 Thank you for being with us, everyone. Welcome. My name is Jessica Colligan and I'm happy to welcome you on behalf of Fairfield Alumni Relations Office. This is the latest event in our virtual celebration of 50 years of women at Fairfield University, and we have been able to celebrate so many accomplished women throughout this year, and we are so excited to have tonight's panelists join that list. Our conversation will be moderated by Dr. Marty LeMonaco, who is a professor in Fairfield's Department of Visual and Performing Arts and also the director of our theater program. Before I turn things over to her, I have just a couple of housekeeping notes. First, I ask that you please keep your microphones muted so that way there are no other distractions. And I recommend you use the speaker view in Zoom rather than gallery view, so that way the focus on your screen is on our featured speakers. And finally, we encourage you to use the chat for any questions that you would like our panelists to answer if we have time at the end of the conversation. And now I will turn things over to Dr. LeMonaco. Thank you, Jessica. And many thanks to Janet Canapa, the head of Alumni Relations, who invited me to present this program. Just a year ago, as the pandemic was shuttering our theaters and forcing us all onto Zoom screens, the Quick Center for the Arts invited me to develop programming for a new series still going strong, called the Quick Live. We created a six-part program, Marty Talks Theater, which celebrated Theater Fairfield's new position as the resident theater company in the Quick's Black Box Theater. Three episodes were devoted to spotlighting some of our distinguished theater graduates who happened to be all men. I love the guys, and I love you guys. I am so regretted not having an opportunity to celebrate the great women of Theater Fairfield, until tonight. So thank you, Janet, for giving me this platform to virtually invite three outstanding women of our theater program, whose achievements will knock your socks off. I will briefly introduce each of them to you, and then give them the stage to share with you their journeys from their undergraduate days at Fairfield to their present work. This will also give me an opportunity to publicly thank each of these extraordinary women for the great gifts they have bestowed on our theater program and Theater Fairfield. And I'm going in order of graduation, age and beauty, right? So we're going to start with Erin Pender-Luvine. Erin's story is probably the one you would most expect to hear from someone who was a theater major, because she worked for many years as a professional performer. She graduated in 1995 as a double major in theater and English, with a double minor in music and education. She was a fixture on Theater Fairfield stage for her entire four years. Clearly a triple threat performer, as we call them in the business, actor, singer, dancer, even then. And she took leading roles in so many of our shows, Light Up the Sky, Starting Here, Starting Now, Museum, Working, and Twelfth Night, among many others. It was her transformative performance as Festi. She'll never, originally she was cursing me for giving her that role. She completely transformed the production with her brilliant singing and dancing clown in Twelfth Night, which I had the privilege of directing. And that propelled all of my subsequent Shakespeare productions where song and dance became integral to the storytelling. So thank you, Erin, for that. Erin went from Fairfield right into professional theater, starting with Summer Stock at the Berkshire Theater Festival in Massachusetts, and then into two national touring companies, Beauty and the Beast and 42nd Street. To recover from two years on the road, which is really hard work, she moved to New York City where she did several Broadway workshops, national commercials off Broadway stints. She also performed regionally. I caught her in a chorus line at the old downtown cabaret theater in Bridgeport, a professional house. Now, even before she came to Fairfield, Erin as a young teenager was a world champion Irish dancer. Right at this moment in her professional career, Irish dance was becoming a worldwide phenomenon, and Erin was perfectly positioned to reap the benefits. She performed all over the world, Australia, Germany, Dublin, finally back to New York City, where she was in River Dance on Broadway. Just yesterday, she reminded me of a poignant moment in Broadway history, so reminiscent of our own time now. After September 11th, River Dance, along with many other Broadway shows, did not reopen. And this is, we're still in a blackout on Broadway, right? Now we're hoping to reopen in September, finally. Then Erin was teaching dance in Connecticut, and she decided to open an Irish dancing school. What is now known as the Pender Keady Irish Academy of Dance, which she still owns and has operated for the past 25 years. Along the way, she got married and had four wonderful children. Dr. Jennifer Katona graduated from Fairfield in 1998 with a double major in theater and English literature. In those days, she was the rock of theater Fairfield. She was one of those can-do students who so ably brought faculty, staff, and the current students together to keep all the balls in the air miraculously. And she is still a can-do personality as the president and founder of Three Looms Creative Educational Consulting, a relatively new venture, which she'll tell you all about in a few minutes. Simultaneously, back to the can-do, she serves as director of arts education for the Norwalk Public Schools here in Connecticut. She is also the founder and former director of the graduate program in educational theater at the City College of New York, which is part of CUNY, where she oversaw the certification of pre- and in-service theater teachers, as well as the training of non-certified theater educators. Jen is an arts advocate, curriculum writer, teacher mentor, and school reformer. I have been privileged to work closely with Jen for the past several years here at Fairfield, where we've launched teaching artists and educational theater internships under her direction in the Bridgeport Public Schools. Watching her work closely with inner-city students at Bridgeport's Harding and Bassing High Schools has been awe-inspiring, both to me and my current students. And we have fingers crossed that she will soon launch a full educational theater program here at Fairfield. Thank you again. Our most recent graduate in this distinguished triumvirate is Katie McLaughlin, who was a 2007 Phi Beta Kappa graduate at Fairfield with ABA in theater. Katie completed the honors program with High Distinction, devoting her thesis project, which I had the privilege to direct, to the work of Brazilian playwright-director Theoretician Augusto Boal, whose Theater of the Oppressed propelled social justice theater throughout the world. And thanks to Katie here at Fairfield. Her work propelled my and the theater program's focus on social justice theater, which has now become a cornerstone of our pedagogy and production. Thank you, Katie. After Fairfield, Katie spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest in Billings, Montana, where she spent time performing in a professional improv troupe and teaching summer classes at a local theater. Katie explored nonprofits and education before finding her career niche in software and tech. She spent over 11 years in various roles across talent, training, enablement, and change management on the inside of software companies like Wayfair, Observe, Rocket Lawyer, and Vista Consulting Group. In 2020, Katie founded McLaughlin Method, a boutique consulting firm focused on improving company culture in mature tech companies through interactive training programs. Katie leverages her theater training with her clients, folding in games and exercises to help managers and executives to build relationships, connect with, motivate, and inspire their teams. All through theater. A hearty welcome back to you all. Thank you. Thank you. So let's start with Erin and Erin's journey and all three women have some illustrations to help help you imagine their journeys along the way. Wow, starting here starting now. It's all to you, Erin. I like Marty, you told my whole story. But here are some pictures of my time at Theater Fairfield. When I got to Fairfield and it's funny because my mom and dad are listening. I said, I think I want to go to conservatory. I think I want to do this in high school and my mom and dad were like, you are not going to school for theater. That's not for people like us. That's for, you know, you're not doing that. So when I got to Fairfield, I tried out for my first play, and I got the lead, and I was like, Oh, I guess I'll do this. And immediately Marty was like, you should just be a theater major with English with whatever and I was like, okay, okay, I'll, I'll beg my parents. So my parents let me be an English and a theater major and I'll tell you this my English major was really easy. My theater major was really really hard. Dr. L actually taught me how to write. Dr. L taught me how to not only perform on stage. I think I actually knew how to perform on stage. I didn't realize how many other things go into theater, and how much, how important every aspect of theater is. And Dr. L helped change me in that way and actually helped me, I feel get hired and stay hired through every job I've ever had. So thank you for that, Marty. So this is me in two productions, I will move on from there. So when I graduated from Fairfield, I also broke it to my parents that I was going to try to be a working actress. And they were like, I don't know what's going to happen here, but I immediately landed a job at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. And that's my very bad 90s headshot on the left. I remember a casting director telling me it was very harsh. So now I'm a blonde. But anyway, um, so I got, I started working, and I will tell you this, I think I waited tables for a month, and I was terrible at it. And that's the only time I ever had to wait tables. Anyway, I was very blessed and very lucky because like Marty said, I could sing, dance and act. So I started on a journey through musical theater. This is me in Beauty and the Beast, that's me in 42nd Street. I've been in the country with both for two years. And that's us on the bus on a touring bus. And after a while being on a touring bus gets very old. So I broke it to my parents again that I was getting a New York City apartment with some other girls from Fairfield. And I was, I was like, I'm going to get a Broadway show, I'm going to get commercials, I'm going to get an agent, or I'm quitting. So I ended up getting a lot of off Broadway shows and a few national commercials, but then Riverdance came to town. And I went in to sing for Riverdance. And they said, Well, your singing is fine. But it looks like you're a really good Irish dancer. I was like, Yeah, but I really, I don't know if I want Irish dance anymore. They were like, No, we need you. I went right into a Broadway show after trying so hard to get on Broadway with my, you know, all my musical theater training. But anyway, I took it. And I was blessed and very lucky to be on Broadway for about nine months. And then September 11 happened. And I happened to meet a man as well during this time on Broadway and I ended up getting married. I was working in New York City, but I got an offer that's my family. As you can see, they're also very theatrical. This was the front step project. I don't know if you guys heard about this. During COVID they photographers went around and took pictures of families on front steps, like living at home. And my husband was like, We're not taking one of those boring pictures, we're going to get dressed up and my kids were like, Oh yeah. This is this is how what happened with our picture. We didn't have a perfect picture. But anyway, where was I oh yeah so I was in River Dance, and I started teaching Irish dancing chap jazz and ballet up in Stanford. And I loved it. I got a huge following I at some points have had 200 students at the moment I probably have 150 students, including my own children. And I have now I have dancers who are in River Dance, and I have World National champions and it's very fulfilling. Once again, I don't have a desk job. I run a dancing school with very talented friends of mine since childhood. And I occasionally sing at weddings and funerals and that's about my time I sing anymore. But that's my journey through theater Fairfield. Thank you for having me Marty. Thank you Aaron fabulous, fabulous photos. Thank you for sharing those wonderful boy journey down memory lane right. Mr. Jen Katona class of 98. Take it away. Thank you thank you so much for having me. So I am Jen Katona and I am the president of three looms creative education consulting and my journey. My time at Fairfield definitely launched my journey so when I was at Fairfield. I was able to be in a lot of shows but one of my greatest gifts that Fairfield gave me was kind of the mandate that we had to do everything we had to work backstage we had to hang lights we had to sweep the floors we had to design the posters hang the posters it didn't work. Every job had to be done at some point in your four years there. Simultaneously when I was at Fairfield I was really involved in campus ministry and I was going into Bridgeport and doing a lot of tutoring. I was teaching dance a lot. And those two gifts that Fairfield gave me is what has equipped me to have the career and arts education that I've had. So after I graduated Fairfield I went to New York City maybe with the idea of being a performer. But I never waited tables either and I worked every day since I left Fairfield, but moved right into arts education and had this ability to do everything so particularly in New York City but any teacher, any theater teacher who's going to be in the school theater program has to be the costume designer the lighting designer the choreographer the set right every stage manager. And I had all of that knowledge and I had all of those skills so I was really lucky and I worked all the time. I was a teaching artist this was 1998 didn't really have a title then but really formalize that into a viable career for young people now I was lucky enough to work for the new victory theater and the Guggenheim museum to create an arts connection. Then I moved to Sunset Park Brooklyn and took a job as a seventh grade teacher and ran their theater program there and did a lot of devised work and devised musicals. And so I was able to really see theater from all the different avenues. And then in 2007, I was hired to start the graduate program and educational theater at the City College of New York in 2007. It was only one of seven universities in the country that was certifying theater and New York City didn't get theater certification until 2005 so this was the first public education opportunity in New York City the only other one was NYU. And because I have my Fairfield education where it was really everybody pitches in. I was the only faculty. One of the first things I did was to get a small group of grad students to help me run the program which was a model I took from Marty. So when I was at Fairfield I was a I don't even remember the titles it's a long time ago I think I was a production coordinator I was an assistant production coordinator, but I remember that we're all in this together I think there was a small stipend. And I took that model right to City College and said I need help, and let's get the students and everybody wins. I also took from Fairfield this really hands on practical experience every you you got to learn you got to get in it and be messy. And in my work in education that means getting in front of a group of students as fast as you can. So I started a theater program at the neighboring k8 school there's a school that happens to be on our campus at City College. And so I started one. And I brought the grad students over and about 80% of our classes were taught inside the school and we turn that middle school into our lab school. And when I left there, we had started that program and when I started the program there I maybe had like 10 kids in the play and four people in the audience and when I left, it was really a staple and we had changed the culture of that school in that community. And so I started doing potluck dinners on the night of the show. And this picture here is of a young girl named rose deli Cipriani, she played, she was a, do you know, you might know her from what the Constitution means to me on Broadway. I saw her and what the Constitution. She was one of my middle school students she played sixth grade she played young Nala for me. I'm also proudly the president of the chair of the board of the American Alliance for theater and education and when I hosted the conference in New York City two years ago she was my keynote speaker. So she got to come back to New York and she's on the stage of the new victory theater, speaking to a sold out house of theater educators from across the country. So that a really nice moment where I got to bring all my worlds together. My new work now with three looms is I do a lot of consulting so I work a lot for the New York City Office of Arts and Special Projects the Arthur Miller Foundation, locally the Westport Country Playhouse. Before COVID I was working closely with come from away and designed their I am an Islander project where we take schools in Newfoundland and schools in New York City and this was pre COVID but we would zoom and interview each other and then both schools would create device theater pieces. So, similar to the work of come from away. And currently I'm working on a project with the National Theater in the New York City Office of Arts and Special Projects building out some American curriculum for some of their shows. Really exciting work that I got to do with Marty in the last few years was the start of our internship, so working with Harding high. I did some pre show residency work around Antigone that was our first show. I've done about four of these. The last one I was able to do was with my work with Norwalk. And so these are pictures of students of Norwalk high school, two of our two high schools here. We're doing a pre workshop on Fort and brass. So we really tied it into this was happened to be a show taking place during the Trump administration. So a play about kind of a bloated up character seemed fitting to make that connection. And here they are reading some of the lines and getting some of the context before they go to see the play. So what I'll speak about is the work I'm doing now in Norwalk, which is really around arts integration and school reform. So I am working with a K five elementary school and a middle school here to build out an arts integrated house school system. So what I do is I build school culture through ensemble. So what do we love about theater right we love rehearsal, we love getting in a circle we love that camaraderie that we have. So at my schools that I work with the students every morning get into their ensemble spots, the whole school doesn't warm up together. And at the end of the day they get back into their ensemble spots and they do a cool down together. And then throughout the day they have arts integrated work into their classrooms, and then I work to support their arts teacher so that they're getting a quality arts education. So I build out their facilities. What do we know about theater we know lighting and sound and set all of the aesthetics and design are important and tell a story and we should bring that mindset into our schools so I get to redesign schools, using the aesthetics of theater And, and right now I'm thinking about what role the arts plan post COVID classrooms and thinking a lot about the SEL work and the arts. So working a lot with school counselors and saying you don't need to go bring in all these extra people just go to your arts teachers and have students think about their feelings and communicate their ideas but let's do it through the arts. So it's been really amazing to foster my career around some of these real staple things I learned back at theater Fairfield. Over 25 years ago and I wouldn't be doing the things I'm doing without this time so thank you for having me back and letting you share letting me share my story. Thanks Jen. I told you these women knock your socks off. The third one to knock your socks off is Katie McLaughlin class of 2007 taken away Katie. Thanks, Marty for having me and I didn't know Aaron or Jen but I'm so glad to know you both now you're both very impressive I'm very excited. As Marty mentioned earlier, I started my own business in the last year called McLaughlin method. And, but while I was at theater Fairfield, I too was on kind of the theater Fairfield board that's me down in the bottom left at our awards banquet at the end of the year where we always gave paper plate awards. Even in that moment of giving every we gave every single person who came to our theater awards banquet regardless of what your role was we gave everyone a an award. Because there was something we could celebrate about everyone and I did that something that I have taken away and really have brought into my business career. While at Fairfield I was not on stage a ton my only two performances are pictured here I was in as you like it. And then also a class act which was a compilation of poetry pieces and but otherwise I was more frequently seen wearing one of these black shirts. At with my fellow stage managers or tech crew, and I had the great opportunity to train some other stage managers after after me as well. And like Marty mentioned, I actually don't because I've been talking about theater and it's impact on my business. I've been trying to remind myself of when I first got introduced to theater of the oppressed and I don't actually remember the moment, but I remember being like, this is amazing and I will show you a little bit about that in a moment and my writing my honor thesis on the theater of the oppressed and as you can see from the title, the value of theater offstage has really just stuck with me for my entire career and driven. Most of the ways that I interact with people in business. Since theater fairfield I also still have had some fun performing and I have been in different improv troops and done. I think I've performed in six different states. Doing improv. I also fell into ballroom dance I was part of the ballroom dance club at fairfield as well and as you can see I also did some competitions while while I lived in Utah. You know, as a as a theater person you are always poised and ready for a costume party. So that that doesn't stop after after college. And then of course public speaking. So, and then part of what I have loved so much is that I have been able to adopt or adapt all the lessons that I learned from theater into the business world. And, you know, like Marty mentioned in my bio, the tech world has really been a place where I felt like I have thrived and and, you know, Jen you kind of reminded me of the importance of that word ensemble and I really feel like that is what a lot of the world is trying to do and trying to create in their cultures is this sense of ensemble and community. But while I was there I also found that they weren't always fulfilling on the promise of a ensemble based company or as a, you know, a community where there were still a lot of workplace challenges around you know toxic communication and managers who have no training. And so through I actually took these roles, because I knew it eventually I wanted to bring theater the oppressed and theater in general to the business world, but that I needed some street cred and so, and happened to find a career in the business that I also really loved. But now I realized that it is my theater background that has made the biggest difference for me in terms of connecting with others, being on an effective team, meeting deadlines, and so many more things that I'm sure we're going to talk about. In my business, McLaughlin method, you know, I focus really heavily on building actionable skills and practicing we have to have that rehearsal for reality that Augusta Bawal, who is the founder of the theater the oppressed talks about. And so I recreate that in my workshops and programs with various companies and with leaders. And the biggest thing that I use from the theater of the oppressed as a technique called image theater, which is all about expressing yourself without knowing the right words. This is a really awesome opportunity for people to build empathy by being able to step into the image that somebody else creates and see what their vantage point is. And I feel like that's another thing that I have gotten from theater that I want to share with the world because when doing scene study and thinking about these characters. Every character has value, including the villain, and you have to find the reasons why each of those characters is motivated to do what they're going to do. And you have to use different techniques and different tactics to try to get what you want throughout the course of that show. And I feel like that is probably the biggest lesson that I have taken away when it comes to persuasive communication or building teams. So I did some in person workshops before COVID of course and you know lots of fun to be had. And now I've been adapting these theater in business exercises and games into a virtual setting. And just a quick plug I do have a free virtual event coming up if anybody wants to see this in action and if you're leading a remote team, I'll pop the link in the chat. But yeah, thanks again for having me Marty and just so honored to be here. Wow. Thank you. Bravo. I told you, knock your socks off. Very impressive, impressive women. We talked a lot about how they have taken their theater background, which, you know, unfortunately people seem to think, Oh, theater major. Oh, actor. Oh, unemployed waiter. And this was one of the things was one of the reasons why several of the mentioned I never waited tables or I only waited tables for two minutes and I was terrible at it and that was it. But there's so much baggage that comes with being Oh, a theater major because it's so misunderstood. And I think I'm just going to jump Katie when we were talking before we started. You said you've got a great story to share about the challenges, not just of being a woman, opening your own business and making it in the business world but being a God forbid theater major who is also a woman. Can can you kind of unpack that for us please. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I, I kind of learned pretty quickly that moving to New York was not for me, and I, you know, had to have a traditional theater resume and had to, you know, especially early in my career where I didn't have as much experience. I had to, you know, I had my education on there and there were definitely jobs that I knew I was qualified for but I never got a call for. And, you know, there would be times within my, you know, within my career, when I would tell people that I had a theater degree, my colleagues, they would be like, Oh, well that makes so much sense. But, meanwhile, there were often these times where I was in job interviews and I would have to, what felt like I had to justify, you know, the skills that I had from theater and, you know, from before theater I think that the, the my theater degree and my background just really got enhanced by, by the work that I, you know, did at Fairfield. It certainly didn't hurt that one of my, that my position on the theater Fairfield board was the business position. So that looked really good. But, you know, it's definitely been times in my career where I've been kind of boxed out of certain conversations because of my title, or because of my degree. Wow. That's, that's sad. In terms of I'm thinking about what we've got in our agenda and so much to talk about but just in terms of theater training, I think, Aaron and Jen and Katie to, you know, really you took the theater ball and ran with it and reimagining theater. And Aaron and Aaron are still within the performance world but using theater training in different ways. I just want to open it up to have you add to the conversation in terms of the things about theater training that people who are not in theater or people who were not theater majors would realize, you know, what were some of those takeaways that we might unpack a little bit more. I never get flustered or nervous or when crazy things are happening around me even in business or raising your children anything nothing really flusters me and I have to public speak a lot in just random settings and everybody's like wow you're such a good speaker I'm like yeah it's a theater major. That's what we did but it, you know, it always helps you out to have all that training and just be able to fly by the seat of your pants. I also was the production manager member Marty when we, and I think I got fired because I was so bad. Anyway, we won't mention that. I don't remember. I don't remember the good things there. Kevin or Kevin or her and helped me out we like took it on together because I was, I was, you know, wow. I am. I remember you saying to me, and one of our reflections in the last few years that one of the greatest gifts about being a theater major is that the show always comes there's no, you don't have you can't push it back the doors open at eight o'clock and so people who do a lot of theater, become part of that mentality of well it just has to get done and so you're going to work harder or find more help or whatever you have to do and I don't think everybody thinks I know it not everybody thinks that way and so there is something really lovely about about having that and and not just say, you know, repeat myself but that's what I try to bring to the schools is this, you know, if we can get the kids to kind of work towards these projects every few weeks it builds that internal clock of, there's a deadline and there's a little bit of urgency and I think that that's really helpful in in the world in the real world. And I, and that's the only thing that theater can give you there's there's really nothing else no other training that can prepare you for that. So preparation, doing things over and over and over again children don't want to do that anymore nowadays. And it's so important, like just showing up at rehearsal. We had to miss so much at Fairfield I remember being like but there's a dance. You can't go I'm like, okay, but it's not that from a very early you know it was, and you were strict about it you were good. We had t shirts made it said I can I have rehearsal. Yeah. So yeah. Well, yeah, the other the other thing I think that you learn is just the basic rule of theater right like to make a take a take a choice make a choice take a chance to that work didn't work try to make another one. And that it was safe to do that and that's just part of the process in theater. But again how do we translate into real life and in my work in schools just trying to give kids that freedom to try something and not to be afraid to fail. I think that's another thing only theater can teach you. So I'm going to go on Jen to what you said about the show must go on because I feel like that really set me up for, you know, any kind of project management type skills. Right because because you have this drop dead date of when an audience is going to show up, and you have to backwards plan all of the things that you're doing and, you know, especially in the tech world where things are being built all the time I see the time and I'm like, what you have to meet the deadline the show must go on. You know, and I think that that element alone encourages you to creative problem solve. Right obviously theater is a very creative pursuit it really taps into that creative mindset but from a strategic problem solving perspective that must be the deadline and also must follow this script and you know be true to the language of the script and have respect for that. I think that all means that you have to think creatively about the problems because there are some kind of goalposts that you have to stay within. Great. Yeah, as we in fact we still use that phrase in the theater program we teach you the value of opening night, and people don't get it and we have to explain what that means but you have just all explained it really beautifully. And I'll add I'll add maybe a funny story I remember it's not just opening night but opening night with whatever comes at you right in the pandemic has taught us that I think I, but I remember one night I remember one year you put in an order for some doors to get painted, and they didn't come all year and then they came the day of the show and took down all the doors in the theater, and it was opening night and we had no doors, and so we had to figure that out we had like 20 minutes. I completely forgot about that show was it I don't remember that part but I that's emblazoned of like, let's all just get it done. You know there's no time to whine or complain about the fact that this happened and one of the odds but we got to hang up in black and so grab the duct tape and get on a ladder. And but I think that that has third me me well at least. And call and call Carl Carl over here quickly. Thank you. Carl you're welcome. I'm calling my husband who is a professional scenic and lighting designer and who frequently has worked with us. I also just want to give a shout out to my colleagues Lynn Porter who many of you worked with and Julie learson, who is I think on the zoom with us and our newest TV and Kendall. Still, for women department, right. Wow, we have, you know, we've had a few men over the years who have been on faculty and certainly we have a lot of men. In fact, at least one is tuned in Jake Hoffman, one of our most frequent and greatly loved guest artists and adjunct faculty, but it's still a for women program and it has been for a long time so yeah. I just want to go back to what Katie was talking about in terms of challenges and biases against not just being a woman, but but being a theater major. Aaron and Jen, Jen you said I know I just I'll give Aaron a chance for this to Jen just said she just had a gender bias issue, come up rather recently. Well, you mentioned how you're a for woman department and that was the case when I was there as well and always has been and so naively perhaps left college and thought. No one is going to think that a woman can't do something, particularly in tech theater. And so I have come up against that time and time again of being undermined when I walk into a theater as the production manager. And two weeks ago we're, we're putting in some bids to renovate one of our auditoriums and we had all of the, and they happened to be men who came happen to come down. And they were asking me about the different lighting and just didn't believe anything I said and I had to argue with them and they were explaining to me how lights work and I hadn't put a spotlight on my list but I don't need a spotlight and but they were telling me what a spotlight does and I get that a lot in around tech theater around lighting and sounds very specific it's a very specific thing that I get. Wow. Yeah, just a lot a lot a lot of push back on and constantly having to prove myself that I know how to run a light board and I know how to hang lights and I understand the concepts of lighting design. One, the only positive about that is because I'm an arts educator, I've written into curriculum that because I think for so long, it's always been women will do you know female identifiers will be in costumes and male identifiers will go to the tech side and sound and lighting, and have made really conscious efforts in working with pre service theater teachers around writing curriculum that makes sure that those things do not happen and have real honest conversations about them. And if I had an experience that I wouldn't even know to do that so while I find it infuriating to have to prove that I understand lighting design and hanging lights. It's, I think it's, it's helped me guide new teachers. That's great. Yeah. Aaron, have you had any interesting experiences like that. Not really. I mean, I've been pretty lucky in that way, you know, yeah, I think that I'm not really on the tech side. And as we know when I used to be on the tech side, I remember you Marty just screaming props. When I was in charge of props and I realized how hard things were like that. No, I haven't had been very very lucky in the theater and I've worked with incredible people and I haven't run into any bias but obviously I was on a different and in the dance world, women kind of rule to not in the ballet world, but in my in the realm that I am in. Yes, how about the business side did you get any, I mean because certainly you run a business. That's a huge, that's a huge dance Academy right that's a business. No, I've been very lucky very nice people parents and I mean if, if I have felt it, it didn't affect me. So I've been pretty lucky. Yes, and hopefully I'm raising three boys that won't ever do that to anyone else that's more important right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean and you know everybody is addressing that issue I mean, I think we're finally at a point where we have enough really super professional women who are really up in their respective fields that we can truly nurture future generations and start changing those old paradigms, which I think is really important. I mean I look back on my own, you know career and nurturing all of my mentors were men. My future was a woman to like so and a strong woman, and you were my and you were our college professor and then my high school director was also a woman. So that's interesting. It's interesting though because Marty all of all of my actually all of my good mentors in the business world have been men. You know I've had a couple of women who've been mentors of mine or you know bosses and unfortunately some of them have been perpetrators of toxic behaviors and the more that I have the more that I've gotten into the business and been doing, you know research on human behavior and performance in the business world the more I've learned that, you know, as women, we can all fall prey in the business world to thinking that there's not enough room for all of us and so we need to really assert our space and and be harder on women because they're going to need to work that much harder to like be successful in a world of men. And I think it's one of those things that like has been really ingrained. I know that there's been moments where I've realized like wow, I maybe listen a little bit close more closely when a man speaks in some of these meetings, and that you know that we have to do that work ourselves in order to make sure that we don't perpetuate these culturally systemically ingrained behaviors. Yes, completely. And that's our job. Yes, particularly our job is I'm looking at all all women on this screen right and part of a larger project of celebrating 50 years of women at Fairfield right it's our job to nurture the current students and the new generations of both men and women to respect and value the intelligence and artistry and dynamism of women. Yes, and so much of that comes with confidence, which Jen can tell you to theater builds so much confidence in children and and dance and everything else I wish that the schools realize that. You know, it's not only sports, it's theater, it's, you know, and it's every aspect of theater you need you need confidence to be that person. That's right, stand up for yourself. That's right. That's right. So takeaways. I mean you've already been, you know, talking about, you know, why you're here today and thank you for all the very, very kind things you've said about the theater program and theater Fairfield but some other takeaways maybe pieces of advice I know that at least a few of my students are tuning in and certainly will be putting the recording of this program under our featured alumni on the Fairfield of theater Fairfield website. If anybody who's interested www.theatre-fairfield.org, you can find out all about what we're up to right now. So takeaways from our distinguished wonderful women of theater. Yeah, I would just say and I don't know what your court you know what you're required to take anymore as a student there but I would just say take whatever opportunities you can because it is that that resume building opportunity that you have right now. If you're thinking if speaking to the students if you're thinking right now that performance is your path and that you don't need to know some other aspect of the work, you also don't know what your life in 20 years is going to be like and why you might need that skill or what job you can pull on that lever for and say I actually do know how to do that so this is a kind of a free opportunity to build out your resume and take those skills. And it might mean taking a lesser part in a show but I think all of that in college right now is is a really really important time for you to be doing that. Yes. Yes. I actually was in every single production. Every year that we did and we weren't allowed to be, you had to do props, I had to do costumes, my friend Suzanne is here. And I remember we had to do our costumes for 12th night. And I was doing my costume and she was like, okay, you were sewing it right. I was sewing my shoes. I was like, you need to sit over there and never ever sell again. She's like sing us a song. I was like, okay Suzanne, she'll tell the story now and I leave this room because it's her favorite story. But I'm going to say the same thing as Jen. I really learned the most from striking the set, putting the set up. The first play there. I had to wear a certain bodice that I didn't want to wear. And I remember I didn't wear it one night and the, the costume designer went crazy on me, you had gotten this amazing woman from Manhattan. And she was like, it's so unprofessional, but it taught me like to never ever do something like that ever again and undermine this, this person who has come and worked so hard on it. And that was a big lesson. I learned so many lessons like that at theater for airfield just doing silly things showing up late doing this not not saying it strike the whole time and then having to do something else, which once again I'll say, when I went into my professional career, I was never late. I was never not prepared. I was never not kind into every single person who worked on the production. And I knew if I brought my costume person a coffee, they were going to be I was going to be the first person they dressed, you know, like you, you learn little things like that, that help you in the theater world. So thank you, Marty. Thank you. Thank you. Did you want to add your wisdom to this conversation. Sure. I mean, you know, to whether you're still at Fairfield or you are not. I think that my big piece, my big takeaway and reminder to all of us is that we learn things through every moment of our lives. Regardless of where that skill was learned, you get to keep that skill, and you can use that skill across all different things and I've worked with a lot of folks who are very afraid to write their resumes and don't feel like they can talk about the skills that they have or what they can do. And that's been actually one of my kind of side passion projects that I do is help my friends with their resumes because there is so much that you can celebrate about the contributions that you make in your workplace in your classes in your families. And I just encourage everyone to think a little bit broader about the skills that you have and where else you can use them because you all have gifts that you can offer. And I feel like that is a big thing that Theatre Fairfield and, you know, my entire experience has taught me is that these same skills I can use in all these applications. And I just have to remember that I have them and start to think about how can I apply this beautiful. Thank you. I just want to touch base again with Jessica, our wonderful host if there's any questions I've been looking in the chat, and I don't see any. But I just want to make sure we have a few minutes to address questions if there's anyone out there who would love to hear more from our distinguished guests. I don't mean anything I'm through but by all means as Dr. Lamontico said if anybody has anything they'd like to answer we did leave a few minutes for that so feel free. But in the meantime, thank you all this has been awesome. This is such a great night and I just love the shared experiences even though you didn't know each other when you were on campus there's obviously there's that common bond and the experiences that you had as part of Theatre Fairfield and Dr. Lamontico being that connecting tie which is really cool to hear about so thank you all so much. I want to encourage everybody who is on this event please check out our event calendar at fairfield.edu slash alumni events. We do still have some upcoming virtual events over the next couple of weeks, and we have been loving doing this as I said we've really been able to celebrate so many wonderful women during this anniversary year and we're coming to the end of it now but I think this was a great time to have as one of our last few events and it was really a different perspective having this theater background and some of the other groups that we've been able to highlight so thank you all so much thank you all for being here and you're getting some kudos in the in the comments so I think everybody really enjoyed this. Oh goodness it's a wow my long time props person Jane DeMuzio is on. Do any of you remember Jean. Wow. So he's been here tonight I've got some current students on Taylor thank you Jay Katie Gillette welcome. Elise Gochansky who has performed with Theatre Fairfield several times. Adam Jones I don't know Adam but he's been saying lovely things to us all which is just great thank you Adam. Super so any questions we're still here for a few minutes Tracy Ferguson one of my current majors. This is great. Marty, what I would say to the theater majors to at Fairfield because when I was there sometimes I questioned. Be it a conservatory or if I should be at a bigger theater school but in truth I would have never gotten the opportunities, the stage time met the people and I was looking back at all my pictures these past two days and I'm like oh my god my son is looking at colleges now. And I'm like he really, it just helps you so much sometimes to be in a small program where everybody knows you I mean look at my relationship with you, Dr the Monaco. I don't know if I would have had that at such a big school so that is just kudos to Theatre Fairfield and don't worry you're probably in the perfect spot for you and take advantage of it all. So for 2015 grads Katie Gillette would like to know what advice would you give to some recent grads who may feel discouraged due to COVID. I'm happy to feel that one at least initially. So I graduated in 2007 when the economy completely tanked. So I feel you Katie and other recent grads and I would just say there are going to be more jobs and there are plenty of things that you can do based on all the skills that you have and you know kind of going back to my earlier point and I'd be more than happy to talk with you directly if you need creative ideas and a different thought process there but but hold out hope there. It will come back and you know, one of my first jobs outside of me doing a year of volunteer service which I also recommend it was a great opportunity to get actual like job credentials on my resume. But one of my first jobs was in retail at that time. You know so sometimes you have to take a job that you don't think is like a job you want to be doing. And you know that's I built a whole career in tech based off of a customer service job that I hated at first but then really found my stride so you never know where that next path is going to lead. Katie we're all going to be calling you to resumes. And thank you Aaron for those great words that when I was trying to negotiate Katie Gillette's question I failed to say thank you for just saying what you just said which is fantastic. Any final thoughts. Final questions, anything before we tune out we're just coming up to an outer hour. Jake Hoffman one of our listing and responding a theater skill that every student should leave with. That's a great question thank you jet Jake. Now Marty I would just say to you thank you and the rest of the faculty from when I was there when Pender was there to now, but one thing I think is, you know theater is always evolving and there are some things that I think theater Fairfield has really interacted with like some of the projects you're doing now and then there's some things that I think you've made stayed true to that are because they're important for us to learn and I think that as the world changes and things get faster and more digitized it was probably could be easy to do things a little bit differently but from what I know from going back and working a little bit with you there's still that really everybody has to get their hands dirty because this is really what theater is. And that has shifted but you guys haven't and I think that that's really important. And you know theater Fairfield might not be the glossiest theater program but it is the one that is going to best prepare you I mean it's not this is a humble thing but to your credit I was offered for jobs within three months of graduating. And I've never not worked in the arts, and it's only because of Fairfield. And that you just got to get it you got to do it you said I was a can do but you guys made made us do that, and you continue to do that for your students and I don't think they maybe don't know it yet but it's going to be what what keeps them going. So thank you for your commitment to just to stay into that core value of what is important for theater majors to know. Thank you. Thanks. It's such a delight. It's so great seeing the three of you again, and thank you for coming back and know that you're always welcome on in person live when we can get back to campus which hopefully will be very soon and the theater Fairfield door is always open. So please come and grace us again with your presence. Thank you so much everyone have a great rest of the night. Thank you.