Newsletter Week 8. May 16, In This Issue. Department News

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1 Newsletter Week 8 May 16, 2016 In This Issue Department News Alumni News Meetings of the Week Department News Wagner New Play Festival Closes with a Wonderful Celebration! Left to right: Will Detlefsen (MFA Directing), Madeleine Oldham (Berkeley Rep, Director of Ground Floor), Chay Yew (Victory Gardens, Artistic Director), Deborah Stein (Playwriting Faculty), and Naomi Iizuka (Playwriting Faculty) Hollywood Opens at La Jolla Playhouse May 10 - June 12, 2016 EXTENDED! By Joe DiPietro Directed by Christopher Ashley NOIR WHODUNNIT

2 In 1922, famed director William Desmond Taylor is found murdered in his home. The celebrity suspects mount as the headlines explode with lurid reports of love triangles, hush money and deception. Enter Will Hays, Hollywood's newly appointed moral watchdog, determined to silence the scandal and purify this increasingly corrupt city. Based on the true story of Taylor's unsolved murder, Hollywood is a noir thriller set in the Golden Age of movies by Tony Award winner Joe Depietro. Check out the incredible amount of department involvement below: 2007 MFA acting alum Scott Drummond plays William Desmond Taylor. Current MFA actors Caroline Siewert, Katherine Ko, Terrance White and Martin Meccouri are all in it. Professor Eva Barnes, voice & speech coach Professor Tara Knight, projection designer MFA sound design alum Chris Luessmann, sound designer MFA Lighting Design alum Anthony Januzzi, assistant projection designer MFA Lighting Design alum Sherrice Mojgani, assistant lighting designer Current MFA Stage Manager Chiquita Lu is stage management assistant. Current MFA Lighting Designer Chao-Yu Tsai, Second assistant lighting designer. Current MFA Scenic Designer Charlie Jicha, assistant scenic designer.

3 Left to right: Katherine Ko, Caroline Siewert, Terrance White and Martin Meccouri. Alumni News Danny Burstein Wins Outer Critics Circle Award The OCC serves as an imperfect bellwether for the Tony Awards, since a number of significant titles in the Tony race - most notably "Hamilton" - weren't eligible for the OCCs this year because they were recognized in prior incarnations and in previous years. OCC winners will receive awards at a May 26 ceremony at Sardi's. The full list of Outer Critics Circle Award winners follows. OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Danny Burstein ('90 MFA Acting alum) for Fiddler on the Roof

4 Ricardo Chavira Cast In Netflix Comedy Series Desperate Housewives alum Ricardo Chavira ('00 MFA Acting alum), who has a high-profile recurring role on Scandal this season, is set to co-star opposite Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant in Santa Clarita Diet, Netflix's upcoming single-camera comedy series from creator Victor Fresco, Aaron Kaplan's Kapital Entertainment and Tracy Katsky's Kapital-based KatCo, which is set for 2017 debut. Natalie Birriel Performs SPEAK at the St. Marks Theatre Natalie Birriel ('12 MFA Acting alum) is proud to announce a special performance of her autobiographical solo show Speak! at Under St. Marks on May 17th and May 24th at 7:00pm. Directed by Andreas Robertz, Speak! is a 90's music driven show about Natalie's journey from being a stutterer who couldn't say her own name to not being able to shut up! Speak! is a heartbreakingly funny and inspirational tale for anyone who has ever felt held back from saying what they truly wanted

5 to say! Set in Miami, Florida just as the Funk of the 80's was ending and the hip hop/grunge period of the 90's was beginning, in Speak! we witness the plight of Natalie trying to find her voice. We also meet her Puerto Rican/Cuban/African American/Jewish posse who helped and inspired her with their own amazing voices and who in their own way had something that prevented them from saying what they really meant to say. Speak! explores the thing that unites us all, which is our need to be heard and understood. Speak! started as a solo piece in the basement of University California, San Diego. Ivan Talijancic at Three Legged Dog in New York Ivan Talijancic ('93 UG alum) will be apart of 3LD's third installment of an ongoing, multi year series of open studio presentations by WaxFactory, presented under the common title PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!. The company invites you to take a peek behind the process of shaping the characters for what eventually might just become the weirdest production of Seagull you have ever seen. STUDIES IN CHEKHOV Directed/designed by: Ivan Talijancic Performed by: Melody Bates, Gillian Chadsey, Erika Latta, Kestrel Leah + Todd Peters Video: Victor Morales Lights: Paul Hudson Sound: Yiannis Christofides Photo: Maria Baranova Check out the show's feature in the Brooklyn Rail, here.

6 Jason H. Thompson in American Theatre Magazine Jason H. Thompson ('04 MFA Lighting Design alum) is highlighted in this American theatre article as 6 Theatre Workers You Should Know. Jason has worked on over 50 Productions as a Projection Designer around the world. His credits include the Broadway musical Baby It's You!, Venice at the Public Theatre, Remember Me an international touring show with Parsons Dance Company, Cage Songbooks a 45 minute selection of Cage Compositions performed at Carnegie Hall, SF Symphony, and New World Symphony in Miami, Crescent City Opera and Invisible Cities new experimental operas directed by Yuval Sharon, Bad Apples a new musical about Abu Ghraib, The Great Immensity an exploratory theatrical experience based on interviews by the Civilians about Global Warming. He has designed the video for Stars on Ice for the last six years, and has worked with the Scott Hamilton Cares Foundation for the last two years. As a video engineer, Jason was the Head Video Engineer for a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign for Stanford University called Leading Matters.; 4K resolution content was projected on 60' curved walls surrounding the dining area for the event.

7 Natalia Valerdi-Rogers Presents SHADOWORX Visionary Dance Theatre brings to the stage its 6th season Spring dance concert "SHADOWORX", an evening of modern dance and video art, at the City Heights Performance Annex (3795 Fairmount Ave, San Diego, CA, behind the City Heights/Weingart Branch Library) on May 7:30pm. Featuring the works of Natalia Valerdi-Rogers ('06 UG alum), SHADOWORX brings to the stage a blend of dance and video art, the unique brand of this choreographer and artist. Her work brings intensity, experimentation and contemporary minimalism to a refined balance. Driven by electronic music and experimental video, Valerdi-Rogers creates a world of emotions and landscapes that convey their own reality. This year's Spring program includes the world premiere of "Chairs of Mass Distraction". This work is about the playful musings of five women around four chairs, and the personalities they reveal through them. Inspired by the stripped antique chairs transformed by artist Miriam Sievers, this work features Phantom Words and other musical illusions invented by University of California San Diego Professor of Psychology Diana Deutsch with the music of Frédéric Chopin. Tickets are $14/advance and $19/general. Advance sale window closes May 22nd, Tickets can be purchased online(convenience fees apply) at For general information please contact us at or at info@visionarydancetheatre.org.

8 Meetings of the Week Faculty Meeting Wednesday, May 18, :00pm Galbraith Hall (GH) 254 Join Our List Join Our Mailing List! Have news to share? Send it to us at and we'll pass it along for you. Photos are encouraged. Please be sure to let us know what year you graduated, if you're an alum. If you've changed your name, be sure to tell us what it was when you attended UC. Miss a back edition? Visit the Newsletter Archives. Sincerely, UC San Diego Theatre & Dance

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