Gabi Campo ’18
BFA Musical Theater
West Side Story (Broadway)
Charlie
Franklin ’14
BFA Musical Theater
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (Broadway)
Celia Rose Gooding ’24
BFA Musical Theater
Jagged Little Pill (Broadway)
6 to Watch
Pace School of Performing Arts
Hayley Griffith ’16
BFA Acting
Satanic Panic (film)
Ashley Romans ’15
BA Theater Arts
NOS4A2 (television, AMC)
Rafael Silva ’17
BFA Acting for Film, Television, Voice-overs, and Commercials
9-1-1: Lonestar (television, Fox)
Talent File
Dream On, a screenplay by Lubin School of Business student Jacky Bethea ’22 and Brennan Conley ’24, majoring in digital cinema and filmmaking, was named a semifinalist for the 2019 Coca-Cola Regal Film contest, a student competition in which grand-prize winners receive a national screening of their film.
Chris Guerra ’09, BFA Musical Theater, was invited to join the Main Company at Los Angeles’s legendary Groundlings Theatre. As part of the select group, Guerra will create and perform in weekly sketch comedy shows. The Groundlings alumni include well-known comic talents Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig.
Fancy Maids by Harold Hodge Jr. ’18, BA Directing, was named “Outstanding Play” at the inaugural Rave Theater Festival in New York. Inspired by the #MeToo movement, the play examines the lives of black women in the pre-abolition North. Hodge also directed the festival performance.
Darriel Johnakin ’23 won Dance Spirit magazine’s 2019 Cover Model Search contest. A commercial dance major, Johnakin was featured on the magazine’s fall 2019 cover.
Kizzmett Pringle ’20, MFA Acting, was named a Princess Grace Foundation 2019 Theater Honoraria recipient. Established to honor the legacy of Grace Kelly, the foundation is dedicated to elevating emerging artists.
Actors Studio Drama School MFA Directing alumnus Danny Gorman ’15 directed the world premiere of Transformations. The theatrical event, scored by Ted Nash and curated by and starring the legendary Glenn Close, was staged at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Prior to working on Transfor- mations, Gorman was assistant director on Scotland, PA, a new musical staged at New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company and selected as a Critic’s Pick by The New York Times.
Being selected to become a Radio City Rockette has been a dream come true for Sydney Mesher ’19, BFA Commercial Dance. The honor is even more remarkable as she is the first professional dancer with a visible disability to join the world- famous group. “I credit a lot of my success to my experience at Pace,” she said. Born with a congenital condition that left her without a left hand, Mesher joined fellow Rockettes Elizabeth DuPont ’18, Emily King ’19, Kathleen Laituri ’18, Maile Makaafi ’19, Johanna Piper ’19, and Maddie Rodrigue ’18 for the 2019 Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
It was inspiring and informative for Pace students who heard directly from several well-known players in the worlds of film, television, and theater. In the fall, the Actors Studio Drama School welcomed Oscar and BAFTA winner for Best Actress Ellen Burstyn for a special segment of Inside the Actors Studio. She was joined by Actors Studio alumnus and co-president, screen legend Al Pacino. Additionally, the Pace School of Performing Arts Masters Series presented award-winning actress and author Candice Bergen, and Hawk Koch, producer, author, and former president of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild. Other guests included Hilary Leavitt ’10, BA Theater Arts/BA Film and Screen Studies, now working with Hulu to develop original content, and Christina Papagjika, a Tony and Olivier Award–winning producer of independent film and theater productions, including Kinky Boots and Lee Daniel’s The Butler.
In the spring, actress, comedian, and writer Rachel Dratch shared her experience in a virtual conversation with professor Jonathan Danziger’s television writing class.
Dratch is perhaps best known for her work on NBC’s long-running Saturday Night Live and her iconic “Debbie Downer” character.
“It was a great, candid, funny, freewheeling discussion,” said Danziger, clinical assistant professor in the film and screen studies department. “Many of my students are aspiring writers for film and television; I also get a lot of filmmakers, and a lot of actors, so they had questions from several different vantages—obstacles for women in comedy; what writers can do to make their scripts more actor-friendly; and what makes for a good Saturday Night Live host.”
Noteworthy Nominees
Victor Almanzar ’16, MFA Acting, was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, for his performance in Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis.
Actress and producer Kathleen Simmonds ’16, MFA Acting, served as line producer for the Emmy Award–nominated Netflix documentary Reversing Roe. The Break Thru Films production is a deep, unrestrained look at abortion and women’s rights in the US.
Affairs of the Arts
From September through May, the Pace University art scene came alive with new leadership and a calendar of exhibits and artist talks to showcase student and faculty work, and inspire creativity and self-expression.
September
Pace welcomes the first director of the art gallery at 41 Park Row, Clinical Assistant Professor Sarah Cunningham, an experienced arts administrator and educator with a vision to ignite engagement between artists and audiences.
November
Hidden Talents, presented in the Choate House Art Gallery on the Pleasantville campus, features the work of faculty, students and others.
2019
October
Jubilation Inflation showcases sculptor and performance artist Tamar Ettun’s commitment to movement and collaboration as a means to combat isolation and trauma.
Thread through the Eye, an installation by the artist duo known as LoVid that combines video and analog processes, is displayed as part of the Pace Digital Gallery.
February
Digestive Systems highlights a group of artists who create work exploring food production and consumption.
2020
April
Los Angeles-based performance artist Sebastian Hernandez gives a virtual talk.
May
Adjunct art professor Nicole Cohen discusses her work in a virtual studio tour.
It Bee Like That showcases student work virtually.
2019
September
Pace welcomes the first director of the art gallery at 41 Park Row, Clinical Assistant Professor Sarah Cunningham, an experienced arts administrator and educator with a vision to ignite engagement between artists and audiences.
October
Jubilation Inflation showcases sculptor and performance artist Tamar Ettun’s commitment to movement and collaboration as a means to combat isolation and trauma.
Thread through the Eye, an installation by the artist duo known as LoVid that combines video and analog processes, is displayed as part of the Pace Digital Gallery.
November
Hidden Talents, presented in the Choate House Art Gallery on the Pleasantville campus, features the work of faculty, students and others.
2020
February
Digestive Systems highlights a group of artists who create work exploring food production and consumption.
April
Los Angeles-based performance artist Sebastian Hernandez gives a virtual talk.
May
Adjunct art professor Nicole Cohen discusses her work in a virtual studio tour.
It Bee Like That showcases student work virtually.
