Oliver Mayer was just 16 years old when he attempted his first novel about Niccolò Machiavelli – the famed Florentine philosopher, politician and writer of the Renaissance era. And although the 125 pages of his unfinished book helped him get into Cornell University, Mayer eventually scrapped the idea.  “I probably revisited Machiavelli once a decade in my 20s and 30s and I had even written an act of a play before, but I never thought it was quite right,” he said. Thirty years, and several writing attempts later, the associate professor of dramatic writing finally knew he had it right this time around with his play Fortune Is A Woman.   As Mayer’s first dramatic piece written for USC, Fortune Is A Woman premiered this year as part of the M.F.A. Acting Spring Repertory from February 4  to March 4. The production was directed by Director  of M.F.A. Acting Andrew J. Robinson, as well as  dramaturged by Assistant Professor of Critical Studies Angus Fletcher.  “The play is really about the women in Machiavelli’s life – wife, daughter, mistress and goddess (Fortuna) – and how they had everything to do with the change of his fortune,” Mayer said. He also explained that the play unravels Machiavelli as a man – who, at his lowest point at this time, was desperate to find a way to return into his beloved city of Florence after his exile.  “This play shows a side of Machiavelli that no one has really seen before. It’s not about Machiavelli the wicked apologist for tyrants, or about  CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

“ This play shows a side of Machiavelli that no one has really seen before.”

— Angus Fletcher

Saved by the Theatre:  

Machiavelli comes to life on stage

M.F.A. Acting students perform in Fortune Is A Woman, one of three plays in their 2012 Spring Acting Repertory.

SPRING 2012

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The School of Theatre would like to announce 

the newest members of our Board of Councilors:

A Message from the Dean

Over the last decade, universities have sought to encourage interdisciplinary research among their faculty and students. And every year, in this hyper-connected global reality we now live in, it becomes progressively more clear that to find effective solutions to the complex challenges that face our society and world, we must discover new ways to reach beyond the silos of the individual disciplines and work together. What is new to the academic world is very old to anyone who makes theatre. Theatre joins together various artistic disciplines – literary, performance, visual – in a distinctive collaboration to create and share stories for a specific community. It is possibly the oldest form of interdisciplinary activity. This issue’s lead story is a wonderful example of how creating theatre crosses over disciplinary lines. Last spring, Associate Professor and playwright Oliver Mayer offered to write a play for this year’s graduating class of M.F.A. actors. He asked Assistant Professor Angus Fletcher, who is presently writing a book about Machiavelli’s plays, to support him as a dramaturge and provide him with historical details. In the fall, Oliver presented the play to Andrew J. Robinson, the head of the M.F.A. acting program, to direct the graduating actors in its world premiere. The collaboration – which started with the play-wright and the scholar – now extends to include director, actors, designers and eventually audience. In looking over this issue of Callboard, I am struck again with how very lucky we are to be based in Los Angeles – a city that has, without a doubt, the richest concentration of dramatic artists in the world. The USC School of Theatre has been successful in identifying and attracting extraordi-narily talented artists and scholars to join us on full-time, as well as visiting, bases. And these artists share not only their talent, knowledge and skill with our students; they also bring with them the spirit of collaboration and the joy of creation. This spring newsletter introduces you to a few of our faculty and their work at USC and beyond. These instructors are great examples of the ambi-tion, energy and interdisciplinary collaborations that our entire faculty brings to the School.

Dean Madeline Puzo

Mark Kogan Mark Kogan is a private investor who retired as a Partner of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 2004, following 19 years with the firm. At Goldman Sachs, he was involved in developing the  strategic plan for building out and managing various businesses – including the US CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities)  lending and secondary trading business, a large loan and small loan origination business, a European Structured & Principal Finance business, and a European CMBS business.  In aggregate, Mark was involved in the origination of more than $50 billion of loans during his time at Goldman. Currently, Mark oversees his family’s multi-generational  commercial real estate businesses in Michigan.  In 2008, Mark decided to pursue a career in acting, which was an avocation of his in college. Since that time, he has booked roles in The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Three Stooges (post-production), Grey’s Anatomy and several small plays.  Mark and his wife, Betsy, are committed to philanthropic giving, and have largely focused their giving on academic institutions – including  Cranbrook School, The American School in London, Harvard-Westlake School, UNC Chapel Hill and Harvard Business School. Mark is a 1979 graduate of UNC Chapel Hill (with degrees in Economics and Political Science) and a 1985 graduate of Harvard-Business School, where he was ranked in the top 5  percent of his class, earning his degree with High Distinction and Baker Scholar honors. 

Thomas SchumacherThomas Schumacher has worked with The Walt Disney Company since 1988, setting new standards of excellence in film, television and theatre. Currently, he serves as President of Disney Theatrical Group, where he oversees the development, creation and execution of all Disney live entertainment around the globe – including Broadway, touring and licensed productions, as well as Disney on Ice and Disney Live! shows produced in partner-ship with Feld Entertainment. His Broadway, West End, touring and international produc-tion credits include Beauty and the Beast, King David, The Lion King, Der Glockner von Notre 

Dame, Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, On the Record, High School Musical, TARZAN®, Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid, along with several new projects currently in development.   Schumacher’s career at Disney began in Walt Disney Feature Animation, producing the animated classic The Rescuers Down Under. He was ultimately named President and over-saw some 21 animated features, including The Lion King, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Tarzan and Lilo & Stitch, as well as working closely with Pixar on its first five  films. Prior to joining Disney, he was associate director of the 1987 Los Angeles Festival of Arts, presenting the American premiere of Cirque du Soleil and the English-language premiere of Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata. Previously, he spent five years on staff at the Mark Taper Forum, served as a line producer on the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival and served as assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Ballet.   Schumacher is the author of the book How Does the Show Go On? An Introduction to the Theater, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Tony® Administration Committee and the Advisory Committee of the American Theatre Wing. He is mentor for the TDF Open Doors program and serves as an adjunct  professor at Columbia University.

James D. SternAn award-winning theatrical producer, film-maker and CEO of Endgame Entertainment, James D. Stern has produced more than  50 shows and films. His credits on Broadway include A Little Night Music, the Tony-winning musicals The Producers and Hairspray, the Tony-nominated Legally Blonde, the international hit Stomp and the upcoming Leap of Faith. In film, he directed and produced the critically acclaimed docu-mentary Every Little Step, as well as Michael Jordan to the Max and It’s The Rage. As a producer, his nearly 30 films include the Oscar-nominated An Education, Proof, The Brothers Bloom, Hotel Rwanda, I’m Not There, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and the soon-to-be released Looper.

School of Theatre Board of Councilors

David AnderleLisa BarkettTim CurryLauren Shuler DonnerTate DonovanMichele Dedeaux Engemann    (Founding Chair)Michael FelixMichael Gilligan     (Chair, USC School of

Theatre Parents Council)Robert GreenblattPatti GribowSusan A. GrodePaula HoltDonna Isaacson

Mark KoganGary LaskSheila LipinskyLaurence MarkMartin MassmanJimmy MillerMadeline PuzoThomas SchumacherJames D. SternAndy TennantAllison ThomasRik ToulonJoe TremaineRichard Weinberg    (Chair)

The Jason Alexander Technique: 

Students inspired by award-winning actor

“What I have to teach I can say in 10 minutes. Then, it’s practice and refinement,” said the award-winning actor – who also explained that  all it takes to inspire imagination and what he calls “actor intellect” in his pupils are encouragement, time and a space to do it in.  Alexander, who is best known for his character George Costanza on the hit television series Seinfeld, shared his teaching philosophy and expertise last fall as a guest in faculty member Dan Fishbach’s musical theatre audition class. “(Jason) encouraged the students to work in a particularly detailed way that really resonated with them,” Fishbach said.  For his class, Fishbach likes to expose his students to different styles and methods to allow them to pick the ones they identify with most. Specifically with his students’ exposure to Alexander’s methodology, Fishbach saw a tremendous development in his class as they began to experiment and work with other techniques they learned.  “The class very much connected with Jason’s methodology, affectionately referred to as ‘The Alexander Technique,’” Fishbach added.   For student Samantha Cardenas, working with Alexander has helped her performances significantly. “That 20 minutes working with Jason completely changed my life,” said the vocal arts major, who is also minoring in musical theatre. “It was so cool to work with someone so famous, and he was such a real person – so humble and willing to work with students.”  The 21-year-old was asked by Alexander to imagine talking to a significant person during the audition exercise to help enhance her performance. Heeding his advice, Cardenas 

showcased such a moving performance of the song “The Light in the Piazza” that it earned her a hug and kiss on the head from the guest. While performing, Cardenas recalled her classmates disappearing from the room – only being able to see the person she envisioned.  “It was incredible,” the student said, citing her experience has altered her approach to music in a good way.  During the visit, Alexander provided a handful of students feedback on their auditions to help them, as well as the rest of the class, refine their performances by asking what he believes are necessary questions.  Who are you talking to? What do you want them to do? What do you do to make them do it? What’s in the way? It was the same four questions he asked each student to help them improve by externalizing a person they were speaking to.  The 35-year acting veteran believes in using the Socratic method, which is a way of teaching by asking questions, to allow his students to come to their own conclusions about their work. “In the best of circumstances, I state my case then I shut up and I let them flounder and explore. I just kind of lift here and tuck there until they get a hold of it,” he added.  In his early days as an actor, Alexander spent years with a variety of teachers, both well-known and unknown, who could not demystify the craft for him. He eventually realized that it was because they only taught the tools of acting and not the methodology.   “Most actors and certainly acting students kind of throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. That is not going to get them where 

they want to be,” said Alexander, a Tony Award winner for best actor in a musical for Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.  To explain his point, the actor used an analogy of asking a person to build a house after only teaching him how to use a hammer, saw and screwdriver. He believes that although they may have the tools to acting, it doesn’t mean they have a method to mastering it.   “I think it’s true in any art that there is a technical knowledge and technical choices. But, if all of a sudden, there’s inspiration and you get magical results and you don’t know what you did, then you have a huge problem,” he said.  By following Alexander’s methodology and answering the questions posed by him, the students were able to dissect their performance, find inspiration and enhance their audition – some of whom saw significant improvement during the class.  “The students were brave. They were gung-ho.  That’s what you look for,” Alexander said. The guest, who is also a producer and director, applauded the class’ willingness to try new approaches to their pieces.   Outside of Alexander’s fall USC visit, he has taught nationwide on-and-off for 20 years – including in 2002 as the USC School of Theatre’s first George Burns Distinguished Visiting Professor in Performance. He held seminars in acting, scene study and musical theatre for that semester.   “I love teaching. I actually enjoy it a lot. I’m fairly certain in a couple years from now it will be a big part of my life,” Alexander said.

| Spring 2012 theatre.usc.edu 3

Give Jason Alexander a chance to teach a two-hour class and everything he needs to say could be shared in minutes.

Jason Alexander, with Michael Alfera at the 

piano, answers questions posed by students from Dan Fishbach’s musical 

theatre audition class.

VISIONARY CIRCLE

Dr. & Mrs. Peter Bing     and the Anna H. Bing 

Living TrustGeorge N. Burns TrustKatherine B. LokerRobert & Elizabeth     Plumleigh in memory of

Karen Plumleigh Cortney

We are grateful to those who have given wisdom, talent, time and financial resources to the benefit of the School’s Annual Fund in addition to scholarship support. The following members have made pledg-es of $1,000 or more over the past year. We hope you will consider becoming a 

member as well by joining these supporters. Please take a moment to return the enclosed reply enve-lope. For more information about giving to the School of Theatre, please contact Billie Ortiz at 213.740.4634  or email bco@usc.edu.

SEASON SPONSORS

Eric T. Kalkhurst &    Nora K. HuiJennifer & Craig Zobelein

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Michael & Debbie Felix 

PRODUCERS

Anonymous

John & Leslie BurnsMary & Richard Covington Roger & Michele    Dedeaux EngemannGary & Karen LaskSheila & Jeff LipinskyChristine Marie Ofiesh Inger A. Armour OngTeresa & Byron PollittMaria & Mark SchlossbergCynthia & Jan van EckJim & Leslie VisnicRichard & Diane WeinbergLuanne C. Wells

DIRECTORS

Auen Foundation David AnderleTate DonovanMargaret Eagle &    Eli RapaportJoan GardnerMichael Gilligan &    Anne HelgenSusan A. GrodeDianna & Earnest HarrisDonna Isaacson Jimmy & Cheryl MillerSally & Howard Oxley     in honor of Dean

Madeline Puzo

Juanita & Keith PetersonLeslie & Michael RichmanRobert R. Scales     in memory of Suzanne

Grossmann ScalesMichael Solomon &    Kimberly NunesAllison Thomas & Gary RossRik ToulonClaudia & Lee TrevinoLinda Yu

PATRONS

Michele & Arlen AndelsonAnonymousThe Emanuel Bachmann    FoundationBarbara CotlerMarcy & Roger HahnPaula HoltLiz & Ira KrottingerLaura LangfordAlexander LoCasale Steven NagelbergSusan & James PolosNancy RitterRuth Tuomala &    Ernest Cravalho Nancy & Peter TuzMalcolm Waddell &    Suzanne Bruce

ANGELS

AnonymousAnnette & Gary AngiuliSara Bancroft-Clair &    Pierson ClairRandolph P. BeattyJoan BeberDr. Rosula A. Bell     in honor of Luisa Somoray

Andaya-AlbertoSusan & David BerckAngela & Amir BozorgmirKathryn & Lawrence BryanCaroline ChoiDennis CornellGabrielle & Richard    de ForestLauren Shuler Donner &    Richard DonnerGail & Jim EllisDavid Emmes & Paula TomeiFreddie & Andrea FensterDebra & Gary FieldsLynda & Thomas GormanCatherine GoushaEleanor GrossmanDebbie & Terry HammerThe Bridges Larson    FoundationStephen M. MoloneyRobert & Debbie Myman

Elizabeth NobleMary & Oscar PollaresTeri & Gary PaulJulie & Larry PehaVicky & David PorterDean Madeline PuzoAna & Dale RechAileen & James ReillyAndrew J. & Irene RobinsonMeredith & Drew RowleyRick SilvermanNancy Sinatra, Sr.Danny StrongSherry & Vald SvekisUSC Parents Association    CouncilLynne & Stephen WheelerAlan & Hope WintersWoodell-Mascall Family

We have taken care to list names and gift designa-tions accurately. If you believe there has been an error or omission, please contact Development Assistant J.D. Brown at 213.821.4262 or email at Jeffrey.d.brown@usc.edu.  Thank you for your support.

USC Friends of Theatre Donor Marquee The USC School of Theatre would like to recognize the tremendous generosity of the following individuals and organizations whose cumulative giving has exceeded $1 million. Their foresight and commitment to the arts and higher education have helped transform the School into a leader in theatre education:

It was all about the right timing for Bradley “Shooz” Rapier. If he had tried making it as a choreographer in the United States when he first came to this country, he knew things would have turned out differently. “As the old me, I’d be a wreck right now,” he said, explaining that although he may have 50 things to do, his demeanor is a lot calmer. As a choreographer, founder of a renowned dance troupe, teacher and dancer, Rapier’s lists of things- to-do and achievements are long – especially most recently. The School of Theatre faculty member worked as an associate choreographer for Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Des McAnuff, which hits Broadway in May 2012. “They wanted a feel that I would bring – sort of that street and urban feel,” said Rapier, who has taught at USC since 2009. “I was just giving them a new way to approach the music like, instead of moving smoothly across, rocking with it made all the difference.” The dancer worked for three months in spring 2010 with choreographer Lisa Shriver on the rock musical

– which showcased at the 2011 Stratford Shakespeare Festival, then made its way to California at The Jolla Playhouse last winter. And although Rapier is proud his signature groove-style has made its stamp on the production, one of his most memorable moments was inspiring the crucifixion scene with a biblical scripture he shared with McAnuff. “It had nothing to do with choreog-raphy, but it was about being a part of that creative process beyond the steps,” he said. Rapier’s career has come a long way since his begin-nings in Canada. As a young college student, he aspired to become a doctor like his father and uncle but later realized he had a desire to pursue a profession in dance after his exposure to the emerging street dance culture. “When I saw people freestyle, it just blew my mind. I just wanted to be around it, I wanted to feel it, I

wanted to know it,” said Rapier, who is also the founder of the award-winning dance troupe The Groovaloos. In the early ’90s, he won a Canadian talent search competition that brought him to New York and Los Angeles – solidifying his desire to move to the United States and establish himself as a choreographer and dancer. However, his first try at living in the States didn’t work out. The street-trained dancer initially moved to N.Y., where he felt out of place because dancing jobs were focused on musicals. “They would ask you to bring your tap shoes, tights and a few songs, but I didn’t have classical training,” Rapier said.

Faculty member grooves to Broadwayas associate choreographer of Jesus Christ Superstar

CONTINUED ON BACK COVER

4

Bradley Rapier performs with the award-winning  dance troupe, The Groovaloos.

After participating in the 2011 USC Global Conference in Hong Kong, David Bridel decided he’d make the most of his first trip to China –  by spending a jam-packed week teaching  master classes in clowning, expressive movement and mask.  The associate director of M.F.A. Acting  visited Beijing in the fall and taught at six art schools, working with students whose studies ranged from Chinese opera to animation to  acting and more.  “All of these classes (clowning, expressive movement and mask) are things I’m familiar with because of my work here at USC, but they were pretty new to most of the Chinese students,”  said Bridel, whose classes ranged in size from  12 to 30 students.  This was especially true in his workshop for Beijing opera students, where Bridel was able to share the performance styles of the Western hemi-sphere while gaining an understanding of the old Eastern musical tradition they were studying.  “That was a meeting of very different cultures. The Beijing opera tradition is ancient and it’s very, very rigid and sticks to a precise formula. 

And my tradition is young and messy… in a good way,” he said. “It was really interesting bringing us together.”  Bridel also noticed that many of his students were very disciplined, physically strong and cre-ative, but they weren’t used to bringing emotion into their work. The actors had a high caliber of talent that came off potentially cold, which was why he emphasized bringing heart to movement, he said.  “The primary focus of the work was always  to express emotion physically. The expressive movement classes gave the students a basic  language and set of principles for physical expression; the mask classes filtered that  language and those principles through character study; and the clown classes asked the students to express their most secret emotions in a  celebratory form,” Bridel said.  Among the most noteworthy moments,  Bridel held a workshop at the Beijing Institute  of Fashion and Technology for a group of  animators to help them understand physical movement when creating cartoons and  two-dimensional characters.

  “I decided to adapt my curriculum to allow them to draw as well as perform, so I got to see what they could do on paper as well as in the flesh. It was very enjoyable and rewarding to  mix our disciplines together,” Bridel said.   Although a first-time visitor to Beijing, Bridel’s stay left little room for activities other than teaching. “In some cases, I’d start at 9 in the morning and I’d finish at 11 at night so it was  an absolutely harem scarem schedule, but I knew I was only there for a week. I wanted to do as much as I could,” he said.  Bridel was invited on the teaching tour by  USC School of Cinematic Arts alum Amy Lee, who served as his translator during his trip. Other institutions hosting his workshops included the National Theatre of China, Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, Beijing Traditional Performing Arts Academy and Paper Tiger Theater Studio.  Connecting with many of his students, Bridel found the experience both eye-opening and  fascinating. “I learned that open hearts can come together no matter how different their cultures or backgrounds,” he said.

| Spring 2012 theatre.usc.edu 5

Exchanging the culture of theatrical art

“ I decided to adapt my curriculum to allow them to draw as well as perform, so I got to see what they could do on paper as well as in the flesh. It was very enjoyable and rewarding to mix our disciplines together.”

— David Bridel

David Bridel (front row, second from right) with Beijing students from his clowning class.

Saved by the Theatre: 

Machiavelli comes to life on stage

CONTINUED FROM COVER Machiavelli the vision-ary influence on Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers, but about Machiavelli the human being: struggling, joyful, suffering, daring and always original,” said Fletcher,  a Renaissance period specialist.  The dramaturg was approached by Mayer last summer with the idea for the play,  just after Fletcher had finished an article for the journal Comparative Drama on Machiavelli’s experience in the theatre as the inspiration to his political views.  “So as Oliver wrote pages over the  summer, we would meet up occasionally and have discussions about Machiavelli. Although I pointed Oliver to some historical  details, the entire work of creation and imagination was his,” Fletcher said.  To complete the trifecta, the pair sought out Robinson to direct the play in which the third-year M.F.A. actors were cast. Within three months last summer, Mayer was able to get a script to the students, each of whom the playwright specifically had in mind while writing the play, and even hosted a cold reading at his house.   “I don’t know how Oliver did it, but he managed to write roles that give each of the actors an opportunity to explore and expand a personal aspect of their selves.  He has written for them in the sense that they can both learn something about  themselves and advance their craft at the same time,” Robinson said.  Mayer’s interest in Machiavelli first took root at age 13 when he was asked to write a report based on a novel he had chosen from his history teacher’s bookshelf. In hope of taking an easy route, Mayer chose 

Machiavelli’s The Prince because it was the thinnest book of the selection.   However, his plan backfired. “That book is only 30 pages but it’s geometric. It’s so open-ended that I’m still dealing with it after all this time,” he said with a laugh.  The playwright believed age and his many life experiences helped him identify with and understand the subject of the play. “In my life the theatre has saved me, and I came to realize in the process of writing about Machiavelli, that the theatre saved him too,” Mayer said.  “Despite all these years thinking about the man, I couldn’t make these connections until I was actually writing it this summer, until I was some pages into the play, until I was in the middle of the sentence. I knew I was going to finish the sentence, I just had to keep open to how it was going to occur and that’s when it hit me – the theatre is the salvation,” he said. “And that’s a story worth telling.”   Mayer, a Resident Faculty Master at Parkside International Residential College, has authored more than 20 plays and won several awards in his career. He was presented with an Alfred P. Sloan Initiative Science and Technology award for an original play about particle physics, Dark Matters; a USC Zumberg Individual Award; and a USC Mellon Mentoring Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring of Undergraduates.   His play Dark Matters will be produced in New York in the summer, while Filo al Fuego, the provocative Spanish translation of his breakthrough play Blade to the Heat, will receive its world premiere at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in April.

6

(Top photo) SOT Associate Dean Jack Rowe with Producer and SOT alum Todd Black (B.F.A., 1982) and (bottom photo) Associate Professor of  Theatre Practice Mary-Joan Negro with legendary actor/producer/director  Norman Lloyd. Both men enlightened, entertained and encouraged theatre students in Q & A sessions on campus. Black is the producer of the well-known films Antwone Fisher and The Pursuit of Happyness and Lloyd’s career spans more than seven decades with over 60 films and television shows to his credit.

Visiting Artists

A scene from Fortune Is A Woman

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Patrick J. Adams (B.F.A. 2004) was a Screen Actors Guild Award nominee for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series for his role in USA Network’s Suits. Adams also stars as financial prodigy Nathan Israel in the horse-racing HBO drama series Luck, and performed in Nine Circles, the award-winning play by Bill Cain at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles.

Joan Beber (M.F.A. 2000) saw her first fully produced play Hunger: In Bed with Roy Cohn premiere at the Odyssey Theatre in January. 

Troian Bellisario (B.F.A. 2009) produced, wrote and acted  in the short film Exiles with USC alum Thomas Bertelsen directing. Bellisario currently stars on the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars.

McKinley Belcher III (M.F.A. 2008) starred as Macbeth in the Eric Ting-directed produc-tion Macbeth 1969, a Vietnam War-era twist to a classic Shakespeare play, at Long Wharf Theatre.

Jack Bender (1971) is an execu-tive producer and director for the new Fox series Alcatraz. He also executively produced the pilot episode of Alphas on the SyFy network.

Todd Black (B.F.A. 1982) is producing the film Great Hope Springs – starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and  Steve Carell – which premieres this year.

Erin Carufel (B.A. 2000) acts in her biggest studio role to date in the feature film Gone, which opened nationwide in February. She was also seen onstage playing the lead role in the drama Treat Yourself Like Cary Grant at The Lillian Theatre in Hollywood.

Ray Chase (B.A. 2000) is currently the voice of Coke Zero for its ad campaigns. He has done voice work for several  of the top 25 iPhone apps - including Death Rally, Kick  the Buddy and Trenches II.

Shane Coffey (B.F.A. 2009) plays Holden in the third season of ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars.

Erica Dasher (B.A. 2000) was seen in TheWB.com’s original web series The Lake, which 

follows the story of four  families spending their summer at the fictional Lake Eleanor.

Alexis de Forest (B.F.A. 2010) worked at Center Theatre Group as an assistant costume designer on Venice and is a recipient of a performing arts scholarship and grant from Northwestern University,  where she is pursuing her  graduate degree. 

Tate Donovan (B.F.A. 1985) is currently filming Argo, a film set to release this year that  follows a CIA “exfiltration”  specialist who devises a plan  to free six Americans during  the Iranian revolution.

Ryan Eggold (B.F.A. 2006) starred as the lead in the  dramatic short film Queen, directed by Adam Rose. 

Danielle Faitelson (B.A. 2007) is in the Classic Stage Company’s Young Company production of Much Ado About Nothing this March 2012 in New York City. She recently played Helena in Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was part of an interna-tional theatre festival at the Folkswang University in Essen, Germany. An international  version of this production was created in five languages with 73 actors from Germany, Romania, Ramallah and China. She will be graduating with an M.F.A. in acting from Columbia University in May 2012.

Amanda Folena (B.A. 2004) directed the second annual pre-sentation of White Christmas, a Broadway adaptation of the 1954 film, this winter at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.

Sara Fox (B.F.A. 2010) completed her first season in the wardrobe department for the sitcom Raising Hope in 2011 and has gone on to work at the largest  costume house west of the Mississippi, Western Costume Co. Last October, she won the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Halloween Ball Costume Contest for her handmade Voodoo Girl costume.

Annie Freeman (B.A. 2009) and her partner Steven Sabel have opened the Archway Studio/Theatre in the heart  of the Downtown L.A. Arts District. The Archway Theatre continuously runs classical,  

contemporary and original  theatrical works, as well as  comedy shows and variety acts.

Lili Fuller (B.A. 2009) cho-reographed the Boom Kat Dance Theatre’s production of Stations, as well as acted alongside current students and alums Juliana Tyson (B.A. 2008), Andrew Dits (M.F.A. 2010), Nathan Parsons (B.F.A. 2011), Joe Sofranko (B.F.A. 2009), Will Harris and Diana Vaden.

Katherine Goldman (B.A. 2011) was seen in the musical All Shook Up, which was presented by the Foothill Music Theatre from Feb. 23 to March 11.

Marja Harmon (B.A. 2005) was featured in the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical Merrily We Roll Along at the New York City Center in February. 

Grant Heslov (B.F.A. 1986) was nominated alongside George Clooney and Beau Willimon for their work The Ides of March for best adapted screenplay at the 2012 Academy Awards.

India Irving (B.A. 2008) and Mario Rivelli (B.A. 2010)’s film, Mont Rêve, was picked up for worldwide distribution by Entertainment 7. Irving wrote, co-produced, co-executive  produced and acted in the  film, while Rivelli co-executive produced and acted. The  production also included alums Rocky Collins as co-director and co-editor, Keith Barletta (B.A. 2010) as actor, Mark Jacobson as actor, Ashley Wright as actor and assistant hair & makeup, Magnus Magnus Magnusson (B.A. 2010) as actor – as well as associate professor Mary-Joan Negro as actor, faculty member Joe Bays as actor and professor Andrei Belgrader as actor.

Donald Jolly (M.F.A. 2008) wrote Bonded, which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater for the Playwrights’ Arena world pre-miere production of the play. He and fellow alum Mayank Keshaviah (M.F.A. 2008), as well as Associate Professor Oliver Mayer and Professor/Associate Dean Velina Hasu Houston (B.A. 2000), wrote one-minute plays for “Creative Seeds: An Exploration of Hunger” at Tateuchi Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum. The event included 

more than 50 local playwrights, who focused their 60-second works on the issue of hunger.

Yafit Josephson (B.A. 2008) stars in the one-woman show New Eyes, which has played in Los Angeles with more than 100 performances in its year and a half. The show, which Josephson wrote after gradua-tion, reopened in January at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A.

Jaclyn Kalkhurst (B.F.A. 2008) served as the stage manager for The Romance of Magno Rubio at [Inside] the Ford this fall.

Amanda Kaschak (B.F.A. 2009) recently performed the role of Krystal in the 10-month run of LA Weekly’s critically acclaimed world premiere play Caught at the Zephyr Theater in Los Angeles. She was also awarded Stage SceneLA’s “Best Performance by a Lead Actress” in a comedy-drama and nomi-nated by BroadwayWorld for 2011 as “Person to Watch.”

Ben Kurland (B.A. 2006) can be seen in the 2011 silent film The Artist.

Eric Ladin (B.A. 2001) is the nar-rator for the History Channel’s television show Mudcats. He was also in the 2012 independent film Highland Park. 

James Lesure (B.F.A. 1995) completed filming the television movie Men at Work, which also features Danny Masterson.

Meagan Adele Lopez (B.A. 2007) released her debut novel Three Questions.

Kate Maher (B.F.A. 2010) was seen in the U.S. premiere of the bilingual presentation A Stubborn Woman: A Theatrical Memorandum of Anna Politkovskaya for The Global Theatre Project.

Kevin Mambo (B.F.A. 1995) participated in a workshop  in December of the political  hip-hop musical Venice at the Public Theater in New York.

Meghan Beals McCarthy (B.A. 1995) is the Associate Artistic Director with Chicago Dramatists, along with her work as a director, dramaturg and arts administrator.

Stephanie Miller (B.A. 1983), nationally syndicated morning radio host, has been touring nationwide in her uncensored 

Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour since last spring.

Bari Newport (B.F.A. 1997) was recently appointed as the artistic director for the Penobscot Theatre Company  in Bangor, Maine.

Charles O’Connor (M.F.A. 1984) was named the dean of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in July.

Edward Padilla (B.A. 2005) was recently seen in six episodes of ABC’s Suburgatory as Javier, as well as played Abraham in Matthew Modine Saves the Alpacas at the Geffen Playhouse and a caterpillar/dad in the La Jolla Playhouse school touring show Salsalandia. Padilla is the current president of the Casa 0101 Theatre, where he was previously (2006-2009) Artistic Director, which recently built up from a 55-seat storefront the-ater to a 5400 square foot state of the art theater that has been dubbed the best 99-seat theater in L.A. by visiting patrons and some press. While still at USC, the alum shot Mr. & Mrs. Smith, an episode of King of Queens and The Drew Carey Show. After graduating, he has been in Bones, The Shield, Dirt and Spider-Man 3.

Catherine Ricafort (B.S. 2009) stars as Ali in Mamma Mia on Broadway. She was recently seen on NBC’s The Sing-Off with performers The Backbeats.

Eve Roberts, a USC emerita professor, directed Arthur  Miller’s The American Clock at the Profile Theatre in  Portland, Ore.

Stark Sands (2001) will be seen in the new CBS television series NYC 22, a drama produced by Robert De Niro that follows six NYPD rookie cops as they learn the streets of Manhattan. He will also be in the Coen Brothers’ film Inside Llewyn Davis.

John “JP” Smith (M.F.A. 2010) joined Theatre Communications Group as a new Grant Administrator in which he has been consulting on vari-ous development assignments around New York City. Prior to his move to the East Coast, Smith was a teaching assistant in Critical Studies/Dramatic Literature at USC and was the development director at El Centro Chicano in Los Angeles.

| Spring 2012 theatre.usc.edu 7

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 It prompted him to come West to L.A., where he realized he didn’t feel grounded enough in himself to stay – ultimately causing Rapier to return to Canada for several years. But in his move back to L.A. in 1994, Rapier felt ready and even prepared for the struggles – like spending the first couple of years crammed in a studio apartment with three roommates or eating ramen noodles and canned tuna. He eventually found work on a regular basis and became the go-to choreographer for street dance. “I was just amazed that people would listen to me. I was still that guy from Canada,” Rapier said. “Bradley is an extraordinary artist and teacher. He has established himself truly as a major figure on the dance scene not only in Los Angeles, but on both a national and international level. We are so fortunate to have him as a member of the dance faculty in the USC School of Theatre,” Director of Dance Margo Apostolos said. Among the accolades Rapier has received for choreography over the years are two NAACP awards, for Once on This Island and City Kid – The Musical, a 2008 Ovation Award and a Hip-Hop Dance Award, presented by Wayne “Crescendo” Ward – as well as

several awards with The Groovaloos, his most well-known achievement. Since its inception in 1999, The Groovaloos have been seen on television in commercials and as guest performers for shows like So You Think You Can Dance, as well as Off-Broadway in its theatrical stage show GROOVALOO. The group also hosts the freestyle Groove Night at the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in North Hollywood to allow all styles of dance to come together for the weekly event. “I’m very thankful. I’m just sort of stepping into a new part of my life. It’s pretty exciting,” Rapier said. With all of his on-going projects, things haven’t stopped moving forward for Rapier. But, this time around, he’s ready for every step.

Faculty member grooves to Broadway...

Kylie Sparks (B.A. 2010) stars as Esther in the web series Squaresville. She was also seen in the “The Twist in the Twister” episode of the television  series Bones. 

Stephanie Temple (B.A. 1995) directed and choreo-graphed the New Conservatory Theatre Center’s presentation of Xanadu The Musical by Douglas Carter Beane, Jeff Lynne and John Farrar.

Alistair Tober (B.A. 2002) performed classical jazz at The Coterie in Los Angeles for a holiday  performance, “Holiday Crooner Concert.” 

TJ Thyne (B.A. 1997) played the lead, Lovell Milo, in the 2011 film Shuffle, which was directed by Kurt Kuenne. He is also seen in the short film Stop.

Daniele Watts (B.A. 2007) starred in performance artist Eleanor Antin’s Before the Revolution as Eleanora Antinova in January. She was also cast  in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, which is in pre-production.

Forest Whitaker (1982) finished filming Freelancers, the story of a slain NYPD officer’s son who joins the force, which also stars Robert De Niro.

Chase Williamson (B.F.A. 2010) starred in John Dies at the End, a film by Don Coscarelli, which was shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

“ I’m very thankful. I’m just sort of stepping into a new part of my life. It’s pretty exciting,”

— Bradley Rapier

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

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