Through videos and interviews, catch a glimpse into the lives and careers of Princeton alumni who are working in the arts as performers, producers, authors, arts administrators, and more!
Alumni
Alumni POV
Jennifer Borghi ’02
Active as a stage and recording artist and as a recitalist, Jennifer Borghi has won prizes in international competitions including the Maria Callas Grand Prix, the Hilde Zadek International Voice Competition, and the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Voice Competition.
Meet Jennifer Borghi ’02 >
Ryan Brandau ’03
Ryan Brandau is Artistic Director of Princeton Pro Musica, Artistic Director of the Monmouth Civic Chorus, and a member of the faculty of Westminster Choir College, where he works with the Symphonic Choir.
Meet Ryan Brandau ’03 >
Andy Chen ’09 & Waqas Jawaid ’10
Andy Chen and Waqas Jawaid are the co-founders and partners of Isometric Studio, a visual identity and graphic design consultancy that promotes inclusion, equality & progress.
Meet Andy Chen ’09 & Waqas Jawaid ’10 >
Christine Chen ’97
Christine Chen developed as a gymnast, diver, and dancer who traveled coast to coast before landing in arts administration at New York City's 92nd Street Y.
Meet Christine Chen ’97 >
Lex Brown ’12
Artist Lex Brown discusses her current artistic practice that combines video installation, drawing, live performance — and her love of food.
Meet Lex Brown ’12 >
Padraic Duffy ’96
Padraic Duffy, Playwright and Managing Director of Sacred Fools Theater Company, shares his reflections on studying theater at Princeton and pursuing a creative career.
Meet Padraic Duffy ’96 >
Mark Feuerstein ’93
Actor Mark Feuerstein shares some of his experience as an actor and reflects on his time at Princeton University.
Meet Mark Feuerstein ’93 >
Jane Hirshfield ’73
Poet Jane Hirshfield discusses her craft and her formative studies at Princeton and in a California monastery.
Meet Jane Hirshfield ’73 >
Melissa Hubber ’96, Peter Mills ’95, Cara Reichel ’96 and Tony Vallés ’97
The four founders of New York’s Prospect Theater Company first met and worked together while students at Princeton.
Meet Melissa Hubber ’96, Peter Mills ’95, Cara Reichel ’96 and Tony Vallés ’97 >
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06 and Lileana Blain-Cruz ’06
Award-winning theater artists Lileana Blain-Cruz and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins discuss the formative theater community at Princeton and their experience returning to campus to stage a commissioned adaptation that helped to celebrate the opening of the Lewis Arts complex.
Meet Branden Jacobs-Jenkins ’06 and Lileana Blain-Cruz ’06 >
Sir Gilbert Levine ’71
"Feed your brain and you will feed your musical soul.” Learn how this advice from Princeton Professor of Music Lewis Lockwood transformed the life and career of Sir Gilbert Levine.
Meet Sir Gilbert Levine ’71 >
Mary Levkoff ’75
Mary Levkoff, museum director at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, oversees William Randolph Hearst’s vast mountaintop estate. She shares her experience as a student at Princeton and in the museum field.
Meet Mary Levkoff ’75 >
Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen ’15
American countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen is recognized as one of opera's most promising rising stars. His roles with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera have given him the opportunity to do what he loves most: emotionally connect with audiences through live operatic performance.
Meet Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen ’15 >
Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri ’01
Photographer, filmmaker, and owner of Double Exposure Studios Indrani has photographed magazine and album covers for some of the world’s top celebrities. She shares how her current work with diverse commercial and philanthropic subjects brings her satisfaction.
Meet Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri ’01 >
Silas Riener ’06
Silas Riener took his first dance class at Princeton with Ze'eva Cohen. Riener discusses his mentoring relationships with legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham and Princeton dance faculty member Rebecca Lazier.
Meet Silas Riener ’06 >
Paige Rogers ’89 & Rob Melrose ’92
Paige Rogers and Rob Melrose met at Princeton when he was a freshman and she was a senior, and have been together—personally and professionally—ever since. In 1999 they founded The Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco, an experimental theater with a mission to present contemporary plays and re-envisioned classics.
Meet Paige Rogers ’89 & Rob Melrose ’92 >
Robert N. Sandberg ’70
Playwright, director, Lecturer in Theater and English, and Princeton alum Robert N. Sandberg '70 has connected with students and faculty alike since his time as an undergrad at Princeton. Well-known and well-loved in the Program in Theater, he works closely with theater seniors on their thesis projects each year while continuing to create his own new work, such as the workshop production of Mad Dreams presented in fall 2018. In this Alumni POV, Sandberg reveals his teaching philosophy: one that grounds students in history and growth — growth as theater artists but more importantly, as human beings.
Meet Robert N. Sandberg ’70 >
Akhil Sharma ’92
Novelist Akhil Sharma shares recollections about his studies, insights on his creative practice, and thoughts on teaching creative writing.
Meet Akhil Sharma ’92 >
H. Scott Salinas ’97
Music major H. Scott Salinas wrote mini-operas in one of the first Princeton Ateliers with Toni Morrison; now he composes film scores.
Meet H. Scott Salinas ’97 >
Robert N. Sandberg ’70
Playwright, director, retired lecturer, and Princeton alum Robert N. Sandberg reveals his teaching philosophy: one that grounds students in history and growth — growth as theater artists but more importantly, as human beings.
Meet Robert N. Sandberg ’70 >
Jennie Snyder Urman ’99
Jennie Snyder Urman, known for developing and producing the Golden-Globe nominated TV comedy Jane the Virgin, gives advice for aspiring writers and shares how studying the arts at Princeton prepared her professionally.
Meet Jennie Snyder Urman ’99 >
Annabel Soutar ’94
Co-founder and artistic director of the Montreal-based theater company Porte Parole, Annabel Soutar discusses her passion for documentary theater and her project, The Watershed, which engages in conversations about freshwater politics in Canada.
Meet Annabel Soutar ’94 >
Abbie Vandivere ’01
Abbie Bagley-Young Vandivere restores Old Master paintings at the Mauritshuis museum in the Netherlands.
Meet Abbie Vandivere ’01 >
Mary Weatherford ’84
Visual artist Mary Weatherford recounts how her work as evolved to the present day, and how she is now combining neon light and paint on the canvas to represent "the complex symphony of human experience."
Meet Mary Weatherford ’84 >
Amy Wegener ’94
Amy Wegener is the Literary Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville, a professional theatre company in Louisville, Kentucky, that is nationally known for its annual slate of world premieres: the Humana Festival of New American Plays.
Meet Amy Wegener ’94 >
David Zabel ’88
David Zabel, a Humanitas Prize-winning writer, wrote for the NBC medical series “ER” for the last eight years of its historic run, serving the last five years as its showrunner.
Meet David Zabel ’88 >
Jenny Xie ’08
National Book Award finalist and poet Jenny Xie reveals where she heads to think and write in NYC and how her acclaimed first collection of poems explores "the moral significance of seeing and perceiving."
Meet Jenny Xie ’08 >