January & February 2018 College News

Several current and former students have just finished shooting a short film, entitled Along the Creek Road . Current students include Russell Reed (Director/DP), Samantha Wells (BTS Shooter), Haley Frizzell (PA), Calvin Smith (PA), Jourdan Bazely (PA), and Evegeny Agarkov (Music Score). Former students include Learda Shkurti (Executive Producer/2nd AD), Ryan Sultemeier (1st AC), Serge Garcia (1st AD/Co-Producer/Writer), Cory McMinn (Sound), Chelsea Urban (Art Director), Caroline Bobbit (Script Supervisor), Reed O’Dell (Key Grip), Rebecca Mendoza (BTS Videographer), Alex Pena (Grip), and Kathy Nelson (PA). Imagine That , a play by Audrey Webb (MFA – Playwriting) has been chosen as a semi-finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Center’s 2018 National Playwrights Conference and is a candidate for their summer conference. The play will be produced by the Department of Theatre and Dance at Texas State in the spring of 2019. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Matilda Bernbei (BFA – Musical Theatre has released a new single, entitled “…or forever hold your peace.” The song is inspired by the recent marches across the nation. Stephen Brower (BFA – Musical Theatre) has joined the company of Anastasia , making his Broadway debut. BFA Acting alum, Regan Goins has been cast in the premiere of a new play, The Secretary , by Kyle John Schmidt, to be directed by Jenny Lavery at Theatre en Bloc in Austin. Heidi Mendez Harrison (MA - Directing) teaches improv, speech, acting, and playwriting at Pioneer High School of the Performing Arts in Lehi, Utah. She gives much of her free time to young adults in two detention centers: Slate Canyon in Provo and Salt Lake Valley Detention, where she encourages them to write autobiographical stories, raps, poems, and songs. She has recently turned these writings into a book, Behind These Walls . Heidi is CEO and Founder of ACT RISK NO MORE, a nonprofit youth theatre company where teens-at-risk are given a supportive environment and encouraged to use self-expression as a means of healing. The company creates original plays from writings generated by teens and perform them for those in rehab, detention centers, O and A programs, work camps, and group homes. Her hope is to turn Behind These Walls into a Broadway musical and to make ACT RISK NO MORE a national institution. Chas Harvey (BFA – Acting) had a role in Frankenstein A.I. , which was a part of this year’s New Frontiers Work at the Sundance Film Festival. The immersive piece reimagines Shelley’s novel, Examining the cultural impact of technology . Rocky Hopson (MFA – Directing) has opened The Hat Tree Theatricals, a new theatre company in Amsterdam. In December, he directed a production of Buried Child for InPlayers, a company consisting largely of American and British actors. Terissa Kelton (BFA – Acting) is Vice President of Development and Production for Rehab Entertainment, an independent film television, and digital production company. Rehab Entertainment will partner with the Jim Henson Company to develop two classic book properties for television: Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy and Audrey Penn’s The Kissing Hand . Since graduating in May of 2017, Jessica McMichael (MFA - Directing) has worked as an Assistant Director on The Wizard of Oz (directed by MFA alum Jimmy Moore ) for Zilker Hillside. She also directed Christmas Belles at City Theatre, with BFA alum Cassidy Timms in the cast. She continues her work with Buzz Productions – an inclusive children’s theatre company that will produce Annie Jr. in May at the Boyd Vance theatre. BFA Acting major Johnique Mitchel is starring in Marie and Rosetta at The Detroit Public Theatre. Three of Jordan Morille’s plays ( Jars , Thirty Deep , and Love , Norman ) are being published by Off the Wall Plays. His novella Juneborn will be published in Running Wild Novella Anthology, Vol. 2 , published by Running Wild Press. Melanie Notinger (BFA – Acting) had a lead role in I Enjoy Being a Girl , a new movie by Justine Williams. 16 | January & February | College News