It's one of the favorite weeks of the year at Edgewood and we’re proud to have five of our young alumni back on campus to discuss their art and careers with current students.
 |
| Kenny Leiser, Frank Busch, Mark Noxon, Nic Adamany |
Nic Adamany ’01
Nic is a member of
WheelHouse, a nationally touring Americana and bluegrass band hailing from Madison. He plays guitar, sings and is a songwriter for the group. Featuring three- and four-part harmonies, fiddle and guitar leads, and the driving rhythm of the upright bass, WheelHouse brings an energy and attitude unique to themselves. As a full-time working band, they perform more than 220 shows per year and have garnered attention from national labels. At the 2016 Madison Area Music WheelHouse won Country Performer of the Year, Country Album of the Year
(Meanwhile…Back at the Ranch) and Country Song of the Year
(Ol’ #7).
In a recent blog post, the members of WheelHouse note, “School music programs have affected all four of us. Our parents were involved in every aspect of the music experience from enjoying to performing to promoting and teaching. If we didn’t have school music when we were growing up we very well might not have been playing together in WheelHouse…or any band for that matter. We could go on and on about how important music is for kids but we'll just leave this educational link for you. See, with WheelHouse you learn more than just fun facts about whiskey!”
What’s that last comment? Oh yes…in addition, Wheelhouse
teamed up with Yahara Bay Distillery to brand WheelHouse Whiskey, made from a recipe the company owned but had not yet released. The first bottles were made available in January 2014 and currently are distributed throughout southern and western Wisconsin. Nic is VP for WheelHouse Whiskey.
Brendan J. Anderson ’13
Brendan is currently attending Marquette University where he is majoring in economics and minoring in film. Brendan has a passion for the subject of film and has been giving presentations for the Edgewood High School Fine Arts week film festival since his sophomore year. Previous presentations have been about Alfred Hitchcock, Sherlock Holmes, and the history of action movies. He continues to write a blog,
brenatthemovies.blogspot.com, where he posts reviews of both current and classic films.
Brendan will be presenting
From Bond to Bourne: The Evolution of the Super Spy, a review of films featuring the adventures of secret agents who drive luxurious cars, use futuristic technology, and travel to some of the most glamorous places on the planet in the name of saving the world. He will trace the evolution of these “Super Spies” from the icy depths of the Cold War to the modern War on Terror.
Robbie Hyne ’11
Now a graduate of the University of Arizona, Robbie pursued a BFA in film and television production. He began his career in Los Angeles as a TV office assistant for Ridley Scott Films/Scott Free and then took a position as executive assistant to writer/showrunner Ian Goldberg on the first season of his show,
Dead of Summer. Robbie continues to strive towards being a TV writer and showrunner himself, working now as an executive assistant to writer, producer, director and showrunner Greg Berlanti, best known as an executive producer and co-creator for The CW’s
Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and
Supergirl. He’ll be presenting three films he worked on:
Film #1 — A short film poem filmed on actual film stock and using a poem he wrote at Edgewood entitled
Here No Longer Lives the Faith of Love.
Film #2 — This found footage film is compiled from archived film stock that has been spliced together. It was then digitally recorded so that Robbie and others could add music and sound, creating an entirely new piece that is an exploration of humanity and war.
Film #3 — Robbie co-created and assistant directed this short film that earned recognition as an official selection of the Newport Beach Film Festival, Comedy Club International Film Festival, International Children’s Film Festival Bangladesh, and Student Art Festival. The story revolves around a quirky and anachronistic young woman, Penelope, who loses her father at a young age from calcium deficiencies. Together with the help of her dog, Elizabeth Bentley, she pours herself into her job selling milk in order to make money and help others avoid his fate.
Charlotte Martin ’10
Charlotte is a New York City-based writer, director, and actress.
The First of Our Friends to Get Married is her first feature script, which she wrote directly after graduating with a BFS from Tisch School of the Arts. She continues to write and direct in the wake of
First of Our Friends being completed, and plans to write roles for herself until someone else is interested in casting her, too.
The film was in its developmental stages when Charlotte presented on film development two years ago at the Edgewood Fine Arts Festival. Now, the film has been completed and shown at several film festivals in the country. The film includes an original soundtrack. Charlotte was inspired by real-life events of classmates from EHS during her time here in this relevant and fresh work.
Film Synopsis: Everybody always knew that Alice and Louis would eventually get married, but now that it’s actually happening...what does that mean for everyone else? Despite her best efforts to stay patient, Margot is disappointed again and again by Clare’s missed opportunities. Rose always took her relationship with her longterm boyfriend, Adam, for granted—but when he claims there’s nothing he wants more than locking it down in marriage, she fears their free and easy bond may be in its final hours. Lawrence finally has a chance with the newly single Dana, but her hangups over getting back into a relationship threaten his long-awaited moment with her. And on the outside of all of this
is Simon, with no date to the wedding, no particular love interest, and no particular interest in love itself— unless meddling with it can save him from being the only single friend.
Dylan Todd ’14
Dylan is currently pursuing his BA in acting at Columbia College in Chicago. He is also a member of the Society of American Fight Directors where has been certified in diverse weapon categories including Unarmed, Rapier and Dagger, Knife, Smallsword, Broadsword, and Sword and Shield. Dylan’s session will demonstrate beginning level skills on how to create the illusion of violence for the stage and screen—safe for the people on stage but realistic to the audience. The session will include unarmed skills like slaps, punches, kicks, chokes, falls, and rolls.
