Larry Herron
Theatre Performance, 2005

After graduating from WMU, Larry Herron went on to earn his M.F.A. in Acting from the University of California, San Diego. Herron is a featured guest on three primetime network shows this fall: Medium, Numb3rs, and Cold Case. Other television credits include ER, Lie to Me, and Chocolate News. Herron’s WMU credits include Othello, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Six Degrees of Separation, A Flea in Her Ear, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Herron is also an adjunct professor at La Sierra University.

Brooke Elliott
Music Theatre Performance, 1998

Brooke Elliott graduated from WMU’s Music Theatre Performance program and has had an active and successful career since leaving in 1998. She is currently starring with comedian Margaret Cho in Lifetime’s new television series, Drop Dead Diva. She has had an extensive on-stage career having been seen on Broadway in The Pirate Queen and Taboo as well as in the national tours of Wicked and Beauty and the Beast, among others. Film credits include What Women Want and Liar’s Club. She also performed as a co-star on NBC’s Law & Order: Trial By Jury.

Patricia Nichols
Design and Technical Theatre

Patricia Nichols holds a MFA in Lighting Design from University of California San Diego. Her New York design credits include: Fidelity Futurestage at New World Stages, Because I Can at the Greenwich Theatre, The Souls of Our Feet at the Triangle Theatre, and Safety at Urban Stages. Ms. Nichols is the Associate Lighting Designer for the Broadway and all domestic and international productions of Jersey Boys, Broadway’s Pirate Queen, the Broadway and all touring productions of Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays. Her Assisting credits include Lestat (Broadway), Mambo Kings (San Francisco), Lennon (San Francisco), Dirt (Broadway and National Tour), Dracula (Broadway), Sinatra (Radio City Musical Hall) and Wicked (San Francisco). Ms. Nichols is the recipient of the 2004 USITT Young Designer Barbizon Award for Lighting Design.

Patrick W. Ziegler
Theatre Performance, 1990

Emmy® Award-winning Patrick W. Ziegler serves as Executive Producer for the children’s television show Come On Over! He trained at the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York City and went on to appear in Off Broadway plays and daytime television (All My Children). Presently in Chicago, he teaches improv and acting classes and is developing projects for theater and video media with his company Fubble Entertainment.

Brynn Curry
Music Theatre Performance, 2008

Elyse Mirto
Music Theatre Performance, 1991

Two of our alumni are nominated for 2009 New York Innovative Theatre Awards (IT Awards). IT Awards are given annually to honor individuals and organizations who have achieved artistic excellence in Off-Off Broadway theatre. The New York IT Awards recognize the unique and essential role Off-Off Broadway plays in contributing to American and global culture. Brynn Curry is nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role for her work in Like You Like It, produced by the Gallery Players, and Elyse Mirto is nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for her work in Any Day Now, produced by Writer’s Forum at Manhattan Theatre Source.

Peter Riopelle
Music Theatre Performance, 1992

Peter Riopelle recently completed the first national tour of Broadway’s The Drowsy Chaperone. He has starred Off-Broadway in The Brothers Booth and The Baby Dance. He is currently slated to play Snoopy in the Off-Broadway revival of Snoopy! at New World Stages in 2010. Television credits include The West Wing, Comedy Central, and General Hospital. Riopelle returned to WMU in the fall of 2006 to teach a semester of Acting.

Marin Mazzie
Music Theatre Performance, 1982

Marin Mazzie received Tony and Drama Desk nominations and won an Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in the revival of Kiss Me, Kate. Other Broadway credits include Spamalot, Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics nominations), Passion (Tony nomination), Man of La Mancha, and Into the Woods. Television appearances include Still Standing, Without a Trace, and Numb3rs.

Robert d. Maverick
Design and Technical Theatre

Emmy® nominee Robert d. Maverick is an acclaimed special effects and makeup designer for films and television. His Hollywood credits include Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Fish, Star Trek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He teaches and lectures on makeup and special effects and his work can be seen on his website. Maverick returned to WMU in 1997 and 2007 to design special effects and makeup for Frankenstein and Dracula. Robert is using his most recent venture as a way to raise money for the WMU community: he owns a competitive E-Commerce Travel and shopping site franchise called The Maverick Experience which offers all types of travel needs, concert and theatre tickets, sports tickets and much more. For every dollar anyone spends on the site, he is donating 10% of his commission to the Robert d. Maverick Endowed Scholarship fund for theatre students.

Paul Kelly
Design and Technical Theatre

Paul Kelly is a world-class production designer, responsible for the adaptation of Phantom of the Opera’s scenic and production design for Las Vegas. He works in theatre, television, and has been the Art Director for more than fifteen films, including The Thomas Crowne Affair, The First Wives Club, Ladder 49, and The Forgotten. Kelly returned to WMU in 2006 to design our production of A Little Night Music. He will join us on campus again this January as a guest artist in the classroom.

Page Kennedy

Theatre Performance, 2000

Page Kennedy is a successful film and television actor who resides in Los Angeles. Television credits include Weeds, Desperate Housewives, Cold Case, CSI: Miami, Boston Legal, My Name is Earl, The Shield, NYPD Blue, Medical Investigation, Philly, Blind Justice, The Kennedys and Six Feet Under. He starred with Samual L. Jackson and LL Cool J in the film S.W.A.T. and can also be seen in the films In The Mix and Shackles.

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