P.T. Barnum Awards
Encyclopedia
The P.T. Barnum Awards for Excellence in Entertainment is an annual awards ceremony honoring alumni of Tufts University
for their exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment. The show alternates between New York City and Los Angeles, respectively titled "From Ballou to Broadway" and "From the Hill to Hollywood."
The award began as a 2005 collaboration of The Hill to Hollywood Network of the Los Angeles Tufts Alliance, the Communications and Media Studies Program at Tufts University
(CMS), the Tufts Department of Drama and Dance, and the Tufts Office of Alumni Relations in celebration of P.T. Barnum’s love of entertainment and creativity, and the desire to honor members of the Tuft's
community for their advancement of and success within the media and entertainment industries.
in the Rose Building, located at 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in New York City. The evening's honoray emcees were actor and comedian Hank Azaria and stage actor and director Joel Bishoff.
has risen from the Tufts stage to the big screen and Broadway, acting in dozens of diverse roles on film, television, and stage.
He was born in Ontario, Canada and, as the son of a diplomat, spent his childhood in Washington, DC, Asia, and the Middle East. He attended boarding school in Colorado before moving to Medford and graduating from the Tufts Drama department in 1983. He then spent several years working in Boston theater and training at Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Mass. He moved to New York City and appeared in off-Broadways shows at theaters like the Lincoln Center Theater and the Punch Line Theater, and eventually met Bill Murray, who recommended Platt to director Jonathan Demme, who cast him in Married to the Mob
in 1988.
His earliest film success was Working Girl
in 1988 with Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. In the 1990s he appeared in films such as Flatliners
, The Three Musketeers
, A Time to Kill
, The Impostors
with Stanley Tucci, and Lake Placid
. In 2005, he played a merchant in Casanova featuring Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller and won the New York Film Critics Online Award for best supporting actor.
Platt’s first television appearance was in the drama Deadline, a program about newspaper journalists in New York City. He later was featured on The West Wing for which he received an Emmy nomination. He is also known for his role as Russell Tupper in Huff
for which he was nominated for two Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.
In 2006, he made his Broadway debut in Conor McPherson's Shining City
, set in Dublin, as an Irish widower and business man, for which he won a Tony award. The New York Times said of one of his performances “…Mr. Platt, mixing self-deprecating wryness with threadbare sorrow, rivets your attention as he tells it.”
In early 2009, Platt starred as Nathan Detroit in a revival of Guys and Dolls on Broadway. Platt is starring as the White House Chief of Staff in Roland Emmerich's 2012
, a disaster film released November 13, 2009.
Mr. Platt now lives in New York with his wife Camilla and three daughters. The range of Platt’s acting skills is evident in the variety of roles he chooses, taking risks with drama, comedy, and action, on all three stages.
During her twelve year tenure as former Producer/Director at NBC Sports
and Olympics, Lisa Lax became one of the most respected production talents in the business. In her role as head of NBC’s Olympic profiles unit, Lax supervised the production of more than 500 feature stories on the world’s best Olympians. Lax also produced and directed several documentary films that were highlights of NBC’s Olympic coverage during the Atlanta, Sydney and Salt Lake City Games, including Emmy Award winning The Wonders of Rome, critically acclaimed Twice Born - Muhammad Ali and Peggy & Dorothy.
Nancy Stern’s remarkable talents include a vast expertise in producing live events, network television specials and scripted dramas. Her credits are notable for their variety, quantity and quality in sports, entertainment and news. Stern was the first woman to produce the world’s most famous bicycle race, The Tour de France
, and the Wide World of Sports. Displaying her versatility, Stern segued into daytime television and created a new look in daytime drama as consulting producer and director for the two-time Emmy Award winning soap opera The City. She served as the co-executive producer for the primetime broadcast of the 1997 Daytime Emmy Awards
. Stern also served as executive producer and director of NBC’s critically acclaimed and highly rated special The Cosby Show... A Look Back.
In 2002, Lax and Stern became partners in Lookalike Productions, where their first collaboration was the award-winning documentary [www.emmanuelsgift.com Emmanuel’s Gift]. The film highlighted the courageous efforts of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah as he fought for the rights of his 2,000,000 fellow disabled in Ghana, West Africa. “Emmanuel’s Gift” sparked a call to action. In July, 2006, Ghana’s Parliament passed a Disability Bill that had been ignored for decades, guaranteeing unparalleled rights for this long-overlooked community.
In 2008, they directed and produced Let It Out: The Movie, a documentary film presented by Kleenex where Olympic legends, Olympic hopefuls and fans share their most emotion-filled memories of the Games, as never been told before.
In conjunction with Sesame Workshop
and Worldwide Pants Incorporated, Lookalike Productions has completed three prime time specials for PBS. The first, Coming Home: Military Families Cope with Change, featuring Queen Latifah, Elmo and John Mayer, tells the stories of four military families who are dealing with issues when a parent comes home from Iraq or Afghanistan with a physical or “invisible” injury. Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times, with hosts Al Roker and Deborah Roberts, showcases families who are struggling due to personal circumstances relating to economic insecurity. When Families Grieve, hosted by Katie Couric, presents families’ personal stories about coping with the death of a parent, as well as strategies that have helped these families move forward.
Besides their work with Sesame Workshop, Lax and Stern are currently directing and producing Unmatched: Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, a documentary film for ESPN’s upcoming series, 30 for 30
. The film explores the intense rivalry and uncanny friendship between Chris and Martina told through their eyes only. 30 for 30 is an unprecedented documentary series featuring thirty films from some of today’s most prestigious filmmakers.
Most recently, the United States Figure Skating Association has commissioned Lookalike Productions to produce and direct a documentary that will commemorate the 1961 US Figure Skating team that perished in a plane crash on the way to the World Championships, as well as celebrate the generations of skaters who came before and after that tragic event.
Lax and Stern reside in New Jersey with their husbands and children.
In recognition of their collaborative work, Bridgman and Packer were awarded a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography. They are also recipients of numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
, New York State Council on the Arts
, New England Foundation for the Arts
, USArtists International, and the National Performance Network.
Bridgman/Packer Dance has performed to high acclaim in New York City at Lincoln Center, City Center Fall for Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival and Central Park Summerstage. They have toured nationally to hundreds of venues including Spoleto USA, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Dance St. Louis, Philadelphia’s Annenberg Center, and Boston’s ICA, and have appeared in major festivals throughout the world
Their innovative works, Trilogy and Double Expose, explore the intricacies of identity, gender, perception, and intimacy through Bridgman/Packer's choreographic concept of ‘video partnering’. Through their visually arresting interaction with their life-size video images and the use of bodies and costumes as projection screens, Bridgman and Packer blur the lines between image and reality, distort identity, and reveal multiple layers of consciousness.
Bridgman and Packer were selected as 2006 Dance Theater Workshop Digital Fellows and were highlighted in Dance Magazine’s May 2006 issue on “Great Partnerships”. Their work in live performance and video technology is featured in the 2009 book “Gegenwelten, Zwischen Differenz und Reflexion” (Against Worlds, Between Difference and Reflection) by Jurgen Schlader and Franziska Weber, published in Munich.
Bridgman fondly considers his first dance training to be ice hockey, which he played from the age of three in his native Minnesota. Art’s first real dance class was at Tufts University, where his future as a lawyer got sidestepped by a passion for dance fired up by then Dance Faculty member, Griselda White. He went on to study with Claire Mallardi at Harvard and then to dance professionally in New York City.
Bridgman graduated from Tufts University in 1972 with a degree in Political Science.
Award and four SAG nominations and a Tony nomination.
Azaria is the voice for several key characters in the animated hit comedy series The Simpsons
. He has won three Emmys for his work on the show. Most recently, he starred in Fox’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
for which he received rave reviews as Pharaoh Kah Mun Rah. His upcoming film projects include Fox’s romantic comedy Love and Other Drugs
, Warner Bros.’ animated feature Happy Feet 2
and Columbia Pictures’ The Smurfs (film)
.
Azaria produced and starred in the critically acclaimed Showtime series Huff, which received seven Emmy nominations, including one for Azaria for “outstanding performance by an actor.” He also received a SAG nomination for Huff in 2004 for “outstanding performance by an actor.”
In 2007, Azaria returned to Broadway to star in The Farnsworth Invention
, from award winning writer Aaron Sorkin. He previously appeared as Sir Lancelot in the Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot
, directed by Mike Nichols. His performance garnered him a Tony nomination for “Best Actor in a Musical.” During the summer of 2003, Azaria starred with Matthew Perry and Minnie Driver in David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago
, performed at London’s Comedy Theatre.
Azaria has also added director and producer to his credits. He co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in the short film “Nobody’s Perfect,” which debuted in 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival and won “Best Short” at the 2004 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. He also received an Emmy Award and a SAG nomination for his starring role in ABC’s acclaimed tele-film Tuesdays with Morrie
.
He was also nominated for an Emmy for his role as David (Phoebe's "scientist guy") on NBC's hit Friends
and his recurring role as Nat the dog walker on NBC’s Mad about You. Azaria’s other television credits include the Golden Globe-nominated CBS telefilm “Fail-Safe,” and the NBC miniseries “Uprising.”
He received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for his memorable turn as Agador Spartacus, the scene-stealing Guatemalan houseboy in Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage
. Other feature credits include Year One
, The Simpsons Movie
, “Run, Fat Boy, Run,” “The Aristocrats,” “Dodgeball,” “Eulogy,” “Along Came Polly,” “Shattered Glass,” “Bark,” "America's Sweethearts," "Cradle Will Rock," "Mystery Men," "Mystery, Alaska," "Godzilla," "Great Expectations," "Celebrity," “Quiz Show,” “Heat,” “Grosse Point Blank,” “Now and Then” and “Pretty Woman.” He also lent his voice to Fox’s animated feature “Anastasia” as Bartok the comical bat. He reprised the role in the video sequel “Bartok the Magnificent.”
Azaria trained at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and played Hamlet in a production of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” at Columbia University. He continued his theater studies at Tufts University, appearing in such plays as “Uncle Vanya,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Ballad of the Sad Café” and “The Dumb Waiter.”
which ran for 12 years and 5,003 performances, making it the second longest running musical in off-Broadway history. He also directed I Love You . . . in several cities across North America, London’s West End and the Mandarin language production in Shanghai and Beijing. Joel also directed the original production of Over the River and Through the Woods at off-Broadway’s John Houseman Theatre. Other directing credits include The Kiss at City Hall at Pasadena Playhouse, a Japanese language production of Annie in Tokyo and throughout Japan (now in its 10th year), The Tale of the Allergist's Wife at Laguna Playhouse, Sylvia (starring Cathy Rigby) and Too Old for the Chorus at La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts, and Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera which played at The Opera Comique in Paris as part of a European tour. Mr. Bishoff also did the musical staging for the national tour of The Sound of Music starring Marie Osmond (which also toured Singapore and Korea) as well as the New York City Opera production starring Debby Boone. He has directed at the Long Wharf Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, the New Yorker Theatre (Toronto), Gem Theatre (Detroit), Coronet Theatre (Los Angeles), Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center (Nyack), Stuart St. Playhouse (Boston), the Broward Center for Performing Arts (Miami), the Royal George Theatre (Chicago), Theatre at Old Towne (San Diego) among others. He has also taught at American Academy of Dramatic Art and at the Graduate Acting Program at UCLA. An MFA graduate of Columbia University, he is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
, Tufts engineering class of 1989 and panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
P.T. Barnum Awards were presented to TV writer/producer Jeff Greenstein
, Tufts class of 1984, whose credits include Desperate Housewives
and Friends
; and ICM talent agent Andrea Nelson Meigs, Tufts class of 1990. The event was held at the Creative Artists Agency.
, who has worked on shows such as Rent
and A Streetcar Named Desire
; movie producer Albert Berger of Bona Fine Productions, which boasts film such as Little Miss Sunshine
and Cold Mountain
, Tufts class of 1979; and president of PBS station Thirteen/WNET
New York City and former NBC News
president, Neal Shapiro
, Tufts class of 1980. The emcee was Late Show with David Letterman
producer Rob Burnett
, Tufts class of 1984, and the ceremony was held at the Loews Regency Hotel on June 9, 2008.
, Tufts class of 1971, who produced films such as Risky Business
, Forrest Gump
, and Seven Pounds
; NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios Co-President and Executive Producer Ben Silverman
, Tufts class of 1992, who produced shows including Ugly Betty
and The Office
; and Creative Artists Agency talent agent and Xbox
designer Seamus Blackley
, Tufts class of 1990.
, Tufts class of 1962; NYU Tisch School of the Arts
faculty member and founder of Mary Louise Geiger Lighting design, M.L. Geiger, Tufts class of 1979; The Late Show with David Letterman Executive Producer Rob Burnett, Tufts class of 1984; and Today co-host and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire host Meredith Vieira
, Tufts class of 1975. The show was held at Feinstein’s Cabaret in the Loews Regency Hotel in New York.
, Tufts class of 1977, starring in American Beauty
and Fox's The O.C.
; Walden Media CEO and founder Cary Granat
, Tufts class of 1980, notably overseeing production of the film The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe; Warner Brother Pictures Executive Vice President Courtenay Valenti, Tufts class of 1985, heading up production of films like You've Got Mail
and Happy Feet
; and CAA Literary Agent Jon Levin, Tufts class of 1975.
In November 2005, a special award was presented to Bollywood actress Ameesha Patel
, Tufts class of 1997, in India. She has starred in dozens of Indian films since she began acting in 2000.
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
for their exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment. The show alternates between New York City and Los Angeles, respectively titled "From Ballou to Broadway" and "From the Hill to Hollywood."
The award began as a 2005 collaboration of The Hill to Hollywood Network of the Los Angeles Tufts Alliance, the Communications and Media Studies Program at Tufts University
Communications and Media Studies, Tufts University
at Tufts University is an interdisciplinary program designed to educate Tufts students about mass media and communications within a liberal arts curriculum. Nearly 30 years after its inception, the program continues to focus on the role of media in the United States and internationally...
(CMS), the Tufts Department of Drama and Dance, and the Tufts Office of Alumni Relations in celebration of P.T. Barnum’s love of entertainment and creativity, and the desire to honor members of the Tuft's
community for their advancement of and success within the media and entertainment industries.
From Ballou to Broadway 2010
The 2010 From Ballou to Broadway ceremony honored four Tufts alumni: actor Oliver Platt, TV producers Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern, and dance choreographer Art Bridgman. The event took place on June 7, 2010 at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at the Lincoln Center for the Performing ArtsLincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
in the Rose Building, located at 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in New York City. The evening's honoray emcees were actor and comedian Hank Azaria and stage actor and director Joel Bishoff.
Oliver Platt
Oliver PlattOliver Platt
Oliver James Platt is a Canadian-American actor. He is currently starring in the Showtime original series, The Big C with Laura Linney.-Early life:...
has risen from the Tufts stage to the big screen and Broadway, acting in dozens of diverse roles on film, television, and stage.
He was born in Ontario, Canada and, as the son of a diplomat, spent his childhood in Washington, DC, Asia, and the Middle East. He attended boarding school in Colorado before moving to Medford and graduating from the Tufts Drama department in 1983. He then spent several years working in Boston theater and training at Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Mass. He moved to New York City and appeared in off-Broadways shows at theaters like the Lincoln Center Theater and the Punch Line Theater, and eventually met Bill Murray, who recommended Platt to director Jonathan Demme, who cast him in Married to the Mob
Married to the Mob
Married to the Mob is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine.Michelle Pfeiffer, in something of a departure from her previous roles, gave an acclaimed lead performance as a gangster's widow from Brooklyn, opposite Matthew Modine as the...
in 1988.
His earliest film success was Working Girl
Working Girl
Working Girl is a 1988 romantic comedy film written by Kevin Wade and directed by Mike Nichols. It tells the inspiring story of a Staten Island-raised secretary, Tess McGill , working in the mergers and acquisitions department of a Wall Street investment bank...
in 1988 with Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. In the 1990s he appeared in films such as Flatliners
Flatliners
Flatliners is a 1990 American thriller film starring Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt as medical students using physical science in an attempt to find out if there's anything out there beyond death by conducting clandestine experiments with near-death...
, The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
, A Time to Kill
A Time to Kill (film)
A Time to Kill is a 1996 film adaptation of John Grisham's 1989 legal thriller novel of the same name. Directed by Joel Schumacher, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Sandra Bullock, Samuel L...
, The Impostors
The Impostors
The Impostors is a 1998 farce motion picture written and directed by Stanley Tucci, starring Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci, Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, Steve Buscemi, and Billy Connolly....
with Stanley Tucci, and Lake Placid
Lake Placid (film)
Lake Placid is a 1999 American monster movie with elements of comedy, horror, bromance film, and the buddy genre. It was written and produced by David E. Kelley, directed by Steve Miner, and stars Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin Bacon, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Oliver Platt, and...
. In 2005, he played a merchant in Casanova featuring Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller and won the New York Film Critics Online Award for best supporting actor.
Platt’s first television appearance was in the drama Deadline, a program about newspaper journalists in New York City. He later was featured on The West Wing for which he received an Emmy nomination. He is also known for his role as Russell Tupper in Huff
Huff (TV series)
Huff is an American television dramedy series produced by Sony Pictures Television for Showtime. The series was created by Bob Lowry and features Hank Azaria as Dr. Craig "Huff" Huffstodt, a psychiatrist whose life changes abruptly when a 15-year-old client commits suicide in his office...
for which he was nominated for two Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.
In 2006, he made his Broadway debut in Conor McPherson's Shining City
Shining City
Shining City is a play by Conor McPherson, set in Dublin which was first performed in London's West End at the Royal Court Theatre in June 2004....
, set in Dublin, as an Irish widower and business man, for which he won a Tony award. The New York Times said of one of his performances “…Mr. Platt, mixing self-deprecating wryness with threadbare sorrow, rivets your attention as he tells it.”
In early 2009, Platt starred as Nathan Detroit in a revival of Guys and Dolls on Broadway. Platt is starring as the White House Chief of Staff in Roland Emmerich's 2012
2012 (film)
2012 is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures...
, a disaster film released November 13, 2009.
Mr. Platt now lives in New York with his wife Camilla and three daughters. The range of Platt’s acting skills is evident in the variety of roles he chooses, taking risks with drama, comedy, and action, on all three stages.
Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern
Identical twin sisters Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern graduated with degrees from Tufts University in Political Science in 1986. Lookalike Productions represents their diverse collaborative efforts and their many television and film productions have earned them a combined 16 Emmy Awards. Lookalike is a full-service production company that produces short and long form documentary films; television specials and series; live events; award shows; commercials; and films for schools, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. In addition, Lookalike offers expertise in marketing, creative design, music composition and script writing.During her twelve year tenure as former Producer/Director at NBC Sports
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...
and Olympics, Lisa Lax became one of the most respected production talents in the business. In her role as head of NBC’s Olympic profiles unit, Lax supervised the production of more than 500 feature stories on the world’s best Olympians. Lax also produced and directed several documentary films that were highlights of NBC’s Olympic coverage during the Atlanta, Sydney and Salt Lake City Games, including Emmy Award winning The Wonders of Rome, critically acclaimed Twice Born - Muhammad Ali and Peggy & Dorothy.
Nancy Stern’s remarkable talents include a vast expertise in producing live events, network television specials and scripted dramas. Her credits are notable for their variety, quantity and quality in sports, entertainment and news. Stern was the first woman to produce the world’s most famous bicycle race, The Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
, and the Wide World of Sports. Displaying her versatility, Stern segued into daytime television and created a new look in daytime drama as consulting producer and director for the two-time Emmy Award winning soap opera The City. She served as the co-executive producer for the primetime broadcast of the 1997 Daytime Emmy Awards
24th Daytime Emmy Awards
The 24th Daytime Emmy Awards were held in 1997 to commemorate excellence in daytime programming from the previous year . The Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Fred Rogers The 24th Daytime Emmy Awards were held in 1997 to commemorate excellence in daytime programming from the previous year...
. Stern also served as executive producer and director of NBC’s critically acclaimed and highly rated special The Cosby Show... A Look Back.
In 2002, Lax and Stern became partners in Lookalike Productions, where their first collaboration was the award-winning documentary [www.emmanuelsgift.com Emmanuel’s Gift]. The film highlighted the courageous efforts of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah as he fought for the rights of his 2,000,000 fellow disabled in Ghana, West Africa. “Emmanuel’s Gift” sparked a call to action. In July, 2006, Ghana’s Parliament passed a Disability Bill that had been ignored for decades, guaranteeing unparalleled rights for this long-overlooked community.
In 2008, they directed and produced Let It Out: The Movie, a documentary film presented by Kleenex where Olympic legends, Olympic hopefuls and fans share their most emotion-filled memories of the Games, as never been told before.
In conjunction with Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...
and Worldwide Pants Incorporated, Lookalike Productions has completed three prime time specials for PBS. The first, Coming Home: Military Families Cope with Change, featuring Queen Latifah, Elmo and John Mayer, tells the stories of four military families who are dealing with issues when a parent comes home from Iraq or Afghanistan with a physical or “invisible” injury. Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times, with hosts Al Roker and Deborah Roberts, showcases families who are struggling due to personal circumstances relating to economic insecurity. When Families Grieve, hosted by Katie Couric, presents families’ personal stories about coping with the death of a parent, as well as strategies that have helped these families move forward.
Besides their work with Sesame Workshop, Lax and Stern are currently directing and producing Unmatched: Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, a documentary film for ESPN’s upcoming series, 30 for 30
30 for 30
30 for 30 is the umbrella title for a series of documentaries airing on ESPN and its sister networks. The series, which premiered in October 2009 and concluded in December 2010, chronicles 30 stories from the "ESPN era," each of which detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that...
. The film explores the intense rivalry and uncanny friendship between Chris and Martina told through their eyes only. 30 for 30 is an unprecedented documentary series featuring thirty films from some of today’s most prestigious filmmakers.
Most recently, the United States Figure Skating Association has commissioned Lookalike Productions to produce and direct a documentary that will commemorate the 1961 US Figure Skating team that perished in a plane crash on the way to the World Championships, as well as celebrate the generations of skaters who came before and after that tragic event.
Lax and Stern reside in New Jersey with their husbands and children.
Art Bridgman
Art Bridgman is a choreographer, performer and co-artistic director of Bridgman/Packer Dance, which he founded with his partner and collaborator, Myrna Packer. Bridgman and Packer’s current work focuses on the integration of live performance and video technology in dances that have been described by The New York Times as “ingenious, magical and fascinating” and by The Boston Globe as “flat-out exhilarating”.In recognition of their collaborative work, Bridgman and Packer were awarded a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography. They are also recipients of numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, New York State Council on the Arts
New York State Council on the Arts
The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...
, New England Foundation for the Arts
New England Foundation for the Arts
The New England Foundation for the Arts , headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of six not-for-profit regional arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and by private foundations, corporations and individuals...
, USArtists International, and the National Performance Network.
Bridgman/Packer Dance has performed to high acclaim in New York City at Lincoln Center, City Center Fall for Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival and Central Park Summerstage. They have toured nationally to hundreds of venues including Spoleto USA, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Dance St. Louis, Philadelphia’s Annenberg Center, and Boston’s ICA, and have appeared in major festivals throughout the world
Their innovative works, Trilogy and Double Expose, explore the intricacies of identity, gender, perception, and intimacy through Bridgman/Packer's choreographic concept of ‘video partnering’. Through their visually arresting interaction with their life-size video images and the use of bodies and costumes as projection screens, Bridgman and Packer blur the lines between image and reality, distort identity, and reveal multiple layers of consciousness.
Bridgman and Packer were selected as 2006 Dance Theater Workshop Digital Fellows and were highlighted in Dance Magazine’s May 2006 issue on “Great Partnerships”. Their work in live performance and video technology is featured in the 2009 book “Gegenwelten, Zwischen Differenz und Reflexion” (Against Worlds, Between Difference and Reflection) by Jurgen Schlader and Franziska Weber, published in Munich.
Bridgman fondly considers his first dance training to be ice hockey, which he played from the age of three in his native Minnesota. Art’s first real dance class was at Tufts University, where his future as a lawyer got sidestepped by a passion for dance fired up by then Dance Faculty member, Griselda White. He went on to study with Claire Mallardi at Harvard and then to dance professionally in New York City.
Bridgman graduated from Tufts University in 1972 with a degree in Political Science.
Hank Azaria, Honorary Emcee
Hank Azaria’s ability to transform himself into a multitude of characters has made him one of the most sought-after actors today. He has won four Emmys and received eight Emmy nominations, one Screen Actors GuildScreen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
Award and four SAG nominations and a Tony nomination.
Azaria is the voice for several key characters in the animated hit comedy series The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. He has won three Emmys for his work on the show. Most recently, he starred in Fox’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is an American adventure comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, and starring Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, and Steve Coogan. The film is a sequel to Night at the Museum...
for which he received rave reviews as Pharaoh Kah Mun Rah. His upcoming film projects include Fox’s romantic comedy Love and Other Drugs
Love and Other Drugs
Love and Other Drugs is a 2010 romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Edward Zwick and based on the non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy...
, Warner Bros.’ animated feature Happy Feet 2
Happy Feet 2
Happy Feet Two is a 3D computer-animated family film film directed by George Miller, who co-directed the original film Happy Feet. The film is a sequel to Happy Feet and stars Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Pink, E.G. Daily, Sofía Vergara and Common. Dr...
and Columbia Pictures’ The Smurfs (film)
The Smurfs (film)
The Smurfs is a 2011 American 3D family film based on The Smurfs comic book series created by Peyo and the 1980s animated TV series it spawned. It was directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, Jayma Mays, and Sofía Vergara. It is the first CGI/live-action hybrid film to...
.
Azaria produced and starred in the critically acclaimed Showtime series Huff, which received seven Emmy nominations, including one for Azaria for “outstanding performance by an actor.” He also received a SAG nomination for Huff in 2004 for “outstanding performance by an actor.”
In 2007, Azaria returned to Broadway to star in The Farnsworth Invention
The Farnsworth Invention
The Farnsworth Invention is a stage play by Aaron Sorkin adapted from an unproduced screenplay about Philo Farnsworth's invention of the television and David Sarnoff, the RCA president who stole the design.- Screenplay :...
, from award winning writer Aaron Sorkin. He previously appeared as Sir Lancelot in the Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot
Spamalot
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways, especially in its parodies of Broadway theatre...
, directed by Mike Nichols. His performance garnered him a Tony nomination for “Best Actor in a Musical.” During the summer of 2003, Azaria starred with Matthew Perry and Minnie Driver in David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago
Sexual Perversity in Chicago
Sexual Perversity in Chicago is a play written by David Mamet that examines the sex lives of two men and two women in the 1970's. The play is filled with profanity and regional jargon that reflects the working-class language of Chicago. The characters' relationships become hindered by the caustic...
, performed at London’s Comedy Theatre.
Azaria has also added director and producer to his credits. He co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in the short film “Nobody’s Perfect,” which debuted in 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival and won “Best Short” at the 2004 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. He also received an Emmy Award and a SAG nomination for his starring role in ABC’s acclaimed tele-film Tuesdays with Morrie
Tuesdays With Morrie
Tuesdays with Morrie is a 1997 non-fiction novel by American writer Mitch Albom. The story was later adapted by Thomas Rickman into a TV movie of the same name directed by Mick Jackson, which aired on 5 December 1999 and starred Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria...
.
He was also nominated for an Emmy for his role as David (Phoebe's "scientist guy") on NBC's hit Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
and his recurring role as Nat the dog walker on NBC’s Mad about You. Azaria’s other television credits include the Golden Globe-nominated CBS telefilm “Fail-Safe,” and the NBC miniseries “Uprising.”
He received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for his memorable turn as Agador Spartacus, the scene-stealing Guatemalan houseboy in Mike Nichols’ The Birdcage
The Birdcage
The Birdcage is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski. The script was written by Elaine May...
. Other feature credits include Year One
Year One
The term "Year One" in political history usually refers to the institution of radical, revolutionary change. This usage dates from the time of the French Revolution: after the abolition of the French monarchy , the National Convention instituted the new French Revolutionary Calendar, declaring that...
, The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
, “Run, Fat Boy, Run,” “The Aristocrats,” “Dodgeball,” “Eulogy,” “Along Came Polly,” “Shattered Glass,” “Bark,” "America's Sweethearts," "Cradle Will Rock," "Mystery Men," "Mystery, Alaska," "Godzilla," "Great Expectations," "Celebrity," “Quiz Show,” “Heat,” “Grosse Point Blank,” “Now and Then” and “Pretty Woman.” He also lent his voice to Fox’s animated feature “Anastasia” as Bartok the comical bat. He reprised the role in the video sequel “Bartok the Magnificent.”
Azaria trained at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and played Hamlet in a production of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” at Columbia University. He continued his theater studies at Tufts University, appearing in such plays as “Uncle Vanya,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Ballad of the Sad Café” and “The Dumb Waiter.”
Joel Bishoff, Honorary Emcee
Joel Bishoff directed the original production of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now ChangeI Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change is a musical comedy with book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts. It is the second-longest running Off Broadway musical...
which ran for 12 years and 5,003 performances, making it the second longest running musical in off-Broadway history. He also directed I Love You . . . in several cities across North America, London’s West End and the Mandarin language production in Shanghai and Beijing. Joel also directed the original production of Over the River and Through the Woods at off-Broadway’s John Houseman Theatre. Other directing credits include The Kiss at City Hall at Pasadena Playhouse, a Japanese language production of Annie in Tokyo and throughout Japan (now in its 10th year), The Tale of the Allergist's Wife at Laguna Playhouse, Sylvia (starring Cathy Rigby) and Too Old for the Chorus at La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts, and Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera which played at The Opera Comique in Paris as part of a European tour. Mr. Bishoff also did the musical staging for the national tour of The Sound of Music starring Marie Osmond (which also toured Singapore and Korea) as well as the New York City Opera production starring Debby Boone. He has directed at the Long Wharf Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, the New Yorker Theatre (Toronto), Gem Theatre (Detroit), Coronet Theatre (Los Angeles), Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center (Nyack), Stuart St. Playhouse (Boston), the Broward Center for Performing Arts (Miami), the Royal George Theatre (Chicago), Theatre at Old Towne (San Diego) among others. He has also taught at American Academy of Dramatic Art and at the Graduate Acting Program at UCLA. An MFA graduate of Columbia University, he is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
From the Hill to Hollywood 2009
On May 7, 2009 the fifth anniversary of the program was hosted by Adam FelberAdam Felber
Adam Felber is an American political satirist, author, radio personality, actor, humorist, novelist, television writer, and comic book writer.Felber attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and graduated as an English major in 1989...
, Tufts engineering class of 1989 and panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly radio news panel game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member...
P.T. Barnum Awards were presented to TV writer/producer Jeff Greenstein
Jeff Greenstein
Jeff Greenstein is an American television writer and producer. His credits include Desperate Housewives, Jake in Progress, Will & Grace, Partners, Friends, and Dream On....
, Tufts class of 1984, whose credits include Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
and Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
; and ICM talent agent Andrea Nelson Meigs, Tufts class of 1990. The event was held at the Creative Artists Agency.
From Ballou to Broadway 2008
The 2008 P.T. Barnum Award winners were Jim Nicola, Tufts class of 1972, artistic director for the New York Theatre WorkshopNew York Theatre Workshop
__notoc__New York Theatre Workshop is an Off-Broadway theatre noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 East 4th Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, it houses a 198-seat theatre for its mainstage productions, and a...
, who has worked on shows such as Rent
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
and A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
; movie producer Albert Berger of Bona Fine Productions, which boasts film such as Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...
and Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (film)
Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier...
, Tufts class of 1979; and president of PBS station Thirteen/WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
New York City and former NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
president, Neal Shapiro
Neal Shapiro
Neal B. Shapiro is the president of PBS station Thirteen/WNET New York City, installed in February 2007. He is the chief executive of the station's license holder, the Educational Broadcasting Corporation , which also operates the Long Island, New York, PBS outlet WLIW.- Life and Career :Shapiro...
, Tufts class of 1980. The emcee was Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
producer Rob Burnett
Rob Burnett
Robert Barry Burnett is a former defensive end who played in the NFL for 14 seasons.-High school and college:Burnett attended Newfield High School located in Long Island, New York...
, Tufts class of 1984, and the ceremony was held at the Loews Regency Hotel on June 9, 2008.
From the Hill to Hollywood 2007
The 2007 awards were staged at the Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles, presenting awards to major Hollywood producer Steve TischSteve Tisch
Steven "Steve" Tisch is an American businessman. He is the Chairman and Executive Vice President of the New York Giants, the NFL team co-owned by his family, as well as a film and television producer...
, Tufts class of 1971, who produced films such as Risky Business
Risky Business
Risky Business is a 1983 American teen comedy-drama film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It stars Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. The hit film launched Cruise to stardom.-Plot:...
, Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic comedy-drama romance film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise...
, and Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds is a 2008 film, directed by Gabriele Muccino. Will Smith stars as a man who sets out to change the lives of seven people. Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, and Barry Pepper star. The film was released in theaters in the United States and Canada on December 19, 2008, by Columbia Pictures...
; NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios Co-President and Executive Producer Ben Silverman
Ben Silverman
Benjamin Noah "Ben" Silverman is the founder and CEO of Electus, a next generation entertainment studio staked by IAC's Barry Diller....
, Tufts class of 1992, who produced shows including Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
and The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
; and Creative Artists Agency talent agent and Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
designer Seamus Blackley
Seamus Blackley
Seamus Blackley is a former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators.After entering Tufts University to study jazz piano, Blackley switched to study physics and graduated Summa cum Honore en Tesis. As a sophomore, he published his first paper in the Journal of Magnetic...
, Tufts class of 1990.
From Ballou to Broadway 2006
In spring 2006, the P.T. Barnum Awards honored Tony Award nominated choreographer and Spectrum Dance Theater artistic director Donald Bryd; actor Dan HedayaDan Hedaya
Daniel G. “Dan” Hedaya is an American character actor. He often plays sleazy villains or uptight, wisecracking individuals; three of his best-known roles are as Italian Mafia boss Tony Costello in Wise Guys, a cuckolded husband in the Coen brothers' crime thriller Blood Simple, and the scheming...
, Tufts class of 1962; NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
faculty member and founder of Mary Louise Geiger Lighting design, M.L. Geiger, Tufts class of 1979; The Late Show with David Letterman Executive Producer Rob Burnett, Tufts class of 1984; and Today co-host and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire host Meredith Vieira
Meredith Vieira
Meredith Louise Vieira is an American journalist, television personality, and game show host. She is best known for her roles as the original moderator of the ABC talk program The View and co-host of the long-running NBC News morning news program, Today...
, Tufts class of 1975. The show was held at Feinstein’s Cabaret in the Loews Regency Hotel in New York.
From the Hill to Hollywood 2005
The premiere event was held in May 2005 at the Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles. Winners included Broadway, Hollywood and television actor Peter GallagherPeter Gallagher
Peter Killian Gallagher is an American actor, musician and writer. Since 1980, Gallagher has played many roles in numerous Hollywood films. He starred as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series The O.C. from 2003 to 2007...
, Tufts class of 1977, starring in American Beauty
American Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
and Fox's The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
; Walden Media CEO and founder Cary Granat
Cary Granat
Cary Granat is co-founder and CEO of Walden Media, a production company whose goal is to produce films that "entertain and educate". Granat began his film career at Warner Bros...
, Tufts class of 1980, notably overseeing production of the film The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe; Warner Brother Pictures Executive Vice President Courtenay Valenti, Tufts class of 1985, heading up production of films like You've Got Mail
You've Got Mail
You've Got Mail is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It was written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the play Parfumerie by Miklós László. The film is about two letter-writing lovers who are completely unaware that their sweetheart is in...
and Happy Feet
Happy Feet
Happy Feet is a 2006 American-Australian computer-animated family film with music, directed and co-written by George Miller. It was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures and Kingdom Feature Productions and was released...
; and CAA Literary Agent Jon Levin, Tufts class of 1975.
In November 2005, a special award was presented to Bollywood actress Ameesha Patel
Ameesha Patel
Ameesha Patel is an Indian actress who appears in mainly Bollywood movies. Making her acting debut in the blockbuster Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai , Patel won critical praise for her performance in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha , which became one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema, earning her a ...
, Tufts class of 1997, in India. She has starred in dozens of Indian films since she began acting in 2000.