A NEW ERA - Mason Gross School of the Arts
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
MGSA
SPRING 2021
M A S O N G R O S S S C H O O L O F T H E A RT S
A NEW ERA
M E E T D E A N J A S O N G E A R Y
Creating Through COVID │ F a r e w e l l T o S t a n l e y C o w e l l │ D a n c e & P a r k i n s o n' s
TAKE
NOTE
T he Wrap has named the Rutgers
Filmmaking Center among the
Top 50 Film Schools—no small
feat, especially if you consider that the
center has only been offering BFA degrees
since 2015. The center gets kudos for its
“easy access to Manhattan’s film scene
without paying Manhattan rent,” and a 1:12
faculty-student ratio in a conservatory
setting. In addition, Variety named the
program among the top in the nation in its
latest Entertainment Impact Report.
Rutgers Theater Company’s fall
2019 production of Mr. Burns,
a Post-Electric Play with Gabriel COVID #keepmakingart
August Kessler, from left,
Maia Karo, Faith Evan Wilansky,
Graham Poore, Candace Grace,
Matthew Petrucelli, Magali
Trench, and Sofia Duemichen. 02
D ance Magazine named alum
Oluwadamilare Ayorinde one of “25 to
Watch” in 2020. “Ayorinde transforms
himself each and every time he performs, in
pieces by drastically different choreographers...
His passion is unquestionable, transforming
any work brought his way,” says dance writer
Charmaine Warren.
R
utgers Filmmaking Center faculty
Mollye Asher took home an Oscar at the
93rd annual Academy Awards as part of
the team that produced the Frances McDormand
film Nomadland. The film won Best Picture,
Best Director, and Best Actress in a Leading
Role. The film garnered a Golden Globe and two
Independent Spirit Awards as well.
B elieve the rumors: This
fall, tickets to all of our
events at the Mason Gross
Performing Arts Center and the New
Brunswick Performing Arts Center
will be available online! Once we are
ready to present a slate of in-person
performances, visit masongross.
rutgers.edu to purchase tickets.
COVID House Music
03
MATT PILSNER
L E T T E R F R O M T H E D E A N
W
hile I never could have imagined my inaugural
year as dean occurring in the midst of a global
pandemic, I have found it to be an exhilarating
and rewarding one all the same. Seeing faculty,
staff, students, and alumni respond to the demands of the
moment gave me special insight into the creativity and
imagination of the Mason Gross community. Especially
inspiring were the ways in which students collaborated
across departments within the school to create stunning
works of art in a virtual space.
The school has also taken part in important national
conversations happening within the arts and more broadly.
A schoolwide Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee
comprising faculty and staff, and with input from students,
was created last spring and has been charged by me with
engaging the wider Mason Gross community on ideas
for fostering more inclusive programming and curricula.
Such issues strike at the heart of a fundamental question
around which I have also been having robust dialogue with
faculty, staff, students, and alumni, namely what the role Geary at Nicholas Music Center on April 2, 2021. KEITH MUCCILLI
of a conservatory should be in preparing students both for
professional success and to emerge as leaders prepared to years of experience at Rutgers and in the corporate
tackle the post-pandemic challenges that will be faced by sector, has joined us as associate dean for finance and
the arts and by our rapidly changing world. administration, and Rebecca Cypess left her role as
associate director of the Music Department to become the
Answering this question also means thinking about how school’s new associate dean for academic affairs. Both
we leverage the opportunities of being part of a leading have already made tremendous contributions and will be
public research university like Rutgers. I have already begun vital as we build upon the foundations of the Mason Gross
exploring ways in which we can enhance partnerships legacy to reach new heights of excellence, inclusivity,
and research collaborations between the arts and other and impact. I’m excited about the road ahead and the
disciplines on campus, and I am thrilled to see the outcome possibilities for the future!
of an upcoming “speed-networking” session during which
faculty from Mason Gross and the School of Public Health
will have the opportunity to share ideas and possibilities
with an eye toward receiving seed funding to support the
most promising projects that arise.
I have also been taking a close look at the
school’s operations and have added a couple
of key players to what I regard as an already
stellar team of staff. Judy Zenowich, who has
Jason Letter – EDI/Rebecca Cypess appointment
04
DancePlus Fall dress rehearsal at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, November 20, 2019. KEITH MUCCILLI
MAGAZINE SPRING 2021
6 ON T H E C OV E R 9 FACULT Y SPOTLIGHT 10 STUDENT/ALUMNI 13 FAR EWELL TO
NEWS STAN LEY COWELL
811121718
FAC U LT Y N E W S
14 W HY YOU
HELP FOR INJ URED
MUSICI A NS
10, 11, 15, 16
MOVEMENT AS
CREATING
MEDICINE
19
STUDENT SP OTL IGHT WATCH–R EA D–VI S IT
IN MEMOR I AM 20 T H E L A S T LOOK
S H OU LD GIVE THR OUGH COVID
From left: KEITH MUCCILLI; COURTESY OF GRACE LYNNE HAYNES; KEITH MUCCILLI; NICK ROMANENKO; RAUL AYALA
OUR LEADERSHIP MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
848-932-9360
Jason Geary, Dean
Rebecca Cypess, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs MASON GROSS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Judy Zenowich, Associate Dean for Finance and Administration 848-932-7511
Mandy Feiler, Dean of Students
Linda Christian, Associate Dean for Advancement MASON GROSS GALLERIES AT CIVIC SQUARE
Marc Handelman, Chair of the Art & Design Department 848-932-5211
Julia M. Ritter, Artistic Director and Chair of the Dance Department
William Berz, Director of the Music Department NEW BRUNSWICK PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Ellen Bredehoft, Chair of the Theater Department 732-745-8000
Ruqqayya Maudoodi, Director of Rutgers Arts Online
Derek Balcom, Director of Rutgers Community Arts masongross.rutgers.edu
Patrick Stettner, Director of the Rutgers Filmmaking Center
ON THE COVER: Dean Jason Geary, April 2, 2021. Photo by Keith
Muccilli.
THIS MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED FOR ALUMNI, FACULTY, STUDENTS, EMPLOYEES,
EDITORIAL STAFF DONORS, AND FRIENDS OF THE MASON GROSS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS. YOUR
FEEDBACK AND NEWS ITEMS ARE WELCOME. PLEASE WRITE TO
Editor: Laurie Granieri ALUMNI@MGSA.RUTGERS.EDU OR TO MASON GROSS MAGAZINE, MASON GROSS
Contributing writers: Risa Barisch, Stephen Whitty SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, 33 LIVINGSTON AVENUE, NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ 08901.
Designer: Monica Toledo-Fraginals
© 2021 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
05 SPRING 2021
MOVING
DEAN GEARY
OUTLINES NEW
OPPORTUNITIES
FORWARD
FOR THE SCHOOL,
INCLUDING
LEADING RUTGERS’
RESEARCH
MISSION THROUGH
“T he arts and
humanities can
be on the leading edge
THE ARTS of grappling with
By Risa Barisch some of society’s most
J
ason Geary has always
pressing challenges—
viewed change—moving some of the questions
to a new city, choosing
a different career path, that define our very
taking a new job—as a chance
for reinvention.
existence and time.”
Embracing the unknown has
“made it easier to accept change
and realize that you can start
over, you can create a new life for
yourself,” says Geary, the new dean
of Mason Gross School of the
Arts who arrived last July from the
University of Maryland School of
Music. “It kind of prepares you for
the monumental changes that you
encounter in life.” Among those, he
notes, was moving to New Jersey
with his wife and two sons in the
middle of a pandemic.
Geary has crisscrossed the
country several times since high Geary, a trained pianist and musicologist, onstage at Nicholas Music Center. KEITH MUCCILLI
school, when he and his family
relocated from Bakersfield,
California, to Aurora, Colorado, He returned to California to earn a of me that was more the stand- “It took a while to get there but,
where his father launched piano performance degree at the up-in-front-of-the-classroom ultimately, I never looked back.”
a successful business and San Francisco Conservatory of educator—that was what ultimately
drove me to pursue musicology as
entrepreneurial career after
years of working on the railroad
Music, where he won competitions
resulting in performances with the something that combined my love ARTS FOR ALL
following a brief stint playing school’s orchestra and at New York of academics and music.” Geary’s professional path took him
football in the NFL. City’s Alice Tully Hall, and became back to the University of Michigan,
the first in his family to graduate Choosing musicology over where he taught musicology and
Starting anew wasn’t easy, but college. performance was a decision that served as associate dean at the
Geary remembers being excited. Geary says he thought long and School of Music, Theatre & Dance,
As much as he loved the piano, hard about as he weighed leaving and then on to the University
“Bakersfield is not the California Geary found himself increasingly behind the joy of practicing the of Maryland, where he was the
of postcards,” Geary says with a drawn to the academic side of piano for several hours each director of the School of Music and
smile, “so it didn’t feel like we were music, and soon transitioned to day to make time for research special advisor for the arts within
leaving much behind. I also felt like musicology as a graduate student and writing. But once he landed the College of Arts & Humanities.
it was an opportunity to reinvent at the University of Michigan. the opportunity to attend Yale
myself in some way, a clean slate.” University to pursue a PhD, the Geary began his role as dean
“I read a lot as a child, I enjoyed move to academia felt just right. of Mason Gross in July 2020,
Geary began teaching himself the writing, and I always kind of knew outlining a leadership plan based
piano at age 11 and by 16 was I wanted to be a teacher,” Geary “That was another moment where on what he calls his three core
winning state competitions, one says. “My experience with music I felt like the courses I was taking pillars: collaboration; community
of which led to a performance as history during my undergraduate and the stimulating interaction with engagement; and inclusive
soloist with the National Repertory years connected the passion that my professors and classmates excellence, which encompasses
Orchestra at the Keystone Music I had for playing the piano, and confirmed for me that this was the issues of equity, diversity, and
Festival in Colorado. music in general, with this part life I wanted to live,” Geary says. inclusion.
06 MASON GROSS
He says he was drawn to Mason Gross Geary. “The issues of representation
because of its location, both within and equity and inclusion are important
a major research university and in to them, and are values that they
the greater New York metropolitan want to see enshrined in the heart of
area, as well as the chance to foster institutions, including Mason Gross.”
interdisciplinary collaboration and
address larger social issues through Geary says he is committed to “thinking
the arts. in ways that are bold and innovative”
about curriculum, including greater
“Those kinds of opportunities are exposure to different artistic traditions
really rich at a place like Rutgers,” says outside of the western European
Geary, citing examples like the Dance canon and the role of representation
& Parkinson’s community movement and race when it comes to casting,
classes and an emerging partnership programming, guest artists, and faculty. A PIANO, A PRESIDENT, AND WHAT
between Mason Gross and the newly
established Institute for the Study of A strong educational foundation and MAKES JERSEY UNIQUE—DEAN
Global Racial Justice that will explore plenty of hours in the practice room or
ways in which the arts can help studio or on the stage are invaluable,
illuminate issues of racism and social Geary says, but there’s a greater
GEARY GIVES ADDITIONAL INSIGHT
inequality. “The arts and humanities responsibility for school leadership to
can be on the leading edge of think about the kind of preparation that INTO HIS LIFE
grappling with society’s most pressing students need, especially in a post-
challenges—some of the questions COVID world where “the professional
that define our very existence and landscape is shifting dramatically under
time.” our collective feet.” W H AT I S Y O U R M O S T T R E A S U R E D
Geary was instrumental in guiding “It means thinking about how that POSSESSION?
Rutgers University–New Brunswick expertise or studio training relates to
to join the Alliance for the Arts in other disciplines,” says Geary, “how it My grand piano. In addition to being a beautiful
Research Universities (a2ru), which relates to community, what it means to instrument, it has worked well as decor in all six of the
helps research universities develop make a living as a visual artist, designer, houses we’ve lived in over the last decade and a half.
interdisciplinary arts-integrated filmmaker, musician, dancer, or actor
research, curricula, programs, and in 2021, and how that might mean
creative practice. cultivating a set of skills that weren’t W H I C H TA L E NT W O U L D YO U M O S T
necessarily highlighted 50 years ago, or
The school’s first related initiative will 10 years ago, or even two years ago.” L I K E T O H AV E ?
build on the foundation of the Dance
& Parkinson’s program to create the With such bold proposals, though, he ability to eat and not gain weight. I love eating and
T
Integrated Dance Collaboratory, which Geary is careful to point out that his hate working out, so I hope this counts!
will serve as a hub of research with goal is not to undo Mason Gross, but to
other disciplines including medicine move it forward in a way that benefits
and psychology to explore how dance its students and leads to increased WHICH LIVING PERSON DO YOU
can help people with autism, traumatic visibility for the school.
brain injury, and other medical MOST ADMIRE?
conditions. “It’s not a dismantling of the
conservatory model, but rather a ormer President Barack Obama. Apart from his
F
Joining a2ru “happened with Mason rethinking of what it means to be a pathbreaking achievements, I admire his equanimity,
Gross out in front, leading the charge,” conservatory in the 21st century,”
Geary says. “It’s not giving up those
his willingness to listen to a multiplicity of voices,
says Geary, who serves on the
executive board of the alliance. “That’s things we wish to conserve, but it’s and his ability to communicate effectively. These are
an example of how the arts can be at integrating other kinds of opportunities qualities I try to emulate as a leader.
the core of the university’s research and experiences.”
mission as opposed to being on the
margins, which is often the case, where W H AT P R O F E S S I O N O T H E R T H A N
you’re fighting for a seat at the table.” YOUR OWN WOULD YOU LIKE TO
“My experience has prepared me well AT T E M P T ?
to position the arts and Mason Gross
to be leaders on campus in terms A lawyer—had I gone to law school, which I once
of academic excellence that defines briefly considered, I would have wanted to become a
not just who we are as a school but prosecutor and eventually a politician.
who Rutgers is as an institution, and
what our reputation is nationally and
globally,” Geary adds. “The arts can be
at the front and center of that.” YOU’VE LIVED ALL OVER THE
C O U N T R Y. W H AT I S O N E T H I N G
RESHAPING A B O U T N E W J E R S E Y T H AT Y O U ’ V E
THE SCHOOL FOUND DIFFERENT FROM ALL OF
While Geary has his sights set far and
wide across the university, he’s also
THESE PLACES?
focused on the needs of Mason Gross
students. Through work groups, town It would have to be the dearth of left turns. I’ve seen
halls, and small virtual gatherings these jughandles in other East Coast states, but New
held throughout the year, Geary has Jersey takes things to another level entirely. Not being
gathered feedback from students on able to pump my own gas is also unique, but that one I
topics ranging from curriculum reform don’t mind as much, especially considering the winter
to career development. we just had.
“Students are very interested in a
curriculum that reflects the diversity of Geary with his wife, Helen,
our student body and our state,” says and their two sons.
07 SPRING 2021
FACULTY
NEWS In fact, another word for legacy
might actually just be community.”
Dance Teacher Magazine spoke
with faculty Ani Javian about
grading during COVID-19, which
in Javian’s classes has involved
self-assessment and self-reflection
beyond the studio (or home dance
space), as well as activities like
drawing, poetry, and taking walks.
“With everything that’s been going
on this year, I’ve been thinking a lot
about the ways that our movement
practice relates to the world around
us,” Javian says. “Why are we
training in dance? Looking inward
will make a difference in how
students then extend themselves
outward into the world.”
Department of Art & Design faculty
Patrick Strzelec (left) received
the 2020 International Sculpture
Center Outstanding Educator
Award. Strzelec was featured in the
January/February issue of Sculpture
magazine in a Q&A about teaching
and the inspiration he draws from
his students at Rutgers. “When you
come from a middle-class family,
with no serious background in art,
attend a large public institution, and
are often the first family member
to attend college, and you choose
to focus on art—that is inspiring,”
he says. “There is more than
courage involved. There is a desire
for freedom, expression, love, and
passion. They are gutsy young
people. I suppose they remind me
of myself to some degree.”
Congrats to Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs Rebecca Cypess
on her new recording with The
Raritan Players, In the Salon of
Madame Brillon.
Dance’s Pam Tanowitz and her
company, Pam Tanowitz Dance,
returned to the Joyce Theater in
December with two works: Gustave
Le Gray, No. 2 and a new, site-
KEITH MUCCILLI specific work, Finally Unfinished:
Part 1, created in collaboration
with Tanowitz’s dancers while in
A
quarantine via Zoom and performed
ctor and director Cameron Department of Art & Design faculty way that torches get passed from
throughout the empty Joyce
Knight of the University Steffani Jemison is featured in one generation to the next, super
Theater. The program was a Critic’s
of North Carolina School Harper’s Bazaar in an article about formal. Legacy was a very distant
Pick in The New York Times: “...
of the Arts will take over the Studio Museum in Harlem. “As concept. And what I learned from
this theater that has been dark
as head of BFA acting this fall. He a younger person, the idea of legacy the Studio Museum is that legacies
and empty for most of this year
replaces Barbara Marchant, who is always seemed really abstract,” are built. They’re built with intention.
becomes animated by elegant,
retiring after more than two decades she says in the piece, published on That legacy is rooted in very real
eccentric, brilliant dance,” Brian
with the Theater Department. February 26. “Legacy described the relationships between real people.
Seibert writes in his review.
08 MASON GROSS
4 Q U E S T I O N S F O R D I D I E R W I L L I A M
of Haiti. Additionally, it is also home familiar, I try to disassociate them
to many others across the Latin from the usual cultural symbols to
American diaspora. In this remaking which they are attached.
and re-mapping of home, I think a very
unique and peculiar aesthetic is built, Additionally, I think I must say that
wherein color, surface, and texture my mom is a chef. She has a Haitian
are projected onto everything from restaurant in Miramar, Florida, and
textiles, to architecture, the landscape, so I grew up constantly surrounded
to the food, even the language. And by delicious Haitian food and Haitian
so there is a kind of rich tapestry, an cooking (which if you know anything
evolving grit that is characteristic of about it, is really spicy and colorful
South Florida’s material culture. It’s and flavorful with rich ingredients.
not uncommon in South Florida to Haitian food comprises an incredibly
see brilliantly colored homes with layered palette), and I often like to
terra-cotta rooftops and bright green say that the way that I think about
porches. The South Florida sun also painting and art is very much the way
illuminates everything with a piercing, that my mom thinks about cooking
blinding luminescence. These are very and food…. My associations and
much the colors that I source in my relationships to color in the print shop
paintings. have always been analogous to food.
There’s a beautiful synchronicity for
In my work I also try to take what me that exists between the alchemy
are thought of as usual or typical of printmaking and the alchemy of
associations with color and cooking.
re-distribute them. Bodies and
landscapes can exchange scale and You’ve mentioned a teacher
surface. I try to take colors we would who believed in you as an
associate with architecture and bring artist when you were very
them into the body, colors we would young. Can you talk about the
associate with sky and bring them
into the ground, and vice-versa. In this significance of that faith—and
kind of reassessment of the picture your parents’ devotion to your
plane I’m education as an artist?
“I
attempting
t’s critical for young to create an It’s critical for young artists to feel
artists to feel supported. alternative supported. I’ve benefited from a great
deal of support even before I had a
space in which
ALEX NUNEZ AND THE FOUNDTAINHEAD FOUNDATION I’ve benefited from a great the viewer can clear vision of who or what I wanted
certainly find to be. This laid the groundwork for the
deal of support even before
D
familiarity, persistence I’ve relied on as a working
epartment of Art & Design’s on the function I had a clear vision of who but they’re artist and teacher. My parents’
Didier William joined the of historical intentionally support not only reminded me that I
faculty in fall 2019 as a silences,
or what I wanted to be. This slowed down. was loved and cared for, but that what
I had to say was important and that I
professor of expanded Silencing the laid the groundwork for the Even when
things are sort deserved to be heard. We owe young
print. In a New York Times Past, has been
profile on the Haitian-American artist, an important persistence I’ve relied on as of explicitly artists this affirmation.
Laurel Graeber says that William’s
works “incorporate collage, oil paint,
one for me. In
it he argues,
a working artist and teacher.”
and acrylic as well, making them as “Historical
multifarious as the Afro-Caribbean representations—be they books,
diaspora itself.” commercial exhibits, or public
commemorations, cannot be
Much of your work is on conceived only as vehicles for the
wood, not canvas. transmission of knowledge, they must
also establish some relation to that
The rigid and somewhat brittle knowledge.” This greatly resonates
surface of wood provides a material with me, particularly in terms of
that has some resistance to my how I think about the body and
authorship, which I like. It’s an organic representations of human form.
material, so inconsistencies and
blemishes in the surface are natural, How has geography shaped
and I love that. It effects a kind of your work? You were born
organic collaboration—a midway point in Haiti and then moved to
between readymade and something
fabricated.
Miami as a child. Now you
live in Philadelphia and teach
Many of your works feature in New Brunswick. How do
bodies or backgrounds covered these places seep into your
with eyes. Your works seem to work, if at all?
behold the viewer. Probably most directly, the geography
For me, looking isn’t just about a of the places I’ve lived have influenced
stable, singular process, it’s something my aesthetics and the aesthetics
that takes place in the present of the different places I’ve lived
moment between the bodies in my continue to influence my work. I
paintings and the curious viewer. immediately think of color with this
The eye motif developed out of an question, and I think it’s hard not to
urge to make this process physical. think about South Florida, where I
It grew out of an attempt to trace grew up, as one of the primary sites
the process of looking and bearing that helped build my relationship
witness. The repeated eye forms to a kind of cultural aesthetic that I
work to make physical the otherwise associate with a particularly diasporic
unseen circuitry of looking and being experience. As you might know, South Two Dads, 64-inches-by-50-inches, wood carving, acrylic, collage, and ink on
looked at. Here I’m very much thinking Florida is home to the largest Haitian panel. COURTESY OF DIDIER WILLIAM.
about Michel-Rolph Trouillot. His text population outside of the country
09 SPRING 2021
Student & several months developing new
works to be presented as readings
organization include Aaron Copland
and William Schuman. Artists in
Dance alum
Kyle Marshall’s work
in June. seven disciplines live and work at
Alumni News Congrats to senior Dance
MacDowell for a period of up to eight
weeks. Painter’s memoir, Old in Art
during COVID leads to
world-premiere works
Department students Cassidy School: A Memoir of Starting Over this summer
M
Rivas and Julia Foti, whose (which details, among other things,
usic doctoral student work will be shown at the her time at Rutgers), was a 2018
Adrienne Baker was part of 2021 American College Dance finalist for the National Book Critics
By Risa Barisch
the four-member woodwind Association Screendance Festival. Circle Award.
section that created music
L
for Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical. Film student Keeks Rogers and four In the fall, MM percussion ife during lockdown was
The event streamed in January to Rutgers scientists made UTUQAQ, student and BM alum Andrew productive for choreographer
an audience of millions. Performing a short, lyrical documentary in the Bambridge was featured on WNET’s
Arctic serving as a kind of ode to the and BFA'11 dance graduate
while socially distancing in a studio All Arts Rising Artist series. The Kyle Marshall. Over the last
was the first time Baker had played disappearing ice. The film is available series profiles creative student talent
with other musicians in person since to stream through Field of Vision. year, the 2018 NY Dance and
at New York City-area universities.
the pandemic began. “It brought Bambridge also performed a live Performance “Bessie” Jury Award
Recent costume design grad winner was able to reconnect with
back to me how magical that really concert from home in a series
Ashley Kong is a winner of the himself and his family during the
is,” Baker said. “One of the great that the school co-sponsored with
2020 CosBond Creator Contest for down time while also creating
things about the arts is the ability the Rutgers University Alumni
her cosplay replica of the Thorin
to nonverbally communicate, to Association. Bambridge presented several new works.
Oakenshield costume from Peter
move together and do cues together, music on marimba. You can view the
Jackson’s The Hobbit film trilogy.
have musical conversations in series, called House Music, on the First and foremost for a dancer,
Kong’s creation took a whopping 234
the moment.” The online event RUAA’s Facebook page. though, is staying in motion.
hours over 6 months to complete!
co-starred theater alum and three-
time Tony Award-nominee Kevin Theater alum Tom Pelphrey, a Music alum and Silk Road
Ensemble member Cristina Pato “Improvisation was a way I stayed
Chamberlin as Auguste Gusteau. breakout star on Ozark and co-star in
has received the Committed Artist physically curious,” says Marshall.
the Oscar-nominated film Mank (both “Moving in my living room and in
It’s confirmed: Sex and the City is Award from the Daniel and Nina
streaming on Netflix), was named
returning, with co-stars Sarah Carasso Foundation. Pato also outdoor spaces allowed me to
one of Variety's 10 Actors to Watch
Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, appears in a video playing Galician connect to my inner impulse and to
2020!
and theater alum Kristin Davis. The bagpipes along with pianist Arturo my environment.”
HBO Max reboot, titled And Just Like In February, dance alum Myssi O’Farrill on a rendition of Carla
That… will follow the women as they Robinson was profiled in Dance Bley’s “Útviklingssang” and is one To push himself artistically,
navigate love and friendship in their Magazine. Choreographer David of several artists from around the Marshall directed and edited
50s during 10 episodes. Production Dorfman said of Robinson: “When world, including Yo-Yo Ma, Meshell
in New York City was set to begin Ndegeocello, and Angélique Kidjo, collaborative digital dances
she moves, her aliveness seeps with his company, Kyle Marshall
this spring. through every pore.” featured in a recent video recording
of Peter Gabriel’s 1980 protest Choreography. A new work,
Acting alum Katie Do is one of Art & Design Department alum and song Biko. Hudson, premiered in late
six playwrights participating in best-selling author Nell Painter was December as part of Operation
the inaugural Sống Collective’s appointed chair of MacDowell’s Downbeat Magazine named jazz Unite Education and Cultural Arts
Việt Writers Lab, a community of board of directors. She takes over guitar student Ilan Eisenzweig Center’s Kwanzaa Celebration,
Vietnamese artists from the United for novelist Michael Chabon. Past among the winners of their Student
States and Canada who spent featuring performers and alumni
chairs of the New Hampshire-based Music Awards! Oluwadamilare Ayorinde, Bria
Bacon, Mimi Gabriel, and Myssi
Robinson.
V G G
O U N
ID H
Marshall was also able to work on
C RO TI
A
several projects that will premiere
TH RE
live this summer, including Stellar,
C
a dance film commissioned by the
Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Rise,
commissioned by The Shed. I and
I, a solo performance, will premiere
at the New Brunswick Performing
Arts Center on October 15 and
16 as part of the Dance Studies
Association annual conference,
hosted by the Dance Department.
Marshall says the pandemic
pause also afforded him time to
improve his mental health through
STAYING
meditation, yoga, and therapy, and
to find a deeper connection with
his family.
“Pursuing a career in this field left
less time to be with my younger
IN
siblings and parents,” says
Marshall. “I found curiosity in my
history, trying to cook Jamaican
dishes and catching up with my
siblings and cousins.”
MOTION
What’s the first thing that Marshall,
who lives in Jersey City, New
Jersey, will do once the region is
fully open?
“I cannot wait to see anything
live—dance, theater, music, a DJ,
comedy, sports,” Marshall says.
“I really miss gathering to witness
others.”
10 MASON GROSS STEVEN SPELIOTISV G G
O U N
ID H
C RO TI
A DOCTOR IN THE
Impact Award, as well as
A
TH RE
acknowledgment from leaders
including Anthony Yung, an MD
C
candidate at Rutgers Robert
PRACTICE ROOM
Wood Johnson Medical School
and co-president of the Global
Health Institute student council.
“Laura’s leadership and vision
have made a positive impact
Student on our student council and the
greater university community,”
is adding a says Yung. “The diversity
of student membership in
performance degree our councils brings unique
to her medical perspectives and creative
solutions, which further advance
background to treat the topic of global health at
Rutgers and beyond.”
musicians like herself
For Palm, leading the committee
is a way to tend to her medical
By Risa Barisch roots while having an impact in
the field.
“As much as I like music, I also
started to miss medicine a little
bit,” Palm says. “[The institute]
has been very welcoming even
though, on paper, I’m at school
for music. It’s great that they’re
specifically trying to get people
from all schools to be part of this,
because global health, as we’re
now seeing, is something that
affects everyone.”
Palm knows this personally,
having gotten sick with
COVID-19 in March 2020. Her
immune system was already
compromised, because Palm
has suffered from recurring
brain tumors for several years,
For Laura Palm, in the practice room,” says Palm.
“It might not be possible to say
With the few weeks she had
off during the summers, Palm
requiring intense treatment and
significant downtime.
music and medicine ‘oh, I’ll stop playing for six or eight traveled to Philadelphia, where
are natural partners. weeks.’” she had been staying with
friends to practice her English
“I had so many plans for the
summer,” Palm says with a
Palm plays violin and viola and That’s the advice Palm was given skills and studying violin at sigh, including studying for the
happens to have a medical when she sought treatment for Haverford College. After earning board exams and making more
degree. Her goal is to become elbow pain and went from doctor her master’s degree at Temple videos. “A lot of things have not
a doctor specializing in treating to doctor searching for a practical University, Palm decided to progressed as much as I wanted
injuries specific to musicians, solution. Now, Palm is working pursue a doctoral performance them to—getting sick kind of
who, like athletes, suffer from toward a doctor of musical arts degree at Rutgers, drawn in by derailed my timeline.”
repetitive stress. degree in viola performance professors like Todd Phillips, as
at Mason Gross to gain expert well as a significant academic And yet, Palm continues to
“Repeating the same motion over knowledge of the physiology of component and affiliated medical pursue her two passions at a
and over to get it as perfect as playing, she says, in order to best school, she says. remarkable pace. She’s working
you can—that’s essentially what help her patients. on a book with her physical
we do in the practice room,” Palm “For music students, the number- therapist, who specializes
says. “The big difference for “The higher the level of one thing always is instrumental in treating musicians, about
musicians is that it’s the smaller my playing, the better I will teachers,” says Palm, who is exercises for string players to
muscles—in the fingers or the understand and be able to figure active with the Rutgers Global prevent injury. After graduating
wrist and tendons. The parts of out other people’s problems,” Health Institute, where she serves with her doctorate next year and
the body are different, but the says Palm, who has a bachelor’s as the co-chair of the student completing her board exams in
way the injury happens—and the and master’s degree in violin council’s global health education the United States, she plans to
way you prevent the injury in the performance. “But I also want committee. “But also important start a dual residency in physical
future—is very similar to athletes.” to pay attention from a medical to me was a strong medical medicine and rehab.
perspective so that [musicians] school, because I knew I wanted
Unlike athletes, though, don’t develop problems, because to do something that combines Despite her health obstacles,
musicians can have trouble I think prevention is better than my two fields.” Palm says she has learned
finding specialists to rehab their treating.” valuable lessons about herself
particular ailments, Palm says. Palm has created a series of and her path forward.
Palm grew up playing violin in YouTube videos for the institute
Germany, where she earned a about COVID-related topics “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst
“I know of so many people in enemy,” Palm says of the brain
music schools, and people who medical degree while at the same including masks, mental health,
time studying at a conservatory in and pets, with plans for more tumors, “but it also helped me
have jobs in orchestras later on, grow a lot as a person, and I
who develop medical issues from Cologne. At the time, she thought on issues like testing and lung
she might pursue a research- health. think I’ll be a much better doctor
singing or playing, and it’s so hard because of it. Nothing teaches
to find doctors who understand based medical career, but she
says she always knew music Her contributions have earned you how to be a good doctor
what it means to spend five hours better than being a patient.”
would be in her life. her the council’s Student
NICK ROMANENKO
11 SPRING 2021ON THE MOVE
Participants in a free
movement class
that Mason Gross
offers to people with
Parkinson’s disease.
KEITH MUCCILLI
Wellness Center in New Brunswick as their project. The topic, however, “I’m very interested in ‘physically
FILM EXPLORES CLASS as well as at the Mason Gross provided a variety of challenges. integrated dance,’ ” Friedman says.
THAT HELPS PEOPLE Performing Arts Center based
“Whenever you’re dealing with
“Too often we limit ourselves and
on concepts developed by Pam our work to what we might call
WITH PARKINSON'S Quinn. A dancer and choreographer, old age or disability, you are ‘able-bodied dancers.’ Other people
she was first diagnosed with the treading in delicate terrain,” says become invisible. This is about
RECLAIM CONTROL disease more than 20 years ago. Thomas Lennon, an Oscar-winning creating a more sensitive approach,
filmmaker and director of the lab. deepening our artistry to embrace
OF THEIR BODIES “It took me a long time to come to “You have to push to get into the all of life’s challenges.
terms with it,” Quinn admits. “My nooks and crannies of people’s
By Stephen Whitty entire identity revolved around private lives, but not push so much After all, we’re all aging. We’re all
Courtesy of Rutgers Today movement. But then I began to that you become this bullying pretty much on our way to some
think, ‘I know how my body works. presence. It’s a balancing act, in sort of disability.”
T
My dance training gives me tools. I the filming and in the editing, and
o be a dancer is to be in tune can thwart the reality of this.’ ” it was my job to help the students In addition to running workshops
with your own physicality. navigate that.” at Rutgers and teaching at the
To be fully aware of every Later, beginning with the PD Mark Morris Dance Studio in
muscle, in control of every Movement Lab in Brooklyn, Quinn The film, Dance | Parkinsons, Brooklyn, Quinn creates dances
movement. To be your body’s started bringing her ideas to runs about six minutes. The for differently abled performers. In
master. It is a feeling most people nondancers, too. documentary won first place in the spring 2019, she choreographed
with Parkinson’s disease can only Outstanding Documentary category a piece for 20 people, 14 of whom
remember. MOVING at the 2020 Utah Dance Film
Festival. It screened locally, at the
had Parkinson’s. Another piece,
this one featuring 50 dancers,
A degenerative disorder of the EXPERIENCE Dance & Parkinson’s symposium was performed the next month,
central nervous system, Parkinson’s in downtown New Brunswick, in at the opening night of the World
can cause stiffness, shaking, and With the help of instructors, and March 2020, and received the Parkinson Congress in Kyoto.
problems with balance. It also may a playlist that ranges from Glenn Community Impact award at the
leave people self-conscious, and Miller to Talking Heads, participants Austin Dance Film Festival 2020. It’s all become a hugely fulfilling part
reluctant to leave their homes. at the Rutgers sessions reclaim Student filmmakers who worked of Quinn’s life. And no one is more
some control over their own bodies, on the project were: Stephanie surprised than she.
The Dance & Parkinson’s program stepping around the floor, moving in Bradli, Patricia de Jesus, Gina
at Mason Gross, however, uses unison to the beat. Lombardo, Kelly O’Neill, Andrea “I was reticent at first to get involved
music and movement to empower Pfaff, Christopher Rodriguez, Sam in this sort of therapy,” Quinn
them. And a film from the school’s “Dance is particularly suited Spencer, Abe Urquilla, and Henry admits. “I thought, ‘Do I really want
Documentary Film Lab captures to treating Parkinson’s,” Quinn Wolfson. to be surrounded by PD all the time?
just how moving, and joyful, that explains. “It involves music, which Is it going to be a downer?’ But it’s
process can be. is part of what’s called a cueing Lennon says the film allows viewers been more rewarding than I ever
system, a prompt that facilitates to see these students “performing expected. And while there’s a part
“Sometimes the class is hard to movement. It also involves visual at the highest level.” They see the of me that still rejects my disease,
get started, the folks schmooze so cues, and an element of touch.” program’s participants doing the rejection has its benefits, too,
much,” jokes Jeff Friedman, director same. because with that comes a certain
of the MFA dance program. “That’s “Unlike regular physical therapy, defiance. Not denial – defiance.
something I hadn’t expected – the which uses body parts in a And that gives you the energy to
social connections this class mechanistic approach, it’s a holistic DANCE FOR ALL fight on.”
creates. One man told me, ‘This experience,” says Friedman, whose
students often work with the As important as the emotional
is the only thing I come out of the support or physical therapy it offers, Watch Dance | Parkinsons at
house to do.’ ” enrollees. “You’re using your mind go.rutgers.edu/Parkinsons;
and your body, challenging your however, this is still a dance class.
It involves personal expression, learn more about the student
The free classes are offered in whole neurological system.”
performance, aesthetics. Quinn and filmmakers’ experience making
partnership with the American Friedman find that artistic aspect Dance | Parkinsons on our podcast,
Parkinson’s Disease Association– The subject immediately intrigued
the young filmmakers at the particularly inspiring and liberating. Work of Art, available on iTunes
NJ Office at Robert Wood Johnson
University Hospital’s Fitness and Documentary Film Lab, who chose it or Google Play.
12 MASON GROSSFA R E W E L L T O A T R E N D S E T T E R
LARRY LEVANTI
Stanley Cowell, But Cowell also embraced new sounds and
technology, both as a composer and as a
musicians’ collectives of the time and dedicated
to exploratory African American jazz. Although
professor emeritus performer. Cowell and Tolliver left the label just three years
later to pursue other career goals, the label is still
of jazz studies, “Cowell’s playing epitomized the piano’s ability to releasing artist-produced recordings to this day.
embraced the past consolidate generations of musical history into a
unified expression, while extending various routes Cowell came to Rutgers in 2000 and was a
and the future—and into the future,” wrote Giovanni Russonello in an “prestigious addition” to the Mason Gross faculty,
says Ralph Bowen, professor of saxophone and
obituary in The New York Times. “And when he
left a teaching legacy needed to say more than the piano allowed, he jazz studies.
expanded his palette,” exploring electronic music
with digital sound processors and incorporating “Stanley was a world-class pianist at the top of
By Risa Barisch his field,” Bowen says. “Whether teaching piano,
new instruments into his compositions, like the
kalimba, a thumb piano from southeastern Africa. improvisation, ensembles, or composition, he had
Stanley Cowell, a pianist, composer, and record
a wealth of knowledge to impart.”
label co-founder who taught on the Mason Gross
jazz faculty for over a decade, died in December Alum Courtney Bryan, a student of Cowell’s who
earned her master’s degree in music in 2007, As a professor, Cowell, who retired in 2013,
2020, at age 79. His career in jazz spanned more
remembers her professor as “rigorous yet patient welcomed students into his studio “with a warm
than 50 years, and included over a dozen albums
in his pedagogy.” smile and gentle demeanor,” recalls Stasio, and
as a bandleader, beginning with Blues for the Viet
had an ability to translate his background in
Cong in 1969.
“There is so much I learned from him, from classical and traditional jazz music into relevant
studying the nuances of stride styles of Jelly Roll teaching for contemporary jazz students.
As a musician, Cowell was known as a trendsetter
who helped shape modern jazz in the ’60s but Morton and James P. Johnson to approaching
harmony and arrangements from a very “His foundational guidance helped bring clarity to
stayed true to his own sound, says alum Marc
contemporary approach,” Bryan says. the pursuit of the piano, to understand where the
Stasio, coordinator of jazz studies for the Music
instrument has been, where it can go, and how
Department. Stasio studied with Cowell in
“I remain amazed at his groundedness in what we can take part in that trajectory,” says Stasio. “I
2011–2012 as he earned his master’s degree in
truly mattered in life, and how his spirituality and think I speak for all his piano students when I say
music at Mason Gross.
depth of personality came through all the music he he made us love being pianists, and [helped us]
made,” Bryan adds. “We will miss him greatly, and remember why we were drawn to the instrument
“Rather than mimic the post-bop and post-
I am grateful he left us so much brilliant music to and to fall back in love with it.”
modern styles of that decade as so many others
did, Stanley maintained a unique, somewhat keep learning from.”
Watch a concert by the Rutgers University
nostalgic voice,” Stasio says. “There wasn’t a need Jazz Ensemble in tribute to Cowell, performed
to compete with his contemporaries, but rather In 1971, Cowell and trumpeter Charles Tolliver
founded Strata-East Records, inspired by the Black May 3, 2021, on the Mason Gross Facebook page:
contribute alongside the energy of that era.”
facebook.com/MasonGrossSchool.
13 SPRING 2021FACING
INJUSTICE
Recent BFA acting grad Alex Scoloveno (left)
created a 15-by-23-foot mosaic of George
Floyd, a Black man killed last spring during an
arrest in Minneapolis, with images of people
who have either died fighting for civil rights,
were victims of racial inequality, or were killed
by the police. Scoloveno researched and
found the pictures of the civil rights activists
and racial injustice victims, then used an app
to create a grid and invited his Central New
Jersey community to help create the mosaic.
“I wanted it to be not just me making it on my
own. I wanted to include and enroll people,”
Scoloveno told MyCentralJersey.com. “I
wanted to create that experience where people
could come and really see the perspective and
gain knowledge that they may have not had
before.”
NICK ROMANENKO
WHY
YOU SHOULD
GIVE
“Helping people bring out their changing. I don’t want kids to have
emotions and react to what doubts if they can make it in the
they’re watching is my goal for film industry based on what they
each story and film I make. My look like. I want them to look at
favorite part about filmmaking themselves and believe they can
is going into the editing make it and that they’re awesome
room and bringing out those because they have the talent.
emotions through how I edit That’s something no one can take
the scenes,” says filmmaking away from them.”
student and scholarship
recipient Ivanna Guerrero. “Also, Your support can help students
as an Afro-Latina filmmaker, like Guerrero achieve their goals.
seeing how the industry lacks Please consider donating to
women and POC behind and selected Mason Gross funds or
in front of the camera really events series. Learn more at
discourages me and is an issue give.rutgers.edu/mgsa.
I’m very passionate about COURTESY OF IVANNA GUERRERO
14 MASON GROSSV G G
O U N
ID H
C RO TI
A
TH RE
C
Department of Art
& Design undergrad
Ria Monga with her
installation, Growing
Pains. The piece was
part of an annual
public art project
that spotlights social
justice issues in
Central Jersey.
NICK ROMANENKO
DRAWING ON COMMUNITY
Public art initiative an online exhibition, and finding a
wider audience with virtual events.
looking in a mirror to represent
youth having a conversation with
without being disruptive to
everything else,” Cruz says.
expands mission themselves in order to heal.
Oliveras-Moreno, the communications Taking a flexible approach to the
with virtual events and collaboration administrator in “I wanted to convey that no one is project was essential to continue
the Department of Art & Design, and isolated with their emotions,” says the public installations during a
By Risa Barisch
W
her team—which includes Windows Monga, whose work was displayed pandemic, Oliveras-Moreno says.
indows of of Understanding cofounders and in the outside case at RiteAid in
Understanding, a Rutgers alumnae Jennifer Sevilla Highland Park. “Negative feelings “There are so many things
public art initiative and Tracey O’Reggio Clark—realized are common among our youth, happening in the lives of our artists
that highlights social the importance of raising awareness which is why it is important to and in the work of our partners
justice issues and about community support during a discuss pain and trauma to allow that it has been completely about
raises awareness about Central pandemic. for healing.” accommodation and trying to come
New Jersey-based community up with creative solutions around
organizations, began planning its Founded in 2018 as an homage Art and design undergraduate how to make these things happen,”
fourth year last spring while much to the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin student Frances Cruz was paired says Oliveras-Moreno.
of the state was reeling from the Luther King Jr. and co-presented with the Highland Park Food Pantry.
chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. by Mason Gross, the project pairs Despite complications, Windows
artists with local nonprofits to The pandemic prevented her from of Understanding found plenty
“I was thinking, everyone is dealing create installations in storefronts being able to visit the food pantry, of opportunities to have an even
with so much right now, they’re and other public spaces that so she relied on photos and videos deeper impact on the community
never going to want to think about center around themes including from volunteers to create her this year.
an art project,” says Cassandra food insecurity, public health, installation, which depicted the
Oliveras-Moreno, a cofounder healing from trauma, and youth volunteers serving clients outdoors. In addition to the public art, an
of the project and a Rutgers engagement. online exhibition focused on racial
University-New Brunswick alumna. “I wanted to convey how the food justice featured work by local and
“We had no idea who would have Ria Monga, an art and design pantry is very welcoming and more national artists.
the bandwidth to say yes and undergraduate student, was paired than happy to help out anyone in
whether the windows or spaces with the Traumatic Loss Coalitions their community who needs food Windows of Understanding
where we needed to show art for Youth Program, which operates regardless of their identity, which is was also involved with the New
would even be an option given the out of Rutgers University Behavioral portrayed in the racial diversity of Brunswick Public Schools, where
pandemic.” Health Care and provides support their community as well,” Cruz says. they piloted a racial justice
for communities affected by workshop at the high school and
But despite the raging coronavirus traumatic events, especially The artwork, which hung at the showcased art by elementary and
pandemic, which led to a state suicide—the third-leading cause Middlesex County Regional middle school participants.
shutdown, kept students out of of death in New Jersey for people Chamber of Commerce in New
the classroom, and overwhelmed ages 15 to 24, according to the Brunswick, was a challenge to “The art and events we’re offering
hospitals, this year’s Windows of program. create at home, says Cruz. are intended to raise critical
Understanding, which took place in visibility in the community, that
January and February, expanded, Monga’s installation, Growing “I live in a small home, so I had whether you’re in a position to give
adding partner organizations, Pains, featured the title printed some difficulty deciding where to or receive help—support exists
increasing its roster of artists with backwards—meant to reverse when set up my drawing and workspace around you,” says Oliveras-Moreno.
15 SPRING 2021V G G
O U N
ID H
C RO TI
HOPPING ON THE
A
TH RE
BANDWAGON
C
“All of us brass players have played experience was that interaction with
outside, going back to high school, the audience—something he misses
when we played in marching band, out on in a concert hall, where he
and we’ve all played outdoor concerts usually is seated at the back of the
throughout our careers,” says Deane. stage.
“So we’re used to the logistics of the
“ [Creativity] is a
wind, and to some degree the cold.
But for any musician, once you get
cold, it’s a little hard to play.” part of us, and
The mask proved to be less
comfortable than the temperature
it got ripped away.
drops, says Deane, who wore a face- Once you don’t
covering that included a horizontal
slit covered by a flap to allow the get a chance to
horn’s mouthpiece to fit through. be creative, as a
“We’re really sensitive about our
lips and our mouths, and how the
creative person,
mouthpiece fits right on our lips, so to you really start
have that extra layer of stuff there was
just distracting,” Deane says. “That feeling like there’s
aspect of it was something that was something wrong.”
Faculty Richard Deane performed at opera houses around the hard to get used to.”
performed as part of the globe.
Still, that level of safety allowed the “The first rehearsal for the
New York Philharmonic's Costanzo and a team from the musicians to get closer to audiences Bandwagon, I felt so nervous, I was
pop-up concert series philharmonic rented a pickup truck, who showed up at city parks, in Herald kind of sick to my stomach,” Deane
complete with a custom logo wrap, Square, and in front of schools and says. “And then we started playing,
By Risa Barisch and secured outdoor venue locations libraries across New York City. and I got so happy. Riding the bus
R
and permits. By the end of August, the In addition to getting to play music back across town, I’ll never forget, I
ichard Deane played his last Bandwagon and orchestra musicians again with his colleagues, Deane was high as a kite—I hadn’t been that
concert with the New York set out on a whirlwind tour across says the best part of the Bandwagon happy since March.”
Philharmonic on March 12, New York City to perform works
2020, and then, like the rest of ranging from Beethoven to Bernstein
the city, hunkered down to endure the in more than 90 concerts.
COVID-19 crisis.
Deane performed with the Bandwagon
Four months later, with New York over two weekends, in three concerts
reeling in the pandemic’s aftermath, each day, first in a brass quintet, which
Deane, the orchestra’s principal acting included Mason Gross music faculty
horn and member of the music faculty member Alan Baer, the philharmonic’s
at Mason Gross, began to feel his own principal tuba, and again in a horn
sense of personal anguish without the quartet, which included music faculty
creative outlet of performing. member Leelanee Sterrett, acting
associate principal horn.
“It was a feeling of unfulfillment,” says
Deane. “[Creativity] is a part of us, and Musicians were responsible for
it got ripped away. Once you don’t get getting themselves to each venue,
a chance to be creative, as a creative where the truck would be waiting with
person, you really start feeling like equipment including chairs, music
there’s something wrong.” stands, and amplification, along with
the orchestra’s stage manager and
Enter the NY Phil Bandwagon, a mobile crew to set it all up.
musical experience dreamed up by
Anthony Roth Costanzo, a Grammy- The only challenges to the arrangement,
nominated countertenor described Deane says, were playing in a mask
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RICHARD DEANE
by Deane as “a local star,” who has and, by mid-October, the cold.
Acting students Will Ehrenfreund (left) and
Malcolm Callender have created a podcast,
Through the Mic, to offer a platform for
artists and creatives to share their work and
discuss what it means to create, especially
during the pandemic. Stream the first five
episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
16 MASON GROSS
TODD ESTRINYou can also read
