Wednesday, November 19, 2025

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The Performing Arts Department held its annual BFA Fall Showcase in New York City on Monday, November 3, for Spring 2025 graduates of the Acting and Musical Theatre programs. The showcase, hosted at New World Stages, offered Emerson students the chance to perform for industry professionals, including agents, managers, producers, and directors. Emerson also partnered with Nathan Gehan 99, Founder and CEO of ShowTown Theatricals, to help produce the event. Pictured here: 2025 BFA Acting Class.

Emerson alums may be best known for their Emmy, Oscar, and Tony awards and nominations, but this year, Comedian Bill Burr ’93, composer/producers Noel Carey ’11 and Julia Mattson ’11, and video producer Pablo Feldman ’18 all are up for Grammy Awards.

Burr was nominated for Best Comedy Album for Drop Dead Years, a performance that also garnered an Emmy nomination earlier this year. It’s his second Grammy nod—in 2021 he was nominated for the comedy album Paper Tiger. Feldman is up for his first Grammy, for Best Music Video, as a producer of Doechii’s “Anxiety” video.

Carey and Mattson, composer/lyricists of the Broadway show Death Becomes Her, and producers of the Original Broadway Cast recording, are up for Best Musical Theater Album, following their 2025 Tony nomination for Best Original Score.The duo told Broadway Buzz they first began collaborating at Emerson, on a fake historical tour they wrote for a history class called “The ‘That Guy’ Tour of Boston.”

The College recognized the achievements and dedication of its faculty and staff in a pair of events held in recent weeks. On October 28, faculty were honored for receiving tenure and promotions, and for their years of service to Emerson. On November 5, staff were feted for their “passion, collaboration, and commitment to excellence.” 

A full list of honorees is available on Emerson Today. Pictured here Chief Robert Casagrande

Alysia Abbott (pictured here), writer, journalist, and longtime Emerson instructor, will soon see her memoir Fairyland reach national audiences as a feature film produced by Sofia Coppola. Adapted and directed by Andrew Durham, the film traces her childhood in 1970s and 1980s San Francisco with her father, Steve Abbott, a gay poet shaped by the city’s artistic energy, LGBTQ+ activism, and the early years of the AIDS crisis.

The film is the result of more than a decade of work, a process Abbott reflects on in a Q and A on Emerson Today. Fairyland opens in theaters this fall.

The Office of Student Success, Access and Belonging hosted Emerson’s National First-Generation College Celebration Day, giving students space to share experiences and learn about resources that support their academic and creative goals. Director Christopher Grant (pictured here) described first-generation identity as “hidden diversity,” noting that many students carry it quietly even as it shapes their path through college. The event highlighted opportunities through I’m First, including mentoring, community-building programs, study-abroad access supported by the Gilman International Scholarship, and recognition from Emerson’s chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for first-generation scholars.

In his most recent letter, President Bernhardt introduced the new Creativity@Emerson initiative, led by Thomas Vogel and Carol Ferrara, that aims to establish a shared language around creativity so students can articulate what it is and how it shapes every discipline. A new piece in Emerson Today takes a deeper look beyond the commonly held image of creativity as an individual flash of inspiration and instead shows how talent, context, and collaboration together yield extraordinary outcomes.

Tonight at 6:00 p.m. in the Semel, the College will host the Creativity@Emerson screening of Radical Creatives, followed by a panel discussion.

Emerson Los Angeles (ELA) held its 11th annual PitchFest on November 6, where seven ELA students and seven LA-based alumni delivered 90-second project pitches to a panel of alumni judges. Faculty member Kara Lee Burk (pictured here) spoke to the group before the competition began, sharing insights on effective pitch strategies. 

Alumni judges included Sean Barclay '00 (Gersh Agency), Hailey Chavez '15 (comedy writer, Superstore, Grown-Ish), and Lisa Zambri '01 (producer, Vox Lux, Colette). Winners receiving prizes from the International Screenwriters Association were Omar Bicane '25, Duncan Novak '23, Stella Scire '25, and Surya Sundararajan '22.

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