Ithaca College

The Rod Serling Conference, honoring the life and work of one of TV's most prolific writers, will be held September 9-10. The two-day event features a keynote address by Bill D'Elia '69, television director/executive producer; The Twilight Zone Marathon; and many other sessions and panels.

Events are free and open to the campus community.  Select sessions will be open to the local community (limited seats available).

Friday, September 9:

All events in Emerson Suites, Phillips Hall unless otherwise noted.

8:30-9 am
Conference Welcome

9-9:50 am
Session 1: Panel - Technology/Literature

New Technology and The Twilight Zone
Ari Kissiloff

Spoken Word Multimedia Presentation: monologues directly from series scripts, edited and strung together in a kind of extended beat-style poem
Matteo Wyllyamz

10-10:50 am
Session 2: Panel - Production Style

Earth Creature in his Native Habitat: Suburban Alienation in The Twilight Zone
Andrew James Myers

A Stop at Willoughby: A Discussion of TZ Production Standards
Laurie Scheer

11-11:50 am
Session 3: Music

No Time Like the Past: Hearing Nostalgia in The Twilight Zone
Reba Wissner

1-1:50 pm
Session 4: Panel - Gender/Diversity

A Dimension of Sight, Sound, Mind…and Gender?: The Twilight Zone
Katrina A. Fraley

Is Anthony of "It’s a Good Life' Autistic?
Dr. Janet M. Goldberg

2-2:50 pm
Session 5: Panel - Fear of Technology/Alienation

That Does Not Compute: Reflecting Technophobia in The Twilight Zone
Jeffrey J. Bianchine

America’s Twilight Zone of 1946-1964: The Art of Alien-Nation
Christopher Cappelluti

3-3:50 pm
Session 6: Panel - Human Rights/Inequality

Paranoia, Intercultural Conflict and Social Inequality: An Analysis of "The Shelter" and "The Big Tall Wish"
Michael A. Moodian

Social Justice from The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling as Human Rights Activist
Hugh A.D. Spencer

4-4:50 pm
Session 7 (Park Hall Auditorium)

“How to Get to The Twilight Zone: Convergence, Crossing Over, and the Transformation of the Viewer”
Richard Rees

8 pm
Keynote Address: From Rod Serling to David E. Kelley, A Personal Journey in Television Storytelling* (Park Auditiorium)
Bill D’Elia ‘69
Television director/executive producer and student of Rod Serling

Saturday, September 10

All events in Emerson Suites, Phillips Hall unless otherwise noted.

9-10:30 am
Session 8: Panel - Religion

Montage, Metaphor and Homage to The Twilight Zone: The Christian Performance of Belief in New Media Politics”
Rachel Wagner

God, Conformity and The State in The Twilight Zone
Amy Boyle Johnston

10:45-12:15 pm
Session 9: Panel - Night Gallery

Where Else Would You See a Story Like This: H.P. Lovecraft Adapted for Rod Serling’s Night Gallery
Don Pizarro

Night Gallery’s Titanic "Lone Survivor" Episode: An Underwater Archaeologist’s Perspective of a Rod Serling Maritime Story
Joseph W. Zarzynski

1:45-3:15 pm
Session 10: Panel - The Twilight Zone 

Toyland Terror in The Twilight Zone: The Philosophical Connections of "Five Characters in Search of an Exit’”
by Tim Madigan

Character Actors in The Twilight Zone
Otto Bruno

"The Therapeutic Uses of The Twilight Zone"
Glenn Odden

3:30-5 pm
Session 11: Politics/Presidency

Turning the White House Black: Thirty-Six Years Before Barak Obama, Rod Serling’s "The Man" Brought the First African-American President to Power
Tony Albarella and Gordon Webb

5-6 pm
Session 12: Serling Scriptwriting Contest*

Discussion of winning scripts, themes and comments from winners.
Coordinated by Nick Sagan

8-Midnight
The Twilight Zone Marathon* (Park Auditiorium)

Featuring classic TZ episodes “on the big screen,” along with Serling outtakes, bloopers, commercials and other features.
 

* Events open to the local community

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Melissa Gattine at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at 274-1023, mgattine@ithaca.edu. We ask that request be made as soon as possible.