In this issue:
- Director's Notes
- Message from Allison
News
- Featured Member Posting: Writer's Assistant / Personal Assistant - NY & LA
- Call for student or alum musicians in Los Angeles to perform at private event | Nov. 12th
- Feature your product/service in our Holiday Silent Auction — Donations are 100% tax-deductible
- Volunteer for free admission to our annual holiday party | Dec. 7th
- Submit to the Harvardwood Film Festival by the end of the year | Deadline Jan. 1st
Features
- Industry Successes
- New Members' Welcome
- Alumni Profile: Alan Yang '02 (Writer & Executive Producer, Master of None, Parks and Recreation)
Calendar & Notes
- Calendar
- Help Harvardwood when you do your holiday shopping via AmazonSmile
Director's Notes
November is the perfect time to express our gratitude to all of YOU for making Harvardwood the vibrant community that it is. Take a peek at our jam-packed calendar to get a sense of all the dedication and support our volunteers and members give to the organization! Thank you!
It's also the time of year we begin gearing up for our annual holiday silent auction, and we need you! We're seeking donations of products, services, gift certificates, experiences, etc. to our 2015 Holiday Silent Auction; donations are 100% tax-deductible and auction proceeds will support the programs and initiatives we have planned for 2016. Speaking of which, thanks to everybody who participated in the Fall Membership Survey—your responses will be helpful as we plan for the new year.
Finally, it's not November without our customary shoutout to the Harvard football team. GO CRIMSON—we'll be rooting for you from LA on Nov. 21st at Harvardwood's watch party for The Game!
— Dona
Message from Allison
This month is a great snapshot of the variety of Harvardwood events we strive to organize. We've got cool things happening in Toronto, San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles!
Bay Area members can sit down to dinner with Emily Mollenkopf, a Pixar Creative Development Associate, lovers of classical music can enjoy an intimate concert of Beethoven & Brahms in the Big Apple, our members up north can attend a private tour of Toronto's Aga Khan Museum, and here in LA (and in the same week!), we're hosting a Harvardwood panel to tell you everything you need to know about International TV, followed by a special TV Drama Masterclass with Harvard alum Peter Blake (House, The Practice, Hemlock Grove). Whew—hope you got all that!
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
— Allison
Featured Member Posting: Writer's Assistant / Personal Assistant - NY & LA
Seeking intelligent, articulate full-time assistant for award-winning bicoastal writer with projects in theater, film and television. Although a personal assistant position, there's a great deal of creative back and forth in the job, so a breadth of knowledge and experience in various areas is desirable. Applicant must know Final Draft, MS Word, and iCloud. Experience in theater is strongly encouraged. A valid driver's license is required, as employer does not drive.
This is a fully bicoastal position — the writer lives both in LA and NY. Travel is covered. The assistant is responsible for securing his/her own housing in the visiting city [NYC or LA] with housing stipend. Great opportunity for anyone interested in working with the Broadway or film communities. A minimum of six months Personal Assisting experience is strongly recommended.
Call for student or alum musicians in Los Angeles to perform at private event - Nov. 12th
Harvardwood is hosting a private event in Los Angeles on the evening of November 12, 2015. We're looking for a few current Harvard students, recent alums ('10 - '15), or student/alum groups to give short classical music performances at the event. Each student or group performance should be only 2-4 minutes.
If you're a current student or alum who will be in LA on November 12th and are interested in performing, please email Dona with a brief bio of your performance background and a link to a recent audio or video recording. Thank you!
Feature your product/service in our Holiday Silent Auction — Donations are 100% tax-deductible
Become a champion of the Harvard arts, media & entertainment community by donating an item from your business or service in support of Harvardwood's education events, professional programs, and service initiatives. All Harvardwood donors are crucial to aiding Harvardwood in equipping a community of bright and talented artists and art enthusiasts to ultimately serve the world with their talents and resources. Harvardwood donors will receive special recognition on our website, as well as recognition at selected events and programs throughout the year. They will also receive invitations to periodic exclusive VIP Harvardwood events.
In addition to getting exposure via our online silent auction, promoted to our 6,000+ members worldwide, this is a great way to promote your product/service to Harvard alums AND Stanford alums, since all auction items will be featured at our jointly hosted holiday party in Los Angeles on December 7th!
We are currently seeking auction items valued at $100 or above; if you have an item valued at $99 or below to donate, go ahead and donate it and we can include it in our annual raffle at our Dec. 7th Sugarplum Social with Stanford in Entertainment.
Volunteer for free admission to our annual holiday party - Dec. 7th
We are currently seeking volunteers to help run the festivities at our annual holiday party, co-hosted with Stanford in Entertainment, on December 7th at Harlowe in West Hollywood! The party will take place from 8pm - 11pm. Volunteers will be needed for 1.5-hour shifts (8-9:30pm or 9:30-11pm) and will need to arrive at least 20 minutes before their "shift" starts to help out. We need folks to cover the registration desk, the raffle, and the silent auction table. In addition to free admission to the party, volunteers will receive 2 months of complimentary Harvardwood membership.
Please email Dona with the subject line "VOLUNTEER - HOLIDAY PARTY" if interested. Thank you!
Submit to the 2016 Harvardwood Film Festival by the end of the year - Deadline Jan. 1st
Although the early-bird period for members to submit their videos for free has passed, everybody still has two months to send in a feature, short, or new media series to the 2016 Harvardwood Film Festival.
Selected works will be screened at the Film Festival, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles in the spring of 2016. You do not need to be a Harvardwood member to submit your film, but a Harvard-affiliated person must be in a key creative position (e.g., writer, director, producer, main cast member) for your work to be considered for the Harvardwood Film Festival.
- Categories include feature, short, TV pilot, web/digital series, and other (you will be asked to specify if you mark "other").
- Genres include action, comedy, documentary, drama, experimental, horror, kids/family, animated, and other (you will be asked to specify if you mark "other").
Read the rest of the festival submission guidelines and submit your project by January 1, 2016.
Industry Successes
Congratulations to Robert M. Kraft AB '76, who was a Harvard Alumni Association Award recipient for his outstanding service to Harvard University through alumni activities! President of Kraftbox Entertainment and former president of Fox Music (20th Century Fox), Kraft has been nominated for and received a number of Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Golden Globe Awards. He is also the founder of Mentortainment, a music mentoring program for high school students in Los Angeles. We are especially grateful to Robert Kraft for his support and service as a Harvardwood Advisory Board member!
Nick Weiss and co-writer Gary Lundy's half-hour comedy, Hot Sauce, is in development at CBS! Hot Sauce follows a high-powered, no-nonsense mom who relocates her family to small-town Louisiana to work for the most popular hot sauce company in the world. There she finds herself pitted against a culture and community she doesn’t want infiltrating her family.
Congratulations to Jack Riccobono AB '03, Director of The Seventh Fire (produced by Natalie Portman)! Film Movement picked up North American rights to The Seventh Fire, which will be released in February 2016. Watch The Seventh Fire trailer here.
We are so excited for Colleen McGuinness AB '99 (30 Rock), whose comedy The Homefront is in development at ABC. The Homefront, loosely based on her life, centers on a retired Green Beret who comes back to the United States and moves near his grown daughter and grandkids, only to find that it’s easier to face death every day than to live in the suburbs. McGuinness will executive produce The Homefront with Todd Holland.
Born With It, executive produced by Loren Fykes AB '89, most recently won the award for BEST FILM and GREATEST SOCIAL IMPACT at the 10th Annual NBCUniversal Short Film Festival, in addition to the Audience Award at the Japan Film Society’s LA EigaFest and Honorable Mention for Best Short Film at the Toronto Film Festival (Kids’ Section). The film will be playing in the Academy-qualifying Heartland Film Festival in Indiana, the BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta, and at Princeton University in November. Born With It has also played at over ten other festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand ShortFest, Sapporo, Seoul International Youth Film Festival, and Skip City International Film Festival.
If you aren't already addicted, be sure to tune in to the CW's new musical dramedy, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, co-created by Aline Brosh McKenna AB '89 (The Devil Wears Prada). The show has been called "a terrific, feminist TV series," "one of the fall's most promising hours," "the funniest new show on TV."
Zen & the Art of Dying, the latest feature documentary by Broderick Fox AB ’96, is an official selection of the 2015 Austin Film Festival. The film will screen in Austin on 10/31 and 11/1 as part of the Heart of Film Showcase, a selection of 14 films expressly chosen to showcase diverse storytelling across a range of genres and forms. Fox will be attending the festival, along with his central subject Virago, who will be traveling from Australia to participate. The film will screen twice: on Oct. 31 and again on Nov. 1 at the Galaxy Highland 10. Q&Ass with Fox and Virago will follow each screening.
Aisha Muharrar AB '06 (Parks and Recreation) will write the script for and executive produce ABC's I'll Have What She's Having, a single-cam comedy inspired by Rebecca Harrington's book of the same title. The show has received a script plus penalty commitment from ABC. Congratulations, Aisha!
New Members' Welcome
Harvardwood warmly welcomes all members who joined the organization over the past month, including:
- Liz Alderman, New York, College
- Giora Ashkenazi, Los Angeles, College
- Kristina Barrett, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Kiara Barrow, New York, College
- Conor Bent, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Evan Brown, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Alexa Caban, New York, College
- Nicholas Carey, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Alexandra Clarke, New York, College
- Adam Conner, Los Angeles, College
- David Crusoe, Atlanta, GSE
- Silvano D'Agostino, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Nica Franklin, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Nadia Haile, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Meg Hickey, Boston/On-Campus, HBS
- Margot Kessler, Los Angeles, College
- Jason La, Los Angeles, HBS
- Tianxing Lan, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Bethlehem Lema, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Danielle Lessard, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Hannah Leverson, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Yao Li, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Goetz Carl-Salomo Lingenthal, New York, HLS
- Adrian Magana, Los Angeles, College
- Samuel Mendez, Chicago, College
- Jimmy Meyer, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Heather Miller, New York, GSE
- Bardeya Moradi, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Richard Nguyen, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Molly Nolan, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Claudia Oh, Los Angeles, College
- Adetola Omilana, Los Angeles, College
- Vincent Ong, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Min-Woo Park, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Scott Peters, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Hanna Psychas, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Myagmarsuren Purev Ochir, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Ryen Rasmus, Washington, DC, FOH
- Peryn Reeves-Darby, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Pamela Rucker, Other U.S., EXT
- Dominika Sarnecka, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Hunter Simmons, Los Angeles, College
- Marcia Soviak, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Layla Stahr, Los Angeles, College
- Christina Uhrig, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Mezu Ukah, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Nadia Urrea, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Sara Valente, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Varsha Varman, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Kyra Weeks, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Calvin Willett, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Annie Winerip, Boston/On-Campus, College
- William Wu, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Anne Zarrella, Boston/On-Campus, Staff
- Emily Zauzmer, Boston/On-Campus, College
- Jingping Zhang, New York, HBS
FOH = Friend of Harvardwood
New members, if you have any questions about Harvardwood, please contact our Directors of Membership Experience, Lano Williams and Donna Mandosa, at [email protected].
Alumni Profile: Alan Yang '02 (Writer & Executive Producer, Master of None, Parks and Recreation)
by Sara Lynne Wright
Master of None, the upcoming Netflix series co-created by Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari, is the most autobiographical show Alan’s ever worked on. “I always wanted to do stories that were universal. So I didn’t want to write a show people could categorize as an Asian show. But I think the lesson you learn over and over again – and I’m not claiming to know anything about writing - is that the universality you’re looking for is in the specificity of your experience.”
Alan’s refusal to claim he knows anything about writing reads like a joke, but he’s serious. He’s that humble. This humility, along with his evident and uncommon talent, must have helped him work his way up from staff writer to co-executive producer on Parks and Recreation over the seven seasons of the show. Before that he wrote for South Park and Last Call With Carson Daly.
Aziz, like Alan, has fought against being pigeonholed, and that fight has influenced the stories they tell in Master of None. “I think there was a period of [Aziz’s] life where he didn't want to play stereotypical Indian roles. He was offered parts like being a cab driver and he turned them all down.” In Master of None, Alan and Aziz have embraced an opportunity to write comedy based on their personal experiences, sans stereotypes.
“We wrote an episode of the show that’s largely about our parents. Aziz’s parents are from India, and mine are from Taiwan. So there are flashbacks in India and flashbacks in Taiwan. We shot on this set that looks like my dad’s house when he was growing up. His dad died when he was one, and he grew up in this little village in Taiwan called Tigertail, in a house that’s the size of my living room now. It was my dad, his two brothers and his mom. She was told to give my dad away, because he was the youngest, and she couldn’t afford to take care of him. But she refused. And he ended up being a star in the family.”
Alan’s dad became an obstetrician-gynecologist, doing his residency in the Bronx before moving to Riverside, California, where Alan was born and raised. Alan reflects on his heritage and his episode at the same time: “It’s really staggering that in one generation’s time you can go from not having enough to eat to writing jokes for a living.”
Though initially based on Aziz’s book Modern Romance, which is all about the world of online dating, Master of None has evolved into something much different. Alan explains, “At the beginning, it seemed natural to do a show about a thirty-something navigating the dating world. But at a certain point we realized Netflix gave us a lot more freedom than that, and we shouldn’t waste that.”
The show follows Aziz’s character Dev, “an actor who’s not as successful as Aziz. Aziz found a passion early on, and that’s standup. But Dev hasn’t found his passion yet. He’s not selling out Madison Square Garden. He’s just a guy. The show's about what happens in his relationships and his career, but it's also about any possible topic in the world that we were passionate about and had a point of view on. It’s serialized, but there are also episodes that stand alone. Netflix wasn’t requiring us to make an ensemble comedy or follow every character every episode. So we could do an episode about the parents, or one where someone’s grandma is the most important character, or one about women’s issues, or one about what it’s like to be Indian or Asian on TV.” They did episodes about each of these things.
Alan found his passion faster than the main character on his new show, though not until his junior year of college. Growing up in Riverside, with a dad who was a physician and a mom who taught high school, comedy writing wasn’t on his radar as a career. “I majored in biology at Harvard, because I figured I could keep all my options open. I could go into business, medicine, law or whatever.”
But he had artistic outlets during college. One was playing in a punk rock band “with one other Harvard guy and two guys named Jeff Classic and Matt Generic. Those are their punk names.” This has paid off unexpectedly. You can catch him on screen in Parks and Rec as the bass player in Mouse Rat, the band led by Chris Pratt’s character, Andy Dwyer.
“When I got on the Lampoon junior year, I felt more at home. People who just wanted to do comedy all the time. It was unbelievable. It was a huge change.”
The Lampoon gave Alan the confidence to move out to LA. “I felt better about it because my friends were moving out with me. We were all going to be unemployed together.” He moved to LA with fellow Lampooners Steve Hely and Mike Yank. “We stayed at my mom’s house in Riverside for a couple weeks while we looked for bad three-bedroom apartments, around six hundred bucks a month each. Then Hely got hired on Letterman. So we were looking for two-bedroom apartments.”
Alan and Mike took a job working for an animation company called Animax, writing scripts for an educational program called Study Dog. When Alan got a job working on Last Call for Carson Daly, he moved to New York at the age of twenty-two. (He had started and finished college early because, as he modestly explains, “I didn’t have any classes left to take in high school.”)
“Other shows in the Rockefeller Center like SNL had around twenty writers, and we had three or four. Gradually, Carson wanted to ramp up the show. He wanted to do monologue jokes, desk pieces, scripted bits…we had to do it all, down to being in the editing room and casting actors for bits. That was really good experience.”
Eventually, through a surreal hiring process, he ended up working for Trey Parker and Matt Stone on South Park. “The first time I met Trey Parker and Matt Stone was on this private jet that they had chartered. It was very insane…They flew two other staff writer candidates and me to this writers’ retreat for a week. None of us had a job yet. They put us up in this beautiful resort at Pebble Beach in northern California. In the mornings we wrote, punched up and pitched to them. In the afternoon we did activities, played tennis or went on a bike ride or to the aquarium with them. Then, at night, they took us out to a nice dinner. Trey drank twenty-five year old scotch and told us things like how his dad wanted Trey to buy him a llama farm in Colorado. It was really fun.” After hearing nothing from the higher-ups for a few weeks, Alan figured he didn’t get the job. But then he got a call to come in to work the next day at the South Park writers’ room. He never saw the other two candidates from the writers’ retreat again.
Despite the competition Alan had to endure to get where he is, he takes little credit for his success. “I had a lot of mentors, a lot of people who either directly or indirectly inspired me. Two of the most obvious and the most influential are Greg Daniels and Mike Schur. I started on Parks and Rec Season One as a staff writer. They’re very open about their method of staffing, which is essentially: ‘We’re gonna hire young people we think are funny. They may not know anything about writing. They may know nothing about character, story, structure, or building a world. But that’s fine. Because we’ll teach them.’ That’s definitely not the case on every show, and it’s so kind and generous of them.”
Speaking of his experience creating a new show, Alan cites Amy Poehler. “She calls it climbing Show Mountain. At the beginning you’re at the bottom. And the mountain is looming there. It seems impossible to scale. There’s so much involved. You need so much help. And that’s definitely how we felt.”
But they got the help, and they did it. After the writers’ room met for only twelve weeks, all ten scripts were finished and produced. “It’s an unbelievably fortunate place to be,” says Alan, “I may never get to do this again. But no matter what, I have these ten episodes.”
If track record is any indication, Alan will get to do this again – many, many times. The first ten episodes of Master of None will be released on Netflix on November 6, 2015.
Sara Lynne Wright writes, acts and produces in Los Angeles and Seattle.
Calendar
FEATURED EVENT | Harvardwood International TV Panel - Monday, Nov. 16th
Harvardwood presents a panel on International TV, featuring Harvardwood Co-Founder Adam Fratto AB '90 (Pukeko Pictures), Eli Shibley AB '04 (IM Global TV), and additional speakers TBA. Join us at 7:30pm for light refreshments; the panel will begin promptly at 8:00pm. This event is FREE for Harvardwood members & Friends — $15 for non-members.
Adam Fratto is a creative executive and producer with an international track record in TV development, current programming, and production. Currently, he is co-Executive Producer of HAVEN, a supernatural drama based on Stephen King’s “The Colorado Kid,” airing on Syfy in the U.S. and 100+ cable channels abroad. This hit show has just wrapped its sixth season in Nova Scotia. He is also co-Executive Producing SEA CHANGE, a backdoor pilot for Lifetime TV and Mar Vista Entertainment.
Eli Shibley joined IM Global Television in July 2015 as President of International Distribution and Co-Productions. In addition to managing sales of the growing IM Global scripted slate, Shibley oversees acquisitions of third party scripted and unscripted projects from US, UK, and international content partners.
View full bios and event details.
Los Angeles
LA-Area Harvard Happy Hour with Harvardwood, HCSC, & HLSA-LA - Monday, Nov. 2nd
Please join local alumni from Harvardwood, the Harvard Club of Southern California, and the Harvard Law School Association of LA for a happy hour night of cocktails and networking! Bring your friends and family. As always, the more the merrier! We have the Game Room on Busby's second floor. To get to the Game Room, please take the stairs, turn right, and the Game Room will be on your left directly across from the bar.
Harvardwood Heads To... Dirt - November Edition - Tuesday, Nov. 4th
The NSA is watching everything you do. Fight the power: share everything. Our nation's greatest comics share untold personal secrets & audience members are encouraged to do the same by texting their own secrets to our google phone number: 818.253.1036. Do it. Cleanse your conscience.
Dirt is co-hosted by Harvard alum Kiran Deol and Emily Maya Mills. Featuring:
- Ethan Embry & Baron Vaughn (brothers on Grace and Frankie)
- Anna Akana (Ant-Man)
- Yassir Lester (Girls)
- And... a Special Guest!
Follow @Dirt_Comedy to track old texts. Nothing gets erased.
Harvardwood Heads To... "Is Anybody Listening?" film screening - Tuesday, Nov. 4th [Palm Springs]
A woman's journey to — and across — the soul-destroying chasm between veterans and others. A film about the power of love and connection. *****Endorsed by: National Veterans Foundation; William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences; Minnesota Humanities Center; Returning Veterans Project; & Culturas Music-Arts in Coachella, CA*****
Also screening at Newport Beach on November 11, 2015.
Harvardwood Heads To... Harvard Yardbirds a capella group with The Westside Ukulele Ensemble - Saturday, Nov. 14th
Come join the Harvard Yardbirds a capella group (with special guests The Westside Ukulele Ensemble) for an entertaining afternoon of music and song! Refreshments will be available, benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. $5 in advance or $10 at the door.
Harvardwood TV Drama Masterclass with Peter Blake AB '91, JD '95 (HOUSE, HEMLOCK GROVE) - Wednesday, Nov. 18th
In this special Harvardwood masterclass, Harvard College & Law School alum Peter Blake (HOUSE, THE PRACTICE, HEMLOCK GROVE) will take us through the ins and outs of writing TV drama, using an episode of House as a model. This event is only open to dues-current Harvardwood members. Capacity is LIMITED, so register early.
Peter Blake was a lawyer and management consultant before he started writing for television. He wrote for HOUSE, M.D. for eight seasons, and has written for THE PRACTICE, ELEMENTARY and HEMLOCK GROVE. He has also written screenplays for Universal, Warner Brothers and Paramount. Blake earned consecutive Emmy nominations as a HOUSE producer in 2007, 2008 and 2009. He won the PEN/USA literary award for his HOUSE teleplay “The Tyrant.” He has received three Edgar Allen Poe Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America, winning the award in 2004 for co-writing the episode “Goodbye.” He has also been nominated for the WGA award for best teleplay and for two Humanitas Prizes.
THE GAME: Harvardwood's H-Y Watch Party - Saturday, Nov. 21st
GO CRIMSON: The Crimson will be deep in Bulldog territory this year year, so come make sure that those Yalies in New Haven can hear us cheering all the way from Los Angeles for a Harvard win! Kickoff is at 11:30am, and we'll be at Cabo Cantina HOLLYWOOD from 11:00am onwards. Friends are welcome; this event is FREE to attend.
New York
Harvardwood Presents JOAN COPELAND on Arthur Miller and Others - Monday, Nov. 2nd [SOLD OUT]
The sister of Arthur Miller (and the sister-in-law of Marilyn Monroe), Joan Copeland is a distinguished actress in her own right. She starred in the fondly remembered 1977 revival of Pal Joey and won a Drama Desk Award for her performance in The American Clock. Other Broadway appearances include Detective Story (1949), Tovarich (1963), The Price (1968), Coco (1969, Two By Two (1970), and Neil Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway (2002). Foster Hirsch will interview Joan Copeland. Hirsch is Professor of Film at Brooklyn College and the author of 16 books about film and theater. This joint event with THE LAMBS is at capacity.
Harvardwood Presents Former Mather House Co-Master PATRICIA HERLIHY on VODKA - Thursday, Nov. 5th
Vodka has been the staple drink in Slavic lands for at least six hundred years, and, some would claim, inextricably bound to its culture. Patricia Herlihy was the Co-Master of Mather House with her late husband David Herlihy from 1976 through 1986. She is a renowned authority on Russian and Soviet history and culture. Herlihy is Professor Emerita of Brown University where she taught until 2001 and the author of The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka and Politics in Late Imperial Russia and Odessa: A History 1794-1914. Her most recent book, Vodka: A Global History, will be available for purchase at the event, and a booksigning will follow the talk.
Patricia Herlihy has expressed the hope that this event will also be an opportunity for her to reconnect with students she knew while she was Co-Master of Mather House. If you know Matherites of the appropriate era, do please spread the word! RSVP here!
Harvardwood Classical Salon: Sang Mi Chung & Nathan Chan Play BEETHOVEN & BRAHMS for Cello and Piano - Sunday, Nov. 22nd
One of the greatest and rarest joys of music is the opportunity to hear a great musician in the intimacy of her own home. We are thrilled that the celebrated pianist Sang Mi Chung has agreed to welcome us into her home for this very special intimate concert, played on her own piano, just for us. Sang Mi's living room seats just 30 people, so we strongly recommend early registration.
Sang Mi Chung is the founder of the much praised Arista Trio, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Salzburg Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival. She has five cds released and is a Steinway Artist. Nathan Chan began studying the cello at age 5 and has performed as a cello soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Albany Symphony, and the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra. In 2015, he was selected for Fondation Louis Vuittard's Classe d'Excellence du Violoncelle along with the renowned Gautier Capucon.
SF / Bay Area
Harvardwood Salon with Emily Mollenkopf (Pixar Animation Studios) - Wednesday, Nov. 11th
Get to know Emily Mollenkopf, a Pixar Creative Development Associate, over an intimate dinner limited to just 10 attendees. Register for this event soon because space will run out quickly. The Harvardwood Salon Series gives attendees the unique opportunity to ask questions and engage in in-depth discussion with the featured guest in an intimate setting.
Emily Mollenkopf is the Development Executive at Pixar Animation Studios. Emily joined Pixar in 2011 as a story coordinator on Pixar's first TV special, Toy Story of TERROR! As Development Executive Emily gives directors creative feedback as they begin the process of crafting their stories, helps to match them with screenwriters, and conducts research to help deepen the worlds of their films. She holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an MFA in producing from USC’s Peter Stark Program.
Toronto
Guided Tour of the Aga Khan Museum - Harvardwood Toronto & the HCT - Saturday, Nov. 7th
We are pleased to invite Harvardwood Toronto members, friends, and guests to a special guided tour of the Aga Khan Museum on Saturday, November 7th, 2015, presented in partnership with the Harvard Club of Toronto. Aga Khan is a Harvard graduate, as is one of the museum's architects, Fumihiko Maki. The 10,000-square foot museum, which opened in September 2014, houses a permanent collection of 1,000 objects as well as other international exhibition collections. Our guided one-hour tour will start at 12:30pm.
Chicago
Harvardwood Heads To... Everybody Does It at the Chicago Comedy Film Festival - Saturday, Nov. 7th
Everybody Does It, a short film film written and directed by alum Megan Brotherton, makes its Chicago premiere at the Chicago Comedy Film Festival in Rogers Park as part of the Gender Narrative Shorts Program. Come enjoy some hilarious short comedies!
Boston / Cambridge
Harvardwood Heads To... Nine the Musical on the Loeb Mainstage! - Friday, Nov. 6th
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Book by Arthur Kopit
Adapted from the Italian by Mario Fratti
Directed by Joey Longstreet ’16
Music Directed by Josh Bean ’16
Produced by Alice Berenson ’16 & Emily Bergquist ’18
Performance times: Friday, November 6th at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 7th at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, November 8th at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, November 12th at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 13th at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, November 14th at 2:30 p.m.
Set amidst the glamour of 1960s Venice, this dark, glittering musical centers on the efforts of the celebrated film director Guido Contini to rescue his creative and private lives from the brink of destruction. As he begins production on a new film, Guido confronts the extraordinary women – from his past, present, and future – who have influenced his life through Maury Yeston’s lush score, which features “Be Italian”, “Unusual Way”, and more. Staged on the American Repertory Theater’s Mainstage, Nine is a kaleidoscopic fusion of reality and creativity.
Harvardwood Heads To... Free Screenings of "Is Anybody Listening?" at Harvard University - Monday & Tuesday, Nov. 16th & 17th
A woman's journey to — and across — the soul-destroying chasm between veterans and others. A film about the power of love and connection. *****Endorsed by: National Veterans Foundation; William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences; Minnesota Humanities Center; Returning Veterans Project; & Culturas Music-Arts in Coachella, CA*****
The film will be screened at the Harvard School of Public Health on November 16th at 12:30pm and at the Harvard Kennedy School on November 17th at 4:15pm. More detailed screening info here .
Other U.S.
Harvardwood Heads To... Everybody Does It at the Austin Film Festival - Tuesday, Nov. 3rd - Austin, TX
Everybody Does It, a short comedy written by, directed by, and starring alum Megan Brotherton, is screening at the Austin Film Festival on October 30 and November 3. It is a part of the Shorts Program 8: I Don't Want to Talk About It, which includes a short film starring another Harvardwood member: Teresa Hegji in Kimi Kabuki.
Harvardwood Heads To... Free screening of "Is Anybody Listening?" - Saturday, Nov. 14th (Spring Grove, PA) and Tuesday, November 17th (Providence, RI)
Help Harvardwood when you do your holiday shopping via AmazonSmile
Winter is coming... and that means the holiday shopping season will be upon us too! If you're an Amazon shopper, there's an incredibly easy way to support Harvardwood as you make your gift list and start checking it off. Designate Harvardwood as your AmazonSmile nonprofit, and for every purchase you make, Amazon will donate a small percentage of your purchase to Harvardwood. THANK YOU!
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