Past CMU Winners
The American Theater Wing honors Broadway's best individuals and productions. Carnegie Mellon University alumni have won 60 Tony Awards. CMU's School of Drama consistently ranks as one of the world's best drama schools and is recognized as an international leader in arts and technology. Year after year, the School of Drama produces graduates who go on to do award-winning work, both on stage and behind the scenes.
Alumni Profiles
As the first, exclusive higher education partner of the Tony Awards, CMU interviewed School of Drama alumni to learn about educators who were important in their lives. Read their stories below:
René Auberjonois, College of Fine Arts 1962
Called an "actor's actor" by his peers, the late René Auberjonois earned many accolades for his performances in television, in film and on Broadway during his long career.
Auberjonois earned a Tony Award for his Broadway performance in "Coco," in which he co-starred with Katherine Hepburn. He was nominated for Tonys four times. Other nominations came for "City of Angels," "Big River" and "The Good Doctor."
He received his first theater job at the age of 16. "John Houseman gave me invaluable guidance and support," Auberjonois said. Later, while attending CMU, Auberjonois credited many of his professors for their assistance with his craft.
"Allen Fletcher, Charles Werner Moore, Mary Morris, Edith Skinner, Carlo Mazzone were the teachers at Carnegie who guided me as I laid the foundation for a lifetime in the theater," he said. "Theodore Hoffman, the head of the Drama Department for the four years that I attended Carnegie, was a huge influence and a generous mentor."
Auberjonois, who received a Carnegie Mellon Alumni Merit Award in 1986 and an Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award in 2000, delivered Carnegie Mellon's commencement address in 2001. He passed away in 2019.
Christian Borle, College of Fine Arts 1995
When Christian Borle accepted his Tony Award in 2012, he thanked all of his teachers in Pittsburgh.
And while they included many from Carnegie Mellon, primary and secondary educators were on his mind as well. Timothy Dahlem was the man who most influenced his love of musical theatre.
"We would listen to original cast recordings in music class, and he created these little one-page quizzes that we'd do while we listened," Borle said. "First time I ever heard 'Sweeney Todd' changed my life."
Another teacher was Mary Beth Gray, director of theatre arts at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh. "[Gray] was really instrumental in encouraging me to pursue this as a career and helping me with my audition material for Carnegie Mellon," he said.
He played Max Detweiler in NBC's "The Sound of Music Live!" and was on that network's series "Smash" along with fellow CMU alumna Megan Hilty. Borle's and Hilty's voices also can be heard in Disney Jr.'s first original movie, "Lucky Duck."
Jamie deRoy, College of Fine Arts 1967
Jamie deRoy is the celebrated host and producer of the critically acclaimed variety show, “Jamie deRoy & friends,” and an eight-time Tony Award-winning producer.
She received her first Tony Award in 2009, winning Best Revival of a Play with “Norman Conquests,” which she produced with CMU alumnus Martin Platt. Her next award was “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” (Best Play, 2013), followed by “A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder” (Best Musical, 2014).
In 2018, she won for producing the musicals “The Band's Visit” and “Once on This Island” and the revival of “Angels in America.” “The Ferryman” brought her the 2019 Best Play Tony, and in 2020 she received another Best Play award for "The Inheritance." In 2022, she won two Tonys as producer for Best Play ("The Lehman Trilogy") and Best Revival of a Musical ("Company") and again in 2023, she won as producer for Best Play (“Leopoldstadt”) and Best Revival of a Musical (“Parade”).
In total, deRoy has worked on over 60 Broadway and 46 off-Broadway productions. An accomplished actress, record producer, comedian and talk show host, she has won eight MAC Awards, eight Drama Desk Awards, two Audience Choice Awards, eight Drama League Awards, four Back Stage Bistro Awards, 13 Telly Awards and CaB Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on both stage and screen.
Peggy Eisenhauer, College of Fine Arts 1983
Peggy Eisenhauer is the recipient of three Tony awards and 11 nominations along with her lighting design partner of 29 years, Jules Fisher. She designs concurrently for Broadway, film and the music industry. She has won Tony Awards for her Lighting Design on shows such as “Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk,” “Lucky Guy,” “Assassins” and “Once on this Island.” She most recently worked as lighting designer for “Harmony,” a new Broadway musical with music by Barry Manilow. In total, Eisenhauer has designed 44 Broadway productions throughout her career.
"My career has been influenced by some of the giants of theatre and film," she said. "Beginning on Broadway before my graduation from Carnegie Mellon, I have had the chance to work with two generations of artists, coming in so young."
Among those artists were Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, Stephen Sondheim, fellow CMU alum Rob Marshall, Sam Mendes and George C. Wolfe. "My daily inspiration is derived from at least one of them." But no one has influenced her creative identity more than Fisher.
"Jules led me onto the playing field and shared his vision of theatre as well as his relationships with these greats," she said. "I met Jules at Carnegie when I was 18, and began working with him as his assistant at 23, becoming design partners in 1992. Our fused theatrical lighting on Broadway has made the transition to film, which has helped shape the look of the contemporary movie musical."
Their theatrical lighting design for Marshall's film "Chicago," in collaboration with cinematographer Dion Beebe, was recognized with a 2003 Academy Award nomination for Cinematography.
Kevin Emrick, College of Fine Arts 2007
Kevin Emrick is co-head of Theatre for Annapurna Pictures and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama.
On behalf of Annapurna, he has produced "A Strange Loop" (Tony Award — Best Musical), "Company" (Tony Award — Best Revival of a Musical), "Macbeth" and "The 47th" in London starring CMU alumna Tamara Tunie. Previous producing credits include the New York, London and Live Broadcast of "Fleabag" written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, "The Lehman Trilogy” (Tony Award — Best Play), "Home I’m Darling" (Olivier Award), "American Utopia" (Special Tony Award) and Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Sweat."
Katie Finneran, College of Fine Arts 1989–90
Katie Finneran has had feature roles in several Broadway plays and musicals over the course of her decades-long career. Her work has earned her two Tony Awards — one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for the role of Brooke Ashton in the 2002 revival of “Noises Off” and another for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for playing Marge MacDougall in the 2010 revival of “Promises, Promises.”
Other Broadway credits include “It’s Only a Play,” “Annie,” “Mauritius,” “The Iceman Cometh,” “Cabaret” and “The Heiress.” She has been featured on multiple television shows, including HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” Netflix’s “Bloodline” and NBC’s “The Michael J. Fox Show.”
Most recently, she appeared on Broadway as Logan in “The Thanksgiving Play” and in Marvel’s television show “Secret Invasion.”
Jules Fisher, College of Fine Arts 1960
Jules Fisher has received more than 20 Tony nominations and nine Tony Awards for his work in lighting design, a record in the category. Many of the honors have been shared with his partner and fellow CMU alumna Peggy Eisenhauer. Fisher won his first Tony in 1973, and the duo most recently shared the 2013 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play for "Lucky Guy." Their most recent collaboration is for “Harmony,” a new musical with music by Barry Manilow that opened on Broadway in 2023.
A 2013 Carnegie Mellon Honorary Degree Recipient, the educator Fisher recalls having the greatest influence on his craft was Bill Nelson, his CMU lighting instructor.
"He was a terrific educator who had a very clear, disciplined approach, although he tolerated making mistakes as a learning tool," Fisher said. "He knew how to communicate with students."
Fisher said that Carnegie Mellon is the best school for undergraduates who want to study theatre and make a place for themselves in the real world.
When he is not busy lighting stages on Broadway, Fisher also served as lighting director for film, ballet, opera, television and concert tours. He has lit more than 300 Broadway and off-Broadway shows during the course of his 50-year career. His contributions have set the standard for theatrical lighting, and he often creates new technology to achieve specific artistic effects.
Photo: Bruce Glikas/broadway.com
Sutton Foster, College of Fine Arts 1992–93
Sutton Foster is a two-time Tony Award–winning actress, singer and dancer, best known for her Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award–winning performances in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Anything Goes.” Other Broadway credits include “The Music Man,” “Violet,” “Shrek,” “Young Frankenstein,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Little Women,” “Les Misérables,” “Annie,” “The Scarlet Pimpernel” and “Grease.”
Foster starred as Liza Miller in the critically acclaimed TV Land series “Younger.” She previously starred in the ABC Family series “Bunheads,” which garnered her a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. Additional credits include HBO’s comedy series “Flight of the Conchords,” USA Network’s “Royal Pains,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Elementary,” and the animated TV show “Ridley Jones.”
As a solo artist, Foster has toured the country with her hit solo concert, which featured songs from her debut album, “Wish,” as well as her follow-up album, “An Evening with Sutton Foster: Live at the Cafe Carlyle.” In June 2018, she released her third solo album, “Take Me to the World.”
Foster made her feature-film debut in Phil Alden Robinson’s “The Angriest Man in Brooklyn” and appeared in James Roday’s comedy-horror film, “Gravy.”
In 2021, Foster authored the book ”Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life” in which she shares stories and reflections about how crafting kept her sane while navigating the highs and lows of family, love and show business and how it can help others.
In 2024, she assumed the role of Mrs. Lovett in the Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
Herb Gardner, College of Fine Arts 1956
Herb Gardner was an artist, cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter. He first gained recognition for his Sunday comic strip “The Nebbishes,” which was syndicated to 60–75 major newspapers from 1959–1961.
In 1962, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play for “A Thousand Clowns” and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for the play’s 1965 film adaptation. In 1986, he won the Tony Award for Best Play alongside James Walsh, Lewis Allen and Martin Heinfling for “I’m Not Rappaport,” which was adapted to the screen in 1996.
Peter Hylenski, College of Fine Arts 1997
Peter Hylenski is a Tony Award-winning sound designer who won his first Tony for Best Sound Design of a Musical on “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” in 2021.
He has provided sound designs for more than 30 Broadway productions including “Beetlejuice,” “King Kong,” “Frozen,” “Once on this Island” and “Motown the Musical.” He received his first Tony nomination in 2009 for his sound design for “Rock of Ages.” Hylenski has also been nominated for Olivier, Grammy and Drama Desk awards.
He has designed for Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center. Some of his television credits include "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and "Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary."
Hylenski has also engineered advertising music for companies such as Sony, Levi’s, General Mills, Kia and Mercedes-Benz. He was the re-record mixer and sound supervisor on his fifth film for the American Museum of Natural History titled, "Dark Universe."
Other credits include “Le Reve” at Wynn Las Vegas, “Ragtime” (London) and “King Kong” (Melbourne), as well as international arena tours of "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Walking with Dinosaurs." Hylenski's architectural design projects include New York City's 54 Below and the Plaza Hotel, Lake of Dreams at Wynn Las Vegas, and Big Bang Theatre at the American Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
His work will next be heard in the Broadway premiere of “Lempicka” starring Eden Espinosa.
Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Renée Elise Goldsberry, College of Fine Arts 1993
Renée Elise Goldsberry boasts a multitude of film and stage credits. Best known for her role as Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” Goldsberry won a Tony Award, Grammy Award, Drama Desk Award and Lucille Lortel Award for that portrayal. Her additional Broadway credits include Nala in “The Lion King,” Mimi Marquez in “Rent” and Nettie in the original Broadway production of “The Color Purple.”
Most recently, Goldsberry starred in the series “Girls5eva” on Peacock, which earned her two Critics’ Choice Award nominations for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and Marvel’s “She-Hulk.” Other highlights from her television career include her recurring role on “The Good Wife,” playing the hard-nosed assistant state attorney Geneva Pine. She played a background singer in the show “Ally McBeal,” and was also featured in “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.”
Goldsberry was recognized for her outstanding role as attorney Evangeline Williamson on the soap opera “One Life to Live” in 2004 when she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series.” In 2005, she received a Soap Opera Digest Award and in 2006 and 2007, she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
On the film side, in 2001 she starred in “All About You” and co-wrote over half of the soundtrack for the film. Other film roles include “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and “The House with a Clock in Its Walls.” Goldsberry also tours extensively, appearing across the country with symphony orchestras and her entourage at venues across the country.
Photo: Justin Bettman
Cherry Jones, College of Fine Arts 1978
Cherry Jones is a two-time Tony Award-winning actress. After launching her career as a founding member of the American Repertory Theater in 1980, she won her first Tony Award in 1995 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for playing Catherine Sloper in “The Heiress.”
She won her second Tony in 2005 for originating the role of Sister Aloysius in John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “Doubt.” She received Tony nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for “Our Country’s Good,” “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and the 2014 revival of “The Glass Menagerie,” for which she also received an Olivier nomination. She was last seen on Broadway in 2019 as Emily in “The Lifespan of a Fact.
Jones has also won three Primetime Emmy Awards; one for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for “24” and two for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her work on “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Succession.” Her other film and television credits include “Erin Brockovich,” “The Village,” Amazon’s “Transparent” and Peacock’s “Poker Face.”
Pamela Winslow Kashani, College of Fine Arts 1987
Pamela Winslow Kashani is a Tony Award-winning actress and producer. She originated the role of Rapunzel in “Into the Woods” on Broadway; she also appeared as Lucille in “Meet Me in St. Louis” and as Babette in “Beauty and the Beast.”
John Arthur Kennedy, College of Fine Arts 1936, Ph.D. 1966
Eugene Lee, College of Fine Arts 1962
A wood-carved skyline of Manhattan on Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" is one of many designs by Eugene Lee. It is just one of the many set designs in Lee’s extensive portfolio.
The designer brought to life fantastical designs from novels and stories. On Broadway, his accomplishments include creating a slave ship, Dickensian scaffolding and a 40-foot mechanical dragon clock. Nominated for five Tony Awards, Lee won in 1974 for "Candide," in 1979 for "Sweeney Todd" and in 2004 for "Wicked."
He and fellow CMU alumna Ann Roth were honored in 2014 with Distinguished Achievement Awards from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT).
In an interview for USITT, Lee described how he learned about the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, from a PBS interview about set design.
"I got in my VW and drove to Pittsburgh, walked in the door to Carnegie Tech and announced myself," he was quoted as saying in the December 2013 issue of “Sightlines,” a monthly newsletter for USITT members.
In addition to attending Carnegie Mellon, Lee spent time at the Art Institute of Chicago and Yale.
Lee, who passed in 2023, taught at Brown University and was the resident designer for Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, R.I. He served as the longtime, award-winning set designer for "Saturday Night Live."
Judith Light, College of Fine Arts 1970
Judith Light is known for her extensive body of work onstage, as well as in television and film, recently receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Her current projects include Peter Hedge’s film “The Same Storm,” “Julia,” HBO Max’s drama series on Julia Child, Starz’ horror comedy “Shining Vale” and Searchlight’s recent dark comedy “The Menu,” alongside Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes. Light wrapped production on “The Young Wife” and “Down Low for FilmNation,” both of which just premiered at SXSW, and “Out of My Mind” for Disney+. Her 2019 film “Ms. White Light” also premiered at SXSW. She can be seen in the current second season of “American Horror Stories” and Rian Johnson’s series “Poker Face” for Peacock.
She is working on a series of producing projects with her production company and Brillstein Creative Partners and is executive producer on the animated short “Aikane.”
Light also co-starred in Ryan Murphy’s “Impeachment: American Crime Story” on FX, appeared in Lin Manuel Miranda’s film, “tick, tick...Boom!” for Netflix as well as “The Accidental Wolf,” created by Arian Moyad now streaming on Topic.
In addition to her current projects, Light starred in the anthology series “Manhunt: Deadly Games,” which can currently be found on Netflix, as well as Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series “The Politician,” and in the musical finale series of “Transparent,” Amazon Prime’s Golden Globe–winning show, created by Joey Soloway, for which Light received a Golden Globe nomination and multiple Emmy and Critics’ Choice nominations. Her role in Ryan Murphy’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” garnered her an Emmy nomination and Critics Choice nomination.
In 2012 and 2013, Light won two consecutive Tony and Drama Desk awards for her performances in “Other Desert Cities” and “The Assembled Parties.” These two performances made her the first actress in nearly two decades to win consecutive Tony Awards. Light also received the 2019 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her extensive philanthropy work. She was also awarded the Excellence in Media Award from GLAAD in May 2022. Light sits on the board of directors of the MCC Theater in New York.
Photo: Alexandra Arnold
Patina Miller, College of Fine Arts 2006
Actress Patina Miller, who won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2013 as the Leading Player in "Pippin," has said that Carnegie Mellon was a big part of her life.
"It was there that I studied and really realized that I could make my dream a reality," she said in an interview in 2011. "I'm so thankful to all my teachers who helped me to become the performer I am today. I'm so proud of my school and feel so blessed to have gotten such a wonderful education and made lifelong friends."
Miller originated the role of Deloris Van Cartier in the 2009 West End and 2011 Broadway productions of "Sister Act." She was nominated for a Tony for her role. Additionally, she has performed off-Broadway in "Ragtime," "Lost in the Stars," "Hair" and "Romantic Poetry."
Miller also appeared in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1" and "Part 2" as Commander Paylor and played Daisy Grant on the CBS drama "Madam Secretary." In 2021, Miller began starring as Raquel "Raq" Thomas in the Starz television drama “Raising Kanan.“ In 2024, she voiced Sera in the adult animated musical series “Hazbin Hotel.”
Roger Morgan, College of Fine Arts 1961
Roger Morgan is the Tony Award-winning lighting designer of over 200 plays on and off-Broadway and in regional theatre.
He founded Sachs Morgan Studio in 1976 to provide comprehensive theatre planning and design services for the performing arts industry.
He won both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his lighting design of “The Crucifer of Blood.” He has received several other drama desk awards and has received numerous other awards and nominations for his work.
Other lighting design credits include “Dracula” (1977) with Frank Langella and Morgan's partner Ann Sachs on Broadway (for which he was nominated for the 1978 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Lighting Design).
Leslie Odom Jr., College of Fine Arts 2003
Leslie Odom Jr. is an award-winning vocalist, songwriter, author and actor. Odom has been widely recognized for his excellence and achievements on Broadway and in television, film and music.
He made his Broadway debut at the age of 17 as Paul in “Rent.” After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, Odom made his television debut in “The Big House,” and has since held recurring roles in numerous television series, including “Central Park,” “CSI Miami,” “Person of Interest” and “Smash.”
In 2012, he appeared in the Broadway cast of “Leap of Faith” and, in 2016, for his role as Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” Odom won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He then won a Grammy Award for his performance as a principal soloist on the original cast recording.
Odom’s film roles include “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Harriet,” “The Many Saints of Newark” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” Odom also played legendary singer Sam Cooke in “One Night in Miami,” where he earned nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also won a Critics’ Choice Award and received several other award nominations for writing the film's original song "Speak Now."
Odom is a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, who has released four albums. He was granted an honorary doctorate from CMU in 2019. He also is an author, releasing his inspirational book “Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher and Never Stop Learning.” Along with his wife, Nicolette Robinson, Odom also released his first children’s book, “I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know” in 2023. He will finish his role as the title role in “Purlie Victorius” on Broadway in February 2024.
Martin Platt, College of Fine Arts 1971
Martin Platt won the 2013 Tony Award — among other honors — as producer of "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" on Broadway.
Platt's first introduction to theater was through puppets. His grade school speech therapist, Madeleine Sevenans, used them to help students, and through those sessions he performed a series of plays that focused on sounds that were difficult. The therapy worked, and by eighth grade he was performing in school productions and starring as Captain Corcoran in "H.M.S. Pinafore."
As a student at Beverly Hills High School, theater became an important part of his life. John Ingle, the head of the school's drama department, created a program where one-act plays were performed every Thursday in the school auditorium during lunch. Platt shared that stage and others with classmates such as Richard Dreyfuss and Albert Brooks.
"The imagination that he put in to create that opportunity was valuable," Platt said of the weekly performances. "A lot of us who went through the program went into the business, thanks to that man."
Co-director of Perry Street Theatricals, Platt has produced many shows on and off-Broadway and in London's West End, including productions of "Dames At Sea" on Broadway and "My Life Is a Musical."
As a director, Platt founded the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and has directed more than 100 plays and operas there and for theaters across the United States and Europe.
Billy Porter, College of Fine Arts 1991
From his Pittsburgh roots to Broadway's hit "Kinky Boots," Tony Award-winner Billy Porter has been, in a word, unstoppable. He won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. Porter also received a Grammy for the “Kinky Boots” soundtrack in the Best Musical Theater Album in 2014. In 2022, Porter won his second Tony Award as a producer for “A Strange Loop” (Best Musical).
Porter's additional Broadway credits include "Miss Saigon," "Five Guys Named Moe," "Grease (all original cast)," "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and "Dreamgirls" (20th Anniversary Broadway Concert and LA Ovation Award). His off-Broadway credits include "Angels in America" (Signature Theatre) with fellow CMU alumni Zachary Quinto and Christian Borle.
Porter starred in three seasons of the television series, “Pose,” for which he was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and won the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. In 2020, he was named as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world (Icons category).
He received an honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon during the university’s 2022 commencement exercises. Porter has performed in concerts across the U.S., most recently as part of his “Black Madonna” tour. His current film, “Our Son,” with actor Luke Evans, appeared in theaters nationwide at the end of 2023 and is now available for digital viewing.
Ellis Rabb, College of Fine Arts 1953
Ellis Rabb is an actor and director who formed the Association of Producing Artists (APA) — a theatre company that brought new works and noteworthy revivals to Broadway and to regional theatres — in 1959.
Rabb directed a 1973 production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” starring Rosemary Harris (to whom he was married from 1960–1967); a rousing “Royal Family” in 1975, which won him the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play; and a 1983 revival of “You Can't Take It with You,” with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst.
Lester Rawlins, College of Fine Arts 1950
Lester Rawlins appeared in many off-Broadway productions, including “Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Richard III,” “Winterset,” ” In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel” and “Nightride,” for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance.
His Broadway credits included “A Man for All Seasons” and “Da,” for which he won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play and was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. He passed away in 1988.
Ann Roth, College of Fine Arts 1953
Costume designer Ann Roth came to what was then called Carnegie Institute of Technology because her best friend's mother attended the school. She said it wasn't until college that she met teachers who helped her explore the arts.
Henry Boettcher was the head of the Drama Department at the time. He directed "Ring Round the Moon," for which Roth designed the sets. Roth called him a man of extraordinary taste with a great eye.
"He guided me like I hadn't been before," she said, and added her sentiment that “the entire creative department was very good.” The faculty included Lloyd Weninger, Bes Kimberly, George Kimberly and Al Lehman.
After college, she met Irene Sharaff, a costume designer of exceptional talent. Sharaff became Roth's mentor and helped her start a career that has spanned 60 years and continues to thrive.
Roth received an honorary degree from Carnegie Mellon in 2000 and has been recognized by the university for alumni achievement. She is credited in some 200 films and theater productions. She won two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design — the first 1996 for “The English Patient” and the second in 2021 for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (for this movie she also won a BAFTA Awards for Best Costume Design, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Costume Design and a Costume Designers’ Guild Award). She also won a Tony Award in 2013 for "The Nance."
"The Designs of Ann Roth," which includes more than 100 renderings and photos of her work, was released in 2023 by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology. Roth also made a cameo appearance in the 2023 box office hit “Barbie.” Roth played a brief, but an incredibly memorable scene in the movie as the elderly woman Barbie meets at a bus stop. “Barbie” writer and director, Greta Gerwig, called the scene the “heart of the movie.”
Stephen Schwartz, College of Fine Arts 1968
Celebrated lyricist and theatrical composer Stephen Schwartz has won multiple awards, including three Oscars, four Grammys, four Drama Desk Awards, one Golden Globe Award and two Broadcast Film Critics Awards, as well as numerous lifetime achievement awards throughout his career.
In 1971, he wrote the music and new lyrics for “Godspell,” for which he won two Grammys among other awards. He then went on to write the music and lyrics for “Pippin,” and two years later, “The Magic Show.” At one point, all three shows were all running on Broadway simultaneously.
Another one of Schwartz’s many famous musicals, “Wicked,” earned him a Grammy Award and made him the only songwriter in Broadway history ever to have three shows run more than 1,900 performances. “Wicked” also recently celebrated another milestone by becoming the fourth-longest running production on Broadway for its 25-year anniversary.
His award-winning composing in film included a collaboration with composer Alan Menken on the songs for Disney’s “Pocahontas,” for which he received a Grammy, a Golden Globe and his first two Academy Awards. He also composed music for Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Enchanted.” In 1998, he provided songs for DreamWorks’ first animated feature, “The Prince of Egypt,” and won his third Academy Award.
Schwartz was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon in May 2015.
Mel Shapiro, College of Fine Arts 1961
Growing up in Brooklyn, Mel Shapiro would ride the subway into Manhattan and pay $2.85 to watch Saturday matinees on Broadway. Those rides would lead to a wonderful career.
After high school, he joined the Army. While stationed in Japan, he directed for the English-speaking Tokyo Amateur Dramatic Club.
"I had a roommate in the Army who knew I was very interested in the theater," Shapiro said. "He had gone to Carnegie's business school. He suggested I go to Carnegie on the GI bill when I was discharged."
A non-traditional student with previous college credits, Shapiro received both bachelor's and master's degrees from the university in 1961.
"By the time I got to Carnegie I was so full of myself I thought I knew everything," Shapiro said. "I have tremendous admiration for the way they put up with me. When I went into teaching, I tried to see myself in students and be very patient with them."
One of the teachers he credits for his career is the late Lawrence Carra. The two became friends after Shapiro graduated.
A practicing director and writer for many years, his teaching career started as a founding member of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Shapiro returned to Carnegie Mellon as head of the School of Drama and also was head of graduate acting and music theater programs at various times for the Theater Department at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Shapiro won the 1972 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for "Two Gentlemen of Verona." He is also the recipient of the Obie, New York Drama Critics and Drama Desk awards. He is the author of the textbooks "The Director's Companion" and "An Actor Performs."
Sada Thompson, College of Fine Arts 1949
Sada Thompson was a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress best known for her role as the matriarch in the 1970s dramatic TV series “Family.”
Thompson won the Tony for Best Actress in a Play in 1972 for George Furth’s comedy “Twigs,” in which she played four different roles. She also won Obie and Drama Desk awards for her starring role in Paul Zindel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” which opened off-Broadway in 1970. She passed away in 2011.
Tamara Tunie, College of Fine Arts 1981
Tamara Tunie starred for 21 seasons as medical examiner Dr. Melinda Warner in the top-rated series, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Tunie has had other memorable roles on television, most notably as the longstanding character Jessica Griffin on the CBS daytime drama, "As The World Turns," for which she received two NAACP Image Award nominations and two Soap Opera Digest award nominations. In 2009, she went behind the camera, producing and directing her first feature film called "See You in September." Tunie earned rave reviews for her portrayal of Cissy Houston in the Whitney Houston biopic feature film, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” in 2022.
In 2005, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg awarded Tunie the "Made in New York Award" from the City of New York for her support and commitment to Film, Television and Theater in Manhattan. An active alumna, Tunie currently serves on the CMU Board of Trustees.