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“From Test Patterns to Pixels: Envisioning the Future of Television” took place on Wednesday, April 8 in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3
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Supporting Syracuse University in ways that make a difference is nothing new to Chris Deyo ’81, G’83. He started when he was still in an undergraduate. “We had no student union on campus back then,” Deyo said.
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Professor Rosemary O’Leary, the Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership in the Maxwell School, presented a program based on her new book,
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It’s not every day that aspiring actors and filmmakers get an inside look at the entertainment industry courtesy of Aaron Sorkin ’83, take a master class taught by Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth,
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California alumni received an update on the cutting-edge initiatives in technology, innovation, and interdisciplinary research at Syracuse University
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Each year, high-achieving students from across the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications are offered an insider’s view of their chosen field through participation in the school’s benchmark immersion trips
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That’s Entertainment |
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Photography by Hamilton |
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From left to right: Heather Robb ’05, playwright Darcy Fowler ’05, and Brianna Larson ’09, perform in the reading of The Bird and the Two-Ton Weight. |
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It’s not every day that aspiring actors and filmmakers get an inside look at the entertainment industry courtesy of Aaron Sorkin ’83, take a master class taught by Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, or join Los Angeles-area alumni for a staged reading of a play with deep connections to Syracuse University. But that’s just a snapshot of what 14 students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) drama and film programs experienced during spring break as part of Sorkin Week. Supported since 2006 by the award-winning writer and producer, the seven-day immersion is designed to give students a taste of life in the L.A. entertainment world. VPA drama professor and veteran actor Timothy Davis-Reed ’84, a classmate and longtime friend of Sorkin’s, led this year’s practicum. “It was a wonderful experience to hang out with Aaron and the students and hear him tell stories about his career and projects he’s working on,” Davis-Reed said. “I lived there nearly 20 years, so it was fun to share the part of the business I know with the students.”
The staged reading of The Bird and the Two-Ton Weight drew more than 200 alumni, including Sorkin, to the Harmony Gold Theater on Sunset Boulevard. The play, written by VPA alumna Darcy Fowler ’05, explores hope and possibility through the lives of two women—one, recovering from her mother’s death, and the other, a Syracuse student studying abroad in London before her death in the Pan Am 103 tragedy. The performance featured Sorkin Week participant Brianna Larson ’09, Fowler, and fellow VPA alumni Heather Robb ’05 and Joseph Tannenbaum ’07 (a Sorkin Week 2006 participant). Fowler was elated at the response she received from alumni. “The Los Angeles experience was like a dream,” she said. “It was wonderful. Everyone was very enthusiastic about the pace and the heart of the piece.”
Throughout the week, the group met with more than two dozen alumni and industry insiders for seminars and workshops, including a panel discussion with recent graduates building entertainment careers. Among the panelists was Adam Gertler ’99, host of Will Work for Food on the Food Network.
“It was comforting and gave us a boost of confidence to connect with alumni and see them doing so well in the business,” said Eric Jarboe ’09, who plans to head West to pursue an entertainment career. “We got to go though doors we would never have been able to. The week gave us an intimate understanding of how things work and what we need to do when we graduate.”
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Photography by Hamilton |
Timothy Davis-Reed ’84, veteran actor and a professor of drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, was the director of the play-reading. |
They toured Universal Studios and the Kodak Theatre; caught a comedy show at The Groundlings; and visited the Geffen Playhouse, where they met for a discussion with producing director Gil Cates Sr. ’55, the longtime producer of the Academy Awards television program, and saw the play Time Stands Still. In a master voice class, Broadway veteran Kristin Chenoweth impressed students with her personable style and tips for developing their singing voices. “Kristin spoke of connecting the voice to the heart,” said Semaj Miller ’09. “That advice blew me away. It was so simple, yet very true, and something I had never really thought of before in my own work.”
Davis-Reed hopes the experience showed the students that Los Angeles is a viable option for their futures. “There is a lot of work out there for young people,” he said. “But unless you’ve been on the ground in Los Angeles, it seems like this mysterious place. But it’s not—it’s like anything else. You can make a living out there if you work really hard and have some luck.”
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