"The Bacchae" panel (left to right): Kevin Kuhlke, LaRaisha DiEvelyn Dionne, Theo Stockman, Zach Tinkeman, Nora Fiffer, and moderator, Chris Jaehnig
On Sunday, Nov. 17, Tisch Drama alumni joined current and former faculty and staff at a reception celebrating the department’s 50th Anniversary. It was the second gathering in a series of four.
During the reception, attendees mingled and reconnected with former friends and collaborators before hearing a panel discussion about two department productions of Euripides’ The Bacchae, one produced in 2005 and the second running now in the Paulson Center’s Iris Cantor Theatre. “This year’s TISCH DRAMA STAGE season celebrates our faculty, our alumni, our history, and our future, both at our department and in the professional fields,” said Tomi Tsunoda, Drama Chair. “Each of the season’s four mainstage productions is a nod to seminal work that took place over the past five decades.”
The current TD STAGE production, directed by former Drama Chair, Kevin Kuhlke, revisits a production of The Bacchae that he helmed as part of the 2005 mainstage season and that went on to a subsequent production at The Warsaw International Festival in 2007. All major Eastern- and Western-European conservatories, including Moscow Arts, had a show in the festival that year. The NYU production won both the Gold Alexander for Beautiful Artistic Effect of Pedagogic Work and the award for Best Actor, won by then student Theo Stockman, who spoke at the Nov. 17th panel with Kuhlke.
Other Drama alumni involved in the previous production participated as well. They included Director and Actor Nora Fiffer; Lighting designer Zack Tinkeman; and LaRaisha DiEvelyn Dionne, who is also the Movement and Intimacy director of the TD STAGE project running now.
Chris Jaehnig, Director of the Production & Design Studio, moderated a conversation about the challenges of mounting the Warsaw production – from language barriers, international travel, and building sets. The various creative and pedagogic approaches in the two productions were also discussed. After the reception, many attendees strolled the halls of the Drama Department, before heading to the matinee performance.
The next 50th Anniversary Alumni reception will be on March 2, 2025, 11:00am, prior to a performance of TD STAGE’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Watch for news soon on how to register.