Hughes Wins Prestigious Award—and a Brush with Royalty

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What does a college student have to do to dance with Prince Albert of Monaco? Win a prestigious award, perhaps? That’s what it took for Carly Hughes to get to boogie with the prince and heir to the throne, who twirled her around the dance floor at the Waldorf-Astoria after she was honored by the Princess Grace Foundation last fall.

Hughes, who just graduated with a B.F.A. in musical theatre, received the Grace LeVine Theatre Award and a theatre scholarship from the Princess Grace Foundation, which honors and provides grants to aspiring artists in film, dance, theatre and playwriting. Established in 1982 by H.S.H. Prince Rainier and His family, the organization was named in honor of Princess Grace of Monaco—Prince Albert’s mother, otherwise known as Hollywood actress Grace Kelly—who strived to help young artists achieve their goals throughout her lifetime. Previous honorees include Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Angels in America, and Kate Robin, writer/producer on HBO’s drama Six Feet Under.

“When I found out I won this award, I felt very blessed, excited, shocked and overwhelmed,” says Hughes, who got the good news last summer while she was working at Seaside Music Theatre in Florida. “I found out right before a show—I think that may have been one of my best performances ever!”

Hughes applied for the Princess Grace Awards at the urging of a friend who was honored in 2002. She had to submit a videotape with two monologues and two songs, a CD with three songs, dance photos, a personal statement, and a nominator’s statement (from John Franceschina, distinguished professor of theatre). She is using the scholarship money to offset school expenses and to help her make the transition into the professional world. Hughes hopes to find work in New York City or Los Angeles.

A familiar face (and voice) to local audiences, Hughes has appeared in a number of School of Theatre and Pennsylvania Centre Stage performances. She has worked with several professional theatres, including West Virginia Public Theatre and Merry-Go-Round Playhouse. She was recently in the 2003 workshop of Robin Hood, a new musical created and directed by Martin Charnin (lyricist for Annie) and Thomas Meehan (writer of Annie and Hairspray).

In addition to dancing with Prince Albert, Hughes got to meet other members of the royal family, including Prince Albert’s father, H.S.H. Prince Rainier III, Princess of Hanover and Princess Stephanie of Monaco. “Meeting Prince Albert, as well as other residents of the Palace in Monte Carlo, was very exciting; it made me feel very special,” says Hughes. “The whole day and night were very eventful and full of so many wonderful memories.”

Since receiving the award and scholarship, Hughes has appeared in American Theatre Magazine and in the actor’s newspapers Backstage and Playbill. In addition, the A&E channel showed her dancing with Prince Albert. That may have given the impression that the unmarried prince was “off the market,” but the two were shown during a special on the world’s most eligible bachelors.

For more information on the Princess Grace Foundation, visit www.pgfusa.com.

Broyles Elected President of Society for American Music

Michael Broyles, distinguished professor of music and professor of American history, has been elected president of the Society for American Music, an international organization whose purpose is to inspire quality scholarship in American music in all its diversity and to stimulate its performance and creation. Broyles is serving as president-elect during 2004 and will assume the presidency in 2005 for a two-year term. He previously served on the society’s board of trustees and is currently a member of the editorial board of its journal, American Music.

Broyles, who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Texas at Austin, joined the School of Music faculty in 1994. His primary research interests are American music and the classic era, particularly Beethoven. He is the author of four books and numerous articles, including Mavericks and Other Traditions in American Music, just published by Yale University Press. He is currently writing a biography of 20th-century composer Leo Ornstein (with Denise Von Glahn) and preparing a scholarly edition of Ornstein’s Quintette for Piano and Strings for Music of the United States of America (MUSA). Among many other awards, Broyles has received two National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships.

The Society for American Music, a member of the American Council of Learned Societies, has more than 1,000 individual members and approximately 80 institutional members in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia. For more information on the organization, visit www.american-music.org.

Curran Honored for Reaching Out to His Students

Brian Curran, associate professor of art history, has been awarded the 2004 President’s Award for Engagement with Students. The annual award recognizes a Penn State faculty member who goes beyond his or her duties as a professor to engage and encourage students in their learning.

According to Stacey Howell, an art history master’s degree candidate, Curran stands out as an intelligent, witty professor whose door is always open to his students. “His energetic teaching style creates a positive classroom environment where the students are not forced to learn, but instead have the desire to learn.”

Jessica Boehman (’02 M.A. Art History), currently an art history Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, echoes Howell’s sentiments. “Brian is by far one of the most approachable professors with whom I’ve ever had the opportunity to work. He flourishes best in his one-on-one interaction with his students, and it is in these moments that his breadth of knowledge and his enthusiasm for the subject is most apparent.”

Curran teaches courses in Italian Renaissance art and in historiography and the history and theory of sculpture. He received his doctorate from Princeton University in 1997. Before coming to Penn State, he was a Teaching Fellow in the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University and, from 1984 to 1990, a member of the curatorial staff in the Department of Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Among other fellowships and grants, he recently received a research grant from the Renaissance Society of America. His book, The Egyptian Renaissance: The Afterlife of Ancient Egypt in Early Modern Italy, will be published by the University of Chicago Press this year. Curran is a recipient of the College of Arts and Architecture Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching and the Roy C. Buck Award for the best article in a refereed, scholarly journal by an untenured faculty member in the College of Arts and Architecture.