This stirring video from the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists features several of our alumni sharing a heartfelt message, including Emika Abe (’16, SOM ’16), May Adrales (’06, Former Faculty), Pun Bandhu (’01, Board Member), Snehal Desai (’08), and David Henry Hwang (’83).

It has been more than a full year since we began working and learning from home. In this article published by American Theatre magazine, dozens of theatermakers shared their personal reflections on the pandemic, including May Adrales (’06, Former Faculty), Ashley Chang (’16), Snehal Desai (’08), Annabel Guevara (’24), Meghan Pressman (’10, SOM ’10), Florie Seery (Associate Dean/Managing Director), Rachel Spencer Hewitt (’10), Amanda Spooner (’09), Emily Trask (’11), and Josh Wilder (’18). 

Congratulations to these alumni for their recent leadership appointments!

May Adrales (’06, Former Faculty), Artistic Director of the Lark; Dani Barlow (’20), Foundation Director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation; Laurie Ortega-Murphy (’20), Managing Director of Pig Iron Theatre Company; Lisa Rigsby Peterson (’92), Executive Director of Wheeler Opera House; and Dianah Wynter (’84), Director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University.

In an interview with American Theatre magazine, Ashley said, “artists and theatre artists and playwrights have a lot of questions, and rightfully so, about institutions, how do we as a theatre institution open that up and create a place where that kind of dialogue can happen?”

Playwright Lindsey Ferrentino (’16) is set to write and direct her first feature film for Netflix: an adaptation of her play Amy and the Orphans, which was presented as part of the School of Drama’s 2016 Carlotta Festival of New Plays ahead of its world premiere at Roundabout Theatre Company.

María Irene Fornés started writing plays almost by accident. In 1961, her then-partner, Susan Sontag, was suffering from writer’s block. Fornés canceled their evening plans, took Sontag home, and sat down with her at their kitchen table. Selecting random words from a cookbook, Fornés began to write short stories to prove how easy writing could be. “I might never have thought of writing if I hadn't pretended I was going to show Susan how easy it was,” she said in a 1986 profile in The Village Voice. Her career as a playwright and director of avant-garde, character-driven, absurdist work took off over the next two decades.

Fornés’s 1977 play, Fefu and Her Friends, depicts women struggling within their male-dominated society. Written for eight female actors, she experimented with deconstructing space as well as time. After a communal first act, the audience advances around the theater in smaller groups until everyone has experienced all the scenes play out. Yale Rep’s 1992 Winterfest 12 production moved the audience from what is now the August Wilson Lounge, upstairs into the theater, the lobby, and in the back of the auditorium.

In 2018, Yale School of Drama honored her remarkable contributions to the theater by naming Room 10 at 305 Crown Street the María Irene Fornés Studio. The same year, a documentary about Fornés’s life and work, The Rest I Make Up, was released. It is available to rent through Vimeo On Demand.

Francesca DeCicco (’22) and Martín Montaner (’20) were each awarded one of USITT's Awards for Young Designers, Managers, & Technicians in the Performing Arts, and Alan Hendrickson (’83, Faculty) was awarded the 2021 Distinguished Achievement Award in Engineering. 

Arturo Luís Soria (’19), Juliana Aidén Martinez (’20), and Abigail C. Onwunali (’23) have been named members of the inaugural Hillman Grad Mentorship Lab.

Director Garrett Allen (’24) and projection designer Brittany Bland (’19) are two of the twenty artists selected for New York Stage and Film's new NEXUS Initiative.

David Mitchell Clauson (’16) is the recipient of the inaugural Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the America's Innovation Grant, supporting his stewardship of The Alternative Canon, a free online sourcebook to help artists and educators challenge Eurocentric, patriarchal, racist, and other biases in theater history.

Over the course of the last year, we have frequently asked Anna Glover, Director of Safety and Occupational Health at Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre, to help us navigate the evolving public health policies and safety measures.

Between the Stops by Sandi Toksvig. “Sandi is always very entertaining, and she lives near where my wife and I used to live. This helped me combat homesickness, connecting me back to home, as this was a bus I frequently took.” 

“This HBO Max series, It's a Sin, really stayed with me. Set in London between 1981 and 1991, it covers the HIV/AIDS crisis through the eyes of a group of friends. The character of Jill, played by Lydia West, inspired the hashtag #BeMoreJill and showed how powerful a true ally can be. Since being shown in the UK, the number of HIV tests ordered has increased fourfold. That’s the power of drama!”

"My wife and I have been mostly plant-based for a few years now, and I love this recipe for sticky, spicy tofu from The Happy Pear. It's easy and delicious, and we eat it with noodles and stir-fried vegetables."