Throughout the past year, the Department of Music and Theatre faculty, staff, and students participated in dynamic performances, impactful research and scholarship, and exciting travel here in Iowa and abroad. Learn about a few of their many events and activities below.
Faculty honors and creative activities
Tiffany Antone, associate teaching professor of theatre, founded The Collegiate New Play Development Conference (CNPDC), a pioneering, inter-collegiate conference aimed at creating rolling campus premieres of new plays and connecting college students, faculty, and emerging theatre artists with the vibrant world of new play development. CNPDC provides a unique opportunity for playwrights to experiment, grow, and refine their works without the pressures of commercial production. CNPDC is co-led by Antone, Kristi Good (Carnegie Mellon University), and LaRonika Thomas (Washington College) and held an inaugural online conference in March.
Brad Dell, chair of the Department of Music and Theatre, produced “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for Shakespeare on the Lawn at Salisbury House and Gardens. He was honored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with the award for Early Achievement in Departmental Leadership.
Nathan Dishman, associate professor of trombone, traveled to Brazil in May to perform at the 10th Paraiba Trombonists Festival in Areia, Paraiba. He also performed and taught at the Pernambuco Conservatory of Music in Recife, Brazil.
Michael Golemo, University Professor and director of bands, was recently named “Outstanding Music Educator of the Year” by the National Federation of High Schools for Iowa and a five-state area. Golemo served as an adjudicator for the Carowinds Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina. He served as a guest conductor with the National Sun Yat-Sen University Wind Orchestra in Taiwan, and led his ninth performing tour with the ISU Wind Ensemble through Europe. Golemo also led a concert with ISU Wind Ensemble in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, in a collaborative concert with the University of Iowa.
Christopher Hopkins, professor of music and composition, was awarded a Big XII Faculty Fellowship. The fellowship included a week in residence at the University of Utah, giving lectures, master classes, and a concert featuring his electroacoustic musical compositions.
Mei-Hsuan Huang, associate professor of piano, and Iowa State’s piano studio toured the Steinway & Sons piano factory in New York City this spring. Huang is a Steinway artist and a recent Steinway teacher of the year.
Kevin Judge, academic advisor, performed the Weber Bassoon Concerto with the Central Iowa Symphony, conducted by Eric McIntyre, in May. The concert was titled, “Magic and Mayhem,” and featured other prominent bassoon pieces in the orchestral repertoire, including Dukas – “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and Mussorgsky – “Night on Bald Mountain.”
Cason Murphy, associate professor of theatre, was published in the edited collection “Pandemic Play: Community in Performance, Gaming, & the Arts,” part of Palgrave’s innovative Studies in Performance and Technology series. His chapter – “No Longer ‘Merely Players’: Porting the Elements of Theatre into Video Gaming” – interrogated the development of “game/plays,” or pieces of live theatre developed by professional theatremakers within video game worlds during the pandemic. He additionally presented at the Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC). His paper, “From Our Town to Your Town: Rude Mechs’ Radical Reimagining of a Theatrical Classic,” explored innovative approaches to reinterpreting a canonical theatrical text. Murphy concluded his term as president of MATC this spring.
Amanda Petefish-Schrag, associate professor of theatre, published her article, “Puppetry for a Plague Year: A Syllabus?” in the International Journal of Education and Teaching in the Arts as part of a special issue titled, “Issues in Teaching Theatre Design.” This issue explores how theatre design educators responded to the challenges of 2020 and the years of disruption and unrest that followed. Petefish-Schrag’s article examines the processes and questions that emerged in Iowa State University’s Puppetry: Design and Performance course during the fall 2021 semester, highlighting how puppetry can serve as a counterpoint to increasingly mechanized and virtual learning environments.
John “JR” Robinson, Creston, Iowa, native and Grammy Award winner, was nominated by the Department of Music and Theatre for an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the music industry. Robinson is the music industry’s most recorded drummer (his discography includes more than 10,000 recording sessions for the music, television, and film industries). Iowa State awarded the degree at the university’s spring 2025 commencement ceremonies.
James Rodde, Louise Moen Chair in Music, led the Iowa State Singers in two performances at the 2025 National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association this March in Dallas, Texas. The choir sang at both the Winspear Opera House and Meyerson Symphony Hall to approximately 2,000 choral conductors. Rodde had his Des Moines Symphony Orchestra conducting debut in April at the Des Moines Civic Center. He conducted Brahms’ “Nänie,” sung by the Iowa State Singers and the Des Moines Choral Society. Rodde also had his conducting debut at Alice Tully Hall, New York, in April with the Iowa State Singers.
Kelly Marie Schaefer, teaching professor of theatre, worked with Salisbury House and Gardens in Des Moines this past summer as the costume designer for a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Schaefer also designed costumes for the Iowa Stage Theatre Company production of “A Christmas Carol” in December. Schaefer served as hospitality coordinator for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region 5 in Des Moines and showcased costumes from “Die Fledermaus” during the festival’s invited costume parade.
Jonathan Sharp, associate professor of music, was published in the fall Iowa Music Educator Journal and adjudicated state solo and ensemble festivals in Kansas and Missouri. He presented electroacoustic percussion performance methods and research to the music department at Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches, Texas. Sharp also performed as a soloist at the College Music Society Southern Conference, hosted by Berry College in Georgia.
Chad Sonka, associate teaching professor of voice and opera, sang the leading role of Marcello in Giacomo Puccini’s seminal opera, “La bohème,” with Quad Cities Opera in June 2024. He was also the stage director for the world premiere opera, “The Eleanors,” composed by Iowa State faculty member Jodi Goble. This opera opened the National Opera Association and National Association of Teachers of Singing winter conference in Savannah, Georgia, in January. The event was in collaboration with the Savannah VOICE Festival, for which Sonka serves as the education and outreach director.
Tin-Shi Tam, University Professor, celebrated carillon works by women composers at Clemson University with a masterclass and a recital. She was also a featured artist at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, the University of Denver, Naperville Millennium Carillon, and St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church in Chicago. In addition, Tam presented an organ masterclass and recital at All Saints Cathedral in Hong Kong. The Stanton Memorial Carillon was featured on Iowa Public Radio and ESPN College Game Day, highlighting its cultural significance.
Shelby VanNordstrand, assistant teaching professor of music, performed at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) National Convention in Knoxville, Tennessee; the National Opera Association Conference + NATS Winter Workshop in Savannah, Georgia; and the Turn Up Festival in Tucson, Arizona. She currently serves as vice president of conferences with the National Opera Association and as a regional development liaison with NATS.