CoLA'S Points of Pride
Departments of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures
Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar's film, Lion in the House, was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and was most recently nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in Los Angeles, where it was the focus of a major WSU alumni reunion.
Selena Burks continues to take her award-winning documentary, Saving Jackie, which was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005, across the state of Ohio, using it as a springboard for discussion on such issues as drug abuse. Selena has also won major funding for her next film project in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Acting and Musical Theatre program ranked in the top ten in the nation of all musical theatre programs at the Annual Casting Conference in New York. Graduates from thisprogram are in the casts of national touring companies of Mamma Mia, Aida, and numerous other shows.
A Tom Hanks Scholarship and Guest Artist fund was recently created for majors in the department and has been the focus of two major fund raisers at the Moraine and Dayton Country Clubs, attended by over 200 people.
The Design/Technology/Stage Management program has 100% placement for its graduates in theatre design (in current ”points”). Often students are hired for positions before they graduate. Majors in this program have had internships at leading national theatres, including The La Jolla Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Williamstown Theatre Festival and other major theatres.
Nicole Scherzinger, former musical theatre major, is the lead singer in the nationally acclaimed “Pussycat Dolls” and can currently be seen on WB’s reality show. She has a top ten song, nationally.
Tong Wang, assistant professor of dance, is making plans to take 20 WSU Dance majors to Beijing, China during the summer of 2008 – the summer of the Chinese Olympics – for master classes and cultural exchanges.
Noted guest artists such as Victoria Clark, Austin Pendelton, Tom Jones, Ted Neely, as well as leading casting directors from New York will present master classes and convocations to students in the department.