ISSUE 28 SPRING/SUMMER 2018 The Alumni Magazine of Columbia College Chicago Costume designer Beth Morgan outfits Netf lix’s GLOW Alumni level up in Earth video game industry BOUND Vershawn Sanders–Ward brings the TransAtlantic Project to the Dance Center stage Make A Gift Give to Columbia—any HEY, department, program, or scholarship fund. COLUMBIA Gift Matched Alum and Trustee Jeremy Efroymson MFA ’98 will match ALUMS! your gift with a donation to the new Student Center. Impact Doubled Double your impact today at colum.edu/giving DEMO28-FrontCvr-ad_3.indd 1 7/6/18 8:44 AM ISSUE 28 DEMO SPRING/SUMMER 2018 10 32 FEATURES PORTFOLIO DEPARTMENTS 10 Earth Bound 32 Rhinestone Rumble 3 Vision Questions for President Kwang-Wu Kim The TransAtlantic Project—led by Costume designer Beth Morgan ’02 Vershawn Sanders-Ward ’02—brings outfits the gorgeous ladies of Netflix’s 4 Wire Chicago’s Red Clay Dance Company GLOW. News from the Columbia community and Uganda’s Keiga Dance Company together at the Dance Center. 44 Alumni Shorts 36 Rule of Thirds Quick looks at cool projects 18 Play to Win Jess T. Dugan MFA ’14, Anahid 47 Alumni News & Notes EJ Baker ’12, Ali Cedroni ’16, and Blair Ghorbani MFA ’17, and Natalie Featuring class news, notes, Kuhlman ’13 unlock achievements in Krick MFA ’12 use photography to and networking the video game industry. explore bodies and identities. SPOT ONS 26 Melissa Albert ’06 grew up on fairytales. She created her own in the young adult novel The Hazel Wood. 28 Gina Reyes ’05 takes the lead on Hollywood diversity. 30 Kym Mazelle ’86 celebrates three decades as the First Lady of House music. DEMO 28 SPRING/SUMMER 2018 1 DEMO ISSUE 2826 SPRSPRING/SUMMERING/SUMMER 20182017 MAGAZINE STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Megan Kirby EDITORIALEDITORIAL ASSISTANTS ASSISTANT ChristineNegesti HickmanKaudo Negesti Kaudo MFA ’18 LEAD DESIGNERS JT Lachausse ’18 Chris Reyes LEADStefan DESIGNER Coisson Derilyn Chambers DESIGNER GRAPHICAlex DESIGN Martinez INTERN Amanda Melley GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN PHOTOGRAPHERMadeleine & Bennett PHOTO ’16PRODUCER Philip Dembinski ’08 STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER ALUMNIPhilip NEWS Dembinski & NOTES ’08 MANAGER Sarah Schroeder ’00 ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES MANAGER RESEARCHERChuck Lira ’08 Amy Wilson RESEARCHER Cover imageAmy by Philip Wilson Dembinski ’08 HIRE A Alumni Shorts illustrations by Dani Knight COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES COLUMBIA William E. Wolf William E. Wolf PRESIDENT PRESIDENT Kwang-Wu Kim, DMA STUDENT Kwang-Wu Kim, DMA VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS Deb Maue Are you in need of an intern or a full-time or part-time Shawn Wax employee? Columbia students are vibrant, motivated, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS AND ANNUAL GIVING and ready to make their mark on the world. Post your Miriam Smith job and internship opportunities for our students at ! DEMO (volume 12,13, number 2)1) is published by Columbia colum.joinhandshake.com College Chicago. DEMO is mailed free of charge to alumni and friends of the college two times per year. The ideas and opinions expressed are those of the writers alone For more information, contact Valerie Robbins, employer and do not necessarily reflect those of Columbia College Chicago. ©Columbia College Chicago 2017.2018. relations coordinator, at [email protected]. Contact us: For address changes or deletions, email your firstfirst andand last last name, name, mailingmailing address, address, city, city, state, state, zip codezip code, and phoneand phone number number to [email protected] to [email protected] and spec and- ifyspecify if your if yourrequest request is an is address an address update update or aor request a request to stopto stop receiving receiving DEMO DEMO. For. For other other inquiries, inquiries, email email demo@demo@ colum.edu, call 312-369-1000, or mail DEMO magazine,magazine, Columbia College Chicago, 600 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 527, Chicago, IL 60605. colum.edu/demo 2 DEMO 28 SPRING/SUMMER 2018 DEMO 28 SPRING/SUMMER 2018 1 Vision Questions FOR PRESIDENT KWANG-WU KIM DEMO: You just finished your fifth year of our signature academic programs with as president. What were some of the a vastly improved teaching and learning highlights? space, one that is worthy of the remarkable PRESIDENT KIM: A lot of positive and student and faculty work that has gone on encouraging things happened this year. in the Theatre Department for decades. I am We continued to move forward on a com- very much looking forward to welcoming prehensive curricular revision that is back our Theatre alumni for a reunion designed to bring our academic programs celebration in October. into the 21st century. We broke ground DEMO: The spring semester of 2018 has on our new 110,000-square-foot Student seen a string of student and alumni suc- Center and completed our gut renovation cesses. What success stories stand out to of the Getz Theater as a state-of-the-art you? What do they reflect about Columbia? teaching and performance space. Four PRESIDENT KIM: I had the same reaction alumni won national Emmy awards, and to the newer stories that I did when Lena Photography Professor Dawoud Bey received Waithe ’06 and our other alumni won Emmy a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.” awards last September: These achievements And we capped it all off with a typically reflect not only the talent and dedication lively Manifest and commencement of our students and alumni—and of the weekend. What more could you ask for? faculty who shaped their work—but also DEMO: From the Getz Theater Center a campus culture that is intentional in its renovations to the construction of the efforts to develop, promote, and support Student Center, there’s a lot of activity diverse forms of creative practice. For across campus. What does this mean for example, rising junior Patricia Frazier has the year ahead? been named the second National Youth PRESIDENT KIM: Both of these projects Poet Laureate, and the first from Chicago. are about fulfilling promises about the In conferring this distinction on her, the quality and value of this education that judges cited not only her poetic craft but we make to our students when they enter also her commitment to social justice and Columbia. When it opens next year, the youth development. Another example: Student Center will become a central hub Jessica Lu ’08, who has been cast in Reverie, and home for a student body—especially a new NBC summer drama, told the Chicago our sizeable population of commuter Sun-Times that she never saw anyone who students—that has needed one for a long looked like her on television when she time. It will also facilitate new forms of was growing up. It is so exciting for me to collaboration and creative practice that will contemplate that Columbia perhaps has support the college’s updated curriculum. prepared her to be that role model for some The Getz Theater, in turn, will provide one of the show’s young viewers. DEMO 28 SPRING/SUMMER 2018 3 Wire NEWS FROM THE COLUMBIA COMMUNITY SAM KIRK PARTICIPATES IN INTERNATIONAL MURAL EXCHANGE Chicago Sister Cities International (CSCI) and Columbia College Chicago’s Wabash Arts Corridor (WAC) teamed up to facilitate a mural art exchange between Chicago and Casablanca, Morocco. The mural exchange celebrates the 35th anniversary of Chicago’s partnership with Casablanca, which became a sister city in 1982. The Casablanca Committee of CSCI se- lected Chicago muralist Sam Kirk ’05 and Casablanca artist Abedellatif Farhate (Ka- lamour) to participate in the exchange. Kirk visited Casablanca in late April as the first woman to participate in the city’s annual CasaMouja Festival, during which a mouja (wave) of new murals was produced through- out the city. Kalamour will visit Chicago in September to install a mural. He will be the first artist from North Africa to join the Wabash Arts Corridor and his work will add to the large- scale murals by local and international artists in Chicago’s South Loop. Sam Kirk ’05 traveled to Casablanca, Morocco, as part of a mural art exchange. AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE PROGRAM TURNS 25 Columbia College Chicago is one of just 13 four-year colleges to offer a degree in American Sign Language (ASL) and boasts a faculty entirely made up of Deaf instructors. The depart- ment works to empower the Deaf community by creating an immersive experience and offers courses such as Musical Interpretation, Theatre Interpretation, ASL Literature, Deaf Representation in the Media, and Deaf Theatre Production. Columbia’s ASL program celebrated its 25th anniversary with an event highlighting the Deaf community’s impact on Chicago, culture, art, and industry. Alumni, students, faculty, staff, and industry leaders from the ASL community enjoyed a day of panel discussions, workshops, and poster sessions, culminating in an evening soiree and keynote speaker presentation. In 1993, the Interpreting Training Program joined Columbia’s English Department after a proposal from faculty member and professional interpreter Michael Fryzlewicz. Demand for an ASL program was high, and the Interpreting Training Program evolved into the ASL Department after Deaf Studies became a major in 2014. “It’s important that the ASL Department provides a model of empowerment and visibility to everyone—not just the Deaf community,” said Peter Cook, the first Deaf chair to lead the department. “We aren’t just talking about it; we are putting it in action.” ASL Chair Peter Cook takes the stage. 4 DEMO 28 SPRING/SUMMER 2018 Wire COLUMBIA DEBUTS BLACK ARTS FESTIVAL In February, Columbia College Chicago hosted the Black Arts Festival, the first event of its kind to celebrate the academic and artistic excellence of the college’s black community.