The Slamdance Film Festival highlights innovative films and has become a showcase for countless breakthrough artists. Held in Park City, Utah, previous winners include some of Hollywood’s most prominent filmmakers. In addition to Pemberton and Friedman, SCM graduates and adjunct faculty assisted with the making of the film.

The film, produced and directed by McCarthy, journalist Jonathan Alter and documentarian John Block, all Montclair residents, won for Outstanding Historical Documentary, the Emmy presented during a livestreamed ceremony on September 22 by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

The documentary revisits the days when newspaper columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill “spoke for ordinary people and brought passion, wit and literary merit to their brilliant reporting about their city and nation,” McCarthy says.

It also provides a case study for today’s journalism students on ethics, writing and reporting. “We’ve shown it several times to various classes and students at Montclair State,” he says. “I believe it will be a teaching tool for many years to come. That will be its legacy.”

Among the lessons is following the columnists’ examples of getting out from behind the desk, to get to the scene and find characters, McCarthy says, “to observe and look for the small parts of the story that make it a big story.”

It’s a lesson McCarthy takes to heart. The morning after the Emmy win he was back on location, setting up an interview in Riverside Park in New York City, mindful of social distancing due to the pandemic. “It’s a bit of a challenge, but we are still going.”

McCarthy has instilled the lesson at Montclair State, where he helped develop the student weekly news program,��Montclair News Lab, and has guided student journalists producing their own documentaries. Last year, a student team won a college Emmy for its coverage of the hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico.

“Montclair State is a rewarding place,” he says, for both teaching and collaborating, sometimes with former students after graduation. Two alumni, Ken Spooner ’13 and Mike Mee ’13, helped film the HBO documentary. McCarthy’s children also worked on the film and joined their father at home to watch the Emmy livestream. “It was special to be with them,” McCarthy says.

Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists is studded with important cultural figures (Robert De Niro, Spike Lee, Shirley MacLaine, Gloria Steinem) and major writers (Tom Wolfe, Nick Pileggi, Gail Collins, Garry Trudeau). “The film captures the charm of the old New York, while probing explosive issues of race, class and the practice of journalism that resonate powerfully in our own time,” McCarthy says. It can be seen on HBO Max.

The Emmy is McCarthy’s second Emmy win and is especially sweet as the directing and producing was shared with his collaborators and friends, all with Montclair State ties. They are currently working on a new historical documentary on journalism. “It’s such an important time right now for journalism because of all the changes that are occurring because of the political situation,” McCarthy says.

Story by Staff Writer Marilyn Joyce Lehren

Projects that McCarthy worked with students on at Montclair State include:

After the Storm: Students document stories of resilience and recovery in Puerto Rico

Looking for Home: Students travel to Greece to film the human stories of the refugee crisis

2020 Award Recipients:

The awards program, which was started by a University professor and her students, has had an impact on theater programs statewide by giving drama students and teachers a chance to learn from each other’s best work, as well as a competition that inspires them to raise their game.

“The whole program came out of a graduate directing class I was teaching,” says organizer and Montclair State Professor of Theatre Susan Kerner. “My students were talking about the fact that there was no network for high school drama teachers throughout the state. We decided that year to start the network.”

This year, as with so many other events, the Foxys pivoted in the face of COVID-19 and were presented in virtual fashion.

As host Peter Filichia said in introducing the 12th Annual Foxys ceremony on YouTube, “The show must go on!”

“This year was a really special year,” says Kerner, who reported that videographer Steven Flores and producer Christina Cruz (both of whom are University alumni) painstakingly created montages from video footage of theater productions for each nominating category.

“It was really exciting. If we hadn’t been completely restricted to being at home we wouldn’t have had time to do this,” says Kerner noting that teachers and students usually don’t get to see each other’s work, “but, this year with the clips, they can see it!”

The established network that began with these awards has helped high school students find a college home at Montclair State, as well.This year, several Foxy award-winners and nominees have committed to Montclair State for the fall, including Lixangelys Ruiz of Passaic Preparatory Academy, Christine Tanko of Watchung Regional High School, Yazmery Milian of Memorial High School in West New York, and Cooper Mendonssa of Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

“Next year, I will be attending Montclair State as a Music Education major and am absolutely thrilled to work with the incredible staff at the John J. Cali School of Music,” says Tanko, who was awarded Best Lead Actress in a Drama for her portrayal of Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible in 2019. “I am ecstatic for the opportunities the University will grant me and for what my future holds!”

For Cooper Mendonssa, who won the 2020 Foxy for Best Lead Actor in a Classical Play (Tartuffe), the award represents the process of discovering himself through the development of a character, something he’s looking forward to doing more of in college.  “I’m also excited and frankly a little scared to start a new chapter in college life at Montclair State, however, I’m well aware of what I am capable of, so I know I’ll be just fine!”

2020 Theatre Night Awards — Part 1:

The 2020 Foxy nominees represent 75 New Jersey middle and high schools that submitted their fall plays for consideration.

The awards were presented by prominent theater professionals working in New York, Los Angeles, London, Singapore and New Jersey – including University alumni such as ,�������Ի���. A team of Montclair State alumni from the  theater company – as well as faculty members Peter Flynn, Rick Sordelet and Jordan Baker Kilner – helped Kerner reach out to presenters.

“It’s so much Montclair State presence!” says Kerner. “And a huge Montclair State community effort.”

Of those 75 schools, Kerner reports that many of the teachers obtained their graduate degrees at Montclair State.

One of those teachers, Jo Anne Fox, who taught theater at Mahwah High School, “came up with the idea of building our network further and starting this award ceremony,” says Kerner. “Musicals were getting so much attention with the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards. The straight plays weren’t getting enough attention.”

2020 Theatre Night Awards — Part 2:

Fox died suddenly and unexpectedly soon after the first awards ceremony, and the awards were renamed “Foxys” in her honor.

In addition, the Jo Anne Fox Award is given each year to two teachers – one veteran, one newcomer – “who create a community in their school around theater.” Ashley Raven ’15 MA,�� Theatre Studies, won the newcomer award this year.

Kerner also credited Linda Davidson, assistant dean of the College of the Arts (CART); Sarah Assalone, Student Services and Recruitment Coordinator; Marie Sparks, CART director of Academic Services and Community Outreach; and Kathleen Reddington, CART Administrative Services program assistant, for helping to get the awards off the ground in the formative years.

This year, Kerner dedicated the Education Impact and Community Outreach Award to her mother who died of COVID-19 on April 27, in the midst of work to produce the show. “My mother was very much a community organizer,” says Kerner. “It was good for me to do something that she would be proud of.”

The Foxys work to reach and reward schools from all areas and with a wide range of resources. The program also seeks to help schools diversify the material they present – rewarding original and innovative work with awards like the “The Peter Filichia Award for Pushing the Envelope in Academic Theatre” and acting categories for works of “Innovation & Invention.”

This impact can be seen in nominations for Memorial High School in West New York, which produced the original work disCONNECT this year. “They always write their own shows,” says Kerner. Or for  Medford School of Performing Arts which reimagined Macbeth as “The Scottish Play in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.”

For their part, teachers and students were appreciative of the University’s work putting the 2020 Foxys together.

Said Beth Baur of Memorial High School in West New York, “My kids are suffering from food insecurity and housing insecurity, and this was a great moment of celebration and community for a hot minute. So, so grateful.”

“Thank you for being a constant and one of the things that all the students can still depend upon,” wrote Jeff Hogan of West Morris Central High School in an email to Kerner. “You guys truly did an excellent job still bringing it all to life. We all needed it.”

By Staff Writer Mary Barr Mann

“These highly prestigious, competitive fellowships acknowledge the quality of the University’s nationally recognized dance programs,” says Montclair State Dance Division Director Elizabeth McPherson. “The library has an extensive collection of dance photographs and Scherr will be focusing specifically on photographs of Martha Graham. Phuon will be focusing on Cambodian dance related to spirituality and myth, which dovetails with her MFA thesis project.”

Since 2014, the fellowship program has supported researchers with a $7,500 stipend for 6-month-long projects drawing on the Dance Division’s outstanding archival collections. While the program generally supports six projects, this year, it will support seven projects. Phuon was one of two fellows selected from applicants whose projects focus on the library’s Khmer Dance Project Collection, which she will be using to research and reinterpret traditional Cambodian dances.

“The traditions of Sbek Thom, or shadow puppet theater, and Lakhon Khaol, classical dance also known as the theatre of monkeys, share a common inspiration in the Reamker, the Cambodian version of the Indian epic Ramayana,” Phuon explains. “My project would link these two theatrical traditions together and propose a contemporary visual and choreographic approach to an ancient tale.”

The Reamker recounts the story of the quest to rescue Seda, the wife of Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, who has been abducted by the demon Reab. “Rama asks the monkey god Hanuman and the monkey king Sugrib to help wage war against the demons,” Phuon says.

For her project, she plans to choreograph “Kumbhakar Swallows a Dead Dog.” “This episode is the pinnacle of a ritual celebrated each year at the monastery of Wat Svay Andet, near Phnom Penh, on the Cambodian New Year, which coincides with the beginning of the rainy season,” she explains.

Phuon’s choreographic work also figures in another 2019 project.  Her dance, “Kmeropedies III: Source/Primate,” is the subject of fellow Yale University Director of Dance Studies Emily Coates’ project, which will examine the development of archetypal characters – such as the monkey character – that populate classical Cambodian dance narratives.

Financial Times dance critic Scherr, who teaches a course called Performance Perspectives to Montclair State MFA students, will be comparing the iconic images captured by Barbara Morgan in her celebrated 1941 monograph,��Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs,��with works in the library’s collection of Graham photographs.

“From the little work I’ve done so far, I’m struck by what a particular vision of Graham Morgan offered: there is no blur, no histrionics. The images are crisp and also very contoured and give you a sense of space in all its depth and roundness, which is key to what Graham does with the body,” says Scherr.

“What interested me about the photographs in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division collection by other photographers was how much more chaos they allowed,” she adds. “I think with Graham, precisely because she has such status, it’s hard to remember how unsettling – and unsettlingly vivid – she must have been in 1940.”

The 2019 Dance Research Fellows will present the outcomes of research they will conduct from July through December at a daylong symposium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center on January 24, 2020, which will be free and open to the public. “We in the Department of Theatre and Dance look forward with great anticipation to seeing the fruits of both Scherr’s and Phuon’s research,” says McPherson.

With College of the Arts Dean Daniel A. Gurskis presiding, the ceremony included the senior address delivered by SOPHIA VOGLINO and music performed by students from the John J. Cali School of Music, including LISBELKIS SANTANA who performed the national anthem.

Theatrical producer ALDO D. SCROFANI ’73 was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award and delivered the keynote address. Also receiving special recognition was graduating senior ETHAN LYNCH, who was presented with the Dean’s Scholar/Artist’s Award.

The undergraduate candidates’ degrees were conferred at the 2019 Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 24 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The graduate Commencement ceremony took place May 21.

Student Honorees

Dressed in regalia and grinning ear-to-ear, graduates posed for photos with their professors while laughing, embracing and trading stories. They also had much to share about taking that step towards their professional lives and reflected thoughtfully on their plans after graduation.

Dean’s Scholar/Artist award winner Ethan Lynch looks forward to a theatrical career, graduating with a BFA degree in Musical Theatre. Entering the college as an honors student, Ethan was first recognized in the 2015 President’s Opening Day address as a notable incoming Freshman.  He has since received several scholarships and been recognized for his performing talents by prestigious national organizations.

Senior speaker Sophia Voglino is receiving a BFA in Theatre Production and Design, with a concentration in Stage Management.

“We are about to shape the world with our own two hands, and we will do so with the knowledge imparted to us here at Montclair State.

The role of education in art, and education �ٳ���dzܲ�����art is a tradition dating back centuries, and one that we should be proud to uphold as we begin our professional adventures.”

Aldo D. Scrofani ’73, Recipient of College of the Arts’ Distinguished Alumni Award

Aldo D. Scrofani began his career in the theatre in 1977 at Jujamcyn Theatres Corporation. During his 13 years there, he served as Executive Vice President and Executive Producer and participated in the vast growth of the organization as it became one of America’s leading and most progressive theatrical companies.  In 1990, he joined Columbia Artists Theatricals, one of the industry’s most highly regarded producing and management companies. Over the next 18 years, he served as the Chief Operating Officer.  Additionally he held the to the position of Executive Vice president and COO of Columbia Artists Management, and he was a senior member of the Board of Directors. In 2009, Mr. Scrofani founded Theatre Management Associates and its subsidiary Moonglow Productions, providing expertise and professional services to theatrical ventures on a worldwide basis. Currently, he serves as Chief Operating Officer of the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc., which includes the world famous and iconic Apollo Theater.  During his 41 years in the live entertainment industry, Mr. Scrofani has produced, co-produced, or worked in association with over 100 Broadway, National, and/or international productions. He is a lifetime member of The League of American Theatres and Producers (now The Broadway League), serving on both the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors.  He also served for 15 years on both the Tony® Management and Tony® Administration committees, and he continues to be a Tony Award voter.

In his remarks to the College of the Arts Graduating Class of 2019 he stressed the importance of taking risks and being courageous, in part quoting wisdom imparted by Winnie the Pooh: “I always get where I am going by leaving the place I have been.” He closed by say, “You are poised to change this world by the work and passion you have chosen.!  I wish you courage, will, passion, need for discovery, brilliant collaborative ‘fellow travelers’ to explore and build with, becoming part of endeavors that because of you and through you will affect the world around you in positive and meaningful ways.  Godspeed as you plunge into those sublime seas. Dive deep and swim far!”

A television broadcast based on the trip –which aired as an episode of the weekly production Montclair News Lab –just won a national student RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Video Reporting. In March, the broadcast won two national collegiate Emmy® awards including the prestigious Bricker Humanitarian Award at the Television Academy Foundation 39th College Television Awards.

https://vimeo.com/269763310

Meanwhile, in April, the University’s long-running news magazine program, Carpe Diem, won a 2019 AWMF Gracie Award for Local News Magazine for its special edition program, “Mission to Puerto Rico.”

“The accolades and awards for the School of Communication and Media reporting on Puerto Rico’s hurricane recovery efforts affirm not only the high caliber of work done by our talented students but also recognize the amazing guidance our faculty and staff provide in helping students reach their highest potential,” says School of Communication and Media Director Keith Strudler. “They also enhance our growing national reputation as a place at the cutting edge of the communication and media fields.”

As one of the nation’s most prestigious broadcast and digital news awards, the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards honor recipients whose outstanding achievements in electronic journalism embody the standard of excellence set by legendary broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow.

The Edward R. Murrow student Excellence in Video Reporting award for Hurricane Recovery in Puerto Rico will be presented to ����vlog at a black-tie awards gala on October 14 at Gotham Hall in New York City. The Gracie Award for “Carpe Diem: Mission to Puerto Rico News Magazine” will be presented at a Gracie Awards Luncheon on June 26 at Cipriani in New York City.

“It’s especially gratifying to see our students, faculty and staff recognized for their work in the Gracie Awards’ local market television news magazine category, where they competed against professionals, companies and PBS affiliates across the country,” says Executive Producer and Director of Production and Technology for Broadcast and Media Operations Patricia Piroh.

The Gracie Awards recognize exemplary media and entertainment programming created by women, for women and about women. Named for celebrated comedienne Gracie Allen, they recognize women influencers who are furthering the discussion of what a fulfilling career in media looks like.

For 2018 graduate Laura Galarza and her colleagues, the trip was a transformative experience. “Being able to produce my story on Carpe Diem as a woman producer was a great experience as I felt I brought a different perspective,” she recalls. “It also showed me what I really want to be doing – sharing stories.”

“We wanted to provide an opportunity for our students to have a rich travel experience as well as a journalistic opportunity in a place where a big, prolonged news event was occurring,” explains Thomas Franklin, a School of Communication and Media professor. “The trip was a huge success in so many ways – like the awards and recognition we’ve received – but it was especially successful in terms of the students’ development and growth.”