Motifs: August 2026
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Ginger Lane (IAC/NMC 50, 52, 54-56) received the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award from Access Living, a Chicago-based center for service, advocacy, and social change for people with disabilities. Held at the Morgan Manufacturing Center in Chicago, the ceremony was attended by several hundred supporters, experts, family members, and community leaders, and included generous letters of support from the Governor of Illinois and the Mayor of Chicago. Lane was also recently featured in the documentary Unbroken, which tells the powerful story of her family’s escape from Nazi Germany. The award-winning film was directed by Lane’s daughter Beth Lane (IAC/NMC 75, 77-78, IAC St 82).
Deborah K. Shepherd, MSW (IAA 62-64), has a new book out, her second since she retired from her career as director of a nonprofit organization. An Old Man’s Darling, a memoir about her age-gap marriage to her first husband, has just been published by Heliotrope Books. You can find her at deborahshepherdwrites.com.
Rusty Edwards (IAC/NMC 72, IAA 72-73, IAC St 73) is executive producer of THE SONGS LIVE ON: Music of the Jesus Revolution, a live CD and documentary DVD based upon the music of Nancy Honeytree, Phil Keaggy, and other early contemporary Christian music pioneers.
Sloan Williams (IAA 72-76) studied viola with a minor in dance at Interlochen Arts Academy. During his four years at the Academy, he continued to study jazz and developed an interest in astrophysics. The people he met inspired him for a lifetime of academic and artistic expression.
Monique Mead (IAC/NMC 83) recently presented “Journey to Enlightenment: A Musical Pathway into Meditative States” as part of the Design Futures after Buddhism: Worldmaking by Other Means symposium presented by the CAMLab and Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Harvard University. Her session provided a perspective on how Buddhism influences design and the ways we make meaning of the world.
Dara Levan (IAC/NMC 83-90, IAC St 94) has published her second novel, Shaken to the Core, an uplifting story that examines how we spend the time we have when life is cut short. Exploring themes of motherhood, chosen family, and love that transcends hardship, the book has been featured in People and Southern Living magazines and highlighted on several summer reading lists, including Zibby Owens’ ‘Most Anticipated Summer Reads.’ This latest work follows Levan's acclaimed debut novel, It Could Be Worse.
Three Interlochen alumni shared the stage in spring 2026 for a pair of concerts on Long Island, New York. Scott Lefurgy (AS 88, IAC/NMC 90, IAC 91-93, IAC St 94) and Blair McMillen (IAC/NMC 83-84, IAA 84-88, IAC St 88-89) were featured soloists with the Hofstra Symphony Orchestra in Hempstead, conducted by Adam Glaser (IAC/NMC 84, IAC St 90-92, IAC Fac 16-19, 25-26). The program of 20th-century American masterworks included Lefurgy as the baritone soloist in Copland’s Old American Songs, Set I, and McMillen as the piano soloist in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Glaser also conducted the South Shore Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Rockville Centre’s St. Agnes Cathedral with Lefurgy as the baritone soloist.
Thomas Caley (IAA 86-88) co-choreographed the U.S. premiere of Discofoot, a high-energy mashup of soccer and dance. The performance ran June 25-27 at WeHo Fan Zone at West Hollywood Park in celebration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Barrett Foa (IAC 92-95) joined the Broadway cast of Oh, Mary! as Mary’s Teacher on July 6. The Tony Award-nominated play, which is currently playing at the Lyceum Theatre, is a darkly comedic reimagination of the life of former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.
Dr. Nathan Warner (IAC 94-95) is the founder and director of the APEX Trumpet Symposium—America's premier in-person trumpet symposium—which seeks to bring together trumpeters for collective experience and wisdom in a positive, supportive environment. This year's symposium, which ran June 15-22, featured guest artists Phil Smith, Summer Camargo, and Marie Speziale. Warner is also busy as an international performer.
Jessy Hodges (IAC 96-02) stars opposite Tatiana Maslany and Jake Johnson in the new comedy thriller Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. The series, which premiered on Apple TV in May, follows a divorced fact checker who falls into a tangled web of murder, blackmail, and youth soccer.
Dane Laffrey (IAA 99-01) won the 2026 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for his work on The Lost Boys. Fellow alumnus Michael Arden (IAC 99, IAA 99-01) directed the Best Musical-nominated production—earning his fifth nomination for Best Direction of a Musical and won the 2026 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical (with Jen Schriever) for the production.
Other alumni who earned nominations at the 2026 Tony Awards include:
- Ana Gasteyer (IAC 79, 81) - Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Schmigadoon!
- Ben Levi Ross (IAC 12-13) - Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Ragtime
- Christina Wallace (IAA 99-01) - Producer, Best Musical for Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
- Richard Winkler (IAC/NMC 58-63, 65) - Producer, Best Play for Giant
After nearly 20 years as an educator—first as a high school teacher, then as a college admissions consultant—Megan Summers (IAA 99-02, IAA St 06-07) recently formed her own college admissions consulting firm, The College Atelier. Although based in New Jersey, Summers works remotely with students across the country throughout their college admissions journeys.
Meghan Martineau Umber (IAC 00-01) was recently announced as the seventh president and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School. Umber, who currently serves as President of the Hollywood Bowl and Chief Programming Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will begin her role on Oct. 1, 2026.
Seven alumni over three generations of the Interlochen community will come together for a new off-Broadway play, Aftermath, running Oct. 19 - Nov. 8, 2026, at the Mezzanine Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres in Manhattan. Directed by Colton Pometta (IAC 08, IAA 08-09), Aftermath follows 28-year-old freelance journalist Josh Goldman, who has just survived a Taliban kidnapping in Afghanistan and is now recovering in his childhood home with his parents. The cast stars Danny Kornfeld (IAC 04), Steven Skybell (IAC/NMC 76-80), and producer and cast member Jill Stern (IAC/NMC 72-78, IAC Fac 08). The producing team includes Kate Levin (IAC/NMC 76-79, IAA 79-80), Tonia Chanko (IAC/NMC 48-52), and Kate Lindberg (IAC 07-08, 10). The timely drama examines questions of moral responsibility, privilege, and sacrifice in the context of global political conflict and family ties.
Percussionist Brenna Lantz-Lewis (IAC 12-14, 18-19, 21; IAA 21-23; IAC St 24) recently returned to Interlochen’s campus to perform with six-time Grammy Award-winning artist St. Vincent. Held in Kresge Auditorium, the concert was part of a limited orchestral run featuring discography favorites and deep cuts arranged by renowned conductor and orchestrator Jules Buckley.
After finishing her initial year of graduate work at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, harpist Isabel Cardenes (IAC 18-19) will spend her summer competing and studying abroad. She is set to participate in the Anne Adams Harp Competition at Rutgers University before traveling to France for the Nice International Summer Academy, where she will study under Marie-Pierre Langlamet, the principal harpist for the Berlin Philharmonic.
Performing Nikolai Kapustin's Piano Concerto No. 2, Tino Cardenes (IAC 19) earned the undergraduate title in the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music Concerto Competition. This achievement grants him a featured performance of the concerto alongside the CMU Philharmonic during the upcoming season.
Sabrina Knaus (IAC 22-25) performed alongside her father, Adam, in Interlochen Arts Camp’s Summer 2023 production of Ragtime as Little Girl and Grandfather, respectively. Sabrina's mother, Ellie Knaus, recently shared their story in an Instagram video highlighting the importance of arts education.