Alumni News - March 2006

March, 2006

Our thanks to everyone who sent us news of CCHS alumni. We will publish submissions as space is available. Please forward information to MJDivino (mjd205(at)mac(dot)com) or Lucy Miller (rmiller(at)mit(dot)edu).

Caroline Perry (’04) is a sophomore at Boston University’s College of Communication, with a major in print journalism and minors in English and political science. Last year she designed lights for ten shows at BU, for student groups such as Stage Troupe, On Broadway and the New England Collegiate Dance Collaboration. Her lighting designs for Tartuffe (at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre) and Lost in Yonkers (at BU’s new black-box theatre) earned her the Stage Troupe awards for “best lighting” in both the fall and spring semesters. She is currently working as a program technician for GSU Technical Services, providing lights, sound and A/V services and consulting for student and professional events at BU. She recently wrote a 30-page technical manual on lighting and electrical theory, designed and arranged purchasing of a $15,000 lighting and power system for the Metcalf Ballroom at BU, and is working on creating two smaller systems. She also volunteers for GLAD’s Legal Information Hotline in Boston.

Ben Bryant (’03) is a junior in Emerson College’s BFA Technical Theater program. In addition to his schoolwork, he freelances as an event’s electrician for local events and theater lighting companies, working on events ranging from operas to corporate parties and rock concerts. Through IATSE, the theater union, he was able to work for the Democratic National Convention, the Rolling Stones at Fenway, and Aerosmith. Currently, Ben is designing lights for Emerson Stage’s The Machinal in the Greene Theatre, with performances the weekend of March 23rd. Ben is also assistant designing Emerson Stage’s production of Grease in the Cutler Majestic Theatre, which goes up April 14th and runs through the 22nd. For more information about his shows, visit www.emerson.edu/emersonstage.

Jeremy Pasha (’01) has done some really cool stuff in the past year. In May he graduated from Syracuse with a BFA in musical theater. Some college performance highlights were Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick, Boom, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Front Page, and a self-produced autobiographical cabaret. He spent the summer of 2005 at the Forestburgh Playhouse in the Catskills and was in West Side Story, Grease, The Full Monty, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, and South Pacific. He also was the music director for Cinderella. He moved to NYC in the fall (his car broke down on the George Washington Bridge....welcome to the Big Apple). Since he has been in NYC he has sung in two master classes, one with Adam Guettel, the composer and lyricist of Light in the Piazza, and the other with the legendary Florence Birdswell. He also had an opportunity to be in a holiday performance at St. John the Divine cathedral. He just finished making a commercial that will be shown on the internet for the TV show The Best Week Ever shown on VH1. He now feels settled in NY and is beginning to audition for shows. In the meantime he is working at the Jekyll and Hyde restaurant on 6th Avenue, just below Central Park. Life is good!

Alex Brewer (’05) is enjoying his classes at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) in illustration and sculpting especially. The program is very intense and time consuming for freshmen so he really has not been able to do any singing or performing on stage. He misses it, though, and hopes he will be able to join a singing group (perhaps at Brown?) next year. In the meantime, he still sings with Ben and the Retrogrades on some weekends at home, and in fact they performed in the CCHS Battle of the Bands in February and came in second! Alex’s Mom and Dad report OCCASIONALLY listening to the West Side Story music CD in the car, if no one is around to see them re-kindling those memories!

Katherine Horlitz (’02)is looking forward to graduating from Catholic University of America in May. Her degree will be a Bachelor in Music with a concentration in Musical Theatre. She has had a wonderful experience at CUA, where the program is very challenging, and includes a voice, chorus, dance and theater component. In addition, Katherine participated in ballroom dancing, competing at the Silver level. Katherine started out with a chorus/dance role in Amahl and the Night Visitors in her first semester, and has been involved in at least one production each semester. Among the highlights of her experiences was Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, in which she was a member of the Street Chorus for the production performed at the re-opening of the Opera House at the Kennedy Center. She also performed the role of Evelyn Nesbitt in Ragtime at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC that was produced in collaboration with Howard University. Summers were equally productive. Her first summer, Katherine held a chorus role with the Reagle Players’ production of My Fair Lady, and the following summer was Peggy Sawyer at the Fallon Memorial Theatre in 42nd Street. The summer of 2005, Katherine performed in Swing as part of the Western Swing couple, in A Chorus Line as Maggie, both productions at the Warner Theatre in Worcester, and was Sarah in The Space Between Us www.openuppictures.com, an independent movie filmed in the Boston area. A true highlight of Katherine’s college experience was spending the spring semester of Junior year at the London Dramatic Academy, training under Richard Digby Day and also notably with Richard Ryan (small sword combat teacher), Miriam Karlin (dialects, known for her role in A Clockwork Orange), Tess Dignan (voice) and others of similar renown. Katherine was certified in Stage Combat, small sword, during her stay. It was a great educational, and life, experience as she traveled through several European countries while there, joined by her twin brother Karl (’02). Katherine’s skills in ballroom dancing gained her an invitation to a Viennese Ball during her European Foray! Katherine is currently rehearsing for a CUA production of Oklahoma! (Yes, again!), rehearsing for Caesar, or the Watchdog of the Castle, a melodrama for which she will earn some money, as well as for her Senior Recital.

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