The Department of Theater is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 Arts Awards in Theater.
Rodney W. Alexander Theater Fellowship
The Rodney W. Alexander Theater Fellowship Fund was established in 2001 to honor the memory and contributions of Rodney W. Alexander, Professor of Drama and Director of Theater at Dartmouth College from 1967 to 1985. It was established to recognize student achievements in stage directing, acting, and community service; to encourage professional dedication and cooperation; and to promote a deepening appreciation for the theater.
Alexander Adele Campbell '26
Alexander Adele is a director whose work involves staging queer love stories and explorations of gender, both in new work development and reimagining works from the theatrical canon. Alexander aims to create accessible theater that entertains, empowers, and reflects diverse experiences, encouraging audiences to imagine better futures. Recent directing credits include: Vertep for Homo Sapiens (co-director), Legacy of Light (assistant director, Department of Theater), Two Girl Fridays (Hopkins Center for the Arts), Be the Boy (The Tank, NYC), Merry Wives of Windsor (Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals), and The Late Wedding (Department of Theater)
Paulie Horvath '26
Paulie Horvath is an environmental studies major with a theater minor. Paulie is from New York and has had a lifelong love of Broadway, so he is incredibly glad he has gotten the chance to study and participate in theater during his undergrad. After acting in high school, he found his place backstage at Dartmouth, working as sound board operator (The Late Wedding), stage manager (Legacy of Light), and in the costume shop (Legacy of Light, American Idiot). When he’s not in the theater, Paulie sings with the Dartmouth Sings, is a leader within his fraternity, and is always in pursuit for the perfect slice of pizza.
Dominique Quiñonez '28
Dominique is a sophomore studying psychology and theater. Originally from Woodbridge, N.J., she has spent most of her life in South Carolina. Introduced to theater by her mother’s professional career, she acted, sang and danced in elementary school. Later, her focus shifted to percussion, but taking Acting I with Robert Grant at Dartmouth reenergized her passion for theater. Her other hobbies include nail art, dancing in the Sheba Dance Troupe and baking. After college, Dominique aims for a career in creative direction for advertising, freelance graphic design and, of course, acting!
Rhett Williams '26
Rhett is a Native American and Indigenous studies major with a minor in theater. He is a member of the Houma tribe in South Louisiana. Rhett is an actor and has held several roles in various Department of Theater and student theater group productions. Throughout his theater journey, he has also assistant directed a student production and attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts while on the London Theater FSP. Rhett has since continued his work in the Department of Theater building production sets in the Theater scene shop.
Benjamin & Edna Ehrlich Prize in the Dramatic Arts
This award was established in May 1989 by Michael Ehrlich '60 and John Ehrlich G'69 in honor of their late parents. It is presented annually to graduating seniors in the Department of Theater whose student career has demonstrated remarkable strengths in literature/criticism and theater production. The recipient of this award must also have the ability to work collegially and collaboratively, as this is an essential requirement for the professional world of theater.
Alice Inácio Oliveira ’26
Alice is from Goiânia, Brazil. She is a multimedia, multidisciplinary artist who is majoring in theater and Latin American and Caribbean studies. Her passion for social change is the driving force behind her art, including theatre, dance, and installation. Alice is interested in studying the Latinx Americas as a stage for social transformation, drawing on the work of Boal, Gómez-Peña and other rebellious artists.
Ford Springer '26
Ford is a lover of the spoken word. A major in linguistics and economics with a minor in theater, they study how language choice becomes an everyday art and game. In acting and directing Shakespeare with the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals, slam poetry, phonetics research and more, they hope to bring an ear to sublime sounds all around the world. Outside of that, Ford enjoys sound hardware operation, experimental creative writing, running in nature and bees.
David Birney Award for Excellence in the Theater Arts
The David Birney Award for Excellence in the Theatre Arts was established in 1980 by David Birney '61. The award is given each year, according to the donor's specifications, "to the student making the most significant contribution to the theater at Dartmouth during the previous year…Two qualities are to be considered: (1) the student's contribution should embody, or aspire to, a standard of excellence, a deep concern for the quality of the craft; (2) since craft without passion is, I think, a dead thing, the student should evidence a genuine passion, a substantial emotional commitment to the art of the theater.
Hannah P. Brooks '26
Hannah is pursuing a double major in theater modified with Jewish studies and linguistics. She recently appeared as Heather in the Department of Theater’s American Idiot; in the ensemble of Northern Stage’s Waitress; and as Lou Ann in Hairspray at the New London Barn. Favorite Dartmouth roles include Celimene (The School for Lies), Stephanie (POTUS), and Manson Trio (Pippin). Hannah acts with the Rude Mechs and Displaced Theatre Co., serves as a student representative for the Department of Theater, and just completed her theater honors thesis. Offstage, Hannah sings with the Decibelles and is involved with Hillel. Many thanks to family, friends and the Department of Theater!
Sierra Mullen '26
Sierra is an engineering major who has worked for the Department of Theater scene shop since her freshman year. Her skills include making popcorn, being tall and percussive light locating
George W. Schoenhut Service Award
Mr. and Mrs. George Schoenhut established a Service Award to be presented in recognition of outstanding contribution in the non-acting activities of the Department of Theater. The activities to be considered include stage management, scenic design and construction, costume design and construction, stage lighting, and sound engineering. George W. Schoenhut was Associate Professor of Drama emeritus, who served Dartmouth from 1942 until his retirement in 1968. He died in September 1990.
Dayaja George '27
Dayaja is from Washington, D.C., majoring in theater modified with African and African American studies. She has worked behind the scenes in the Department of Theater’s recent production of Legacy of Light as a stage manager and as part of the lighting team. Her passion lies in the academic study of theater, particularly Black diasporic traditions. She plans to attend law school and pursue a career in intellectual property law, advocating for and supporting theater artists of color.
Edith Stevenson '27
Edith is a double major in English and film and media studies modified with theater. This past winter, she loved working as the dramaturg for the Department of Theater’s production of Legacy of Light. She is also the president and a co-founder of the Callbacks and is a performer with and a publicity manager of the Rude Mechanicals. With the Callbacks, Dartmouth’s student-run musical theater group, she most recently directed a staged reading of She Loves Me. This term, she worked at Northern Stage as the assistant director for the world premiere production of Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret and as a Bridge Up teaching artist.
JR Tibbetts '28
JR is a sophomore majoring in cognitive science with a side passion for technical theater. He is involved with the Department of Theater in several ways, from working in their technical shop, to being the light board operator for three MainStage productions, to designing the lights for last year’s Big Student Produciton: The Late Wedding. JR is also a member of Displaced Theater Co., where he served as lighting designer and technical director for two of their productions this past year. Outside of the theater, you can find JR conducting research in the cognitive science department or hiking and biking his way through northern New England.
Robert H. Nutt '49 Award
The Robert H. Nutt '49 Award, given in his memory by his daughter, Sarah Nutt Van Leeuwen '80 and Susan Gilman Nutt '81, is a true endowment established at Dartmouth to recognize excellence in writing related to the theater or other creative performance media. The award is given each year to a Dartmouth student who has written either the best play or script or the best paper that examines such work.
Luke Gerdeman '27
Luke writes plays. He is a former recipient of the David Birney Award and Davin Polk Fund for the Arts. He has worked for Northern Stage and served as the production manager for the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals (prev. artistic director). Director: Comedy of Errors (Rude Mechs), Greek Drama Showcase (Classics dept.). Assistant: The World is Not Silent (Northern Stage) and Jewish Plot (The Brick & Theater 154). His co-written plays with Lauren Mills have been staged at the Hopkins Center, and his work has been produced by Displaced Theater Company and selected for a writers’ workshop with Mindy Kaling.
Eloise Langan '27
Eloise Margaret Langan is a writer, artist and theater maker. Her play Be the Boy premiered at The Tank’s LimeFest in New York City last August. She received the Robert H. Nutt ’49 Fund Award and won the Eleanor Frost Playwriting Competition in both 2024 and 2025, and she won the Ralston Prize and the William C. Spengemann Award in Writing in 2025. This spring, she starred in and co-directed a table reading of the pilot episode of Dirty Shirley, an animated comedy series she wrote with Sophie Cohen, at HanUnder. She is the vice president of Can’t Sell Culture Comedy Collective and the editor of The Dartmouth’s cartoon section.
Lauren Mills '27
Lauren writes poetry and plays. She is a recipient of Dartmouth’s Project Green Light grant and the Jonathan Crewe Memorial Research Fellowship for early modern studies. She won the 2025 University and College Poetry Prize sponsored by the Academy of American Poets; was a 2024 mentee with the North Carolina Poetry Society; and her work has appeared in The Bedford Anthology, Two Thirds North, The Passionfruit Review, and Selected Shorts. Her plays have won the inaugural First Light Playwriting Award and been produced by Displaced Theater Company; her co-written works with Luke Gerdeman have been staged through the Hopkins Center.
Stanley Wallace Technical Theater Award
Established in 1999 by Margaret L. Tunnell '78 in honor of Stanley Wallace upon his retirement. Mr. Wallace was a carpenter in the Scene Shop for many years, building sets for countless Theater Department productions. Mr. Wallace died in 2026.
Yifei Liu '26
Yifei is a multidisciplinary artist and creative strategist working across sculpture, installation, stage and lighting design, and performance-based spatial experience. With a background in theater and studio art, their practice sits at the intersection of performance, visual art and spatial narrative, integrating body, light and environment into cohesive experiential works. Their work often explores structures of time, presence and spatial relationships, approaching subjects through material, form and system rather than overt emotional expression—allowing viewers to enter the work through their own perceptions.
Susan DeBevoise Wright Award
The Susan DeBevoise Wright Award is to be used to recognize student achievement in stage directing, acting, design, stage management, play writing, technical theater, dramaturgy or scholarship; to promote the continuing development of a personal artistic philosophy.
Luke Gerdeman '27
Luke writes plays. He is a former recipient of the David Birney Award and Davin Polk Fund for the Arts. He has worked for Northern Stage and served as the production manager for the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals (prev. artistic director). Director: Comedy of Errors (Rude Mechs), Greek Drama Showcase (Classics dept.). Assistant: The World is Not Silent (Northern Stage) and Jewish Plot (The Brick & Theater 154). His co-written plays with Lauren Mills have been staged at the Hopkins Center, and his work has been produced by Displaced Theater Company and selected for a writers’ workshop with Mindy Kaling.
Tristyn Girouard '27
Tristyn, a junior from the Bay Area, studies theater and film at Dartmouth. She serves as one of two student representatives for the Department of Theater and has appeared in numerous department productions, most recently performing as Whatsername in the spring production of American Idiot. Beyond acting, she is passionate about writing and directing films and serves as captain of Dartmouth’s oldest dance troupe, Ujima. She has been fortunate to work with several production companies across film and theater and looks forward to collaborating with Dartmouth alum and Tony Award-winning producer Luke Katler this summer.
Warner Bentley & Henry B. Williams Fellowship
This award was established in 1988 by David Birney to acknowledge the passionate commitment by Warner Bentley and Henry B. Williams to the life of the theater at Dartmouth and in gratitude for the profound contributions made by both men to the lives of many students of the College. A fellowship is awarded to a student who has significantly enriched the world of theater within the Dartmouth community.
Yifei Liu '26
Yifei is a multidisciplinary artist and creative strategist working across sculpture, installation, stage and lighting design, and performance-based spatial experience. With a background in theater and studio art, their practice sits at the intersection of performance, visual art and spatial narrative, integrating body, light and environment into cohesive experiential works. Their work often explores structures of time, presence and spatial relationships, approaching subjects through material, form and system rather than overt emotional expression—allowing viewers to enter the work through their own perceptions.
HOPKINS CENTER AWARDS
Mark L. Lebowitz 1977 Memorial Prize in the Performing Arts
Hannah Brooks '26
Hannah is pursuing a double major in theater modified with Jewish studies and linguistics. She recently appeared as Heather in the Department of Theater’s American Idiot; in the ensemble of Northern Stage’s Waitress; and as Lou Ann in Hairspray at the New London Barn. Favorite Dartmouth roles include Celimene (The School for Lies), Stephanie (POTUS), and Manson Trio (Pippin). Hannah acts with the Rude Mechs and Displaced Theatre Co., serves as a student representative for the Department of Theater, and just completed her theater honors thesis. Offstage, Hannah sings with the Decibelles and is involved with Hillel. Many thanks to family, friends and the Department of Theater!
Marcus Heiman–Martin R. Rosenthal '56 Achievement Awards in the Creative Arts
Alice Inácio Oliveira ’26
Alice is from Goiânia, Brazil. She is a multimedia, multidisciplinary artist who is majoring in theater and Latin American and Caribbean studies. Her passion for social change is the driving force behind her art, including theatre, dance, and installation. Alice is interested in studying the Latinx Americas as a stage for social transformation, drawing on the work of Boal, Gómez-Peña and other rebellious artists.
OTHER HONORS
Pillar Recognition
The Pillar Recognition process was established in 2019 in ackowledgement and celebration of the fact that the energy, creativity, and dedication of our student body is the cornerstone, or the pillar, that supports and elevates theater at Dartmouth. The Department of Theater recognizes and honors the theatrical commitment of the following students this year:
Alex Aguilar '26
Mary Grace Altizer '26
Lilla Bozek '27
Morgan Cable '29
Izzy Carleton '28
Grace Casale '26
Jack Glass '28
Nate Lopez '29
Danielle Pringle '26
Walker Rivard '29
CJ Tebben '26