Emersonians in the News
Emerson Alumni Anchor Most Boston Newscasts
Alumnus Ed Harding '75 became the official co-anchor of NewsCenter 5's early evening and late newscasts last month. "Since 2004, Harding has juggled the daunting split shift of the first and last newscasts of the day," a statement from the station announced. The move means that most of the Boston-area newscast anchors include at least one Emerson alumnus.
Bill Fine, President and General Manager of WCVB-TV Channel 5, said, "Ed Harding has selflessly worked a grueling split shift for the past two-and-a-half years. In recognition of his commitment to NewsCenter 5 and our viewers, it's time to move Ed to the early evening and late newscasts. With his new schedule, he'll be able to spend more time enterprising and developing stories than before, while also getting more sleep." Paul La Camera, WCVB's general manager when Harding started reporting news at the station, told the Boston Herald, "Ed was always a good reporter, first and foremost. He had a real presence on the anchor desk, and a real energy, and a different kind of personality."
Harding said, "It's an honor and privilege to be named to this post. For a kid from Newton, this is the culmination of a career-long dream of anchoring the evening newscasts on Channel 5. I follow some of the most respected journalists in the industry and look forward to upholding the tradition of excellence and adding my own stamp to the broadcasts." He added, "I have worked with two great teams in the early morning and late night. Splitting shifts has allowed me to continuously cover some of the biggest news events to happen locally, including the Big Dig tunnel collapse and the historic Massachusetts gubernatorial election in 2006. Working alongside these talented journalists has given me understanding and appreciation of the value of team work and it's clear there is no better TV news team than the one right here."
Other local anchors with Emerson pedigrees are: David Wade '95 and Maria Stephanos '88 MA '93, Fox 25; Susan Wornick '71 and Pam Cross '75, WCVB; Gene Lavanchy '86, Fox 25 Morning News.
Makeup Mogul Alumna Publishes Book
Alumna Bobbi Brown '79 is "a beauty mogul, cosmetics superstar and queen of discreet maquillage, who knows all there is to know about turning women into real bobby dazzlers," according to a recent profile of the founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics in the Scottish Media Monitor. The profile glowed with praise for Brown's cosmetics line and her new book, Living Beauty, in which Brown says people can look younger without plastic surgery. Her latest book is aimed at women 40 to 60 and shows them how to look and feel good and how to appreciate themselves, says the paper. "As we age, we can either fall into this cycle of self-loathing or we can empower ourselves with the knowledge to deal with the things that make us unhappy."
"Bobbi's suggestions [in the book] on how to minimize problems particular to older women, (such as sunspots, baggy eyes and dull skin) give the book an anchor," says Publisher's Weekly. "One of the most engaging aspects of the book are the photographs. Whether of beautifully aging faces, makeup that looks good enough to eat or healthy food that looks good enough to eat, the photos make the book coffee-table worthy."
The profile recounts Brown doing the makeup for Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards. Reports the writer, "I got to watch the make-up artist herself in action, wielding brushes, expertly mixing foundation on the back of her hand and blending colours, as she has done with some of the most well-known faces on the planet, from Susan Sarandon to Brooke Shields, Oprah Winfrey and Rachel Weisz - as well as more supermodels than you can shake a concealer stick at. She has even 'enhanced' the looks of Bono, Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen."
Brown also talks about her time at Emerson in the article. "The moment I arrived at Emerson College, in Boston, it was like an epiphany; I'd found myself and I knew that this was what I was good at."
Professor's New Book on TV Draws on Alumni Experts
Assistant Professor or Visual and Media Arts and alumna Martie Cook '82, MFA '99 has published her first book, Write To TV: Out of Your Head and Onto the Screen (Focal Press). Cook's book meshes the creative and business sides of television writing and includes advice on how to break into TV writing from 45 industry insiders such as Oscar winner Paul Haggis and former 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace. Cook includes tips from numerous Emerson alumni, including Norman Lear, Henry Winkler, Jay Leno, Max Mutchnick, Bill Dana, Gary Grossman, Eddie Brill, Eric Drysdale, Kate Boutilier, John Frink, Jay Bienstock, Stacy McKee, Richard Arlook, Glenn Meehan, Manny Basanese, Judy Tygard, and Emerson Trustee Lucie Salhany.
Cook's book provides useful tools such as checklists, sample outlines and treatments for all wide range of television writing formats, sample script pages, "war stories" from writers and executives, and a sample query letter to introduce finished script pages to agents.
Cook has twenty-five years of industry experience as a television writer and producer. She has written for such hit shows as Charles in Charge and Full House. Her screenplay Zachary's Truth was a finalist in the Massachusetts Screenwriting Contest and in the prestigious Chesterfield Writer's Program, before being optioned by Universal Studios. Cook has served as writer/producer on Real Life, Better Homes and Gardens, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, America's Most Wanted, and the Emmy-award winning children's show Zoom.
New Grad's Documentary Screens at Apollo Theater
Daphne S. Valerius' (MA '06) documentary The Souls of Black Girls, which she wrote, edited and produced, premiered at the Historic Apollo Theater as part of the organization's Health Time at the Apollo event commemorating Women's History Month. The screening of her film was followed by a panel discussion featuring Valerius along with a noted historian, a cultural critic and an author.
The Souls of Black Girls features personal interviews with young black women talking about their self-image. The film also includes social commentary from rapper Chuck D, actresses Regina King and Jada Pinkett Smith, Washington Week Moderator (PBS) Gwen Ifill, and cultural critic Michaela Angela Davis, among others.
"As a young Black girl, I grew up feeling very much like the ugly duckling compared to my peers as a result of not looking a certain way, much like Pecola Breedlove of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. By putting together this documentary, it allowed me to uncover and examine why I, along with many other women of color, feel the need to manipulate our physical appearances," Valerius said in a statement from St. John's University, where she was a McNair scholar as an undergrad and where she began her research. The Souls of Black Girls was produced as a fulfillment of the Journalism Masters Program at Emerson College.
The film "takes a critical look at media images and examines the relationship between the historical and existing images of women of color in the media," said the statement. "The documentary also raises the question of whether or not women of color may be suffering from a self-image disorder as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in media images."
Alum's Film is New Take on Dante's 'Inferno'
Alum Sean Meredith's ('92) new film, a full-length feature called Dante's Inferno, was one of the film buzzed about at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival, reported the Boston Globe last month. Slamdance is an alternative film festival that runs simultaneously with the Sundance Film Festival in Utah each January. What's more, the film won best feature at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival. Meredith's film is a retelling of the Dante Alighieri's trip through hell. "[The film's buzz] stemmed from the fact that this narrative about the circles of the underworld does not feature any actors in the flesh. Instead, it stars two-dimensional, ink-on-paper cut-outs manipulated by rods and string." The movie features the voices of Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend's Wedding) as Dante and James Cromwell (Six Feet Under and 24) as Virgil. Martha Plimpton also lends her voice. The hand-drawn puppets and scenery took seven months to create. The Boston Phoenix said, "[T]here's enough of the divinely comic in this Inferno to justify a pair of sequels."
"The group's puppet adaptation of Dante stays true to the original story, modernizing the tale but keeping it free of a traditional arc and moral," said the Globe. "In this version, Dante is a young man taken on a tour of the underworld by Virgil, who shows him where people like Hitler, John F. Kennedy, and members of the Boston Catholic Church wound up."
The film screened locally last month as part of the 2007 Boston Underground Film Festival. "Instantly, we loved that film," the festival's director told the Globe. "We were 20 minutes into it and we knew it was perfect for Underground." The film has also screened at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. Over the next two months, the film will screen at festivals in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Maryland. Meredith previously created the animated feature film In Smog and Thunder: The Great War of the Californias, which won praise from critics and was a hit at film festivals, according to the Globe.
Students Win National Commercial Contest
Emerson students Richard Feindel, Jr. '09 and Andrew Nicholson '09 have won a national contest for Zilo TV, a college media and marketing network. They produced a 30-second promotional spot for The History Channel's popular show Digging for the Truth. Their winning segment will air on The History Channel and they will receive a $1000 award. In addition, the winning entry will air on Zilo's college television network reaching over 8.2 million viewers. Their entry beat out submissions from Boston University, New York University and the New York Film Academy. Entries were judged by industry experts including Tim Nolan, creative director for the History Channel; Jeff Zimbalist, director of the award-winning documentary, Favela Rising; and Campbell McLaren, president & co-founder of Zilo Networks.
In other contest news, Emerson junior Jannette Bloom created a commercial for Dove Body Wash and was chosen as one of three finalists for the company's national ad contest. The contest, launched by Dove in December to promote their new product, Dove Cream Oil Body Wash, invited women nationwide to create a 30-second commercial about Dove's new collection of Body Wash products.
Emerson Writer Could Be Boston's Poet Laureate
The talk in poetry circles is that Emerson Chair of the Writing, Literature and Publishing Department Daniel Tobin is among the contenders for the city's poet laureate position, currently being considered, said the Boston Globe. Tobin has written three books, with a fourth scheduled for publication next year. "I think poetry, like any art, is an expression of human aspiration, human longing, human struggle. When that is manifested in poems, I think it's an expression of human community as well," he told the Globe. Tobin said the laureate position could be an opportunity for a writer to "bear witness to the life of a city." He added, "I think it's important for the poet laureate to not necessarily be only an occasional poet. That sort of limits the significance of the post. The poet should be in and of the city, writing poems that reveal its life in all its complexities, and not simply a matter of pomp and circumstance."
Tobin is in excellent company. Other poets bandied about include: Henri Cole, author of five books of poetry and a 2004 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Danielle Georges, a native of Haiti who is working on her second book of poems and is an assistant professor at Lesley University; Tino Villanueva, author of six books of poems and editor of Imagine: International Chicano Poetry Journal.
Tobin is the author of The Narrows, Double Life, Where the World is Made and Passage to the Center: Imagination and the Sacred in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney, and editor of The Book of Irish American Poetry: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present.
Alum to Create Big New Exhibit about the Holy Land
Longtime television executive Michael Jay Solomon '60 has announced his latest venture, Ancient Treasures of the Holy Land, reports Variety, which describes Solomon's project as "an interactive, entertainment-focused art exhibit." Ancient Treasures of the Holy Land recently debuted in Dallas at the state's largest fairground, Variety said. "Per Solomon [former president of Warner Bros.' international TV division], the show blends biblical stories with ancient relics and modern technology."
Said Solomon, "I've gone from the small screen to this incredible large-scale, live, interactive experience, but the essence is the same: We're telling a great story."
The exhibit also involves the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Solomon is planning to produce an hourlong 3-D documentary about his travels in Israel as he gathered material for the exhibit.
Alum Wins Award for Radio Coverage
Master's alumnus Mark Simpson MA '04, assistant news director for WFSU-FM, has won a prestigious 2007 National Headliner Award for his production of Update from Capital Report News Desk from March 26, 2006. The show, entered in the competition's "Broadcast Radio Networks and Syndicators: Newscast" category, competed against major network newscasts. Simpson's entry won third place behind CBS World News Roundup and second place-winner ABC News Radio Information. WFS-FM is housed at Florida State University.
Capitol Report is a weekday program on governmental and legislative issues. Last year's winning entry focused in part on U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). "During an interview, Nelson hung up on one of Simpson's reporters after repeatedly saying he had to go to the Senate floor to vote. The news team turned on C-SPAN, saw the senator walk into the camera frame and vote, and Simpson cleverly incorporated the episode into the script of the show to provide a moment of levity," described a statement from FSU. Simpson, 28, said he was surprised by the win. "There were a few winning entries from (NBC Nightly News anchor) Brian Williams and (CNN chief medical correspondent) Sanjay Gupta. Suddenly I thought, 'Wow,'" he told FSU.
Simpson plans assignments for the WFSU-FM newsroom, chooses which stories he will cover, and sometimes anchors the news. He explains: "I'm also always looking at producing our weekly talk show, Perspectives, and I'm also responsible for managing what is going to go to our 13 affiliate stations over the statewide feed. We all rely on each other in getting the product to those stations. The whole team has really been honored because it is definitely a team effort."
Founded in 1934 by the Press Club of Atlantic City, N.J., the National Headliner Awards program is one of the oldest and largest annual contests recognizing journalistic merit in the communications industry. WFSU radio provides Tallahassee, Panama City and the surrounding communities with daily, up-to-date news and information on both 88.9 FM and 89.1 FM.
Alumna Writes for 'One Tree Hill'
Adele Lim '96 is currently working as a writer for the popular CW network drama One Tree Hill, reported the Malaysia Star. Lim, a native of Malaysia, was a former columnist for the paper. One Tree Hill is in its fourth season and stars Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty. Lim said of the show, "The focus is not on flashy stand-alone stories, but on character arcs, which I actually prefer."
"Lim's big break came when she answered an advertisement in a trade magazine asking for assistants for TV scriptwriting staff," reported the paper. "After getting the assistant's job, a writer for whom Lim worked read one of her 'test' scripts [for Sex and the City]… and introduced her to his manager. This led to her first TV scriptwriting job: as staff writer for the sci-fi series John Doe." The show was cancelled after a full season, but Lim, even as a first-time staff writer, had had the opportunity to write a script, get story credit for one or two other scripts, and produce some episodes. She next worked on the NBC show Las Vegas, starring James Caan and Josh Duhamel. Lim told the paper she found it intimidating to work with high-profile actors such as Caan. "Other times, it was total fun, like the time (action star) Jean-Claude Van Damme was a guest star on an episode I wrote, and I got to hang out with him and his kids," she said.
Before her work as a script writer, she worked as a writer's assistant and script coordinator for shows such as Xena: Warrior Princess, Jack of All Trades, and State of Grace. "Television writing is insanely competitive. There are tens of thousands of writers trying to break into the industry," Lim said.
News Host Alumna Produces New Latino Show
WBZ-TV's Yadires Nova-Salcedo '93, who hosts the weekly Latin show Centro on Sunday mornings, is moving behind the camera for a new show called Encuentro Latino, reports the Boston Globe. "The show will feature current events and entertainment news of interest to the Latino community," the Globe said. The first show (8:30 a.m. on April 7 on the Spanish-language network Telefutura) include an interview with Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias as well as advice on obtaining free tax help. Says Nova-Salcedo, "It's going to be a little of everything. The community needs a half-hour show that could really go deeply into the different topics that matter to them."
Yadires Nova-Salcedo is the host and producer of Centro, a special news segment that airs on WBZ-TV, Sundays, 7:00-9:00 a.m. That show examines issues pertaining to the Latino community, from education and politics to current events and entertainment.
Nova-Salcedo has filled numerous and various roles at WBZ-TV since 1996. Prior to that, she worked at WUNI-TV in Needham, Massachusetts, an affiliate of the Spanish language television network Univision, as news director, producer, editor and lead anchor from 1993 to 1995. Nova-Salcedo sits on the Board of Governors of the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Television Academy (NATAS) and is a member of the Latino Professional Network as well as the New England Ad Club.
Lecturer's Novel is 'Immersive Reading'
Lecturer in Writing, Literature and Publishing Brian Malloy has published his second novel, Brendan Wolf (St. Martin's Press). His first book for young adults, Twelve Long Months, will be published by Scholastic next year.
Publisher's Weekly described the book as the story of "a hard-luck Minneapolis guy [who] hits the skids in a major way…." The titular character, Brendan Wolf, is a gay 35-year-old seemingly always down on his luck. He is eventually recruited to help steal the proceeds of a pro-life march, and even though the heist seems fool proof, Brendan who is suddenly in the midst of a nightmare situation. The review calls the book "ambitious" and says, "Malloy's stripped-down prose makes for quick and immersive reading; an interesting spin on classic noir."
Author Christopher Bram says, "Brian Malloy begins with a gritty situation worthy of a great noir thriller, then adds real people, real emotions, and real issues, and keeps adding more until his book becomes a very rich, large-scaled portrait of contemporary American life. Best of all, he gives us a complex protagonist who is sadly human, oddly likable, and excitingly unpredictable."
Malloy's first book, The Year of Ice, was a finalist for several awards and the winner of the Alex Award given by the ALA.
State Dept. Sends Emerson Professor to Turkmenistan
Associate Professor of Organizational and Political Communication J. Gregory Payne gave a U.S. State Department-sponsored Scholar Lecture and Fulbright Lecture in Turkmenistan recently. Payne addressed students of the English language department of the Azadi World Languages Institute, politicians in the country's parliament, and members of the country's Institute of Democracy and Human Rights in the Office of the President.
A dispatch from the U.S. State Department said Payne "coached the [Azadi Institute] students to think of themselves as leaders, and demonstrated through examples in current international affairs and politics how credibility, accountability, and one's ability to identify with one's audience are critical components to effective public communication." Payne ended his workshop by playing a short video on the Saudi-American exchange, which he helped found, an organization that seeks to break down national cultural or political barriers.
Payne also spoke to over 20 academics and government professionals who work in the Institute of Democracy and Human Rights in the Office of the President. "Audience members including the Institute's leadership showed great interest in Payne's presentations on political communication and communication through exchange programs," said the State Department's dispatch. "Tailoring his comments to his audience he emphasized credibility in leadership and communication, the effects of news media on political campaigns and stereotyping. He also responded to a wide range of questions on U.S. politics and elections for a very interested audience."
Payne spoke to about 15 members of Turkmenistan's Parliament on issues of political communication, campaign advertising and credibility. "During the talk, he fielded questions on negative campaign ads, America's credibility with the world due to the Iraq war, among other questions," said the State Department.
Alum Anchors Comedic 'News' Show on Fox
Alum Kurt Long '92 is the anchor for the Fox News Channel's The 1/2 Hour News Hour, a comedic take on the day's news. He recently talked to the Boston Herald about his role. "I'm not playing me (a la the left-leaning 'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart), I'm playing an anchorman who is oblivious to the jokes around him. It's comedy that leans to the right, but that doesn't mean we're not going to touch President George Bush if he says something ridiculous, which he does every day,"
The first show had 1.5 million viewers, Long told the paper, and a repeat of that episode, without any promotion, still boasted 1 million viewers. "There's definitely an audience out there," he said. "I think there will be a lot of liberals who tune in just to see what they love to hate."
Long got his start in Hollywood working for Emerson alumnus Jay Leno on The Tonight Show as a script supervisor and soon began appearing in a few skits. "It was great training working for Jay," he said. "It got me over being camera-shy or star-struck very quickly."
Poet Alum Publishes New Book
Mark DeCarteret '90 has published his fourth book of poetry, (If This Is the) New World, from March Street Press. "To enter these poems is to enter a world we've too easily forbidden ourselves access to. Through them we remember what it is we've almost given up on: a language capable of re-designing the body's intricate architecture to meet the needs of the ongoing event of our lives," said James Rioux, author of Fistfuls of the Invisible. "Mark DeCarteret embraces the cosmic presence in both the large and minute manifestations of nature, and links human desires and aspirations to these timeless imperatives. His poems embody this paradigm with grace, wisdom, and a healthy grasp of syntax," added William Doreski, author of Another Ice Age.
DeCarteret's previous books are Over Easy, Review: A Book of Poems and The Great Apology. He also co-edited the anthology Under the Legislature of Stars: 62 New Hampshire Poets. His work has appeared in AGNI, Chicago Review, Conduit, Phoebe, and Salt Hill, as well as in such anthologies as American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon Press, 2000) and Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998 (Black Sparrow Press, 2000).
Emerson Professor Brings Famous Comedy to Life
Emerson Associate Professor Melia Bensussen was praised for her direction of Eugene O'Neill's comedy, Ah, Wilderness!, produced last month at Center Stage in Baltimore. "Director Melia Bensussen's lovingly detailed production at Center Stage infuses ["the playwright's nostalgic meditation on the way his family life might have been"] with warmth and charm," said a review from the Baltimore Sun.
The review continued: "Her production succeeds in re-creating a time and place - early 20th-century New England - by deftly mixing concrete and abstract elements." The review ends by noting that "Ah, Wilderness! is a gentle tale of love - young, old and familial. And, under Bensussen's direction, that love is conveyed with the delicacy and resonance of an old, sweet song."
Bensussen is producing director of Emerson Stage and won an OBIE Award for Outstanding Direction in 1999. In New York she has worked at Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, Manhattan Class Company, Bay Street (Sag Harbor, NY), The Women's Project, the WPA, and the New York Shakespeare Festival (where she was the Artist in Residence), among others. She was twice given Directing Awards by the Princess Grace Foundation, USA, and is a recipient of their Statuette Award. Her edition of the Langston Hughes translation of Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding is in its fifth printing by Theatre Communications Group.
Emerson Comedy Troupe is Off to New York
The Boston Globe recently wrote a farewell article to Elisha Yaffe '07 and his Emerson cohorts who make up comedy troupe known as The Zebro Show. Zebro had their last Boston performance at the Coolidge Corner Theatre this winter and will now be taking the show to New York. The paper remembered the show's break on to the Boston comedy scene last March. "The group held a video contest with a Snakes on a Plane theme. They posted their results on YouTube and got caught up in the film's inexplicable zeitgeist. Their videos started showing up in "Planes" coverage on MTV News and Good Morning America, and getting featured on YouTube's home page." From there, the paper says, their improv shows became instant hits with people traveling from as far as Texas to see the comedy troupe. Yaffe said he is hoping Zebro finds similar success in New York at the People's Improv Theater, also known as the PIT.
Before they leave, Yaffe and crew will pass the torch to Emersonians Pat Boccuzzi '07 and Nat Towsen '08 who hope to carry on the show's tradition in their new 8 p.m. Thursday slot at ImprovBoston, said the paper. "Boccuzzi and Towsen's Original Zings of Comedy will feature a mix of some familiar faces from Emerson and stand-ups from the larger comedy community…" said the paper.
Another Alum is Nominated for Director's Award
Thomas P. Smith '82 was nominated by the DGA, (Directors Guild of America), for the Academy Award Best Picture nominated feature film, Little Miss Sunshine as first assistant director. Smith will serve as the first assistant director on the upcoming Warners Brothers film Where the Wild Things Are, based on Maurice Sendak's award-winning book. He has also worked on Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Jason's Lyric, among others.
Dave Blass '90 was also nominated for a DGA award. Blass was the set designer for the Fox reality show Unanimous . Blass is now doing art direction on the hit CBS series Cold Case and is preparing for the fourth season on the reality weight loss show The Biggest Loser.
In other recent award news, John Frink '82 won a Writer's Guild Award in the category of Animation, any length - one airing time for his work on The Simpsons episode "The Italian Bob." Anne Clements' ('98) film Quinceañera won the coveted John Cassavetes Award, which honors films made for under $500,000. Quinceañera, which Clements produced, won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Emersonians Screening New Work at Festivals
William Hoffman's ('09) film No Diving will screen this month at the New York City 2007 GenArts film festival. The short film is about a young man who clears out an entire afternoon to conquer his fear of diving. Hoffman creates short films, documentary podcasts, and writes screenplays. He is currently in pre-production for his first feature film called Houses and Homes.
Among the films shown at the 10th Annual Doc Kountze Arts Festival in Medford (Mass.) was Johnathan Carr's ('04) Candyflip, "a documentary film about substance abuse that offers a balanced and real-world view on the issues of drug culture, addiction and the war on drugs," reported the Medford Transcript. "Most of the film is comprised of anonymous interviews, dramatization and forensics," the paper said. Carr wrote, directed and produced this independent film. Carr has written, produced and directed two feature-length movies on digital video as well as numerous short films. While at Emerson he co-founded Warlords, a film production club devoted to action films and action sub-genres. In 2004 he received an EVVY Award at Emerson for producing the 16mm short film Fallen Iris.
In other festival news, the documentary film Run Granny Run "brings to life the heroic 2004 New Hampshire Senate campaign of 94-year-old Doris "Granny D" Haddock [Emerson alumna]," reported the Boston Phoenix.
Alumna Helping Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Providence Business News recently did a Q &A with Emersonian Adriana Dawson MA '00 who is a regional director for the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center. Dawson initiated a Latino Business Expo as well as the center's first Latino business initiative, which started out as a three-week business course in Spanish and has since grown into a 12-week course offered every year. The Center now also boasts four bilingual staff members.
Dawson is "working to build understanding between immigrant entrepreneurs and the lending community," said the paper. "To explain to [the entrepreneurs] the importance of having credit, the benefits of having a checking account and the importance of filing taxes correctly. On the other side we're raising awareness among the lending community… so that the two can come together nicely."
Dawson started her career at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. While at Emerson she was recruited by the director of the Affirmative Market, a state program that fights for equal access to state contracts for women- and minority-owned businesses. Dawson then joined the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center in 2002 as the assistant state director.
Alumna is Curator for Indie Film Series
Alumna filmmaker Rebecca M. Alvin '92 is curating a 10-week independent film series at the Payomet Performing Arts Center in Truro, Mass. This will be the ninth year of programming for the series. Alvin founded the Cape Cod Film Society Screening Series, "which has been showing unusual, independent, and undistributed films to Cape audiences since 2002," reported local papers. "The series, with Alvin's participation, promises to be another unique program of smaller films," the papers continued. The series will draw from submissions from all over the country. Films will be from July 2 through Sept. 3 and will often be followed by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers.
Alvin has created numerous short and feature-length films, which have shown internationally. In addition to her Emerson degree, she holds a Master's degree from New York's The New School. She has taught film at Emerson, Cape Cod Community College, The New School, and other colleges. She is currently completing her third feature-length documentary, Women of Faith, about women in the Catholic Church.
Alumna Tours with 'Biting' Comedy Act
Alum and comedian Bernadette Pauley '90 is touring internationally with her comedian husband Al Duchame, according to a profile of Pauley in the Revere (Mass.) Journal. Pauley was the host of TBS's Burly TV and is a frequent guest on Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. The paper says her "edgy" brand of comedy has a lot to do with her upbringing in Revere. "Being from Revere, we didn't have the luxury of being hoity-toity or politically correct because we lived in the real world," she said. "That allows me to bring up issues or say things that a comic who grew up in a place like Greenwich, Connecticut might avoid." The paper says she has "developed a comedy that combines honesty, observations and biting humor."
Recent Small Screen Alumni News
Emerson alum Chris Romano (Romanski) '00 will be a cast member and writer for the new VH1 venture called Acceptable TV, which will be executive produced by Jack Black, Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab and builds upon the hot user-generated content trend (e.g. YouTube). Acceptable TV's companion website launched late last month followed by a weekly TV series premiering on VH1. Starpulse news blog describes the concept: "Each week television viewers will see five new three-minute episodes of proposed TV series. Viewers will then be able to vote, via the Web site www.acceptable.tv, for two of the series to return with a new episode. The three shorts with the fewest votes are 'cancelled' and replaced by new pilots the following week. Additionally, each week, the broadcast will spotlight the user-generated pilot which receives the most votes on the Acceptable.TV site. While one user-generated short will air each week, it will not be in direct competition with the shorts produced by the Acceptable TV staff."
Jennifer Coolidge (a favorite from Christopher Guest's mockumentaries) has signed on for the ABC comedy pilot Family of the Year. Coolidge and actor Alan Ruck head up the show's fictional Halloway clan, who are 10-time winners of their hometown's "family of the year" title, reported Reuters. "Coolidge's character will be a former beauty queen. Ruck is her sweet, but not too smart, husband." (Coolidge and fellow alum Jay Leno '73 will also lend their voice talents to the animated major motion picture Igor, to be released next fall.)
Armen Garo '77 will appear as Salvatore "Coco" Cogliano in two April episodes of HBO's The Sopranos. He's previously appeared in The Departed and Underdog where he ran into fellow alum Donna Bloom '77, the show's production manager.
