Reunion Weekend Alumni Roundtable and 150 Vanderbilt Project
This past Reunion weekend, the Theatre department hosted three alumni for a roundtable discussion titled “Cultivating Careers from Theatre Skills.” Laura Payne (’14), Julie Jones (’17), and Isabelle Mann (’17) spoke with students about their experiences with VUTheatre, what they learned, and how they continue to use those skills today both inside and outside the entertainment industry. Senior Tobi Akisanya moderated the discussion. Students also spent quality time with all three at dinner, having fun and asking questions about the first steps they took to build their careers.
Isabelle Mann majored in Public Policy with a Theatre minor and a concentration in Arts and Cultural Policy. She works as an Electrical Contracting Project Manager in New York City and credits the transferable skills she learned as a stage manager to her success. In 2022, she founded Funroe Productions, a company that invests in and produces theatre in New York. Funroe has invested in Broadway productions such as Parade, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, and How to Dance in Ohio. Last March, she met with current majors and minors who were visiting New York to discuss their career aspirations and joined them for a performance of the musical Some Like It Hot.
Julie Jones pursued an Interdisciplinary major in International Development and Social Change with a minor in Theatre. Following graduation, she worked as a Student Services Fellow at Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece, then returned to the states to join the non-profit FHI 360 and administer a public diplomacy program run out of the Department of State that provides online professional development to English-language teachers around the world. She has also worked as a program officer at the American Councils for International Education and is currently studying for her MA in International Education at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, focusing on global education in U.S. schools, teachers’ professional development, and education policy.
Laura Payne majored in Theatre and History of Art at Vanderbilt and continued her education at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and Brown University/Trinity Rep, earning an MFA in Acting in 2017. She works as a professional actor, singer, and producer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. When asked about her time at Vanderbilt, she replied: ‘The small size of Vanderbilt University Theatre and the attention they give to their majors was crucial in me gaining the confidence I needed to apply to graduate school.'”
Vanderbilt 150 New Play Development
The Theatre Department also hosted alumni Jessica Owens (’12) and Will Bonfiglio (’12) during Reunion weekend for a series of story circles to gather material for a new play they are writing.
Owens and Bonfiglio, with Madeline Fansler, were guests at the 2022 Reunion roundtable. Inspired by the plans for Vanderbilt’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, they applied for and received one a grant to write a new play that will preserve the memories of Vanderbilt students. Collaborating with Dr. Christin Essin, they will return to campus in March 2024 to work with theatre students as part of the play’s development.
Jessica Owens is the manager of administration and labor relations for the Roundabout Theatre in New York City. After Vanderbilt, she spent a year in London at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts, then returned to the states to intern in the literary manager department at the Public Theatre. Previous to her job at Roundabout, she worked in labor relations for the Broadway League.
Will Bonfiglio spent a year in Spain on a Fulbright scholarship after leaving Vanderbilt and later earned an master’s degree in nonprofits management from Washington University. He now works at the nonprofit Center of Creative Arts in St. Louis, Missouri where he leads a program that recruits theatre professionals to design workshops that translate their skills for application by various businesses and corporations.