TFT Alumni Classnotes

Paul Castro '00 wrote the Warner Bros.’ film August Rush starring Robin Williams, Terrance Howard, Keri Russell and Freddy Highmore. Other projects in development include Ice starring Shirley MacLaine and a television show called Team Dream co-created with Kelly Purdue winner of The Apprentice season two.

Jennifer Lisa Chang MFA co-directed and co-wrote a short film, The Big Empty, which stars Selma Blair, Elias Koteas and Richard Kind and was executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney. The film premiered at The Aspen Shortsfest 2005 and won the grand jury prize and best fiction short prize at the USA Film Festival.  It screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival in competition

Peter M. Smith ’00 shot, directed and edited Who You Know, a comedy short for FX's Always Sunny in Philadelphia pilot competition, finishing as a top five finalist. The movie featured Adam Harrington ’00, Steve Connell ’99, Stephen L. Sullivan ’00 and Jeff Glassberg ’00. Peter also shot, directed and edited In Memory of Rusty for the 2006 48-Hour Film Project, garnering awards for Best Cinematography and Best Acting ensemble......more

Francis Tanglao-Aguas, BA '95, MFA '00, was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Theatre & Dance at the College of William and Mary where he has been teaching since 2005.  He was also appointed founding Director of Asian Studies Initiative.  He and wife Gin, their kids Akira (boy, 4 y.o.) and Aida Grace (girl, 3 y.o.) await a new addition to their family in November 2009.  They are......more

Amy Winfrey '00 is the creator of the television show Making Fiends. It is currently the #1 rated original show on the Nicktoons Network. Episodes are available at http://www.makingfiends.com

Kevin M. Connolly has returned to Los Angeles after spending the last eight years in Texas. In San Antonio, he was a full time actor, assist. tech director, light designer, and instructor with the Magik Theatre. In 2002 he took four months to stage manage the natiaonal tour of Big River which covered 39 states and Canada. In 2004 he moved to Dallas where he became involved in many productions......more

Lisa Dalesandro MFA ’01 adapted Blake Nelson’s novel Gender Blender into a screenplay for Nickelodeon Films, she also wrote the comedy pilot Unmanageable for VH1.

Marielle Heller '01 has been adapting the Graphic Novel "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" by Phoebe Gloeckner into a theatrical play.  The play is in development, working toward a production later in the year (www.diarytheplay.com).  Marielle also just starred in the play "Evie's Waltz" at the Magic Theatre in SF, to stellar reviews and an extended run. 

Aura Johnson MFA ’01 has worked as a trailer editor on the trailer and television campaigns for The Life Aquatic, Meet The Fockers, Coach Carter, Hitch, Stealth, Nanny McPhee, The Producers, and The Sentinel.

Robin Larsen MFA ’01 directed Tryst, by Karoline Leach, at The Black Dahlia Theater in Los Angeles. In this period thriller, an English con man and his new bride spend a stormy night in a seaside boarding house.

Christopher C. Odom MFA ’01 wrote and directed the feature film The 23rd Psalm, which screened at the Pan-African Film & Arts Festival in L.A.

Laurel Ollstein MFA ’01 wrote and directed the play Esther’s Moustache. She also wrote The Dark Ages which will be produced by the Playwrights’ Arena in Los Angeles. Laurel teaches playwrighting for Idyllwild summer arts program and is a professor at Loyola Marymount University, where she directed Lillian Hellman's Children’s Hour.

Matthew Solomon PhD ’01 presented a paper, "Transnational Magic: Theatrical Orientalism and the Trick Film," at the Conference of the International Association for the Study of Early Cinema, DOMITOR, at the University of Michigan last summer. He is the curator of the series "Magic and Cinema" for the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, to be held in Sacile, Italy.

Eric Wald MFA ’01 sold a pitch titled Perfect Pet to New Line Cinema. It's the story of a divorced genetic engineer who designs the "perfect pet" to impress his kids, but finds his creation soon goes awry.

Bryce Worcester ’01 is currently on a Fulbright fellowship in India studying the popular film industry at the Film and Television Institute of India. He has helped several students with their films and taught a lecture on cinematography. He is also mentoring with Bobby Bedi who produced the movies Bandit Queen, Maqbool, and Guru.

As a member of the Knightsbridge Theatre Ensemble, Christina Howard '02 performed in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and traveled with the show to Germany.

Cori McKenna (Wapnowski) '02 has edited a number of television comedy series, including: Michael and Michael Have Issues, Important Things with Demetri Martin, The Whitest Kids U'Know, The Big Gay Sketch Show, and The Colbert Report.  Other TV work includes: Rachael Ray, What Not To Wear, Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, Celebrity Poker Showdown, and Miami Ink.

Jon Klein '03, MFA Screenwriting, is in his fourth year of heading the MFA Playwriting Program at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.  A play he wrote with Paul D'Andrea, THE EINSTEIN PROJECT, will be produced in the summer of 2009 at Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge, MA.  Recently published plays include WISHING WELL, and SUGGESTIBILITY; the latter was just featured in the anthology Best Scenes of 2008, published by Smith &......more

Jonathan Moore MFA ’03 completed a writing internship on the new David Milch series for HBO, John From Cincinnati; he also acted in the independent film One Part Sugar, directed by Hart Bochner, and has accepted a full-time teaching position in the Department of Cinema/Digital Media at Vanguard University.

Heather Louise Parker'03 and her company, Magic Pebble Media, is currently in post-production on a feature documentary about an unlikely kayaking expedition down the Los Angeles River, called "Rock the Boat."  We're also distributing a short film, "Heather and Goliath," which chronicles a whistle-blower at the Army Corps of Engineers who goes kayaking down the LA River and is threatened with suspension. "Heather and Goliath" has its second festival showing at the Reel......more

Chris Tucci '03 is the Director of Theatre at Heidelberg University.  Please submit any scripts you would like considered for our upcoming season.

Casey Garritano '04 is an equity performer around the Southern California Area and a teacher at Orange County High School of the Arts

Helene Siebrits MFA 04 is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Costume Design and Technology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. At UIUC Helene will teach costume design and the history of clothing. She will also mentor MFA costume design students.  Since graduating from UCLA Helene has taught at the Univeristy of Windsor, Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
 
Helene has designed numerous......more

Heidi Hornbacher '05, has produced an independent thriller that debuted at this year's Dances With Films Festival. www.thecommunemovie.com

My romcom "Fixing Emma" placed as a quarterfinalist in both the AAA contest and the Creative Screenwriting Expo contest.

My TV pilot "Behind the Throne" made its way up the ladder at CAA to good opinions but no deals.

Each June I help run the Michelangelo Screenwriting program in Italy. more

Adam Martin MFA ’05 was the coordinating producer on the documentary series Ice Road Truckers, which premiered with the biggest audience ever---3.4 million viewers--- for an original program on The History Channel. The show charts the lives of men with one of the world’s most dangerous jobs: hauling vital supplies to diamond mines above the Arctic Circle, over frozen lakes that double as roads.

Paul Peglar '05 is a member of the Los Angeles-based vocal/electronica band <a href="http://www.myspace.com/sonosings">Sonos</a>. The group has performed throughout LA and has toured the West Coast and London. With their EP ("Live on KCRW") available on iTunes and a live NPR show broadcasting now, Sonos is performing live to promote the upcoming release of their debut album through a major label due Sept '09.

Paul......more

Zoë Green MFA '06, was hired post graduation to write on Marvel Studios' animated series 'Wolverine and The X Men'. Following this she sold a pilot 'Dreamsolver' to ABC studios, then was hired to write “Tigress,” an original superhero(ine) feature set up by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee at Disney. In 2008 she sold a pitch 'The Book of Shadows' to Rob Reiner/Castle Rock, and is currently writing 'The Diamond Age',......more

Christopher Lane MA '06 was promoted to Acquisitions Manager at MGM/Deluxe Digital Media, a technical service provider for MGM.

Erich Lane MFA '06 appeared as Erich the Production Assistant, with Verne Troyer (Mini Me), in Orbit's "Dirtiest Mouth Moment" sketch during the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, a spin-off from his national Orbit "Dirty Mouth" Gum commercial. Erich's national Coca Cola commercial also aired during the Beijing Summer Olympics.

Carla Melo PhD ’06 is an Assistant Professor at the School of Theater and Film at the University of Arizona, helping to develop a PhD program in “Theatre and Performance of the Americas.”

24: The Interns, a short film parody by Andy Nordvall MFA ’06, was flagged by Entertainment Weekly as the Funny Site of the Day and was the top-rated video on FunnyorDie.com the week it debuted.

Producers Program alumnus Ulrich Schwarz MFA '06 was recently hired as a creative and production executive at German production powerhouse Dreamtool Entertainment.

Charmaine Cruz MFA ’07 plays the female lead in the indie caper comedy The Rat Thing, which won best film at The Other Venice Film Festival and Best Comedy Feature at the Long Island Film Festival.

Robert Rhyne's '07 script "Passing Through" is a finalist in the 2009 Austin Film Festival. "Passing Through" also won the 2008 UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting Competition.

Kathy Cabrera '08 has been named Director of New Media at Carabiner Communications to lead the rollout of a new social media and video service to clients and account teams.  In her new role, Cabrera will help create new programs spanning online group building via LinkedIn, Twitter and inividually branded communities; blog monitoring and posting; and online video and podcast creation and distribution.

Vandana Kohli' 09, has been freelancing as Director, Producer and Scriptwriter for documentaries, corporate films and informative TV series. Her contribution is to conceptualize and execute a film that is high on research, well thought out, and effective. Project content  has included: Biotechnology, Depression, Women, the Air Force, Law, Biographies, Book reviews for TV, Dance, Tourism and Railways amongst others.

Currently she is producing and directing a film on Anger. Her expertise is in ‘more