Explore UNCSA’s Map of the Stars

Future students may feel a bit starstruck looking at UNCSA’s “Map of the Stars.” With five conservatories, the school has an abundance of talented alumni who have strolled along our paths, performed on our stages or spent hours in a rehearsal or practice studio.

Map of the Stars

The “Map of the Stars” guides you to places where students - now leaders in the arts - have been. Just 50 years old, UNCSA has an impressive list of accomplished alumni who are shaping the arts and entertainment industry. Some return to UNCSA to speak and teach current students. Here are just a few stars on our map:

Just like all students in the School of Dance, ABT ballerina Gillian Murphy would get fittings for her student performances in the Dance Costume Shop. She has returned to work with students, perform for them and was the 2014 High School commencement speaker.

"Late Show with Stephen Colbert" saxophonist Eddie Barbash took high school academics and rehearsed in the practice rooms of Gray.

Filmmaker Jeff Nichols returned for the 2013 RiverRun International Film Festival to speak to Film students and conduct an intimate Q&A session in Babcock Theatre, one of the three theatres in ACE Theatre Complex.

Actress Elizabeth Lail perfected her stage combat skills in the Drama Gym, which came in handy when she landed the role of Anna on ABC's “Once Upon a Time.”

Theresa Ganley called the cues in the wings of the Stevens Center before she went on to be a stage manager for the Metropolitan Opera.

Mary-Louise Parker, winner of both Tony and Emmy awards, rehearsed her lines as a student in the Drama studios, but recently you might have found her strolling on campus during a week-long workshop with Drama students.

Dancer and choreographer Juel D. Lane returned in 2015 to Agnes De Mille Theatre to choreograph a dance for UNCSA’s sold-out Fall Dance. Later he teamed up with the School of Filmmaking for the video premier of “When the Beat Drops.”

Married music alums Orlando Haddad and Patricia King-Haddad of Minas met in the halls of Gray, but returned in 2016 to lead a percussion master class in the School of Music Complex and perform with the UNCSA Jazz Ensemble in the Gerald Freedman Theatre.

Heard of little Broadway show called Hamilton or The Wiz? Tony-nominated costume designer Paul Tazewell returned to his alma mater in 2013 to teach an intensive arts class in the Costume, Wig & Makeup Design Studios, though the studio had moved since he was a student.

Actor and director Peter Hedges recently spoke to the School of Drama students, but in previous years he met with students in the School of Filmmaking, screening his film “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” and speaking to Directing classes.

With every graduating class, more stars around our campus will appear. In the future, perhaps it will be your star.

by Elizabeth White

May 28, 2016