Dear Theater at Mason family,
This has been a busy summer for many of us, restive for others, and, I hope, a restorative time for all.
It has been joyous to see the successes of students, alumni and faculty in the past few months. Sherrice Mojgani made The Scottsboro Boys shine at Signature; Ed Gero is taking New York by storm, starring in The Originalist, which is getting notoriety and great ink; speaking of storms, Kevin Murray spent a few days in Manchester, VT in July acting in the independent film, Stormchaser; speaking of chasing, Kristin is off to Turkey and Paris; speaking of Paris, my WWI history pieces have been featured at the Museum of the US Marine Corps; and, speaking of boot camps, Mary Lechter and the Acting For Young People staff trained over 800 young performers, provided employment to 50+ Mason Theater students and alumni, and offered weekly college information sessions to her junior counselors. Speaking of …well, let’s see, original work featuring Mason Players took top honors at the DC Fringe, enlivened Atlas Theater, and theaters across the country are being supported by members of our School of Theater family.
Our family is experiencing some changes. Howard has arrived safely in Florida. And, we are welcoming new faculty and staff, though none are entirely new faces to us.
Debra Kim Sivigny is one of the most respected costume, set, and props designers in the DC metro area, and she joins our School of Theater faculty as Assistant Professor of Costume and Scenic Design. Fresh from winning the 2018 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Set Design (Forgotten Kingdoms, Rorschach Theatre), Deb has multiple production credits at such companies as Woolly Mammoth, Olney, Signature, Mosaic, Kennedy Center, Hub, Theater J, Imagination Stage, 1st Stage, Adventure Theatre, and the list goes on. She has served as the Artistic Director of The Welders, an artist collective where she produced her critically acclaimed autobiographical play Hello, My Name Is... Deb holds a BA from Middlebury College and the MFA from the University of Maryland-College Park, and she is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, the union of professional theater designers. She has taught at Georgetown, Middlebury, and Catholic University.
Mimsi Janis joins our growing program as Assistant Professor of Theater Education and Performance. Mimsi has taught theater students at every level from elementary through graduate school, as well as a range of courses in Education Methods. She has held adjunct faculty positions at Mason, NVCC, Howard Community College, and has given workshops at American University and Catholic University. She brings a distinctive blend of pedagogy and professional performance experience to the role. She has an MFA in Acting from Catholic University, a Master of Education (Secondary Education) from Mason, and a BA in Theatre from Principia College. As a performer, her credits include roles at Washington Stage Guild, Signature, Studio, NextStop, Maryland Shakespeare Festival, and many other venues around the country. She also has significant directing experience as Theatre Arts Teacher at FCPS’s Holmes Middle School and with Mason Community Arts Academy/Acting for Young People.
Mary Burgess joins the Theater Administrative team as the new Office Manager. She received her BFA in Design/Technical Theater at Mason this past May and has been working in the Theater Office, part-time, since February. She served as the Mason Players Secretary for two years, was the director for Dead Man’s Cell Phone, props designer for Cloud 9, and Stage Manager for 100th Meridian Project, Gogol’s Nose, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers, and Assistant Stage Manager for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. As a recent graduate of the program, Mary has already proven herself a strong contributing member of the team, and she is making a seamless transition into her new role, bringing her great mixture of maturity and enthusiasm to the role. She had big shoes to fill, and Mary is doing that and making the position her own.
