Department News 11-05-18

This week, the Theatre and Media Arts Department will host two outside reviewers for our National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) self-study.  Wade Hollingshaus  has headed up the report preparation, with help from each of our area heads and Rodger Sorensen, who generously met with Wade over the summer to help him figure out all the pieces the report needed to cover.  The report has been sent off to the reviewers and to the NAST offices.  The schedule is available at the front desk in the office.  In the meantime, here is a brief introduction to the two outside reviewers who will be visiting the department on November 6 – 9, 2018.

Anne D’Zmura has served as resident director at the nationally acclaimed Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis where she directed Peer Gynt, Bert’s Folly, Billy and Dago, and Poster of the Cosmos; artistic associate for the NYC-based The Acting Company where she directed the national tours of Macbeth and The Tempest; artistic associate for the Playwright’s Center where she spearheaded the Stage-Time New Play Series and co-artistic director for Yale Cabaret. Some additional directing credits include Tony Award winning South Coast Repertory World Premiere of Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson.  She was assistant director for Trevor Nunn on Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia on Broadway. Anne has directed many new play development workshops at theatres including South Coast Repertory, Playwright’s Center, BACA Downtown, Bristol Riverside Theatre, The Acting Company and Women’s Project Theatre.  Anne currently serves as Head of Directing of Theatre Arts at California State University, Long Beach where she also served as Chair and Artistic Director and initiated EPIC (Educational Performance in Community) and the Affinity Series in collaboration with the faculty and staff. Anne’s work on ecology and theatre is in Readings in Performance and Ecology published by Palgrave Macmillan. Anne served as guest artist/scholar at Carnegie Mellon where she was invited to develop a course and project merging theatre and ecology for the Drama School and The Center for Arts and Society.  Anne continues to develop international arts activism projects.  Anne is a member of SDC, SAG-AFTRA. She received her BA from Hampshire College and her MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama.

DeAnna Toten Beard, MFA, PhD is Professor of Theatre History and teaches a variety of theatre studies courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. Dr. Toten Beard joined the Baylor faculty in 2002. In 2012, she was named a Baylor Teaching Fellow. Dr. Toten Beard has also taught in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core and is currently co-director of the Baylor in Oxford study abroad program.  Dr. Toten Beard is an active historian with research interests in early twentieth century U.S. theatre and drama. Her specializations include American expressionism, modernist theatre design, and depictions of World War I on the American stage. Among her publications are “The Little Theatre Movement” in  Blackwell’s Companion to American Literature (2017); “Inspiration and Atmosphere in Getting Together A War Play: Stage Authenticity and the WWI Soldier on the Broadway Stage” in Theatre Annual (2015);  “Performance, Preparedness, and Playing with Fire: Major General O’Ryan and U.S. Military Theatricality in the World War I Era” in Public Theatre and Theatre Publics (2012); “Artisan to Artist: The Impact of Gallery Exhibitions of New Stagecraft in the U.S., 1914-1919” in New England Theatre Journal  (2007); and “American Experimentalism, American Expressionism, and Early O’Neill” in A Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama (2005).  She is the author of the monograph, Sheldon Cheney’s Theatre Arts Magazine: Promoting a Modern American Theatre, 1916-1921 (2009). Dr. Toten Beard is also the editor of The Texas Theatre Journal, published annually by the Texas Educational Theatre Association.  Dr. Toten Beard devotes professional service to the work of the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) as a visiting evaluator of programs around the country.  From 2012-2017, she served as Commissioner for NAST and 2018 she began a term as Chair of the Commission on Accreditation.  DeAnna Toten Beard earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre History, Literature, and Criticism from Indiana University, a Master of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and English Literature from the University of Mary Washington.

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Kyle Stapley was able to attend the second annual LA TV and Film Connection Fall Social held at the LDS Institute Building at UCLA this past weekend.  He felt the social was very successful, organized by some of our alums, Caitlyn Stratton-Walton, Julia Glausi, and Jordan Peterson.  About 175 people attended, including many BYU alums, LDS people in the industry, and media arts, theatre, and animation alums, and other friends. The highlight of the event was the Alumnus of the year award, given to David Wardle, who graduated from BYU Law School in 2002.  In addition to his law firm experience, Wardle has worked as in-house counsel, running the legal departments of independent film distributors First Look Studios and Millennium Entertainment. David was given the award for his work with the Whittaker Group, which has been working to provide opportunities for media arts graduates in the LA area. Also presenting at the social was Virginia Pearce, the director of the Utah Film Commission, and Kyle who made a presentation about internships. At the conference, it was announced that the Whitaker Group and LA Connection would merge under the Whitaker Society.  This group will start scholarships for media arts students and encourage internships.  Colton Griffiths from the BYU’s Career Center also presented a new service similar to LinkedIn  for students and alumni to connect with each other and companies offering jobs/internships.  Many companies represented at the conference would like to use this service.  Kyle is excited about the possibilities of this annual event and would  love to get more current media arts faculty and students to attend.

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Dr. Kirsten Pullen was hosted by the Women Studies Conference for Bodies of Women that was held last week.  As one of several speakers invited to present at the conference, Dr. Pullen titled her presentation, “Watching Women: The Body of the Performer, the Performing Body, and the Body of the Audience.” She specifically presented on the bodies of actresses during the 19-20^th centuries, including Lena Horne and other greats. Kirsten holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Theatre Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently the chair of the theatre department at the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana, the alma mater of Bridget Benton, Amy Peterson Jensen, and Rory Scanlon. She is a performance historian with particular emphasis on female performers and performance theory during the 20th and 21st centuries in the United States. She has published books through top notch publishers at Cambridge University Press and Rutgers University Press.  Dr. Pullen is also an active member in the American Society for Theatre Research, serving as a member of its Executive Committee from 2011–2014. After her well-attended presentation, Kirsten also hosted several round table discussions for students around campus and took a tour of the theatre spaces in the Harris Fine Arts Center.

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Benjamin Thevenin attended the “Taking Back the Web” conference hosted by the Centre for Critical Media Literacy at the Dublin Institute of Technology in Dublin, Ireland a few weeks ago. After presenting “Play & Pedagogy: Toward an Object-Oriented Media Literacy Education” to an international audience, he was able to travel around Ireland a bit with his wife Emily, who served her mission in the country 15 years ago. It was lovely. Here’s photographic evidence!

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This weekend is your last chance to see BYU’s Production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap! Come enjoy this unique production directed by David Morgan who has expertly mixed the aspects of film noir and horror mystery theatre. For more information about showtimes and tickets, click here.

 

 

 

 

Department News 10-29-18

Each year, BYU’s Student Theatre Association brings students together in a feat of theatre production known as 24 Hour Theatre. This year, the event started Friday evening, October 26 at 7pm. Student playwrights were given 11 hours to write a script incorporating various prompt word “leaves” throughout the story. One such “leaf” was the required broom prop that had to be incorporated into all the productions. At 6am the next morning, playwrights submitted their scripts to be printed and distributed to directors, actors, and technicians. By 7am, all production teams had their scripts and began the process of blocking, memorizing, and rehearsing. Each team had a writer, a director, a minimum of three actors, and a production team. After a quick lunch and gathering props and materials, each of the five teams received a 30 minute rehearsal period on the Nelke stage. By 3:30pm, Nelke Resident State Managers and members of the STA were prepping for a technical run through. From 4-5pm, production teams then performed a dress rehearsal for their fellow production teams before they all ate dinner, applied makeup, and the house opened. The first performance ran on Saturday, October 27 from 7:30-8:30pm—only about 24 hours after playwrights began writing the scripts the night before—and the second performance was from 9-10pm. Each performance was followed by an audience question and answer session moderated by playwright Greta Gebhard. All in all, the productions were a huge success! Congratulations to the STA, playwrights, actors, and technicians on another great set of productions!

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On October 19, Kelly Loosli attended a conference sponsored by the Church Public Affairs Department titled “Building Bridges in Entertainment” at DreamWorks Studio in Burbank, CA.  Matt Ball, a TMA alum, is currently head of the Southwest Region of Church Public Affairs and organized the event, drawing upon members of the church from the top echelons of the entertainment industry to present about the industry to government consulate representatives from around the world who are interested in growing this industry in their home countries.   Several panels of producers, attorneys, new media, and other groups presented to the consulates. Both Matt Janzen (VP at Lionsgate) and producer Gerald Mullen participated.  Kelly organized and presented with a panel of LDS animators, Brandon Sawyer (Writer, Show runner, bishopric member, and media arts alum), Ken Daurino (writer, producer of many animated features, including Despicable Me, and LDS convert), and Glenn Harmon (Animation alum, “Pajama Gladiator,” storyboard artist at DreamWorks).  The purpose of the conference was “to establish or strengthen relationships with Consuls General; those diplomats responsible for effecting visas to our worldwide missionary force.  This event was developed as a way to get closer to our Consuls General and say ‘thank you’ to them for all of the visa work they do for us as a Church.  Our ‘thank you’ came in concert with the chance to fulfill their business needs as a diplomat.  The objective was to create an event which would bring Consuls General and the Diplomatic Corps together in California by appealing to one of their main business objectives for being posted here: to discover, create or inspire international business opportunities for them.  The goal was to paint a picture of how to create business opportunities for the diplomats’ international countrymen within the entertainment industry.”  Kelly pointed out that, “As a result of this event, the church now has good contact information for more than 60 consulates, and personal business cards for more than 50 diplomats. They were also able to have face-to-face interaction with many countries (such as China) that rarely attend events.”

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George Nelson traveled to Poland last week to give the keynote address at a conference on the re-socialization of criminal offenders at the University of Copernicus in Toruń. His address was entitled, “What Separates Us from the Criminals We Incarcerate?”  The International Scientific Conference took place last Friday and Saturday, October 26 & 27, and explored the multidimensionality of prevention and re-socialization in prison populations.  George has worked with various entities in Poland on learning styles, training educators and prison administrators in teaching non-traditional learners for the past nine years.  In addition to the keynote speech, George taught a workshop to PhD students on the same subject.

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Several intriguing mysteries materialized during the opening weekend of MouseTrap,  directed by David Morgan.  Whose was that Alfred Hitchcock-like voice that welcomed us to the theatre?  How did they make snow come down outside the windows, and wind blow in when the windows opened?  The production featured a rich set, impressive sound design, and intriguing characters that made us laugh and spooked us at the same time.  A solid review can be accessed by clicking here. Discover why this play is the longest running show ever!!

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Alumni News

Last Thursday, October 25, both the theatre and media arts forums featured alums of our programs.  The media arts forum featured director Chantelle Squires (Media Arts 2004) and writer Melissa Leilani Larson (English 1998) who spoke about the process of creating Jane and Emma, a recently released feature film that focuses on one of the first black converts to the church, Jane Manning, and her relationship with Emma Smith and the church.  The theatre forum featured La Donna Forsgren, a graduate of the TMA master’s program (2005) who is currently a theatre tenure-track professor at Notre Dame.

Melissa Leilani Larson

Chantelle Squires

Media arts students met in F-201 where Chantelle and Melissa discussed the making of the film.  They showed a short clip, and talked about their discussions during development about whether or not they would get into the practice of polygamy prevalent in the early church.  Instead, they decided to focus more on telling the story through women’s perspectives.  Melissa, the writer, worked to get things as historically accurate as possible, even though information on the night after Joseph’s martyrdom was scarce.  This was a beautiful film in which LDS female artists worked to tell LDS women’s stories.  There were about 75-80 students who attended. After Chantelle and Melissa’s presentation, they opened up the floor to a Q&A.

La Donna Forsgren spoke at the same hour in the Nelke Theatre to about fifty theatre faculty and students.  After graduating with her MA from BYU, La Donna went on to receive her PhD from Northwestern University and is now teaching at Notre Dame, currently writing a book about constructing an oral history of the black arts movement in theatre and performance.  She is a playwright, dramaturg, theatre historian, and also has four children.  La Donna was able to speak about some of the challenges she faced and the strength she received from her beliefs—particularly how the Lord helped her accomplish some seemingly insurmountable tasks along the way.  In addition to the forum, La Donna presented a guest lecture on approaches to dramaturgy and race and led a graduate seminar on the Black Arts Movement before a lunch conversation with theatre students on Friday.

We are so grateful to our alums who are willing to come and share their expertise with our students!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Department News 04-24-17

Two of our colleagues received some great news this week.  Prof. Julia Ashworth received word that she has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and also been granted Continuing Faculty Status.  Dr. Megan Sanborn Jones received word that she has been promoted to the rank of Professor.  Both promotions are well deserved. Julia and Megan make significant contributions to our department, college, and university, and also to their respective fields. We are lucky to have them among us. Congratulations to them both!

 

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Congratulations to the following TMA students who will be interning this summer at the following companies. Each of these students has received a grant from the university’s student experiential learning funds.

Jacob Baird (BFA Acting)– Sundance Summer Theatre
Stephen Moore (BFA Acting) – American Conservatory Theatre
Courtney Miller (Theatre Education) – Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Jared Wilkinson (Media Arts) – Producers Guild of America
Ian Hawkes (Media Arts) – Tinder Transmedia
McKinley Stauffer (Media Arts) – NFL Films
Emma Meurs (Media Arts) – Arts + Labor

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Brad Barber was invited to be on the jury for the Inspiration Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina (April 6-9), serving with Jan Krawitz from Stanford University and Sarah Masters from Good Pitch.  This is one of Brad’s favorite festivals, having attended there multiple years with students in the past as part of the festival’s “Film Fellows” program, so he was excited to attend in this capacity.  He saw around 25 documentaries, as well as attended panel discussions with D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, Steve James, and others.

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On Friday, April 14, representatives from Nickelodeon (also known as Nick), the basic cable and satellite television network that specializes in children’s programming, visited campus to encourage students to apply for Nickelodeon internships.  The head (and assistant head) of Nick talent outreach came, as did three former Nick interns.  Two alums of the Nick writing internship program—Gabe Garza and Jonathan Butler—met with and talked to TMA writers, while a former Nick storyboard artist addressed animators. Garza and Butler are currently creating and producing DC’s new The Flash series for the television production company CW.  Applications and instructions for internships can be found at the Nick website here. Our TMA 341 class (Darl Larsen’s section) preps students to apply for the writing internship application every year; Kelly Loosli works with animators who are interested in applying for the Nick artist’s program.

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Did you notice that one of our theatre arts studies minors made Y News this week?  Erin Kaseda, a neuroscience major who is also minoring in theatre arts studies and psychology, was one of only three students worldwide (and the only undergraduate student) to receive the MacLean Scholar Award, which was awarded for her outstanding research in “examin[ing] the differences in how ambivalent and supportive spouses react neurologically to a conflict task, and …look[ing] at the specific neurological pathways by which these relationships may impact health.”  To read the whole article, go here. Our multi-talented students have gifts in many areas!

_RE_6763 1704-02 Erin Kasada and Brain April 3, 2017 Photography by Nate Edwards/BYU © BYU PHOTO 2016 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322

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Animation alum Glenn Harmon (2008, director of “Pajama Gladiator”) started working on the animated film, Boss Baby, over three years ago as a Story Artist.  He was part of the original crew and was the very last story artist on the movie.  In his own words, Glenn says, “A couple of months ago, I got a call from my producer to tell me that they were going to use a line that I had recorded for scratch as the voice of the airport announcer!  It was so cool!  I loved hearing my voice in the actual movie.  So, by the end of my time on that movie, I had three credits.  1) Story Artist 2) End Title Design and 3) Airport Announcer.  It’s been a real career high for me and I’ve been very pleased that it has been the #1 movie for two weeks now.”  Glenn is currently directing an animated TV show.  He says, “I am learning a lot since TV is quite a bit different from Feature.  There are more restrictions and the pace is much faster, but it is pretty awesome to make a decision and go straight forward.”  If you see Boss Baby, look for the shout out to Glenn’s alma mater in the credits—it’s the “Y” circled below in yellow.

Below:  Glenn with the Student Academy Award for “Pajama Gladiators” in 2008

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Department News 04-17-17

Congratulations to the following students who were honored last Thursday, April 13, at the Media Arts Student Awards Celebration.  Each of these students received a scholarship ranging from $100 – $1000.  The media arts faculty announced a new scholarship, the Women in Film Award, in honor of Sharon Swenson, who will be retiring from BYU in August. Professor Swenson presented the first recipients of these scholarships at the celebration to three female media arts students.  Many thanks to Kyle Stapley for arranging for the celebration.

Mayhew Awards
Short Screenplay
1st Place – Thorn, Thank You for Coming, written by Matt Siemers
2nd Place – To Have and To Hold, written by Ian David Hawkes

Feature Length Screenplay
1st Place – Reality Check, written by Alexis Kaegi
2nd Place – Alish and the Otherworld, written by Malori Bigler

Media Arts Fiction
James Hall
Stephen Olsen
Westin Cross
Brett Caulkins
Michael Comp
Kent Thalman
Anna Thalman
Lauren VanDerwerken
Erin Willmore
Michelle Giogllio
Emma Meurs
Emma Lynn
Jessica Cahill
Sariah May
Dhane Taylor

Media Arts Non-Fiction
Stephanie Cook
Sam Woodruff

Media Arts Critical Studies
Mark Leavy
Jeff Hein
Hadley Holyoak

Media Arts Writing
Marshall Davis
Max Dearden
Hannah Harper

Animation “You’ve Done Good Award”
Hannah Carver

Media Arts TA/Employees
TAs:
David Heath
Elise Moulton
Tree Yager
Jessica Cahill
Cameron Babcock
Emma Lynn
Malori Bigler
Hannah Salvesen(Harper?)
Sariah May
Colton Elzey
Helen Butcher
Hadley Holyoak
Rachel Lawyer
Emily Bade
Mark Leavy
Shelley Rose
Aaron Fisher
Nathanial King
Ben Haskin
Ian Hawkes
Sam Woodruff

MAL
Melissa Young
Aurelia Collins
Jase VanMeetren
Lauren VanDerwerken
Stephanie Bogdan
Dhane Taylor
Brenna Empey
Jordan Saltmarsh
Emma Meurs
Mitchell Dunn
Taylor Davis
Ammon Miller
Oscar Jimenez
Caitlin Stratton
Peter Walton

Outstanding TMA Office Employee
Mellissa Muir

Women in Film Award 
Emily Bade
Morgan Akana
Elise Moulton

Outstanding Student Awards 
Mallory Bigler
Helen Butcher
Alexis Romaro
Cameron Babcock
Ian Hawkes
Matt Siemers
Lindsey Kampenhout
Shelly Rose

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Here are two interesting end-of-semester class performances that are open to all TMA students and faculty this week:

TMA 315R, Long Form Improv, taught by Patrick Livingston, will have their final performance (open to the public) on Wednesday, April 19, at 7pm in the Nelke. The actors will choose teams and a performance style (noir, sci-fi-fi, romantic comedy, etc.) out of a hat and then improvise a 45-minute play using the theme.

TMA 301, Contemporary Performance Practices, taught by Lindsay Livingston, will perform a devised piece on Friday, April 21, at 7:30 pm in the Nelke. For this project, members of the class interviewed many students across campus, asking the question, “What do you wish you could say but can’t?” They then took these interviews and, using contemporary performance techniques such as physical theatre, integrative technology, and community-based theatre, devised a fully original production. Revealing some of what we think and what we decide to leave unsaid, this production invites the audience to engage with the performers in unique and exciting ways.

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The U.S. premier of Chariots of Fire, directed by Tim Threlfall, closed the evening of Saturday, April 15, 2017 after a run of 13 performances.  The show enjoyed very enthusiastic audiences, including LDS apostles Elder Quentin Cook and Elder Dallin Oaks.  Often play scripts are rewritten for the screen, but in this unusual situation, a screen play was rewritten for the stage. The production introduced several innovative concepts.  For instance, audiences had the option of sitting on the bleachers on stage, playing the audiences at the 1924 Olympics. Actors had to be athletes as well as dancers with some of the iconic slow motion scenes of the film choreographed for the stage instead, with stunning results.  The track extended into the audience and was used as track, stage, and other scene locations.  A new character was introduced to the play that was entirely absent in the film: Florence MacKenzie, the Canadian woman who proposed the solution for Eric Liddell’s dilemma at the Paris Olympics, and who became Liddell’s wife.  Dramaturg Shelley Graham found connections with BYU’s 1948 Olympic participant Clarence Robison, whose Olympic Jersey was part of the dramaturgy display.  Kudos to cast, crew, designers, and all those who contributed to this outstanding and inspiring production.

_E1_8435 Peter Lambert as Eric Liddell in BYU’s upcoming production of Chariots of Fire 1703-06 Chariots of Fire Play December 9, 2016 Photography by Nate Edwards/BYU © BYU PHOTO 2016 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322

_E1_8538 Peter Lambert (L) as Eric Liddell and Alex Diaz as Harold Abrahams in BYU’s upcoming production of Chariots of Fire 1703-06 Chariots of Fire Play December 9, 2016 Photography by Nate Edwards/BYU © BYU PHOTO 2016 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322

_E1_8701 Meg Flinders (L) as Sybil and Alex Diaz as Harold Abrahams in BYU’s upcoming production of Chariots of Fire 1703-06 Chariots of Fire Play December 9, 2016 Photography by Nate Edwards/BYU © BYU PHOTO 2016 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322

_E1_8847 Stephen Moore (L) as Sam Mussabini and Alex Diaz as Harold Abrahams in BYU’s upcoming production of Chariots of Fire 1703-06 Chariots of Fire Play December 9, 2016 Photography by Nate Edwards/BYU © BYU PHOTO 2016 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322

_E1_9075 Stephen Moore (L) as Sam Mussabini, Peter Lambert as Eric Liddell, Alex Diaz as Harold Abrahams, and Meg Flinders as Sybil in BYU’s upcoming production of Chariots of Fire 1703-06 Chariots of Fire Play December 9, 2016 Photography by Nate Edwards/BYU © BYU PHOTO 2016 All Rights Reserved photo@byu.edu (801)422-7322

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This week, BFA faulty member, Adam Houghton, is performing in a production of A Number at the Coleman Theatre in the St. Benedicta Arts Center, which is part of the College of St. Benedicta in St. Joseph, MN.  From the St Benedicta College/St. Joseph’s University website, “A Number tackles profound questions of identity and notions of ‘self’ as it unknots the tangled story between a father and son. Forty years ago Salter’s life hits rock bottom. He needed to change the way he lived and the way he was raising his son, Bernard. But Bernard had been so neglected that he was out of control and no longer the beautiful baby Salter remembered. Salter’s solution was to have the boy cloned and give the original son to the state. Salter raised the clone in idyllic conditions.  Fast forward to the present day and Salter’s clone is a grown man. Disturbing hospital records reveal that not only is he a clone but he is just one among ‘a number’ of clones that were secretly made. Now the son confronts his father about the truth of his past and his identity.  Tom Darnall plays the father, Salter; Adam Houghton plays the son and clones, Bernard 1, Bernard 2, and Michael Black.”  Break a leg, Adam!

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Department News 04-10-17

The Crucible, directed by David Morgan, closed this past weekend. Kudos to all those involved in this outstanding production. This is the last week of the run of Chariots of Fire, directed by Tim Threlfall. The production pays homage to the original 1981 film but is also an incredibly original work that inspires the audience with the ideals and characters it portrays. Tickets still available for purchase here!

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We congratulate the following Media Arts Outstanding Student finalists who will be recognized this upcoming Thursday at the Media Arts Student Celebration at 11 am in F-201: Mallory Bigler, Helen Butcher, Alexis Romero, Cameron Babcock, Ian Hawkes, Matt Siemers, Lindsay Kampenhout, Shelly Rose.  Many other outstanding students will be recognized and awarded scholarships on Thursday.

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Last Thursday, April 6, close to 200 theatre students and faculty attended the end-of-year Theatre Student Celebration.  Awards were given by each of the programs and the department also recognized seven outstanding students.  Donnette Perkins, the Costume Shop Manager who is retiring in June, was honored for the tremendous job she has done.  Wade Hollingshaus, the chair, honored our two newest faculty members, Adam Houghton and Dennis Wright.  We appreciate the good work of Lindsi Neilson and the TMA office student staff in helping with this event.  Here are the students who were recognized.

Outstanding Student Award Winners

Jessa Cunningham	Outstanding Dramaturgy Student
Camilla Hodgsen	Outstanding Theatre Education Student
Bradlee Hager	O. Lee Walker Outstanding Technical Designer
Cortnie Beatty	O. Lee Walker Outstanding Costume Techinician
Jacob Baird	Outstanding Acting Student Award
Jean Yellowhorse	Outstanding Directing Student Award ~ Fall
Jana Wilhite	Outstanding Directing Student Award ~ Winter
Cassie Austin	Outstanding MDT Student Award
Melissa Muir	Outstanding Office Employee
Brittni Henretty	Outstanding Playwriting Student Award
Susan Kupferer	Outstanding Stage Management Student Award
MK Park	Outstanding Stage Management Student Award
Julianne Francisco	Outstanding Stage Management Student Award
Aubree Lyman	Outstanding Theatre Critical Studies Student
Kristin Perkins	Outstanding Theatre Student

Other Award Winners

Juliette Lewis	Excellence in Costuming Design
Marneé Porter	Excellence in Makeup Design
Michaela Fordham	Excellence in Makeup Execution
Andrew Justvig	Mayhew Playwriting Honorable Mention for Full-length Play
Kristin Perkins	Mayhew Playwriting Award Best Working Playwright
Brittni Henretty	Mayhew Playwriting Award Best Overall Play
Jessica Holcombe	Mayhew Playwriting 10-Minute Play Honorable Mention
Cali Holcombe	Outstanding Theatre Student Finalist
Kooper Campbell	Outstanding Theatre Student Finalist
Camilla Hodgson	Outstanding Theatre Student Finalist
Spencer Duncan	Outstanding Theatre Student Runner Up
Bradlee Hager	Outstanding Theatre Student Runner Up

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Congratulations to Nick Mendoza, Ken Crossley, and their team in Marketing who just received a Grand Gold Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VII for the Theatre Main Stage posters for the 2016-17 season.  The CASE website explains that, “Grand Gold Awards are presented to truly exemplary Awards of Excellence submissions. Within each broad division of the awards competition, the gold awards from the specific categories are judged against each other, and the judges from each division may award one Grand Gold Award if they find an entry to be exceptional. Not every division will award a Grand Gold Award every year.”  Receiving a Grand Gold means that the poster designs are eligible to compete at the national level during the coming year.  Nick Mendoza makes sure the best CFAC designs produced by our marketing office are entered into the appropriate competitions so that others in the region can see the good work we do here at BYU.  Andrew Galloway (BFA graphic design ‘16) was the student designer who worked on the designs, with Nick Mendoza serving as the art director. They both worked with TMA’s Artistic Director, Megan Sanborn Jones, on the concept for the posters. The BYU Arts brochure and the BYU Jazz Ensemble “Un-common Variety Show” poster were also recognized and won Silver Awards.

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Divine Comedy’s “Best of Show” performed this past weekend in the JSB Auditorium.  With guest Tori Pence, the troupe performed favorite sketches from the earlier shows this semester, “BYUty and the Beast” and “LA LA Land.”   Tori and two current DC members, Dalton Johnson and Aaron Fielding, have signed on with Studio C.  They have been involved with writing and making guest appearances.  The artistic director of the current DC group is a DC alum, Kenny Baldwin, and their production manager is also an alum, Bryson Frehner.  The presidency of the group includes Aaron Fielding, Alena Helzer, and Addison Jenkins, with George Nelson as the faculty liaison.  This past year, Divine Comedy has added a media team to the DC organization, which has helped them release five new videos throughout the year.  The media team includes media arts students Tom Hartvigsen, Cameron Babcock, Colton Elzey, Kayla Gough, Skyler Sorensen, Kaden Watson, and Melissa Young.

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Department News 04-03-17

With Tim Threlfall being instrumental in getting five new works premiering on BYU stages in the past five years, he has now added a sixth.  The U.S. premiere of Chariots of Fire, directed by Tim Threlfall, opened on Friday, March 31.   Tim saw the show in 2012 during the London Olympics and called Jeff Martin who worked 5 years to get clearance to perform the work on the BYU Main Stage Season.  Doug Ellis, a professional scenic designer who has worked at BYU, created the unique set that includes bleachers onstage and a track running through the audience.  From the iconic Vangelis music of the 1981 film to several unconventional conventions, this is a production the whole family will enjoy!  The college hosted about forty members of the College Leadership Council opening night, with Wade Hollingshaus and Tim Threlfall welcoming them to the production.  We appreciate all those involved with this outstanding production, including all who spent extra hours, including lighting design by Michael Kraczek (with over 200 lighting cues!), costume design by Dennis Wright, hair and makeup design by student Marneé Porter, sound design and original score by Daniel Nash, dramaturgy done by Shelley Graham, stage management by Lindsi Neilson, music direction by Korianne Orton Johnson, and choreography by Becky Wright Phillips.

Here are some local and regional news stories on the production.

• Provo Daily Herald: http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/arts-and-theater/theater/byu-bursts-out-of-blocks-with-u-s-premiere-of/article_8991ce3c-7bf4-572f-8434-583226a827d5.html
• The Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/home/5112336-155/running-for-stage-glory-as-byu
• Utah Valley 360:  http://utahvalley360.com/2017/03/30/byu-premiere-of-chariots-of-fire/
• Broadway World, Salt Lake City:  http://www.broadwayworld.com/salt-lake-city/article/CHARIOTS-OF-FIRE-to-Make-US-Premiere-at-BYU-20170323
• BYU News
• http://news.byu.edu/news/byu-theatre-produce-us-stage-premiere-academy-award-winning-film-chariots-fire-march-2017
• http://news.byu.edu/news/chariots-fire
• http://news.byu.edu/news/behind-scenes-chariots-fire-us-premiere-stage-design

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This week is the last week that you’ll be able to see The Crucible, directed by David Morgan.  The play’s dramaturgs, Amanda Alley and her assistant, Kristin Perkins, have written some excellent articles in the Fourth Wall blog that include a brief history of the Salem witch trial and the Red Scare of the 1940’s and 50’s with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).  To read more, go here: http://4thwalldramaturgy.byu.edu/category/crucible Tickets are sold out, but standby tickets are offered at the door immediately prior to the start of the performance.  Here is a link that explains how to get standby tickets: http://arts.byu.edu/2017/03/standby-tickets-for-the-crucible/

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Last week’s forums included the following topics.

• In the media arts forum, Dean Duncan lead a conversation on the book media arts student received for Christmas:  Robert Bresson’s Notes on the Cinematograph.
• The theatre forum in the Nelke, hosted by Megan Sanborn Jones, included seven reports from apprentices who served in the production shops this semester.
• The theatre forum in B-201 focused on all BFA majors and “preemies” (BFA Acting pre-majors).  Hosted by the BFA Acting faculty, Stephanie Breinholt, Adam Houghton, and David Morgan, pre-majors and majors were reminded of the requirements and opportunities in the BFA Acting program.

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Alumni News

Appearing on the front page of last week’s March 27 Shoot online (the digital version of Shoot magazine, a well-known trade publication since 1960) is a spotlight on media arts alum Cole Webley, the director of the noteworthy 84 Lumber’s ad during the Superbowl. Read the article, which quotes Webley on his experiences in making the commercial and some of his upcoming projects, here.

TMA recent graduate Dan Smith was just nominated for a Daytime Emmy as part of the team for Outstanding Sound Editing in Animation for Dragons: Race to the Edge, a Netflix/Dreamworks Animation.  The Sound Supervisor was Otis Van Osten, the Sound Editor was Josh Johnson, the Dialogue Editor was Jason Oliver, and the Foley Editor was Dan Smith.  Full list of Daytime Emmy nominations here. Winners will be announced on April 30.  Dan currently works for Warner Bros. Studios in L.A.

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Department News 03-27-17

The Crucible, directed by David Morgan, opened last Friday in the Margetts.  The script, which won a Tony Award for the Best Play in 1953, is considered one of the “central works in the canon of American drama.” (Wikipedia) One of the most widely produced texts (on stage, screen, television, and even as an opera), in the current BYU version, the director has chosen a very stylized interpretation using character masks, which provide the audience with a unique experience.   From the dramaturg’s note in the program, ”[The director’s] goal is to help the audience understand the layers and masks that people—specifically the Puritan characters in this show—use to hide their true selves. . . .The truth is beneath the mask.”  This is a unique and strong interpretation of a classic script; you will not be disappointed! For tickets go here.

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Last week in the TMA department, two forums were hosted – one for the theatre students and one for the media arts students. Details of these two events are below.

The Theatre Education program hosted the theatre forum last week in response to a request from their students about how to better balance the rigorous demands on their time.  Knowing the challenges all theatre students face with time management, juggling school, jobs, and productions, the theatre education area invited Melanie Tidwell, author of the book, Sacred Soul-Space: Making Room in Your Life for What You Have to Offer this World, to share some ideas on how to find better life-balance. Melanie shared many amazing ideas about differently strategies to help with more mindful life balance.  About 45 people attended the forum.  We appreciate the theatre education area faculty, Julia Ashworth, Amy Jensen, Teresa Love, Carrie Lopez, and Shawnda Moss for their work in responding to students’ needs.

On Thursday, March 23, the Media Arts and Animation programs held a screening of the Documentary, Modifying Reality. The documentary follows a group of animation students who are trying to complete their senior film in hopes to meet the expectations of the award-winning films from the students who preceded them. The film also explores the BYU Center for Animation and how it has developed talented and marketable students. The film was directed by media arts alumni Jared Jakins and produced by Cassie Hyatt and Caitlin Stratton. Tom Lefler was the faculty mentor on the project. The film screened to a full house and included a Q&A with the film team in which the audience and team discussed the subject of the film.

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Congratulations to the following students who are finalists for the Outstanding Theatre Student awards: Kooper Campbell (BFA MDT), Cali Holcombe (Theatre Arts Studies, Design Tech), Bradlee Hager (Theatre Arts Studies, Design Tech), Camilla Hodgson (Theatre Education), Spencer Duncan (Theatre Education), Kristin Perkins (Theatre Arts General Studies).  The winning students will be announced in the Theatre Student Celebration on Thursday, April 6, at 11 am in the Nelke Theatre.

We’d also like to recognize the following milestones for these students.

• Bradlee Hager will be attending University of North Carolina School of the Arts in the MFA Stage Automation program.
• Kristin Perkins has been accepted into University of Texas at Austin’s graduate program in Performance as Public Practice.

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Alumni News

Three TMA graduates, two from theatre arts studies and one from media arts, have re-teamed to create a video series, Splitting the Sky, which will release a new video from its series every Wednesday on Youtube for the next six months. “The videos explore individual women discovering who they are, developing their relationship with God and coming to terms with their unanswered questions.”  Anna Hargadon Peterson (2012), Amber Richardson (2013), and Camlyn Giddins (2016) originally teamed up in 2013, developing stories about women in church history for “Women of Faith.” After Camlyn’s mission, the three reconnected to develop Splitting the Sky.  To read more about the project and where to watch the series, go to http://utahvalley360.com/2017/03/26/lds-women-seek-answers-ambiguous-role-mormon-women-video-series/

Media arts alum, Cole Webley (2007) was the director of one of the most noteworthy SuperBowl 2017 ads, the one for 84 Lumber.  Here is a link to the short form of the ad and the long form. Below is a short interview with the director, Cole:

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Department News 03-20-17

For never having wanted to teach at BYU, Sharon Swenson, has been more than faithful commuting to the institution and fostering the critical thinking of our students for 29 years.  Last Thursday, in a combined theatre and media arts forum, Sharon packed F-201 with students and faculty who gratefully acknowledged an individual who has continually advocated for film, incorporating critical theory into production, and women’s voices in the medium.  From only a few faculty members, Sharon helped shepherd the program to 9 ½ full-time faculty plus two FT administrators.  She went through each faculty member and reminded us of some of their early films and impact, including Tom Lefler’s astute observation of her that “she’ll look outside the fences, but she’ll stay within the bounds.”  Some of her favorite experiences while she’s been here have been the chance to work with students who create film.  Sharon shared a few personally transformative moments, including clips of Matt Whitaker’s “Edges” (with then student Aaron Eckhart), Steve Olpin’s “Potter’s Meal,” and several others, ending with a lovely clip from Enchanted April. In closing, Sharon thanked her students for sharing with her the range and variety of ways they express themselves and their ideas for these past almost 30 years.

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Since its release on March 13th, Vocal Point’s Beauty and the Beast video, directed and produced by Jeff Parkin and produced and edited by Jared Cardon, has been featured in numerous large online publications, including the Huffington Post, the Daily Buzz, Cosmopolitan and London’s Daily Mail. As of Monday afternoon, the video has over 650,000 views.  Filmed at Wadley Farms Castle in Lindon, Utah, featuring Lexi Walker, Vocal Point, and BYU Ballroom Dancers, many media arts and TMA design students and alums also participated behind the scenes.  A complete list of credits is available on Youtube below the video:

VIDEO CREDITS

Directed and produced by Jeff Parkin
Produced and edited by Jared Cardon
Associate producer/1stAD:  Babetta Kelly
2nd AC:  Colton Elzey
Camera PAs: Aaron Hinton, Ben Haskin
Gaffer:  Spencer Scanlon
MoVI Operator:  Sean Slobodan
Jib Operator:  Matt Siemers
Grips: Pepé Callejas, Jeffrey Hein
2nd 2nd AD: William Knowles
Production Designer: Kayla Doyle
Art Assistant: Isaac Wright
Wardrobe Assistant: Abbie Vance
Key Hair & Makeup: Michaela Fordham
Hair & Makeup Assistants: Sarah Bult, Marnee Porter
Assistant to the Director: Barrett Burgin
Production Assistants: Tabitha Brower, Elizabeth Elieson, Keith Grover
VP Stage Manager: Caitlin Black

 

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The 57^th annual United States Institute of Theatre and Technology (USITT) Conference was held the second week of March in St. Louis, MO.  Faculty members Michael Kraczek and Rory Scanlon attended, along with three student designers:  Bradlee Hagar, Lizzie Michelson, and Ming Xiao (Michelle) Wang.  Travis Coyne from Arts Production also attended.  The students attended sessions, checked out grad schools, and interviewed for internships.  Michael was the chair and host for the Modernizing Lighting Education session, a 75-minute discussion on helping students (and educators) navigate the quantity of new technology available in the field of lighting design.  Members of Michael’s panel included Anne Militello from CalArts, Mary Geiger from NYU Tisch, and Rob Thompson from Carnegie Mellon.  Rory Scanlon found the annual conference “was a great time to meet colleagues, run into former students and rebuild one’s approach to what we do. It was particularly valuable to attend panel discussions with professionals who addressed their processes and successes, and who graciously offered assistance to any students who would contact them. Seeing our students sitting at the feet of some of the leaders in our field was very rewarding.”

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On Saturday, March 11, many of our make-up and theatre students participated in the Winter Semester “Disaster Day,” also known as an “MCI” or “Mass Casuality Incident,” where students in the College of Nursing and the University Emergency Medical Services practice dealing with a major disaster.   The scenario this time around: A deranged terrorist has driven a large truck across campus during a time of busy foot traffic, such as in between classes, using the vehicle as a weapon to harm the crowds. The terrorist started from the parking lot east of the HFAC and drove across the campus sidewalks and continued to the campus road near the JKB and ASB to make an escape. When EMS/Nursing arrives, they find victims strewn about the sidewalks, many with serious traumatic injuries.  Our make-up students had a chance to practice their “grossies and gories” makeup techniques, and EMS personnel got to practice responding to a disaster situation.  Student makeup artists applied wounds to 100 volunteer victims in 3 hours. Each volunteer signed up for his/her own specific injury (i.e., “compound radius fracture”) and/or role (for instance, “Desperate friend, will not leave injured friend, will not listen to emergency staff.”)  Student makeup artists included Shelby Re Renshaw, Colleen Ackerman, Jacey Gardner, Sarah Bult, Jenna Coy, Marnee’ Porter, Harli McShinsky, Sheridan Sheperd, Cristin Blankenship, Courteney Shipley, Karrica Egbert and Michaela Fordham.   In addition to last week’s disaster day, our students were also able to participate in another training event for the UVRMC Trauma Unit at the ER on March 18^th.  Students applied full trauma wound makeup for 2 car accidents and 2 construction injuries to 4 victims. The makeup artists were Colleen Ackerman, Harli McShinsky, Cristin Blankenship, Sheridan Sheperd, Sarah Bult, Olivia Johnson, Juliette Lewis and Astrid Melendez. The four victims were played by students as well: Tim Ballard, Kailey Ganevsky, Arianna Krenk and Kooper Campbell.  Much appreciation to Jennine Hollingshaus and Kathy Lynch who spearheaded organizing the volunteers for these events.  For more graphic photos of the fake wounds, go here.

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Department News 03-13-17

Last Wednesday, Julia Ashworth was recognized with a faculty award and a Good Samaritan Grant at the University Accessibility Center (UAC) banquet. The award comes as a result of her direction of The Taste of Sunrise in winter 2016. The funding will come back to the department through the college. The play is the story of a young Deaf man named Tuc who narrates his coming of age autobiography and his struggles navigating a hearing world. Despite having no connection to the Deaf community or knowledge of ASL, Professor Ashworth was willing to undertake the challenge of not only directing a show with a majority of the lines in a different language; but she was fully committed to working with Deaf actors from the university in order to make sure that the story was told accurately and appropriately. Professor Ashworth made a point to cast Deaf students and alumni in the play, including the lead role of Tuc. Additionally, she drew on the knowledge and support of the Deaf and hard of hearing cast members, as well as outside community members in order to make the play completely accessible for both a hearing and Deaf audience. Additionally, she made an effort to use her cast members and student Dramaturge to reach out to the local Deaf community by not only inviting them to attend the show, but also to include many of them in the lobby display where many of them were able to tell their stories of joining the Deaf community and having access to American Sign Language. During the run of the show, Professor Ashworth hosted a conference during the run of the show that focused on inclusive theatre and attended a national theatre conference where she presented on incorporating shadow signers into productions as well as being inclusive of all races, genders, and abilities in the theatre process. As an added bonus, Ben Featherstone, who played the lead in The Taste of Sunrise with no prior acting experience, won the region 8 Irene Ryan audition and will be traveling to nationals in April.

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Congratulations to Brad Barber and Benjamin Thevenin for receiving significant grants from the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration on their current projects.  Brad received mentored collaboration funding for States of America, a project similar to Beehives Stories, except he is making 5-minute docs on each of the 50 United States, mentoring students on each episode.  Brad has also received support for this project from Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP).  Benjamin Thevenin received funding for Dark Ride Disneyland, known earlier as Deconstructing Disneyland, which is an “immersive mobile app (Augmented Reality Game or ARG) that encourages users to critically engage with the popular theme park, expanding their media literacy skills while enhancing their Disney experience.”

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Last Thursday, The Student Theatre Association hosted a joint forum in the Nelke for both theatre and media arts students featuring a panel of faculty members, discussing similarities and differences between working in theatre and film.  The adept moderator of the panel was TAS senior, Kristin Perkins, with panelists Wade Hollingshaus, Tom Russell, Sharon Swenson, Dennis Wright and Jennine Hollingshaus.  Each panelist discussed the topic through the lens of his/her discipline.  Wade talked about how both film and theatre tell a story, each work through a different aesthetic, creating stories that are thought about in vastly different ways, depending on the medium. Sharon Swenson pointed out that though theatre is the mother art and there are many similar connections, the engagement with audience is very different. Live theatre usually brings out an immediate engagement with the audience, while film viewing can be more passive in the moment.  Tom Russell felt that film can actually be more literary than theatre, because the text stays the same from viewing to viewing. He also felt a film director has to see a lot of theatre to be a successful.  Jennine Hollingshaus pointed out that there are many similarities in hair, makeup and costume design principles between the two mediums, but the difference is in the details.  Film has to be more detailed because of the capacity for close-ups.  Lots of self-taught designers can function in the professional world, but an education in these areas empowers a designer to create a character, not just an eyebrow.  Dennis Wright echoed the similarity of the principles in the two mediums. Film designers often have more time and money and have to be aware of continuity issues that are not as prominent in live theatre.  About fifty TMA students participated in the forum that engaged students and faculty in thinking about and discussing areas of common ground between stage and screen.

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This year’s Fulton applications for student projects, which came in on February 10th, were some of the most competitive we’ve seen to date. We had 25 students apply, with requests for funding ranging from Media arts Capstone projects, to student attendance at national conferences, to internships with some of the nation’s leading companies (including the NFL, DreamWorks, NBC, and Moxie Firecracker Films).  When deciding who gets funding, the Fulton Committee, chaired by Tom Lefler, carefully looks over each application and, with the help of the student’s faculty mentor and area, decide on who should receive funds. Those decisions are then reviewed by the TMA Executive Committee before students are notified.  In addition to Fulton funding, students are encouraged to appeal to their faculty mentors, to see if additional funding can be provided through their areas.  Students were notified of their awards last week. We appreciate the good work of the Fulton Committee this year in reviewing the applications and awarding these generously donated funds to deserving students.

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Last Friday, March 10, Dennis Wright hosted designer Denise Wallace-Spriggs, the resident costume crafts artisan from Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company for almost 30 years. Denise was the guest lecturer for TMA 468R (Specialty Costumes), spoke to the TMA 259 (Principles of Design) class,  and gave an invited workshop class in the evening from 5:00 – 7:00pm for several of our Design and Tech students. She taught techniques for creating armor and jewelry as well as discussed her years of costume crafts experience. She also discussed her Instagram feed #ayearincraftlandia which covers all aspects of craft work for a professional theatre company. The students enjoyed her visit very much and got a chance to see new techniques as well as experiment with some new materials.

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Department News 03-06-17

The 2017 Writers Conference will take place May 17-20. Organized by Tom and Courtney Russell, students and alumni will join Media Arts faculty and special guests at the Timpanogos Lodge at Sundance for screenings, presentations, and discussions on writing for film, TV, and media.

The conference does require a fee. Because the conference is sponsored by the Theatre and Media Arts Department, TMA students will receive a subsidized fee. There is also an optional class students may register for (TMA 315R) which will include some of the registration fees as well. The fees are:

• TMA Students registered for TMA 315 Class: $75
• TMA Students Not registered for TMA 315 class: $175
• TMA Alumni: $250
• Non-TMA students/Alumni: $300

The conference is open to all BYU students and alumni, with current Media Arts students receiving priority. Second priority is given to animation and theater students; third priority is given to TMA alumni; final priority is given to BYU students and BYU alumni.

Due to the size of the lodge, we can only accept up to 60 students for overnight lodging (only current BYU students may lodge overnight) and a total of about 65 students for each day. The price for registration is the same whether or not the registrant opts for overnight lodging. Each day’s activities run from 9am to 9pm and all meals and snacks are provided.

Details and registration (open March 4th) are available at film.byu.edu/writersconference.

The weekend’s special guests include:

Michael Herbert “Mike” Schur (born October 29, 1975) is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels. He also co-created the FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and created the NBC comedy series The Good Place. Schur is also known for his small role on The Office as Mose Schrute, the cousin of Dwight Schrute. He has been married to J.J. Philbin since October 9, 2005. They have two children. Courtesy of http://www.imdb.com and Wikipedia.org.

Jonathan Krisel is an American director, producer, writer, editor, and occasional actor. He is best known for his work with the comedy duo Tim & Eric, having directed episodes of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule. Krisel has also directed and co-wrote every episode of Portlandia, as well as several SNL Digital Shorts. Courtesy of Wikipedia.org.

Director Rebecca Thomas’ first short film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. She went on to debut her first feature, Electrick Children, at SXSW and earned a spot on Variety’s “Top Ten New Directors to Watch in Hollywood” as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination. A graduate of Columbia University’s renowned School of the Arts Film Masters Program, Thomas is now attached to direct Looking for Alaska and the live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. She is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, and the youngest of 5 children. Courtesy of deadline.com.

Jared Hess was born on July 18, 1979 in Glendale, Arizona. He is a writer and director, known for Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Gentlemen Broncos (2009). He is married to Jerusha Hess. Jerusha Hess was born on July 12, 1980 in Olathe, Kansas. She is a writer and producer, known for Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Austenland (2013). They have one child. Courtesy of http://www.imdb.com.

BYU Media Arts alum, Drew Duncan, has written for Studio C and co-written with Jared and Jerusha Hess.

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Last Tuesday afternoon, media arts students were invited to attend a preview of the new Fox show, Making History, in the Nelke.  Guests at the screening included the creator and show runner Julius (Goldy) Sharp, and executive producer Jared Hess (media arts alum and director of Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, etc.).  The show premiered Sunday night at 8:30 pm on Fox with a respectable 2.19 million viewers, aimed at the 18-49 demographic.  Jared directed the first two episodes of the series, the ones previewed last Tuesday.  Over 100 media arts students attended, laughed a ton, and raved about what they saw.  In the Q&A after the screening, Julius and Jared fielded some thoughtful questions from the students about getting into the industry as a writer, overcoming fears of going from job to job, or managing a writers’ room. Julius shared some of his background writing for Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, The Cleveland show, Family Guy, and Dads.  Interestingly, Julius mentioned that one of his motivations for creating Making History was to write something that he could watch with his children and not be embarrassed by the content.

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Last Thursday, new faculty member Adam Houghton presented the final Faith and Works lecture sponsored by the College of Fine Arts and Communications.  Adam’s presentation was titled, “Genuine Experience Will Prove the Truth.”  Adam spoke about how he searches for truth as an actor and collaborator.  He doesn’t think colleagues need to have similar beliefs in order to work well together, but he is constantly working to stay open to the truth and looks for the same quality in those he collaborates with as well.  Adam shared some of the masks he has made and gave a short performance of an elderly man in one of the masks he created.  He has felt that paradoxically, rather than concealing the truth, masks have become a way of revealing the truth for him.  Adam’s transformation into the older gentleman was impressive!  For more background on Adam, go to http://cfac.byu.edu/college_10018/faith-and-works/

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The 16^th annual LDS Film Festival took place this past weekend at the Scera Theatre in Orem.  Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson’s award winning Peace Officer was screened, with “Dub” fielding questions after the screening.  The documentary film about the Animation program, Modifying Reality, directed by Jared Jakins also screened at the festival.  Jared observed, “The screening went quite well. It was nice to finally share our film with a general audience. It was particularly rewarding to see one of the subjects of our film (Danny Russon, Director of “Papa”) interact with the audience and share his experience of the animation program. It’s a small festival but the questions are lively and you never quite know what you might get asked.”  For a list of all winners, go to http://www.ldsfilmfestival.org/index.php?page=17_winners.

• Feature Film Audience Choice 3^rdplace:  Waffle Street by filmmaker Autumn McAlpin, with Steven A. Lee as Executive Producer
• Short Film Competition, 3^rdplace and Audience Choice Award: The High Road by filmmaker John Lyde, with TMA faculty member Stephanie Breinholt in the cast
• Short Film Competition, Audience Choice Award: Believe: The Michael Ethington Story by filmmaker Jake Featherstone,with media arts alum Sam Featherstone as the DP.
• Short Film Competition, Honorable Mention: Honorably Released by filmmaker Jessica Bowles, produced by Comms faculty member Quint Randle with media arts student Casey Treu in the cast
• Short Film Competition, Honorable Mention: Red Lopez by filmmakers Stephen Frandsen and Hadleigh Arnst, with BFA alumna Carli Hall in the cast.

  

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Media Arts Alumni News

Wearing a “Vote for Pedro” T-shirt from Napoleon Dynamite, Jon Heder recently urged the Utah legislature to offer tax incentives for films.  For more information, go here: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/jon-heder-urges-utah-legislature-offer-tax-credits-films-article-1.2987615

Rebecca Thomas, media arts alum and guest presenter at this year’s Writer’s Conference, has been chosen as one of Sundance’s 2017 FilmTwo Fellows.  The Sundance Institute helps guide “eleven filmmakers through the often-tricky process of making their second feature.” She is slated to direct Looking for Alaska and the live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. For more information go visit: http://deadline.com/2017/03/sundance-institute-2017-filmtwo-fellow-universal-straight-outta-compton-1202033084/

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