OfA names annual arts prize winners

The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OfA) and the Council on the Arts at Harvard, a standing committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, have announced the winners of the annual undergraduate arts prizes presented in recognition of outstanding accomplishment in the arts for the 2005-06 academic year.

Seniors Melissa Goldman and Han Yu are the recipients of this year’s Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. The prize recognizes outstanding artistic talent and achievement in the composition or performance of music, drama, dance, or the visual arts. This prize honors the sum of a student’s artistic activities at Harvard.

A resident of Mather House, Goldman has been awarded this prize in recognition of her work in set design. Highlights of her design resume include Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players (HRG&SP) productions of “The Gondoliers” and “Iolanthe” at Agassiz Theatre, as well as five Loeb Experimental Theater productions including “Hedda Gabler,” “Antigone,” and “The Rocky Horror Show.” She has also designed three Loeb Mainstage shows: “The Physicist,” “The Oresteia,” and most recently, “Lulu,” the fall 2005 visiting director’s project. Goldman’s commitment to the theater community has extended beyond her role as set designer, having served as public relations chairperson (2004) and president (2005) of HRG&SP. This spring, Goldman’s design work will be showcased in the Loeb Ex show “Alice in Wonderland,” running May 5-14, including Arts First weekend.

An affiliate of Dudley House, Yu received the prize in recognition of her explorations in installation and studio art. A Visual and Environmental Studies (VES) concentrator, Yu’s projects have included “The Inflatable Museum,” a portable, fabric institution inflated with high-powered fans at the Adams House Arts Space, and “Crawlspace Gallery,” in which Yu created a gallery in a dorm room crawlspace where she curated a number of undergraduate exhibits. In May, her senior thesis “Han Yu: Factory,” which explores the merging of art practice/routine with life routines, will be on display at the Carpenter Center.

Zoe Savitsky ’07 is the recipient of the Louise Donovan Award. The award recognizes a Harvard student who has done outstanding work behind the scenes in the arts (as a director, producer, set designer, etc.).

A resident of Kirkland House, Savitsky has been involved as a costumer, assistant director, producer, or publicity coordinator/designer in more than 15 Harvard theater productions. She has also served on the executive board of the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) as communications coordinator (2005) and historian (2006), and as publicity coordinator for Harvard-Radcliffe Summer Theatre (2004). This spring, she is the executive producer/assistant director for the upcoming Loeb Mainstage production of J.M. Synge’s “The Playboy of the Western World.”

Michael Mitnick ’06 is the recipient of the Radcliffe Doris Cohen Levi Prize. The prize recognizes a Harvard college student who combines talent and energy with outstanding enthusiasm for musical theater at Harvard. The prize honors the memory of Doris Cohen Levi ’35.

A resident of Currier House, Mitnick has been “book writer” (dialog and story structure), lyricist, or composer to a number of musical productions including “As the Word Turns” for Hasty Pudding Theatricals; “The Life and Many Deaths of Mr. Plumb,” a Loeb Ex production; “Peanut Butter and Juliet” for Currier House Drama Society; and the 2003 Harvard freshman musical “Get Some.” He also co-wrote the script and composed the score for the film “Winning Caroline,” recipient of the best comedy award at the 2004 Ivy Film Festival. Mitnick has helped moderate discussions featuring composers Adam Guettel, Larry O’Keefe, Stephen Flaherty, and lyricist Lynn Ahrens for the Office for the Art’s Learning From Performers Program.

Molly Altenburg ’07 is the recipient of the Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize. Named for the acclaimed dancer and former prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet, the prize recognizes a Harvard undergraduate who has demonstrated outstanding artistry in the field of dance.

A resident of Eliot House, Altenburg is a member of the Harvard Ballet Company and also served as the company’s ballet mistress from 2004 to 2005. She has performed George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” and Maurice Petipa’s “Giselle” for the Harvard Ballet Company and has been featured in roles in the OfA’s dance program’s spring dance showcases. This spring, she will appear in “Viewpointe VI” in both Balanchine’s “Apollo” and Martha Graham’s “Night Journey.”

Liam Martin ’06 is the recipient of the Jonathan Levy Award in drama. This prize recognizes the most promising undergraduate actor at the College.

A resident of Kirkland House, Martin has performed in numerous and varied productions while at Harvard. His Loeb Mainstage performances include Tig in “Balm in Gilead,” Jigger in the musical “Carousel,” Aegisthus in “The Oresteia,” and Rodrigo in “Lulu.” Loeb Experimental Theater and Adams Pool Theatre roles include Constantine Treplev in “The Seagull,” Senator Lucius in “Caligula,” and Detective Keller in “She Loves Me.” Martin has also appeared in three installments of the 24-Hour Play Festival, which showcases original undergraduate work. In the summer of 2004, Martin participated in the Avignon Theatre Festival productions of “King Ubu” and “No Exit.” Beginning April 28, he returns to the Loeb Mainstage in the HRDC’s production of “The Playboy of the Western World,” and will also be featured in Sunken Garden Children’s Theater’s Arts First production of “A Tale of Two Cities.”