The new Theatre Advisory Board’s first event was held on Saturday, Sept. 21, in honor of Sheldon Patinkin, who was chair of the former theatre department from 1980 until 2009 and continued as a professor until his death in 2014.
The free event held at The Getz Theatre Center, 72 E. 11th St., featured a panel discussion with people who worked alongside Patinkin, a tour of the building and an open forum.
The advisory board was created for the School of Theatre and Dance and aims to create community and connections with both alumni and other theater professionals for current students.
Alum Victor Holstein, a 2004 acting graduate, and Alex Rhyan, a 2015 technical theatre graduate, co-chair the board.
Holstein said Patinkin is so revered because he touched so many student lives during his almost 30 years at Columbia.
“He would be very helpful in connecting students with certain directors after they graduated, or while at school, or helped them get auditions. He was personally involved in almost every student’s career. It was kind of amazing,” Holstein said.
Patinkin shared his experience as chair of the former theatre department, which was merged with the former dance department at the start of this semester, in a 1998 interview for the Columbia College Oral History Project.
Former Columbia President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim dedicated the Getz Theatre Center’s lower-level studio performance space, which had been called the New Studio Theatre, as the Sheldon Patinkin Theatre in 2015.
As part of the board’s first event, new lettering with Patinkin’s name will be added to the theatre.
Senior theatre design major Al Villanueva said the board will be beneficial to majors in the theater program due to the experience of the members.
“It would just help ease us into our own futures and figure out what we need to learn more from people who are just getting into the business versus the professionals that are already teaching us,” said Villanueva.
Junior theatre tech and design major Eddie Mel-Morales was also eager to see what the board had planned.
“I think it’d be cool to have people from outside of the school who are obviously working on the field,” said Mel-Morales.
Holstein emphasized the connection between Patinkin’s impact and the creation of the board as Patinkin’s efforts to cultivate students’ careers will be carried on.
“There was always this sense of not only did you know Sheldon has all this knowledge and really cares about you; because of him, you sort of felt like you were also connected and privileged into that world. And I would hope that we could sort of be an extension of that,” said Holstein.
Other members are Tyla Abercrumbie, a 1992 music graduate; Kaiser Ahmed, a 2008 theatre directing graduate; Orion Barnes, a 1997 acting graduate; Almanya Narula, a 2016 acting and advanced management graduate; Savana Nix, a 2009 costume design graduate; Michaela Petro, a 2013 theatre graduate; Cassandra Rose, a 2010 playwriting graduate; Joanie Schultz, a 2000 directing graduate; J. Cody Spellman, a 2013 theatre directing graduate; Michael Stahl-David, a 2005 acting graduate; John Zuiker, a 2005 theatre design graduate; and actress and playright Regina Taylor, who received an honorary doctorate of arts from Columbia in 2011.
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