|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Welcome to Wesleyan Weekend |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A.B. Music, Piano Performance, Wesleyan College
M.A., Georgia State University
Further conservatory training and certification work; Musician and playwright, New York City; Co-authored "Daniel: The Musical," part of the 2000 FRINGE Festival in Edinburg, Scotland.
Current projects include: A musical adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride & Prejudice; two film projects for RIT film students; a second set of art songs based on Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses;" running a music and theatre licensing/publishing company; organizing musical theatre productions; working on New York State Instrumental Teacher Certification; and raising her four-year-old daughter, Elibba Jacobs Dean -- "She will be a Green Knight!" Dean says.
“My show Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was optioned for Broadway in October 2006. It is in development right now and we are shooting for an opening on Broadway in November 2009. I am in the city all the time. We have begun casting. Our creative team is being put together - Mark Lamos is our director and Fred Lassen is our music director,” reported Amanda from Rochester, NY.
Wesleyan wasn’t Amanda's first choice for undergraduate, but it soon became THE choice.
"I was a transfer and had had an unfortunate first two years away from home at another school -- another women's college. Wesleyan was the obvious way for me to complete what I had started. It ended up being the most incredible two years of my life," she says.
"Edward Eikner, (Catherine L. Comer professor of fine arts) was an inspiring teacher for me and taught me so many things that went beyond music. The smaller classes and individualized attention made me responsible -- not only to my professors, but more importantly to me. I was responsible for my learning, and the environment created a safe and nurturing one."
Although Dean says she was so focused on becoming an accomplished pianist that she didn’t participate in many social activities, she was a member of the Wesleyan Glee Club and also worked off-campus to help pay for her schooling.
She also says she has several favorite Wesleyan memories. "Swimming alone late at night with Charlotte NeSmith sitting on the end of the diving board studying," she says. "Going upstairs to the kitchen in the afternoons to eat fresh baked cookies with the kitchen staff."
Dean says with the broad perspective a Wesleyanne gains, each student is prepared to "meet her world with confidence in whatever she chooses to do."
"I didn't realize how GREAT my Wesleyan experience truly was while I was going to school and didn’t until several years after. But, as I met more and more women, I realized that I had within me something so incredibly different and stronger and better, and I knew that it came from my Wesleyan years because I found this same strength in other women who had attended private women's colleges. Additionally, I believe in Wesleyan’s educational philosophy and will encourage my own daughter to get this kind of education." |
|
|
|
|