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Students met with industry veterans and College of Arts and Letters alumni Jack Epps Jr. (lower left photo) and Bill Mechanic (right photo).

digital and information technology, theme parks, motion picture equipment, cable television, user experience, directors, producers, writers, camera operators, and music professionals. In short, something for every student’s interests.

College of Arts and Letters alumni were well represented by entertainment industry veterans Bill and Carol Mechanic, Jack Epps Jr., and Peter Stougaard. Former MSU College of Communications Arts & Sciences professor Dan Marsh, currently creative director at MPC Studios, and DreamWorks animator Tim Johnson and IT professional Dave Dinsmore also provided valuable looks into their respective companies’ inner workings.

Newer College of Arts and Letters alumni working in the entertainment industry who also met with students included Richa Choubey, Megan Gawlik, and 2014 L.A. Study Away participant and studio art and media information alumna Mary Cox. MSU alum and psychology major Jeffrey Weisenbach also met with the group.

And that wasn’t all. There were two social events teeming with networking opportunities, including an evening reception for MSU alumni at Disney Studios (where MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon asked each student to name two things that MSU means to them), and a fun younger alumni mixer with approximately 40-45 MSU grads at a neighborhood restaurant and pizzeria.

To top off their star sightings, the Creativity and Entertainment in L.A. group even got a look at a presidential motorcade during their night off in Santa Monica, as President Obama happened to be visiting Los Angeles while they were there.

In summing up the trip, participating students, faculty and alumni all agree: It was a highly valuable study away program filled with opportunities taken!

The second commissioned work of the Big Ten Theatre Consortium’s New Play Initiative for Women Playwrights is Baltimore by Kirsten Greenidge. The play is a contemporary story about the loss of innocence and the coming of age of a student forced to encounter the social ramifications of difference and her own cultural relevance.

Consortium members will produce the play during the 2015-2016 season. The MSU Department of Theatre is the second program to produce the play, after the University of Maryland.

Greenidge’s work shines a strong light on the intersection of race and class in America, and she enjoys the challenge of placing underrepresented voices on stage. In May 2012, Kirsten received an Obie for her play Milk Like Sugar, which was also awarded a TCG Edgerton grant and a San Diego Critics Award.

Greenidge attended Wesleyan University and The Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa. Early in her career, she was a recipient of the Lorraine Hansberry Award and the Mark David Cohen Award by the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival. Greenidge is an assistant professor of theatre at Boston University’s Center for Fine Art, a resident playwright at New Dramatists, and a member of Boston’s Rhombus writing group.

About BaltimoreWhen Shelby accepts a resident advisor position at her university, she believes it is the perfect addition to her resume. A millennial with helicopter parents to prove it, Shelby’s used to planning everything down to the minute. Her plans change suddenly when a racially charged incident occurs on her watch and she has no idea how to respond.

Suddenly, her students demand she take sides. But choosing who to believe and how to act is complicated. Was the incident a joke? Or are its roots deeper than Shelby wants to admit? Does it speak to some part of the American experience that, despite being black, Shelby just does not know how to talk about?

Former MSU Theatre minor Jacob Cooper designed the Department of Theatre’s graphics for the 2015-16 season’s productions including BALTIMORE. Cooper is a senior designer in New York City for SpotCo, one of the world’s leading full-service arts and live entertainment advertising and branding agencies.

Initiative for Women PlaywrightsIn 2010, leaders of the Big Ten Theatre Consortium recognized an under-representation of women in theatre, both as playwrights and in the availability of substantial female roles, particularly those suitable for college-age actors. Uniquely positioned to address this need, the Big Ten Theatre chairs decided to commission, produce, and publicize three new works by female playwrights over a three-year period, with a secondary goal of creating strong age-appropriate roles for young women.

Playwrights who write for the Big Ten Theatre Consortium Initiative for Women Playwrights receive $10,000, funded by the participating Big Ten Universities. The sole criterion: plays must include at least seven roles for women.

The Consortium’s first commissioned playwright was Naomi Iizuka, whose play, Good Kids, was and is being produced exclusively by Big Ten universities through 2016. Iizuka is professor and head of playwriting at the University of California at San Diego. She is the author of more than 25 plays, including Polaroid Stories and 36 Views, and has received the PEN/Laura Pels Award and the Whiting Writers Award.

In 2014-15, Good Kids received full productions at the Universities of Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Maryland, and Indiana University, Purdue University and Penn State University. Staged readings were held at the University of Illinois, The Ohio State University, the University of Minnesota, and Michigan State University.

Kirsten Greenidge’s Baltimore is Second Play of Big Ten Initiative for Women Playwrights

AN ENGINE OF OPPORTUNITY

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