School of Visual, Performing, and Communication Arts

SVPCA Faculty Spotlight


The WCSU SVPCA Faculty Spotlight is a recognition of the outstanding work being done by our esteemed faculty in the School of Visual, Performing, and Communication Arts. We hope you take a moment to read about the accomplishments of the faculty members featured in this semester’s spotlight. We are extremely fortunate to have many faculty members with remarkable achievements in their field. We look forward to highlighting many more of these achievements in future editions of the WCSU SVPCA Faculty Spotlight.

 

Department of Art graphic with blue and orange font

This semester’s SVPCA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Art is on Sabrina Marques. Marques is an Associate Professor who has taught at WCSU since 2011. Marques served as the Director of the Kathwari Honors Program at WCSU from 2020 through 2023. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art from Columbia University and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking from the Yale University School of Art. Selected solo exhibitions of Marques’ work include Cayo Hueso at The Studios of Key West (Florida), Day Dreamers at Branford college and Yale University, and Menagerie at Green Leaf Gallery at Whittier College (California). She has been an artist in residence at The Trelex Residency in Switzerland, The Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Italy, and The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Connecticut. She was recently published in “Turning Points: Responsive Pedagogies in Studio Art Education.” with a chapter entitled Home in/is the Classroom: Building a Community of Artistic Citizens (Columbia University, Teachers College Press).

Marques’ impact on her students is immeasurable, and she has mentored many students who have gone on to achieve success as artists. In Spring 2017, she taught Stop Motion Animation: An Agent for Social Change. Among those in the course was Phoebe Jane Hart. “Sabrina is the reason I became an animator. She changed my life,” Hart said. “I found my passion and it became everything to me.” After graduating in 2019, Hart attended the California Institute of the Arts to pursue an M.F.A. in Experimental Animation. In January, 2024, she received the Jury Award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and in March, she earned the Special Jury Award at SXSW, for her short film “Bug Diner”.

 

This semester’s SVPCA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Communication & Media Arts is on Guy Perrotta, Adjunct Professor. Perrotta obtained his Master of Arts in Cinema Studies and Media Studies from The New School. He is a member of Directors Guild of America and is on the awards committee. He is also a member of National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, The Explorers Club Film Committee, and is on the Board of Trustees of the Scottish Documentary Institute. He is a two-time Emmy award winner.

Perrotta served as the co-producer, director, writer and researcher for the documentary Voices Over the Water. Voices Over the Water looks at the colorful and romantic image of Scotland, and at what lies behind it–the real history, the culture, the tragedies and opportunities. Voices Over the Water then follows the story of Highland emigrants as they arrive in America, speaking a different language with a distinctive dress and culture, and explores their contribution to what America is today, and how their culture is celebrated today. It is available to stream through Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play and iTunes, and was aired on PBS. To learn more about the film, visit www.voicesoverthewater.com.

 

This semester’s SVPCA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Music is on Danton Boller. Boller is an Adjunct Professor, teaching applied jazz bass. He earned a degree in Music Performance from California State University Long Beach. He has toured internationally and recorded with many top jazz artists as a member of the Roy Hargrove Quintet, Grammy nominated Roy Hargrove Big Band, Seamus Blake Quartet, Ari Hoenig’s “Punk Bop,” Willie Jones III Quartet, and the Grammy nominated Anthony Wilson Nonet.

Boller has toured and performed with legends such as Mulgrew Miller, Alvin Queen, Bennie Wallace, Ronnie Mathews, Steve Nelson, Kenny Barron, Russell Malone, and the Village Vanguard Orchestra, as well as top artists such as Robert Glasper, Kurt Elling, Greg Tardy, Aaron Goldberg, Jeff Siegel, Lee Metcalf, Adam Rafferty, Eric Person, Greg Glassman, and Rodney Jones, Elvis Costello, Run the Jewels, Bridget Everett, Elysian Fields, Taylor Mac (MacArthur Genius and Kennedy Prize recipient), Broadway’s Fela! (featuring Patti Labelle), Alexi Murdoch, Taran Killam, Keller Williams, Jazz Mandolin Project, and Jon Fishman (Phish). Boller formed OBNO Records and released SPACE, showcasing his original compositions, arranging and producing. Currently, Danton can be seen performing in the HBO documentary film Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music. He also appears on screen in the film Can You Ever Forgive Me? starring Melissa McCarthy, in a performance scene with Mx Justin Vivian Bond. 

 

This semester’s SVPCA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Theatre Arts is on Maureen Freedman. Freedman is a Visiting Assistant Professor, after having previously served as Adjunct Professor. She teaches Scenic Design, Methods of Arts and Crafts, Technical Theatre. She has served as Scenic Designer and Props Coordinator for numerous productions at WCSU. Freedman studied Design for Performance at the University of the Arts in London and Design & Technology at University of Connecticut.

Maureen has worked with production teams in the US and abroad creating spaces and crafting characters for theatre, object theatre, opera and dance. Some notable work includes The Exalted by Carl Hancock-Rux (Anne Bogart, Director) at BAM, Colliding Classroom by Dr. Christopher Emdin at LCT, The Wolves at the Window by Toby Davis at 59e59, Pirandello: Raison D’etre (off-Broadway transfer), and Intimate Apparel for CT Rep (SILV award for design excellence, NAPAT award for scenic design, analyzed and published in ‘A Critical Companion to Lynn Nottage’ by Routledge). International work includes The Boat is Sinking (Fringe First award, Israel), The House by the Lake (Israel & touring), Silence Makes Perfect (UK) and Burning Blue (Norway). Maureen is a Linbury Prize finalist, Cheek by Jowl Young Professional alum and a NYFA IAP fellow. Freedman served as the scenographic model maker and design assistant for the recent Broadway revival of The Wiz at The Marquis Theatre in New York, NY. She also served as the scenographic model maker for the pre-Broadway production in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

This semester’s SVPCA Faculty Spotlight for the Department of Creative and Professional Writing is on Anthony D’Aries.  D’Aries is an Assistant Professor and serves as the Coordinator of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative & Professional Writing program. Prior to joining WCSU full-time, D’Aries taught at Bay Path University, Regis College, Emerson College and Anna Maria College. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College and a Stonecoast Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from University of Southern Maine.

He is the author of The Language of Men: A Memoir (Hudson Whitman Press, 2012), which received the PEN/New England Discovery Prize and an INDIES Gold Medal. His work has been seen in many publications include McSweeney’s, Boston Magazine, The Literary Review, Memoir Magazine and Flash Fiction Magazine. His essays have been finalists for Fourth Genre’s Michael Steinberg Essay Prize and the Diana Wood’s Memorial Creative Nonfiction Award. His essay No Man’s Land was listed as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2021. He has served on the board of PEN/New England, and has taught writing workshops in prisons, shelters, hospitals and residential care facilities as part of his work as a member of the Freedom-to-Write Committee. Over the past year alone, his work has been published in Connecticut Literary Journal, Red Coyote Literary Journal, Cutleaf Literary Journal, Cream City Review, and South Dakota Review.



Click below to view previous installments of the SVPA Faculty Spotlight:

SVPCA Faculty Spotlight – Spring, 2024
SVPA Faculty Spotlight – Spring, 2023
SVPA Faculty Spotlight – Fall, 2022
SVPA Faculty Spotlight – Spring, 2022