Program for Class Day Celebration 2022

Class Day Recognizes Graduates and Awards Top Prizes in the Arts

On May 23, the Lewis Center for the Arts celebrates graduates of the Class of 2022 who earned certificates and degrees through the Programs in Creative Writing, Dance, Theater, Music Theater, and Visual Arts.

A Note from the Lewis Center for the Arts Interim Chair Michael Cadden

Welcome to the McCarter Theatre Center where, for the first time, Princeton University’s Lewis Center is celebrating its Class Day Gala in the Matthews Theatre, named to honor the many contributions made by local resident and Lewis Center Advisory Council member Edward E. Matthews, Class of 1953, to this robust artistic institution. Most students will know this space as the place where they see the annual Triangle Show; it opened in 1930 to provide a permanent home to the Triangle Club’s musical production with funds from Thomas N. McCarter, Class of 1888. In 2003, another theater opened on the back lawn, the Roger S. Berlind Theatre, named for one of the greatest of the University’s arts patrons, a member of the Class of 1952 (and a former Lewis Center Advisory Council member), and is shared by the Lewis Center’s programs and the not-for profit professional company that occupies the Matthews space for most of the year.

While the recent history of the place in which we find ourselves has shaped the experience of many of the student artists gathered here today, we at the Lewis Center are also working to honor the longer history of this place with a living land acknowledgment that engages with the past, the present, and the future. Faculty and staff are in the process of creating a living document on the subject, which at this point in its evolution includes words I’d like to share with you: “The land on which we gather today is part of the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary, unceded homeland of the Lenni-Lenape people. We recognize the sovereignty of the Lenni-Lenape and honor their history and their continuing presence in their homeland and throughout the Lenape diaspora. We renew our commitment to making Princeton University accountable and responsive to the needs of American indigenous peoples. Current Princeton student activists and alumni are advocating for Indigenous students and studies at the University. For more information, see the websites of Natives at Princeton and Princeton Indigenous Advocacy Coalition.”

This is our first “in person” Class Day since 2019. The faculty and staff of the Lewis Center are delighted to join with the families and friends of our graduates to honor what these young people have accomplished in Creative Writing, Dance, Theater, Music Theater, Visual Arts, and the Princeton Atelier. How nice to share the pleasure of your non-virtual company as we remember all that our students have taught us about perseverance, commitment, and resourcefulness in making art in the face of whatever obstacles are put in our way. They danced across time zones, created visual art out of Fedexed kits we sent, took on the possibilities and limits of virtual theater, and confronted their vulnerability in intimate writing workshops that defied the impersonality of the Zoom room. It’s good to be “live” again, as we remember all the losses – personal, social, curricular, extracurricular – that have marked these two-plus years. Your teachers on the faculty and staff offer you awesome people their heartiest congratulations. You have done so much to earn our respect and admiration already. We can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!

2021-22 Video Highlights


Join with us in celebrating a momentous year when students fully returned to stages, studios, galleries, screening rooms, and writing spaces to develop and showcase their artistry in-person.

Certificate Program Graduates

Creative Writing

Silma Sierra Berrada, Molly Lee Bremer, Hailey Denise Colborn, Iliyah Naomi Coles, Thomas Dayzie, Edward (Ned) Brownlow Furlong, Lila Knowles Harmar, Mohamed (Asad) Hussein Hassan, Christina Im, Makailyn Aliyaah Jones, Vail Maria Linn, AG McGee, Maya Verma Mishra, Alissa Maria Nalewajko, Noel Peng, Sydney Mia Peng, Jacqueline Germaine Pothier, Maya Diane Lubker Rabinowitz, Aleeza Ann Schoenberg, Marc Schorin, Henry Sonam Slater, Malcolm Lane Slutzky, Peter Harris Taylor, Emily Abbygale Weiss, Ellen Rose Whiteside, Grace Xu, Minjung (Mina) Yu.

Dance

Tori Felicia Edington, Margaret Rachel King, Abigail Eva de Riel, Fabiola Corral Adame, Jung Won Julie Shin, Sarah Ashley Witzman, Molly Rose Gibbons, Angie Chen Sheehan, Jared Brent Harbour, Felicity Grace Audet, Ally Wonski.

Theater

Leila Abou-Jaoude, Silma Sierra Berrada, Riley Jaden Bona, Molly Lee Bremer, Alexandra Metcalf Buzzini, Shufei Felix Chen, Meigan Quetzal Clark, Richard Feig, Matthew James Gancayo, Violet Davis Gautreau, Lydia Ellison Gompper, Jamie Alisha Goodwin, Brenda Theresa Hayes, Isabella Maria Hilditch, Christopher Paul Leahy, Juan Jose Lopez Haddad, Juliana Vail Pulsinelli, Maria Fernanda Romo Herrera Ibarrola, Sarah Taylor Root, Aleeza Ann Brodie Schoenberg, Ruth Annelise Schultz, Katherine Hadden Semmens, Ally Wonski.

Music Theater

Leila Abou-Jaoude, Ines Aitsahalia, Molly Lee Bremer, Alexandra Metcalf Buzzini, Violet Davis Gautreau, XinYi Han, Brenda Theresa Hayes, Edward Thomas Jacobs Horan, Chloe Elizabeth Brevig Horner, Sarah Taylor Root, Katherine Hadden Semmens, Ally Wonski, Grace Yu-Xin Zhao.

Visual Arts

Certificate Students:

Oluwatobiloba Ajayi, Silma Sierra Berrada, Ethan C. Boll, Jessica Nicole Brice, Attila M. Delingat, Ameena Faruki, Olivia Alexandra Kusio, Monique Legaspi, Megan Nicole Pai, Raya Marie Ward, Ryan Xia.

Practice of Art (PA) Students:

Isabella Maria Hilditch, Dylan Fox, Samm Lee, Miles Emmanuel Kwesi Wilson, Javin Lu, Michael Osei-Wusu, Adam Edward Hazelton.

 


Student Awards

A number of seniors receive awards for outstanding achievement in each Program and top academic prizes are awarded by the Lewis Center Program Directors for overall achievement in the arts.

Top Academic Prizes

The Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, presented annually to one or more graduating seniors who have demonstrated excellence or the highest standard of proficiency, in performance or execution or in the field of composition in the following general areas: music, theater, dance, painting, sculpture or photography, is awarded to Silma Sierra Berrada, Molly Rose Gibbons, and Anson Hyde Jones.

The Toni Morrison Prize that honors the late Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize Laureate and Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, will be given to one or more graduating seniors whose individual or collaborative artistic practice has pushed the boundaries and enlarged the scope of our understanding of issues of race. This prize honors work in any form that, in the spirit of Morrison’s, is “characterized by visionary force and poetic import.” Jamie Alisha Goodwin and Raya Marie Ward are recipients of this year’s award.

The Lewis Center for the Arts Action Based Community Engagement Award is awarded to the student or students whose contributions to the Lewis Center embody a commitment to “interrogating that which is accepted or understood in an attempt to break into the territory of the unknown or under-explored.” Olivia Alexandra Kusio is the recipient of this year’s award, along with Megan Pan ’23.

 

Creative Writing Prizes

Theodore H. Holmes ’51 and Bernice Holmes Poetry Prize — Noel Yu-Jen Peng
Samuel Shellabarger Memorial Prize in Creative Writing — Asad Hassan
Joyce Carol Oates Award — Sydney Mia Peng
Edmund Keeley Literary Translation Award — Marc Schorin
Outstanding Work by a Senior — Lila Knowles Harmar and Iliyah Naomi Coles
Recognition of Innovative Work in a Creative Writing Thesis — Thomas Dayzie
2022 Distinguished Thesis Award — Maya Verma Mishra, Grace Xu and Christina Im

 

Dance Prizes

Francis LeMoyne Page Class of 1922 Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Creative Arts — Abigail de Riel, Tori Felicia Edington, Margaret Rachel King, Sarah Ashley Witzman and Ally Wonski
Outstanding Senior Creative Thesis Award — Jared Brent Harbour and Jung Won Julie Shin
Sustained Community Achievement Award — Angie Chen Sheehan
Ze’eva Cohen Senior Award — Helen Chen

 

Theater & Music Theater Prizes

Award for Creative and Community Leadership — Ruth Annelise Schultz, Katherine Hadden Semmens, Matthew James Gancayco and Juan Jose Lopez Haddad
Francis LeMoyne Page Class of 1922 Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Creative Arts — Silma Sierra Berrada
Outstanding Contribution to Theater — Isabella Maria Hilditch
Music Theater Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Music Theater Season — Grace Yu-Xin Zhao
Tim Vasen Award for Talent and Citizenship — Molly Lee Bremer
Innovation in Theater Making Award — Jamie Alisha Goodwin
Senior Prize — Leila Ruth Abou-Jaoude, Ines Flore Aitsahalia, Silma Sierra Berrada, Riley Jaden Bona, Molly Lee Bremer, Lexi Metcalf Buzzini, Shufei Felix Chen, Meigan Quetzal Clark, Ricky Feig, Matthew James Gancayco, Violet Davis Gautreau, Lydia Ellison Gompper, Jamie Alisha Goodwin, XinYi Han, Brenda Theresa Hayes, Isabella Maria Hilditch, Ed Thomas Jacobs Horan, Chloe Elizabeth Brevig Horner, Christopher Paul Leahy, Juan Jose Lopez Haddad, Juliana Vail Pulsinelli, María Fernanda Romo Herrera Ibarrola, Sarah Taylor Root, Aleeza Ann Brodie Schoenberg, Ruth Annelise Schultz, Katherine Hadden Semmens, Ally Wonski and Grace Yu-Xin Zhao.

 

Visual Arts Prizes

Lucas Award in Visual Arts — Megan Nicole Pai, Monique Legaspi, Dylan Fox, Oluwatobiloba Ajayi, Isabella Maria Hilditch, Ameena Faruki, Samm Lee and Adam Edward Hazelton
Jim Seawright Award in Visual Arts — Jessica Nicole Brice

 


Lewis Center for the Arts

Interim Chair: Michael Cadden
Executive Director: Marion Friedman Young

Director of Princeton Atelier: Paul Muldoon
Director of the Program in Creative Writing: Jhumpa Lahiri
Director of the Program in Dance:
Susan Marshall
Associate Director of Dance: Rebecca Lazier
Director of the Program in Theater: Jane Cox
Director of the Program in Music Theater, Director of Fellowships: Stacy Wolf
Producing Artistic Director of Theater and Music Theater Season: Elena Araoz
Director of the Program in Visual Arts: Jeff Whetstone
Associate Director of Visual Arts: Pam Lins

View a full list of Lewis Center for the Arts faculty »

View a full list of LCA staff members  »

The programs of the Peter B. Lewis Center for the Arts are made possible through the generous support of many alumni and other donors. View a full list of LCA Supporters »

 

2022 Class Day Program Alternate Formats

Read the 2022 Class Day Program in this online book view, or download a PDF copy of the program