Curriculum vitae for Nick Fesette
Email : nf234@cornell.edu
Cell : 518.578.5607
Website : nickfesette.net
Education
Ph.D. Cornell University Theatre Arts, 2018 ( expected )
Special committee: Sara Warner ( chair ),
J. Ellen Gainor, Bruce Levitt, David Feldshuh
B.A. Hamilton College Theatre, 2009
Magna cum laude with Departmental honors
Minor: Creative Writing
Honors thesis title:
“The Hunger Artist”
Committee: Carole Bellini-Sharp ( advisor ),
Mark Cryer, Doran Larson, Craig Latrell
Research and Teaching Interests
Performance Theory, Critical Theory, Prison Theatre, Critical Prison Studies, Theatre and Social Change, Physical Theatre, Popular Culture, Acting and Directing, Western
Dramatic Literature
Teaching Experience
2013-present Cornell University
Graduate Instructor:
PMA 1127: First-year Writing Seminar (FWS): The Prison
Plays: Crime, Punishment, and Western Dramatic Literature
( 18 students ) ( two semesters );
PMA 1120: FWS:
“You’ve Got Time”: An Introduction to
Prison and its Representation ( 18 students ) ( two semesters );
Teaching Assistant:
PMA 3880: Fundamentals of Directing I ( 12 students ) with
David M. Feldshuh;
PMA 3609: Making Theatre: Rehearsal and Production
Techniques ( 6 students ) with David M. Feldshuh;
PMA 2800: Introduction to Acting (16 students) with J. Ellen
Gainor;
Engl 1131: FWS: Mastering College Reading and Writing ( 9 students ) with J. Ellen Gainor
1

2008 Hamilton College
Teaching Assistant:
Theat 201: Intermediate Acting ( 12 students ) with Carole
Bellini-Sharp
Refereed Publications
2015 “Performance, Prison Strike, Zombie: Steve McQueen’s
‘Reflection Machines,’” Etudes : an online theatre & performance journal for emerging scholars , Vol. 1, No. 2, Sept 2015.
Hunger and the
Grants, Awards, Fellowships, and Honors
2015 Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA) Grant, Cornell University
For AGIT Lab
The CCA Grant Program offers direct financial support ($1000) for the development of new, experimental, and exceptional arts projects by Cornell students, faculty, programs and departments.
2014 Marvin Carlson Award, Cornell University
Title of essay:
“Performance, Prison Strike, Zombie: Steve McQueen’s
Hunger and the ‘Reflection Machines’”
The award consists of a cash prize ($250) and certificate and is given to the best essay in theatre and performance by a Cornell student (graduate or undergraduate).
2013, 2016 SAGE Fellowship, Cornell University
The SAGE fellowship is an internal fellowship for Cornell University graduate students. The fellowships cover tuition and provide a stipend for living expenses, usually in a student’s first and fourth
2009 years.
The Carter Family Prize Scholarship, Hamilton College
The Carter Family Prize is awarded to a student who excels in the visual or performing arts, who is a talented writer and who maintains a minimum average of 85.
2009 The Calvin Leslie Lewis Prize Scholarship in the Dramatic Arts, Hamilton
College
The Calvin Leslie Lewis Prize is awarded to students who have demonstrated an interest and ability in oral communication in its broadest aspects and
who have actively and successfully participated in programs in the dramatic arts.
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2009
2007
The Senior Prize in Theater, Hamilton College
The Senior Prize in Theater is awarded to the outstanding senior concentrator in theatre.
The Edwin Barrett Prize, Hamilton College
The Edwin Barrett Prize is awarded to a student who, at the end of the sophomore year, has made a significant contribution to the -
College’s theatre program.
2005-2009 The Bacot, Gunn, Kempf Family Scholarship, Hamilton College
This half-tuition scholarship is available to students from Oklahoma,
South Carolina, Texas, and Essex County, New York in order to encourage geographic diversity among the Hamilton student body.
Candidates are chosen by their high school performance, standardized test scores, demonstrated leadership, and community involvement.
Invited Presentations and Workshops
2015
Guest Artist. Led a workshop entitled “Collisions in Space: Theatre
Adaptation and the Mashup” and a roundtable discussion on art and social change as a part of The Orchard Pilot artist residency and development program, Hamilton College, NY (May 29-June 7)
Conference Participation
2015
Presented a paper entitled “Prisons, Professors, Zoos, Homegrown
Bicycles, Stories, and Verbs: An Embodied Performance Ethnography" as a part of the Special Session on Prison Literature at the Midwest Modern
Language Convention, Columbus, OH (Nov 12-15)
2015 Presented on the panel entitled “New Play Festivals: The Pedagogy of
Play Development and Collaboration” at the Association for Theatre in
Higher Education Conference, Montreal, QC (July 30-Aug 2)
2015 Presented a paper entitled “A Prison Mural Performs: The Inspiration of
Apokaluptein:16389067
” as a part of the Theater History Symposium at the Mid-America Theatre Conference, Kansas City, MO (March 19-22)
2014 Presented a paper entitled
“
Where the Walls Contain Everything but the
Sky : The Birth and Growth of a Prison Theatre Group ” (with Bruce Levitt) at the Marking Time: Prison Arts & Activism Conference, Rutgers
University, NJ (Oct 8-10)
Community Engagement
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2013- present Auburn Correctional, Phoenix Players Theatre Group (PPTG)
PPTG is a grassroots transformative theatre collective founded in
2009 by Michael Rhynes and Clifton Williamson, incarcerated men in the Auburn Correctional Facility in Auburn, New York. The group uses theatre techniques as an artistic and therapeutic process through which a transformative journey is initiated, leading to personal and social redemption. As a facilitator I help the group in rehearsals and performances.
Extracurricular Activity and University Service
2015
2015-present
Cornell, PMA Department Performance and Events Committee graduate student representative
Cornell, Association of Graduates in Theatre (AGIT), secretary
AGIT advocates the needs and coordinates the voices of graduate students within the field of Theatre Arts; provides a forum that actively seeks to connect academic work with creative practice; and facilitates an ongoing conversation within PMA and across the
Cornell campus about our own current work, new ideas, and movements in theatre studies at large. As an officer I helped raise funds for and produce AGIT’s biannual presentation of creative work. AGIT received funding from CCA as well as from the PMA
Department.
2014-2015
2005-2009
2005-2009
Cornell, AGIT, treasurer
Hamilton College, Untitled@Large , senior member
Hamilton’s only student-run theatre group produced 2-3 shows per academic year, including Shakespeare-in-the-Glen, a one-act play festival, and a fully staged musical. As a senior member, I helped raise and manage funds for these productions, in addition to producing, directing, and/or performing. Untitled@Large received funding from the Student Activities Board as well as from the
Theatre Department.
Hamilton College, The Buffers
Hamilton’s all-male a cappella group, founded in 1950.
2006-2009 Hamilton College, Yodapez improv comedy, senior member
Hamilton's oldest comedy troupe. As a senior member, I helped organize and produce two performances each semester in addition to performing. Yodapez received funding from the Student Activities
Board.
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Directing Experience (Representative)
2015
2015
Cornell University
Cornell University
On the Verge; or, The Geography of Yearning
Eric Overmyer, asst. dir. to David M. Feldshuh
Friedrich Schiller’s Bad Girls Club
A multimedia devised mashup of reality TV and
Schiller’s The Robbers (1781), co-dir. Erin Stoneking
2013-present Cornell University Ten-Minute Play Festival
A series of short plays produced, performed, directed and written by Cornell students annually
2011- 2013 NYC
2009
2008
Horse Trade (NYC) The Hunger Artist
Solo performance adaptation of Kafka
Red Room (NYC)
Itchy Boys
A music performance group.
Miss Julie
August Strindberg, co-dir. Randi Rivera
2008
2008
Hamilton College His ** Can Open a Better Room
Romina Memoli Amador
Hamilton College Words, Words, Words
David Ives
2008 Hamilton College Titus Andronicus
Clown adaptation of Shakespeare
Performance Experience (Representative)
2015 Kitchen Theater
(Ithaca)
Incident at Vichy (staged reading)
Arthur Miller, dir. Beth Milles
2015
2013 Walkerspace
(NYC)
2012
Cornell University The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams, dir. Bruce Levitt
Set in the Living Room of a Small Town American
Play
Jaclyn Backhaus, dir. John Kurzynowski
Theater for the Fat Fat Fatty
New City (NYC) Alex Kveton, dir. John Kurzynowski
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2009
2009
2008
2008
2007
2012
2012
2011
Incubator Arts
(NYC)
HERE Arts (NYC)
Pretty Pictures Are Everything
Jonathan Cottle, dir. Randi Rivera
The Three Seagulls, or MASHAMASHAMASHA!
Jaclyn Backhaus, dir. John Kurzynowski
2011
2011
WorkShop Theater Relent: An Indie Musical (staged reading)
(NYC)
Walkerspace
Jenny Grace Makholm, dir. Braden LuBell
The Lady’s Not For Burning
Christopher Fry, dir. Brian Close
Terry Schreiber The Changing Room
Studios (NYC) David Storey, dir. Terry Schreiber
2011
2010
TheaterLAB (NYC) The Shape of Things
Neil Labute, dir. Brayden Hade
Turtle Shell (NYC) Manhattan Transfer
Adaptation of John Dos Passos, dir. John Cooper
2009-2010 Company XIV
(NYC)
The Apple Trilogy
Austin McCormick, baroque-burlesque dance theatre
2007
2007
2006
303 Bond St
(NYC)
Hamilton College
Hamilton College
Hamilton College
Hamilton College
Untitled@Large
(Hamilton)
Hamilton College
Untitled@Large
Balm in Gilead
Lanford Wilson, dir. Gioia Marchese
Eurydice
Sarah Ruhl, dir. Craig Latrell
Roberto Zucco
Bernard-Marie
Big Love
Charles Mee, dir. Craig Latrell
Stone Cold Dead Serious
Adam Rapp, dir. Craig Latrell
The Last Five Years
Jason Robert Brown, dir. Randi Rivera
The Water Hen
Koltès, dir. Carole Bellini-Sharp
S.I. Witkiewicz, dir. Carole Bellini-Sharp
Taming of the Shrew
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2006
(Hamilton) Shakespeare, dir. Rebecca Gross & Carrie Boehm
2005
Hamilton College Streetcar Named Desire
Tennessee Williams, dir. Craig Latrell
Hamilton College As You Like It
Shakespeare, dir. Carole Bellini-Sharp
Other Training
2010-2011 Terry Schreiber Studios
Scene study : Terry Schreiber
2009-2010 Lucid Body
Physical performance : Fay Simpson
2007 O’Neill National Theatre Institute, Moscow Art Theater (MXAT) Semester
Acting : Sergei Zemtsov, Igor Zolotovitsky
Movement : Natalia Fedorova
Russian theatre history : Anatoly Smeliansky
Russian cinema : Galina Aksenova
2003 New York State Summer School for the Arts School of Theatre
Acting : James D. Luse, Joan Twiss
Professional affiliations
Association for Theatre in Higher Education
Mid-America Theatre Conference
Midwest Modern Language Association
Languages
French and Russian (reading & writing proficient), Spanish (beginner)
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