Artistic Associates
Selected by the incoming Artistic Director(s) every year, the board of Artistic Associates is made up of representatives from every academic program at Yale School of Drama. They organize special events, assist in season planning, and serve as ambassadors to the greater Yale community. In addition, each Artistic Associate is assigned two shows a year, guiding and advising the project from development to production. The Artistic Associates are instrumental in the overall success of Yale Cabaret.
Paul Carey (Design ’08) in 2006, designed costumes for Richard III (Yale School of Drama); A Number, Hotel (Yale Cabaret); Two Small Bodies and Miss Julie (Williamstown Theatre Festival). While living in Minneapolis, he designed costumes for the contemporary dance pieces C-Study: Issue #3 (2004) and Evening at Christies (2005). After receiving his BA from Sarah Lawrence College, he attended the Atelier Chardon Savard in Paris for fashion design, and premiered runway collections for Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS in 2002 and 2003. Paul is a third-year MFA candidate.
Joseph P. Cermatori (Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism ’08) graduated with honors in 2005 from Princeton University, where he received the Berg Fellowship in English, the LeMoyne Page Prize in Theater, and the Hughes and Downer Thesis Prizes. As a dramaturg, he has worked for Yale Repertory Theater, Playwrights Horizons, McCarter Theater, Gate Theater London, and the Berliner Festspiele Theatertreffen. Upcoming dramaturgy projects include Tartuffe (McCarter and Yale Rep) and a new piece entitled Project O (both at Yale University). His directing credits include Titus Andronicus (Princeton Shakespeare Company); Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (Princeton University); Brecht and Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden (Yale Cabaret); and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Yale School of Music). He has also been a freelance critic and translator, a teaching fellow in Yale's department of theater studies, and a managing editor of Theater Magazine. He currently holds Yale's George Pierce Baker Memorial Scholarship.
Dorothy Fortenberry (Playwriting ’08) is a playwright whose productions at Yale include Bibles and Candy (dir. Mike Donahue), We're Celebrities, We're Just Not Famous Yet (dir. Becca Wolff), After the Flood (dir. Shana Cooper), and the solo piece Paint Show, part of Going Public/ Speaking Our Mind (dir. Michael Walkup and Tea Alagic). Other productions include Burned Over (dir. Catherine Osborne, Journeyman Productions, NYC) and Theory of Everything (dir. Nicole Ruskin, Vital Theatre, NYC). She is a two-time recipient of the Larry Neal Writers Award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Dorothy is a third-year MFA candidate.
Roberta Pereira (Theater Management ‘08) is originally from Brazil, and has a BA from Wesleyan University with a double major in Theatre and English. In 2006, she was Coordinator of Ancillary Events for the Dublin International Theatre Festival in Ireland, and later the Assistant Director of Development for Yale Repertory Theatre and Yale School of Drama. She is currently an Associate Managing Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, working with the World Performance Project to bring international companies to New Haven. Roberta is a third-year MFA candidate in theater management.
Ken Robinson (Acting ‘09) is originally from Oakland, California and received a B.A. in Economics from Morehouse College in 1995. After working in investment banking and management consulting, Ken decided to become a professional actor. Most recently, Ken was featured in the world premiere of Being Alive! at the Westport Country Playhouse. He has also performed in Ain’t Misbehavin (North Shore Music Theatre) and in Jelly’s Last Jam (Alliance Theatre). At Yale, Ken performed as Don Quixote in Camino Real and as Ogun Size in Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet. At Yale Cabaret, he wrote, produced, and starred in The Donny Hathaway Story. As a recipient of Yale University’s Public Service Fellowship last summer, he worked for the Chief Administrative Officer of the City of New Haven. Ken loves the Cabaret and is honored to be an Artistic Associate, representing the Acting department.
Amanda Spooner (Stage Management ’09) is originally from San Francisco. Her recent stage management credits include Richard III, Marat/Sade and Journey to Santiago at Yale School of Drama; The Illusion and Going Public at Yale Cabaret; South Pacific and Nine at Seaside Music Theater (and the National Tour) and the 2005 Off-Broadway run of Newsical, the Musical. Amanda also served on the stage management team for the 2007 Carlotta Festival production of Speaking Our Mind in which she also had the honor of performing as Andrew, Dorothy Fortenberry's ex-boyfriend. Amanda holds a BA from San Francisco State University in Technical Theatre and Design with a focus on Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Studies. She has worked extensively in San Francisco's queer performance art community and has volunteered many hours to organizations such as The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and The Castro Street Council.
Ben Strange (Sound Design ’09) graduated from Bates College with a BS in Music Composition in 2005. Both as a student and professional, Ben has composed music and conceptual designs for numerous chamber ensembles, theater pieces, films, performance artists, and dance groups. His 2005 “String Quartet in 3 Movements” was funded by a private performance grant and enlisted the talents of graduates from both Julliard and Eastman Schools of Music. His most recent designs/compositions were arranged for the The Illusion at Yale Cabaret and Eye by Alex Knox, for Summer Cabaret 2007. Ben is originally from Hartford, CT, and remains active in Connecticut’s local arts community as a musician/songwriter/music producer and fanatic. Ben is a second-year MFA candidate in sound design.
John McCullough (Technical Design & Production ‘09) graduated in 2005 from the University at Albany with a BA in Theatre (Production Concentration). He is committed to the production of new work and is excited to be serving on the Yale Cabaret Board. John is a second-year MFA candidate in the Technical Design and Production.
