Alumni in the News

Presidential Suite, a play currently featuring alumna Liza Binkley (BA, Theatre and Dance, 2007), recently received a four star review in The London Times. Presented in conjunction with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2012, Presidential Suite by B&G Productions (New York) runs through August 18, 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Department of Theatre & Dance alumna Denny Berry (BFA, 1973) was recently announced as the Head of the newly formed Musical Theatre Program at the University of Utah Department of Theatre.

Berry is an esteemed director, choreographer, educator and writer both on Broadway and around the world. She looks forward to bringing together her ongoing relationship with the New York theater world and her students in the Department of Theatre.

Pamela Ribon (BFA, Drama Production, 1997) has just released her latest novel, You Take It From Here. Pamela has written for several television comedies, most notably the Emmy Award-winning Samantha Who?. A national bestselling author, Pamela has adapted her popular novels for both film and television. She was an Oprah.com contributor, where her novel about divorce and roller derby, Going in Circles, was selected as an Oprah.com Book Club pick. She was also a flagship contributor to TelevisionWithoutPity.com. Using her loyal Internet fan base, Ribon sponsors book drives for libraries in need at DeweyDonationSystem.org. Visit her at pamie.com or follow her @pamelaribon.

Alumna Dawn Davis Loring (BA, Dance, 1992) and Mosaic Dance Body present Danceopoly at the Big Range Austin Dance Festival. Danceopoly is a game involving both audience and dancers and "takes a snarky look at being a struggling artist through the lens of a cheesy reality game show."

Collaborators include Dawn Davis Loring, Jennifer Micallef, Tracy Sadler Machalek, Ivry Newsome, Cinnamon Barton and Dawnerin Wilkinson.

Danceopoly will be shown at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre on June 30th at 8pm and on July 1st at 2pm.

Mike McKinley (BFA, 1977) is currently writing a memoir on his time spent in the Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the New York-based parody ballet company. McKinley spent around a decade with the company as his alter-egos, ballerina Tatiana Youbetchabootskaya (pictured left) and danseur Igor Teupleze. His memoir is titled Blood and Satin: Confessions of a Drag Ballerina. 

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo will perform at the Long Center Tuesday, February 7th at 7:30pm in Dell Hall. For more information on the performance call 474-5664 or visit www.thelongcenter.org.

This past spring Sally Bailey, MFA, MSW, RDT/BCT (UT BFA 1976) was promoted to full professor at Kansas State University where she has taught theater and directed the drama therapy program for the past 11 years.  Her recent book "Barrier-Free Theatre: Including Everyone in Theatre Arts -- In Schools, Recreation, and Arts Program -- Regardless of (Dis)Abililty" was awarded the 2011 Distinguished Book Award by the American Alliance for Theatre in Education in Chicago at its annual conference in July.  "Barrier-Free Theatre" is published by Idyll Arbor, Inc.

Rebecca Hewett (M.A. 2004, Ph.D. 2010) has been awarded a 2011 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Public Fellow at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) as a Cultural Programs Specialist. The Public Fellows program is an ACLS initiative placing recent Ph.D.s in staff positions at partnering agencies in government and the non-profit sector, aiming to demonstrate that the capacities developed in the advanced study of the humanities have wide application, both within and beyond.

Eric Vera (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2008) has just been named the Executive Artistic Director of The Camille Playhouse in Brownsville, Texas. It is a wonderful opportunity for Vera, as he returns to his hometown and leads the theatre that was integral to his early education.

Vera recently served on the Department of Theatre and Dance alumni committee for The Fantasticks 50th Anniversary. You can learn more about him on the alumni spotlight.

Fred Jones (B.A., Theatre and Dance, '08) and his acting partner, Paul Marino, were recently featured by The Wall Street Journal Online.  They are combing the subway lines underneath the streets of New York City in an interesting form of guerilla theatre – two-man scenes from Shakespeare.

Lisa D'Amour (M.F.A., Playwriting, '96) was one of three Pulitzer Prize finalists in drama for her play Detroit. Premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater in September 2010, Detroit is described by the Pulitzer jury as “a contemporary tragicomic play that depicts a slice of desperate life in a declining inner-ring suburb where hope is in foreclosure.” Detroit will be produced on Broadway in early fall of 2011 under the direction of Austin Pendleton. This marks D'Amour's Broadway debut.