) and Brian Fenkart (BFA) both appeared in The Siberia Project for the Drove Theater Company on November 14. The Siberia Project is Drove Theater Company’s variety show supporting dance, music and spoken word.

Hollie Hunt (MFA) appears in a national running commercial for Coca-Cola.

Adam Schwartz (BFA) is the front of house/sound designer for the national tour of 3 Redneck Tenors.

Jeremy Davidson (MFA) stars opposite John Goodman and Brenda Fricker in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams at the Geffen Theater in Westwood California. The play opened on November 5 and ran through December 18. Davidson previously played Brick in this play at Lincoln Center in NYC in April 2005.

Stephen Balantzian (MFA) appears in a regional commercial for Intel.

Tim Dekay (MFA) and his wife Elisa Taylor (MFA) appeared in The Rubicon Theatre Company’s special production of A Christmas Pudding on December 13. Mr. Dekay also appeared in Exit Wounds for the same company on December 6 through 11 as part of their plays in progress series.

Joel Bassin (MFA) has accepted an associate professorship at Hunter College in New York City and has been the managing director of The Wooster Group since 2001.