CLASS OF 1996 | 2016 | ISSUE 1
Dara writes: Lots of news this time, so let’s get right to it: Ben Meyer recently traveled to Santa Cruz for Stuart Norton ’97 and Jeanne Hardebeck’s wedding. Also in attendance were Lauren Olsho and John Blake. Ben tells us that the feature film he wrote and directed, Fools, has been doing the festival circuit. It won the Audience Award for Best Competition Feature at Dances With Films, in Los Angeles. The film was also screened at the Petaluma International Film Festival, the Southampton International Film Festival, the Tulsa American Film Festival, the ReadingFilmFEST, and the Big Apple Film Festival in NYC.
Mike Stabile’s film is also in festival release right now. It’s a documentary, Seed Money, about ’70s pornographer (and gay rights activist) Chuck Holmes. It will be in distribution later this year: out.com/popnography/2015/12/24/watch-10-best-lgbt-documentaries-2015
From the theater world, playwright Ginger Lazarus writes in about two of her productions. The Housekeeper was at the Boston Playwrights’ Theater in January, and Burning was at the Theater at St. Clement’s in NYC in February. The production of Burning featured Catherine Curtin, also known as Officer Wanda Bell on Orange Is the New Black.
Lauren Elmore tells us that Kirsten Greenidge had a busy February, with two of her plays produced at the same time. Milk Like Sugar was at the Huntington Theatre Company, and Baltimore was at New Rep Theatre, both in Boston. She also wrote that Angela Tucker is living in New Orleans, currently in pre-production for her Kickstarter-funded feature, Paper Chase. And lastly, Lauren is sorry to miss Reunion this year, but she has a good excuse: “I’ll be attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education ceremonies to celebrate earning my doctorate of education, with a focus on technology, arts, and higher education.”
From San Francisco, Sarah Huard writes: “I’m leading advancement efforts for Convent & Stuart Hall, the school where my daughters, Piper and Arden, are in second grade and kindergarten. Piper’s teacher is the proud parent of Wes sophomore Tess Holland ’18. I was in an extremely short-lived running club with Sophie Middlebrook Hayward ’98 last spring—I dropped out so now she’s the only member.”
Michael Roberts and his wife, Leslie Roberts ’97, welcomed their third son, Adrien Justis Roberts, into the world last April. Their older sons regularly play mischievous games with the daughter of fellow Marin County resident and shoulda-been-a-’96er, Andrew Levine ’97.
Also on the West Coast is Nina Erlich-Williams: “I have been living in Corvallis, Ore., for about six years now with my husband and two sons, Jude (7) and Ezra (10). For my day job, I continue to run a public relations firm that specializes in environmental policy (publicgoodpr.com) with my husband. When the garden is in season I do a lot of cooking and canning and have somehow turned into a PTA mom who does things like bake gluten-free cupcakes from scratch. We had some wonderful visitors this past year: Dara Federman came all the way out from Brooklyn to check out our little town on Memorial Day, and Hilary Hoeber and her hubby paid us a visit in the fall. I also got to see Cora Stubbs-Dame Jeyadame as part of a trip to New England last summer. It was wonderful to see so many of my closest Wes buddies in one year. Looking forward to catching up with even more people at Reunion!”
Alissa Pines lives in Austin. She and her husband bought a house and both of their children, Owen (6) and Miles (4), are in public schools. She teaches Spanish at the local public school.
Colby Evans and Sara Kirchhoff Evans have expanded their dermatology practice (evans-dermatology.com) in Austin to three locations and eight medical providers. Their children are well and happy and keep them busy. Quinn is 7, Malcolm is 6, and Ruby is 4.
Dacque Tirado writes from Maryland, where he was digging out from 30 plus inches of snow. He is traveling to Argentina for two weeks in June and is looking to link up with any Wes folks down there or traveling through Buenos Aires.
Meanwhile, Kristin Mercer was in Mexico “on a research trip where I work with traditional varieties of maize and chile pepper. My family and I are in Vancouver, B.C., on sabbatical this year and loving the ocean and forests.”
And on the East Coast, Elura Nanos Kish continues to work as a TV lawyer, appearing often on news and talk shows. She has also launched Man Class—a speaking tour that brings Elura to fraternity houses and locker rooms to talk with young men about how they can avoid becoming part of the next campus scandal, while actively influencing peers to create safe environments for young adults.
Jesse Wegman lives in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with his wife, Kyra Himmelbaum, and their 2-year-old daughter, Samara. Since 2013 he’s been a member of the editorial board of the New York Times, where he writes the Supreme Court editorials, as well as those on national legal issues.
After 19 years of hipster living, Koyalee Chanda and Neal Brandenburg packed up the family (two girls, ages 7 and 2) and left Brooklyn for Wesleyan, N.J.—otherwise known as Montclair. They get to see a lot of Sarah Chamberlin and Kate Washburn. Neal works as a supervising attorney at the Department of Education for the City of New York, while Koyalee is at Nickelodeon, producing the preschool series Wallykazam!, created by Adam Peltzman. During the production, Adam and Koyalee were able to keep it in the family, with Adrian Rothschild ’12 as their executive assistant for the second season.
Sam Effron also reports a move: “The transition to life in the ’burbs (Hastings-on-Hudson, aka Montclair North) has been great, and we’ve reunited with fellow locals Yaron Ben-Zvi ’97 and Emma Ditrinco Sollars ’97 and their families. Looking forward to Reunion!”
Great to hear from so many of you! Hope to catch up even more at reunion!
DARA FEDERMAN | darasf@yahoo.com
DACQUE TIRADO | dacquetirado@yahoo.com