Office for the Arts announces 2002 Arts Prize Winners
Each year the Council on the Arts faces a task that is as daunting as it is delightful: choosing the students who will receive prizes for their work in the Arts from among their many talented peers. This year the quality of work was so except-ional and so varied that several of the prizes have been awarded to more than one student.
The President of Harvard University will award the Louis Sudler Prize
for outstanding student achievement in the Arts (established in 1983)
during ARTS FIRST, Harvard’s annual celebration of the Arts. The
presentation of the award will take place during the Presi-dent’s
Reception, held on Saturday, May 4th from 5 pm to 7 pm under the ARTS
FIRST tent. The Louis Sudler award is presented annually to the senior
with the most outstanding artistic talent and achievement in the composition
or performance in the arts. This year the Sudler Prize, including a cash
award of $1,000 each, has been awarded to three students: Christopher
Hossfeld (Music), Cary McClelland (Theater), and Jeff Sheng (Visual Arts.)
The Sudler Prize is one of four annual Arts Prizes, sponsored by the Office
for the Arts at Harvard and selected by the Council on the Arts, a standing
committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which recognize outstanding
accomplishments in the arts. The complete listing of this year’s
prize recipients includes:
Christopher Hossfeld ‘02, Cary McClelland ‘02, and Jeff Sheng
‘02 are the recipients of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts and
will each receive a cash prize of $1000. The Sudler prize recognizes
the senior with the most outstanding artistic talent and achievement in
the composition or performance of music, drama, dance, or the visual arts.
The award honors the sum of a student’s artistic accomplishments
achieved over the four-year academic period. This year Hossfeld, McClelland,
and Sheng will share the award.
A resident of Leverett House, Christopher Hossfeld has been awarded
this prize as recognition of his talented work as a singer and composer.
Hossfeld has been a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum
(HRCM) during all four of his undergraduate years. In addition to singing
tenor, he has conducted the expert twelve-voice student choral ensemble,
the Chamber Singers. He has studied composition at Harvard, the American
Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, and as a visiting student at the
University of York. His compositions, including Sonata for Solo Violin,
Stitch-counting (an operetta), and In just (based on an e.e. cummings
text) have been performed by the HRCM and chosen for performance in the
2000 Thelma E. Goldberg Concert. Hossfeld has been a featured pianist
for many chamber music performances in the music department and student
houses. This spring, he will perform the entire Schubert song cycle Die
schöne Müllerin.
Cary McClelland, an affiliate of Pforzheimer House, has been awarded
this prize in recognition of his talent as an actor, director, and producer.
He has been involved with 16 dramatic productions while at Harvard and
has served as President of the HRDC. His acting credits include Great
God Brown (a visiting director’s project on the Loeb Mainstage),
The Madness of King George III, The Importance of Being Earnest, Picasso
at the Lapin Agile, Richard III, and the student-written Odeon, to name
but a few. McClelland has directed or produced Odeon, Miss Julie, Julius
Caesar, and The Firebugs. He has produced, directed, and designed productions
for the Double Edge Drama Company that were performed at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.
McClelland has served as Co-President of the Hyperion Theatre Company
and, in his time as President of the HRDC, was instrumental in fostering
and promoting better communication between the undergraduate theater community
and the A.R.T. In May, McClelland will direct Sweeney Todd at the Loeb
Mainstage. Robert Orchard, Managing Director of the A.R.T. and director
of the Loeb Drama Center, says of him that "Cary is a renaissance
man of the theatre. I can see him equally at home as an actor, director,
or producer. He has remarkable range and theatrical intuition - all the
ingredients to be a great artistic director and institutional leader."
A resident of Eliot House, Jeff Sheng, has been awarded the Louis
Sudler prize for his work in photography. A Visual and Environmental Studies
concentrator, Sheng’s work was recently featured as a show, Once
Upon a Time… with Katherine Taylor, meditating on the themes of beauty,
fantasy and their interpretation, at the Green Street Gallery in Boston.
As an undergraduate he has studied with acclaimed photographer Nan Goldin.
Sheng intends to pursue photography as a career upon graduation.
Sara Heller ‘02 and Sarah I. Meyers ‘02 are the recipients
of the Radcliffe Doris Cohen Levi Prize of $750. The prize recognizes
a Harvard college student who combines talent and energy with outstanding
enthusiasm for musical theatre at Harvard and honors the memory of Doris
Cohen Levi, Radcliffe, 1935. This year Heller and Meyers will share the
award.
A resident of Eliot House, Sara Heller has been involved with over
fourteen musical theater and dramatic productions at Harvard. Her choreographing
credits include Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ruthless! The Musical (both
of which she also directed), The Bartered Bride (a Dunster House Opera
production), and the Hasty Pudding Theatricals 154, Snow Place Like Home
(as an assistant choreographer). In addition, she directed Into the Woods
on the Loeb Mainstage. She has danced for several productions including
Troilus and Cressida and has served in technical and lighting capacities
for numerous other shows. Heller has served as a Technical Liaison to
the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) and as a financial assistant
to the College Theatre Programs office. Heller’s most recent choreographic
work can be seen in the upcoming production of Les Phys, running May 9-11
at the Agassiz Theatre.
When asked to reflect on her experience working in theater at Harvard,
Heller replied "Theater at Harvard is a unique institution, as it
is not part of an academic department. Because of that, anyone can accomplish
any project they wish with enough effort. I have found that the openness
of the system has allowed me great flexibility in my artistic projects,
giving me the chance to experiment, push myself, and grow as an artist.
Most of all, I think participating in the arts here has given me a unique
chance to communicate with other people. Whether discussing character
choices with actors, teaching cast members a dance, talking about the
set, lights and sound with staff members, or making audiences laugh, cry,
and think, working on artistic projects at Harvard has facilitated my
making connections with other people."
Asked to describe her most exciting experience in theater at Harvard she
says, "I would have to say directing and choreographing Kiss of the
Spider Woman. Not only did the project push my personal limits in terms
of expanding beyond what I had previously accomplished, but it also challenged
everyone involved. I worked closely with many of the cast members until
they felt they could accomplish things they never could before, be it
a dance or an acting performance. I also got the chance to share what
I considered a really important and thought-provoking piece with members
of the Harvard community who came to see the show, pushing them to rethink
prejudices and consider new viewpoints. In the end, I believe that’s
what theater is about: getting people to understand each other better
and think through new and different ideas. Kiss of the Spider Woman helped
facilitate that in all sorts of ways."
Reflecting on what winning the Radcliffe Doris Cohen Levi Prize meant
to her, Heller said "It’s funny, with all the time I’ve
spent working on projects, not once has this type of external recognition
crossed my mind. In the professional world, perhaps art becomes about
recognition, be it money or awards like Tonys and Oscars. But at Harvard,
the only motivation is to create a product you think is worthwhile through
a process that inspires everyone else involved. So I think this kind of
award takes on a more significant meaning in that it means that the projects
in which I’ve been involved have not only had an effect on those
who helped them take place, but also on those who saw them. It means I
truly haven’t been spending all of my time in the theater for myself,
but that my art has had an impact on others, which for me, is the ideal,
and, as cheesy as it might sound, I really do feel like I share this with
all the people who have worked on shows with me. Theater does not happen
because of one person, but because of the enormous commitment of so many.
I may have worked hard to create a lot of art, but without all the casts,
staffs, and audiences, I would have made no contribution to Harvard’s
musical theater scene at all."
Sarah I. Meyers, a resident of Adams House, has been an active
member of the Dunster House Opera (DHO) Society for three years. For the
DHO, she has directed three operas: The Marriage of Figaro, The Bartered
Bride, and The Magic Flute. Other directing credits include Orontea and
Bastien und Bastienne for the Harvard Early Music Society, and Ruddigore
for the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players (HRG&SP). She
was also the assistant director for Enrico IV at the American Repertory
Theatre (A.R.T.) this past semester. Her on-campus acting credits include
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Nurse Ratched), Utopia and H.M.S.
Pinafore (both HRG&SP productions), Candide (a DHO production), and
Great Expectations. A composer whose work has been performed by the Harvard
Radcliffe Contemporary Music Ensemble, Meyers is also a member of the
Harvard Radcliffe Collegium Musicum and the University Choir. She will
appear in the HRDC production of Sweeney Todd, running from April 26-May
4 at the Loeb Mainstage, and plans sometime to be an opera director
.
Thinking back on her experience participating in theater at Harvard Meyers
says "The most wonderful thing about doing theater and/or music at
Harvard is the overwhelming talent of your fellow students. I came to
Harvard expecting the students to be intelligent and passionate, but it
was a welcome surprise to learn that they were also incredibly gifted,
creative, and inspiring. I may be unique in that I chose to come to Harvard
because of its opera performance, but I found the opportunities in music
and art even exceeded my expectations."
She continues, saying that the most interesting aspect of participating
in the arts at Harvard is that "Every production is unique. I can’t
select one as the most interesting or exciting, because each one had its
respective challenges and triumphs, and from each one, I learned. That
said, your last major production always looms foremost in your mind, and
DHO’s The Marriage of Figaro will always hold a special place in
my heart. A supportive and creative staff, a brilliant and talented cast,
and passionate committed people added up to a really exciting and meaningful
rendition of one of the greatest operas ever written. Adapting the opera
to suit the Harvard community was an incredibly rewarding challenge. We
built that production from the bottom-up, and so it belonged to everyone
who worked on it in a very personal way."
When considering what winning the Radcliffe Doris Cohen Levi Prize means
to her Meyers says "Opera at Harvard has a sort of strange marginalized
place – neither a part of the theater community or the music community,
it is too often overlooked by both. It has been my personal goal to convince
our community that opera can be an ideal combination of music and drama,
in which the quality of the music is not sacrificed to the theater, or
vice versa, but rather both are developed in tandem, complementing and
strengthening the other. Receiving this award primarily as an opera director,
I feel that it is a sort of triumph for the art form itself. No production
is made by one person, though. If my work has been noteworthy here, it
has been due to the energy and effort of cast and staff, together. Harvard
students sacrifice sleep, academic commitments, relationships and more
to bring quality productions to this campus. In a way, I feel like this
award acknowledges not so much me, but rather everyone who has worked
with me on any of my past shows. For their love, passion, inspiration,
and time, I will always be grateful."
Emily Knapp ‘03 is the recipient of the $500 Jonathan Levy Award
in recognition for the most promising undergraduate actor at the College.
A resident of Leverett House, Knapp has performed in numerous and varied
productions while at Harvard. Her Loeb Mainstage appearances include Margaret
in The Father and Bunny Flingues in The House of Blue Leaves. She has
also appeared as Babette in Firebugs, Theresa in The Memory of Water and
Hapgood in Hapgood at the Loeb Experimental Theater. Appearances outside
the Harvard community include local productions staged by Underground
Railway Theater and The Boston Music Theater Project. Knapp’s theatrical
activities have informed her Harvard academic career; currently, Knapp
is pursuing studies in aesthetics and theatrical theory of the 20th century.
This spring Knapp will take on the coveted role of Mrs. Lovett in the
upcoming HRDC production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeny Todd in addition
to sound designing the Loeb Experimental Theater production of Griselda
Gambaro’s Information for Foreigners.
Kate Agresta ‘02 and Marvin Pittman ‘02 are co-recipients
of the Louise Donovan Award, which recognizes the Harvard students
who have worked behind the scenes in the arts, for example, as a director,
producer, or accompanist, contributing most to the success of a production
and the opportunity for others to shine.
A resident of Cabot House, Kate Agresta has been involved in the
Harvard theatre community for all four years undergraduate years. She
has served as the Co-Chair of the Hyperion Theatre Company, as a student
coordinator on the ARTS FIRST planning committee, and, most recently,
as Vice President and Mainstage Coordinator of HRDC. Agresta has always
been willing to lend a hand to shows in need of technical assistance.
In addition to encouraging the undergraduate theatre community, she has
been instrumental in facilitating better communication between the ART
and the undergraduate theatre community during her time as Vice President
of the HRDC. One of her achievements this year involved coordinating a
complex semester long acting workshop bringing together undergraduate
actors and professional company members from the ART. Her work "behind
the scenes" of Harvard theatre has been supplemented by her work
as an accomplished actress of the Harvard stage. This spring, Agresta
will assistant direct Sweeney Todd on the Loeb Mainstage.
A resident of Pforzheimer House, Marvin Pittman has been instrumental
in the planning of the Harvard Black Arts Festival (BAF) and the production
of several Pforzheimer House Music Society operas. Pittman’s achievements
as a member of the executive board of the BAF include serving as the Festival’s
Performance Arts Co-Chair (2000), the Festival Coordinator (2001), and
Director of Development (2002). He has also produced and directed several
productions and workshops for the BAF, including Sankofa (a performing
arts showcase), the Sunday Jazz Brunch, and Streetpeople by Ben Ateku.
For the Pforzheimer House Music Society, Pittman has produced and directed
the Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein opera, The Mother of Us All, and the
Vaughn William’s operas, Riders to the Sea and The Shepherds of the
Delectable Mountains. He is currently a member of The Spoken Word Society.
