Friends of Theater, February 2020 Newsletter
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! 21 Times!
At the Spring Convocation, 21 theater students received scholarships from the Friends of Theater, ARTS by George!, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Greensprings Village, and others. Kevin Murray, Acting Director of the School of Theater, noted that for perhaps the very first time every student who applied received a scholarship. Friends of Theater donations funded six $2,500 scholarships—the first time in several years we’ve been able to sponsor that many scholarships.
We also recognize that the Friends of Theater are more than likely to also donate to ARTS by George! and the other sources of scholarships. We want you to know that your generosity enabled this banner year for scholarship awards and that you are appreciated more than words can say. THANK YOU 21 times!
Meet a Friends of Theater Scholarship Winner
Amelia McGinnis is a junior theatre major with a concentration in design for the stage and screen, with a focus in stage management. She is originally from Atlanta, Georgia and will graduate May 2021. Amelia is pursuing a career in stage management and choreography for musical productions. She was most recently seen stage managing Rags and is currently the choreographer for Spring Awakening. She is an Acting for Young People teaching artist and has served as Mason Players Associate Company Manager and Alpha Psi Omega Secretary. Amelia is an impressive young woman who we can be proud to have supported with our scholarship.
Announcing a World Premier and Award Nomination!
Professor Sherrice Mojgani and her husband Naysan, both faculty in the School of Theater, welcomed their new baby daughter, Lily Stormbreaker Mojgani, to their family last month. Congratulations from all of us in Friends of Theater. We are looking forward to meeting her!
In addition to welcoming her daughter to the family, last month Professor Mojgani was also nominated for a Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Lighting Design for her work on Roundhouse Theatre’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Congratulations for both achievements!
Dean Davis Opens New Theater Exhibition on the Performing Arts and the Human Experience
As the guest speaker at the recent exhibition opening and reception for “Showing Us Our Own Face” Performing Arts and the Human Experience, now on view in the Special Collection Resource Center (SCRC) of Fenwick Library, Rick Davis, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, spoke about the importance of the performing arts and how, in modern times, they have become institutionalized and professionalized.
The title of the exhibition is based on remarks made by Arena’s Zelda Fichandler: “the theater is capable of showing us our own face, plumbing for us our own heart, and leading us to the edge of our own mind.”
The exhibition celebrates the many and varied faces and experiences of those who dedicate their lives to the performing arts as expressed through six disciplines: opera, ballet, theater, musical theater, dance, and music.
The SCRC’s performing arts artifacts that are on display range from an illuminated manuscript of choral music from the 1400s to East German posters advertising opera and ballet to a braille script for “All the King’s Men” from an Arena Stage production.
The exhibition, which is located in the SCRC gallery on the 2nd floor of Fenwick Library, is open to the general public and will run through May 2020. For more information, visit here.