Our Trojan family has kept so busy—writing, producing, acting and otherwise making art around the country and the world—that we’ve decided to split our annual Alumni Marquee into multiple installments. Without further ado, here is a selection of alumni activities and achievements. Fight on!
Classes of 1970s – 1990s
David Fickas BFA 1996 and Brice Beckham (’97) hosted a sketch show at The Broadwater, which featured fellow alums Kirstin Eggers (BFA ’01) and Daniel Montgomery (BA ’07).
Lisa Gopman BA 1999 performed in the one-person show Giraffes Can Kill at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Grant Heslov BFA 1986 adapted his screenplay Good Night and Good Luck for Broadway, and he produced the live stream of the play for CNN.
Shyla Lefner BA 1998 appeared in Fake it Until You Make It at Arena Stage, which also featured fellow alumnus and faculty member Edgar Landa (BA ’92) as the production’s fight director.
Jeff Parker BFA 1989 starred as Robert Langdon in the Drury Lane Theatre’s production of The DaVinci Code. He also recently appeared with Helen Hunt in Pinter’s Betrayal directed at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
Joni Ravenna BFA 1984 has a new play with OC Playwrights Alliance, titled Tucked Away.
John Rich BFA 1977 is the executive director for Regional Theatre of the Palouse. He is working on the musicals Tootsie and An American in Paris.
Ken Scarborough BA 1982 won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Preschool or Children’s Series for Sesame Street at the Third Annual Children & Family Emmy Awards.
Kyra Sedgwick 1985 produced and starred in The Best You Can, which was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Anthony Sparks BFA 1994 will serve as showrunner for the 7th Heaven reboot in development at CBS Studios.
Danny Strong BA 1996 adapted Chess, which is Broadway-bound with Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher leading the cast.
Class of 2000s
Patrick J. Adams BFA 2004 stars in the BBC and Netflix miniseries The Bombing of Pan Am 103.
Charl Brown BA 2001 can be seen in the new off-Broadway musical JOY: A New True Musical starring Betsy Wolfe. Fellow alumnus Stark Sands (BFA ’01) serves as a producer of the musical.
Kate Cannova BA 2003 produced the Tony Award-nominated productions Good Night and Good Luck, Smash, Romeo+Juliet and Swept Away, as well as the Tony Award-winning Sunset Boulevard,
Katrina Coulourides BFA 2005 was nominated for Best Scenic Design by the LA Drama Critics Circle and the Stage Raw Awards for her work in Road Theatre Company’s Mercury.
Lisa Sinaye Dring BA 2009 wrote Sumo, which performed at the Public Theater with SDA alumnus Jesus Hurtado (BFA ’22) serving as assistant projection designer. Dring’s play was a finalist for the O’Neill 2025 National Playwrights Conference. She will be directing a new play by Amita Sharma, Birth of a Mother, for the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group Spotlight.
Jimmy Fowlie BFA 2008 serves as a writer on Saturday Night Live and performed in an improv show on March at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade with many SNL writers and performers.
Travis Hammer BA 2003 appears in Netflix’s Ransom Canyon.
Sarah Hollis BFA 2008 was seen in IAMA’s workshop production of Don’t Touch My Hair.
Winnie Lok BFA 2001 is the new general manager for East West Players.
Stephanie Matsuba BA 2009 performed in the play Stephanie Matsuba is not Okay at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Stark Sands BFA 2001 and his fellow castmates from the Broadway production of Swept Away performed a one-night-only reunion concert in April.
Andrea Syglowski BFA 2006 appeared in Primary Stages’ Amerikin at 59E59 Theaters.
Deborah Ann Woll BFA 2007 stars as Gladys “Kill ‘Em” Gillem in the film Queen of the Ring.
Class of 2010s
Amielynn Abellera MFA 2011 performed in Skylight Theatre Company’s production Hide & Hide by by Roger Q. Mason, which also featured fellow alumnus Ben Larson (BA ’24).
Serena Anis BFA 2013 produced the show Her Ghost and performed in Prom Queen of Hell!!!, both at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
James Bane MFA 2013 can be seen in the film My Dead Friend Zoe, also starring Morgan Freeman and featuring a cast of 90% veterans.
McKinley Belcher III MFA 2010 was nominated for a BAFTA and an RTS Programme Award for his role in Eric.
Haley Spence Brown BFA 2018 was invited to audition in New York City as part of the search for Dolly Parton for the new bio musical.
Abe Bueno-Jallad MFA 2016 performed as Big James in the series The Chosen.
Justin Chien BFA 2018 has joined the ensemble cast of the Hong Kong-set premium series The Season.
Molly Chiffer BFA 2017 played Mary Debenham in Agatha Christe’s Murder on the Orient Express at The Fireside Theatre.
Riley Rose Critchlow BFA 2014 directed Beth Wants the D at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Taylor Cranston Dearden BA 2015 stars alongside Amielynn Abellera (MFA ’11) in HBO’s The Pitt.
Miles Fowler BA 2019 is joining the cast of Season 2 of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This.
Ellis Greer BFA 2014 performed in 1st Stage Theatre’s production of hang in March.
Briyana Guadalupe MFA 2019 appeared in an episode of Will Trent, which is co-executive produced by fellow alumna Inda Craig-Galván (MFA ’17).
Shaun Heard MFA 2018 performed in Fences as part of Interact Theatre Company’s series.
Christian Henley MFA 2016 performed in A Noise Within’s King Hedley II which won Best Production at the Stage Raw Awards.
Bella Hicks BA 2016 starred in La Mirada Theatre’s production of Legally Blonde.
Alison Jaye BFA 2018 appears in Broadway’s Stranger Things: The First Shadow at the Marquis Theatre.
Thomas Krottinger BA 2012 was part of the cast of Survivor.
Adam Lebowitz Lockard MFA 2016 stars as Matt in the film Omi, a Jewish body possession comedy that he also wrote.
Julia Manis BFA 2013 performed in A Noise Within’s production of Jane Eyre.
Perry Mattfeld BFA 2016 stars in Peacock’s Long Bright River.
Jacqueline Misaye BA 2012 appeared alongside Dor Gvirtsman (BA ’16) in The Road Theatre’s production of Sleeping Giant, and performed in The Inkwell Theatre’s production of The Hostage Situation.
Ashley Morton BFA 2016 can be seen in the ensemble of the Engeman Theater’s production of Waitress and as the understudy for Jenna.
Taubert Nadalini BA 2017 appeared in Fostered at Pacific Resident Theatre.
Bukola Ogunmola MFA 2019 served as host for the Independent Shakespeare Company’s annual gala.
Pete Ploszek MFA 2012 can be seen in the fifth and final season of Netflix’s You.
Brian James Polak MFA 2014 wrote a new play, The Call List, which was performed at the Garage Theatre in Long Beach as part of the theatre’s 25th anniversary season.
Cary Reynolds BA 2018 directed Hamlet (Solus) with the Independent Shakespeare Company.
Mariah Robinson BA 2015 can be seen in Prime Video’s Reacher Season 3, and has a major recurring role on Netflix’s Act Your Age.
Jordana Sapiurka BA 2014 won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Live Action Program for her work on Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians at the Third Annual Children & Family Emmy Awards.
Pia Shah MFA 2013 starred in Blue Boy, directed by Nik Didani, which screened at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles in May.
Molly Sharpe BA 2014 performed in the one-woman play Murder, Oops! at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Tessa Slovis MFA 2019 starred in IAMA Theatre’s final workshop production of the season, Abigail Miller’s Trauma Play.
Riley Smith BA 2014 performed a one-man show, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, Extended Edition Part 3, A One Man Show, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Erika Soto BA 2011 was nominated for Best Two-Character Performance by the Stage Raw Awards for her work in Here Comes the Night at the Zephyr Theatre.
Julie Stier BA 2018 can be seen in the film Calamari.
Richy Storrs BA 2015 performed in the sketch show Blank Page Plans at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Michael Sturgis BA 2016 was nominated for Best Lead Performance by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for his work in Echo Theatre Company’s Clarkstown.
Kapil Talwalkar 2015 will appear in the upcoming Peacock series The Burbs.
Jason Turner MFA 2011 can be seen in an episode of Chicago Med with his real-life brother, Victor, starring as conjoined twins.
Colin Woodell BFA 2014 starred in Netflix’s Pulse.
Class of 2020s
Ariana Lexie Afradi BFA 2021 is in the off-Broadway company of Duke & Roya through the summer.
Eunice Ahn BA 2024 starred in a short film, Hybrid, which screened in the Ray Stark Theatre in April.
Armand Akbari BFA 2023 was seen in the L.A. premiere of The Angel Next Door at International City Theatre.
Erica Ammerman BFA 2023 served as Assistant Lighting Designer for the Geffen’s Production of Noises Off. The creative team and crew also featured fellow alumni Amelia Anello (BFA ’24), Dani Jaramillo (BFA SM ’21) and Lisa Toudic (BA ’24).
Amanda Angeles BFA 2024 starred as Red Riding Hood in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. She also performed in the Los Angeles premiere of the new rock musical Pump Up the Volume in a staged concert production at Hudson Backstage Theatre.
Emily Arancio MFA 2023 was seen in the film Motherland, which won a Jiff Award for Best Ensemble Cast.
Talha Barberousse BFA 2023 appeared in the new film Black Heat.
Madeline Hope Bennett BA 2025 performed in Vagabond Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Quaz Degraft MFA 2025 starred in a solo show, In the Black, which performed at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Tyler Joseph Ellis BA 2020 wrote the book for a new musical, The (Disaster) Marathon of 1904, which was one of two winners at the Open Jar Studios and Stage Door Networks’ Broadway Shark Tank competition.
Jamie Gallo BA 2024 performed in The Dangerous Book for Boys at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Miguel Angel Garcia BA 2020 starred in the film Die Like A Man.
Noa Gardner MFA 2020 wrote the play The Staircase, which received its world premiere at South Coast Repertory as part of their Playwrights Festival.
Isabella Gomez BFA 2022 works on America’s Got Talent.
Alisha Grewal BA 2024 is the Artistic Associate at Boston Court Pasadena.
Janel “JJ” Javier BA 2023 was the assistant costume designer for East West Players’ Cambodian Rock Band.
Tommy McCabe BA 2023 starred in the world premiere of Corktown ’39 at Rogue Machine Theatre.
Lexi Minetree BA 2024 will portray Elle Woods in the Legally Blonde prequel forthcoming on Amazon Prime.
Alex Nimrod BA 2024 and Jordan Rice (BA ’24) appear in the independent film All Alone Together, which received distribution through a new company, Ethos Releasing.
Sherrick O’Quinn MFA 2020 voiced the title character in the short film Iffy, which was nominated for a 2025 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Short Form Animation. He was also cast in the premiere of the original play Listing with Theatre 40.
Brittney Quach BA 2022 was featured in an Instacart ad, “Big Sister,” which has been shortlisted for Ad of the Year: Casting.
Abby Rowland BA 2021 will direct the Rotation Theatre Company’s production of Romeo & Juliet.
Jamie Salinger BFA 2020 worked on the Grammy Awards and the Paris Olympics.
Matilda Corley Schulman MFA 2023 was one of 15 finalists for the Outstanding Screenplays Competition.
Seeret Singh BA 2023 wrote a short script, “BESHARAM!”, which was awarded by CAPE and Janet Yang Productions as part of the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge.
Aspen Somers BA 2024 is an Onstage Colorado Award winner and Broadway World Award nominee for role as Young Katurian/The Child in The Pillowman at Miscreant Theatre Denver.
Karlie Teruya BFA 2021 served as the Technical Assistant Stage Manager and the Sub Assistant Stage Manager for the Tony Award-winning musical Maybe Happy Ending.
Joseph D. Valdez MFA 2024 is developing a play, Rotations in the Sky, with SparkFest.
Grace Wilkerson BA 2024 directed The Wolves at at Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixsom Theatre, which also starred fellow alumni Isabella Griggs (BA ’24), Amelia Vargas (BA ’21), Joelle Tourneur (BA ’23), Jada Jo Warner (BA ’24) and featured work by Niall Pierce (BA ’24), Henry Parker-Elder (BA ’24), Isadora Swann (BA ’25), Sun Jin (BA ’25), and Kate Schaaf (BFA ’24).
Thomas Winter BA 2022 participated in a reading of the Center Theatre Group-commissioned play Little Tokyo Goes Nuclear: Three Decades at the Atomic Cafe, participated in East West Players’ Solo Performance Project, and performed as Tesla in the Sierra Madre Playhouse’s new musical Flashes of Light.
Are you an alum of the USC School of Dramatic Arts? Tell us what you’re up to and we’ll feature it!