Salem State Filmmakers Hollywood Bound!

Can you produce a film in one week, all shooting and editing done and ready for audience viewing? 100,000 students across the country used imovie and finalcut software and a handheld camera to create amazing short films of 5 minutes or less in the campusmoviefest competition. The winners from our campus include art+design majors Kevin Murphy Walunas, producer, and Jesse O. Henderson, director of the fabulous film, No More Fallen Heroes. In the film, a young soldier wrestles with PTSD symptoms after returning from war. Now they head to Hollywood for national competition and to participate in workshops (3D direction, anyone?) with industry professionals. The filmmakers, of course, will vlog their experience daily while in Los Angeles. Here's their first entry, and you can follow them on their youtube channel. Congrats to the cast and crew and we're proud to have you at Salem State!

40 years of Theatre Alumni Reunite!

Last Saturday, nearly 300 alumni from the 70's to the present joined together to celebrate the career of Professor Whitney Whizz White, retiring after 37 years, and 160+ productions.

A set and lighting designer, Whizz got his nickname for his wizardry and magic on the stage, including the rigging of a ship overhead that rotated 360 degrees that could spin, rock, and ascend over the first three rows of the audience, and for having 4000 pounds of sand delivered to the stage for an island set! His philosophy: go big or go home, never waned in 37 years.

A classic, Dean Martin style panel roast made for plenty of laughs with commentary from Bill Cunningham, Patricia Zaido, Tom Luddy, Richard Elia, and Molly McCarter, '00. It was an hour of non-stop laughter! (Stay tuned for video clips later this month...)

It was a glorious testament to the wonderful experiences had in classes, rehearsals and performances that so many returned to celebrate as a giant family. And many of those who could not make it, were busy working in the theatre industry at rehearsals and performances-- the only good excuse! Were you there? What were some of your favorite quotes from the roast?