There’s nothing like a show on Broadway, and Hugh Hysell ’88 BFA likely had a hand in some of your favorites. The successful Tony Award winning actor, marketer, and producer has enjoyed a rich, varied career in show business – one he never imagined when he attended UNC Greensboro.

“I was looking for a theatre program that provided excellent performance training,” Hysell explains, “but I got so much more at UNCG. The faculty’s expertise with the job market, and the university’s liberal education, prepared me for the turns my career took.”

Such turns include: Hysell’s successful career with HHC Marketing, where he promoted more than 200 Broadway and Off Broadway shows and led Broadway Box to dominate all discount sales for the Broadway community; his establishment of TheMenEvent.com, the leading producer of LGBT social events in the nation; and his role as a founding member of the Off Broadway Alliance. Hysell now works as director of marketing for Broadway Records, a premiere record label in the industry that creates Grammy-winning Broadway cast albums and concert recordings.

None of this has kept Hysell from the stage and screen. His television credits include NBC’s “The Blacklist,” HBO’s “Divorce,” TLC’s “Suddenly Rich,” Amazon Video’s “After Forever,” and “Saturday Night Live.” He performed in “The All-Male Importance of Being Ernest” and “Villain De Blacks” in New York and has performed in countless Off Broadway productions in every state, thanks to regional productions and national tours. Hysell has also produced five successful Broadway productions, including “The Inheritance,” “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.”

Hysell’s success has not gone unnoticed. In addition to his Tony Award, he has received two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, a Globes Award for “Best Small Budget Promotion in the World,” and a Gold Medal in Acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

Hysell is grateful for the role UNCG played in creating the foundation for his successful career – so grateful that in 2020, he established a testamentary gift in the School of Theatre, now part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The Hugh Hysell Scholarship Endowment will support rising seniors majoring in theatre and provide critical professional development opportunities before they enter the theatre world. These development opportunities will be focused on non-performance professions including marketing, directing, and producing.

“The School of Theatre develops your passion,” Hysell says. “Passion for the craft, passion for the impact theatre has on individuals and communities. UNCG encouraged me to find and nurture my passion so I could enjoy every turn my career took. I hope this scholarship will help aspiring theatre professionals to explore all avenues of this art and embrace whatever road their career may take.”

She’s a fighter – and the world is her stage

The UNCG School of Music is extremely proud to announce that two outstanding alumni have been selected as semifinalists for the 2021 Music Educator Award™ presented by the Recording Academy® and GRAMMY Museum®. Both seminfinalists have undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education from the UNCG School of Music. Both are well-respected teachers at Northwest Guilford High School in Greensboro. They are also the only two music educators from the state of North Carolina selected for the semifinal round. Read more about Brian and Donny below.

• Brian McMath (BM ’96, MM ’10) — Northwest Guilford High School, Greensboro, NC
• Donny Walter (BM ’94, MM ’12) — Northwest Guilford Middle and High School, Greensboro, NC

The Music Educator Award™ was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college, public and private schools) who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. A joint partnership and presentation of the Recording Academy® and GRAMMY® Museum, the recipient will be recognized during GRAMMY® Week 2021.

Each year, one recipient is selected from 10 finalists and recognized for their remarkable impact on students’ lives. They will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school’s music program. The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining fifteen semifinalists will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants. Finalists for the award will be announced in December.

Congratulations on this wonderful achievement and good luck!

Brian McMath (BM ’96, MM ’10) is currently in his twenty-fourth year as an educator and seventeenth year as the Director of Bands at Northwest Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. While at Northwest Guilford, Mr. McMath’s bands have received recognition for their growth, discipline and individual member achievements. Members of the class bands (Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble) are consistently chosen for various All-County, All-District and Honor Bands across the state. At least thirty alumni from Mr. McMath’s programs are now music educators or are pursuing careers in music education.

Under Mr. McMath’s direction, the school’s Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble have consistently earned ratings of Excellent and Superior at Regional and State Festivals. The Wind Ensemble consistently performs grade five and grade six literature at the North Carolina Music Performance Assessment Festival earning Superior Ratings. Additionally, the Marching Viking Band (a volunteer organization) has competed in the Outback Bowl (twice – Grand Champion 2004) in Tampa, Florida and the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona. The Marching Viking Band has been invited to perform at the Liberty Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, the Citrus Bowl, the National Parade in Washington, DC, the Holiday Parade in Waikiki, Hawaii and at the London New Year’s Day Parade.

Donald J. Walter (BM ’94, MM ’12) is the Director of Orchestras at Northwest Guilford High School and Northwest Guilford Middle School. Also, he is the Orchestra Section Chair of the NC Music Educators Association. While at the NW Schools, Mr. Walter has doubled the enrollment in the middle school orchestra program and increased enrollment to more than 90 in the high school program.

Mr. Walter is a National Board Certified Teacher and holds Bachelor and Master of Music in Music Education degrees from UNC Greensboro. He has presented teaching clinics at local, state, national, and international music education conferences. He has published an article about deliberate practice and neurobiology in the Music Educators Journal. Throughout his career, Mr. Walter has led groups to more than 43 “Superior” ratings at NC Western Region Music Performance Adjudications and has had many students selected to the county, district, regional, and all-state honor ensembles. Six times he has led groups in performance at the NC Music Educators In-Service Conference (2019, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2010, and 2006).

Mr. Walter is an active clinician who has conducted the high school and middle school NC Western Region Repertory Orchestras, the NC Junior Eastern Region District Two Orchestra, and numerous all-county orchestras throughout North Carolina. Additionally, he is a frequent guest conductor of the UNC Greensboro Sinfonia Orchestra. In 2015 Mr. Walter was named the Guilford County Schools Arts Educator of the Year and the NCMEA Orchestra Section Western Region Orchestra Director of the Year.

Mr. Walter lives in Greensboro with his marriage partner, Dr. Jennifer Walter, and their two children.

Doing theater differently: ‘Marisol’ opens at UNCG

“How do we reconcile that this most physical of art forms, which takes place in space and the space between bodies, now takes place physically distanced with nobody touching each other?”

 That is a question that School of Dance Director Janet Lilly has been pondering for months as she and faculty, staff, and students plan for this year’s Fall Dances.  Lilly says the list of questions about performance during a pandemic is staggering:

 “Will the dancers need to be masked on stage, and if so will the mask become part of their costume?  If two dancers are roommates or involved in a romantic relationship, can they touch, and if so how do we note it in the program so that the audience doesn’t get nervous?  How do we keep everyone safe backstage and in the dressing rooms?  Are the days of dancers helping each other with makeup and braiding each other’s hair gone for good?”

 Questions aside, Lilly says the show must go on:

 “When we were planning for the fall semester, we grappled with how to maintain as full a performance experience as possible for Dance majors involved in repertory courses.  We want our students to have a fully produced theater experience, which includes spacing and lighting rehearsals, technical run-throughs, a dress rehearsal, and a performance, which their peers, friends, and family could see.”

 Those spacing, sound, and lighting rehearsals are managed by Christopher Fleming, the school’s Technical Coordinator and Head of Production Management and Lighting Design.  He says: “In terms of safety, the list of what we are doing goes on and on.  Every precaution is being taken.”

 Business Services Coordinator Amy Masters is also involved with helping keep the production schedule on track and in compliance with COVID-19 restrictions:

 “We’re taking what is normally one full week of tech rehearsals and turning it into four mini-techs. Instead of running through the entire show for lighting and blocking with the crew, performers, and choreographers, each choreographer gets three nights to themselves — one to block, one for a dress rehearsal, and one for the performance. This is keeping everyone socially distanced and helping to meet capacity restrictions for the theatre while still providing a full production experience for the students.” 

Masters says while there have been challenges, there have also been opportunities to add production elements that will give the audience a behind-the-scenes look and an enhanced way to do artist talkbacks:

“From the streaming side, everything about this Fall Dances is different. We’re mixing pre-recorded and live elements into the stream to help maintain social distancing standards, adding in a talkback option with the choreographer, allowing for audience participation through YouTube’s chat function, and streaming on different dates. In order to make all of this happen, we’re adding multiple camera views, a new switcher, and a whole lot of trial and error!”

Fall Dances will stream in two parts.  On November 14th viewers will see Wildflower, a new solo choreographed by Janet Lilly and performed by BFA Dance Senior Daria (Toni) Clarke.  It is inspired by Malia Wollan’s essay titled “How to Make a Wildflower Bomb,” which, according to Lilly, “asserts a message of hope that each of us can make a change in our ecosystems by fostering something wild and beautiful.”   The second work for that evening will be Why You Follow, a group piece for Dance BA and BFA Seniors by the acclaimed Contemporary Dance choreographer Ron Brown and re-staged by Assistant Professor of Dance Clarice Young.  

Young says Why You Follow was created as a statement as opposed to a question. “The idea is that there is purpose in why we find ourselves following someone’s vision or path. The dance uses contemporary technique as well as traditional movement from West Africa, Cuba, and Haiti to create a physical story.  Ultimately, we follow what brings us happiness. To be truly happy, we must know the range of emotions and be connected to a world view.”

The second part of Fall Dances will be on November 21st and features a new screen work by Associate Professor Robin Gee who is also a filmmaker and says the concepts of both work well together:

“I make dances. I make films. Both necessitate a bit of technical acumen. The challenges of technology are my jam. To be an artist is to interrogate space, time, ideas, politics, and everything in between. I believe we are meeting this moment head on, evolving in our work and our processes, and creating in new and meaningful ways.”

Gee’s work will be paired with the premiere of a new work for Sophomore and Junior Dance Majors by Full-Time Lecturer of Dance Maurice Watson:

“Jazz Notes and Blue Melodies is a suite of vignettes surrounding the various stages of love. From flirtatious encounters, to first dates, into lonely nights and heartbreaks, each episode is its own little story. Driven by a sultry female jazz vocalist and paired with vernacular jazz movements spanning back to the ’20s, this piece explores the African and African American roots of jazz dance.”

Watson says creating his piece has been an interesting experience:  “Social distance, no contact, and limited space is not something we as dancers are used to. Usually we partner each other, we fly, we soar, we dive, and we roll — not this time, but we’ve created something equally entertaining and a little comedic.”

 Want to watch?

Fall Dances:  Part One // November 14, 2020 @ 8:00 PM

Fall Dances:  Part Two // November 21, 2020 @ 8:00 PM

www.youtube.com/uncgdance    Both streams are open to the public, and each will run approximately 40 minutes. Pay What You Can Tickets are available through eTix.com.