The following graduates of the School of Theatre Arts and Dance advanced their careers by being cast in productions, hired for technical or teaching positions or earning awards during the last three months of 2013 and the first three months of 2014.
Neyla Pekarek (BME-10) and the Lumineers recorded a new song titled “Gale Son” that is featured on the Hunger Games – Catching Fire soundtrack.
Greg Germann (BA-78) completed work on four feature films – Someone Marry Barry, Quitters, The Gates and Get a Job and also made television appearances on Aim High, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Raising Hope and NCIS.
Autumn (Hurlbert) Norman (BA-02) played a nun in the Dec. 5 TV production of The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood.
Derek Hanson (BA-04) is performing again on the national tour of Anything Goes.
Ryan Dinning (BA-10) appeared in his first Broadway production, the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Sophie Treadwell’s drama, Machinal, at the America Airlines Theatre. He’s also working on the development of a new musical titled The Blue Angel and is appearing as a reoccurring character on the television series The Carrie Diaries.
UNC alumni who won 2013 True West/Ovation Theatre Awards were David Ambroson, Best Actor in a Musical as Valjean, Midtown Arts Center’s Les Miserables; Laurence Curry (BA-98), Best Actor in a Drama as Oshoosi Size, Curious Theatre’s The Brothers Size; Wendy Ishii, Best Solo Performance as Joan Didion, Bas Bleu’s The Year of Magical Thinking; andMegan Van De Hey (BA 99), Best Year by an Actress.
Scott Foster (BA-99) returned to Broadway in a new edition of Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking.
Andy Kelso (BA-02), who was playing Harry in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Kinky Boots, switched to the co-starring role of Charlie Price beginning Jan. 28.
Aisha Jackson (BA 13) opened Witness Uganda at Harvard’s American Repertory Theatre Feb. 12, was cast as Ti Moune in Once on this Island during April at the Olney (Md.) Theatre, and performed in the Broadway fundraising concert Rockers on Broadway.
Mike Ruckles (BME-02, MM-09) is serving as the associate musical director and is playing keyboards at some performances of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder that opened in November to rave reviews on Broadway.
Alena Watters (BA 03) toured with the USO Show Troupe, which appeared on a segment of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and completed a recording/video shoot for an event with Blake Shelton and JC Penney Co.
Don Gilmore served as the technical director for the North American tour of Sleeping Beauty and as the advance manager for the current Phantom of the Opera national tour.
Francis Corby appeared in a commercial for Squarespace during the broadcast of a Super Bowl 48.
Billy Marshall appeared in an episode called “Heartland Horror” on the Biography TV series I Killed My BFF; an episode of The Following, which will air this season; and in the Judson Theatre (NC) production of Bell Book and Candle.
Steve Eastin appeared in a number of film projects including The Heart of a Woman, Lucky Charm, Watercolor Postcards and Locker 13. He can also be seen in the upcoming TV project Legit.
Molly Evensen performed in an independent feature called Big Trouble in Outer Space and has a small role in the next Hunger Games movie.
Anthony Reimer completed filming of the new TV series Taxi: Brooklyn. Reimer plays assistant DA Bobby Delvecchio.
Josh Buscher appeared as the guest bartender on the Nov. 12 edition of the television show Watch What Happens Live on Bravo!
Duncan Northern served as production manager for the off-Broadway production of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1912 in New York City.
Chris Jones’ band Bones Muhroni appeared in an episode of the TV show Blood Relatives at the House of Blues in Los Angles. Chris was a guest star on this same series last year. Also in the band is UNC alumnus Crew Renstra.
Chris Ciccarelli appeared in a national television commercial for Budweiser in Los Angeles.
Jodie Grundin appeared in a recent episode of Tabloids on the Discovery ID channel.
Michael Hammer spent five weeks participating in the Artisan Exchange Program with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Zach Shotwell is an acting apprentice at the Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota.
Steffanie Freedoff has been accepted into the MFA program at EAST 15 in London for fall 2014.
Nicole Busson has been accepted into the MFA Scene Painting program at the California Institute of the Arts for fall 2014.
Michael Chapin has taken a new position as the CEO of One.Thing.Wonder and remains the chief marketing officer for GGamer in Denver.
Felicia Nicole is performing in a production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Jesters Dinner Theatre in Denver.
Anne Terze-Schwarz is performing in a concert version of South Pacific at the Lonetree (Colo.) Arts Center.
Matt Hagmeier has taken a new position as the events and education coordinator at the Drama League of New York.
Zach Tkachyk was cast in the Denver-area production of Big River at the Lone Tree Arts Center. The production runs April 24-May 4.
Vanessa Whitney performed with Henson Alternative's Puppet Up! Uncensored at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles.
Ryan Grassmeyer and Michael Grebe are both appearing in a national commercial for Dodge Durango. Grassmeyer also has a role in the upcoming film Rocket Club – The Movie.
Adam Fontana appeared on an episode of The Carrie Diaries on the CW Network.
David Bryant Johnson appeared in the Amas Musical Theatre’s workshop production of the new musical The Countess of Storyville at The Peter J. Sharp Theatre in New York City during February.
Ben Burch, Jamie Mills and Tyler Ledon appeared in the southern California premiere of Things to Ruin at the Color and Light Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles. Burch also recently worked an industrial convention job for Kia Motors.
William Martinez will be performing in the ABBA Tribute Show at the Theatre in Thousand Oaks, Calif., in August.
Jack Wefso performed in a production of Orphans at the Edge Theatre in Denver Jan. 17-Feb. 9.
Bobbi Goldner was cast in a video segment featured in "Government Issued Long Johns" for The Athena Project in Denver.
Jessica Lightfoot and Hannah Marie Hines appear in a short YouTube film titled “Bad Dentist.”
Sarah Dutcher, Chelsea Ringer and Alex Campbell appeared in the production of Hairspray for the Performance Now Theatre Company at Lakewood Cultural Center March 28-April 13.
Dorian Mapp recorded a radio commercial for Access Media.
Royce Wood will appear in Buried Child at The Edge Theatre in Denver this fall.
Stephanie Cutrell was cast in the Roswell Theatre's (NM) production of A Curious Savage!
Madison White appeared in a production of Almost Maine at the Meta Theatre in LA.
Colin Hardesty has taken a position as the A2 audio engineer on the national tour of Man of La Mancha.
Jamie Ann Romero appeared in a production of The Legend of Georgia McBride at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Jan.10-Feb. 23.
Lynnsey Ooten Garegnani appeared in a promotional in-store video for NuTub Bathroom Floor Repair Kit.
Adam Fontana is shooting an indie film titled Sal and the Goon.
Jake Mendes and Davey Rosenberg were cast in a New York City workshop production of a new musical called Hitting the Ground featuring the music of the Violent Femmes.
Jamie Ann Romero appeared in a production of The Legend of Georgia McBride at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Jan.10-Feb. 23.
Shelby Lynn has taken a position as a lighting operator/technician with the Boulder Dinner Theatre.
Rachel Graham and Matt LaFontaine were cast in the Starkey Entertainment production of Peter Pan at the PACE Center in Parker.
Hayden Stanes left in January for a nine-month gig as a musical theater performer for the Disney Cruise Line.
Emily Van Fleet was hired to play the title role in Annie Get Your Gun this coming summer at Creede Repertory Theatre
Scott Kruse spent 10 days in Tokyo filming a Toyota automobile commercial for the Japanese car market.
Jason Hamblen has taken a new position as a lighting technician at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.
Isaac Brown has taken a new position with IT for the Entertainment Division of The Walt Disney Corporation in Burbank, Calif.
Brian Watkins’ new play, My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer, was produced off-Broadway at the Flea Theatre Jan.15-Feb. 15. His play, Just Right Just Now, was produced in New York City by Lesser America and ran through Oct. 27.
Blythe Gruda Lang has joined a Rush tribute band as its vocalist and is playing dates around NYC with the group.
Angela Gabardi was hired to help facilitate and build a theater program at Dolores High School in Dolores, Colo.
Beth Malone starred in the third run of Public Theatre’s critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Fun Home, a musical based on the graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel.
Erin Schaut appeared in the Chicago production of Cuff Me: The Unauthorized Fifty Shades of Grey Musical Parody.
The southern California professional theatre group 3-D Theatricals, led by T.J. Dawson and Daniel Dawson, was nominated for 15 Ovation Awards and came home with five; four for their production of Parade and one for their production of Shrek. This group regularly hires UNC alumni to appear in their productions. Daniel Dawson is traveling to Macau to reprise his role in the Rigby/McCoy production of Miss Saigon for the Macau International Musical Theatre Festival.
Tim Jarrell was hired as the new sound designer for Wonderbound/Ballet Nouveau Colorado.
Joey Revier and Bryan Cronin were cast in the Boulder Dinner Theatre’s production of Spamalot.
Katie Owsley shot a music video for the Wills/Jozef Pisch-penned Christmas classic “Santa Can Rock,” starring country music star Johnny Travis Jr.
Jessica Carter Ramsey shot a video for funnyordie.com
Malloree Delayne Hill, Tom Littman, Tetrianna Silas and Misha Fristensky were cast in the Utah Shakespeare Company’s regional tour of The Taming of the Shrew.
Megan Van De Hey, Julia Perrotta and Parker Redford were cast in the Arvada Center’s Nov. 26-Dec. 22 production of Christmas Carol – The Musical, which was directed by Gavin Mayer.
Bobbi Goldner and A. J. Focht co-directed a production in The Awake and Alive Project at the Bovine Metropolis Theatre in Denver.
Felicia Tassone was cast in the Up in Lights production of Fiddler on the Roof in Loveland.
Amanda Earls, Heather Doris and Brian Cronan were cast in the Boulder Dinner Theatre’s upcoming production of Shrek!
Anthony McMurray appeared in the Swine Palace Theatre (Baton Rouge, LA) production of Dove and was in the world premiere of Spill, about the BP oil spill onboard the Deep Water Horizon.
Joseph Serrano served as a guest artist (Kevin Rosario) in Kansas City Community College's production of In The Heights.
Talia Liccardello’s new original one-act comedy Ice Cream Social Issues was presented at Denver’s Vintage Theatre Nov. 15-17.
Aaron Young has been performing aboard cruise ships in a Frankie Valli tribute act called The Unexpected Boys.
Macliesh Day is cast as the Swing in the Chromolume Theatre Company’s production of Musical of Musicals the Musical, which will play at the Attic Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. He also completed filming a web episode of Wasteland.
Ashley Betton performed her cabaret act "By the Fireside: Soulful Sounds of the Season" at the Cutting Room in New York City Nov. 20.
Lauren Bahlman was cast in the Town Hall Theatre’s (Denver) upcoming production of Boeing, Boeing.
Tracy Hedding formed a professional vocal trio called the "Dinettes" that plays throughout Colorado.
Robert Mills is the stage manager for the Off-Off-Broadway production of David’s Red Haired Death by Sherry Kramer at the Cantina Royal in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Andrea Romano is hosting a new New York City-based web series titled Comedians Teach You Things, featuring members from The Upright Citizen’s brigade, The People’s Improv Theatre and other regional comedians.
Whitney Hayes has a new gig with Cirque Innosta.
Degree Decoder: B.A. - Bachelor of Arts; B.S. - Bachelor of Science; B.M. - Bachelor of Music; B.M.E. - Bachelor of Music Education; L.C. - Limited Certificate; M.A. - Master of Arts; M.S. - Master of Science; M.A.T. - Master of Arts in Teaching; M.M. - Master of Music; M.P.H. - Master of Public Health; Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy; Psy.D. - Doctor of Psychology; Ed.D. - Doctor of Education; D.A. - Doctor of Arts; D.N.P.-Doctor of Nursing Practice; Ed.S. - Educational Specialist
