CALLBOARD – NOVEMBER 2023
Up next on the VCU mainstage, “The Imaginary Invalid.” Audiences can expect physical comedy, “period-ish” costumes and design and many laughs! As always, alumni can book two complimentary tickets to any show. Read more here.
Two big roles announced for Joshua Boone (BFA ’10). He has joined the cast of “Last Meals” which starts filming in Atlanta on November 28th. The prison drama stars Samuel L. Jackson and Boyd Holbrook with Tony-winner Kenny Leon as director. He will also be in the Broadway premiere of “The Outsiders,” a musical based on the novel and Coppola film, as Dallas Winston. Previews start in March 2024.
Steve Earle (MFA ’85) has retired as Chair of the Theatre & Film Department at the Governor’s School of the Arts in June 2023. Steve was the Chair for 24 years and a scholarship fund has been set up in his name for rising students wishing to go to college and pursue their dreams. Congratulations.
Freddy Clements (MFA ’88) has been awarded the title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Jacksonville State University.
Alvan Bolling II (BA ’21) and Gregory Morton (BM ’22, musical theatre minor) are currently performing in “The Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Lands” at Disneyland Paris! Alvan is on the left as Pumbaa, Gregory in the middle as Simba.
Richard Follin (BFA ’20) just filmed a GrubHub commercial. Watch on his instagram
Matt Stevens (BFA’98) has a new record out titled Are You Happy Now. Available on all streaming services. You can also check out his music on Matt Stevens Music on Facebook.
Jeremy Wilcox (BFA ’96) has started a new position at KI Concerts as the Client Manager. KI offers coordination for worldwide tours for Choirs and Music ensembles. Jeremy was previously a tour producer for the USO for over 11 years.
Drewe Goldstein (BFA ’20) just directed Fiddler on the Roof for the undergraduate Main Stage at Yale University and is teaching monologue workshops for NYU acting workshops.
Joe Carlson (BFA ’08 / MFA ’11) has taken on a new job as the Community TV Coordinator for Oak Crest Senior Living Community, where he will produce programming for their private TV Channel. He will also work as the roving TV reporter for their Good News Friday reports.
Keegan Garant (BFA ’20) is performing and training at Magnet Theater in NYC. He’s currently on the Wet Denim ensemble which performs Wednesday nights.
Avery Michael Johnson (BFA ’23) has finished a summer touring with the Montana Shakespeare Company and has returned to RVA where he played Horatio in Richmond Shakespeare’s production of Hamlet.
Lisa Kelly (MFA ’09) has accepted a job as a Theatrical Operations Manager for Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Madison Windsor (BFA ’23) is a DJ and producer for Ocean FM 98.1 in Ocean, City Maryland. Her show “Nights with Madi” airs weeknights 6-10pm. This photo is from Halloween.
Steve Harders’ (MFA ’96) newest play The Seeing Machine had a reading at the Little Theatre of Norfolk this month.
Alexa Lushetsky (BFA ’22) currently holds the position of head of Youth Talent for BMG models and Talent, a casting agency in Chicago. Her clients have been in commercials for Icy Hot, McDonald’s, Jewel Osco, and Walgreens, just to name a few. She recently visited Sharon’s Professional prep class to talk with current seniors.
Ebony Arunga (BFA ’08) has been elected the new Interim Executive Director of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in Seattle, WA.
Joseph Hyatt (BFA ’22) recently landed a full-time job at A24 (the film studio which made Everything Everywhere All at Once, Moonlight, Lady Bird) as a Brand Coordinator.
The Purple Tongue owned by Otis Banks (BFA ’89) has been nominated by 21st Magazine as one of the Best New Restaurants in Hell’s Kitchen for 2023. It has also been recently profiled by the Robb Report as one of the best new wine bars in Hell’s Kitchen in NY. Congratulations.
Malcom Holmes (BS ’23, with a musical theatre minor) is excited to announce that he is making his National Tour Debut as Luke in The Lightening Thief for Theatreworks.
David Gerson (BFA ’96) has accepted a new position in Colorado. He will be an attorney advisor for the Social Security Administration, advising judges on issues related to the disability program.
Tia James (BFA ’04) is starring as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at Playmakers Repertory Company, Chapel Hill, NC. In the same production is Adam Valentine (BA ’16) playing Borachio. Any alums in the area should enjoy a night of great Shakespeare.
Noreen Wilson Major (BFA ’00) has taken a new position as the Director of Development at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in NY
Diego Villada (MFA ’08) is at residency at Skidmore College mentoring the new students at the Miranda Family Fellowship Program.
Chanelle Vigue (BFA ’06, MS ’06) is a new board member at Gallery5 in RVA.
Garner Knutson (BFA ’92) has a new album out titled Commit, Defend the Bail.
Courtney Bishop White and Justin White (BFA’s 03) have opened a new tasting room for their craft brewery Intermission Beer Co. in Henrico County on 10180 Lakeridge Parkway. Come by and sample their new beers such as Strawberry Blond and Tropical Thunder.
If you are in New York or are an Opera Subscriber, be sure to see Peterson Townsend (BFA 01) in the new Metropolitan Opera production of The Life and Times of Malcom X .
Janet Rodgers’ (former faculty) one person show, Gut, is an official selection for the Whitefish Theatre presentations Celebrating 13 Years of Solo Artists. Gut is based on the life of Irene Gut Opdyke who lived during the occupancy of Poland in 1939. The show will be in LA in January 21, 2023 and times and address can be found online. Dan Ruth (BFA ’90) directed.
Lucinda McDermott Piro (BFA ’83) and her husband John Piro had a concert release party for their new album “Someone’s Left A Light On” for their Ball & Chain label at Sound of Music Studios in Richmond on November 18, 2023
Heather Bailey (BFA ’03) owner and Artistic Director of Host of Sparrows Ariel Circus is proud to announce that they have been selected for inclusion in the 2024/2025 Virginia Commission of the Arts touring roster for their show “Metamorphosis: the Life Cycle of Butterflies.” If you are a Virginia teacher be sure to check out the Commissions selections for your school.
Alum and newsletter editor Jerry Williams (BFA ’71) interviewed Frank Alfano (BFA ’08) on his podcast. Frank is a successful stunt performer on numerous movies and TV shows, specializing in fire. Listen here: https://tvjerry.com/frank-alfano-is-a-man-on-fire-literally
Jose Simbulan, Theatre VCU’s many time music conductor and the best accompanist SETC has ever had, has taken a new position as the Musical Theatre Division Chair at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA).
Julie Phillips (MFA ’07) is the co-founder of the new Theatre Support organization in Minneapolis called the Justice Theatre Consortium. Check them out on Justice Theatre Consortium on Facebook.
Grace Austin (MFA ’04) has been inducted into the IATSE Local 805 in St. Louis. Congratulations Grace.
Leslie M. Scott-Jones (MFA ’95) The Artistic Director and the Jefferson School’s curator of Public Programs, announces that the Charlottesville Players Guild has accomplished a major feat. With the closing of “King Hedley II” this October, they have, over the course of seven years, produced all of the 10 plays of August Wilson’s cycle. This has only been done by 12 other producing organizations and no other Black Theater Organization. Afterwards they held a weeklong event Wilsonian Soldiers: An August Wilson Symposium.
Julie Malon Knight (BFA ’03) Has just had her 10th novel published by Bold Strokes Books titled “Pumpkin Spice” under the pseudonym Tagan Shepard.
Chris Young (BFA ’84) was part of the latest Society of Prop Mangers on line forum titled S*P*Minar = Getting the Fight Right. Chris is the longtime Prop Master at Arena Stage. Read his recent spotlight here.
OBITUARY
Lynn Jones (BFA ’91) passed away on September 20, 2023 in hospice after a long journey with Alzheimers disease. She was buried in Savannah, GA on September 23, 2023
Compiled by Liz Hopper (professor emeritus), Jerry Williams (BFA ’71), and VCUarts Theatre for the August 2023 Theatre Alumni newsletter