Partnerships grow in many shapes and sizes, and for many different reasons. Business partners, best friends, romantic couples, and collaborative thinkers - we're thrilled to celebrate the partners that found one another at NYU Tisch!
From the moment students begin their journey at NYU Tisch, they are encouraged to collaborate and make bonds with one another. Below, enjoy the stories from a few Tisch & NYU alumni whose partnerships began as students here!
Michael Barnathan '80 & Chris Columbus '80 (BFA, Kanbar Institute, Film & TV)
Friends and Business Partners
We met on the first day at NYU. We were both freshman living at Weinstein. Back in 1976 the drinking age was 18 so the dorm was having a Bar Tour of Greenwich Village. We both signed up and met that night along with 4 or 5 other guys we are all still friends with. We had a common interest in movies and talked all night about movies. We became very close friends, roommates, and lived in a loft together for 3 years. That loft had mice and Chris used to have nightmares about the mice living under his bed nibbling at his hand while he slept. Out of that nightmare, GREMLINS was born. He wrote it in the loft on 26th Street. Hence the name of our company today 26th Street Pictures, where our dreams of having a company together were hatched and our passion for filmmaking was nourished. This is our 28th year in business.
Trevor Bunce (Drama) & Tara Forseth '16 (BFA, Drama)
Married
Tara and I first met at an audition for a student directed production of Company. It was being put on by Tisch New Theatre in the fall of 2015. I asked her to get breakfast with me at Washington Square Diner the morning of the callbacks, and she said yes. A date! Or so I thought. Later I found out she didn't think this was a date at all, but that I just wanted to run lines (everyone in Tisch knows "run lines" means "let's get together", right?). Unfortunately, neither of us booked Company, but we were in a production of 1776 together that fall, so we at least got to spend more time with each other. We started seriously dating after that, moved in together the following year, and eventually made our way down to Brooklyn. In 2021 we got married at The Westbury Manor in NY (officiated by Kent Gash, our friend, mentor, and the person who directed that production of 1776!) She is my best friend, the love of my life, and she makes me a better artist and human every moment we're together. I may not have gotten to play Bobby in Company back in 2015, but Tara sits in my chair, ruins my sleep, and certainly makes me alive, so that's maybe a little better I think. Happy Valentine's Day, Bean!
Jason Stefaniak '14 & Ryan Carmichael '14 (MFA, Kanbar Institute, Grad Film)
Business Partners. Creative Collaborators. Friends.
Ryan and I met on the first morning of our orientation for the Graduate Film Program in Room 1027 on the 10th floor of Tisch. As I remember it, I came in, sat down next to Ryan, said "Hello" and we've been friends ever since. We lived together for a year. Ryan was a groomsman in my wedding and I co-officiated his pandemic-inspired rooftop Zoom wedding. Since we met, we've been swapping ideas and outlines and scripts, supporting and encouraging each other, and constantly talking about films, books, life, and survivin' on our quest to do the work, do better work, seize bigger opportunities (and budgets) and craft lives of fulfilling work we can be proud of.
Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld '09 & James Weaver Clark '11 (Drama)
Married, with a kid!
We were a "showmance" - we were both cast in a production of "The Mandrake" and fell in love over the course of the rehearsal process. Today, Aly is a working actor (primarily in voiceover) and James is top of his class as a 1L at St. John's Law School! We live in Astoria with our adorable almost two-year-old, Freddy.
Ana Moioli '20, Maria Müller '19, Giorgia Valenti '20, and Deniz Bulat '21 (Drama)
Business Partners
We have a theater company together – Et Alia Theater, led and founded by international women! Maria, Giorgia and I (Ana) were very good friends at Tisch Drama; Giorgia and I studied together at ETW, Maria and I worked on a show together, and the two of them met through the Dance minor they both pursued. Right after Maria graduated in 2019, she suggested that we produced a play together. As soon as we gathered to bring this plan to life, we realized our artistic visions were very aligned, and we couldn't limit ourselves to one production only. We then created Et Alia, alongside our other fellow Tisch alumna Isabella Uzcátegui. Deniz Bulat came to see our second full production 'On How to Be a Monster', written by Maria and directed by Federica Borlenghi, and showed interest in joining our team. In early 2020, we expanded our team by welcoming Deniz and Luísa Galatti (our only non-NYU member). It's been now 2 and a half years since the beginning of our company, and we have successfully produced 4 in-person full productions, 2 in-person staged readings, 5 online projects, and 1 fundraising event. We have also received 3 grants, and created a Board of Advisors with women we highly look up to. We use our art to expose the obstacles experienced by immigrant women and empower our community. It takes us lots of hard work and discipline to keep our company growing, but we are all extremely passionate about our work and support each other on every struggle. We are all very thankful to Tisch, which not only allowed us to cross each other's paths, but also taught us the importance of teamwork and collaborative growth. I remember Dean Allyson Green told us in freshman year – "Look at the person sitting next to you. They'll be your main ally in your future career in the arts." Wise words!
Richard Tatum '96 (MFA, Design for Stage and Film) & Joanne (Jew Hyun) Rhee '95 (MFA, Dance)
Married
We met in the fall of 1994 at 111 Second Avenue where Tisch Design & Dance has classrooms and performance spaces. Joanne (Jew Hyun at the time) was in her second year of the Tisch Dance MFA program. Richard was in his second year of the Tisch Design MFA program. He was also a first year graduate assistant assigned to Tisch Dance designing the lighting for dance concerts. Richard was assigned by the dance department to light a piece that had Joanne choreographed. After Joanne showed her piece to the faculty, she came up to Richard for the dance lighting discussion. Shortly into the chat, Joanne said, "Would you like to go out for coffee and talk about it?". And Richard said "Sure!". Needless to say, Richard designed the lighting for all of Joanne's dance pieces following that fateful meeting. Today, Richard and Joanne have been together for 27 years, live in in the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood, and have a 15 year old son - Glenn Tatum. Joanne is the owner of Joanne's Body & Bread in Englewood, New Jersey where she is a 1-on-1 posture, fitness, and health and lifestyle coach and personal trainer. Richard is the managing partner and director of design and production services at L&M Sound & Light, a company providing lighting design, audio services, and event production services to the special events industry throughout the tristate area. Thank you Tisch Dance and Tisch Design for bringing us together!
Hunter Livingston '19 and Audrey Leach '19 (BFA, Kanbar Institute, Film & TV)
Best Friends
We first met during the fall semester of our sophomore year in 2016. A mutual friend introduced us in the Reise Lounge at Tisch (classic). We discovered we were in the same writing class together but had never spoken a word to each other. Sometimes, that’s just how it was at Tisch. You could go months seeing the same people everyday, but fail to say hello. That was the initial meeting—but we didn’t truly become friends until fellow Tisch Film Alum Christina Vislocky decided to shoot her Sight & Sound Film Final at Audrey’s apartment. We both knew and loved the 2007 film Hairspray starring Nikki Blonsky, and we were eager to see Ariana Grande in the role of Penny. This musical became the foundation of our many inside jokes, some of which we still refer to today. I had a class that ended 15 minutes before it was supposed to start airing, so we ran from Tisch through the East Village to Audrey’s apartment to tune in (How very Tracy & Penny of us!) Running down St. Marks Place to 1st Ave was a very “Defining New York City Moment,” especially being relatively new to living in the city. We’ve been roommates since 2017 and have now lived in about four different areas of the city, though we’re currently in Williamsburg. Since meeting, we’ve worked on all of our projects together: every intermediate project, our thesis films, and our endeavors outside of school. We both work from home in post-production so our apartment is more or less a post-production facility—we always joke that we live in a WeWork.
Jean Yglesias '80 (BFA, Kanbar Institute, Film & TV) & Tony Macchia '80 (Steinhardt)
Married
Tony came to Tisch to take a film class and I was a student there and also worked in the Film Production office handling equipment rentals. We've been married 38 years (just celebrated our anniversary on January 28!), have two children, 1 grandchild and recently retired and moved to be close to our children again.
Joseph Modirzadeh '18 (BFA, Kanbar Institute, Film & TV) and Frank Yin '18 (Steinhardt)
Business partners, Creative collaborators, Best buds
We both happened to be studying abroad at NYU Shanghai during our Junior year, and mutual friends of ours invited us to join them on a weekend trip to Beijing. Nobody actually showed up to plan the trip except for us, and we had never met before then...we eventually decided to go through with the travel plans as 2 strangers (even sharing a hotel bed!) and after getting lost at the Great Wall and experiencing a traumatic dance performance together we became great friends and went on to work together at ad agencies back in New York. Now we team up as an art/copy wombo combo for media campaigns and for fun.
Che-Wei Wang '07 & Taylor Levy '07 (MPS, ITP)
Married with kids
We first met at ITP. We have a small design studio in brooklyn that we've been running together since we graduated.
Aaron Fineman '96 & Nicole Fineman (Davis) '08 (BFA, Photography & Imaging)
Married with kids
We were introduced by Aaron's (former) teacher & mentor Angel Franco. At the time, Angel was Nicole's teacher and Aaron was working on a project with a grant (from the Rosenbergs through the Photography Department). (However, we first met when Nicole was a freshman & Aaron was a sophomore and she needed help loading film in the darkroom, but we didn't see each other again until Angel introduced us). Currently we live in the Lower East Side with our two children (Lior 9 & Miko 12). Nicole works as a video designer for the New York Times (she won an Emmy a few years ago) and Aaron manages communications for the Roosevelt House Public Policy Center at Hunter College.
KK Wootton '97 and Nick Wootton '94 (BFA, Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing)
Married
Although we were in the same program and attended classes together, I recall that we met through a classmate. Today we live in Hollywood:)
Dan '05 and Isabel '05 Kantor (MPS, ITP)
Married
We met at ITP. We now live in NYC and work in technology.
Vivian Wenli Lin '04 Takuro Mizuta Lippit '04 (MPS, ITP)
Married with kids
We met during our first year at ITP in 2002. We are now living in Tokyo.