Annie-B Parson

Annie-B Parson is an American choreographer, dancer, and director based in Brooklyn, New York. Parson is notable for her work in dance/theater, post-modern dance, and art popmusic. Parson is the Artistic Director of Brooklyn's Big Dance Theater, which she founded with Molly Hickok and her husband, Paul Lazar. She is also well known for her collaborations with Mikhail Baryshnikov, David Byrne, David Bowie, St. Vincent, Laurie Anderson, Jonathan Demme, Ivo van Hove, Sarah Ruhl, Lucas Hnath, Wendy Whelan, David Lang, Esperanza Spalding, Mark Dion, Salt ‘n Pepa, Nico Muhly, and the Martha Graham Dance Co.
Early life and education.
Parson received her BA in Dance from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut in 1980.
She received her Masters Degree Columbia University/Teacher’s College in 1983.
Big Dance Theater.
Parson founded Big Dance Theater in 1991 with Molly Hickok and Paul Lazar. She has since choreographed and co-created dozens of works for the company, ranging from pure dance pieces to adaptations of plays and literature, to original works combining wildly disparate materials. Her work with Big Dance has been commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The National Theater of Paris, The Japan Society, and The Walker Art Center. Parson describes Big Dance as "a group of people who are interested in pushing dance into the theatrical realm and pushing theater into the dance realm." To her, Big Dance has a "total greediness for all the pleasures of theater and dance" Critic Helen Shaw wrote of Big Dance as a "fluid gang of performers and designers clustered around the married co-directors, choreographer-director Annie-B Parson and actor-director Paul Lazar. The company is – as it says on the bottle – a hybrid group, ignoring customary divides between dance and theatre." The Company began as a loose but dedicated and generative alliance, made up largely of women including Stacy Dawson, Molly Hickok, Tymberly Canale, Cynthia Hopkins, Rebecca Wisocky, and Kourtney Rutherford. This group ebbed and flowed with others joining in over the years.
The work of Big Dance is almost always non-linear, and frequently disinclined to have a narrative ("I don’t think life is very narrative," Parson says. "Mine isn’t. And the narrative elements that have happened in my life, as I look back on them, become more fictionalized.") Though the lack of a linear story occasionally leaves critics bewildered, the intentionality, playfulness, technical precision and the ambitious scope of the worlds they create usually guarantees that the critic don't mind feeling lost. In the words of Shaw, "the difference between a Big Dance Theater event and work by someone like, say, Richard Foreman is that Big Dance will send you into a trance state-and then shake its finger at you and wink."
When asked about the division between theater and dance, Parson said: "The separation of dance and theater- this is a lifelong irritant for me! In my personal and very subjective timeline, the distrust in Western theater of dance all began post-18th c. Since then, we audience(s) have been increasingly subjected to mind-numbing, un-ironic, unambiguous “reality” on stage. The Ancients, 2000 years ago, those plays were all danced and sung; in Shakespeare’s day- the actors danced; in classical Japanese theater the acting students begin with years of dance training. Our contemporary body-less, dance-less theater– it feels fear based, (but I tend to think everything is fear based so don’t trust me on that!) But is it related to our Victorian fear of the body, fear of corporeality, of sex? Does the divorce stem from our bias of mind over body, rather than mind/body? But yes, the separation must have also to do with the modernists’ hierarchical crowning of the primacy of “the word”; the modernists held the word as honorable, while poor dance was considered tawdry, the work of whores and … women! The things that dance owns: ambiguity, layer, mystery, abstraction, the non-narrative— these are the work of the devil! They hide, they suggest, they imply, they don’t have a morality or any answers. So, in my tiny corner, I have tried to resurrect dance in theater. Dance is the sacred object for me; it is to be held close and protected from harm, and restored to its rightful place in the pantheon of materiality."
Works with Big Dance Theater.
"Sacrifice" (1991).
"Sacrifice" was the first of Parson's large scale works and her first work at Dance Theater Workshop, curated by David White, who would champion Parson's work for decades. Set in something like a beauty parlor, this piece incorporated some text from Harold Pinter and was accompanied by a score of repetitive gestures executed by five pairs of men and women.
"The Gag" (1993).
"The Gag" premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in 1993. This large-scale work was based on the myth of the Cassandra figure in Greek mythology and the piece incorporated the text of radical feminist writer Andrea Dworkin. Molly Hickok played the central role, starting a decades-long collaboration between her and Parson. The piece was also inspired by the writings Christa Wolff with text by Aeschylus, Pinter and Marguerite Yourcenar. It featured original music by Walter Tompson, performed live. Four monitors on the floor included footage of small scampering animal babies. The New York Times described The Gag as “a bouillabaisse of a theater-dance piece…There’s a little Greek tragedy, a bit of Harold Pinter, a dab of Tennessee Williams and a large dose of fashion and comic high jinks.”
"Bremen Freedom" (1993).
Presented by the Cucaracha Theater, and originally made for NYU Students, "Bremen Freedom", by the west-German playwright Rainer Fassbinder, told the story of Geesche, a woman so sick of being controlled by the men in her life that she methodically poisoned them, and ultimately herself. The Village Voice wrote that the production included “a little cabaret shtick, some cross-dressing, a few dollops of disjunction, plenty of stylized tableau-making, a pinch of Catholic imagery, several actresses playing the same role, a bit of lovely/creepy choral singing, and heaps of that unmotivated goofy dancing that made "Brace Up" such a hoot.” Although the reviews referenced some of the performative similarities to Cabaret, (Stacy Dawson as the Master of Ceremonies recalled Joel Grey), the Village Voice insisted that “these kids come on like innovators, not imitators, and they know how to deliver a spectacle piping hot.” Though highly choreographic, this work was the first “play” that Big Dance, a largely dance based company, had staged.
"City of Brides" (1995).
In 1995, Parson was featured in the Young Choreographers and Composers at the American Dance Festival in North Carolina. She was paired with composer Richard Einhorn and the two created “City of Brides,” performed by five barefoot women and accompanied by a complex score for piano, violin and cello based on Stravinsky's Les Noces. This would be the first “erasure” work, Parson's term for choreographing to a piece of music and then erasing it, so that while the music was never heard by the audience, the movement material that was inspired by his rhythms endured.
The "News & Observer" wrote that “Parson is a talent to be reckoned with.” A reviewer for the Toronto Arts Journal CallTime wrote that Parson was the “most refreshing voice among a new generation of choreographers,” and that her blend of dance and theater had “created a movement language which is accessible to any audience member regardless of age, race, gender, or previous knowledge of dance” The piece also played at the Dance Theater Workshop in NYC (1995), Fall for Dance Festival in NYC (2004), and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.
"Don Juan Comes Back from the War" (1996).
"Don Juan Comes Back from the War" premiered at Classic Stage Company NYC in 1996. It was a joint production by the Classic Stage Company and the Cucaracha Theater, with Lazar and Parson as co-directors and her choreographing. The New York Times lauded their direction, writing that they had constructed a “witty and elegant interpretation” of Odon von Horvath’s bittersweet play. The play follows Don Juan as he returns home from the first World War in search of his fiancé, who, unbeknownst to him, has died. Her ghost follows him throughout the play. Horvath, a Hungarian playwright who wrote in Germany until he fled the Nazi’s, set his play in the immediate aftermath of World War One, but the play is full of “philosophical jibes” at his enemies. Parson and Lazar animated these ideas with “highly stylized choreography and musical arrangements” (by Christopher Berg) that allude to both Don Juan and popular German music of the 1920s. The result might have annoyed Horvath, who was notoriously fussy about staging, but they probably let an American audience grasp his meaning, and certainly his moods, better than any more literal presentation could."
"The Gas Heart" (1997).
“The Gas Heart” (1921) is a Dada “classic” by Tristan Tzara,  one of the founders of that movement. In the Big Dance rendering of the play the fierce comic, lyric text comes vividly to life with a staging that is distinctly choreographic and choreography that is distinctly theatrical. It is as if Tzara wrote the play for the Big Dance Company.
From NYTimes review “…The comic triumph Here is The Gas Heart, by Tristan Tzara, a witty Dadaist take on avant-garde sophisticates working, flirting, effortlessly executing impossible dance steps, looking as classy as Cecil Beaton portraits and exchanging superior sounding banter that is utter nonsense. Few Dada plays survive; this one is exquisite and exquisitely performed.”
"A Simple Heart" (1997).
This dance-theater adaptation of Gustave Flaubert’s "A Simple Heart" follows the story of Félicité, a servant who watches as every being she is connected to slowly dies or leaves her. Parson cast two dancers (Stacy Dawson and Molly Hickock) as Félicité, who occasionally danced in unison, parallel, and sometimes split entirely while always remaining connected. They separate for the first time when Félicité dies. The piece employed minimal use of language, instead relying on “spare yet rich vignettes” to tell this simple story with a dry tenderness, intended to match the tonality of the Flaubert.
"The Village Voice" wrote that Parson and Lazar had created a “cold, compelling world of emotional disintegration.” "A Simple Heart" premiered at the GIFT Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1997. It was also performed at the Dance Theater Workshop, NYC, Classic Stage Company, NYC, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Massachusetts, the Hitchcock Center, Dartmouth New Hampshire, Middlebury College in Vermont, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina.
"Girl Gone" (1998).
"Girl Gone", written by Mac Wellman with songs by Cynthia Hopkins, premiered at the Flea Theater in 1998, and ran at the Kitchen NYC in 1999. The play explores the possibility of constructing alternate realities as three teenage girls, Lissa, Lisa, and Elyssa, perform rituals with the goal of “going away” to a fantasy land. They are so successful that they bring much of the rest of their world with them.
In an article from the "Village Voice", Parson and Lazar's working relationship was described as so close that theaters are often unsure of how to credit their work. For "Girl Gone", Parson dreamed up dances inspired by Wellman's fanciful stage directions; “They do the Spinal Fusion,” writes Wellman, “They do the Full Cleveland.”
In describing the play, "Time Out New York" gave up on theatrical labels and instead turned to psychological terminology, writing that “the work is schizophrenic, manic, occasionally melancholic and, more often, hysteric.” Watching it was “both an alienating and enchanting experience.”
"Another Telepathic Thing" (2000).
"Another Telepathic Thing" was inspired by Mark Twain’s morality tale “The Mysterious Stranger,” and is described as “a prismatic and complex dance-theater parable.” It was performed by Tymberly Canale, Stacy Dawson, Molly Hickok, Cynthia Hopkins, Paul Lazar, and David Neumann, and featured original music by Cynthia Hopkins. “At once cynical and spiritual, the work centers on a charismatic stranger whose visit shatters the peace of a mythic hamlet. The medieval setting is echoed by a contemporary Hollywood reality, with a script that braids Twain’s sublime writing with ‘found’ text from years of auditions. It culminates in a subtle and startling exploration of the fragility of our human condition.”
The piece was performed at Dance Theater Workshop NYC, (2000), STUC Theater, Belgium, (2000), Performing Garage NYC (2000), Rotterdam, Ghent and Munster, Germany (2001), and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Minnesota (2002), where it was the first in the Walker’s 2002 showcase of genre-bending performances aptly titled the “Out There” series. The end of the piece, in which Satan delivers a final address that describes human existence as nothing but “a homeless thought” and then disappears, was described by the Star Tribune as a "powerful, unflinching conclusion to this ontological meditation” The show was also extremely well received in Germany. Reviewer Susanne Lang described the stage as “a snow-globe that can be shaken to see the world, at least for a moment, through the dreamlike flurry of artificial snowflakes…everything is moving, everything is carried by the music.” The Münstersche Zeitung lauded the piece as a “highly successful mix of dance- and spoken-theater…acoustic spaces are created through speech and song, which seamlessly create a superstructure for the dance. By bringing this piece, Pumpenhaus has not only brought a premier to Münster, it has brought an exceptional piece of dance theater.”
Jonathan Demme filmed a live performance of the piece in 2000 at Dance Theater Workshop in NYC. The film was screened at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York in June 2015. In 2000 Big Dance won an Obie for the music in "Another Telepathic Thing". This piece, considered a signature Big Dance work, was made into a book published by 53 State Press, which includes the text of the piece, drawings by Parson of the costumes and props, and interviews with the performers about how the work was generated.
"Antigone" (2002).
In 2002 Big Dance Theater created an adaptation of "Antigone," their second collaboration with playwright Mac Wellman. It premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in New York and toured to On the Boards in Seattle, Washington, UCLA Live in Los Angeles, Kampnagel in Hamburg, Germany, Theater im Pumpenhaus in Muenster, Germany, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Illinois and Classic Stage Company in New York, NY. The New York Times called the show a "a curious and mesmerizing if largely impenetrable experience," and said that Parson had created movement "whose sprightly intelligence is itself meaning enough."
"Plan B" (2004).
"Plan B," an original piece with text by Len Jenkin and the company, premiered in 2004 at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis.
"As in a well-cooked dish," wrote the New York Times, “ingredients blend in works by the Big Dance Theater, creating elusive flavors and textures.” "Plan B" combined elements from Nixon's Watergate tapes and the adult diaries of Kaspar Hauser, the 19th century “wild child” who was found at age 16 at the gates of the city of Nuremberg, after living abandoned in a German forest for 12 years. His subsequent socialization proved tragic. Lazar explained that the two texts connected when they discovered a section of the tapes where Nixon and his advisors were trying to find the right person to do certain things on their behalf. “What a perfect foil Kaspar might be,” said Lazar, “because he’s so malleable and so innocent.” Add to those elements bits of the Old Testament, Kabuki dance and Taiwanese movie music and you have ‘Plan B,’ “a shimmering strand of evocative storytelling that manages to suggest a great deal about innocence in all its guises.” “Combining all these disparate sources might have been a recipe for disaster in the wrong hands,” writes Susan Reiter for the danceviewtimes, “but Big Dance Theater blends and transforms them with a sureness of vision... creating a work that tells a quirky, ambiguous tale with resonant strangeness and delicate beauty.”
"Plan B" also played at the Bonn Biennale in Germany (2004), Dance Theater Workshop NYC (2004), Under the Radar Festival in NYC (2005), and the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival in PA (2005).
"The Other Here" (2007).
"The Other Here" was an original work based on the writing of Masuji Ibuse. It was commissioned by the Japan Society, who asked that the piece in some way be engaged with Japanese culture. The director of the Japan society, Yoko Shioya, suggested they consider the works of Masuji Ibuse.
Parson and her team began with a selection of source materials- the Chekhovian stories of Ibuse, verbatim text from transcripts of American life insurance conferences, traditional Japanese dances, Japanese pop music, a large table and a zither. Slowly, through collective exploration, the themes between these disparate materials are discovered, and a story begins to emerge. A man trying to give a speech at a conference is interrupted to watch a hand clapping dance, to perform a dance of his own, and to receive the gift of a fish. The fish becomes central.
Theatre Forum noted that the piece, exists at that point of collision between form and substance” and that “the intricacy of that subtle emotional palette is one of [its] great strengths."
"The Other Here" was developed at the CUNY Festival of New Work in NYC, 2005. It then played at Lincoln Center Out of Doors (2006) and at the University of Maryland (2006). Its official premiere was at The Japan Society in February 2007.
"Orestes" (2009).
From the pen of “one of the most exciting poets writing in English” (New York Times) comes the world premiere of Anne Carson’s vibrant new translations of the ORESTEIA myth. This grand kaleidoscopic compilation gathers together the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides to tell the fall of the mighty house of Atreus.
A Classic Stage Company presentation of three plays in three acts. “Agamemnon” and “Elektra” directed by Brian Kulick and Gisela Cardenas. “Orestes” directed by Paul Lazar and Associate directed and choreographed by Annie-B Parson.
This piece performed at the Classic Stage Company, New York in March 2009.
"Comme Toujours Here I Stand" (2009).
This original piece was inspired by Agnès Varda's 1962 French "Nouvelle Vague" black-and-white film, "Cleo From 5 to 7," and was commissioned by the French Institute Alliance Française. The film follows Cleo, a young pop singer anxiously awaiting the results of a biopsy test for cancer. The film follows her in nearly real time for two hours, as she distracts herself with composers, lovers, friends, a fortune teller, and a soldier. The Big Dance production simultaneously honored, appropriated, reinvented, and departed from the model of the film. In the words of Philip Lopate, writing for the Performance Arts Journal, Parson “zeroes in on the very French (think of La Rochefoucauld) theme of humanity's egotistical cruelty.” When creating the piece, Parson used the screenplay, but didn't watch the film itself until late in the process, so as not to be (in the words of Lazar) “under the claw” of Varda's influence. The New York Times wrote that in the piece, “meaning accrues from a complex yet spare interplay of actions and objects: a French folk song, video by Jeff Larson, luscious costumes and props evoking French couture, even a razzle-dazzle dance routine that refers to choreography from a Godard film.”
The piece premiered in Les Subsistance’s Ça Tchatche Festival in April in Lyon, France. It also played at Le Quartz in Brest, France, Le Theatre National in Rennes, France, MCA/Chicago, The Kitchen, NYC October 2009, and New York Live Arts, NYC. It is a signature work of the Company and the entire company and design team won a Bessie for it in 2010.
"Supernatural Wife" (2010).
During a residency at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 2010, Parson and Lazar began working on "Supernatural Wife", an adaptation of Euripides' play "Alkestis." Parson edited the translation by Anne Carson to create a spare skeleton for the piece. The play is based on the myth of King Admetus, who is offered eternal life by Apollo on the condition that he send a surrogate to the underworld in his stead. His wife, Alcestis, volunteers. Parson describes the subject matter as primal: "matters of birth, death, grief, mourning and the gods." "Supernatural Wife" had its American premiere at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 2011. Ella Buff, the festival's executive and artistic director, noted that “by integrating material from far-flung sources, [Parson and Lazar] create their own mythology.” The piece pulled from Yiddish silent films, the physical score from Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis routines, video footage of a horse wrangler and a recording of a monologue by Rosalind Russell. Annie-B Parson made her Brooklyn Academy of Music debut in the Harvey Theater with "Supernatural Wife" in 2011. The piece toured to La Filature in Mulhouse, France, Les Subsistances in Lyon, France, Le Quartz in Brest, France, Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, France, and the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN.
"Ich, Kurbisgeist" (2012).
"Ich, Kurbisgeist" was co-commissioned by The Chocolate Factory and Performance Space 122. It premiered in October 2012 at the Chocolate Factory in Queens New York, and later played at NYLA in 2013.
The show was created in collaboration with Playwright Sibyl Kempson, and was written in a language invented by the playwright, which no one in the world, except those involved in the production, speaks—or has any knowledge of.” This “impressively inscrutable” play is, in the words of the playwright, an “olde-tyme agricultural vengeance play for Hallowe’en.” The piece was set in the Middle Ages, in a largely barren land that seems to produce nothing but pumpkins, many of which were to be smashed during the performance.
When asked how "Ich, Kurbisgeist" fit into the history of what Big Dance does, Parson said she craved doing something where language was abstract as movement, something “tiny and intimate" and felt it should be seen "in some kind of site-specific, really, really intimate venue. I thought it needed to be something that you’re very close to, so you’re not just thinking of language as meaning, but you’re also thinking of language as a kinetic experience, because the language is extremely kinetic.”
Writing for "L Magazine", Alexis Clements noted that Parson and Lazar seem to “enjoy feeling like outsiders looking in on a culture or subject that they are not familiar with.” For them, there was a “value in the experience of having to acknowledge one’s own ignorance,” it freed them to take in information that contradicted their previous ways of thinking, it allowed them to do something familiar in a wholly new way.
"The New York Times" wrote that “Much like the words spoken by Shakespeare’s wily fools, the messages are scrambled. Yet the world of “Ich, Kürbisgeist” is whole, and surprisingly powerful. Sometimes the gut understands better than the brain.”
"Man in a Case" (2013).
"Man in a Case", Parson’s collaboration with dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, premiered in 2013 at Hartford Stage and ironically featured Baryshnikov, considered the greatest dancer of his generation, as a man who refuses to dance. Parson choreographed and directed the piece, which used her original adaptations of two lesser known Chekhov short stories, “Man in a Case” and “About Love”, in combination with live music, dance, and surveillance-style video footage. Baryshnikov's performance was widely lauded, and Elizabeth Bruce described the "melancholy crispness" of the performance as "utterly Chekhovian." The piece was performed at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, CA, ArtsEmerson in Boston MA, Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, IL.
"Alan Smithee Directed This Play: a Triple Feature" (2014).
"Alan Smithee Directed This Play: a Triple Feature" was co-commissioned by Les Subsistances (Lyon) and Brooklyn Academy of Music. It premiered at Les Subsistances in France in March, 2014 and then played at Jacobs Pillow, Les Subsistances, Tanz im August Berlin and Brooklyn Academy of Music.
The piece was an adaptation/ mashup of the films "Terms of Endearment", "Le Cercle Rouge", and "Doctor Zhivago". It began when Les Subsistances suggested Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar work with a short excerpt from the 1970 Franco-Italian crime film, Le Cercle Rouge. Wanting to work with other iconic films from other time periods and countries, they added Doctor Zhivago and Terms of Endearment. In classic Big Dance form, the piece wove together disparate performance styles, and included seven performers speaking text, dancing, and precisely performing the movements of actors from the films, which were, in turn, being projected on a large wall of blinds behind them. A moment of theatrical staging might be accompanied by an entire score of choreography, a dance might be underscored by fully staged theater. Parson says she is most interested in “simultaneous systems putting pressure on each other, and seeing what happens. That’s the magic point.”
The name in the title, Alan Smithee, is the pseudonym used by the Directors Guild of America until 2000, when a director became so dissatisfied with a film that they could satisfactorily prove to the guild they had not been able to exercise creative control and therefore refused to take credit for the final product. He was then credited as Alan Smithee.
"Short Form" (2015).
"Short form" had its New York premiere at the Kitchen in January 2015, and was in part a celebration of the company's 25th anniversary. The show included five short works that focused on dance. The intermission was an onstage birthday party complete with games, food, and Lazar as M.C. The show was “Inspired by disciplines of the concise — novellas, folk tales, diary entries, pencil drawings, thumbnail sketches and the single page of a notebook,” and featured five works, that “embrace the brief, granular, close range, anecdotal and microscopic. Downsizing is prized.” The piece had its world premiere at the Solange MacArthur Theater in the American Dance Institute in Rockville, MD in 2015. Its New York premiere was at the Kitchen in New York, NY, and it toured to the Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas.
"This Page Intentionally Left Blank" (2016).
"This Page Intentionally Left Blank" made its world premiere at the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts’ CounterCurrent Festival 2016. This performance-based docent tour deconstructed “the role of the docent and museum audio tour via an encounter with theater and dance, subverting and reconsidering how the docent typically leads viewers to observe art in the museum context.” Big Dance sought to democratize the museum space, to “disrupt, awaken, dismantle, confuse and thus revivify the viewer’s perception of art.” The audience wore headphones and toured the space in groups in groups of twenty, as the docent (Tymberly Canale) spoke about the art with a (“don’t look at that,” she says at one point, “that’s not part of the tour.”) The audience traveled from the Menil Collection's main building to Flavin's Untitled, 1996, described by Arts And Culture as “a kind of journey deeper into Tymberly’s psyche as she worms her way into our own.” Movement and theater gradually begin to take over the piece, and ultimately, the audience became part of the performance.
The piece was also performed at Mass MoCa- the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, in January 2016.
"Cage Shuffle" (2017).
"Cage Shuffle" made its world premiere at Abrons Arts Center during the American Realness Festival in 2016. In "Cage Shuffle" Paul Lazar speaks a series of one-minute stories by John Cage from his 1963 score "Indeterminacy" while simultaneously performing choreography by Annie-B Parson. The stories are spoken in a random order with no predetermined relationship to the dancing. Chance serves up its inevitable blend of strange and uncanny connections between text and movement. With live tape and digital collage scored and performed by composer Lea Bertucci.
The piece was also performed at The Poets House in March 2017; David Bryne's: This Is How Music Works in June 2017; The Walker Art Center of Minneapolis in July 2017; A.P.E. Ltd. Gallery of Northampton in August 2017; Links Hall of Chicago in October 2017; DeBartolo Performing Arts Center of the University of Notre Dame, IN in October 2017
"17c" (2017).
"17c" is the newest Big Dance Theater ensemble work, built around the problematic 17th-century diaries of Samuel Pepys. Pepys danced, sang, strummed, shopped, strove, bullied and groped — and he recorded all of it in his diary, completely unfiltered. From his bunions, to his infidelities, to his perversions, to his meetings with the King, he needed to get his daily life down on paper, or he felt lost. A startling precursor to our own social media culture, Pepys possessed a similar compulsion to assign an almost constant real-time meaning to his daily existence, to examine himself, and obsessively report it."
In her latest piece, Parson and her team incorporated the copious diaries of Pepys', Margaret Cavendish’s 17th-century radical feminist play "The Convent of Pleasure," three centuries of marginalia, and the ongoing annotations of the web-based devotees at www.pepysdiary.com. The piece "dismantles an unchallenged historical figure and embodies the women's voices omitted from Pepys' intimate portrait of his life"
17c was presented as a work in progress excerpt as part of the American Realness Festival at Gibney Dance's Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in January 2017. It then played at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival September 7–9.
In October it was presented at Mass MoCa, co-presented by Jacob's Pillow Dance in North Adams MA. Its world premiere was in November 2017 at the Carolina Performing Arts in Chapel Hill, NC, and its New York Premiere was at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in Brooklyn New York in November 2017.
"The Road Awaits Us" (2017).
Based loosely on an absurdist play by Ionesco, in this North American premiere, Annie-B Parson stages a birthday party for a company of esteemed dance elders, including Bebe Miller, Meg Harper, Keith Sabado, Sheryl Sutton, Douglas Dunn, Betsy Gregory, Brian Bertscher, and Black-Eyed Susan. "This piece was originally created for Sadler’s Wells Elixir Co."
Performance history includes Sadler's Wells, London in June 2017 and NYU Skirball in November 2019.
"Antigonick" (2018).
Big Dance Theater’s "Antigonick" is a rough cut of Anne Carson’s one-act, radical-feminist, philosophical take on Sophocles’ Antigone. In Carson’s theatrical perspective on Antigone’s role as a humanist and antagonist, the intellectual excitement of Antigonick lies in how she loses, why her peaceful resistance matters, and the sobering consequences of the Antigone/Kreon face-off.
Big Dance Theater first workshopped this play, directed by Paul Lazar, in 2016 at Suzanne Bocanegra and David Lang’s Home Theater. In 2017, Antigonick was commissioned and Originally Produced by Williamstown Theatre Festival with the support of Mandy Greenfield. The original group in the cast included Yvonne Rainer, Chris Giarmo, Kirstin Sieh, and Sheena See. Both of those iterations were directed by Paul Lazar and co-directed by Annie-B Parson, with original sound design by Chris Giarmo, and produced by Aaron Mattocks.
"Antigonick" was first performed at the Williamstown Theater Festival, Summer 2017. It also showed at Abrons Arts Center in November 2018.
"ballet dance" (2019).
Annie-B Parson takes on ballet with her own choreographic voice. Drawing from her experience of watching and re-watching Balanchine’s "Agon" as well as the novel "The Complete Ballet" by John Haskell, she creates a duet from the imagery, the fundamental actions, the objects, and the narratives of ballet traditions.
Performance history includes the Spoleto Festival of Two World, Umbria, Italy in July 2019 and NYU Skirball in November 2019.
Other notable projects.
Outside of Big Dance, Ms. Parson has created choreography for marching bands, operas, pop stars, theater, ballet, docents, movies, objects, television, symphonies, and most recently for a chorus of 1,000 singers under the direction of Simon Halsey. Her work for theater, MTV, opera and film includes work by Laurie Anderson, Salt n Pepa, Nico Muhly, and such plays as Lucas Hnath's Walt Disney at Soho Rep, Sarah Ruhl's Orlando, Futurity at ART, as well as the string quartet ETHEL.
"Here Lies Love" (2013).
In 2013, Parson choreographed "Here Lies Love," a musical based on Fillipina First Lady Imelda Marco’s life that played at the Public Theater with music by David Byrne. Parson had been a fan of Byrne's since she had seen him perform in her college days. Admiration became collaboration; she choreographed two of Byrne’s world tours even before they began working on "Here Lies Love." Byrne wrote the lyrics, and the music was created by Byrne and Fatboy Slim.
Of the process, which was her first foray into traditional musical theater, she said: “Usually, in my own company or other concert work, I create from a formalist perspective, meaning I work with line, space, shape, and the time of dance itself. Dance is the sacred object. When I’ve created for David’s concerts, I ask, ‘What does the music crave?’ But in Here Lies Love, the music and story are the top contenders for the throne, so I knew the dance had to serve those two. Therein lies the struggle— and the interest— for me in this project."
Parson studied Marco’s movements, riffing on her trademark moves to create choreography so that the audience could see her signature gestures both live and on the TV screens playing historical footage. The resulting choreography offered diverse phrases that had “everything from boy-band step touches and hard-hitting club moves to gestural sections with lotus-flower hands and swaying luau hip circles.” The resulting mishmash created a striking visual effect, which was at this point known as a “Parson trademark.” Parson said that her way of working came from Merce Cunningham who “offered that sequencing and hierarchy of movement aren’t important. I can do one move, then another, then roll the dice and switch it up.” The New York Times called her choreography "wildly diverse and witty."
Full list of other works.
Ms. Parson created choreography for the Love This Giant Tour by David Byrne and St. Vincent, and for the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour in 2008–2009. She also created dance for the Digital Witness Tour by St. Vincent in 2014–2016. She directed and choreographed for the string quartet Ethel. Her dances are featured in the film "Ride, Rise, Roar" about David Byrne. She choreographed for Nico Muhly's opera "Dark Sisters", Walt Disney at Soho Rep, Sarah Ruhl's Orlando, Futurity at ART, "The Broken Heart" at TFNA, David Bowie's "Lazarus," full-length work for "The Martha Graham Dance Co." and a solo for Wendy Whelan at The Linbury/Royal Opera House
Teaching, writing, and curating.
Since 1993 Parson has been an instructor of choreography at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing. She has also taught nationally and internationally including Tokyo and Spoleto, Italy. She was featured in BOMB magazine, and wrote a piece for Dance USA on the state of dance/theater in the U.S. As an artist-curator, she has curated shows including: the Merce Cunningham memorial, Dancer Crush at NYLA and Sourcing Stravinsky at DTW. Parson tours a lecture on abstraction called "The Structure of Virtuosity" to universities and for audience development. Her recent book, "Dance by Letter", is published by 53rd State Press.
"Drawing the Surface of Dance: A Biography in Charts".
Soloing on the page, choreographer Annie-B Parson rethinks choreography as dance on paper. Parson draws her dances into new graphic structures calling attention to the visual facts of the materiality of each dance work she has made. These drawings serve as both maps of her pieces in the aftermath of performance, and a consideration of the elements of dance itself. Divided into three chapters, the book opens with diagrams of the objects in each of her pieces grouped into chart-structures. These charts reconsider her dances both from the perspective of the resonance of things, and for their abstract compositional properties. In chapter two, Parson delves into the choreographic mind, charting such ideas as an equality in the perception of objects and movement, and the poetics of a kinetic grammar. Charts of erasure, layering and language serve as dynamic and prismatic tools for dance making. Lastly, there is a chapter of photographs of Big Dance Theater from 1991-2019. As an addendum, nodding to the history of chance operations in dance, Parson creates a generative card game of 52 compositional elements for artists of any medium to cut out and play as a method for creating new material. Within the duality of form and content, this book explores the meanings that form itself holds, and Parson’s visual maps of choreographic ideas inspire new thinking around the shared elements underneath all art-making.
Awards, honors, and fellowships.
Ms. Parson has been nominated for the CalArts/ Alpert Award seven times. She was a YCC choreographer at The American Dance Festival where she worked with composer Richard Einhorn to create City of Brides.


Carmen Barros

Carmen Aída Barros Alfonso (born 7 January 1925) is a prominent Chilean actress and singer of jazz, popular music, and opera. In addition, she is a professor of acting perception, diction, and vocal projection, and a theater and opera director. She is known for being the first to portray the character Carmela in the Isidora Aguirre play "" in 1960.
Biography.
Carmen Barros is the elder of two siblings. Because of her father's military profession, which caused him to be sent on missions in Germany, as well as to different garrisons in the country, Carmen never stayed more than seven months at one school. She lived between Santiago, other cities of the country, Peru, and Europe, and learned to speak German before Spanish.
However, she attended the French Nuns, a women's college where she was the "wild card" of the course for any artistic competition involving dancing or acting.
When she was 14, her father was assigned as Chilean ambassador to Germany, and that change marked her life. It was 1940, and World War II was in full development. A lot of people Barros' age that she met on this trip she never saw again; they joined Hitler's army to colonize Europe and fell out of contact. As a counterpoint, the cultural opportunities of Berlin influenced her future career: concerts, opera, theater; despite the horror of the war, that never changed. She tried to resume her basic education, in a German school, but could not stand being in a co-educational one, so she chose to retire and take private classes at home. However, she never finished her studies.
At age 19, Barros returned to Chile, but everything had changed. Santiago del Campo offered to let her sing on the radio and gave her the pseudonym "Marianela". She had begun her career as a singer. She worked at Radio Agricultura, Corporación, and Minería. In 1946, when a company of New York's Metropolitan Opera House came to Chile with the Beethoven opera "Fidelio", Barros was invited to participate. It was one of the great successes of the Municipal Theater. She was even invited to go to New York, but did not dare; she had been outside the country for too long.
Her brother was the one who spurred her interest in theater. He was an actor and creator of the Pocket Theater, and invited her to participate in the play "Carlos y Ana", which she starred in. She also worked with , combining her talents for singing and the theater. This continued until her father was named ambassador to Italy, and the dream vanished. She went to Italy with her husband and three children to see what happened there. She continued with her "operatic" work, went to live in Vienna, and was invited to take a leading role in the Opera of Brussels, Belgium. However her father was named chancellor and had to return home. She could never reconcile her dreams with distance. Although she endured another year without seeing her children, finally, and although her prospects were favorable, she returned to Chile in 1957.
Barros had the opportunity to become an international opera star. She entered the and was invited to participate in "Esta Señorita Trini", which was the prelude to "La pérgola de las flores". She shared the stage with , Ana González, and many other actors, and starred as the first Carmela. Also in 1965 she had a musical group, Los Gatos, which was very successful. After the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, she went to Kenya and worked as a UN official for nine years. Then she returned to Chile and began appearing on television. Her first series was "Los títeres" (1984), which together with her role on "El amor está de moda" (1995) was her greatest pride.
In 2010, she received the Award for her artistic career.
In 2015, she starred alongside Gloria Münchmeyer, Ana Reeves, and Consuelo Holzapfel in the television series "", directed by . This role earned her a nomination at the Caleuche Awards for Best Leading Actress in a TV Series in 2016.
In 2017, she received the Caleuche Award for her career from the Minister of Culture, Ernesto Ottone, and Chileactores. In March of the same year, she was honored as a Distinguished Public Person by the Municipality of Providencia.
Personal life.
Her son Jaime Amunátegui Barros married Jacqueline Pinochet Hiriart on 24 January 1984 in Cerro Castillo, and the couple had two children: Sofía and Jaime Augusto Amunátegui Pinochet. In 2016, Barros told CNN Chile that Pinochet Hiriart "believed that I was a communist for being an artist."
Barros' daughter, Loreto Amunátegui Barros, was governor of Chacabuco Province from 2000 to 2006.
Carmen Barros defines herself as a "Bacheletista" – a supporter of President Michelle Bachelet.


Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda)

Mother Bertranda, O.P. ("née" Janina Siestrzewitowska; 1900–1988), later known as Anna Borkowska, was a Polish cloistered Dominican nun who served as the prioress of her monastery in Kolonia Wileńska near Wilno (now Pavilnys near Vilnius, Lithuania). She was a graduate of the University of Kraków who had entered the monastery after her studies. During World War II, under her leadership, the nuns of the monastery sheltered 17 young Jewish activists from Vilnius Ghetto and helped the Jewish Partisan Organization (FPO) by smuggling weapons. In recognition of this, in 1984 she was awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
Hiding Jews.
Vilnius (Vilna) was taken over by the Germans on 24 June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, and the killing of the Jews began almost immediately. Mother Betranda first inquired about saving Jews following the start of the Ponary massacre in July 1941. She initially sought to gain the support of the Wilno Catholic leadership, but they rebuffed her efforts out of fear that the Nazi German occupation forces would destroy church property and kill any Christians found to be aiding Jews.
Acting on her own initiative, Mother Betranda then took in 17 members of Hashomer Hatzair, a local Zionist group, and hid them within the grounds of her monastery. The activists included Abba Kovner, the movement's leader, Abraham Sutzkever, Arie Wilner and Edek Boraks. They helped the nuns with working their fields, while Kovner, realizing the goals of Hitler's Final Solution, worked on organizing a political resistance to the occupation and writing his manifesto for the later uprising. When several of her nuns objected, Mother Bertranda reportedly threatened them with expulsion from the monastery and excommunication from the faith. Some of the Hashomer Hatzair members later decided to leave their monastery hideout and to return to the Jewish Ghetto in Vilnius, where they organized an underground resistance movement, the "Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye" (FPO).
Helping Jewish resistance.
Soon after that, Mother Bertranda left the monastery and went to the Ghetto to volunteer her services. She was dissuaded from this by Kovner, who asked that she organize the procurement of supplies instead. She and the other Dominican nuns then took it upon themselves to help the Jewish resistance by smuggling in arms and ammunition. The other nuns of the community included Sister Bernadeta (Julia Michrowska), Sister Cecylia (Maria Roszak), Sister Diana (Helena Frackiewicz), Sister Imelda (Maria Neugebauer), Sister Jordana (Maria Ostrejko), Sister Małgorzata (Irena Adamek) and Sister Stefania (Stanisława Bednarska). In this they became among the first to supply hand grenades and other weapons to the Vilnius Ghetto underground. Between August and September 1943, the ghetto was liquidated and some 12,000 men, women and children were deported to camps in Estonia. The uprising, organized by FPO on 1 September 1943 was crushed. The final Nazi destruction of whatever remained of the Ghetto followed.
In September 1943, Mother Bertranda was arrested by the Nazi German occupation authorities and sent to a labor camp at Perwejniszki near Kovno (, now Pravieniškės near Kaunas, Lithuania). The monastery was closed and the community of nuns was forced to disperse. After the war, Mother Bertranda asked for a dispensation from her vows and left the monastery, where she adopted the name Anna Borkowska.
Recognition.
In 1984, Borkowska, now living alone in a small apartment in Warsaw, was awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem. Abba Kovner, one of the young Jews who had been saved by Borkowska, personally presented a medal to her at a ceremony in Poland. She and [Sister] Cecylia Roszakcan were two members of this monastic community to be honored, according to the statistics given by Yad Vashem.


Carole Brookins

Carole Brookins (August 16, 1943 – March 23, 2020) was an American executive director of the World Bank and an expert on the global political economy.
Brookins attended the University of Oklahoma, graduating in 1965, and entered Wall Street in the early 1970s after being hired by EF Hutton, then one of the United States' largest stock brokerages. In 1980, she founded a company named World Perspectives, which focused on agricultural market analysis. Beginning in 1984, Brookins was given several roles in government. The first was as the chairman of the US Department of State's Advisory Committee on Food, Hunger & Agriculture in Developing Countries. Six years later, George H.W. Bush nominated her for the President's Export Council. Finally, George W. Bush appointed her as an executive director of and a US representative in the World Bank. Brookins held this role from 2001 to 2005. Brookins was also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations for life.
Brookins died on March 23, 2020 in Palm Beach, Florida of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. She was 76 years old.


Katherine Mackay

Katherine Ada Mackay (10 December 1901 – 15 June 1975) was an Australian police officer who was one of the first women to hold high rank in the Victoria Police.
Mackay was born in Colombo, Ceylon, to Emma (née Foord) and Robert Mackay. Her father was a merchant, and the family lived for periods in New Zealand and New South Wales before eventually settling in Melbourne. After leaving school, Mackay found work as a typist and stenographer for the Motor Registration Branch. She later joined the Victoria Police in the same capacity, working in the office of the commissioner of police. In 1930, Mackay joined the police force itself, as one of eight women officers at the time. She was initially assigned to the plainclothes branch, but later joined the Criminal Investigation Bureau. She was promoted to senior constable in 1943, and made officer-in-charge of the women's section operating out of Russell Street; by that time the number of policewomen had grown to 15. Mackay was mainly assigned to cases involving women, but received several commendations for her work. She passed the required examinations for promotion to sergeant in 1953, but was not promoted as her superiors were unwilling to give her authority over male colleagues (unlike in other states, where there were a number of women in leadership positions). She appealed that decision to the Police Classification Board, which dismissed her complaint; the case received extensive media coverage. However, following a reorganisation in 1956 a separate seniority list for women was created, and Mackay was promoted to sergeant. She served as Officer-in-Charge of the new Women Police Branch from its creation until her retirement in 1961.


Carrie B. Wilson Adams

Carrie Belle (Wilson) Adams (1859–1940) was the first American woman to conduct a public performance of Handel's oratorio, "Messiah." An Ohio native and musical child prodigy who performed in concert for the first time at age seven, she spent much of her life in Indiana, where she was a choral conductor and organist. By the time of her death in Portland, Oregon, she had also become one of the most prolific American composers, completing 4,000 anthems, 12 cantatas, and 28 operettas during her lifetime.
Formative years.
Born in Oxford, Ohio on July 28, 1858 (alternate birth date June 29, 1859), Carrie Belle Wilson was the oldest child of Allie (Myers) Wilson and David Wilson, a songwriter and music educator. Her mother was also a musician.
As the American Civil War was waged across a major portion of the United States during the early 1860s, Carrie Wilson was studying music with her father. By the time the war was over, she had made her debut. A child prodigy, she sang for a convention of musicians in Millville, Ohio, when she was just seven years old. According to biographer Jacob Henry Hull, she was also "a brilliant pianist and accompanist from her girlhood days."
In 1872, she and her parents and five siblings moved to Paris, Illinois, where her father founded the Paris Musical Institute. Three years later, at the age of 16, she published an anthem – the first of many compositions she would pen over the years. By 1876, she was serving as the organist and choir director for the Paris Presbyterian Church.
Family life and professional music career.
On July 21, 1880, Carrie Belle Wilson married amateur playwright Allyn G. Adams. She then relocated with her husband to Terre Haute, Indiana in 1882. Their son, Stanley, was born on October 18, 1887.
From 1887 to 1896, she was employed as a professor of music at the Indiana State Normal School (now Indiana State University), and also chaired the music department there. In addition, she served as conductor of The Choral, Rose Polytechnic Glee and Treble Clef clubs and The Terre Haute Oratorio Society. In 1893, she published her musical play, "The National Flower." By the time of her retirement from the university three years later, she had completed work on 12 cantatas, 4,000 anthems, and 28 operettas.
Following her husband's retirement, she relocated with him in 1920 to Portland, Oregon to be closer to her son, Stanley. After 16 years together in Portland, her husband widowed her in 1936. In addition to playing the pipe organ for the First Congregational Church (Portland, Oregon), she became an associate editor with "The Choir Herald", and continued to compose music into her early 80s. According to a 1936 article in "Time" magazine, "In Portland, Ore. last week Mrs. Adams sent off to her publishers four new anthems, baked a jelly cake, [and] celebrated her 77th birthday." Among the works completed in later life was the cantata, "The Easter Triumph." Completed in 1940, it was published posthumously.
Illness, death and interment.
Suffering from a heart condition, Carrie Belle (Wilson) Adams was admitted to a private hospital in Portland, Oregon, for treatment sometime in late November or early December 1940. She remained there for several weeks until her death on December 15, 1940. She was 81 at the time of her passing.
According to a statement made to "The Oregonian" by a representative of her longtime publisher, Lorenz Publishing Co., "Adams' compositions [were being performed] each Sunday by an average of 300,000 choir singers" at the time of her death. Dr. Raymond B. Walker, the pastor of Portland's First Congregational Church officiated at her funeral services, which were held at J. P. Finley & Son on December 18, 1940.
She was survived by her brother, Charles E. Wilson, and sister, Merle Wilson, who were both residing in Portland, as well as a daughter-in-law, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. Her son, Stanley, had preceded her in death six months earlier.
Titles of works created.
1890s:
1900s:
1910s:
1920s:
1930s:
Posthumous publication:


Lalitha Kumari (pastor)

M. S. G. Lalitha Kumari a.k.a. Lalitha Krupa Rao (1 June 1942 – 25 September 2013) was the eighth Principal of Eva Rose York Bible Training and Technical School for Women, Tuni. She held the term from 1993 through 2011. Lalitha was a theologically trained woman who also used to pastor a Church. With her ordination in 1992, she became the first Woman priest in the Protestant Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars.
Studies.
After scholastic studies in schools established by Canadian Baptist Ministries in Gudlavalleru and Kakinada, she pursued collegiate studies at Women's Christian College, Chennai. She later enrolled at Eva Rose York Bible Training and Technical School for Women in Tuni, where she underwent propadeutic courses. Between 1971-1974, she again pursued theological studies at the Andhra Christian Theological College under faculty comprising Ryder Devapriam, CSI, B. E. Devaraj, CSI, Eric J. Lott, CSI, W. P. Peery, AELC, G. Devasahayam, AELC, R. R. Sundara Rao, AELC, Ravela Joseph, STBC, Suppogu Joseph, STBC, Muriel Spurgeon Carder, CBCNC, Waldo Penner, CBCNC among others.
This was the time when the Seminary was under transition from Rajahmundry to Secunderabad. Then Principals included the Old Testament Scholars', W. D. Coleman, AELC followed by Victor Premasagar, CSI. The Senate of Serampore College (University) awarded the degree of B.Th. by then Registrars Chetti Devasahayam, CBCNC and J. T. Krogh, NELC at its Convocation held on February 1, 1975 at Serampore College, Serampore where the Commemoration Mass was conducted by the Old Testament Scholar, G. Babu Rao, CBCNC, then Faculty Member of Serampore College at the CNI-St. Olave's Church, Serampore. She later upgraded herself from B. Th. to B. D. at her "Alma mater".
Career.
She became a Bible Teacher at the School in 1964 teaching there between 1964-1968. The School was led by Ruth Fletcher who was succeeded by Winnifred Paskall. In 1975, she moved to Kakinada teaching wives of Seminarians at the Baptist Theological Seminary up to 1993. She was ordained in 1992 becoming the first such Woman priest in the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars.
In 1993, with the sudden death of then Principal of Eva Rose York Bible Training and Technical School for Women, S. E. Krupa Rao, the Council of the Baptist Theological Seminary in the presence of LaVerne Louise and Ray Waldock, then India representatives of Canadian Baptist Ministries and G. Babu Rao, then Faculty Member of Andhra Christian Theological College, proceeded to announce the name of Lalitha Kumari as 8th Principal of Eva Rose York Bible Training and Technical School for Women, Tuni solely on merits of her being an Alumna of the school during the 1960s coupled with her theological education.
Death and reminisce.
Lalitha Kumari passed away on September 25, 2013 due to natural causes while on vacation at her Alumna, the Andhra Christian Theological College in Secunderabad. The same day, she was taken by road to Kakinada. The next day, on September 26, 2013, her Funeral mass was held at the CBM Cemetery in Jagannaickpur locality, where she was buried with ecclesiastical honours.


Dalya Attar

Dalya Attar-Mehrzadi is an American politician who currently serves in the Maryland House of Delegates. Delegate Attar represents the 41st Legislative District of the state of Maryland which is located in northwest Baltimore City.
Background.
Attar was born and raised in Baltimore City in a working-class immigrant family. In 2011 she graduated from the University of Baltimore earning a Bachelor of Science degree. Three years later she finished the Francis King Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland, earning a juris doctorate. She is a Sephardi Orthodox Jew born to an Iranian-Jewish father and a Moroccan-Jewish mother. Attar is the first Orthodox Jew elected to the Maryland House of Delegates and the highest-ranking Orthodox Jewish woman in American history. Along with Cheryl Kagan, Attar has co-sponsored legislation to help agunot women by preventing a husband from having a civil divorce unless they grant their wife a get.


Miriam Goldberg

Miriam Goldberg (née Harris; May 18, 1916 – January 8, 2017) was an American newspaper publisher. From 1972 to 2017 she was the editor and publisher of the "Intermountain Jewish News" in Denver, Colorado.
She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1987.
Early life and education.
She was born Miriam Harris in a Chicago hospital and grew up in Denver in a Jewish family. Her parents were Harry Harris (1874-1945) and Minnie Shibko.
She completed her K-12 education at the Teller Elementary School, Aaron Gove Junior High, and East High School, and attended Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri. She also attended the University of Colorado Denver.
Editor and publisher.
On February 12, 1936 she married Max Goldberg, a columnist for "The Denver Post".
Max founded and ran an advertising agency which handled publicity for gubernatorial, congressional, and senatorial candidates. In 1943 he bought the "Intermountain Jewish News", which had been established in 1913 and had passed through a succession of owners, for the purchase price of one dollar. He brought in a partner to bolster the financially unstable paper, and successfully revamped it both financially and editorially.
After Max's death in 1972, Miriam took over as editor and publisher.
In 1983, one of her sons, Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, was named executive editor. Grandchildren have held staff positions, including Shana R. Goldberg (assistant publisher) and Tehilla R. Goldberg (columnist).
The "Intermountain Jewish News" reports on local events in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana, national news in the United States, and news from Israel and other Jewish communities. Under Goldberg's steerage, the paper has branched beyond community news into regional news and has taken "controversial stands". Goldberg has instituted an editorial policy of presenting all sides of an issue to readers.
Other activities.
Goldberg was a past vice president of Hadassah and a former executive board member of the Colorado Press Association. She was also a Braille transcriber.
Awards and honors.
Goldberg received the Colorado Press Association Award of Excellence in 1979. Colorado Governor Richard Lamm declared September 9, 1982 as "Miriam Goldberg Recognition Day". In 1987 Goldberg was named Woman of the year by the Colorado Press Women and was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.
Death.
Goldberg died on January 8, 2017 at the age of 100.


Joy Golden

Joy Golden (June 13, 1930 – August 29, 2015; born Joy Rena Man) was an advertising executive. She was well known for creating the radio spots for The Laughing Cow cheese. She was among the first generation of women in advertising.
Golden was born in Manhattan and raised in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1952, she graduated at the University of Connecticut with an English degree; that same year, she married Stanley L. Golden who was a tax lawyer.
Golden died at age 85 in Manhattan on August 29, 2015. Her cause of death was complications from pneumonia.


Batsheva Katznelson

Batsheva Katznelson (, born 1897, died 30 August 1988) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the General Zionists between 1951 and 1955.
Biography.
Born in Bar in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Katznelson made aliyah to Ottoman-controlled Palestine in 1911, and attended Herzliya Hebrew High School in Tel Aviv. During World War I, she was expelled to Egypt by the Ottoman authorities. She later studied humanities at the University of Geneva. She worked as a teacher for 18 years.
One of the leader of the Organization of Hebrew Women, she attended the first Women's International Zionist Organization convention in 1926. She later became a member of WIZO's national committee, and chairwoman of the Jerusalem branch.
In 1951, she was elected to the Knesset on the General Zionists list, but lost her seat in the 1955 elections.
In 1918, Katznelson married Reuven Katznelson, becoming the sister-in-law of Rachel Katznelson-Shazar, wife of Zalman Shazar, the third president of Israel. Her children were the educator Shulamit Katznelson and Shmuel Tamir, who later served as a Knesset member from 1965 until 1981 and as Minister of Justice. She died in 1988.


Teresa Laplana

Teresa Laplana i Cocera (born 1961) is a Spanish police officer, lieutenant of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalonia's regional police.
Biography.
Laplana was born in Barcelona and joined the body with the promotion of 1985, the first one that allowed women to enter. She has been assigned to various destinations, such as the prison of Ponent, Tarragona, the police station of Sant Andreu neighborhood in Barcelona, and in August 2014 she was appointed as the head of the Eixample police station. After the events of 2017, she has been assigned to the Police Department of Barcelona in non-operational tasks.
She has participated in several occasions in the World Police and Fire Games, where she has won several medals in swimming.
Catalan independence crisis and judicial process.
She was the head of the operation of the officers who provided coverage and protection at the entrance and registry at the headquarters of the Vice President and Counselor of Economy of the Catalan cabinet on 20 October 2017 by the Civil Guard. In the Trial of Catalonia independence leaders, she is accused of sedition.
On 4 October 2017 was called by the Spanish Supreme Court to testify amid the sedition crime and on 16 April 2018, the Judge of the National Court Carmen Lamela prosecuted Teresa Laplana Intendant for a crime of sedition for the events of the 20 and 21 September in the Ministry of Economy, but ruled she and Josep Lluís Trapero must remain free. Finally the prosecutor's office of this court requested 4 years in prison and 11 of absolute disqualification for the crime of sedition.


Elena Kotova

Elena Kotova (born November 21, 1956) is a Russian writer, interior architect, and private real estate developer. She worked as an international financer and held senior banking positions in Russia, USA, and Europe from 1994–2010. She was charged with soliciting a bribe in 2013 and given a suspended five-year jail sentence in 2014.
Biography.
Kotova was born on November 21, 1956 in Moscow. She is the daughter of Victor Kotov and Natalia Kotova. She studied at Moscow State University.
From 1982–89, she worked as a researcher in the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Science, studying socio-economic problems of Asian countries and international finance. She authored 2 scientific monographs and over 50 articles on international financial issues.
In 1990, she became an elected public official in the first democratic elections in the country. She was named a deputy of the Moscow City Council and a Chairperson of the Committee on economic policy.
From 1990–92, she served as chairperson of the Moscow State Property Agency and privatization. From 1993–97, she worked at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
From 1998–2005, she held management positions in Russian commercial banks in Moscow, including Vnesheconombank, Most Bank, Moscow bank for reconstruction and development (MBRD), and Vneshtorgbank (VTB).
From 2005–10, she was a government-appointed representative of the Russian Federation on the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
In summer 2010, the bank placed her under internal investigation, "apparently for corruption." In November 2010, the report was finished. In December 2010, the EBRD referred Kotova's case to the City of London Police and to the Russian authorities.
In January 2013, Kotova was charged in Moscow with attempting to solicit a US$1.4 million bribe. Kotova denied any wrongdoing.
In March 2013, Kotova was involuntary committed by the Russian prosecution to a psychiatric hospital in Russia for testing.
In 2014, Kotova was given a suspended five-year jail sentence which was cancelled by a statutory Amnesty before the sentence had come in force, thus annulling the conviction.
Kotova lives in Moscow, Russia. She is married to Nick Zimin; they wedded in 1985. She has a son. Her personal interests include skiing, swimming, and dance.
Kotova has written six novels.
On March 23, 2016, Kotova was ordered by the High Court to comply with a civil recovery order to surrender suspected criminal assets, which included a £1.5 million Mayfair apartment and £230,000 held in bank accounts seized by the National Crime Agency


Maggie Kigozi

Margaret Blick Kigozi, commonly known as Maggie Kigozi, is a Ugandan medical doctor, business consultant, educator, and sportswoman. She is a consultant at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). She formerly served as the Executive Director of the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), from 1999 until 2011.
Background.
She was born Margaret Blick in Fort Portal to George William Blick, a civil engineer with the Uganda Ministry of Works and Transport and Molly Johnson Blick, a fashion designer. Both her parents had English fathers and Baganda mothers. Her father and siblings were champion motorcycle riders in Uganda and East Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. Margaret herself was an avid motorcycle rider. She attended Aga Khan Primary School in Kampala, Gayaza High School in Wakiso District for her Ordinary Level education and Kololo Senior Secondary School, in Kampala, for her Advanced Level education. In 1970, just before the turned 20, she entered Makerere University School of Medicine, graduating in 1974 with the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.
Career.
Following a one-year internship in Uganda, she migrated to Zambia in Southern Africa, where she practised as a physician, from 1977 until 1979. She returned to Uganda in 1979 following the removal of Idi Amin from power, but had to flee to neighbouring Kenya, after Milton Obote seized power in 1980. She continued to practice medicine in Kenya until 1986, when she again returned to Uganda, following another change of government in Kampala. She worked as the physician to members of the Parliament of Uganda and their families, from 1986 until 1994. She has been reported to have had a passion for paediatrics during her medical career.
In 1994, following the sudden death of her husband, she joined Crown Bottlers Uganda Limited (Pepsi), as the Marketing Director. During her tenure at Crown Bottlers, she was appointed board member of Uganda Manufacturers Association. She worked at the bottling company until she was appointed Executive Director at Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) in 1999. She is the first person and first woman to serve in that position at UIA.
In addition to the responsibilities already cited, Kigozi has had the following additional roles:
Personal life.
Before she left Uganda for Zambia in 1977, Blick married Fredrick Serwano Kigozi. Together they had three children, Fred, Michelle and Daniel Kigozi. Fredrick Kigozi died suddenly in 1994. She is the mother of Ugandan hip-hop musician Navio.


Erin Dagon-Mitchell

Erin Dagon-Mitchell (born September 28, 1965) is an actress, director, and playwright from Anchorage, Alaska.
She was born in Princeton, New Jersey before moving to Anchorage in 1976.
Awards and nominations.
After graduating magna cum laude with a Masters in Theatre and Communications from Wichita State University (WSU), she lectured for the Department of Theatre at WSU as well as acted, directed and taught around the country for the Wichita Children's Theatre, Wichita Summer Rep, Bend Theatre for Young People, Kokopelli Productions, and the University of Alaska Anchorage.
As a director Mitchell won international acclaim when her production of "Soapy Smith's Alaskana Extravaganza" was chosen as an American representative to The Olympic Arts Festival in Sydney, Australia in 2000. She made her New York City debut directing "Grand Central and 42nd" by Arlitia Jones and "The Resurrection of Humpty Dumpty" by P. Shane Mitchell for The Samuel French Short Play Festival.
In 2002 she was a recipient of the Patricia Neal Acting Award from the Last Frontier Theatre Conference.
Directing credits.
Mrs. Mitchell has directed over 40 plays including critically acclaimed productions of "Into The Woods", "Blithe Spirit", "Dracula", ", "Cotton Patch Gospel", "The Big Slam", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Between Daylight and Boonville". Her production of "Should Old Acquaintance" was selected as a special performance for the Kansas City American College Theater Festival.
Acting credits.
As an actress she has performed the works of Edward Albee, Tony Kushner and John Guare for those Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights. Favored roles include Kate Keller in "The Miracle Worker", Nora Flood in "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs", Titania and Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Frenchy in "Grease" and the title role in "The Witch of Greythorn".
In May 2008, Dagon debuted the role of the evil witch in a newly penned musical version of Hansel and Gretel, a collaboration between her husband and Anchorage composer/lyricist Dennis Cleary.
Playwriting credits.
As a playwright her collaborative work "Jolly Roger; King of the Pirates" was published by Pioneer Drama Services and her short work "Theodore Goodman" was produced in the 2nd annual Don't Blink play festival.
Mrs. Mitchell is one of the founding directors of TBA Theatre Company in Anchorage, Alaska.


Ren Changxia

Ren Changxia (February 8, 1964 – April 14, 2004) was a Chinese policewoman. After a distinguished career in Zhengzhou, she became the first female police chief in the province of Henan when she was named the director of Dengfeng Public security bureau in 2001. In the three years to follow, she carried out successful reform within her department, fought hard against local gangs (many with ties with corrupt government officials) and crimes, assisted poorer communities, and received over 3400 complainants in person.
Ren was killed in an apparent car accident. Upon receiving news of her death, over 200,000 Dengfeng citizens poured the streets to mourn her, even though she was only in Dengfeng for 3 years. Impressed by her influence in her community, top Chinese leaders Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and Luo Gan called for a national propaganda campaign to learn from her.
Death.
Ren died on the night of April 14, 2004 on Expressway S85 from Zhengzhou to Dengfeng. She was in the back row when a truck rear-ended her vehicle, but her chauffeur was completely unharmed. Some locals believe Ren was assassinated by corrupt government officials or powerful gangsters with links to corrupt government officials.
In popular culture.
A 2005 film starring Zhang Yu and a 2005 TV series starring Liu Jia based on her life have been produced. Both were well received. The TV series is believed to be the highest-rated propaganda drama in 21st-century China.


Angela Kennedy

Angela Kennedy (born 28 February 1976) is an Australian former butterfly swimmer of the 1990s, who won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
Professional career.
In 1994, Kennedy attended the NSW State Open Short-Course Championships in Sydney. She set a record in every 50m and 100m event in the program, achieving 11 records in total.
Kennedy broke the world record in the 100m butterfly at the World Short-Course Swimming Championships in 1995, however was beaten in the event by fellow Australian Susie O'Neill (who took silver), and Liu Limin of China (who won gold).
She swam for most of her career at the Telopea Swimming Club in Canberra, Australia under the direction of former Australian butterfly coach Peter Freney. She was teammates to Australian representative and University of Nevada scholarship holder Anthony Rogis, Australian representative Chloe Flutter and Syracuse University scholarship holders Francis Williams and Ben Henri. She moved to Queensland in 1995 and was then coached by Scott Volkers.
1996 Olympics.
She combined with Helen Denman, Sarah Ryan and Nicole Stevenson to qualify Australia for the final, before Susie O'Neill, Samantha Riley, Stevenson and Ryan trailed the United States home. In her only individual event, the 100-metre butterfly, Kennedy was eliminated in the heats.
2000 Olympics.
She attempted to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but finished eighth in the 100-metre butterfly at the Australian Championships. Petria Thomas and Susie O'Neill were selected. Her attempt in the 200-metre individual medley was even less successful, failing to reach the final.
In 2007, Kennedy started working for the Queensland Police Force.
Personal life.
Angela Kennedy was born to Bob and Helen Kennedy on 28 February 1976 in Nambour, Queensland. Later, she lived in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, where she attended school.
Kennedy married high school friend Glen Woodward in 2003, in a private ceremony on Magnetic Island, Queensland. She is step mother to Woodward's oldest son Hayden (b. 1995), and mother to sons Sam (b. 2004) and Will (b. 2008).


Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey

Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey (c. 113712 July 1203) was an English peer. She was the only surviving heir of William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey, and his wife, Adela, the daughter of William III of Ponthieu.
Life.
She was the great-granddaughter of the first Norman earl, William, and his Flemish wife Gundred. When her father died in the Holy Land about 1148 she inherited the earldom of Surrey and was married in around 1153 to William of Blois, the younger son of King Stephen, who became earl in her right. The marriage occurred at a critical moment in The Anarchy as part of the king's attempt to control the de Warenne lands.
The couple did not have any children and after William's death in 1159, King Henry II's younger brother, William FitzEmpress, sought her hand in 1162/3, but Thomas Becket refused a dispensation from affinity on the grounds of consanguinity. In April 1164, the countess married Hamelin of Anjou, a natural half-brother of King Henry, who became "jure uxoris" Earl of Surrey. The countess lived an unusually long life, dying at the age of 66.
Family.
She and William of Blois had no children. Isabelle and her second husband Hamelin had four surviving children:


Betsy Aidem

Betsy Aidem (born October 28, 1957) is an American actress who plays for film, television and stage. Her film work includes "The Bleeding House", "See You in the Morning", "A Vigilante" and "Aeris". Her television work includes "The High Life", "The Americans", appearing in episodes, "Safe House" and "Covert War". Her stage work includes "Steel Magnolias" and "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress".
Background.
She is an Obie award winner, and first became interested in acting while she was in high school. Her debut was as a fairy in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". She is also a stage play director and her first professional production was in 2018, "A Doll's House, Part 2.", which was a stage production of the Lucas Hnath comedy. She was the first wife of William Fichtner and had a child with him.
Stage work.
Midway through 2009, Aidem was in Nicki Bloom's "Tender", a story about an act of violence that destroys a family. The play, directed by Daniela Topol, also starred Kerry Bishe, Michael Cullen, and Matt Dellapina.
In October 2018, she appeared as the loony and flamboyant Professor Carroway in "Love Course" which was about two eccentric neurotics, Carroway and Professor Burgess, teaching a course in romantic literature and two students who attend the course end up teaching it.
Film work.
1980s to 1990s.
Her earliest film work was in the 1982 film "A Little Sex", where she played a passer-by. In 1985, she appeared in the television film "" as Elissa Barak.
2000s.
She appeared in Sarah Daggar-Nickson's 2018 film "A Vigilante" which starred Olivia Wilde, Morgan Spector and Kyle Catlett. Also that year she was in "Aeris", a film about a couple adopting a sick kitten.
Television shows.
Her work on television shows includes reoccurring roles on "The High Life" as Irene, and as Dr. Sloane on "".


Carla Sunberg

Carla D. Sunberg (born July 1, 1961) is an American ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, administrator, academic, author, speaker and former missionary and registered nurse, who is the 2nd woman elected as a General Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene,
and was the first woman and the 10th person elected as president of Nazarene Theological Seminary. At the time of her election on January 3, 2014, Sunberg was co-District Superintendent (with her husband Charles H. "Chuck" Sunberg) of the East Ohio District of the Church of the Nazarene, having served in this role since November 1, 2011. Dr Sunberg was elected the 43rd General Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene on the 11th ballot by the delegates of the 29th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene on June 27, 2017. Sunberg is the only daughter of Jerald Johnson, the 24th General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene.
For almost four years, Sunberg was the President of the Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy International organization from May 2009 to April 2013. Sunberg also served as the inaugural chairman of the USA/Canada Nazarene Women Clergy Council from February 2007 to June 2009. From 1992 to 2005, Sunberg was a global missionary for the Church of the Nazarene in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Early life and education.
Carla Dawn Johnson was born on July 1, 1961 in Bad Homburg, West Germany, as the fourth child and only daughter of Rev. Jerald DeWight Johnson (born in Curtis, Nebraska in 1927) and his wife Alice Eva Schmidt (born August 10, 1923 in Beiseker, Alberta, Canada), a Canadian of German parentage, who had been pioneer missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene in West Germany from March 1958 to May 1969. Sunberg is the younger sister of the late Jerald DeWight Johnson, Jr. (born September 21, 1953 in Spokane, Washington; died March 10, 2009 in Idaho), who was adopted when five days old by Johnson and his wife; Dennis Lane Johnson (born September 17, 1954 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho); and Kurt Eugene Johnson (born October 20, 1958 in Frankfurt, West Germany).
By May 1969, the Johnson family left West Germany and relocated to the USA. On May 18, 1969, Sunberg's father became the pastor of the Cambrian Park Church of the Nazarene in San Jose, California. In 1970 the Johnson family relocated to Nampa, Idaho, where Jerald Johnson became pastor of College Church of the Nazarene. Upon Johnson's election as Director of the World Mission Division of the Church of the Nazarene in 1973, Sunberg and her family relocated to Overland Park, Kansas. Sunberg attended Shawnee Mission South High School, and graduated in 1979.
From 1979 Sunberg attended MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) "cum laude" degree in 1983.
Career.
Registered nurse.
After graduation from MidAmerica Nazarene University in May 1983, Sunberg became a registered nurse and worked in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. For three years from 1983, Sunberg worked as a nurse in St Louis, Missouri, while her husband Chuck was associate pastor of the Southwest Church of the Nazarene.
In 1986 Chuck accepted a call to serve as the senior pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Austin, Texas, while Carla Sunberg continued nursing in the Austin area until 1992. While living in Austin, Sunberg became the mother of two daughters.
Church of the Nazarene.
Missionary to Russia (1992-2005).
From July 1992 to 2005, Sunberg and her husband Charles and their two daughters lived in Moscow, where they were pioneer missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene in the former Soviet Union, that resulted in the establishment of the Church of the Nazarene in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Their responsibilities involved giving leadership to more than 60 ministries, including leading Russian Nazarenes in starting churches, compassionate ministry centers, and clergy education centers. In this period, her husband was field director from 1993-2005, while Sunberg served initially as Director of Compassionate Ministries (1992-2002) and later as the Director of Theological Education (2002-2005) for the Church of the Nazarene on the CIS Field. When the Sunbergs left Russia in 2005, the CIS Field had 50 churches on four districts in 6 nations.
Director of NAZCOM (Compassionate Ministries) (1992-2002).
In her capacity as Director of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in the CIS Field, Sunberg used her training and experience as a registered nurse. Under the auspices of NAZCOM, a Nazarene humanitarian aid organization working in Russia, by 1996 Sunberg and other nurses from American Nazarene colleges developed a four-module program for continuing education for medical personnel. Sunberg and these guest lecturers taught two-week nursing education modules in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. NAZCOM also worked with Heart to Heart, a Kansas-based Christian organization founded by Nazarene doctor Gary Morsch, helping this group distribute millions of dollars' worth of medication throughout the former Soviet Union.
Sunberg also developed a preventive dental care program for children. She has arranged for visiting dentists to conduct training and demonstrations for Russian dentists on protective sealants for teeth. Sunberg also gave presentations in public schools on dental hygiene, and distributed toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss, donated by children in America to the students. Additionally, Sunberg trained others in her church to conduct dental hygiene presentations in schools. With the aid of several other American nurses, Sunberg also helped the Nazarene Ministry Center to launch a stop-smoking program.
Director of Theological Education (2002-2005).
In 2002 Sunberg was appointed as the director for theological education for the CIS field, and was responsible for establishing a system of ministerial education and training for 250 students in the former Soviet Union. By 2013 the CIS Nazarene Education Centers were offering the following academic programs: Certificate in Christian Service, Certificate in Spiritual Formation, Diploma in Bible and Theology, and Diploma in Bible and Mission, through its affiliation with European Nazarene College in Busingen, Germany. As Director of Theological Education for the CIS, Sunberg was also a member of the Eurasia Region of the Church of the Nazarene's regional course of study committee and the education council.
While still living in Moscow, in 1999 Sunberg enrolled part-time at Nazarene Theological Seminary), and travelled there twice a year with 7 Russian students to attend classes. In 2004 Sunberg graduated "cum laude" with a master of arts degree in theological studies.
Sunberg was ordained as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene in Moscow in 2004 on the Russia North District.
Pastoral ministry (2005-2011).
From June 2005 to October 2011, the Sunbergs co-pastored Grace Point Church of the Nazarene in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Chuck served as senior pastor, and Carla as evangelism and discipleship pastor.
Educator.
By 2010, Sunberg had served as Adjunct Professor of Church History for Northwest Nazarene University, and also as an adjunct faculty member for Nazarene Theological Seminary.
District Superintendency (2011-2014).
In September 2011, the Sunbergs were appointed as co-District Superintendents of the East Ohio District of the Church of the Nazarene. They assumed their responsibilities on November 1, 2011. While Sunberg was not the first woman appointed as a district superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene, this was the first time a husband and wife had been appointed co-district superintendents.
After six years of research under the supervision of Dr. Thomas A. Noble, on October 19, 2012, Sunberg was awarded a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Nazarene Theological College, University of Manchester. Her successful dissertation was entitled, "The Cappadocian Mothers: Deification Exemplified in the Writings of Basil, Gregory and Gregory."
10th President, Nazarene Theological Seminary (2014 to 2017).
On Friday, January 3, 2014, the Board of Trustees of Nazarene Theological Seminary elected Sunberg (Class of 2004) as the 10th President of Nazarene Theological Seminary on the first ballot. Sunberg accepted the election.
Professional memberships, ecumenical and denominational activities.
Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy (2006-current).
After serving on its board of directors as the official representative for the Church of the Nazarene since April 2006, including being Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy treasurer from June 2006 to May 2009, Sunberg served as the president of the Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy International organization for almost four years from May 6, 2009 to April 2013. Despite her resignation as Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy President in May 2013, Sunberg continues on their board of directors as past president. As a result of amendments to its bylaws in May 2012, as a member of the board of directors of the Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy , Sunberg is also an "ex-officio" member of the Steering Committee of the Wesleyan/Holiness Consortium.
Nazarene Theological Seminary.
Sunberg has been the president of the Alumni Association of Nazarene Theological Seminary since 2009, and was re-elected to another four-year term in June 2013, thus making her an "ex-officio" member of the Board of Trustees of Nazarene Theological Seminary.
Church of the Nazarene.
Nazarene Women Clergy Council (2007 to current).
In February 2007 Sunberg became the inaugural chairperson of the USA/Canada's Nazarene Women Clergy Council, a position she held until she resigned in Spring 2010. In 2013 Sunberg was elected to a four-year term as an at-large member of the USA/Canada Nazarene Women Clergy Council.
Pensions & Benefits USA (2009 to current).
Since 2009, Sunberg has been a member of the board of the Church of the Nazarene's Pensions & Benefits USA, and was, with Martha Stephens, the first women to be elected to that Board.
Trustee, Mount Vernon Nazarene University (2011-2014).
Since November 2011, Sunberg has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
General Board, Church of the Nazarene (2013-2014).
At the 28th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene held in Indianapolis, Indiana in June 2013, Sunberg was elected by the caucus of the USA East Central region for a four-year term as one of the 52 members of the denomination's General Board, which has governing responsibility for the international Church of the Nazarene between general assemblies.
Despite leading on several early ballots or election as the 41st General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene at the 28th General Assembly, after 53 ballots Sunberg was eventually runner-up to Gustavo Crocker, receiving 253 of the 630 votes needed for election. At the peak of her support, Sunberg received 515 of the 638 votes needed.
Other.
In August 2012 Sunberg led a vision team from the United States to Kenya to learn more about the issue of gender-based violence and the work of the Nazarene Compassion Organization (Kenya) and Servant Forge. As a result of her increased awareness of the issues of Gender Based Violence globally and of the need for a Christian response, Sunberg has accepted a leadership role in the Kenya Gender-Based Violence Partnership. In February 2013 Sunberg said:
In 2010 Sunberg became a board member of the Segue Foundation, a non-profit organization that consulted for their Online Strategic Planning Tool.
Author.
Sunberg is the author (with Gene Van Note) of "Faxes from Russia" (Beacon Hill Press, 1996), which outlined the opening of the Church of the Nazarene in Russia. Additionally, Sunberg is the author of numerous articles for such publications as "Holiness Today", "Grow Magazine", and "Reflecting God Magazine". Since September 2009, Sunberg has written "Reflecting the Image", a daily blog. In March 2014, Sunberg's latest book, "Reclaiming Eve: The Identity and Calling of Women in the Kingdom of God", co-written with Suzanne Burden and Jamie Wright, will be released by Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City.
Editor.
In September 2006 Sunberg was appointed Managing Editor of "New Horizons", an e-newsletter for Nazarene women clergy. Sunberg has been co-editor of "New Horizons" since Spring 2008. Additionally, Sunberg served as co-editor of "Wellspring" magazine.
Speaker.
Sunberg was one of the speakers at the first Nazarene European Women in Ministry Conference that was held in Greystones, Ireland in November 2003. In January 2005, Sunberg and her husband presented a paper "Developing an Indigenous Church" at the Eurasia Region of the Church of the Nazarene's annual Leadership Conference hosted by European Nazarene College (EuNC) in Büsingen, Germany. In October 2006, Sunberg was one of the speakers at Women Alive Ministries' Come to the Fire holiness conference held at College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, Kansas, that attracted more than 1,200 participants from 9 nations and 35 US states. In September 2007, Sunberg was the guest speaker at the 8th Biennial Nazarene Melanesian Women’s Conference attended by 800 women in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Sunberg was one of the featured speakers at the Kansas City Holiness Summit at College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, Kansas in October 2009.
Sunberg has often been a featured speaker at the Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy's biannual Come to the Water Conferences. In her capacity as WHWC President, on May 13, 2012, Sunberg preached at a service honoring Nazarene pioneer woman biblical studies professor and preacher Olive Winchester at a conference at the University of Glasgow.
Drawing on the research for her 2012 Ph.D. dissertation, "The Cappadocian Mothers: Deification Exemplified in the Writings of Basil, Gregory and Gregory", in March 2013 Sunberg delivered the annual Gould Lectures on Holiness at Eastern Nazarene College. In these two lectures, Sunberg explored the concept of theosis and becoming like God in holiness through the lives and teaching of the Cappadocian fathers and mothers. In the first lecture, Sunberg taught that Jesus was the model and goal for Christian living, and challenged students to practice becoming like Jesus. In the second lecture, Sunberg described the faith journeys of the Cappadocian mothers and challenged students to embrace their call to deeper intimacy and union with Christ.
Sunberg was the speaker at the undergraduate commencement ceremony MNU on May 5, 2012. In September 2013, Sunberg was one of the speakers at the Mobilizing the Church for Social Justice conference hosted by the J. V. Morsch Center for Social Justice at Trevecca Nazarene University. In October 2013 Sunberg was one of the eight holiness preachers chosen to preach at the first Preaching Holiness in a Pluralistic World conference held on the campus of Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, and was one of the two keynote speakers at the Christian Women's Leadership Conference at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
Awards and honors.
On June 22, 1999 Sunberg and her husband Charles were both awarded a Distinguished Service Award by the Michigan District of the Church of the Nazarene.
In 2008 Sunberg was recognized as Alumna of the Year by her "alma mater", MidAmerica Nazarene University (MNU).
On May 5, 2012 Sunberg and her husband Charles H. "Chuck" Sunberg were both awarded honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Olivet Nazarene University during its 99th Commencement ceremony. Citing their exemplary professional achievement, Christian influence and dedicated service to the Lord, the Church of the Nazarene, Olivet and their family, Dr. Gregg Chenoweth, vice president of academic affairs, stated: "The Sunbergs are wedded not only in marriage, but in ministry. They have distinguished themselves as gifted ministers for more than 20 years. They began a work from scratch in the former Soviet Union, a region double the land mass of the United States. After planting the Moscow Church of the Nazarene, they planted 50 churches in Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan and other fledgling states."
Personal life.
On July 30, 1983 Sunberg married Charles Halston "Chuck" Sunberg (born April 6, 1956), the oldest son of Nazarene pastor William John Sunberg (born May 9, 1930 in Butler, Pennsylvania; died February 27, 1999 in Hutchinson, Kansas) and Thelma Gladys Roberts Sunberg (born February 3, 1932 in Pasadena, California; died August 1, 2007 in Quincy, Massachusetts); Chuck is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene University (1978), who also earned a Master of Divinity degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary. They have two daughters, Christa "Christy" Nicole Sunberg Maciver, and Cara Dawn Shonamon.
Works.
Dissertation.
"The Cappadocian Mothers: Deification Exemplified in the Writings of Basil, Gregory and Gregory." Ph.D. dissertation, Nazarene Theological College, University of Manchester, 2012.


Nurse empress dowager

Nurse empress dowager () was an honorific title given to emperors' wet nurses during the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty Northern Wei. The existence of the title owed itself to a peculiar institution of Northern Wei—that when a son of the emperor were to be made crown prince, his mother, if alive, must be forced to commit suicide. The crown princes were therefore raised by wet nurses, and when they became emperors, they would typically honor their wet nurses as nurse empress dowagers. Often, later in their reigns, they would then honor their wet nurses as full empress dowagers, and they often had just as much influence as the emperors' mothers would have had—rendering the rationale for the Northern Wei institution of putting mothers to death (that therefore empress dowagers would not dominate the political scene) somewhat ineffective.


Liliane Landor

Liliane Landor (born 1956) is a Lebanese-born British journalist and broadcasting executive who works (as of 2018) for Channel 4 as Head of Foreign News. She worked for the BBC from 1989 to mid-2016, becoming controller for languages at the BBC World Service, where she was responsible for radio and television broadcasting in 27 languages. She launched the BBC's "100 Women" project in 2014. In November 2016, she was included as one of the inspirational and influential women of 2016 in the BBC's "100 Women" — the theme was "defiance".
Biography.
The daughter of a Lebanese father and a Cuban mother, Landor was born and raised in Lebanon. She was educated in France and Switzerland and she can speak five languages. On joining the BBC in 1989, she first worked for the French service, presenting a news programme. She went on to become one of the first non-British broadcasters in the news department of the BBC World Service, where she presented "Europe Today" and, two years later, the flagship "Newshour". She was one of the main presenters of "The World Today", before becoming the programme's editor.
In 2002, Landor was appointed senior editor of news and current affairs programmes, a department she headed from 2006, gaining responsibility for all World Service English-language news programmes. In late 2009, she moved to the Middle East department of the World Service, with editorial and management responsibilities for all Arabic television and radio broadcasts. In 2013, she became the controller responsible for the BBC World Service's radio and television broadcasting in 27 languages, until her retirement in mid-2016. It was Landor who was instrumental in launching the BBC's "100 Women" in 2014, in which was included Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot by the Taliban.
Landor fully appreciates the importance of combining radio and television broadcasting with online service including social media. In a 2014 interview with Hanin Ghaddar of "NOW News", she stressed the importance of maintaining high-quality news while exploring new possibilities for more effective delivery. The BBC's "impartiality, objectivity, and universal values will not change," she explained. "There are so many ways to get through to audiences, but ultimately you have certain editorial principles that you cannot waive."
On her departure in 2016, the director of BBC News, James Harding, described her as "a defining figure in shaping the World Service" who through the language services had "transformed the BBC’s ability to make sense of the world". The following year the BBC announced the "Liliane Landor Award for Best in Journalism" for a documentary non-fiction work. The first award was won by Karim Sayad for a film about the lives of two Algerian men.
In 2018 Landor became Head of Foreign News for Channel 4, succeeding Nevine Mabro.


Jo Bonney

Jo Bonney is an American theater director who has worked Off-Broadway, regionally and internationally, primarily focused on the development of new plays.
Early life and education.
Bonney was born in Australia. She attended Sydney University before transferring to Sydney College of the Arts (Grad. Fine Arts) and worked at The Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Career.
Bonney moved to New York City in 1979. In the early 1980s, she co-directed two short films with Ruth Peyser, 'Another Great Day' (shown nationally on PBS) and 'Random Positions'. Bonney began her work in theater directing the solo work of her husband, Eric Bogosian. She has directed the premiere productions of over thirty plays – notably work by Bogosian, Lynn Nottage, Danny Hoch, Suzan-Lori Parks, Martina Majok, Neil LaBute, Naomi Wallace and José Rivera.
Bonney edited "Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century" (published in 2000 by TCG).
Awards and nominations.
Awards and nominations Bonney has received include: