Alumni Newsletter for 2004-2005

The year 2004 started with a joyous working reunion of UCI alums and faculty, as JOE OSHEROFF('01), JEFF TAKACS('02), JASON SPELBRING('02), CARRIE BAKER('02) and COREY ALLEN('04) reprised their roles in a staged reading of your editor's play, The Prince, at the Manhattan Source Theatre on MacDougal Street in January, while MEGAN BYRNE('01) took the role that at UCI had been played by DONETTA GRAYS('02)- as DONETTA was in rehearsal at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival at the time. GLENN KALISON('02) also joined the cast as the narrator, and TINA POLZIN('95) was the MST producer and also designed the marvelous lighting. The alums were joined by UCI profs Dudley Knight and Richard Brestoff in two other roles, and other alums were plentiful in the audience and enlivened post-show talk-backs after both performances.

TINA POLZIN shortly thereafter designed lights for the Lady Cavalier Theatre Company's West Coast debut of Women at Arms at the Hudson Theatre on L.A.'s theatre row. The show, she says, "is a true tale of two bloodthirsty female pirates, full of wit, drama and swashbuckling fun, with stiff upper lip suffragettes who specialize in ju-jitsu, three California high school girls revealing unique methods of letting off steam and a couple of silent movie stars severing each others egos with sabers." Sounds like our (other) kind'a show.

And kudos aplenty to JEFF GREENBERG('72) all for his Emmy noms (and Artios nom) for casting the well-beloved but now concluded Frasier. "Frasier is wrapped and sadly so," JEFF writes. "A very emotional ending for all of us. I love the finale and hope you can see it on May 13. You might see a familiar face (hint hint)."

JENN COLELLA('02) did a boffo solo show, The Girl Behind the Bull, for Ars Nova on West 54th Street in Manhattan last November, reprising a night of songs from her starring role in the 2003 Broadway musical Urban Cowboy, plus her 2004 roles in The Great American Trailer Park, Heartland and the upcoming High Fidelity. The Broadway-bound Heartland, sort of a "Three Sisters" of the Midwest with Jenn playing an actress named Jenny (sound familiar), was directed by B'way vet Susan Schulman, and initial reviews in Madison and Dallas have raved about our alum, including, from the Milwaukee Journal, "Everyone in the cast possesses Broadway polish, presence and singing pipes, and JENN COLELLA's portrayal of the actress daughter is delightfully fresh and spiky, bringing a sense of spontaneity to her character." While the Dallas Star Telegram, obviously with inside information, proclaimed "COLELLA is a particular treat as Jenny, the aspiring actress who prefers Manhattan's Washington Square to the cornfields of her home state." Sounds like someone we know.

ALAN MINGO('98) took an afternoon off from playing the adult Simba in the national tour of Lion King this spring (and earning spectacular reviews for the same) to sing the national anthem for the Detroit Tigers opening day at Comerica Park. O say, can UC-I? ALAN started the year on Broadway with this show, and ended it on the national tour of Hairspray, coming by to visit the campus when the show passed through the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Several other UCI grads were on the Great White Way (or touring in Broadway shows) at various times this year:

ARYE GROSS('78) is to be playing the role of Ira Zimmer, the "best friend who stayed home," in Daniel Sullivan's world premiere production of Donald Margulies' Brooklyn Boy at Broadway's Biltmore Theatre by the time you read this. We saw the show in its a sensational preliminary run at South Coast Repertory last Fall, where Variety's flat-out comment was "GROSS is brilliant," and concluded their rave review by saying "In the end, what resonates most is Gross' gut-wrenching study of a bewildered Willy Loman, who desperately tries to understand why his friend made it and he was sentenced to forever be the owner of a Brooklyn delicatessen." We also caught ARYE starring impressively in the East West Players production of M. Butterfly in Los Angeles, and in the ensemble of Chekhov x4 for Anteus at the New Place Studio Theatre in NoHo - both of which shows received Critic's Choice nods from the L.A. Times. When not treading the boards, ARYE continues as a recurring principal cast member in HBO-TV's Six Feet Under and NBC's West Wing.

And JENNIFER FOOTE('00) performs several roles in the musical version of Dracula at the Belasco. The show features a small ensemble and this "proud graduate of UCI" (as the program describes her) is thrilled to be cast in her second Broadway musical, following Annie Get Your Gun. JENNIFER also managed to do a star-studded performance of Hair for the Actor's Fund; the recording will be released next year.

LINDA HALASKA('92), too, was on the Great White Way, playing one of Richard Dreyfuss' servants in Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox at the Ethel Barrymore.

KURT ROBBINS('99) is spending the entire 2004-05 season with the Broadway National Tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie, rediscovering that "the world we belong to is grand," as he once sung on a UCI stage. "I joined up with the cast in Tulsa, OK for rehearsals and then had my first performance with the show at the Ordway in St Paul, MN. After a couple weeks on a layoff in New Yorkas I was back on the road in Texas, then all over with a three week run at the Kennedy Center in DC over Christmas. Pretty cool! I'm cast as one of the dancing ensemble tracks, and understudying two of the featured roles, Jimmy and Trevor."

YVONNE SAME('04) has just joined the national tour of Miss Saigon. She mentions that she had two dreams in life, a college degree and a role in Miss Saigon. So 2004 is a great year for YVONNE -- she can't believe that both wishes became realities during the same year. She'll be on the road for the next 12 months opening in Portland and ending the tour in Canada.

ERIN CROUCH('01) went out on tour with The Producers in March. "I just had my audition on Tuesday and found out that night. It's a swing with the 1st National Tour (with MICHAEL THOMAS HOLMES('97) and will be covering all of the character women - so I get to play the old ladies, the usherettes, the showgirls, the butch lighting designer Shirley, and many others."

And WAYNE PYLE('96) was also laughing this year, writing in from Memphis as Ed the Hyena on the Lion King national tour. "Prominent among the performers is WAYNE PYLE as the lolling-tongued, slow-witted hyena," said the Pittsburgh Tribune at his previous stop.

On the Broadway road, ANDREW SAMONSKY('03) has recently opened in the co-star role of "Nick" in the new Disney musical, On the Record, which began its national tour in November at Cleveland's Palace Theatre and will be in Orange County a full year from now. Broadway veterans Emily Skinner and Brian Sutherland are the headliners in this show, which features tunes from the Disney catalogue of songs; ANDREW and Ashley Brown are the fresh-faced newcomers, and Tony Award winner Richard Easton will voice the Sound Engineer. "H-O-T-T-! This boy can sing, dance, please the eye," said BroadwayWorld.com. "The cast all have enormous talents - powerhouse singers" said the Cleveland Plain Dealer review. ANDREW agrees: "The talent is unbelievable. Who thought I would be singing love duets with Broadway stars?!" asks/exclaims ANDREW. Well, we thought so, for starters.

Alum/Prof TOM RUZIKA('74) was on Broadway last Fall as the lighting designer of Six Dance Lesson and will be there again with the current B'way tour of Peter Pan, starring Cathy Rigby, which will be on the road for a year ending up on the fabled Great White. Plus TOM's added several new shows to his vast CV, including, Tuesdays with Morrie for Laguna Playhouse and San Jose Repertory Theatre, Four Guys Named Jose for International City Theatre - and his "lighting provides resplendent color and texture," reported Backstage West in its lead "critic's pick" review of the Reprise production of Brigadoon at the Freud Playhouse in Los Angeles. TOM's architectural lighting designs this year lit up the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida and the Hard Rock Las Vegas "Body English Ultra Lounge" night club. TOM is also working on the renovation and expansion of the Silverton Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, including Vegas's first underwater aquarium mermaid show. But we suspect his greatest thrill was attending the Lighting Designers International conference in Las Vegas where "a total of 15 UCI lighting alumni were in attendance at the conference, spanning over 20 years of the UCI lighting program. "All the former students I talked to are all very busy working with lighting and still enjoying what they are doing (and making a living)! Best of all, I won the raffle for a free followspot from Phoebus Lighting. Now, what am I going to do with a followspot in my living room?"

MARK MCKIBBEN('77) was recently quoted in Lighting Dimensions magazine about designing in non-English speaking countries, TOM (also an expert in this field) reports. "Ask your question in a variety of ways, especially in non-English speaking countries. In Thailand, they will go to great lengths to make you comfortable and will avoid giving you any bad news. You almost have to trick the honest, but painful, answer out of them. While building a nightclub in Bangkok, it took a week to find out we had been requesting help from a fellow working with conduit, hoping to get the worklights installed first. He assured us by saying "right away," "very next project," and too many "yes, yes, yeses" to mention. Needless to say, he was the plumber. He didn't want to disappoint."

VALERIE CLAXTON('96) is working at Sight & Sound Ministries, a large Christian Theater in the heart of the Amish country at Strasberg, Pennsylvania. "I am working there part-time because I am becoming an entrepreneur, and will be opening my own sports recreation and entertainment business in 2005. It has been an uphill climb but it is all working out. We UCI grads go places; I would not be where I am today if it were not for my skills learned at UCI!" Thanks, Val!

JOSE CRUZ GONZALES('86) has just published his newest play, Two Donuts with the Dramatic Publishing Company. The play is about a young Latino boy whose grandmother has filled him with stories of her Central American homeland "GONZALES has created a vehicle for delivering messages about Central America, barrios, beauty, the environment, dreams and reality that speaks to adults and children equally," said DigitalCity.com. "The story weaves dreams and reality," chimes in The Arizona Republic.

Down in Philly, BOB GUNTON('68) landed the title role in Cy Coleman's new musical, The Great Ostrovsky, which opened at the Prince theatre in Philadelphia and looks like it's headed to Broadway soon. "Suavely essayed," said the Philadelphia Inquirer. "GUNTON is excellent" added station KYWE, and "BOB GUNTON is outstanding" said Philadelphia Citypaper. Earlier in the year, UCI's Great GUNTON had appeared as Caiphas in the feature film, Judas, ("perhaps as a counter to Mel Gibson's version of The Passion," BOB suggests), and as President Wilson in HBO's Iron Jawed Angels; afterwards, he guest-starred on the acclaimed, Emmy-honored series Monk. "With the cinema magic of air-brush make-up and cheap hair dye, this grizzled veteran has ten or so years pealed off his leathery hide... seeing that alone is worth the cost of the cable hook-up," BOB told us.

BEV REDMOND('04) is a new Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she is directing Ibsen's A Doll House on the mainstage, and teaching introduction to theatre and other courses while wrapping up her Ph.D. dissertation.

Once again, UCI's twin-coastal casting directors received their apparently annual ARTIOS nominations: JAMES CALLERI('90) in the East for regional theatre casting (Butley at Boston's Huntington Theatre) and JEFF GREENBERG('72) in the West for television comedy (Frasier). The Artios is the prestige CD award given by the Casting Association of America.

A fabulous full-page photo of TYLER LAYTON('95) as Joan La Pucelle in Henry VIII graced the Stage Directions major feature on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last Spring, along with a two-page spread featuring CHRISTOPHER DUVAL('98) as Dromio of Ephesus (one of the two Dromios he played!) in the venerable Ashland presentation of Comedy of Errors. And CHRIS subsequently reports his OSF casting for 2005, which includes Leo Davis, the young playwright, in Room Service, Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and Dumaine in Love's Labor's Lost.

And DONNETTA GRAYS('02) was also at the Oregon festival last summer. "Ashland was wonderful," she wrote at the end of October. "I close Royal Family tonight and Raisin in the Sun tomorrow. I was asked back for the next season, but decided against it as my manager said, "You need to get your ass back in New York" so that's what I am doing. Fortunately I will be doing another Law and Order shoot the week I get back so I feel very blessed all around. Hopefully I will return to Ashland in '06 or '07 depending on what's going on with L&O each season. I have become good friends with TYLER LAYTON('95), and CHRIS DUVAL('98) and I've shared great stories about our alma mater.

Right here in Orange County, "the youngest, most buzzed-about" new theatre company, according to the Los Angeles Times, is the Rogue Artists Ensemble, begun this year by eight recent graduates of UC Irvine, with SEAN T. CAWELTI('03) as artistic director. Rogue Artists took over the Rude Guerrilla Theatre for the summer with their Hyperbole: Changes, using songs, dance, shadow puppets and a vulture "emcee" to probe the subconscious of a troubled girl-puppet. "We create shows for folks who have not stepped into a theater - and will love it," SEAN said in the Times. "Our goal is to make sure theater stays alive, to create something you can't get anywhere else, even in a film." Other Plays for Children, a risque comedy by Jeff Goode, was their follow-up.

Producer SCOTT KROOPF('73) produced the intergalactic Chronicles of Riddick this year, and wrote in an interview, "Not only do we have all these great actors in it - Vin Diesel and Judi Dench - but we have all these worlds that we've created and all these action stunts. It was great, actually, for people to have faith in our little movie. The details were built by every actor and every technician that worked in the movie. There was a lot of really good chemistry in the group. Let's just get into this and the deeper we get into it, the more fun we can have and the more believable we can make it. The actors really embraced it, and the technicians also did, too." SCOTT is also the Executive Producer of the upcoming Zathura, directed by Jon Favreau, and Son of the Mask, both of which are currently in production.

BYRON QUIROS('95) was in Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out at the Geffen Playhouse/Brentwood Theatre in Los Angeles. After UCI, Byron received his Masters at the Ruskin School of Acting, earning pro credits as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the John Anson Ford, Florentino in The Bullfight at Stages Theater Center, Paco in Short Eyes at the Hollywood Theater, and an LADCC Best Actor award for his work in the Spoon River Anthology at the Meisner Institute. BYRON's film work includes Coronado, in which he plays General Rafael opposite John Rhys-Davies.

KITTY FELDE°s('76) new play, A Patch of Earth, will be performed at the University of Detroit in February of this year.

ROBERT SCHNEIDER's('74) review of the Avignon "non-festival" (the fabled festival was cancelled in 2003 because of a strike) was published in Theatre Journal last spring, and two performances of BOB's adaptation of Aristophanes' The Birds, were presented at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia. "Professor Schneider's adaptation is very modern," said colleague Alex Gelman at Northern Illinois University, where BOB teaches. "It makes local and topical references, which is very much in the Greek tradition."

CARRIE BAKER('02) played (along with Ted Lange from "The Loveboat") in Lemon Meringue Facade at the New Perspectives Theatre Company in mid-Manhattan before heading up to Middlebury College for Fall semester "to teach two sections of Acting I and direct the First Year Show! Then I head back to NYC in January."

BEE TRUONG('04) has been featured on Discovery Channel's Animal Planet Survivor show this year.

MONICA ROLANDSSON('02) would like everyone to know that "mitt forsta namn Monica till mitt andra namn Ottiliana," which, for those whose Swedish is ferkakta, is to say that she's changed her first name to OTTILIANA. OTTILIANA, therefore, writes "I have just completed my master and am embarking on the last year of seminars for my Ph.D. at UCSB. My master thesis was a play I just finished, A Breath Full of Birds. It is "almost" a one woman play and I will now bring it to the stage."

LARRY BIEDERMAN('92) directed Eric Overmyer's Dark Rapture at L.A.'s Evidence Room theatre this Fall and shared with us LA Weekly's recommendation that "Larry Biederman's revival of Eric Overmyer's 1991 noir thriller has all the right ingredients, including a strong ensemble and superb production values." Back Stage West also chimed in a commendation: "There are several terrific things about this new production, from a daring and talented ensemble to clever direction and impressive technical achievement. LARRY BIEDERMAN's direction uses all of the tools available to him brilliantly and delivers a great production." CRAIG PIERCE('88) did the wondrous lighting for the show.

MIRLA CRISTE('98) choreographed Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat and directed/choreographed Peter Pan for Music Theatre Louisville, before heading south and starting as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Drama at the University of Georgia, teaching voice and movement for the respoected school's MFA acting program. "I can finally get my junk out of storage..." she gleefully reports.

STEPHANIE LINN('03) writes to alum/prof MYRONA DELANEY('92) to say she is touring with a rock band! "I moved to New York in September and got a job cocktail waitressing at The Cutting Room where, in October, a woman approached and said she was casting for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The group was still looking for two background vocalists for their upcoming tour; I auditioned and in two days I was hired. We start in Mississippi in two weeks, we'll be in SoCal for Christmas, and in Utah New Year's Eve. CRAZY!!! The show is a rock n' roll narrative opera; I am one of seven singers accompanied by amazing musicians. I already feel like one of the family. I am really excited - I can't believe this is happening!"

BETH MALONE('00) had a lovely photo and review on the front page of the Los Angeles Times last October, starring as the "attractive young typist who dreams of escaping to America and a career in movies" (do we know anyone like that?), in Peter Schneider's production Grand Hotel at the Colony Theatre. "MALONE lends the character a pixie-ish charm, her legs forever flapping to the exuberant beat of the Charleston," said the Times scribe, also commenting on the "physical elegance" of CYNTHIA BECKERT('01) in her "prominent role as Groshinskaya, a fading ballerina." In other guises, BETH was all over the airwaves on her star turn in the bed-jumping McDonald's commercial during the Olympic sweeps, and on newer ones for Target and Swiffer, and CYNTHIA has booked a guest starring appearance on the TV series Strange Medicine. "I play Dr. Jane (the wife of General Director Tarzan) who is on the nominating committee for the new chief of staff at whatever hospital these people work at," says our non-TV-watching TV actress. CYNTHIA also got a wonderful nod from the LA Times for her role in Kris Tabori's production of Twelfth Night: "BECKERT, who has a swan's neck and keen timing, burnishes the role of Olivia's gentlewoman Maria to a high gloss" said the enchanted scribe.

DAVID GREENSPAN('78) leads the cast as Mephistopheles in the off-Broadway premier production of These Very Serious Jokes, an adaptation of the first part of Goethe's Faust. "DAVID GREENSPAN has a vibrant theatrical presence and a quirky stage personality that makes nearly everything he does wonderfully alive," said Theatre Mania.com; "affably insidious," commented BackStage; "GREENSPAN could beguile the most stoic angel," purred TheatreScene.com

We were delighted to see a ton of UCI grads at the Spring showcase in New York, which we're now doing in cooperation with the American Repertory Theatre program at Harvard. UCI alums in the audience included JENN COLELLA('02), JENNI FOOTE('00), CARRIE BAKER('02), RYAN JENSEN('01), JASON MICHAEL SPELBRING('02), SARA OVERGAARD('03), GLENN KALISON('02), RICHARD PADRO('02), ANDREW SAMONSKY('03), MANDY OLSEN('00), EMILY CASTER('03), THERESA POND('03), CRAIG GEORGE('91), and SUSAN BEDSOW('69), among others.

JON LOVITZ('79) is one of an all-star cast in the Stepford Wives remake which received tons of publicity and buzz. He also plays the title role in Bailey's Billions -- though we should probably explain that Bailey is a dog.

BRYAN DOERRIES('00) was the associate director for the American Repertory Theatre's production of Oedipus Rex last Spring, and published his UCI-premiered Dionysus 2004 in the April issue of Actingnow.Com. BRYAN is currently finishing a book on the influence of ancient Greek tragedy on modern theatre for Overlook Press.

Also in the terrific Actingnow.com, which is published by GENE DOUGLAS('99) (currently Assistant Professor of Drama at the University of New Mexico), is DAMON KUPPER'S('98) excellent recount, under the appropriate heading of "Working Actor," of his background and new perspectives on acting and activism. DAMON writes of his new activity with the LA-based Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed, a group doing Augusto Boal work around the southland. An interview by ANDREA ODINOV('98) with acting teacher Charles Carroll is also in the fine online journal, whose first edition last year has garnered 6,000 hits and is on the reading list of acting classes around the country.

UCI alums picked up three first prizes in the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Awards this year! LARRY SOUSA('92) took Best Choreography for staging Anyone Can Whistle (beating out Susan Stroman for The Producers!), while LEIGH ALLEN('01) received best lighting design for Johnny Get Your Gun at Stages Theatre Center and ARYE GROSS('78) also shared in the first prize for script adaptation and producer for that show!

And two weeks later, LEIGH ALLEN('01) also picked up the LA Weekly Theatre Award for her lighting for the same show at Stages. LEIGH followed this all up with wondrous lighting for Vincent at Brixton at the Pasadena Playhouse, Like A Dog On Linoleum at the Elephant Asylum and Golf With Alan Shepard at the Falcon Theatre.

Speaking of lighting, MEL DOMINGO('03) recently designed The POE Play for The Rogue Artists Ensemble.

NEAL SHUSTERMAN's('85) TV film for Disney, Pixel Perfect, aired on the Disney Channel last winter. NEAL wrote the script - his first "original" filmscript - which means his first film not adapted from one of his novels!

JESSICA STEVENSON('03) performs in the new indie flick, Think Tank, soon to play at a film festival near you.

We were delighted to see ANDREA ODINOV('98) co-starring with JEFF MEEK('83) in the Laguna Playhouse west coast premiere of Tabletop, a savage satire of TV commercial-making. Backstage West hailed ANDREA (playing "Andrea") as "perfectly shrewish" and MEEK as "terrific as an arrogant s.o.b. boss," with further plaudits for the production's "superb six-member ensemble." Photos of both actors in these roles can be seen in the upcoming 7th (2005) edition of Theatre by your editor (and alumni fan), by the way.

ASHLEY WEST LEONARD('98) played the role of Kate in Cold/Tender at the Boston Court Theatre - the show got a "Pick of the Week" citation from LA Weekly.

ZHAOPING WEI('90) writes in to let us know that "for the past two years, I was Lead Sequence Designer in the Art Department on Dreamworks' CG animation Film, Sharktale, which opened very successfully on October 1. Currently, I'm working for the Visual Development Department on two new projects, Kung-Fu Panda and Jerry Seinfield's Bee Movie. In my spare time, I continue to pursue my passion in the fine arts through oil-painting."

HOLLY HOLSINGER('91) writes in from Ohio: "Just got back from the Catskills Festival of New Theatre where [husband and chief collaborator] Raymond premiered his new show The Confessions of Punch and Judy. I took a side trip to NYC and saw CRAIG GEORGE('91) and ANN HAMILTON('91) (who has a beautiful baby girl). I've been offered two roles in the main stage season at Cleveland Public Theatre --so I'm trying out traditional theatre for a bit in Tony Kushner's Bright Room Called Day and Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus. I had a great time last spring creating a piece with Raymond called The Cult, loosely based on our Grotowski experience. Otherwise, I'm still searching for that dream job, and meanwhile I run a little theatre school for children-adults called the CPT Academy."

And ANN HAMILTON('91) sent us a beautiful picture of that baby girl, Emma, and also let us know that she was in the season premiere of Third Watch, on NBC in September. "I shot it 8 weeks after Emma's birth, so you can see what the new mom looks like...and I'm playing a very distraught mom, go figure." We caught the show and, yes indeed, ANN was terrifically distraught!

MEGAN BYRNE('01) remains a recurring character (the gal that fixes everyone's computers) on Law and Order, and played Max's Girlfriend and several other roles in Silent Laughter, by and with Billy Van Zandt, at the venerable Lamb's Theatre (just) off-Broadway in mid-Manhattan.

ROBERTO PRESTIGIACOMO('03) directed Dancing at Lughnasa at Davidson College in North Carolina, where he is now an associate professor. "I am now getting together a team of artists to create an original performance piece about postmodernism. I am teaching two acting classes and using a lot of what I learned at UCI. Davidson is a great institution and I am enjoying working here."

BARB KRUG('98) writes that in addition to grand tours of Europe and Thailand last year, she left Treyarch computer game company (Tony Hawke, etc.), where she had been an art director for 5 years, to finish up the year as environmental modeler on her first video game, Spiderman 2 (based on the blockbuster film), which sold over a million copies. When husband Marc finishes up his UCLA post-doc, they'll both be moving to another hot digital environment, Seattle.

STEPHEN BURDMAN('95) is now in his fifth season as artistic director of the mobile New York Classical Stage Company, and after opening his season with Winter's Tale, STEPHEN staged his first Aphra Behn play, The Feigned Courtesans, which started up on West 103rd Street and made its way - as with all NYCSC productions - around the beautiful northwest corner of Central Park.

We caught TANGI MILLER('97) in the leading role of Nora Lincoln in the new CSI TV drama, "Cold Case" and she was terrific! TANGI also stars with Robert Guilliaume in Tough Like Wearing Dreadlocks and, between times, played "Potts" in TV's Phantom Force.

JACK GREENMAN('90) "dominates the proceedings as lowbrow moneyman Sidney Black" in PCPA's "beautiful and hilariously funny revival" of Light Up the Sky, said Backstage West, giving the show their only "critic's choice" nod for the week, while MARK BOOHER('90) and DAVID NEVELL('96) each "have their moments in this theatrical madhouse."

DENISE DALES('84) is a full time theatre professor at San Bernardino Valley College. "It is quite challenging teaching here as most students in this environment have never seen live theatre, but I have a few that are professional, and some who have even done Broadway work."

ELLEN SNORTLAND,('74) a weekly columnist for the Pasadena Weekly for eight years, has written Now That She's Gone: Unraveling the Mystery of My Mother, which she premiered this summer in Altadena in a benefit performance for the United Nations Association. "I am really excited about this show. It's a Garrison Keillor, Spalding Gray and Lily Tomlin hybrid about Norwegian-American culture, with my comic, sometimes agonizing, unorthodox life and times colliding head-on with my mother's New Deal generation reality. It will definitely make me 'election proof.'"

We were thrilled to hear from KAREN MCNEIL('68) this summer, one of the sparkling actors in your editor's UCI production of The Death of Morris Biederman back in 1967. "I live in Eugene, Oregon and have for 33 years (wow! how could that much time have gone by?) My time in the UCI theatre department and our repertory company was so rewarding and fun; I have so many great memories from those days! I have not done any theatre but have sung in a community choir with a mostly classical repertoire, and I'm in a very fun gospel choir. I am studying clarinet now and have a 3 year old nephew here whom I adore." (For post-70s UCI'ers, the "repertory company" that KAREN writes about was a thrilling if arduous four-year experiment in UCI's earliest, all-undergraduate years.)

And through KAREN we found out that her classmate PENNY MARIENTHAL('69) is now (and for a long time has been) none other than the distinguished PENELOPE SPHEERIS, director of 28 films on the International Movie Data Base, including The Kid and I with Tom Arnold which should be appearing on a screen near you when this comes out. And her subsequent film is The Gospel According to Janis, concerning Joplin's celebrated visit to UCI in ye olden dayes - when PENNY was making her UCI stage debut as Jocasta in Oedipus Tyrannos.

MATTHEW HILLIARD('03) writes, "I am living in San Francisco, and performed as the diction teacher in Singin' in the Rain at a dinner theater up here directed by MARGOT ABBOTT('77). I also played Peachy Weil in The Last Night of Ballyhoo in an Equity production, gaining some Equity points, and have been heavily involved in the DJ/music world, playing at nightclubs such as the Endup, 1015 Folsom, and Kelly's Mission Rock. I've had quite a few tracks produced and one has a vinyl pressing planned. I love San Francisco, but will hopefully make that big trek to NYC within the next year."

And sometime novelist MARGOT ABBOT('77) (Last Innocent Hour) writes in from Contra Costa County: "I live a quiet life, which, frankly has been hard won. In 2001, I became a Library Assistant with the Contra Costa County Library. I really like it. When a patron thanks me for finding her a book, I feel like Marshall Dillon. As though I should touch the brim of my hat: "Just doing my job, ma'am." I've also directed a lot of community theatre, and just had a delightful experience with Annie Get Your Gun, but now I'm the regular arts columnist for the Contra Costa Times, so instead of directing, I get to natter on about what's going on in all the performing arts: choirs, bands, orchestras, dance studios and theatres. What impresses me is the grass-roots quality here: people want art and support it. This business about America being anti-art isn't true, not here anyway. Academic theatre spoils you for the real world of volunteer set builders and teeny budgets, but I'm continually impressed by the work community theater people put into a show - all for nothing except the fun it gives them."

JEFF HALL('92) has had a busy time with his TV Production Design and Art Direction company this year, with his full-time colleagues KAREN WEBER('99) and GRANT VANZEVERN('02). "Designs this year include plenty of reality shows with a several 'normal' shows like The Benefactor for ABC, Starting Over for NBC, Kings of Babylon for History Channel, What Should you do? for Lifetime, Tune up your Man for Bravo, Last Comic Standing, season 2 and 3 for NBC, Runway Show for Bravo, America's Next Top Model for UPN Network, and Wanna Come In? for MTV. In the talk show genre we have designed Dennis Miller Live for CNBC, Crossballs for Comedy Central, The Yesterday Show for Bravo, and Alf's Hit Talk Show for Nickelodeon. Other highlights include Blue Collar Comedy 2, a feature film, and awards shows like The World Music Awards for ABC, and Autorox for Spike Network. We have designed a couple of Corporate Industrials for companies such as Ameriquest and Direct TV. Check out the website some time! www.jhalldesign.com." Glad to!

CHRISTOPHER SOUSA-WYNN('04) is now the Resident Scenic Designer at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. CHRIS is excited about his new position and feels fortunate to work with so many creative theater artists (a lot of whom are UCI alumni). In addition to teaching with the conservatory he will be designing four shows for PCPA this season, including As You Like It and Guys and Dolls, directed by MARK BOOHER('90).

Best-selling novelist NEVADA BARR('78) published her twelfth Rebecca Pigeon novel, High Country, this year and enjoyed a cross-country signing tour over the summer. When not writing mysteries and her (many) other books, NEVADA returns to the stage, last season playing Laurel in Art at the Brick Street Theatre in Clinton, Mississippi, where the director gives "thanks go to all, but especially to Nevada, who has literally led me by the hand and given me the confidence that I needed to shoulder the tasks of director." We're delighted our alum's Drama MFA is getting its acting-directing workout between her strictly literary engagements!

Ever-busy LARRY SOUSA('92), in addition to working all around L.A. (including directing, choreographing and designing the sets for Stud Terke's Working at the ETC company), told us of an eye-opening experience shadowing the director of Reba for a recent episode. "It was life-changing - I loved every minute of it. Crashing the party like that is really awkward, but I was immediately put at ease and made to feel very welcome and comfortable by a super nice assistant director named DEAN WEICHEL('79). Only sorry that we only found out we were UCI compatriots on the last day of the shoot!"

JOE OSHEROFF('01), who had reprised his UCI role of Machiavelli at the Manhattan Theater Source last winter, says that he followed that up with "a pretty great summer. I spent the majority of the time up in the Catskills at a performing arts camp teaching acting and stage combat and directing plays. Then I was in Vermont for seven weeks doing The Drawer Boy at a regional theater. It was nice to be working again and even better to spend the summer out of the city."

We were delighted to see JACK GREENMAN('90) playing Lazar Wolfe in UCI Prof Eli Simon's terrific production of Fiddler on the Roof at the PCPA TheatreFest in Solvang. This is JACK's fifteenth year with the Equity company of this great festival, and he was 'Lazar'-sharp. Also playing key roles in the production were COLLETTE SEARLE('02), who created the giant puppet movements that were true show-stealers, and PCPA Conservatory Director MARK BOOHER('90), who expertly handled the fight choreography.

MARK also appeared with DAVID NEVELL('96) in Light up the Sky at the TheatreFest this summer, and KITTY BALAY('90), now the proud mother of three young children, appeared in Quilters which ended the Fest's 2004 summer season.

And had we an extra day, we would gladly have stayed for Bullshot Crummond directed by JAY LOUDON('97). "A luscious revival. Director JAY LOUDON has skillfully guided his multitasking cast of five actors through the uproarious story. Plot? What plot? Forget the plot, just sit back and laugh," said Backstage West.

Getting a Critic's Choice nod from the premier LA rag was JOSHUA FINKEL('84), whose production of The Spitfire Grill at the Actors' Co-Op in Hollywood earned rave reviews all around town, including the Times scribe report that "JOSHUA FINKEL directed with an instinct for emotional authenticity." But the UCI thesp hasn't left the board himself, and co-starred as Teddy Asch in Musical Theatre Guild's I Can Get It For You Wholesale at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and the Scherr Forum in Thousand Oaks.

ALI HANSON('94) wrote to us en route to the Sarajevo Film Festival where she went to stir up interest in the independent film she is editing, Back to Bosnia, which has already won the "Visa Ideas Happen" award. "We are still in the editing room and have not lacked for any passion on the topic, nor lost any interest in the late-night popcorn that gets us through our deadlines," ALI reports.

DON GUY('99) is living in St. Louis these days, where "with my longtime friend Adam Fillius (husband to EMMA FILLIUS('00) I've started STS Group Inc., a Lighting and Audio design company for architectural themed entertainment and live productions. I also maintain an active freelance career, which this year has included a co-design with my good friend BRAD NELSON('98) for a televised production at Radio City Music Hall, Grand Hotel for Peter Schneider (Producer of Lion King) at the Colony Theatre, A Picasso at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cinderella for David Allan at California Riverside Ballet, and The Magic Underground for Magician Mark Kalin in Reno, NV. And my wife, Alicia Okouchi-Guy (MFA Dance '98), is now Head of Dance foržthe University of Missouri, St. Louis."

KELLY PERINE('94) plays Ed in the feature film comedy, Gas, that will appear soon, and Manny in Dating Games People Play. He's also on TV°s African American Idol: the Search for the next Black Leader. And he didn't win? What is this??

GARY GRAHAM('73) was back in touch after a long spell. GAR's just completed filming of Alpha Male X, where he plays Christopher Michael. "I'm happily married, living in the S.F. Valley, I have an 11 year-old daughter (the light of my life) and do the occasional acting gig-- and lately more and more writing. Screenplays, yeah (how cliche, an actor with a screenplay) but also non-fiction."

"SAM ZELLER('92) lent Tom an endearing goofiness," the L.A. Times reviewer said about our alum's performance in the lead male role of Tom Baxter in a Musical Theatre Guild's semi-staged concert presentation of the Broadway Redhead, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

ILANA RADIN('98) returned from London this Fall from project-managing the Mattel presence at the UK Brand Licensing Show, and accepted Mattel's offer of a permanent position as a Creative Specialist for Tradeshows and Toyfairs, in which post she is now designing upcoming Mattel projects in Germany, Hong Kong and New York - and keeping her fingers crossed that she can be an on-site project manager for them as well!

OTTO COELHO('87) received a lovely review for his Bellomy in The Fantasticks at the Knightsbridge Theatre in Los Angeles this summer. He and his Hucklebee's "unforced harmonies blend ever so naturally as they provide comic advice...Too bad they're not the primary focus of the show," said the perceptive BackStageWest scribe.

SHERRIE SENNE('68) is in upstate New York these days, attempting to inspire Pre-K through 12th grade teachers to utilize an array of arts to deliver content and thereby inspire students to want to learn and to enjoy it while they're at it. "This work has become more and more restricted under the weight of NY State's learning standards and assessments. In fact I believe that the book and test publishers have essentially guaranteed that there can be no 'authentic assessments' which take into account learning styles and multiple intelligences, or the uniqueness of every individual learner. So, I've decided to focus on the foundation of learning our oral language, since children's speech is in a major decline, and in the process have produced a musical CD of 26 songs & lullabies - "Miss Ruby's Favorite...Songs & Lullabies for the Ones we Love" - utilizing all of the sounds of the English language. In the process, I've reconnected with PAIGE (CONRAD) BOLES('69), who is expert in early phonemic awareness. It's been great fun to visit with her and discuss old and new times.

And PAIGE CONRAD BOLES('69) writes that she and her husband "plan to go to Nova Scotia, either on a motorcycle or by car and toting the bike. I am anxious to see the Bay of Fundy and puffins! Also beginning to think about retirement in 6 years. That will take me to 62; so hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly." And we remember when...Well, let's not go there.

BRIAN EVANS('93) began a position this Fall as Assistant Professor of Voice and Speech and Acting at the University of Mississippi. "I am very excited. And Janice and I are expecting our second child in November; as you can see, we are having a busy year. I am sad to leave the West Coast, but this will be a good move for the family, and I will continue to work in New York and LA. I was recently on Chappelle's Show on Comedy Central and I will be recurring next season."

JURNEY SUH('04) has been hired as a full time scenic artist by South Coast Repertory, where she'll be working with lead scenic artist Judy Allen and designers from across the nation in helping detail SCR's fourteen full productions and other special events throughout the year.

DANNY CHUNG('02) writes in, "I just booked a national Sprint spot! I'm also coming off a good spring as I've booked commercials for Renault (Spain, National) and Oswald Boateng, (Designer, International)."

We were delighted to see JASON HEIL('96) on the street where he lives, playing Freddy in My Fair Lady at the Utah Shakespearean Festival this summer - as well as Mortimer in Henry VIII, Part I. Over a quick lunch at Boomer's in Cedar City, JASON filled us on his plans to move, with wife Kim, to San Diego, and no sooner had he arrived than he was playing the lead in the musical version of The Goodbye Girl at the Moonlight Theatre in Vista.

JANET DERUVO('79) is back in Colorado, "Been here since '96, directing, choreographing, lots of voice overs - I have a Vail commercial running at the moment- after 30 years people recognize me- weird! I'm currently directing The Guest Lecturer for The Miners Alley Playhouse - a tiny pro house in Golden - and am the new Theater teacher at Wheat Ridge High School."

STUART MCAMMON('85) writes, "After I graduated, I went into TV commercial production for five years, ending as an Associate Producer for Ian Leech & Associates. I had my own video production company for a year and then got into fundraising for the last fifteen years on behalf of the likes of USC, CHOC and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. A few months ago, I stepped off the cliff into self-employment land and opened up a small consulting firm, which is already engaged in helping to build a Holocaust memorial museum in Orange County, along with numerous other projects. I am happily divorced with a son, Jason, 15, and two daughters, Courtney, 14 and Mallory, 10."

We heard this summer from BRAD YATES('88) who was up at Ashland seeing LINDA ALPER('71) starring in Humble Boy. BRAD has been active coaching what he calls EFM, Emotional Freedom Techniques, which he tell us has proven "of incredible value in freeing up an artist's expression - especially in moving through fears to take more creative risks, move through blocks, negative emotions, fears and even physical issues." You can check all this out at www.bradyates.net.

AMANDA RANDALL('04) shot out of the starting gate, receiving her first paying gig shortly after graduation. "I was cast in a guest star role on CSI Miami. I filmed this past Monday and believe it will air in Mid-November. It was a very minor speaking role, but I was Taft-Hartley'ed into SAG, so now I'm union. This will make things much easier for the future!? Which we look forward to as well.

CRISTA FLANAGAN('01) writes "I am currently shooting Ashton Kutcher's new MTV show, You've Got a Friend. I play the "Friend," and will appear as the series lead in at least 3 or 4 episodes. In each episode, I play a different character, primarily based on characters from my stand-up and sketch shows. I am really enjoying this project and I think that it will be very funny. I will tell you more when I can, but my contract limits my discussion of it. If you will, please keep this on the down-low. I'm sorry to sound crazy, but MTV and Ashton are very 'hush hush' about things. Yay MTV!" CRISTA was also on the boards in Suburban Blight at the McCadden Place Theatre in Hollywood, in a role described in Curtain Up as: "Wilma, a devastating study in timidity created by CRISTA FLANAGAN." Sounds great.

DARYL STRANDLIEN('77) writes, "I have just turned sixty, had 15 inches of unneeded tubing surgically removed, and sold my murder mystery company. I was hiring people to do the creative work and pretending to be a businessman. I'm not quite sure where I go from here but I am equipped with a high end digital video setup and full compliment of Adobe editing software. I find myself at the bottom of a huge hill with a steep learning curve. Fortunately I still love to learn. I've lightened my load, loosened my sphincter, and freed up some time and energy."

SARAH DACEY CHARLES('88) played Miss Pross in the (maybe) Broadway-bound Two Cities by Chad Hardin and Dan Schillaci at the Rich Forum in Stamford, Connecticut last summer. She has also accepted a position teaching beginning acting for disabled adults with The National Theatre Workshop of The Handicapped.

SELAH VICTOR('03) writes in to "let you all know that I booked a commercial. It's ironically for a new cable channel called Fit TV; the ironic part is that I am not doing anything that has to do with fitness (which is my day job - I'm a personal trainer now!)"

KELLIE DUNN('02) is currently the milliner/craftsperson in the costume shop at First Stage Milwaukee. She has seen a lot of the country this year, having done costume work at the Virginia Opera, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and a brief return to Berkeley Repertory Theatre, before finally starting the season in Milwaukee. "I hope to stay in Wisconsin for a good length of time, because if I have to file taxes in any more states this year, I will likely lose my mind!"

MARK JARED ZUFELT('93) directed Cyril Tourner's The Revenger's Tragedy at Cornish College of the Arts, where he is serving as an adjunct instructor and guest director.

The Loss of Nameless Things, a full-length documentary film about the life (so far) of OAKLEY HALL III('70), premiered at Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose this spring, and followed-up at the Cleveland, Austin and Birmingham Film Festivals in succeeding months, winning rapturous reviews and a first prize in Alabama, where WILLIAM (formerly SONNY) LEWIS('76) caught it. UCI old-timers will recall that OAKLEY (aka TAD, to distinguish himself from his similarly-named UCI writing prof dad) was, along with MICHAEL VAN LANDINGHAM('72) and BRUCE BOUCHARD('71), a founder of the Lexington Theatre Conservatory in New York's Catskills, and was heading towards a brilliant writing and acting career when he toppled from a bridge in 1978, barely escaping with his life. This new film covers both TAD's past promise and his ongoing recovery (in Nevada City, California, where he lives not far from sister-playwright SANDS HALL('73). Nameless Things has clearly become a cult film. "This tragic yet inspiring story of a charismatic, genius playwright/director, who suffers a catastrophic brain injury just as he's about to have a career breakthrough, moved me in ways I can barely verbalize," said the Northern Ohio Live. "We take it on faith that Hall was a genius, because he had a life everyone would like to have - to live in a theatrical Illyria," echoed the San Jose Metro. "This is the stuff of Greek tragedy, of a wild Jack Kerouac figure transformed into Frankenstein monster, of selling one's soul to the devil. The mortal man is connected to the myths with superb artistry," said the Palo Alto Weekly. And so we were doubly thrilled to bump into both OAKLEY and sister SANDS, along with their Dad and mother Barbara at San Francisco's Geary Theatre last summer, catching the new Robert Wilson production and having a chance to catch up on old and new times as well.

Over the past year CYNTHIA HERTEG('01) has designed costumes for numerous shows, including Sperm with Circle X at the 24th Street Theatre, Naked TV with the Naked Angels Theatre Company and Fox Television at the Edgemar, [sic], Dubya 2004 at Sacred Fools, and The 99 Cent Extravaganza at The Evidence Room. In addition, she's worked wardrobe for The Cimarron Group on the recent Universal Studios print campaign, The Fabulous Monsters, on the wildly theatrical Ramayana: 2K4, and for the past year dressing four women with Menopause: the Musical at the Coronet Theatre. In 2005, look for her work in the independent film Never Say Macbeth.

BILL EIGENBRODT('87) reports that he is on his second season as Production Designer for CBS' hit series Joan of Arcadia. He's also designed a series of one acts for a theatre in Culver City, designed a stage set for The Walden School's Halloween Party (his daughter's school, to whom he counsels "Never let them know what you do for a living!") and is having his pool re-plastered.

PAUL BARBER's('77) new movie Meltdown, co-written with his brother Larry, about a present-day nuclear plant disaster and its aftermath did very well on its FX premiere over the summer, and the brother/alum screenwriting team is now winding up the fifth and final season for Andromeda. The brothers Barber also have a new pilot in the works, a 1960s/present day look at America called Berzerkly.

MELANIE CAHILL('85) wrote in for the first time this year. "I still am acting and singing. The last thing I did was Scarlet Pimpernel with KIM HUBER('73). I pretty much have performed at every CLO from Riverside to Santa Barbara. One of my fondest memories at UCI was Sweeney Todd, and so, I was happy to do the show again a few years ago in Thousand Oaks with George Ball and Amanda Mc Broom. I have taken a couple years off to have a baby - a 5 month old boy named Aidan."

KIM HUBER('93) wrote in that she was "really excited about my concert with Jason Robert Brown (composer of Parade, The Last 5 Years, and Songs for a new World) at the Cinegrill. I'm singing a song from The Last 5 Years, but maybe more. I promise it will be an exciting show."

SARA OVERGAARD('03) moved to New York last year, and we were delighted to run into her at the UCI showcase in April, and find that she had signed onto a nine-month tour as stage manager of Mikael Baryshnikov's production of Forbidden Christmas, or The Doctor and the Patient, in which the celebrated actor/ballet dancer is both producer and star. "I'm flying out tomorrow, on only one week's notice, so I'm a little crazy with packing and all the rest, but I'm doing pretty well. The tour includes Minneapolis, Charleston, Berkeley, Barcelona, two weeks in Italy, and New York City. So far, working in New York has been great. I did a couple of shows for NYU's grad acting program, then a Christmas show called The Jazz Nativity, then a program at Lincoln Center called reel to reel which does shows for children. And now I'm working on the same production for nine months, so I'm excited, nervous and curious all at the same time."

HEATHER DE MICHELE('98) is also in New York, working at the American Girl Place on Fifth Avenue at 49th, a combination theatre, cafe and shop - billed as "a place for magical experiences and memories you'll cherish forever" that opened in 2003.

BRIAN THOMPSON('84) will be the title star of the new King Conan: Crown of Iron, due out in 2005. King BRIAN also wrote in last March to say that "just when you thought it was safe to turn on your TV" he appeared in two principal scenes on CBS' Navy NCIS, as "Chief Petty Officer Vincent Nutter." We saw a lot of Brian last year as his son, Jordan, was getting water polo coaching at UCI - allowing Dad BRIAN to stop by our Pedro Gynt rehearsals while waiting for practice to end.

RICHARD PADRO('02) is opening a globally-financed "StageCoach Theatre Arts school in Brooklyn Heights, which will be one of three StageCoach schools in New York City - which are the first in the USA to be operating under the British franchise, marking a major milestone for the expansion of Stagecoach into North America.

We heard from lucky TIMOTHY LOFTUS('83) this year just as he was heading off to Hawaii for a week-long shoot. Tough work but somebody's gotta do it. TIM calls his shots as CEO of PSI Video Production in close-at-hand Irvine.

Congratulations to CARYN MORSE DESAI('90) for scoring what local scribes called "a rare double" with Best Director Ovation Award nominations for both a musical (Dinah Was, about which BackStage West opined that "director CARYN DESAI has reached the heights with this polished and sharp production.") and a play (Visiting Mr. Green, which also landed in Ovation's running for best play). CARYN also received an LA Times Critics' Choice citation for her innovative circus-style Christmas Carol and its "wonder-working stagecraft," along with the other shows at the International City Theatre for which she additionally serves as Managing Director. What a season she's had!

RONAL STEPNEY('80) has become an Assistant Professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he will direct Tartuffe as his initial production.

LORI CULWELL('95) and STEPHAN COX('86) have moved back to Los Angeles and have been staging readings of a pilot script at various places around town, and LUCK HARI('91) performed in one of them at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Following a banner performance year, CHRIS MARSHALL('98) started the '04-'05 academic season teaching theatre at Sage School in Orange County, directing the Emily Mann version of Chekhov's Cherry Orchard at the UCI Barclay Theatre with his students, and living in Laguna Beach! Prior, he had starred as a psychiatrist in Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange at Pacific Rep in Los Angeles ("His depiction of a hotheaded man caught between the Scylla and Charybdis of integrity and self-preservation is exhilarating and painful to watch" said the Monterey County Weekly) and as Jerry in Betrayal at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley ("Marshall is layered, nuanced, and effective, said SF Weekly, "a superb third leg of the triangle," said the SF Chronicle), all of which went splendidly, the UCI thesp told us over lunch in Laguna.

BETH ROBBINS('98) was an active participant in the 7th Annual Palm Canyon Theatre 'Ain't It A Bitch' fund-raiser in Palm Springs last spring, regaling the crowd with "Hollywood show-biz stories" according to a report in the Desert Sun.

NOEL IRIBE('04) is playing Mercutio in Kino and Teresa, a Romeo and Juliet adaptation, for Native Voices at the Wells Fargo Theater. NOEL also performed in a reading of Oliver Mayer's new play, Dias Y Flores at the Black Dahlia theatre in Los Angeles after graduation last summer and was also invited to reprise his role as Pedro Gynt at the Tijuana Theatre Festival last November - but the scheduling didn't work out on that occasion.

ALEX GOLSON('78) continues to direct and chair the theatre program at Orange Coast College. "Teaching is fine but the students always seem younger. My book [Acting Essentials, from McGraw-Hill] is doing better than I ever thought."

EARL WEAVER('90) writes that "All is well here in central Florida, where we are finally getting settled after our four little hurricanes. So let me catch you up on some UCI folks I've seen recently! I just got home from Reno where I was an adjudicator and workshop presenter for TANYA KLUCK('93) at the University of Nevada. She sponsored a National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition for Musical Theatre singers, and I judged and was also the Workshop Clinician for the festival. It was a fun weekend of catching up and reliving UCI grad school memories! Also visited with CURT DENHAM('87), who was in Florida for his grandmother's birthday bash in Tampa. We met at Disney for some dinner, drinks and fun. He looks great; he'd finished the run of Proof he directed in Stockton and had just opened as Georges in La Cage Aux Folles for Diablo Valley Light Opera. After that he'll be in A Christmas Carol for Center Rep Theatre Company. And we have new alum in our department here: KYLE BECKER('02) has joined our tech faculty, joining me and BRIAN VERNON('94) (MFA in Dance). We keep this up and it will be UCI East!"

And KYLE BECKER('02) pitches in: "After my short gig with the University of Central Oklahoma as Designer/Technical Director, I returned to Utah and ran my own business for about a year (Diligent Art and Design). This past fall I accepted a position at the University of Central Florida as a Faculty Designer. While I thought teaching was something I would never, ever do, life is stranger than art. I enjoy teaching, and I try to keep the question Prof. Doug Goheen told us never to forget: What are you contributing to Theatre? I also practice his method of keeping the students "slightly askew". My family and I survived the hurricanes, and yet we still want to stay. I took those cataclysmic events as a good omen!"

STEVE WARKENTIN('03) started the year booking the American Family Theatre tour of Pippi Longstocking, writing that "I play three roles: a cop, a thief, and a sailor. We tour the East Coast and the South, places I've never seen before. It's a six-person show and we all have duties (setting up the sets, taking them down, driving), but it's a start, and I'm finally going to be a "working actor. I can't tell you how freaking excited I am!" So excited - and successful - that he remained in New York, getting a lead in Fortune which played the Midtown International Fringe Festival off-Broadway. "It's a nonmusical drama about a young, unwanted boy who runs away to the streets of New York and learns that life is hard. I play the young boy. It is all very exciting."

LANE FRAGOMELI('99) lives in New York and works at the brand new Design Center of Manhattan's Paper Magic Group, where she is Head Designer of the conglomerate's costume division. Paper Magic designs and markets seasonal products to mass merchandisers, warehouse shopping clubs, supermarket chains, party stores and theme parks; Don Post Studios, the mask designers for Star Wars, is also part of their operation.

JULIE HABER('74) reports from the Northwest, "I left A.C.T. in San Francisco last May after three years there as Administrative Stage Manager. My last show there was a co-production of The Time of Your Life with Seattle Rep, after which I went up to Seattle for two months as the ASM, then came back to San Francisco for the run there. I spent the summer at Bard SummerScape in upstate NY, stage managing a new opera in the new Frank Gehry facility on the Bard campus, then headed back to Seattle as stage manager of Anna in the Tropics, which I'll take to Jupiter, Florida in November for a run at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. The freelance life is a great deal of fun so far, lots of travel and short vacations at home."

JOEL GOLDES('90) writes, "Our biggest news this year was the birth of our second daughter, Celeste, who made a slightly early appearance in August, much welcomed by Vivian and me, and her five-year old sister Claire. It's been a busy year for me: I got a call in August to work for an hour with Jim Broadbent on a new film called Art School Confidential, and ended up coaching all of the leads, who were also English and also doing American accents. Coached a Canadian actor who's playing Tom Cruise's son in Steven Spielberg's The War of the Worlds, prepped Australian actor Simon Baker for Land of the Dead (a zombie movie) and coached HBO's adaptation of Lackawanna Blues, directed by George C. Wolfe. Just finished coaching a lovely Russian actress in Mini's First Time. I coached the host of Joe Schmo 2, a spoof of reality TV shows, in his faux-English accent, and was featured on-camera on ABC Family's Switched, coaching a hapless young woman for a dialect audition. Add to these a couple of commercials, several plays (including A Perfect Wedding at the Kirk Douglas Theatre and Master Harold...and the Boys for LA TheatreWorks/National Public Radio) and I'm ready for a vacation, or at least a long weekend!"

COLETTE SEARLS('02) writes, "I can't believe it's been almost two years since leaving UCI. I'm having a fabulous time directing and teaching as an Assistant Prof at the Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore. Since moving here, I've fallen more deeply in love with puppetry and have created two original puppet plays. The most recent, Buried (about the spirits of war victims) played at the Kennedy Center in DC as an ACTF finalist; LYNN WATSON('93) was our vocal director! Fixed Boundary, which I directed at the SF Fringe Festival won "Best of the Fringe" last year. And this past March I worked on Eli Simon's production of PCPA's Fiddler on the Roof. Right now, I'm most excited about presenting a new piece as a featured "Emerging Artist" at the 2004 National Puppetry Conference at the O'Neill Theater Center. California is a hard place to leave, but Baltimore is as charming as they say n¬- they have things like 'snow' here."

CRAIG PIERCE('88) writes that he's still at Walt Disney Imagineering, currently as a Senior Show Lighting Designer stationed at Disneyland Anaheim. "The people are great, the job is fine, and management has only minor heartburn when I take off to freelance. In thežpast couple years I have designed lighting for Martina McBride's Christmas tours ('02 and '03), the LA Weekly Theater Awards Ceremony 2004, various theater projects around LA and some commercial and themed architectural projects. I have a ten year old son, Connor, who is my pride and joy and I'm married to fellow Lighting Designer LISA KATZ('84)."

ANDREA REESE got a great review and top-of-the-page listings in the New Yorker, plus a major story and photo in the New York Times and a TV spot on CBS News, for the re-opening of her one woman show, Cirque Jacqueline at the Triad Theatre on 72nd street in Gotham last March. "I'm thrilled to report that we had a fantastic launch party and opening this past week, thanks in part to many people on this list. In addition to pre-opening feature articles in Newsday, Elle, The NY Post, and Where Magazine, we also had a number of reviewers at opening night. The reviewer from The New Yorker called the show "very impressive." ANDREA becomes what the Times called a "life-size advertisement for her show" when she takes the N train back to her Astoria apartment in her "uncannily Jackie-esque floral sun dress, Halston sunglasses and Adrien Arpel 'Perfect Pink' lipstick." By year's end, ANDREA had taken her show to the Players in New York, and was prepping for a tour to Chicago and Los Angeles.

"STACY ROSS('90) is an emotionally complex Adriana" said BackStage West about the Comedy of Errors at California Shakespeare Festival last summer.

ANDREW LEVY('00) is on the faculty at Vanguard University where he has just staged an "innovative production of Clarence Day's Life with Father. It's re-set in 1950, at the advent of popular television programming in America, and seeks to capture the essence of the original family "sit-com". We are using wonderful period music and early television product jingles to create the world of the play." ANDREW is also a new parent to six-year-old Rabiya, adopted from Azerbaijan this year.

MANDY OLSEN('00) sent us her wedding announcement - having married Robert Byran Cogman last July on the Oregon Coast. MANDY was multi-coastal this year, playing Jacquenetta in Loves Labors Lost at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Miranda in The Busybody at LookingGlass Theatre in Chicago, and Charlotte in Charlotte's Web at Florida Studio Theatre. And now she and Bryan are moving back to California!

MICHELLE JAEGER JONES('03) works as a mortgage lender for Beachlending in Redondo Beach. "On the creative side I am writing screenplays. One that has received interest is called "Secret Agent Housewives." Sounds exciting to us!

COURTNEY PETERSON('99) has just moved from New York back to her home town of Minneapolis, where she's resettled and back in business (acting) along the Minneapolis-Chicago axis.

A lovely picture in the L.A. Times of P.J. WAGNER('03), now PAUL DEAN caught our attention as PJ, performing Tamino, was leading Pamina through the fire and ice in the Falcon Theatre's one-hour adaptation The Magic Flute in Burbank. "DEAN gives a most expressive and full-voiced performance," said the Times' scribe.

KATHERINE MURPHY('88) presented her newest play, To Hades and Back (Again) as a developmental workshop at the Off Market Theatre in San Francisco last summer. "It's my riff on the women of The Oresteia. Without completely divulging the two-thousand year-old plot, the story remains mostly the same as the original, only updated, indulged, and giving the women their say."

SALLY BRANSTETTER('76) writes that she "will be marrying the man around the corner and will be Sally McClellan, living in Soulsbyville, CA. I am currently a special ed. (learning disabilities) and regular ed. teacher at Sonora Elementary School in Tuolumne County, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. This small county has three theatre companies - Sierra Rep, Stage 3 and Mountain Actors Conservatory, and I've acted with all three, my last role being Eleanor in Lion in Winter. In addition to acting, I'm leading a creative writing club on campus and will host two open-mic nights for the kids and their families. Before I entered public school teaching, I had taught emotionally disturbed and drug addicted teens, and was an in-home parent counselor and literacy instructor for families with small children. As you know, reading aloud to pre-schoolers sets the stage for school achievement, and is a marvelous way to reach learning-disabled kids. My drama background has never let me down when I begin to read aloud. I have a seventeen year old daughter, Tonya, and just recently we found out that she has been accepted at U.C. Berkeley!"

And also heard from now attorney-director PATRICK DWYER('79), for the first time since his graduation, from which time he's given a quick and inspiring recap: "Went to Seattle, started dinner theatre in Bremerton in 1980, started a family, freaked out about money, quit acting and went to law school; went into patent law. Intermittent directing and productions throughout the years, notably a very successful local commedia troupe composed of high school actors. We created a production of Sunday Costs Five Pesos in commedia style: Very satisfying. This summer I am planning to create more local commedia troupes to bring love, laughter and play to what the world says are the dark areas - the four horsemen of the apocalypse: war, famine, fire and pestilence. Each troupe will generate its own leadership and be both autonomous and collaborative; each will also be self-duplicating towards a world consortium of such troupes, committed to bringing laughter and insignificance to people and situations often only thought of as serious and fearful."

DEBBIE GRATTAN (RARIK)('83) is in her new home in Michigan, but her voice-over commissions haven't even slowed down, she says, with most of her California clients still calling in. But DEBBIE has also picked up new clients in her new home town, including Martin's Grocery, the largest chain in her area, where "hardly a day goes by" that her family doesn't "hear her on local radio or TV," says proud husband Paul.

BARRY CAVIN('94) has written, designed and directed Fetish, a new play about "an artist who obsesses beauty and acts as if nothing exists outside the picture plane, a story of possession, power, and malicious love," among other things. It premiered at The Complex on Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood last Spring.

RAMY ELETREBY('02) played a number of roles in the Uprising theatre production of Hamlet this year in Los Angeles.

We were laughing through a wonderful full-page article, "He loves me, he loves me not," on - of all things - the fraught relationships between homeowners and building contractors, in the Thanksgiving issue of the L.A.Times. When we checked the by-line of the clever author, we found it had been written by frequent Times columnist, CAROL MITHERS('74).

RICHARD MEDUGNO('81) let us know that the FirstStage Theatre in Hollywood presented a rehearsed staged reading of his 10-minute new play, The Near Death Experiment, as part of their Playwrights Express fundraiser.

LISA RAE ROBINSON('99) is a newly promoted associate professor at Central Missouri State University and is in for some excitement this year: as faculty advisor of this year's production The Vagina Monologues. RAE spent several fabulous days in Manhattan meeting with Eve Ensler, and seeing her new show The Good Body. RAE is also designing costum