Olivia DrakeMelvin "Mel" Strauss, adjunct professor of music, emeritus, died Sept. 5 following a prolonged illness. During his time at Wesleyan, Strauss directed and conducted the University Orchestra and Concert Choir and also served as director of the Private Music Lessons Program, which he helped to rejuvenate. Born in Newark, N.J., in 1929, Strauss earned his bachelor of arts degree in humanities from Rutgers University, and his master of arts degree in musicology from New York University. Subsequently, Strauss worked with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood (then the Berkshire Music Center), and it was through Strauss's involvement at Tanglewood, with the Boston…
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Wesleyan hired the following new employees in July, August and September: Alexis Sturdy joined the Office of Community Partnerships on July 2. Joseph Giaimo joined University Relations on July 2. Jennifer Kleindienst joined the Office of Finance and Administration on July 2. Nicola Bennett joined University Relations on July 16. Scott Houser joined the Financial Aid Office on July 16. Evan Carney joined the Office of Admission on July 23. David Baird joined Information Technology Services on Aug. 1. Rachel Ludwig joined the Physical Education Department on Aug. 1. Rachel Cross joined the Office of Admission on Aug. 1. Robert…
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David LowSix-time Tony Award winner Jeffrey Richards ’69 is co-producing three exciting productions on Broadway this fall season. First up is a new revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which begins previews on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 and opens on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street), exactly 50 years to the day of the play’s original opening. This alternately hilarious and devastating dissection of marriage and grief, directed by Tony Award nominee Pam MacKinnon (Clybourne Park), features Tracy Letts and Amy Morton—the playwright and the star of the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning…
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival in September featured the North American Premiere of Museum Hours, directed by Jem Cohen ’84, and the world premieres of Imogene, co-directed by Shari Springer Berman ’85 and Robert Pulcini, and Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Joss Whedon ’87. All three films were well received by Toronto audiences and film critics. Both Imogene and Much Ado About Nothing were picked up in Toronto by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions for release in North America. MPM Film is handing international sales and The Cinema Guild has acquired U.S. distribution rights for Museum Hours. Museum Hours…
Cynthia Rockwell(Contributed by Gabe Rosenberg ’16) Two years after he passed away, Werner T. Angress ’49 is having his story told to the world – again. While Angress found himself as a prominent subject of another Wesleyan alum’s book – The Virginia Plan: William B. Thalhimer and a Rescue From Nazi Germany (The History Press, 2011), Robert Gillette ’59’s history of the successful rescue effort of 21 Jewish adolescents during World War II – he finished translating his own memoir from German to English. Angress died before either account of his life could be released, however, so his children took it upon themselves to publish…