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2026 Student, Alumni and Faculty Spotlights
Broadway. Film. Television. Beyond.
The Sands College of Performing Arts community can be found wherever great stories are told and bold creative work is made. From Broadway and television to design studios, rehearsal rooms, and international festivals, our students, alumni, and faculty are building careers, creating new work, and contributing to the future of the performing arts.
Faculty Spotlights
Clinical Professor of Design Matsy Stinson designed costumes for Feels Like the First Time, a new Foreigner musical directed by Adam Pascal. Production & Design students Kissel Barrantes ’28, Cassandra Booker ’28, Spencer Andrade ’28, and Mel Zago ’27 also contributed to the production.
Graham Kindred, Chair of Production Design, Stage Management, and IPE, designed the lighting for The Prince of Egypt at the Argyle Theatre in Babylon, NY.
Jamibeth Margolis, Assistant Program Head of BFA Acting, served as U.S. Casting Consultant for Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Joel Grey and presented at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto.
Mandy Moore, Director of the LA Semester, choreographed The Heart and served as Supervising Choreographer for the 98th Academy Awards.
Adjunct professor Keelay Gipson's play #NEWSLAVES received a staged reading as part of the Tony Award-winning Broadway Advocacy Coalition and Working Theater’s STAGELEFT Festival at Theater Row.
Student and Alumni Spotlights
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Acting for Film and Media (AFaM)
Alum Christopher Briney appears as Nico Hayes in the latest season of the Emmy-winning comedy Hacks.
BFA Acting
Alum Ashley Romans was named IMDbPro’s Actor of the Month, recognizing her outstanding work and growing impact in the industry. Fellow alumni are also making moves across screen projects: Raél Ba was cast in the television pilot Mammy Is a Star, inspired by the life of Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel; Skye Friedman stars in Lemonade Blessing, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was later featured in Letterboxd Video Store’s Unreleased Gems collection; Shea Vaughan Gabor landed a role in Amazon’s indie horror film Dead Bloom; Hayley Griffith appeared in the CBS pilot Regency; Öykü Güven appeared in Netflix’s The Night Agent; and Jesse James Keitel appeared in Prime Video’s 56 Days.
Commercial Dance
Alumni and students performed on some of the industry's biggest stages this year. Fifteen alumni and two current students appeared in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, while seniors Emma McWilliams, Aiden Powers, Nate Judy, and Sithu Sinley performed on a Saturday Night Live skit with Harry Styles and Chloe Fineman. Alumni Jada Simone Clark and Valeria Yamin joined the cast of Black Swan, Marina Palarca '26 joined The Outsiders national tour, and alum Erik Barker earned a 2026 NextGen Choreographer nomination. Rockette Sydney Mesher was also featured in Dance Teacher Magazine, and alums Jared Alexander and Daniel Santiago appeared in The Bride.
International Performance Ensemble (IPE)
Recent graduates Ava Escobado, Adam Ashton, Gannon Dean, Avery Loving, and Liadin Stewart, along with junior Nicholas Ferrari, presented original devised works The Prospectors and We Men of Science at the internationally renowned Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Romania, showcasing Sands artists on a global stage.
Musical Theater
Alumni and students continue to shine on Broadway and beyond. Chris Arredondo made his Broadway debut playing Ponyboy Curtis in The Outsiders; Phoenix Lafreniere joined the cast of The Wiz as Dorothy; recent graduate Mason Olshavsky joined the cast of The Lost Boys, and current junior Carly Gendell originated the role of Edith in Picnic at Hanging Rock Off-Broadway. Current Musical Theater major/ Dance minor Brett Barthelemy was named a finalist for Broadway's Next Triple Threat competition, while Tyrik Iman-Washington Jr. created Make Me Wanna Holla, an original musical celebrating the power of R&B and Hip Hop as vehicles for storytelling and social change.
Production and Design for Stage and Screen
Production Design alumni continue to contribute to award-winning work across theater and entertainment. Chris Darbassie earned a nomination for Best Sound at the 31st NAACP Theatre Awards, while Justin West worked on multiple Tony-nominated productions, including the Tony-nominated set of Dog Day Afternoon, the Tony-nominated revival of Ragtime, and All Out: Comedy About Ambition.