Ithaca College

The Center for Faculty Excellence is pleased to close Fine Artists at Five for 2020 with a special holiday program 5-5:30PM Friday. Five faculty artists will each share a short piece (e.g., song, poem, story or excerpt) that expresses a holiday tradition of their choice.

To gain the Zoom link, send a message to Gordon Rowland (rowland@ithaca.edu).

Walter Byongsok Chon is an Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy and Theatre Studies at Ithaca College. He served as dramaturg at the Yale Repertory Theatre, Yale School of Drama, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, the Great Plains Theater Conference, the Hangar Theatre, the Civic Ensemble, and the New York Musical Festival. He presented at various conferences including ATHE, ASTR, PTRS, MATC, and ALTA. His writings have been published in Theater, Praxis, The Korean National Theatre Magazine, Asymptote, The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy, and the online magazine The Theatre Times, for which he is serving as a co-managing editor for South Korea. Walter received his BA in English from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea, MA in theatre studies from WU St. Louis, MFA in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from Yale School of Drama, and DFA from Yale School of Drama. He taught theatre at WU St. Louis, Yale School of Drama, University of Nebraska Omaha, and Vassar College.

Elizabeth Simkin has performed as a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Ariadne String Quartet, Ensemble X, the Mellits consort, and Taliesin Trio. Some of her past projects include seven years on the artist faculty at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, serving as US artistic ambassador with pianist Karl Paulnack, and return appearances at summer festivals such as Garth Newel, Olympic, Skaneateles, Heifetz, Chenango, Roycroft, Tanglewood, Spoleto, Chautauqua and others. Simkin has become increasingly interested in contemplative and service-oriented dimensions in music, and has nurtured this interest through exploring playing at the bedside for health care residents and their families, providing music for spiritual occasions and life transitions, collaborating with a storyteller, Regi Carpenter, and lots of lullaby-singing.

Jerry Mirskin’s poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, and he has presented his work and given workshops at universities, colleges, public libraries, art centers, and on public television and radio. Jerry won the Arts & Letters Prime Poetry Prize for a selection of poetry.  His manuscript, Picture a Gate Hanging Open and Let that Gate be the Sun, was the winner of the Mammoth Books Prize for Poetry, a national poetry competition. As a result of that prize, Jerry’s first and subsequent books were published by Mammoth Books. You can find sample poems on Jerry’s personal poetry website: https://jerrymirskin.org

Marc Gomes is a teacher, writer and actor in television, film and on stage. In Fall 2018, he joined Ithaca College’s Department of Theatre Arts as an Assistant Professor of Acting. His work as an actor began on stage with roles in notable productions of As You Like It, A Slow Dance On the Killing Ground, Edmond, A Taste of Honey, The Gayden Chronicles, Sweet like Suga and the North American premiere of Ryszard Kapuscinski’s The Emperor. He starred in several television series including, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven; Sue Thomas: FBeye; ABC’s Commander in Chief; Lightning Force, and CBC’s Chasing Rainbows. He has also been seen on Criminal Minds, Medium, Dexter, and recently Goliath on Amazon. (http://www.imdb.com/name/ nm0326928) In 2009 Marc’s screenplay adaptation of the Caribbean classic, Corentyne Thunder by Edgar Mittelholzer received a UNIDO Cinematic & Entrepreneurial Motivation Award (CEMA). And in 2002 his short film, Stir Crazy garnered acclaim at film festivals across North America. Marc is also an avid cyclist and bicycling advocate. 

Mezzo soprano Ivy Walz has been awarded numerous roles, solo performances and featured artist positions with opera companies, orchestras and chamber music groups nationally and internationally. She was a finalist for the American Prize in Art Song in 2019. Ivy is an engaged clinician who gives master classes on integrating healthy singing techniques with dynamic performance practice. She has been a guest clinician for Higher Voice Studio, TCO Teens, College Audition Advantage, Affiliated Choruses of Ithaca, Denver Art Song Project High School Competition and other schools, colleges and universities. For more information on her recent and upcoming performance activities, please visit www.ivywalz.com.