Harvardwood HIGHLIGHTS - July 2025

In this issue:

MESSAGE FROM HARVARDWOOD 

NEWS

• 2025-26 Jonathan Sethna Harvardwood LGBTQ+ Fellowship Application

• Announcing the Winners of the 2025 Harvardwood Writers Competition & Most Staffable TV Writers

• Announcing the Winners of the 2025-2026 Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship

• Featured Job: Tour Marketing Assistant at CAA

FEATURES

• Harvardwood Profile: Allison Charney Epstein AB '89 (soprano)

• Industry News

• Welcome New Members

• Exclusive Q&A with Cynthia Meng AB '15 (music director, pianist)

CALENDAR & NOTES

• &JULIET at the Ahmanson, with special guest Associate Director Susanna Wolk '14

• Last Month at Harvardwood

  
  

Become a Harvardwood member

Want to submit your success(es) to Harvardwood HIGHLIGHTS? Do so by posting here! 

Happy July! Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather in NYC: hot fog.

With the summer well underway, the Jonathan Sethna LGBTQ+ Fellowship Application deadline is coming up as well. Get your applications in if you want to be like the Winners of the Harvardwood Writers Competition or the Artist Launch Fellowship! Saved you all some stalking, you can check 'em out below.

Join us for a tongue-in-cheek and poppy night to see Broadway's &JULIET at the Ahmanson and hang with Associate Director Susanna Wolk AB '14 after. Get the tickets while they're hot (we have very old laptops)!

As always, 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.

Please consider donating to Harvardwood. Your donations are tax deductible!

Best wishes,

Grace Shi

Operations and Communications

grace@harvardwood.org

Applications are open for the 2025-26 Jonathan Sethna Harvardwood LGBTQ+ Fellowship

Harvardwood is excited to announce the third year of the Jonathan Sethna Harvardwood LGBTQ+ Fellowship for projects that elevate LGBTQ+ characters, themes, and stories by creatives and screenwriters who are Harvard University alumni.

The purpose of the 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 one Fellow and their project with a grant of $5,000. Additional Fellows may also be awarded. In addition to grant funds, Fellows will receive one-on-one guidance and mentorship from Harvard Alumni who want to empower artists to make the world a better place through their stories.

Application deadline: July 15th, 2025 11:59pm PT

APPLY HERE

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Announcing the Winners of the 2025 Harvardwood Writers Competition & Most Staffable TV Writer

Harvardwood has announced its latest set of Writers Competition winners, also naming its Most Staffable TV Writer for 2025. Check out the Deadline announcement.

These talented writers were selected by a panel of industry professionals in a blind judging process. Each writer will receive one-on-one mentorship as well as a cash prize. This year’s mentors include Michael Colton AB '97 (A FUTILE AND STUPID GESTURE, PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR) and Scott Weinger AB '98 (BLACK-ISH, GALAVANT).

Harvardwood aims to spotlight talented up-and-coming writers from diverse backgrounds and connect them with mentors as well as producers, agencies, and management companies.

FEATURE WINNER:

MAZEL TOV? by Yael Schick (Comedy)

Logline: Jennifer always said she’d support her kids no matter what. But when her son Max returns from a year abroad and announces that he is Orthodox and getting married ASAP, she must find a way to get him to the chuppah with her family— and her sanity—intact.

Yael Schick is a graduate of Yeshiva University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she was a Saul Zaentz fellow. Her screenwriting has earned her the Blacklist/Women in Film Feature Residency Fellowship, as well as recognition from the Nicholl Fellowship, Austin Film Festival, Athena Film Festival, among others. As an Orthodox Jew and a devout believer in the power of stories, Yael writes with the hope to better represent her wacky, messy, beloved community, and to shine a light on underrepresented worlds. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Writopia Lab, a national creative writing nonprofit for kids and teens.

TV WINNER:

NOT THAT DEEP by Gwen Thomas (Half-Hour Comedy)

Logline: Two ugly teenage mermaids become the subject of a nature documentary cataloging their achingly embarrassing high school experiences in this half-hour animated comedy.

Gwen Thomas is a comedian, writer, and actor in Los Angeles. She’s a features writer for THE ONION, performs stand-up and improv, and most recently can be seen in HOT SEAT, an award-winning comedy short. Gwen is a graduate of Harvard University, where she earned a degree in English and toured internationally with the improv team IGP.

Gwen was awarded the additional honor of "Most Staffable Writer" because her outstanding TV pilot was incubated in the Harvardwood Writers Program.

For more information or to read the winners' scripts, please contact admin@harvardwood.org.

Visit our Harvardwood Writers Competition page to learn more.

To see the winning scripts brought to life by members of the Harvardwood Actors Collective, please click here.

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Announcing the Winners of the 2025-2026 Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship

Harvardwood is pleased to announce that filmmaker Kiana Rawji (AB '23), poet Camila Sanmiguel Anaya (AB '23), and writer Cory Beizer (AB '25) are the recipients of the fourth annual Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship (HALF)! Along with a grant to support their work, each Fellow will receive professional guidance and support from mentors in their field.

Kiana Rawji AB '23

Kiana Rawji is a Canadian writer, director, and producer based in Brooklyn. She studied Film and History & Literature at Harvard College and through filmmaking, she strives to complexify and broaden our understanding of humanity, in all its tangles and contradictions. As a South Asian Muslim woman and daughter of Kenyan immigrants, she is drawn to stories of diaspora, identity, justice, and human resilience. Kiana's award-winning short films, both fiction and nonfiction, have screened across Canada, the U.S., and East Africa. Her 2021 documentary, LONG DISTANCE, about migrant workers at an Albertan meat plant, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Alberta Short Film at the 2021 Calgary International Film Festival. Her 2023 documentary, MAMA OF MANYATTA, which follows an extraordinary woman’s fight against HIV & gender-based violence in a Kenyan slum, screened at the 2023 Pan African Film Festival, Essence Film Festival, and Zanzibar International Film Festival, where it received a Special Jury Mention. Kiana’s 2023 fiction film, INSIDE JOB, explores race, class, and betrayal in 1970s Nairobi. It premiered at the 2023 Chicago South Asian Film Festival and has screened alongside MAMA OF MANYATTA at the Aga Khan Museum (Toronto), Unseen Nairobi (Kenya), and The Cardel Theatre (Calgary). Kiana is currently developing several projects as a writer-director, including a story about a Kenyan-Canadian migrant worker (supported by the Canada Council for the Arts), and her first feature, ADULT CHILDREN, a coming-of-age drama centered on an intergenerational immigrant family (supported by The Harvardwood Artist Launch Fellowship). Selected as 1 of 5 finalists, Kiana will be pitching ADULT CHILDREN at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles Launchpad Pitch Competition in May 2025, and will further develop the film as a participant in Stowe Story Labs' June 2025 Narrative Lab.  

Camila Sanmiguel Anaya AB '23

Camila Sanmiguel Anaya is a Mexican-American poet who was raised on the border in Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. She graduated from Harvard in 2023, where she studied History and Literature. Appointed National Student Poet for the Southwest in 2017, she has read her work at Carnegie Hall, the National Book Festival, the Library of Congress, and at schools, libraries, and museums across the Southwest, including alongside current U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. As part of her service, she directed poetry workshops for young refugees and advocates for immigrant children. In 2024, she was an Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence and received support to attend the Kenyon Review Residential Writers Workshops. She will begin her MFA in Poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in the fall. 

Cory Beizer AB '25

Cory Beizer is a writer whose work focuses on stories strong enough to hold the climate crises and other great complexities in their bindings. After graduating Harvard, he became partner at The Environmental Storytelling Studio (TESS) and is now thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail investigating stories of wildfires and loss up and down the American West Coast. He grew up in the Bay Area and loves lollygagging in the sun.

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Featured Job: Tour Marketing Assistant at CAA

Job Description:

The individual should have strong administrative skills in a high-volume setting, be flexible, highly organized, and have the ability to multitask. Administrative duties include coordinating meetings and schedules, producing correspondence, special projects, and personal assistance as needed.

APPLY HERE

Alumni Profile: Allison Charney Epstein AB ‘89 (soprano)

by Laura Frustaci AB '21

Soprano Allison Charney’s operatic career began following the national finals of the Metropolitan Opera Competition with her debut at the New York City Opera as Musetta in LA BOHÈME. She has gone on to sing dozens of leading soprano roles in opera companies throughout the country, earning a reputation for her “vocal agility, lush sound and dramatic portrayals” of the lirico-spinto roles in her wide-ranging repertoire. Concert highlights include her debut with the Lviv National Philharmonic in the middle of the war in the spring of 2024, her Carnegie Hall debut in the spring of 2022 as a featured soloist in the new composite song cycle, FORGOTTEN VOICES and guest appearances at Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, with the esteemed Philadelphia Orchestra and with the Boston Pops under the baton of Alan Gilbert (AB '89). 2025 concerts for Ms. Charney included a guest performance with the North Bohemian Opera Orchestra in Czech and the Verdi REQUIEM with the Dallas Symphony, both under the baton of her long-time collaborator Benjamin Loeb (AB '89). Following the success of her iTunes and Amazon classical chart-topping chamber music recordings, Ms. Charney's first solo vocal album, ALIKE (MY MOTHER’S DREAM) will be released in the summer of 2025. She is a co-creator of the series HER/MUSIC; HER/STORY, launched at Steinway Hall in 2019 and currently showcased in a four-part radio series on WQXR.  Ms. Charney is an active recitalist and master teacher and is the artistic and executive director of the innovative concert series, PREFORMANCES™️. During the pandemic, Charney pivoted to the virtual stage where her concert and conversation series, SEASON OF HOPE, launched the centennial year of New York City's historic Town Hall, which then presented her OPERA AT HOME adaptation of Verdi's OTELLO - the first installment in her OPERAS IN SHORT series. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard University, she went on to earn two graduate degrees in music from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Charney now lives in New York with her husband and their two sons.

Allison Charney Epstein AB ‘89 always knew she was going to be a professional singer. “Harvard was sort of a detour, in that regard,” she laughs. After Harvard, Allison went straight to a graduate school program at the Peabody Conservatory, where she received two degrees. The first was a Master of Music, and the second was an Artist Diploma – the highest performance degree offered by a conservatory. Simultaneously, Allison was taking young artist programs across the country by storm, namely, Central City Opera in Colorado and Greater Miami Opera (now Florida Grand Opera). This led to her being hired at Florida Grand Opera in numerous principal roles and then on to a career spanning nearly every state that kept her on the road for 10 months of every year. 

Allison then entered the Metropolitan Opera Competition from Florida and won first place in the state, and then first in the southeast. She went to the National Finals, and although she didn’t win, the next day she had a stage audition at the New York City Opera and got hired on the spot. She started by touring with the company: 50 cities in 70 days on a bus, then singing in their summer season in Saratoga, and then making her debut as a principal artist in the house as Musetta in LA BOHÈME. “I got really lucky, really young for an opera singer…” she recalls. “And since I was young, I was able to learn from the more experienced singers I was lucky enough to meet along the way. So I always had a look into the future, and it was a way for me to make some real conscious choices… I think it's really important, especially when you're starting out, to have a 5-year check-in. ‘Is this working out? Can I support myself?’ Maybe bankers do that too. I don't know,” Allison laughs. 

Her aunt was an opera singer, so the career was never fantastical to her, but she credits much of her success to a professor she had at Harvard. Luise Vosgerchian was “one of the most important things of [her] Harvard education. Without a doubt.” Allison pursued a special concentration with Luise, so they worked incredibly closely together. “She was tough on me, and also loving and incredible… she took over my life in a way. I saw her pretty much every day, and whenever she wanted, at whatever hour. I feel incredibly incredibly lucky. I even named a child for her!” They spoke with great frequency until the end of Luise’s life. Perhaps most impactful was the moment Luise introduced Allison to pianist and conductor Benjamin Loeb AB ’89 who has since been Allison’s greatest collaborator. He’s now a huge part of Allison’s upcoming album, which will be released on all platforms on August 8th.

“The album is called ALIKE…My Mother’s Dream. It’s my response to the lessons my mother has spent her whole life trying to teach me— and the world— that we should focus on what makes us similar rather than what makes us different— and that the world would be a better place if that's what we were doing,” Allison explains. “Of course, I realize making this album is just a tiny drop in the bucket. My hope, however, is that it inspires other tiny drops in the bucket;  if everybody puts a drop in the bucket, maybe, just maybe, the bucket will overflow with goodness.” There are seven tracks on the album. Four of them are country pairs, composed by musicians from countries on opposing sides of conflict: one by a Russian, one by a Ukrainian, one by an Iranian, one by an Israeli. “The goal is to try to highlight the similarities between people, rather than the differences, not to make a  political statement,” Allison clarifies. “My hope is that by focusing on our shared humanity, it transcends politics, which is part of my point.” 

In addition to the four “country pairs,” there are also big orchestral pieces that serve as anchors for the album. The first is Dvořák’s aptly named “Songs My Mother Taught Me.” Another is by American composer Kim D. Sherman, who has set one line of text– “Make peace on all your lands” in 15 different world languages. And the third piece, “Jephthah’s Daughter,” is by composer Amy Beach— the first American woman to have a symphony played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896. This stand-alone scena for soprano and orchestra was lost to the world for over a century– a casualty of war, having been tucked away in a trunk that was seized by the German army during WWI and only rediscovered in the last several years. 

“I read about it before the pandemic, and knew I had to perform it. I found the one and only copy of the handwritten manuscript, and hired a wonderful composer to transcribe it for me, and create the orchestral score and parts,” Allison says. “My intention was to perform it on my concert series, and then the pandemic came, and all concerts were stopped. It’s been nearly a decade in the making—but this recording will now be the very first recording of the English translation Amy Beach herself wrote. I’ve included it on ALIKE to try to show the collateral damage of not getting along with one another. In war, so much is lost—including great art and music."

Allison pivoted during the pandemic and turned the aforementioned concert series into a 7-part virtual concert and conversation series called PREformances: Season of Hope," Allison says. “The historic, NYC landmark Town Hall presented it as part of their centennial year because they, too, were shut down and looking for virtual programming during the pandemic. So it was a really exciting partnership shepherded by my classmate, two-time Tony award-winning sound designer, Nevin Steinberg (AB '89), who is now serving as the President of the board of the Town Hall.” The concert series is available on any platform that hosts podcasts.

The pandemic did force more flexibility from both artists and institutions, which may not be a bad thing in the long run. In terms of how opera specifically has evolved to meet this new artistic and social landscape, Allison notes there has definitely been a change. “It’s getting harder and harder to compel people to want to come out to the theater, but there is nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing that can beat the live interaction between an audience and an artist. I encourage people to force themselves out of their bedrooms and living rooms,” she says. “But I also wonder if all the other artifice is so important. Maybe you're not going to wear your pajamas out and your big fuzzy slippers. But does it have to be much more than that?"

As Allison notes, accessibility is key to keeping audiences engaged. “In terms of the storytelling, people are increasingly worried about making things modern in order to appeal to today’s audiences.” Allison continues. “But I don't actually think modern audiences can't get it just as the composer meant for it to be. I think it's up to you as the artist, to deliver it in a palatable way by  listening to what the music tells you to do, which always makes you that much  better at communicating that to an audience.” Allison recounts a time when she sang the title role in Puccini’s MADAME BUTTERFLY and a friend came to hear her perform. He had never been to the opera, or to any live theater for that matter, but he came backstage after the show bawling. That was incredibly powerful for Allison; a moment where she was reaffirmed that there are no prerequisites to understanding and loving beautiful art. “It’s the job of the artist to give you an opportunity to have access to your emotions, and in this world,” Allison smiles. “Isn’t it a relief to be able to have a couple of hours where you're just allowed to feel?” And in all of her work as a singer, Allison does just that: allows us all to feel.

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Industry News

Congratulations to Harvardwood Visual Artist Launch Fellow Carlos Agredano AB '20, whose work will be featured in an exhibition at David Kordansky Gallery opening July 15th. (Second Body)

Dustin Thomason AB '98, co-creator of CASTLE ROCK, helped expand the iconic story of Annie Wilkes from Stephen King’s MISERY into a rich new origin tale for the show’s second season. (Screen Rant)

Noah Oppenheim AB '00, seasoned writer–producer and former president of NBC News, penned and produced A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, Kathryn Bigelow’s new political thriller—set for select theaters this October before landing on Netflix on October 24, 2025. (Deadline)

Mike Schur AB '97, co-creator and showrunner of PARKS AND RECREATION, teams up with Amy Poehler to co-create DIG, a new workplace comedy series set at an archaeological dig in Greece—where Poehler will star, write, and executive produce. The series, premiering soon on Peacock, marks their first major collaboration since PARKS ended in 2015 and reunites the creative duo a decade later. (MSN)

Mike Schur AB '97 discusses A MAN ON THE INSIDE in a recent IndieWire interview. The Netflix rom-com mystery stars Ted Danson as a retired professor going undercover in a retirement home. Schur shares insights on blending humor with emotional depth in the series, which premiered in late 2024 and was renewed for Season 2. (IndieWire)

John Lesher AB '88, Oscar-winning producer of BIRDMAN, is co‑producing MEET THE PARENTS 4—set for worldwide release in theaters on November 25, 2026—alongside Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Jay Roach, and John Hamburg’s team. (Deadline)

Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle AB '07, known for LA LA LAND and WHIPLASH, has seen his 2022 Hollywood epic BABYLON (starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie) emerge as a sleeper streaming hit—now ranking among the top‑streaming films on platforms like Paramount+ and Hulu in June 2025. (Collider)

Darren Aronofsky AB '90, Academy Award–nominated director of BLACK SWAN and THE WHALE, is in early talks to direct BREAKTHROUGH, a new psychological thriller for A24 starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a charismatic—but dangerously manipulative—motivational guru. The film is penned by Zeke Goodman and is set in Southern California at the turn of the millennium. (MSN)

Erica Lipez AB '95, Emmy-winning executive producer of LAW & ORDER, is on board as executive producer for PRESUMED INNOCENT Season 2—starring Rachel Brosnahan—joining a powerhouse team that includes Jake Gyllenhaal. The series is inspired by the classic legal thriller DISSECTION OF A MURDER. (Deadline)

Benjamin Forkner AB '98, Emmy-winning producer of TRUE DETECTIVE, is producing a new film adaptation of the Mike Hammer novels. Matthew McConaughey is in talks to star, with TRUE DETECTIVE creator Nic Pizzolatto writing the script. The project reunites McConaughey and Pizzolatto and marks Pizzolatto’s latest writing venture. (Variety)

Marty Bowen AB '94, producer of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and TWILIGHT, is executive producing a new Amazon series based on Elsie Silver’s ROSE HILL novels. The romantic drama follows four single dads finding love in a small Rocky Mountain town. Bowen joins Silver, Wyck Godfrey, and James Seidman of Temple Hill in developing the series, with Annika Patton producing. (Variety)

Chris Terrio AB '98, Oscar-winning screenwriter of ARGO, is co-creating THE ILLUSIONIST, a new musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber set in 1900s Vienna. The production aims for a September 2026 opening in London, marking Lloyd Webber's first new musical since CINDERELLA. Terrio is collaborating with Lloyd Webber and director Jamie Lloyd on this ambitious project. (The Stage)

Donal Logue AB '88, known for SONS OF ANARCHY and GOTHAM, joins the cast of Hulu's PRISON BREAK reboot pilot. The series, set in the same universe as the original, introduces new characters and storylines, with Logue portraying Holt Keane, a father grieving the loss of his family. (Variety)

Simon Rich AB '99 is writing and producing ARTIFICIAL, a comedic drama about the 2023 OpenAI leadership upheaval, directed by Luca Guadagnino. Andrew Garfield and Monica Barbaro are in talks to star. The film blends humor with high-stakes tech drama and is set to begin production later this year. (Deadline)

Ed Redlich AB '87, known for UNFORGETTABLE, serves as an executive producer on THE INSTITUTE, a new supernatural horror series based on Stephen King's 2019 novel. The eight-episode series follows a young boy with psychic abilities trapped in a sinister institution.The show is set to premiere on MGM+ on July 13, 2025. (Deadline)

Winnie Li AB '00's novel WHAT WE LEFT UNSAID, about siblings retracing an epic road trip and their past, will hit the shelves in August and is currently available for preorder. (Orion Books)

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Welcome New Members

Harvardwood warmly welcomes all members who joined the organization or renewed their membership last month:

• Emma Lucas

• Sharon Cheng

• Elise Tao

• Brooklyn Sandridge

• Sandli Thakur

• Cameron Henry

• Joanna Walters

• Peter McGrath

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Exclusive Q&A with Cynthia Meng AB '15 (music director, pianist)

Cynthia is a New York-based music director and pianist. She is currently serving as the Associate Music Director for the upcoming Broadway musical DEAD OUTLAW, nominated for 7 Tony Awards this season.

She is a member of the Broadway music team for the eight-time Tony- and Grammy-winning production of Anaïs Mitchell’s HADESTOWN. In addition, she has played keyboard for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and has played around the world as a sidewoman and pianist (Hollywood Bowl, Lexington Symphony, Dallas Symphony at the Bravo! Vail Festival, Denver Symphony). 

In the film world, Cynthia served as the Associate Vocal Supervisor for SPIRITED, an Apple TV+ movie starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer, as well as the third season of Hulu’s ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING starring Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short.

Other select favorites from the theatre realm include Gloria Estefan’s BASURA (world premiere in 2026), LEMPICKA, THE OUTSIDERS, THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT, BACK TO THE FUTURE, the 2022 Broadway revival of COMPANY, the 2022 Broadway revival of FUNNY GIRL starring Lea Michele, SUFFS at the Public Theater, THE LAST FIVE YEARS from Out of the Box Theatrics, FROZEN 1st National Tour, MOULIN ROUGE at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, IN THE GREEN at Lincoln Center Theatre, and WITNESS UGANDA at the Wallis Annenberg Center. In a past life, she was a software engineer and a Harvard grad.

Q: Can you walk us through a typical day in your life as Associate Music Director on a Broadway show like the recently Tony-nominated DEAD OUTLAW?

Each day is totally different (typical freelance life!), but a day *could* look like the following: In the afternoon, I would play a four-hour understudy rehearsal at the theatre. This would be for blocking purposes, or for music purposes, or for folding in the band, or it could be a more complex “put-in” rehearsal where the goal is to run the show in actual show conditions. Then, after and during the rehearsal, I would give notes to the understudies to make sure they’re ready to go on at any point. There’s a short break (probably ~2 hours), and then we have shows in the evenings, so if I’m conducting the 7 pm show that evening, I would get my hair done at the theatre around 6:15 pm and then put some makeup on, check in with stage management, cast, and band, and then go on stage to play the show at 7!

Q: What’s been the most creatively fulfilling aspect of working on original productions versus long-running revivals like COMPANY?

There’s nothing like working on original work. It is so difficult and satisfying in its special way; literally everything is on the table for change and updating. You could literally put in a new song during tech or during previews (has happened before to me, several times), and the questions you’re trying to answer about the story and how the audience reacts to the story are so vast and nebulous. It’s really scary work, honestly – I have no idea how composers do it, haha. But when you *do* crack the code and find something that moves the audience, or that is unexpectedly hilarious, it is immensely satisfying.

Q: How do you approach maintaining musical consistency across eight shows a week, especially with rotating cast or orchestra members?

I think the main thing to note is that the only thing you can *actually* control is your own musical consistency. As a music director, you can (and should) give notes to the cast members and musicians to maintain as best as you can, but the only thing fully in your control is how you carry yourself on the podium or at the piano, and how clear and calm you can be up there. I try to maintain that by keeping up with notes that I may receive from my higher-ups, and by staying present during and before the show.

Q: How do you collaborate with composers, directors, and choreographers when shaping the sound of a new production?

It’s generally about listening. I feel like the music director’s job is to kind of “glue” everything together; and by listening to the opinions of everyone around you, you can glean how best to move forward. Communication styles can differ between all these people and once you know *how* people like to communicate and what their style is, you can work better to make the whole vision to come together.

Q: You’ve worked with an incredible range of artists. How do you adapt your musical approach across such diverse genres and personalities?

It’s the same answer, actually, to the one above – listening is key. The first 15 minutes of working with someone are so valuable and important. You can learn so much about how someone likes to work and what their tastes are in that first rehearsal. I like to believe I can be a musical chameleon and work with lots of different people, and the reason for that is because I can adapt to various people’s different needs!

Q: What are some of the most important skills a keyboardist needs when playing in high-pressure, high-profile settings like Radio City or Lincoln Center?

There is absolutely nothing that substitutes for practice. You put in the time, and you put in the diligence, and that makes you prepared, which is the only thing that can kick in and save you when you’re super nervous (which I *always* am, before I play a show for the first few times.) You also need to make sure you practice *on* the rig itself before you actually go in!

Q: How do you balance precision and expression when accompanying major vocalists or playing in complex ensemble settings?

Precision comes from practice, and expression comes from being present in the moment. If you are prepared on the technical side, it frees you up to be present and interpret expressively once you are actually playing. It means you’re actually listening in the moment, rather than being buried in the nitty gritty of notes and rhythms.

Q: You’re also a composer—how does your work as a music director inform your original writing, and vice versa?

To be honest, I haven’t really composed in ages. It might be a product of having a bit more experience in the industry: I think composers are some of the bravest people out there because, similar to actors, they have to really be vulnerable artistically in a way that is different from what I currently do. You have to open your heart up and show it to the world (which of course, opens you up to everyone’s opinions and commentary.) I don’t know that I currently possess that kind of internal strength, although there are things that I would like to eventually write one day based on my own life. Who knows!

Q: How are you able to stay creatively inspired while also navigating the practical demands of show business?

By listening to a lot of music, especially music that has nothing to do with whatever I’m working on at the time. Consuming other forms of media (television, film, art, writing, etc.) Doing things that have nothing to do with work. It’s very important to me.

Q: What advice do you have for young musicians or conductors looking to break into the Broadway scene?

Listen to and play lots of different kinds of music. A lot of what is on Broadway is derived from existing musical tradition, and while it can be tempting to just delve into what is in the “musical theatre canon”, I think what makes you a great musician is knowledge of the greater musical world. It also makes you a more empathetic person!

Keep getting to know the other musicians around you. They’ll be recommending you for gigs one day. And of course, keep practicing. :-)

&JULIET at the Ahmanson, with special guest Associate Director Susanna Wolk ‘14 (LA)

Sun, Aug 17

Created by the Emmy-winning writer from Schitt’s Creek, this hilarious new musical flips the script on the greatest love story ever told. & Juliet asks: what would happen next if Juliet didn’t end it all over Romeo? Get whisked away on a fabulous journey as she ditches her famous ending for a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love—her way.

Join us after for a private post-show Q&A with Susanna Wolk AB '14 (Associate Director).

RSVP HERE

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Last Month at Harvardwood

Last Month at Harvardwood, we laughed it up with comedian Morgan Lehmann, talked LILO & STITCH with producer Jonathan Eirich, attended a private screening of THE WEDDING BANQUET with director Andrew Ahn, went to Pride parties in LA and NYC, and more!

List of All Upcoming Harvardwood Events Here

Want to submit your success(es) to Harvardwood HIGHLIGHTS? Do so by posting here!

Become a Harvardwood member! We work hard to create programming that you, the membership, would like to be engaged with. Please consider joining Harvardwood and becoming an active member of our arts, media, and entertainment community!

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