An online panel discussion + Q&A
Monday, June 15 at 8:00pm Eastern
Click here to register and receive Zoom link via email
Co-Hosted by the Princeton Arts Alumni and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies
Moderated by Tom Dunne, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Jess Bailey '19, Arts Program coordinator at ODUS
Join Ronee Penoi ‘07, Adam Hyndman ‘12, Abigail Jean-Baptiste ‘18, Victoria Davidjohn ‘19, and other alumni sharing their experiences with:
equity, diversity and inclusion as professionals in the arts,
how that tied into their experiences with EDI on campus as undergraduates, and
how a new program will use workshops and grants not only to:
build a bridge between alumni, campus partners, and students,
but also to increase awareness and action towards more equity, diversity, and inclusion in the arts both on campus and beyond.
Panelists:
Ronee Penoi
Producer, Octopus Theatricals
Class of 2007
Ronee Penoi (Laguna Pueblo/Cherokee) is Producer at Octopus Theatricals, where she has advanced the work of DeLanna Studi (And So We Walked), Phantom Limb Company (Falling Out), Ripe Time (Sleep), Homer’s Coat (An Iliad by Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson), Theatre for One, and many more. Previously, Ronee was NNPN Producer-in-Residence at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Senior Producing Fellow and Directing Fellow at Arena Stage, and toured nationally with Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy. She is an ISPA Global Fellow, and has been an APAP Leadership Fellow and TCG Rising Leader of Color. Ronee is a composer at work on two new musicals with collaborator Annalisa Dias under the banner of FLORAA MUSICALS, and is a member of the Groundwater Arts Collective dedicated to climate justice in the arts (recipient of a SPACE at Ryder Farm Residency Grant). She is a NEFA National Theater Project Advisor, serves on Western Arts Alliance Committees (Indigenous and Conference Steering Committees) and leads the Creative and Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA) Programs Committee. Ronee is also a recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Individual Artist Fellowship. BA, Princeton University.
Adam Hyndman
Actor, Producer, Activist
Class of 2012
Adam Hyndman is a performing artist, producer, and activist. He has worked extensively in the arts, performing on stage and screen with roles on Broadway and television. Some notable performing credits include: NBC’s The Sing Off, CHILDREN OF EDEN at the Kennedy Center, and on Broadway in ALADDIN, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, and currently (well, before the pandemic) HADESTOWN. Adam uses his experiences working with narratives to challenge his vision for the world on and off stage. He was a co-producer for THE INHERITANCE on Broadway and is an associate producer at Octopus Theatricals; empowering unique work and amplifying marginalized voices. Adam is also a guest teaching artist for the Program in Music Theater at Princeton University's Lewis Center for the Arts. As an individual committed to excellence and progressive achievement through collaboration, he works toward the manifestation of a diverse and inclusive world.
Abigail Jean-Baptiste
Theater Director
Class of 2018
Abigail Jean-Baptiste (she/her/hers) creates, directs, and produces theater in New York City. Abigail works to build empathetic modes of storytelling using theatrical forms that unsettle canonical expectations. Her art centers women-identifying folx and black and brown communities. She aims to disrupt conditioned routines of behavior and exclusionary accounts of history. Recently directed: Big Date by Cary Glitter (Wet Paint Festival), Olio Live! by Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess (Audible Theater). Broadway: Jagged Little Pill (Assistant Director), King Lear (Assistant to Director); Off-Broadway: Anatomy of a Suicide (Atlantic, Assistant Director), Passage (SohoRep., Assistant Director) Upcoming: Proud Boys’ Girls (Corkscrew Theater Festival, Producer), Three Sisters (NYTW, Assistant Director). Currently developing: The Space Between, a play about interracial friendship; The Womb Abyss, a theatrical poem tracing The Middle Passage; Be White, a musical interlacing White Christmas with the legacy of black train porters. BA: Princeton University. Proud Lilly Award recipient.
Victoria Davidjohn
Writer, Martin A. Dale '53 Fellowship
Class of 2019
Victoria Davidjohn (she/her/hers), is a writer, theater director, and lighting designer. Recently directed: ReRoute by Stefani Kuo (Wet Paint Festival), Those Days Are Over by David Hilder (Assistant Director, The Tank). A recipient of the Martin A. Dale Fellowship and the New York Women's Foundation Directing Apprenticeship, she is currently writing a musical about the pivotal work of Black women within the Civil Rights Movement. After graduating in 2019 from Princeton University, she served as the Community Impact Coordinator for the Public Theater & Disney to stage the musical adaptation of HERCULES. Upcoming projects include AS YOU LIKE IT (Shakespeare in the Park) and All Her Power: The 50th Anniversary of Co-Education (Princeton University).