WFU Theatre & Dance Spring 2024 Newsletter

Sense & Sensibility

We opened the semester with a production Kate Hamill’s fun and lively adaptation of the classic novel, Sense and Sensibility. The Dashwood sisters engaged in the high stakes game of securing a suitable husband under the watchful eyes (and ears) of gossips, who judge their every move.

The production was directed by J.K. Curry and showcased the talents of our student designers Zachary Atala in lights, Vir Gupta in sound, and Emma Engle in hair and make-up. In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the set was designed by UNCSA senior Jennifer Kroon-Nelson. Staff member Jacquelyn Loy designed the costumes.

Urinetown: the musical

In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage and 20-year drought have led to a ban on private toilets and the domination of malevolent Urine Good Company. Bobby Strong led the poor to revolt, fighting for the freedom to pee “wherever you like, whenever you like, for as long as you like.” The multi-award winning musical satire delighted audiences each performance.

Cindy Gendrich directed the production alongside J. Aaron Hardwick as Music Director and Kristin Schwecke as Vocal Director. Mary Wayne-Thomas designed costumes with this being her last production as a faculty member of our department. Other members our design team were Rob Eastman-Mullins (set), Kaylin Gess (lights), and Vir Gupta (sound). Choreographer Tina Yarborough Liggins had the cast of 25 (and several audience members) dancing the entire show.

Independence

Studio Series returned to the Ring for the first time since the COVID-19 shutdown. Independence - a powerful, disturbing study of a family divided against itself - was directed by Jordana Keller (’24) and featured Georgia Orchid as Evelyn, Rowan Henchy as Kess, Riley Phillips as Sherry, and Natalie Howell as Jo. Other students on the production team included Vir Gupta, Charli Head, Elsa Maurizi, Yijia Fu, and Maya Roth.

Spring Student Choreographic Concert

The Spring Student Choreographic Concert featured selected work by student choreographers under the artistic direction of Tina Yarborough-Liggins. The concert gives WFU students the opportunity to present their choreography across a range of dance styles.

Choreographers this semester were Sofia Campbell, Ellie Casteel, Payton DeLuca, Jolie Dumay, Alyse Harris, Sarah Hill, Margaux Miller, Gabrielle Peko, Sydney Riemer, and Riley Shanaghan. Costumes were designed by staff members Alice Burton Barsony and Jacquelyn Loy. Associate Professor Kevin Frazier designed lights for the concert along with students Zac Anderson, MaryAnna Bailey, Vir Gupta, and Maggie Payne.

Retirement Announcements

Our department will look a bit different in the Fall. Long-time faculty members – Sharon Andrews, Brantly Shapiro, and Mary Wayne-Thomas – are retiring. These three, wonderful professors combined have over 100 years of service in our department, and it is truly bittersweet to see them go.

Sharon Andrews has been inspiring actors and audiences alike with her direction of productions like Six Degrees of Separation, Mad Forest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Grapes of Wrath. Of her Cindy Gendrich has written, “We have been lucky indeed to have someone of her artistry as a colleague for nearly three decades, and she will be sorely missed.”

Forty years ago, Brantly Shapiro started the Community Ballet Program at Wake teaching dance to children ages 5 and up. Then, she began teaching technique classes in 1996 and was made a full-time faculty member in 2001. Her work has “aided in building a robust ballet program at Wake and has been an inspiration” for of all ages at Wake, UNCSA, and numerous programs around the country," writes Nina Lucas Rice.

Mary Wayne-Thomas is retiring after 44 years. She has designed sets and costumes for over 100 shows at Wake Forest. She has worked tirelessly in our shops and classrooms, contributed to numerous committees across campus (an often-unrecognized contribution), and served two terms as department chair all while never failing to advocate for students and our department. Of her legacy Kevin Frazier penned, “She, in many ways, IS the Wake Forest Department of Theatre and Dance - her work is seeped into our DNA.”

Join us in wishing them well in their next adventures. We hope to continue collaborating with them on future projects.

Theatre in Education

Twenty years ago, Brook Davis started the Theatre in Education class, recognizing the need to infuse the K-12 curriculum with the arts. Many of you reading this newsletter probably took this class while a student. Working with partners Alan Brown from Education and Christina Soriano from Dance, the three professors led a group of 16 students in helping teachers at Speas Global Elementary School relating science content to young students through movement. They also worked with teachers on how to incorporate movement in their lesson planning.

The class will serve as a model for the Wake Forest Center for Literacy Education, which will be launched later this year. You can read more about this class and the impact it is making on elementary students, WFU students, and local teachers at these links: Inside WFU, WFDD, or WXII.

Faculty News

Professor of Performance Design & Production, Rob Eastman-Mullins, was tapped for the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization’s brainstorming group on intellectual property in the live arts. He spent his Spring Break in Geneva, where he met with a diverse group of professionals—representing 18 countries and 6 continents—to work on the issues that various arts practitioners face regarding the protection of their intellectual property.

Mary Wayne-Thomas was presented with the Sam Gladding Artist Faculty Award, which is presented to members of the faculty at Wake Forest who are book authors or editors, or fine or performing artists and whose works have been published or produced more less within one year preceding the awarding of the prize. The award was specifically in recognition of Mary’s design work on costumes for The Three Sisters and the set for Witness for the Prosecution. Proving the as a gift with words, Tina Yarborough Liggins said, “Mary Wayne-Thomas is a Crafty Queen with a whole lot of tools in her belt. She can make you a gown like the Queen of England and even build the throne for you to sit on! The woman has mad skills . . .”

Cindy Gendrich was recently named Wright Family Faculty Fellow, a fellowship that honors the best teacher-scholars at the university. Additionally, she was named as Chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance with Leah Roy as Associate Chair. Both will hold those positions through June 2027.

Alumni Spotlight

Branden Cook (’17) had a featured role in the new World War II miniseries by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg Masters of the Air, which is available on Apple TV+, portraying Second Lieutenant Alexander Jefferson, one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. He was also a guest on the show’s related podcast presented by The National WWII Museum about the creation of the miniseries, which you can listen to HERE.

Previously, Branden had roles on HBO’s Industry, and NBC’s Chicago P.D. He will reprise his role as Evan on the Hulu Original series Tell Me Lies, which is currently filming its second season. Congratulations, Branden!

Student Honors and Awards

Barter College held its annual College Playwrights competition and senior English and Theatre major Frances Gray Riggs was named as one of the six winners. Barter’s College Play Festival (CPF) is a 10-Minute Play Festival designed to give Appalachian undergraduate college students a professional experience. Selected student playwrights had the opportunity to develop their play with professional Barter artists as well as attend workshops and meet professional playwrights. Tell It Right by Riggs, as well as the five other winning plays, was read on Sunday, March 3 at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. It is the second consecutive year that a WFU senior has participated in the event.

Hannah Reynolds got accepted into the New South Young Playwrights Festival at Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, with her one-act Roses Fading! She will be among the 20-25 selected playwrights going to Atlanta in June for a week of playwriting workshops, seminars, and rehearsals with professional theatre actors, directors, and writers. At the end of the week, there will be a public reading to showcase the short plays that were created during the intensive.

Vir Gupta has had a busy Spring lending his design talents to every show in our department this semester. In March, he won 2nd place for his sound design for Sense & Sensibility at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in March.

The following awards were presented at our annual banquet:

• Knox Dance Scholar: Margaux Miller
• Senior Theatre Scholar: Evan Souza
• Collins Scholarship: Nola Adepoju, Mary Caroline Kolar, Callie Wittmann
• Collins Award: Carly Galbreth
• Jordan Scholarship: Abby Parr, Maggie Payne, Vir Gupta
• Dodding Award: Sarah Cadena, Alyssa Cheng
• Senior Service Award: Evan Souza, Sarah Cadena
• Bagby Award: Zac Anderson
• Tedford Award: Evan Souza
• Fullerton Awards: Charli Head, Elsa Maurizi, Lauren Veldhuizen, Nola Adepoju, Nathaniel Avery, Evan Souza

Click on the link below to view a document showcasing our Class of 2024 graduates.