Class Notes

On Your Left

A pair of students circa 1986 takes a break from their exploration of the idyllic environs of Emerson’s Kasteel Well, a restored 14th- century medieval castle that is home to the College’s premier Education Abroad program in Well, The Netherlands. This year marks the 40th anniversary of this iconic and much-beloved program.

Photo courtesy of the Emerson College Archives
  • 1960s

    Daniel Mann ’60 wrote to tell us that he is retired and living in California.

  • John Bertsch ’63, MSSp ’67, and Beverly (Chalfin) Bertsch ’64 celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in August 2025. John writes: “And to think [we] first met when Bev walked into the dining room at 150 Beacon where [I] was serving. Courtship continued on the ‘Wall’ in front of 130 Beacon.”
  • Poster for “A Double Bill,” featuring Stephen Eddy Snow’s The Poisoned Tree and Samuel Ray Gates’ When the Swelling Goes Down, June 14 at 7 p.m. at La Porte Rouge in Montreal.

    1 Stephen Snow ’68 recently performed his one-man show, Healing the Poisoned Tree Inside of Me, in Montreal as part of a double bill, alongside a work by Samuel Ray Gates, an actor and professor of theatre from the University of North Carolina. Both theatre pieces were catalyzed by the murder of George Floyd, and Snow’s performance was especially inspired by a letter from former Emerson president Dr. M. Lee Pelton to the Emerson community in June 2020.

  • 1970s

    In November 2024, Eric Booth ’72 was awarded his second honorary doctorate for leading the field of teaching artistry. His first was from the New England Conservatory in 2012. His second was from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland—the first ever awarded to an artist-educator.

  • Image accompanying Anna Kasabian’s class note about her porcelain sculpture Clare De Lune.

    2 Clare De Lune, a hand-formed porcelain sculpture by Anna (Lepore) Kasabian ’72, won first prize in The Copley Society of Art’s member exhibit Vernal Light. Submissions were juried by the Copley Society of Art Committee and guest juror Ali Ringenburg, founder of the Sloane Merrill Gallery in Boston, who also presented the awards. The Copley Society of Art is the oldest nonprofit arts association in the U.S.

  • 1980s

    Jerry Martin, MA ’81, reports that his “Saluting New Readers” program videos are now available on YouTube. This innovative program was created to support young readers and is an example of a very low budget use of video that has benefitted about 5,000 elementary school students over 22 years. “It’s not a profession, just a valuable contribution,” that Martin hopes can be replicated in the future. Learn more at youtube.com/@salutingnewreaders/playlists.

  • Headshot of Marilyn Schairer wearing a navy blazer and patterned scarf against a purple studio background.

    3 Marilyn Schairer ’81 was awarded a 2025 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for her reporting at GBH News on the “Norfolk Migrant Shelter Opens” in the Breaking News Coverage category. GBH is part of the Large Market Radio Station, Region 10.

  • Stephen Gilman ’82 shares that “Even though broadcasting didn’t work out for me, [my career] was very interesting. Accounting ended up as my field. Among my jobs was a seven-and-a-half-year run at the TD Garden as an accounting coordinator. I also worked four-and-a-half years as an accountant at Astound, formerly RCN. I retired and moved up to New Hampshire last year and I’m loving every minute of it.”
  • Donna Ebbs ’85 has retired from the entertainment biz and relocated to the Berkshires. In 2026, she will be launching the nonprofit, grassroots awareness campaign Project #288 with the goal of promoting direct citizen-to-responder contact with the New England EMT/firefighter community, which is facing an ongoing suicide epidemic.
  • Paul Lavoie and another man sit beside a mirrored mannequin in a lounge filled with colorful neon signs.

    4 Paul LaVoie ’85 writes that his book to an original musical using the music of the synth-pop band Erasure is in development with Tanninger Entertainment (Queen of Versailles, The Outsiders) producing in association with Sony Music Publishing. Tony-winning producer Nick Demos (Memphis, Best Musical) is the creative consultant. A development workshop was held in December 2025 in partnership with the University of Oklahoma’s Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre.

  • Image accompanying Leslie Potashner’s class note.

    5 Leslie (Kaplan) Potashner ’86 received a Doctor of Letters from Drew University in May 2025 in dual concentrations of historical studies & fine arts and media studies. Her dissertation, titled “The Refugee in American Newspapers,” analyzed the portrayal of refugees from 1690 to 2025.

  • Mal Stanton McCunney ’88 oversees marketing and event planning for School on Wheels Massachusetts, driving brand awareness, donor engagement, and fundraising success to bring educational programs and opportunity to students impacted by homelessness and poverty.
  • Promotional graphic reading “Salem Food Tours presents Food at 400+,” June 11–22, 2026, with the website FoodAt400.com.

    6 Karen Scalia ’89 writes that her company, Salem Food Tours, produced a very special event celebrating the 400th anniversary of Salem, MA, in June 2026. With both free family-friendly events as well as paid and ticketed events, Food at 400+ celebrated the city’s history through the lens of food, fishing, farming, trade, etc., as well as its modern food scene. It also shared the larger story of the city’s founder Roger Conant, a peacemaker and community builder. Award-winning Chef Scott Conant was in attendance at the event.

  • 1990s

    “Na,” the new short play by Zareh Artinian ’91, was performed during the International Human Rights Art Festival in New York City on December 8, 2025. This was the second year in a row that one of Artinian’s pieces appeared in the festival. His full two-act musical, Shattered! An American Fairy Tale (with Kelvyn Koning, composer and lyricist), came in first place in the 33rd Annual Jackie White Memorial Playwriting Contest last year.

  • Mark Zawacki smiles with his arms crossed while wearing a dark suit and patterned tie.

    7 Mark Zawacki ’91, executive director of the Heritage Christian Services Foundation and senior vice president of advancement, was named the 2025 Robert A. Clinger Outstanding Fundraising Professional. This award, given by the Genesee Valley Chapter of the Association for Fundraising Professionals, honors an exemplary seasoned professional who has demonstrated outstanding fundraising success in their career.

  • Image accompanying Wendy Fuller’s class note.

    8 Wendy Fuller ’92 animated on Guillermo del Toro’s Academy Award–winning film Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and the Emmy Award–winning TV show The Tiny Chef.

  • Image accompanying Marj Kleinman’s class note.

    9 Marj Kleinman ’92, founder of Stoop Stories, was featured on NY1 as “New Yorker of the Week” for bringing neighbors together through stoop culture and storytelling. Stoop Stories connects New York City neighbors across generations and differences to reduce loneliness and increase compassion and joy. Through documentary stories and community events, Stoop Stories celebrates stoop culture and highlights underrepresented communities.

  • Steve Denby, MA ’93, writes: “After seeing Dr. Crannell teach Advanced Professional Communication, it became a dream of mine to teach communication as he did, and he made that dream come true. From 2003 to 2005, with his help, I was able to do just that at Western New England University. We worked on voice and the nonverbal of ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee.’ This past summer I visited where Sam McGee’s travels passed through, Skagway, Alaska.”
  • Image accompanying Victoria Forester’s class note.

    10 Victoria Forester ’93 studied with Jack Gantos and other notable professors at Emerson for an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing. Today, she is a Pushcart Prize–nominated writer who publishes under the pen name Victoria Heartwood (victoriaheartwood.com). In August 2025, she attended Bread Loaf, the oldest and most prestigious writers’ conference in the U.S., which brings together talented writers from around the country to develop their craft.

  • John Khouri smiles in a light gray suit and blue tie inside a church sanctuary.

    11 Following a 16-year career in media and tech (the direct result of his time spent at Emerson LA), including a decade with Yahoo, and 14 years in education leadership, John Khouri, MA ’94, recently returned to the East Coast to accept the position of head of school at Lexington Christian Academy (LCA). LCA is an 80-year-old, grades 6–12 private school in Lexington, MA, which began as Christian High School, next to Symphony Hall on Huntington Avenue in Boston, in 1946.

  • Sonja Morrell and MaryCatherine Price smile while holding a Virginia Association of Broadcasters Best of the Best award.

    12 Sonja (Mortensen) Morrell ’94, and MaryCatherine (Neal) Price ’22, are both part of the 2025 “Best of the Best” class through the Virginia Association of Broadcasters. This program develops leadership skills and gives them the opportunity to meet legislators and advocate for issues facing the broadcast industry. Morrell was part of last year’s program and was selected to return as a mentor for the Class of 2026. She works for WAFX/WNOR radio Norfolk. Price works for WRIC-TV Richmond.

  • Caitlin McCarthy, MFA ’95, was selected as a 2025 Writing Fellow for the inaugural Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency on Sundance Collab, from a pool of over 1,400 applicants. Created in honor of social justice advocate Michael Latt, this six-month program supports early-career underrepresented storytellers in crafting narratives that drive social and cultural change. McCarthy, of documented Métis descent, will develop her crime thriller A Native Land as part of the program.
  • Getting Huge by John Young, MFA ’95, was selected as a finalist for the 2024 Chanticleer International Book Awards in the Humor category. This prestigious award celebrates outstanding works in various genres, and as a finalist in the Humor and Satire division, the book was showcased at the Chanticleer Authors Conference in April 2025. Getting Huge is Young’s third book, following his novel When the Coin Is in the Air and the short story collection Fire in the Field & Other Stories.
  • James Moore, MA ’96, was promoted to permanent police captain of the Methuen, MA, Police on July 7, 2025.
  • Portrait of Trinette Faint smiling in a sleeveless red top and looking to her left.

    13 Trinette Faint ’97 has published two novels (Collette’s Caleb and MidCoast Star), is a screenwriter, and recently launched her own marketing communications agency, Faint Services Group. She is adapting Collette’s Caleb into a series and the pilot placed as a semifinalist in the ScreenCraft 2025 TV Pilot contest, along with her other TV pilot, Peri Does Europe.

  • Christopher Fernandez smiles while holding two Sports Emmy Awards in a room displaying media credentials and an Emerson College diploma.

    14 Christopher Fernandez ’98 was a featured editor for two network production teams that were honored with 2024–2025 Sports Emmys. He was the lead turnaround venue editor for swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games for NBC/Peacock, which was awarded “Outstanding Live Special–Championship Event,” and he edited a series of college football teases for “SEC on ABC” coverage on ABC/ESPN, which was recognized as the “Outstanding Live Series.” Fernandez is a freelance editor who lives in Orlando, FL.

  • Promotional image for Lady Patriot featuring three women in period costumes above the production title.

    15 Chrystee Pharris ’98 (Scrubs, Passions, Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy, Goliath) is starring Off-Broadway in Lady Patriot, directed by her longtime mentor Ted Lange (The Love Boat). The play tells the powerful true story of Mary Bowser, a free woman who gave up her freedom to serve as a spy during the Civil War. Pharris is honored to bring this history to life on stage while continuing her career of blending artistry with meaningful storytelling.

  • Image accompanying Lauren Elise Daniels’ class note.

    16 Lauren Elise (Rizy) Daniels, MFA ’99, was nominated for a 2024 Shirley Jackson Award and an Australasian Shadows Award with Christa Carmen for Monsters in the Mills (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) in the category of Edited Anthology. She also was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in Short Fiction for her climate/science fiction/horror story, “Stomata,” published by The Godmother of Horror Press in the anthology Darkness Most Fowl.

  • Image accompanying Mary Stanford’s class note.

    17 Mary Stanford ’99 was awarded an American Songbook Association Pomranz Performance Grant. The grant recognizes singers who are dedicated to preserving the history of the American songbook and the craft of cabaret performance. Stanford also co-wrote the short film The Final Course, which was screened at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con film festival.

  • 2000s

    Poet and author Katie Kemple ’00 won a scholarship from La Romita School of Art to study poetry and learn from award-winning poets and teachers Kim Addonizio and Tracey Knapp in Umbria, Italy. La Romita School of Art has housed artists for 50 years on the grounds of its “Convento delle Arti” (convent of the arts). It offers workshops for visual artists.

  • Image accompanying David Rapaport and Ron Glines’ class note.

    18 David Rapaport ’00 and Ron Glines ’00 celebrated 25 years together in June. They met at Emerson. Rapaport is a casting director known for hit shows like Gossip Girl, Riverdale, and YOU. In 2025, he premiered Ransom Canyon on Netflix; Brilliant Minds on NBC; Countdown on Amazon; and the final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, which debuted in July on Amazon. Glines is an eight-time Daytime Emmy–winning senior producer for Entertainment Tonight (CBS).

  • In February 2026, Janaka Stucky ’00 was awarded a $5,000 2026 Grant for Creative Individuals from the Mass Cultural Council.
  • Professional headshot of Mike Garrity smiling in a dark blazer and light blue shirt.

    19 New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella promoted Mike Garrity ’02 to director of communications and external affairs at the New Hampshire Department of Justice. Garrity previously served as director of communications and legislative affairs. He is a former network television news producer; local news anchor and reporter; and a strategic communications veteran, with experience in media relations and civic affairs work at the University of Houston and for BP following the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

  • John Warren looks through the viewfinder of a vintage film camera outdoors.

    20 John Warren ’02 writes that his 16mm experimental film, Future Tense, was featured in the Frist Art Museum’s exhibition Avenues to a Great City in Nashville, TN. The film was shot over several years as he documented the city’s changing landscape. Warren described the film in an interview: “When you expose the same strip of film multiple times, you’re making a kind of archaeological record where each frame holds multiple moments. I found myself thinking about palimpsests—those ancient manuscripts where earlier texts show through despite being overwritten. That’s what Nashville feels like now—yesterday bleeding through today’s surface—and what I wanted the film to embody, both formally and conceptually.”

  • Cover art for Bring Your Own Beer, featuring a childhood photo of Katie Kelly and a parental advisory label.

    21 Katie Kelly ’03 created Bring Your Own Beer, a funny, story-driven podcast about joy, disaster, hope, humiliation, and pop culture rants. Stories come from her current life as a single mom of two autistic children, as well as her checkered past of bad decisions and great memories. She writes: “Come hang out. Let’s lean into our problems, then laugh at them. Also, bring your own beer.”

  • Tova Dann ’04, executive producer at Caviar LA, spoke with Little Black Book about her unconventional pathway into the industry, a relentless pursuit of good work, and the piece of advice that has stayed with her—and kept her on her feet—throughout her career. Fellow Emersonian Michael Sagol ’96 is EP/managing director at Caviar LA.
  • Melissa Monti ’04, MA ’22, completed a Master of Science in education at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2025. She is now in the dissertation stage of a Doctor of Education at UPenn, set to complete in 2026.
  • Image accompanying Lisa A. Parlagreco’s class note.

    22 Lisa A. Parlagreco ’05 was honored with a 2025 Leader in the Law Award in connection with her representation of a Massachusetts man who was wrongly convicted of murder. Following a four-week trial, the jury found that she proved her client was innocent of all charges, and her client was awarded $13 million against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for his 26 years of unjust imprisonment.

  • Headshot of Yvette Fang wearing red glasses, a purple blazer, and a silver pendant necklace.

    23 Yvette Fang ’06 shares that she recently founded Intrafy LLC, a multilingual marketing and PR firm helping businesses and organizations expand into new markets and connect authentically across cultures. “Our work spans market entry strategy, public relations, creative localization, and professional interpreting, covering more than 100 languages, including American Sign Language,” Fang writes. “I’d love to connect with fellow Emersonians and explore ways we can collaborate. Learn more at TheIntrafy.com.”

  • Poster for The Last Vendetta featuring two men posed against a red background above the film title.

    24 Andre Joseph ’06 has released his latest feature-length crime thriller, The Last Vendetta, by Buffalo 8 Distribution. It’s available to order on Fandango at Home; transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) release on Fandango at Home, Amazon, and Verizon Fios/Vubiquity, and advertising video-on-demand (AVOD) on Tubi and Plex.

  • Emerson alumni turned out at the 5th annual Ambies, also known as the Oscars of Podcasting. Blake Pfeil ’06 won for Best DIY Podcast, abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast, and Amory Sivertson ’11 won for Best True Crime Podcast, Beyond All Repair. Jamie Loftus ’14 was nominated for Best Society and Culture Podcast for Sixteenth Minute of Fame.
  • C-SPAN election coverage with reporter Courtney Gross beside footage of an Abigail Spanberger victory event in Richmond, Virginia.

    25 Nathan Hurst ’07 writes: “A fun moment of Election Night 2025 collaboration between Emerson alumni! I was producing C-SPAN’s Election Night 2025 live programming from our headquarters in Washington, DC, and Spectrum News NY1 political reporter Courtney Gross ’06 joined us before polls closed in New York City to preview the mayoral race.”

  • Book cover for Taran Armstrong’s Behind the Mirror: Inside the World of Big Brother, featuring a black house silhouette on a blue background.

    26 Lauren MacLeod ’07 brought together podcaster Taran Armstrong ’14 and Sourcebooks to publish Behind the Mirror: Inside the World of Big Brother in November 2025.

  • Image accompanying Nidhi Mathson’s class note.

    27 Nidhi Mathson, MA ’07, is excited to share that she’s made a major career change as a licensed financial advisor with Equitable Advisors. After working in the tech industry for more than 15 years, Mathson was laid off. The first thing she did was panic about her financial situation, but speaking with a financial advisor helped her make sense of the world again. Her career move started with the need to educate herself on financial wellness and blossomed into a desire to share it with those who might benefit.

  • Image accompanying Matthew Hearon-Smith’s class note.

    28 Matthew Hearon-Smith ’07 is a New York–based film/TV music supervisor, and his 2024 project Anora won five Oscars, including Best Picture, at the 2025 Academy Awards. He has been the head of Sean Baker’s music department for several films, including Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket. Other recent notable credits include Mike Judge’s Beavis + Butt-Head, Nickelodeon’s Big Nate, and the Lionsgate Sydney Sweeney film Americana.

  • Mark Vashro ’08 announced the release of his post-apocalyptic sci-fi podcast, BlueLife, which was an Austin Film Festival script semifinalist. Jim Cummings ’09 performed in the story, as well as Jonathan Lowe ’91. Go to bluelifeworld.com for details. Follow on TikTok @bluelife.world and on Instagram @bluelife_world and check out Episode One on Apple Podcast and Spotify.
  • Image accompanying Matthew Bogart’s class note.

    29 Matthew Bogart ’09 writes that he is producing the new national public radio show This Old House Radio Hour. Learn more at apple.co/tohrh.

  • Denise Coen, MFA ’09, recently acquired the position of full-time English faculty at Northwest Indian College (Bellingham, WA). In this role, she is responsible for creating a new English curriculum for the school and teaching the inaugural cohort of students in the program.
  • Red, white, and black logo reading “Vape! The Grease Parody.”

    30 Catie Hogan ’09 wrote a musical comedy called Vape! The Grease Parody, which opened off-Broadway in November 2025 at Theater 555 in New York City.

  • 2010s
    Image accompanying Kerry Gleeson’s class note.

    31 Kerry Gleeson ’10 writes: “This past spring [2025], my family of four visited my dear friend and fellow alum, Tessa Gerlach (née Wienker)’s family of four in Berlin, Germany. It was our first time reconnecting since before COVID, when we were both first time parents of 1-year-olds! I brought custom-made Emerson Lions jerseys for the four kids to wear in order of projected university class year on the back. The trip was incredible, and we’ve finally kicked off friendship among the next generation.”

  • Image accompanying Seth Applebaum’s class note.

    32 Seth Applebaum ’11 graduated with a major in cinematography, and while film has been a big part of his career, he’s also experiencing success in the music world. Since 2016, he has led a cinematic soul band called Ghost Funk Orchestra, and its most recent album was named #17 of the 50 best albums of 2024 by The Boston Globe. Find out more at ghostfunkorchestra.com.

  • Two infants sit on a bed while holding large Emmy Award statuettes.

    33 Marcus Brown ’11 won his second Emmy for working on Jeopardy and welcomed twins, Audra and Miles.

  • Image accompanying Dana and Steven Kaplan’s class note.

    34 Dana (Vincent) Kaplan ’11 and Steven Kaplan ’11 celebrated their 2023 marriage with friends and family in Denver, CO, in September 2024.

  • Markus Garcia ’12 and his wife, Lisa, welcomed a son, Oliver, on July 20, 2025. Garcia is a social media specialist for Houston METRO in Houston, TX.
  • Joe Petrowski ’12 celebrated his four-year anniversary as the director of ticketing and customer relations at Park Avenue Armory in New York City.
  • Image accompanying Ruby Honerkamp’s class note.

    35 Ruby Honerkamp ’13 is the CEO and co-founder of Talkhouse Encore, a line of spirits-based canned seltzers inspired by her family’s iconic Hamptons venue, Stephen Talkhouse. With a background in marketing and brand building, Honerkamp launched the brand during the pandemic to extend the venue’s legacy. Talkhouse Encore has seen strong growth, recently launching a tequila pineapple flavor and expanding into new markets across the Northeast. Learn more at talkencore.com.

  • Nathaniel Lezra ’13 writes that his powerful immigration documentary, Roads of Fire, fresh off major festival wins and a sold-out New York run, headed to Los Angeles for a special VIP event screening at the Laemmle Glendale, followed by a weeklong engagement at the Laemmle Monica Film Center. Fellow alum Daniel Orentlicher ’15 was the colorist on the documentary.
  • Image accompanying Zach Connolly and Mike Millette’s class note.

    36 Zach Connolly ’14 and Mike Millette ’14 won an Emmy for their short documentary, Hope Blooms in Bushwick, a story of a tiny housing project in Brooklyn that has stood the test of time. Connolly was the director and producer, and Millette was the director of cinematography and editor.

  • Image accompanying Dilan Qadir’s class note.

    37 Dilan Qadir, MFA ’14, was one of five Canadians named as Writers’ Trust Rising Stars for 2025.

  • Salvatore Schiavone ’14 shares that several Emerson alumni are involved with an upcoming film, Play House. Schiavone, the film’s casting director, is joined by Aidan Leary ’22, 1st assistant director; Maya Raman ’23, script supervisor; C.R. Thompson ’22, puppeteer; Robin Lee ’25, production assistant; Ben Lampert ’25, production assistant; Win Van Blarcom ’25, production assistant; Brendan Donnelly ’26, production assistant; and Aadi Sinha ’26, production assistant.
  • Seven wedding guests pose arm in arm in formal attire against a brick wall.

    38 Erin Arata ’15 married Seth Finkelstein on May 9, 2025. Their wedding party included Laura Brincat ’15, Chris Gillespie ’15, Alex Kowal ’15, and Sarah Diamond ’14. Also in attendance were Michelle Kwong ’15, EJ Jarvie ’15, David Morrison ’15, Kurtis Theorin ’15, and Carrie Cabral ’15.

  • Jeff Millman ’17 started medical school this past summer, saying: “It’s an unusual path for an Emerson graduate, but I hope to bring all my communications skills to my new field!”
  • Sienna Goode and a colleague stand behind a video game demonstration table beneath a “Nocternum” banner.

    39 Sienna Goode ’18 received the Digital Audience Choice Award at the 2025 Boston Festival of Indie Games (BFIG) for her work on Nocternum. Held in December at the Cyclorama in Boston, the event showcased numerous digital and tabletop games and drew over a thousand attendees. Nocternum is being developed by Normal Horse Games, a new indie studio co-founded by Goode. You can learn more at nocternum.com.

  • Image accompanying Thomas Robotham’s class note.

    40 Thomas Robotham, MFA ’18, shares news about Trudeep Bass cabinets, the advanced bass guitar speaker cabinets that he designed and hand-built with patent-pending technology. Trudeep Bass cabs were reviewed on newyorkbassworks.com. You can also see the handcrafted cabinets at trudeepbass.com or @trudeepbass on Instagram.

  • Five filmmakers pose onstage in front of a crowded theater audience following a screening.

    41 Dan Frank, MFA ’19, is executive producer of Divia, a Ukrainian documentary, which premiered at the Karlovy International Film Festival in July 2025. The film screened at the COP30 2025 UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and was nominated for an IDA (International Documentary Association) Award. Frank is also producer of Cow Sense, a documentary short, directed by fellow Emerson alum Keely Kernan, MFA ’19. It will be distributed to Rocky Mountain Public TV and the PBS App.

  • Poster for Plantman & Blondie: A Dress Up Gang Film, featuring six cast members and a 2026 SXSW official selection emblem.

    42 The first feature Shari Gaynes ’19 production-designed, Plantman & Blondie: A Dress Up Gang Film, premiered at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival in the narrative feature competition.

  • Anushree Nande, MA ’19, writes that her fantasy story “Heartland” was published in Between Worlds: The IF Anthology of New Indian SFF, Vol. 1, edited by Gautam Bhatia and published by Westland Books in August 2025.
  • Scarlett Shiloh ’19 shares that her zine, How to Get a Colonoscopy—Advice for the Neurodivergent and Everyone Else!, is out now, published by Microcosm. Shiloh is a hereditary cancer patient living with a genetic disorder called Lynch syndrome, which puts them at high risk for colon cancer. This is a very important topic to them, and to the public health sphere, and they’re excited and hopeful that it reaches those who need it.
  • Matt Szymanowski gestures while speaking to an audience on a plant-decorated stage illuminated with purple light.

    43 At the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia in November 2025, filmmaker and producer Matt Szymanowski, MFA ’19, discussed how AI is reshaping film workflows, drawing on the films Captive Mind and A Human Future. Informed by research and conversations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and California, he framed AI as a shift comparable to sound or CGI, enabling faster iteration and new creative scale while keeping the craft human, and emphasized the need for hands-on practice.

  • 2020s

    Gina York ’20 is a co-producer on The History of Sound, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025.

  • Poster for The Farm, showing cattle near a barn and silo beneath a full moon and stormy sky.

    44 Created by showrunner and producer Melody Herr, MFA ’22, The Farm is a nine-episode fiction podcast two years in the making. The series premiered on September 1, 2025, with new episodes dropping every Monday. Produced by Little Fish Entertainment & Hunnydew Studios, The Farm blends psychological suspense, family secrets, and the eerie quiet of small-town life. It stars Ellysa Rose (Dear White People, Based on a True Story) and features immersive sound design and a haunting original score. Learn more at listentothefarm.com.

  • Grainy black-and-white film still of a solitary person beside a lake, with a lone tree and hills beneath a cloudy sky.

    45 Leleka, a feature film directed by Harald Hutter, produced by Harald Hutter and Jiali Ding ’23, with Xun Zhuo ’19 as co-executive producer, was selected for its world premiere in the Rebel with a Cause Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 16, 2025. The festival is one of Northern Europe’s largest and an A-list event recognized by FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) since 2014.

  • Image accompanying Lauren Dodds’ class note.

    46 Lauren Dodds ’23 made her New York City playwright debut with her short play, “The Unknown,” at The New York Theater Festival in June 2025. In addition to writing the play, Dodds also starred in and produced it, raising roughly $1,700. The play follows a pair of friends, Michael and Lucy, starting as young children and ending in their early adulthood. Michael tries to help Lucy overcome her desire to always “play it safe” in life.

  • Natalie Rosselli ’23 has been promoted to associate agent at the Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency. Rosselli is currently most interested in and actively seeking out fiction, specifically in the following genres: romance, romantasy, and women’s fiction. Reach out to her at nrosselli@aaronpriest.com.
  • Image accompanying Yannis Ning’s class note.

    47 Yannis Ning ’24 recently founded Dreamborne Theater, a multilingual arts nonprofit based in New York City. Ning is currently pursuing an MA at New York University and developing a new ensemble production, Nine Shadows in Bloom, which premiered in New York City in December 2025. The work blends movement, bilingual storytelling, and memory-based performance to explore identity and the Asian diasporic experience.

  • Image accompanying Rebecca Ocampo’s class note.

    48 At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Rebecca Ocampo, MFA ’24, presented BeLieving in the Mountains, a film project examining the intersection of climate change, depopulation, and heritage within the Dolomite municipality of Cibiana di Cadore, Italy. The project was developed as an interdisciplinary research collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Università Iuav di Venezia; Comune di Cibiana di Cadore; and Studio RO, Ocampo’s production company based in Boston.

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