Alumni
activity breeds activity in the acting world
By Amy Milgrub Marshall
You may not recognize the name Sam Freed, but there’s a good chance you’ve seen him. The actor has appeared in television shows ranging from Sex and the City and Law and Order to sit-coms such as Kate and Allie and Ferris Bueller. You might have also seen him on the big screen in Jack the Bear and For the Boys (among other films), or in numerous Broadway, off-Broadway and regional productions.
So how has Freed (’70 B.A. Theatre) racked up such an impressive resume? “Activity breeds activity,” he explains, citing advice he received from an agent early in his career. “The best advice I got from an agent when I was just starting out in New York was to stay involved.”
As a theatre major at Penn State, Sam was very involved, taking advantage of every opportunity to develop his acting skills. He appeared in student productions and class projects and performed in musicals with the Thespians. “The thing I recognize as most important during my time at Penn State is that I was always in something,” he notes.
A native of York, Pa., Sam applied to Penn State at the urging of some friends who were attending the University. “I hadn’t even visite
d the theatre department,” he says. “I didn’t know where the Playhouse was. Hadn’t seen the Creamery, let alone the Pavilion Theatre. I was to discover all of that my first semester there.”
Freed’s first production at Penn State was Under Milkwood, directed by Lowell Manfull. He fondly remembers Lowell and his wife, Helen, crediting them with establishing a sense of family within the theatre department. “What an incredible asset they were to the department. They were the best of parents in the guise of great instructors and artists,” he notes. “They represented an immediate feeling of family that, as a kid away from home for the first time, I really appreciated—whether I was willing to admit it or not.”
In addition to acting in numerous student productions while at Penn State, Freed had the opportunity to work with professionals through the artist-in-residence program and Festival Theatre (now Pennsylvania Centre Stage). “There is only so much you can learn in class and in student productions. Just observing professionals at work was an incredibly valuable experience.”
While apprenticing with Festival Theatre, his observation of one actor, Barrie Youngfellow, evolved into a relationship, and the two later married. The couple has worked together on book narrations and other projects.
Another professional Freed was fortunate to meet was director Jon Jory, who hired him straight out of college to work with the emerging Actors Theatre of Louisville. While he was with Actors Theatre, he got his Equity card and “some much-needed confidence that I might actually be able to be an actor.”
Freed moved to New York City in January 1971. After a stint building sets and some jobs in dinner and summer theatres, in August 1971 he was cast in an improvisational show, the Proposition, following a fortuitous meeting with an agent. “Getting anything in New York was pretty tough then. This was an incredible experience for me, both in getting a better feeling for myown presence and confidence on stage, and for teaching me to ‘stay alive’ and think when acting.”
Luck was in Sam’s favor once again, a year or so later, when Stephen Sondheim came to see a review he was doing, and then later brought with him Harold Prince, who was casting a revival production of Candide on Broadway. Prince asked Freed if he would participate in a reading of the libretto, and Sam later auditioned for the role that he read and was cast. “The exposure I got doing that show was probably most important in getting me out and into the business.”
Television offers followed, and in the late 1980s Freed was cast as a regular on the CBS sit-com Kate and Allie. He played Bob Barsky, Allie’s boyfriend, from 1987 to 1989. He says Kate and Allie was a breakthrough show because it dealt with single women and their issues in raising their own families. “There was no denying it was a sit-com, but the shows always had a little, unpretentious message that was delivered with intelligence. I think that’s why audiences responded to it.”
Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, Freed popped up in numerous television programs. He has appeared on all three of the shows in the Law and Order series and on Third Watch, Murder She Wrote and Mork and Mindy, among others. Currently he is focusing more on his theatre work. “The other stuff pays the bills, but I still prefer the stage,” he notes.
In addition to Candide, he appeared on Broadway in Harvey Firestein’s Torch Song Trilogy. Off-Broadway credits include Brown at Ensemble Studio Theatre and Ron McLarty’s The Folsum Head at the Currican Theatre, among others. He has appeared in regional theatres around the country, recently performing in Address Unknown at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J., and Don’t Dress for Dinner at the Cape Playhouse on Cape Cod.
Freed does not deny that luck plays a big part in a successful acting career. “The only really consistent thing about pursuing a career is the inconsistency. All the rejection and self-analysis can take a tough toll on an individual’s ego. If you’re lucky enough, as I was, you can get some experiences early and often enough that keep you going.”
Class Notes
Architecture
Howard Douglas Sherback (’71 B.S. Arch.) has been working as an architect in Israel since 1972, spending the last 28 years with Israel Electric Co. He is the managing director of a substation and gas turbine building facility.
Art History
Sara Detweiler Loughman (’93 B.A.) resides in Phoenix, Ariz., with her husband, Dr. Thomas J. Loughman, and their new daughter, born on October 6, 2005. Loughman is the program manager of the Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory (PURL) of the College of Design at Arizona State University. She was formerly the registrar for special exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she worked for eight years. Her husband (former visiting professor in Penn State’s Department of Art History) is the curator of European art at the Phoenix Art Museum.
Thomas Morton (’95 B.A.) is an assistant professor at Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. in the history of art in 2003 from the University of Pennsylvania and taught at Swarthmore College from 2003 to 2005. Morton has held several fellowships, including: Fulbright Scholarship to Tunisia; Archaeological Institute of America’s Woodruff Traveling Fellowship to the Western Mediterranean; and the School of Arts and Sciences dissertation fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania. He was the assistant director of the Jerba Archaeological Project in Tunisia and participated in a rescue archaeology project in Carthage.
Integrative Arts
Chris Nellen (’91 B.A.) received an M.A. in creative writing from Hofstra University in December 2005.
Landscape Architecture
Krista Straka Schneider (’92 B.S.) recently published a book, Paris-Lexington Road: Community-Based Planning and Context-Sensitive Highway Design. She is married to Robert Schneider and they have two children, Ben and Ella.
Kelly Draper Zuniga (’93 B.S.) received her M.S. in community development from the University of California at Davis and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado. She married Miguel Zuniga in November 2005.
Scott K. Munroe (’98 B.L.A.) received a 2003 Honor Award from the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (RIASLA).
Music
Nora Gavenonis Burridge (’67 B.S. Music Ed., Concert Choir) was elected president of the 5,000-member Pennsylvania Music Educators Association for 2004–06. Burridge recently retired from teaching music in the Ridley School District in Pennsylvania.
Janet Rosen Fantozzi (’75 B.S. Music Ed., ’82 M.Ed. Music Ed.) was named the 2004 Teacher of the Year in Farmington, Conn.
MaryLee Geros (’80 B.S. Music Ed.) was selected a second time for inclusion in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (first in May 2005 and second in January 2006), after being nominated by former students. Only 5 percent of teachers throughout the nation are honored in an edition and fewer than 2 percent are included in more than one edition. Geros teaches elementary general/vocal music (K–5) in the Montgomery County Public School District in Maryland.
Renee Levin Brandler (’82 B.S. Music Ed., Marching Blue Band, Concert Blue Band, Wind Ensemble) taught music (instrumental, general, special education) for two decades and then made a career switch to educational administration. She received her M.A. in educational administration and supervision from Montclair State University in May 2004. Brandler has served, for three years, as the director of the Mount Tabor Summer Music School in Morristown, N.J. In July 2005, she was promoted from elementary music teacher to principal of Troy Hills School in Parsippany, N.J., one of 10 elementary schools in the district. Brandler has been married for 21 years to Jeffrey (’82 B.S. Psychology) and they have two children, ages 19 and 14.
Ann Van Allen Russell (’89 B.A. Music) has recently been appointed senior lecturer and deputy head of undergraduate programs at Trinity College of Music in London, where she has been teaching for the last four years. She holds an M.Mus. in historical musicology from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of London-Goldsmiths College. She is currently working on a book, Musicians and the Law in England from 1740 to 1842, which centers on the individual relationships between composers and publishers in London during the 18th century. Ann is a member of a major research project, “The London Stage: 1801–1900,” based at Oxford University, and is also an active baroque and classical flautist.
Bruce Tychinski (’92 B.M., ’95 M.Mus., Wind Ensemble, Centre Dimensions, Trombone Choir) was recently appointed assistant professor of trombone at the University of Southern Mississippi. In July 2005, he reunited with fellow Penn State alumni Matt Neff (’92 B.S. Music Ed.), Sean Reusch (’91 B.A. Psychology) and Jon Moyer (’93 B.S. Music Ed.) of the Nittany Trombone Quartet to perform several concerts and conduct educational workshops at York College, in York, Pa., and Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, Va.
Matthew Reese (’97 B.S. Music Ed., B.A. Music, Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras, Symphonic Wind Ensemble) completed his doctorate at Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University and was the first graduate of Peabody’s new wind conducting program. He was recently appointed assistant conductor of the U.S. Air Force Band in Washington, D.C., becoming the first Air National Guard band officer to transfer to active duty. Reese is currently captain, flight commander and assistant conductor of the U.S. Air Force Band.
Mark Boyer (’97 B.S. Music Ed., Blue Band, Pep Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Brass Choir, Brass Quintets [various], Inner Dimensions Jazz Ensemble, Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra) recently completed a project in which he orchestrated hymns from the United Methodist Hymnal for the United Methodist Publishing House, a division of Abingdon Press. After eight years of teaching in Troy School District, Boyer is now the director of secondary bands with East Lycoming School District in Pennsylvania.
Mary Margaret Brown Wilson (’00 B.S. Music Ed.) is currently teaching fifth and sixth grade band and classroom/music technology at a college preparatory school in Wilmington, Del. She married Robert Wilson on July 2, 2005, and now lives in Bear, Del.
Performing Arts
Carol Stone Feinberg (’60 B.S. Education/Social Studies, Penn State Player) has recently retired from her teaching position with the Alief Independent School District in Houston, Texas.
David Cutler (’98 B.S. Telecommunications, Blue Band) is currently working as an editor on The Apprentice. He has also worked on such TV shows as Survivor and The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.
Theatre
Ed Lange (’76 M.F.A.), associate artistic director of New York City Theatre Institute, has written numerous plays, including Sherlock’s Legacy, The Heart of Troy and Magna Carta. He has directed such productions as Born Yesterday, which toured Sweden in September 2005, and The Killing Tale, which won a 2004 Audie Award in Chicago.
Kathy Cannarozzi Harris (’92 M.A. Costume Design) was awarded the 2005 Orange County Educator of the Year Award by Arts Orange County for her contributions to educational leadership in Orange County, Calif.
Lahne Mattas Curry (’92 B.A.) received her master’s degree in marketing from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., in May 2005. Her thesis was an applied marketing research project for the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Md., in which she helped determine who its audience was and how best to reach more people in order to increase subscription sales.
Chris Loprete (’93 B.A., Thespians) wrote and performed his one-man show, You’re from Philly, Charlie Brown! in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
G. Valmont Thomas (’96 M.F.A., Pennsylvania Centre Stage) joined the theatre arts faculty at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln last year after spending seven seasons as a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Recent appearances in OSF have included the roles of Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Boy Willie in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and Lincoln in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. Thomas will be appearing as Falstaff in OSF’s 2006 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Wendy Mills (’98 B.A., Thespians, One-Act Theatre) had a guest-starring role on the pilot episode of Eve, starring rap artist Eve and actress Ali Landry. In addition, Mills played Rose in the independent film Part Avec le Vent, which was scheduled to be screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. She has also appeared in numerous commercials for companies including Budweiser, Diet Pepsi and Jack in the Box.
Emily Richmond Carpenter (’02 B.F.A.) and her husband have just finished touring with Cirque de Soleil.
Patricia Grabb (’05 B.F.A., Outlaws Playwrights Workshop, U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology) is working backstage on the national Broadway tour of Miss Saigon
Visual Arts
Joe Servello (’59 B.S. Art Ed.) was inducted into the Blair County Arts Hall of Fame in 2005. He received the Leadership and Service Award from Penn State’s College of Education in 2002, which is given annually to those alumni who have demonstrated outstanding leadership service to the community. Along with fellow Penn State alumnus Bill Moffitt, Servello opened an art gallery in downtown Altoona. The gallery exclusively features Servello’s work, which includes painting, sculpture, illustration, scenic design and extensive mural work. His work has appeared in a number of national magazines and his paintings are on view in various public collections. His murals can been seen in such places as Penn State’s Chambers and Keller buildings, the Altoona Railroaders Museum and Public Library, Amtrak Station, Penn-Mont Academy and other public buildings in Altoona.
James V. Mascitelli (’73 B.F.A., ’88 M.F.A.) has retired and is working in his studio in Altoona, Pa. His most recent exhibition was at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Altoona from December 2005 through January 2006.
“Lost Souls” (2004) by Cynthia Nixon Hudson (’74 M.Ed. Art Ed.) is now included in the permanent collection at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, 40 West 53rd Street. The museum is dedicated to 20th- and 21st-century craft, art and design.
Kenneth Hall (’78 M.Ed. Art Ed.) celebrated the birth of his fifth son, Aidan, in February 2005. He recently had a one-man exhibit of his artwork at the Huston Gallery in Pittsburgh. This is his 28th year teaching art in the Pittsburgh public schools.
Julie Farr (’80 B.A.) has been named executive director of the Society for Contemporary Art Craft in Pittsburgh. SCC is one of a handful of craft organizations worldwide that showcases challenging works in clay, fiber, wood, glass, metal and found materials.
Paul Duda (’89 B.F.A.) held two one-man photography shows this past year. Modified Perception: The Hutongs of China was held in November 2005 at A Leaf Gallery in New Haven, Ct., and Modified Perception: St. Petersburg, Russia ran in December 2005 at the OKHarris Gallery in New York City.
Jacqueline Olmstead DiMascio (’89 B.A.) married her best friend, Ben, on November 14, 2005. In addition to her work as a senior designer for Applied Creative Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz., she also owns a small jewelry design company with an international market.
Mike Forlenza (’93 B.A.) holds 15 U.S. design patents and one international design patent.
Roman Coia (’92 B.F.A.) recently completed photography of 13 images, composed of classic pin-up models with classic cars from the 1920s through the 1960s, for the 2006 Classic Models Calendar. Coia has just released his new Web site: www.romancoia.com.
Kathi Shoemaker Mello (’94 B.A.) is the creative art director for CertaPro Painters. She has three children: Lily (7), Harrison (4) and Cooper (2).
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Passing
Alfred Kieselbach (’55 D.Ed. Art Ed) passed away on October 24, 2004.
