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October 2024
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WELCOME, CLASS OF 2027!
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This August, David Geffen School of Drama welcomed 67 MFA students, 3 DFA students, 3 certificate students, 12 technical interns, and 3 Special Research Fellows to the DGSD community. This extraordinary group
hails from 14 countries and 21 states, and collectively speaks 20 languages. “I’m excited to be surrounded by students so passionate about theater making and the impact theater can have on the world around us,” said Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism student, Zoë Nagel ’27. Classmate Thando Mangcu ’27 agreed: “I’m looking forward to taking part in the wider community of DGSD and all the School has to offer.”
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L-R: Whitney Roy ’27, Raekwon Fuller ’27, Davon Williams ’27, Kim Vilbrun-Francois ’27
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Connecting DGSD with New Haven Arts Scene
New faculty member Hope Chávez will teach the Theater Management course, Toward Anti-Racist Theater Practice. In her role as Executive Director of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, Chávez combines two of her passions: civic engagement and education. “When I think about the critical socio-political issues that we all face, and the fortitude and grace our leaders must cultivate to navigate them, I cannot imagine a more important time to be teaching anti-racist practices to the next generation of theater managers,” says Chávez. As an artistic producer, she has worked at Long Wharf Theatre, as well as at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and A.R.T./New York (Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York).
Photo: Hope Chávez (Faculty)
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Yale Summer Cabaret Celebrates 50 Years
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L-R: Colleen Rooney ’25, Adam Taylor Foster ’25, Kavya Shetty ’26, Iyanna Huffington Whitney ’26, Minjae Kim ’25, Shannon Dodson ’26, Rea J. Brown ’25
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The team behind Yale Summer Cabaret Season 50 “Greenhouse” wanted to recognize the history of the organization and its legacy. Helmed by Adam Taylor Foster ’25, Colleen Rooney ’25, Kavya Shetty ’26,
Minjae Kim ’25, and Iyanna Huffington Whitney ’26, the theater commemorated its 50th anniversary with a community celebration featuring a retrospective installation with photos from the Cabaret’s history. Barry Marshall ’75, who co-founded Summer Cabaret, said, “Summer Cabaret became a petri dish for learning, discovery, adventures in performance, and unbridled creativity. I couldn’t be more thrilled that our little experimental theater endures today.”
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Left: Yale Summer Cabaret's first season, featured in the 40th Anniversary booklet.
Right: Re-creation of original photo with Yale Summer Cabaret 50 leadership team.
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Reunion & Renewal for Dwight/Edgewood Project
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Mentors & alumni from the Dwight/Edgewood Project at this summer's events.
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This summer, dozens of former participants and mentors from the last 30 years of the Dwight/Edgewood Project (D/EP) met in New Haven for a conference and reunion. D/EP was founded in 1995 as a community engagement
program centered on teaching middle school students about playwriting. One of the original members of the team, Ricardo C. Morris ’97, joined the celebration and shared stories about the first year. The gathering also honored long-time project coordinator, Emalie A. Mayo (Former Staff), who passed away this spring.
Maya Louise Shed ’25, serving as D/EP’s executive director said: “Being together and hearing the impact that D/EP had on so many young people over the past three decades is inspiring. We are currently planning for the future, and I am looking forward to deepening our partnerships and investment in this vital arts education experience.”
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Theater District Pays Tribute to Lloyd Richards
Manhattan’s 47th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue has been renamed “Lloyd Richards Way.” This honor celebrates Lloyd Richards’ (Dean & Artistic Director, 1979-1991) remarkable contributions to the field. He made history in 1959 as the first Black director on Broadway with Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Among many other achievements, he won the 1987 Tony Award for Best Director of August Wilson’s Fences, two years after the play's premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre. Known for championing underrepresented voices and bringing Black plays into the mainstream, Richards was instrumental in expanding the American theatrical canon.
Photo: Signage at the corner of 47th Street and Broadway in NYC
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Five Alumni Create Six Characters at Lincoln Center Theater
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L-R: Dustin Wills ’14, CG, Seret Scott, Julian Robertson, Claudia Logan, Will Cobbs ’12, Seven F.B. Duncombe, Phillip Howze ’15
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In July, Phillip Howze’s ’15 play Six Characters premiered at Lincoln Center Theater. To stage the world of his immersive satire, Howze collaborated with alumni Dustin Wills ’14
(Director/Sets), Montana Levi Blanco ’15 (Costumes), and Victoria Whooper ’15 (Stage Manager). Actor Will Cobbs ’12 was featured in the production. A metatheatrical nod to Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, Howze’s play analyzes the systems designed to marginalize Black communities. The play, says the author, “speaks to some quite awful truths of the world around us, yes, [but it] does so with brazen splendor and a smile.”
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Ni Mi Madre Goes Global
Arturo Luíz Soria's ’19 solo play Ni Mi Madre premiered at Yale Cabaret in 2017. It was a story he had been working on for years about an “over-the-top Brazilian woman with too much botox, scrambling to raise her queer son.” After a successful subsequent production at New York’s Rattlestick Theater in 2021, where it won an Obie Award, the show had its international debut at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, directed by fellow alum Danilo Gambini ’20 in a sold-out run. Associate Deans Chantal Rodriguez and Florie Seery attended. “Witnessing Arturo and Danilo’s collaboration bloom at the School, thrive professionally, and now have an international audience is thrilling. I loved seeing how the work
resonated in Edinburgh and how the creative team is connected through their experiences at DGSD,” said Rodriguez. Next up for this duo is a new play, Sin Padre, premiering this month at Rattlestick.
Photo, L-R: Arturo Luíz Soria ’19, Chantal Rodriguez (Faculty), Florie Seery (Faculty), Danilo Gambini ’20
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Crossing the Pond with Playwright Lindsey Ferrentino ’16
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Lindsey Ferrentino ’16 (at right in pink) and the company of The Queen of Versailles.
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Lindsey Ferrentino ’16 has been busy. In May, she wrapped The Artist – a play that explores the transition from silent movies to talkies. Her play, The Fear of 13, which premiered
this month at Donmar Warehouse, is based on the true story of a man wrongly convicted of murder, and stars Adrien Brody. Next is The Queen of Versailles, aiming for a Broadway run in the 2025-2026 season. With book by Ferrentino and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, the production is based on a documentary about a billionaire couple’s attempt to construct a mega-mansion inspired by Versailles. Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham will lead the cast. Reflecting on her busy year, Ferrentino said, “I’m most grateful for the deep conversations I’ve had with the actors in each of my projects. At Yale, I had the opportunity to write for specific actors and tailor the language to what sat in their voices. I’ve carried this approach throughout all my shows this season.”
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A Special Tony and Best Costumes – Bravo!
Most award nominees are recognized for their work within the prior season, but when Wendall K. Harrington (Faculty) received a 2024 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, it was a celebration of her distinguished career spanning five decades. Since 1978, Harrington’s projection designs have been showcased in more than 40 Broadway productions including Sunday in the Park with George, Annie, Driving Miss Daisy, and The Who’s Tommy. Harrington, DGSD’s Head of Projection Design, told Playbill, “It’s been a very long conversation about the Tonys for me because projection designers have not been recognized as a separate design category…I believe this a crucial advancement.”
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Linda Cho ’98 accepting the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical for The Great Gatsby.
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Wendall K. Harrington, DGSD Head of Projection Design
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Dede Ayite ’11 accepting the award for Best Costume Design of a Play for Jaja's African Hair Braiding.
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In total, DGSD alumni and faculty received 16 nominations and took home two awards at the ceremony. Costume designers led the way with Linda Cho ’98 winning Best Costume Design of a Musical for The
Great Gatsby and Dede Ayite ’11 winning Best Costume Design of a Play for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Ayite was also nominated in the same category for Appropriate and for her work on the musical, Hell’s Kitchen. Other nominees included Juliana Canfield ’17 (Stereophonic), Jiyoun Chang ’08 (Stereophonic), Justin Ellington (Faculty) (Jaja’s African Hair Braiding), Riccardo Hernández ’92 (Faculty) (Lempicka), Amy Herzog ’07 (Mary Jane, An Enemy of the People), Takeshi Kata ’01 (Water for Elephants), Derek McLane ’84 (Purlie Victorious), Tom Pecinka ’15 (Stereophonic), Liev Schreiber ’92 (Doubt: A Parable), and Steven Skybell ’88 (Cabaret). Congratulations to all!
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The Play’s the Thing Arrives!
James Magruder ’88, DFA ’92 has written a history of Yale Rep. The Play’s the Thing: Fifty Years of Yale Repertory Theatre (1966-2016) is a serious and entertaining chronicle featuring dozens of interviews with theater artists and alumni who have graced the stage and worked behind-the-scenes at Yale Rep. The publication includes iconic production photos edited by Maggie Elliott (Staff) and a foreword by Rocco Landesman ’79. Order your copy here and use code MAGRUDER for 30% off!
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CALLING FOR ANNUAL MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES!
We are now accepting Class Notes for the 2024-2025 David Geffen School of Drama Annual Magazine. Please submit your note online by October 28.
Questions about class notes should be directed to Roman Sanchez at dgsd.alumni@yale.edu or (203) 432-8425.
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Join the DGSD Alumni Facebook Group
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In addition to the public page, we have a private Facebook group for DGSD alums, where you can share your news and connect with the DGSD community.
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Sign up for Cross Campus
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YAA is offering a new way to connect to fellow alumni and the entire Yale community: Cross Campus, Yale’s online networking and mentoring program.
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Photo credits: Class of 2027 Orientation photo by Scott Bartelson (Staff); Hope Chávez (Faculty) photo courtesy of Hope Chávez; Yale Cabaret photos courtesy of Sophia Carey ’25, Allyse Corbin (Staff), Adam Taylor Foster
’25, and Kavya Shetty ’26; Dwight/Edgewood photo courtesy of Maya Louise Shed ’25; Lloyd Richards Way photo courtesy of Eugene O'Neill Theater Center; Six Characters photo by Chasi Annexy; Ni Mi Madre photo courtesy of Chantal Rodriguez (Faculty); The Queen of Versailles photo by Ken Yotsukura, courtesy of Lindsey Ferrentino ’16; Wendall K. Harrington (Faculty) photo by Vi Dang, courtesy of Playbill; Linda Cho ’98 & Dede Ayite ’11 video still courtesy of The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards®; The Play's the Thing cover photo courtesy of Yale University Press.
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ON & OFF YORK STREET is a publication of the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs
Deborah S. Berman, Editor
Catherine Sheehy ’92, DFA ’99, Senior Associate Editor
Scott Bartelson, Managing Editor
Copy Editors: Mark Blankenship ’05, Leonard Sorcher
Contributors: Cayenne Douglass, Kay Nilest ’27, Roman Sanchez ’25, Kavya Shetty ’26
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