In this issue:
MESSAGE FROM HARVARDWOOD
NEWS
Special Harvardwood discount for the fall intensive “THE CREATIVE PATH”
Summer Membership Sale ends next week!
HWP Applications Now Open
Announcing the Jonathan Sethna Harvardwood LGBTQ+ Fellowship Winner
Featured Job: Temporary WGA Desk Associate
FEATURES
Alumni Profile: Sarah Lewis AB ‘01 (historian)
Industry News
Alumni Artist Spotlight: Kiana Rawji AB ‘23
Welcome New Members
Exclusive Q&A with Bill Rauch AB '84 (artistic director)
CALENDAR & NOTES
Book Talk with Alana B. Lytle AB '11 & Carleton Eastlake JD '72 (Santa Monica)
Strengths for Writers Masterclass (Virtual)
A Fireside Chat with Mable Chan (AM ’93) (Cambridge, MA)
Race, Media, and Justice: How Images Shape Our World (Virtual)
Harvardwood 101 Info Session (Virtual)
Grey’s Anatomy to Abbott Elementary: Writing Family-Work Stories in TV and Film (Virtual)
Bridging Science and Story: Communicating Complex Ideas through Media (Virtual)
Last Month at Harvardwood
Want to submit your success(es) to Harvardwood HIGHLIGHTS? Do so by posting here!
With the end of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer at Harvardwood, this is the last chance to take advantage of the Summer Membership Sale. To light an autumnal fire under you, there are two more Harvardwood Writers Program Applications Now Open for full members!
For those who forgot to do their summer reading, our first fall event is a Book Talk with Alana B. Lytle and Carleton Eastlake, followed by a Strengths for Writers Masterclass for those who forgot to do their summer bulk-cut. Warm up from the thick, hot Cambridge air with a temperature controlled Fireside Chat with Mable Chan, then pop over to the Harvardwood 101 Info Session and get the...411. For us humble folk who still own a television, there is Grey’s Anatomy to Abbott Elementary: Writing Family-Work Stories in TV and Film! Much to look forward to as we pitter-patter into the fall.
It's now been over six months since we unveiled our new website and expanded membership perks. Wow! For those of you who are still on an outdated membership plan, we decided in January to extend the sunsetting process to give everyone the opportunity to transfer over to the new site. If you are still on a $5/month plan, you are only getting very limited membership perks! Come and join us with a new membership lest we leave you behind in the dark age of old membership. If you do not want to upgrade and no longer want to be part of the family, we’ll be so sad! Seriously, don’t go! But, if you really want to take a break from the incredible Harvardwood community (we don’t really understand why anyone would do that, wouldn’t you miss our emails too much?), please email us to cancel your old membership plan.
As always, we want to hear from you, our members — if you have an idea for an event or programming, please tell us about it here. If you have an announcement about your work or someone else's, please share it here (members) and it will appear in our Weekly and/or next HIGHLIGHTS issue.
Best wishes,
Grace Shi
Operations and Communications
Special Harvardwood discount for the fall intensive “THE CREATIVE PATH” from Veteran Creative Coach Betsy Capes
Mention “Harvardwood” when you sign up for Betsy Capes' course at the link below and get $200 off the fall intensive program.
Dive into my signature course, The Creative Path, and join me for group coaching sessions with a cohort of like-minded creatives once a week for 13 weeks.
These group coaching sessions guide you through your course experience in real time. If you are SERIOUS about moving the needle with your career here’s your shot.
This is our most popular time of the year, so grab your spot before it's too late!
Date: September 17th - December 17th
Time: Tuesdays, 12:00pm -1:00pm EST
Instructor: Betsy Capes
Where: Zoom
This program is a big commitment of time and we understand that you may have questions. In order to join an upcoming Intensive, you are required to participate in a group Q&A session or a one-on-one consultation call with me to ensure this experience is right for you.
Click HERE to learn more about The Creative Path and to sign up for a group Q&A session or a one-on-one phone chat with me.
Summer Membership Sale
Our Summer Membership Sale is running through Monday, September 9th! Get 15% off Standard Annual Membership plan with the code SUMMERSALE. For current non-members looking to apply to programming this fall, join now for a discount!
Sale will last through Monday, September 9th.
HWP Applications Now Open
APPLY NOW to the Jeff Sagansky Harvardwood TV Writers Program - closes September 13th!
The Jeff Sagansky Harvardwood TV Writers Program uses peer review, guest speakers, and weekly workshops to foster a motivating and supportive environment for each participant’s writing. Participants will be placed in a genre-specific module (half-hour, hourlong, rewrite, etc.) where writers read and provide personalized feedback for each other, supervised by experienced Module Leaders. Throughout the semester, guest speakers, panels, and social events supplement the workshop experience and help build a collaborative and meaningful community out here in Hollyweird and beyond. In other words, “Come for the deadlines, stay for the friends."
The 10-week program culminates in a “pitch panel” event where participants have the opportunity to pitch their HWP project to industry veterans, receive feedback on their concept, and practice the art of pitching.
Program fee: If accepted, the program fee of $100 will be due before your first meeting.
The deadline to submit for the Fall 2024 Jeff Sagansky Harvardwood TV Writers Program is Friday, September 13th at 11:59 PT!
APPLY HERE
Virtual Features Group: Module 2 Now Open!! - closes September 13th
The Harvardwood Virtual Features Group (or VFG) provides a supportive and collaborative environment for writers looking to improve their craft and advance their careers. The group’s aim is to help screenwriters improve their writing skills through peer review and constructive feedback. The program is open to Harvardwood members and it meets virtually once a month.
We’re delighted to open a second module of this popular program! Full Haravrdwood Members of all experience levels are encouraged to apply.
Program fee: If accepted, the program fee of $50 will be due before your first meeting.
The deadline to submit for Virtual Features Group: Module 2 is Friday, September 13th at 11:59 PT!
APPLY HERE
2024-25 Jonathan Sethna Harvardwood LGBTQ+ Fellowship Winner
Harvardwood is thrilled to announce the winner of this year's Jonathan Sethna Harvardwood LGBTQ+ Fellowship for projects that elevate LGBTQ+ characters, themes, and stories by creatives and screenwriters who are Harvard University alumni.
Lyndon Henley Hanrahan AB '19 is a writer, filmmaker, and actor. His work explores queerness, history, and fantasy through dark humor, often focusing on characters who live in their imaginations. His films have been screened at numerous Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying festivals and garnered tens of thousands of times online. He was named a 2023 Berlinale Talent and a 2022 writer-in-residence at Series Mania for his body of work.
Lyndon began making films his freshman year at Harvard, using only a camcorder he checked out at Lamont. After graduating in 2019 with a joint concentration in English and VES (and developing his craft to include high-tech instruments like lights and microphones), he moved to London on a Marshall Scholarship, continuing his studies in fine art and filmmaking at the Royal College of Art and the London Film School. For the last couple of years, he has worked as a freelance television writer, earning a Daytime Emmy nomination for his work on "The Book of Queer," an LGBTQ+ history show on Discovery+. In 2022, he cofounded Donkey Tail, a British production company that champions queer stories. Currently, Lyndon is studying directing at the National Film & Television School in Beaconsfield, England, and completing his debut novel.
The purpose of this Fellowship is to polish, develop, elevate, and amplify projects for the screen with LGBTQIA+ characters, themes, and stories. The gift, generously donated by Jonathan Sethna (HGSE ’03), will support three projects. In addition to grant funds, Fellows will receive one-on-one guidance and advice from Harvard alumni who want to empower artists to make the world a better place through their stories.
Congratulations, Lyndon, and thank you to all who applied this year!
Featured Job: Temporary WGA Desk Associate
Job Description:
CBS News Radio is looking for motivated individuals for part-time opportunities as a Desk Associate. The job of a Desk Associate is to aid the newsroom staff in accomplishing the mission of putting out a compelling news product. CBS News Radio needs a candidate who can multi-task and handle numerous responsibilities that are vital to the day-to-day operation of a newsroom.
Alumni Profile: Sarah Lewis AB ‘01 (historian)
by Laura Frustaci '21
Sarah Lewis AB ‘01 is an art and cultural historian and founder of Vision & Justice. Her research focuses on the intersection of visual representation, racial justice, and democracy in the United States from the nineteenth century through the present. She is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University where she serves on the Standing Committee on American Studies and Standing Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Come see Sarah speak with The Black List founder Franklin Leonard '00 at our virtual Harvardwood event on Sept. 23!
Sarah Lewis AB ‘01 didn’t expect to become a leading voice in the intersection of visual culture, race, and justice when she first stumbled upon a striking image in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale. The photograph, part of a series of 19th-century women marketed as “Circassian Beauties,” revealed white women with teased, afro-like hairstyles, their pale faces presented as idealized symbols of white racial purity. These women were one of the most popular "shows" in nineteenth-century America, mounted on the stage by none other than P. T. Barnum. As Sarah dug deeper, she uncovered a forgotten history that exposed the fragility of America’s racial constructs— and the lies that have sustained them.
The image marked the beginning of a historical journey that culminated in her forthcoming book, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America. “At first, I tried to ignore what I learned,” Sarah recalls. “But I wrote the book because, despite the evidence in the archives, there was no secondary literature about this history. My book exposes a time when Americans saw the lies that undergirded the nation’s regime of racial hierarchy, and then chose to disregard them.” Sarah recalls. The book uncovers a moment in American history when myths of racial superiority were exposed, yet society collectively chose to ignore the truth.
“The main point of the book is to show how we can love the country without lying about it, and to show how hidden those lies are,” Sarah explains. “The Unseen Truth takes seriously the consequences of refusing to acknowledge the fictions at the core of the racial order we still live with in the US. Racial fictions are not only formed by racist caricatures and stereotypes, but also by what we have been conditioned not to see. I wrote this book to show how visual regimes have secured our racial hierarchy in spite of its false foundations— and to offer a way to begin to dismantle it.”
The road to completing this project was anything but straightforward. Access to certain archives was unexpectedly blocked once some institutions learned about her subject. “The way I overcame that was truly inexplicable.” Sarah laughs. “For example, in one case, it just so happened that a former student had started working at the institution, and she found a way to enforce my right to access certain images of files. Or, I would get stumped trying to link ideas and a friend would send over just the right book, seemingly far afield, that I needed to make it work. So, I just learned to trust that we get assistance in ways we might never understand when our work needs to come into the world. It encouraged me onward.”
Sarah’s fascination with how art shapes society is deeply rooted in her upbringing. Growing up surrounded by creatives. Her mother an actress and her grandfather a musician and painter, she was always drawn to how art forms influence the world we create. Yet, it wasn’t just the beauty of art that intrigued her, but its power to effect justice. “I think we live with this idea that the artist and the arts function outside of political life. I became interested in how, when, and why we have achieved justice in America’s racialized democracy through images, through visual culture itself.”
From curating at MoMA and the Tate Modern to teaching at Harvard, Sarah has consistently sought to bridge the academic and mainstream worlds. “Know your why. Everything is story. Everything is narrative at its core,” she emphasizes. “What’s key to making a story translate from academic to mainstream publications is the why. Why does this matter? In academic writing, the why can get lost for a broader audience. Defining the stakes can make the why clear as you translate academic writing for mainstream outlets.”
Her message extends beyond the pages of her books and articles. As a speaker at TED, SXSWedu, and other major events, Sarah challenges audiences to rethink the ways they perceive creativity, failure, and resilience. “I wanted to discuss the joy and gifts of improbable foundations in the arts, and also in the dynamic through which we create our lives. We somehow know that failure, even near wins, coming just shy of your goal, propel us forward.”
One of her most recognized initiatives, Vision & Justice, grew out of this intersection of art and justice and was inspired by one thing: “Need,” Sarah says. Launched after her course and guest-edited issue of Aperture magazine by the same name, Vision & Justice examines the central role visual culture plays in securing equity. The initiative included a two-day cultural convening at Harvard, featuring performances and panels by Bryan Stevenson, Ava DuVernay, Franklin Leonard, Yara Shahidi, Carrie Mae Weems, Hank Willis Thomas, Deborah Willis, Leigh Raiford, Vijay Iyer, and more. “American citizenship has long been a project of vision and justice. The centuries-long effort to craft an image to pay honor to the full humanity of Black life is a corrective task for which visual culture, from photography to cinema, has been central, even indispensable.” Interested in learning more? Subscribe to the Vision & Justice newsletter!
For Sarah, the core purpose of Vision & Justice is fostering representational literacy. “Law alone would never be enough to rectify the original sin at the foundation of the United States. Slavery dehumanized how we see. It was always going to take something other than laws. The failure of laws to redress the legacy of the harm it caused made visual culture central for justice in the United States. It has made learning to see and be literate critical for the work of culture for justice.”
As she looks ahead, Sarah is focused on what she describes as “looking at the seemingly unimportant and identifying its value.” Her upcoming projects include a new book for One World/Random House, a potential essay collection on contemporary artists, and the Vision & Justice Book Series, for which she is co-editor with Leigh Raiford and Deborah Willis and includes an Advisory Board of artists, curators, scholars, and more. She says, “The first book is Race Stories— a collection of award-winning short essays by the late Maurice Berger that explore the intersections of photography, race, and visual culture.“
In between her scholarly pursuits, Sarah finds time for the activities she loves. “I used a lot of my personal time to write this latest book, so I’m mainly trying to spend time with the people I love and doing things I adore.” She smiles. “Dancing. I returned to it, so you can catch me at studios just having fun trying out new things from time to time. I love running because it lets you speed through the beauty of nature… the energy and joy I get from it is like none other.”
Sarah has just moved into her new office at Harvard, which once belonged to Jamaica Kincaid. “She just retired from teaching,” Sarah reflects. “It’s bittersweet. But I sit there and think of what it means to be in a kind of lineage, and how collective the creative enterprise really is. We each inspire each other, even when we are unaware. She likely has no idea, for example, how often I think of her encouragement when I walk into my new office now. When I first joined the faculty, one of the first dinners I had was just her and [me]. Her advice? Gold. I will never forget it.”
With her work pushing forward critical conversations about race, culture, and justice, Sarah continues to illuminate how what we see, as well as what we fail to see, shapes the world we live in.
You can pre-order The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America here.
Industry News
GHOSTS adds Season 4 guest stars Mary Holland as ‘New Spirit’ and Dean Norris AB ‘85 as ‘Sam’s Dad.’ Season 4 will debut on October 17, just in time for Halloween, on CBS. (Deadline)
Read about Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s AB ’80 Comic-Con interview discussing how the relationship between the buyer and the studio has shifted, the buyer being a studio. (Deadline)
The eighth annual History Book Festival will present Tiya Miles AB ’92 RDI ’22 RDI ’24, author of NIGHT FLYER: HARRIET TUBMAN AND THE FAITH DREAMS OF A FREE PEOPLE, at its closing event at 2:30 PM, Sunday, September 29th, at the Cape Henlopen High School Theatre. (Cape Gazette)
Read this New York Times article on author of humorous short stories Simon Rich AB ’06 and his thoughts on AI’s impact on comedy writers. He finds emotional connections in tales that engage with tech. (New York Times)
Sports broadcaster Bob Costas, former U.S. Senator and comedian Al Franken AB ’73, and satirical journalist Andy Borowitz AB ’80 to headline Drew Forum’s upcoming shows. (New Jersey Hills)
Yo-Yo Ma AB ’76 discusses his career, SONGS OF COMFORT series and more on FOX NEWS SUNDAY in an exclusive interview with the world renowned cellist. (YouTube)
Read this interview with author Sarah Manguso AB ’96 on men, marriage, and writing out of rage in her new novel LIARS. (Interview Magazine)
VEEP showrunner David Mandel AB ’92 reacts to the HBO comedy going viral again with Kamala Harris, if he’d revisit the show and predicting the future in a recent discussion. (Time Magazine)
Lily Collins, THE EMILY IN PARIS star, will join Alvaro Morte to make West End stage debuts in Bess Wohl’s AB ’96 acclaimed two-character play BARCELONA at the Duke of York’s Theatre in the U.K. capital. (Hollywood Reporter)
Joshua Jackson is ready to set sail in ABC’s DOCTOR ODYSSEY as the series premieres on Thursday, September 26 on ABC and Hulu. Paris Barclay AB ’79 directs and executive produces the show. (Deadline)
The 2024 Hamptons Film Festival will open with the RJ Cutler AB ‘84 Martha Stewart documentary, MARTHA, which is being characterized as the definitive documentary on Stewart and includes a number of candid interviews. It is expected to be released by Netflix later this year. (Hollywood Reporter)
Audible’s Minutia Lane Theater is presenting the New York premiere of APPROVAL JUNKIE. Performances run through December 12 only. It is written and performed by Faith Salie AB ’93 and directed by Amanda Watkins. (YouTube)
Ryan Murphy’s drama AMERICAN SPORTS STORY: AARON HERNANDEZ is here. The official teaser trailer for the 10-episode limited FX series dropped Thursday, August 8th. Murphy is the series’ executive producer, along with Marshall Levy AB ’99 of Wondery. (NewsWeek)
Disney revealed an extended look at the upcoming release MUFASA: THE LION KING at D23. MUFASA reunites Barry Jenkins with his go-to-team of artisans which includes composer Nicholas Britell AB ’03, editor Joe McMillon and cinematographer James Paxton. (Variety)
Natasha Rothwell created and stars in HOW TO DIE ALONE, a new comedy series. The series will follow Mel’s, the main character, journey through life. Bashir Salahuddin AB ’98 is set to be a recurring guest star in the show. (ABC 7)
LILO & STITCH Live-Action reveals its CGI Stitch. The film is set to premiere next year and will be produced by Dan Lin MBA ’99 and Jonathan Erich AB '03 for Rideback, with Ryan Halprin AB '12 serving as executive producer. (Forbes)
BOB’S BURGERS origin story episode plans teased by Creator Loren Bouchard. The animated series, following Bob Belcher and his family, who run the eponymous and often underrated burger restaurant, premiered on Fox in 2011. Dan Mintz AB ’02 will be joining the voice cast. (ScreenRant)
Broderick Fox AB ’96 latest documentary MANSCAPING is finishing a 26-festival, award-winning global run and will have its global digital release online September 21. Fox is off to Italy for a fall residency at the Bogliasco Foundation to edit documentary project THROUGH FLOOD AND FIRE.
PURPOSE by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Phylicia Rashad, will play Broadway. The play had its world premiere this past spring at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company and will begin previews February 25, 2025, at the Helen Hayes Theater. The play is produced by Debra Martin Chase JD ’81. (PlayBill)
MY LIFE WITH THE WALTER BOYS begins season 2 production; Becky Hartman Edwards AB ’85 boards Netflix YA series as an executive producer. (Deadline)
Alumni Artist Spotlight: Kiana Rawji ‘23
With the Oscar-qualifying Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) coming up, this September marks the three year anniversary of the launch of rising Calgarian filmmaker and recent Harvard alumna, Kiana Rawji. At CIFF 2021, Kiana won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Alberta Short for her documentary, LONG DISTANCE, which she made during her gap year over the COVID-19 pandemic, after her sophomore year at Harvard. The film explored the migrant worker crisis in Canada through the story of a Filipino couple affected by the COVID-19 outbreak at Alberta’s Cargill meat plant in 2020, combining a touching portrait of resilient individuals with sharp political critique. In the three years since Kiana’s CIFF win, her work has gone from Alberta to the global stage; she has produced and directed several more award-winning short films that have screened across Canada, the United States, and East Africa.
Kiana’s intersecting identities as a South Asian Muslim woman, a first-generation Canadian, and a daughter of East African Asian immigrants draw her towards themes of diaspora, identity, and human resilience in her films. In 2022, Kiana made her first foray into fiction filmmaking with JE SUIS, a short about a Muslim college student who endures an insensitive Islamophobic classroom discussion. The film premiered at the 2022 International South Asian Film Festival in Canada, and echoed themes from Kiana’s past TEDx talks—“The Risk of a Dying Cosmopolitan Ethic” (2016) and “Islam Through Many Lenses: A Multi-Story Mindset” (2018)—which received over 150,000 views worldwide. Kiana’s 2023 documentary, MAMA OF MANYATTA, follows an extraordinary woman fighting HIV & gender-based-violence in a Kenyan slum. In 2023, MAMA screened at the Oscar-qualifying Pan African Film Festival in L.A., the Essence Film Festival in New Orleans, and the Zanzibar International Film Festival in Tanzania where it was awarded a Special Jury Mention. That same year, Kiana completed another fiction film, INSIDE JOB, about an Indian woman who suspects her African domestic workers of stealing a piece of jewelry in 1970s Nairobi. INSIDE JOB was inspired by Kiana’s thesis research on the South Asian diaspora in East Africa and her own family history. The film premiered at the 2023 Chicago South Asian Film Festival and received the Harvard Film department’s Arnheim Prize for most outstanding interdisciplinary project. INSIDE JOB & MAMA OF MANYATTA both screened at the Unseen Nairobi theater in Kenya and the Aga Khan Museum theater in Toronto in 2023. The Toronto screening featured opening remarks by Dr. Zainub Verjee, a leading artist, critic, and appointee to the highly distinguished Order of Canada who praised the “moral courage,” “poetry,” and “feminist ethos” of Kiana’s work.
In 2023, Kiana graduated summa cum laude with a joint concentration in Art, Film, and Visual Studies and History & Literature. She is currently based in New York where she has been working at Ark Media, one of the leading documentary production companies in the United States, producing content for prominent platforms such as Netflix and PBS. In addition to her continued work in documentary, Kiana is also preparing for larger-scale fiction projects, currently developing her first feature. More info on Kiana and her work can be found at www.kianarawji.com.
Welcome New Members
Harvardwood warmly welcomes all members who joined the organization last month (or those who migrated their membership over):
Hannah Leverson
Modesta Garcia
Jason Silverstein
Alan Loeb
Catherine Lee
Nicki Lutschaunig
Sage Shurman
Maria Amusategui
Desiree Juarez
Isabel Haro
Savannah Fowler
Hagar Barak
Exclusive Q&A with Bill Rauch AB '84 (artistic director)
Bill Rauch AB '84 is the inaugural artistic director of Perelman Performing Arts Center. His work as a theater director has been seen across the nation, from low-income community centers to Broadway in the Tony Award®-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s ALL THE WAY and its sequel THE GREAT SOCIETY, as well as at many of the largest regional theaters in the country. His other New York credits include the world premiere of Naomi Wallace’s NIGHT IS A ROOM at Signature Theatre, the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s THE CLEAN HOUSE at Lincoln Center Theater, and a site-specific OCCASIONAL GRACE in multiple Manhattan churches for En Garde Arts.
Q: As the inaugural artistic director of PAC NYC, how do you envision shaping its identity and mission in the years ahead?
We have a very special opportunity to make connections between people because of our location. Our part of the island has seen over 400 years of trauma and resilience, and PAC NYC exists to celebrate community and to affirm life on our particular site. We are also at the nexus of 13 subway lines as well as the commuter train to New Jersey and the Staten Island Ferry, which creates an additional mandate for people to come together in our building. Our campus is called the World Trade Center, which creates an additional invitation for us to be international in our programming, and to connect the dots between the past, current and future immigrants who populate New York City. As an artistic director, I want to honor all those layers of responsibility and opportunity by offering programming that is truly responsive to our city and our world.
Q: As a director, what draws you to a particular script or project? Are there themes or ideas you’re
consistently interested in exploring?
I have been privileged to direct a lot of new work as well as attempting to revitalize different types of classics throughout my career. With a new play, I’m honored to be the first interpreter of a writer’s vision. I’ll push hard for what I believe in, but ultimately it is my job to help the writer realize what they want to see for the first production of their work. With classics, I am always energized by the dialogue between then and now, between there and here. I love to attempt to scrape off the dulling glaze of inherited production traditions to find the truly vibrant colors of the original canvas. Across all types of work, I am especially moved by social context. Ballroom was created as a safe haven for marginalized communities—poor, queer, and transgender people of color—and our production allows the social context of Ballroom to truly ground the story of CATS with high emotional stakes.
Q: What inspired you to reimagine CATS through the lens of Ballroom culture? How do you see the two worlds intersecting, and what made this blend so appealing for a modern audience?
I started by envisioning CATS through a queer lens. I imagined an elderly gay man singing “Memory” in a gay bar, and that particular queer context for that melody and those words really moved me. Then I began to spend time with the libretto of CATS, and I realized that of course it was not a bar, it was a ball—the entire show is set in a competitive annual ball, and was a perfect vehicle for a setting in the queer culture of Ballroom, created by Black and Brown communities over 50 years ago here in New York City. I began to collaborate with gender consultant and dramaturg Josie Kearns and Ballroom icon and choreographer Omari Wiles. The three of us spent almost a year dreaming of what the project might be, which culminated in a pitch deck that we shared with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s colleagues at the Really Useful Group. In both T.S. Eliot’s words and Andrew’s music, there is a real spiritual depth within the playfulness, with themes of mortality and cross-generational community-building—and the human context of our Ballroom setting allowed us to really excavate surprising depths that already exist in the material.
Q: What were some of the key challenges in balancing the original elements of CATS with the distinct style and energy of Ballroom culture?
So many of our choices were straightforward and clear; Ballroom and CATS fit together so naturally, it was often breathtaking. The two biggest challenges were the music (more on that below), and finding the right matches between each song and each specific Ballroom category. The song lyrics tend to be about one or at the most two characters, while Ballroom categories by their competitive nature require multiple individuals on the runway. It was difficult but thrilling to find organic interplay between the lyrics focused on one character and the multiple competitors in the category. Again, some of it came early in our explorations and really stuck, while others involved many false starts. We also found that it really helped to seek variety in terms of who would win the category- that, in fact, the winner wasn’t always the character that the song was about.
Q: How did you and collaborator Zhailon Levingston shape the directorial vision and execution of CATS: "THE JELLICLE BALL"?
Zhailon is one of the smartest artists I’ve ever known. He is also less than half my age, and it was a special joy to have a deep cross-generational collaboration. It’s hard to imagine how either of us could have directed this epic production by ourselves. We spent countless hours meeting in the two years before rehearsal started, in the hours before each day’s rehearsal, during lunch and dinner breaks, and of course after rehearsals. After careful prep sessions, we would often trade off who was leading a given session, both jumping in as inspiration struck. We also worked in separate rehearsal spaces simultaneously. I can’t wait to see all that lies ahead for Zhailon Levingston in our field.
Q: How did the performers approach their roles differently in this production, given the emphasis on both musical theater and the improvisational flair of Ballroom? In what ways did you adapt the original score or music to reflect the spirit and vibrancy of Ballroom culture?
It was freeing to approach the characters and their relationships within the context of Ballroom and as human beings. I am so grateful to the cast that over the course of the run they’ve continued to deepen their onstage relationships, but they’ve also never lost the spirit of improvisation and sense of play that are so essential to Ballroom and, frankly, to vibrant theater. Ballroom’s influence in the score involved a long and delicate process. It was a close collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company, the Really Useful Group (RUG). In the end, we agreed that the insertion of Ballroom beats was most useful and most organic when it was linked to moments of actual runway competition. That sounds straightforward, but it was learned through extensive experimentation in our workshops as well as a two-day retreat between me and our RUG colleagues in London.
Q: How did you approach casting for this production, particularly in selecting performers with both musical theater and Ballroom backgrounds?
We had brilliant collaborators from X Casting, Victor Vasquez and Sujotta Pace. They were tireless in introducing us to performers from the Ballroom world as well as drag artists, queer nightlife performers, and of course remarkable musical theater artists. We did five workshops on this show over the course of two years: two full workshops, one music workshop, and two dance workshops. Those workshops were invaluable in allowing us to get to know so many gifted artists; it’s not a coincidence that the vast majority of people currently in our onstage cast were part of one or more of the workshops. Whether an artist was exclusively from the Ballroom world or from the musical theater world, everyone we cast had to have a genuine curiosity about both cultures and a genuine commitment to collaborate together.
Q: Ballroom culture has a strong sense of community and identity. How does this ethos manifest in the relationships and dynamics among the characters in The Jellicle Ball?
Cornerstone is the community-based theater that I co-founded with Alison Carey AB '82 when we were in our early 20’s, soon after our respective Harvard graduations, and that I was artistic director of for the first 20 years of my career. Cornerstone makes plays primarily in collaboration with communities. Some of my closest friends have said that The Jellicle Ball is the most Cornerstone-spirited show that I’ve worked on since my Cornerstone days, which I’ve taken as high praise. And that is because of the spirit of community that infuses Ballroom—it shaped every aspect of our process and it shapes all that is onstage.
Q: What do you hope audiences will take away from experiencing CATS in this bold, new interpretation?
The single word that almost every audience member uses in describing the show is “joy.” We always need joy, but it feels especially important in the world right now. Joy and love, both of which are very present in The Jellicle Ball. A dear old friend who is also a gay man sobbed in my arms after seeing a performance and said, “Can you imagine if we had seen this when we were 15 years old?” So, I think a lot about young queer people and their potential allies in our audience—they are why I hope that CATS: "The Jellicle Ball” will have at least nine lives after this first iteration.
Q: Looking forward, what upcoming projects or initiatives are you most excited about at PAC NYC?
I’m excited about many projects that we have in the pipeline, but right now I’m especially energized by The Democracy Cycle. In collaboration with Galvan Initiatives and over the course of three annual cycles, we are commissioning 25 new works of performing art that examine the promise and challenges of democracy both as practiced in our own country and around the world. A panel of arts leaders and democracy experts will pick the first eight of the commissions this fall. I can’t wait to learn what is on the minds and hearts of artists in theater, music, dance, opera, and multi-disciplinary work through this program.
Book Talk with Alana B. Lytle AB '11 & Carleton Eastlake JD '72 (Santa Monica)
Wednesday 9/04 Free
Harvardwood and Zibby's Bookshop are excited to host Alana Biden Lytle as she celebrates the launch of MAN'S BEST FRIEND. Alana will be joined in conversation by fellow author/TV writer-producer Carleton Eastlake!
Strengths for Writers Masterclass (Virtual)
Thursday 9/12 Free for all members
Join us for this masterclass in success alignment with Becca Syme — how to harness your strengths as a writer to maximize your capacity for better success.
A Fireside Chat with Mable Chan AM '93 (Cambridge, MA)
Friday 9/20 Free for all members
Have you ever wondered how a nonfiction film gets funded and how a film investor chooses a project? Join us for a lively conversation with Mable Chan and Emma Miller for an insider look at the fundraising process of documentary feature films including MISTRESS DISPELLER, for which Emma is producer and Mable is consulting producer.
Race, Media, and Justice: How Images Shape Our World (Virtual)
Monday 9/23 Free for all members
Join renowned scholar and cultural historian Sarah Lewis AB '01 and acclaimed producer and entrepreneur Franklin Leonard AB '00 for an insightful conversation exploring the power of visual culture and storytelling in shaping perceptions of race, equity, and justice.
Harvardwood 101 Info Session (Virtual)
Thursday, 9/26 Free for all members
Students, join us to learn more about applying to January in-person Harvardwood 101! This event is for current Harvard College students ONLY.
Grey’s Anatomy to Abbott Elementary- Writing Family-Work Stories in TV and Film (Virtual)
Monday 9/30 Free for all members
How do popular TV shows and films shape our perceptions of work, family, and caregiving and help us feel seen, understood, and connected to others?
Bridging Science and Story: Communicating Complex Ideas through Media (Virtual)
Thursday 10/17 Free for all members
In a world where media shapes how we understand science, finding the right balance between accuracy and storytelling is key. How do you make complex scientific ideas engaging for a broad audience without oversimplifying? Join us for a lively discussion about blending science and media, navigating the academic publishing and science journalism worlds, and experiences and tips for turning research into stories that stick.
Last Month at Harvardwood
This summer at Harvardwood, we mingled at the beach, welcomed the HSIP interns, found inspiration at the VANAS conference, celebrated at our Pride Party, and much more!
Want to submit your success(es) to Harvardwood HIGHLIGHTS? Do so by posting here!
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