OFA Honors Thespians, Dancers, and Artists, Oh My!

MICHAEL M. DONAHUE ’05

According to director Michael M. Donahue ’05, “The sort of thing that has been most exciting for me is that each time I work on a project it feels completely different than what I did last time.”

Donahue’s enthusiasm, complemented by a long list of theater credits, has been recognized by the Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA). He is one of two recipients of the 2004-2005 Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, which recognizes “outstanding artistic talent and achievement in the composition or performance of music, drama, dance, or the visual arts…in the sum of a student’s artistic activities at Harvard.”

Performances owed to Donahue’s directorial skills include Patrick Marber’s “Closer,” Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” and Moliere’s “Tartuffe” and an adaptation of Friedrich Durrenmatt’s “The Physicists.”

In addition to directing plays, Donahue co-founded the 24-Hour Plays Festival, which consists of writers, directors, and actors uniting during reading period to create productions with only 24 hours of preparation.

Donahue has also pursued directing on an academic level by designing a special concentration. This past January, Donahue traveled to Berlin to study experimental performances, directors, and actors and used his experience for course credit in an independent study.

“The theater that I saw there was so much more spontaneous and engaged than what I’ve seen here,” he says. “The theater is much more topical, exciting, and political. They were so much more creative and complex, taking bigger chances and risks on stage,” he adds.

After working at the St. Louis Municipal Theatre, or Muny, for the past three years—which puts on considerably more conservative productions—Donahue was particularly sensitive to the division between the two ends of the spectrum; he compares the performances at the Muny to those he had seen in Berlin as well as at the American Repertoire Theatre here at Harvard.

“It was frustrating to me that there was such a divide between the two theaters,” Donahue says. “I would love to find elements of both and to not have to confine myself to a commercial, mainstream or explicitly art theatre, but to be able to work with elements of both.”

Donahue has brought his outside experiences to his senior thesis project, a production of “The Oresteia,” based on the plays of Aeschylus and Euripides, which will continue through May 27 on the Loeb Mainstage.

“Working on my current play has been most exciting because I am currently trying to make my work more physically and politically orientated than it has been in the past,” Donahue says. “It’s been a very liberating experience.”

Donahue will continue integrating the conservative and the cutting-edge through a personal approach to directing when he heads to the Yale School of Drama this fall to complete a three-year graduate school program.

“It’s really about why exactly I make theatre, what I think is important about theatre, what I want theatre to do and what I want the relationship between actors and spectators to be,” he says.

—Samantha A. Papadakis

DAVID D. MAHFOUDA ’05

David D. Mahfouda ’05 is the second recipient of the Office for the Arts at Harvard’s Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. Mahfouda, a Dudley House-affiliated Visual and Environmental Studies concentrator, has been an innovator in performance art through projects such as “The Human Aquarium,” “The Cube,” “Dance Conspiracy,” and “Frozen Ghost Project.”

Mahfouda declined an interview.

—Emer C. M. Vaughn

REBECCA J. ALALY ’05

Rebecca J. Alaly ’04-’05 advertises her latest choreography work in “The Oresteia” as having “severed heads, dirt, blood, and meat.” The Loeb Mainstage Production, based on the plays of Aeschylus and Euripides, tells a tale of murderous revenge within a single family.

Alaly’s work, however, doesn’t depend on shock value to draw audiences. She has contributed to the Harvard dance community as a dancer, choreographer, and administrator. She serves as choreographer and rehearsal director for the Harvard Ballet Company, and she is also a performing member of the Harvard Contemporary Dance ensemble, the touring company of Harvard’s Dance Program.

This year the Office for the Arts (OFA) at Harvard is recognizing Alaly’s string of achievements by awarding her the first annual Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize, given in honor of an acclaimed

dancer and former prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet.

Alaly, who has been dancing since age three and choreographing since high school, says dance provides an outlet for her emotions, which are, in turn, the jumping-off points for many of her productions.

“I often start with a personal event or emotion, something that strikes me,” she says. “I experience something and think about what emotion that brings out in me…what’s on my mind that I want to get at, what I can work on or gnaw on in my mind.”

Though trained in ballet, Alaly’s current focus is modern dance, which she finds “more free, more pertinent to everyday life.” She often incorporates her own life into her dance. As a super-senior, Alaly has seen many of her friends graduate, and her struggle with long-distance relationships affected a production in which she choreographed the parting of the dancers.

Alaly describes her choreography as “soft” and “delicate,” but also adds that her work has been described as “freaky” and “disturbing,” probably due to her tendency to “contort the body into shapes that are full of tension.” This latter description will likely fits her work in “The Oresteia.”

Alaly is very positive about her experience in the dance program at Harvard, citing the “creative energy” of the students and the “good environment” as especially beneficial for her art.

“I’ve really been encouraged to push myself. The program is small enough that they can encourage dancers to branch out and try new things.” Indeed, the intimacy of Harvard’s program inspired Alaly to become so involved in choreography: there weren’t many others who were qualified to tackle the job.

This fall Alaly plans to move to New York City, where she will pursue a career in dance and choreography. But given her interests in special education, law, and business, Alaly says that going back to school and starting on an entirely different path is always a possibility.

—Madeleine J. Bäverstam

JOHANNA S. KARLIN ’05

When Johanna S. Karlin ’05 arrived at Harvard her freshman fall, she wasted no time stepping into the spotlight, “auditioning for anything and everything—I auditioned for 20 shows,” she says.

The result of her first round of Common Casting was the leading role of Gussie in the Stephen Sondheim musical “Merrily We Roll Along.” During her freshman spring, Karlin was one of four Harvard students chosen to act in “Reason,” a professional production directed by the Obie Award-winning experimental director Ping Chong, and sponsored by the Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA).

Since her first year, Karlin has acted in multiple productions every semester. She was the Queen of the Fairies in “Iolanthe,” Mrs. Mister in “The Cradle Will Rock,” Yente in “Fiddler on the Roof,” and, most recently, Nettie in “Carousel.”

This past intersession, Karlin and a few of her friends spontaneously decided to produce and perform the musical “She Loves Me,” (Karlin played Amalia) in the span of one week. “The opportunity to pull something together for the sheer joy of doing it was one of the greatest things ever,” says Karlin.

The OFA has honored Karlin’s four years of involvement by awarding her this year’s Radcliffe Doris Cohen Levi Prize, which goes to “a Harvard college student who combines talent and energy with outstanding enthusiasm for musical theater at Harvard.”

Karlin works behind the scenes almost as much as she is on the stage, producing, directing, teching, serving as a proctor for the Freshman Arts Program, and as Campus Liaison for the 2002-2003 HRDC Board, organizing Common Casting and “making sure that everyone’s audition went well.”

“My sophomore spring I organized 20 shows for one week of auditions, and you’ve got people calling you saying, “I’ve got a conflict here’ and’ I’ve got a conflict there,’ and it’s very crazy because they’re all auditioning at the same time,” Karlin says. At the time Karlin was also business assistant for Hasty Pudding Theatricals (HPT) 153: “Fangs for the Memories” and business manager for HPT 154: “Snow Place Like Home.”

This spring, she is producing and co-directing The Sunken Garden Children’s Theater’s ARTS FIRST production of “The Twelve Princesses.”

“I’ve been in it every year since I was a freshman...it’s my favorite thing to do at Harvard; a lot of times, Harvard theater people sort of get stuck in their heads and over think things and get worried, but Children’s theater is the opportunity for every actor who does it…to have a good time.”

This summer, Karlin is off to Italy to teach English through music, dance and theater at an Italian summer camp, after which, she says, “I’m actually applying for [a job through the same company], touring Italian schools and performing in English…it’s kind of my ideal job.”

In the long run, however, she wants to be in New York. “I would love to act all my life long, if people would let me,” she says. “Mike [M. Donahue ’05, a close friend and fellow recipient of an OFA prize] and I have both agreed that, whoever wins first, will thank the other in our Tony speeches.”

—Nina L. Vizcarrondo

ROBERT A. HODGSON ’05

Since his arrival at Harvard four years ago, Robert A. Hodgson ’05 has spent the majority of his time in the spotlight, and his commitment to the stage will be honored by the Office for the Arts at Harvard’s Jonathan Levy Award in Drama. This prestigious award is given each year to Harvard’s most promising undergraduate actor.

“Straight plays are where I feel most comfortable,” says Hodgson. His roles in straight plays have included Dopey in “Balm of Gilead,” Rosencrantz in “Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead,” and Derby in “Richard III.”

“Rosencrantz is just a brilliant play,” he says, “and that makes the audience so much fun to play with; I had an amazing time every night.”

Hodgson has also appeared in the Loeb Ex in a production of “Caligula” as Scipio and took part in “Meat: A Playwright’s Festival” in the Adams Pool Theater. He even participated in the 24-hour Plays I, II, and III performed in the Adams Kronauer Space. For Hodgson, getting involved in so many projects has been a way to “to spend time with friends and goof off together for a good reason.”

Dramatic plays weren’t the only area where Hodgson has shown off his talent. “I love doing musicals—there’s not enough singing and dancing in my daily life,” he says.

His performances include roles as Mr. Bungee in William Finn’s “A New Brain,” Lewis in “Pippin,” Herold in “Assassins,” Walter in “Chess,” and his most recent musical role, Arpad in “She Loves Me.”

“There are so many amazing and talented people working in the arts at Harvard, I try to worm my way into working with as many as I can,” says Hodgson.

He has also lent his talents behind the scenes. He was president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (’03-’04) and served as the Club Coordinator (’02-’03) in addition to working behind the scenes as a director for, “How I Learned to Drive,” which was performed in the Loeb Ex in 2003.

Post-graduation plans are up in the air, and though Hodgson hopes to work in theater in some capacity, he’s skeptical of his future as a professional actor, given the cut-throat reputation of show business.

“If nobody’s heard from me or of me in ten years, I guess that’ll mean I tried to be an actor,” he says.

For now, fans can look forward to his upcoming performance as Apollo/The Old Man in “The Oresteia,” on stage through May 27..

—Alyssa N. Wolff

KARINA A. MANGU-WARD ’05

Whether she is a producer, stage-manager, or master electrician, Leverett House resident Karina A. Mangu-Ward ’05 is always in her element.

In honor of her long-term involvement in student theater, the Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA) is presenting Mangu-Ward with the Louise Donovan Award. Each year the OFA chooses one senior each year to receive the Donovan Award in recognition of “outstanding work behind the scenes in the arts,” according to their press release. Mangu-Ward has worked on more than sixteen productions over the past four years.

Mangu-Ward began dabbling in backstage work in her high school in Alexandria, VA. When she arrived at Harvard, she was unsure if she wanted to pursue theater until she was approached by Jeremy Blocker ’04, who at the time was directing a production of “Yeomen of the Guard.”

“I continued to work as a stage manager for Jeremy Blocker’s productions in the Ex and on the Mainstage, while also working as a master electrician in other spaces on campus.

Junior and senior years, I worked on Visiting Director Projects [sponsored by the OFA] with Jay Scheib and Scott Zigler,” Mangu-Ward says. Scheib directed “Lorenzaccio,” while Zigler directed “Balm in Gilead.” Mangu-Ward stage-managed for each.

Though she took one semester off, Mangu-Ward continued her work as a master electrician.

“During my sophomore year I decided it was what I wanted to do and got on the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Board (HRDC),” she says. She began devoting her time to tech work, and she also became treasurer of the executive board of the HRDC, where she served for two terms.

Between her junior and senior years, Mangu-Ward also served as a producer for the Harvard-Radcliffe Summer Theatre program, which culminates in performances at the Loeb Experimental Theatre, affectionately referred to as “the Ex” among the drama crowd.

“We got to hire forty other people. We got to pick the shows, directors, designers, how to use the space and the money,” Mangu-Ward says. The program offered a chance to produce theater on a large scale; the season’s budget was $25,000.

“The Oresteia,” her current project, is shaping up to be one of Mangu-Ward’s favorite experiences at Harvard so far.

“It raises a lot more questions about what is theatre and what is art and it’s definitely the most talented group of people that I’ve worked with,” she says.

Next year Mangu-Ward will relocate to New York City, where she will attend Columbia’s Graduate School for Theater Management and Producing.

—Steven A. McDonald