Office for the Arts Announces 1998 Prize Winners

The Office for the Arts at Harvard and Radcliffe and the Harvard Council on the Arts recently announced the winners of the 1998 prizes for outstanding accomplishments in the arts.

The winners are as follows:

Catherine Ingman '98 was selected to receive the Doris Cohen Levi Prize of $500 and a certificate. The prize, which honors the memory of Doris Cohen Levi, Radcliffe '35, recognizes the Radcliffe College student "who combines talent and energy with outstanding enthusiasm for musical theater" at Harvard and Radcliffe. A resident of Leverett House, Ingman has appeared in numerous musical and theatrical productions. Some of the characters she portrayed are Agave in The Bacchae, presented by the Office for the Arts and Now and Soon Productions; as Claire in Rumors, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Jenny in Company, all with the H-R Dramatic Club; and as Lady Jane in Patience and a chorus member in Ruddigore with the H-R Gilbert and Sullivan Players. Ingman achieved "...a triumphant success," according to the Harvard Crimson, with her directorial debut, taking over at the last minute as director of last season's Gilbert and Sullivan production of Pirates of Penzance. She currently appears as Zelda Fitzgerald in the HRDC's Clothes for a Summer Hotel.

Ingman served as a proctor in the Freshman Arts Program, helping freshman artists to improve their craft. She will be pursuing an acting career after graduation.

Paul Siemens '98 is the recipient of the $250 Jonathan Levy Prize for the most promising actor at the University. A resident of Dunster House, Siemens has proved a gifted and versatile actor, appearing in over 25 productions during his four years at Harvard, ranging from the Hasty Pudding Theatricals to the H-R Dramatic Club, from the Boston Early Music Festival to the H-R Gilbert and Sullivan Players.

Among Siemens's most memorable roles are Paul, the callow protagonist in Stephen Sondheim's Company, Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Roderigo in Othello, H-R Dramatic Club productions; Samuel in H-R Gilbert and Sullivan Players' Pirates of Penzance; Jerry in The Zoo Story at the Adams House Pool Theater; and Servi di Plutone in Orfeo with the Boston Early Music Festival, performed at the Emerson Majestic Theater and the Tanglewood Music Festival. Siemens has also contributed to the Freshman Arts Program, most recently by recruiting applicants for leadership roles next fall. In addition, he has been active in directing, sound design, and in the administrative aspects of theater.

The recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts of $1,000 is Sybil-Catherine Watkins '98, a resident of Winthrop House. The prize recognizes the graduating senior of the most outstanding artistic talent and achievement in the composition or performance of music, theater, dance, or the visual arts. This prize honors the sum of a student's artistic achievement over a four-year period rather than a single project.

Watkins, an honors concentrator in English, has studied ballet in the Radcliffe Dance Program; Green Street Dance Studio, Cambridge; Joffrey Ballet, New York; and Boston Ballet, among others. A dancer of remarkable grace and power, she has performed the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen in the Nutcracker, as well as solo roles in Danse Macabre, The Sleeping Beauty, and Paquita, with the H-R Ballet Company. Helen Shaw '98, a resident of Lowell House, is the recipient of the Louise Donovan Award, which recognizes a Harvard-Radcliffe student who has worked behind the scenes in the arts -- for example, as director, producer, or accompanist -- contributing most to the success of a production and the opportunity for others to shine. The award of $500 is given in honor of Louise Donovan who, through her distinguished career as secretary of the College and clerk to the board of trustees at Radcliffe College, was a role model of unselfish, effective support.

Shaw, an honors student in anthropology, has served as president of the H-R Dramatic Club and has performed in and designed sets for many of its productions. She has also designed sets for productions at the Boston Center for the Arts and the Adams House Pool Theater. Shaw won accolades for her set design for The Bacchae, directed by Kathryn Walker at the Agassiz Theatre last fall.