People
Growing up in the Bay Area, Nicholas Koo ’18 MMus, ’22 DMA sang in choirs and played guitar, clarinet, saxophone and piano, but he studied molecular cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, with the goal of becoming a doctor. But after seeing the university’s orchestra perform during his senior year, he decided to reignite a lifelong passion and enrolled for a fifth year to pursue what he’d wanted to do all along.
On her final day at WBZ-TV in Boston in July 1965, reporter Joanne Desmond ’58 heard that the old news reels were going to be destroyed, so she asked her news director if she could take a roll of film from her reporting on the Boston Strangler. Her news director obliged, and that film clip was restored and featured in Hulu’s 2023 film Boston Strangler, which stars Keira Knightley as Desmond’s real-life news counterpart Loretta McLaughlin.
During a freezing winter quarter in 1988, most of Jarrett Kerbel’s Northwestern peers likely dreamed of spending spring break on sunny beaches. But Kerbel made plans to visit Holy Cross Monastery, an Anglican Benedictine community in West Park, N.Y., and he has devoted his life to the Christian faith ever since.
Pulitzer Prize–finalist playwright discusses his Evanston-inspired off-Broadway play and what it’s like to write for the hit HBO show ‘Succession.’
Bicycle sales in the U.S. skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers avoided public transit and indoor gyms. Cycling, however, can be risky in urban settings.
After years of study and training — including four years in Northwestern’s celebrated theater program — Mark Hoebee finally danced on the Great White Way, appearing in a production of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. After “about 10 Broadway shows and national tours, he enjoyed a successful career as a choreographer and director of musicals before joining the Tony Award–winning Paper Mill Playhouse, where he is producing artistic director.
Dedicated philanthropist, investment executive and scholar Arthur Pancoe ’51 MS passed away on Jan. 16.
A pair of endangered piping plovers needed a voice when they nested at the busiest beach in Chicago. Luckily, Tamima Itani ’86 MS, ’91 PhD, ’02 CERT spoke up and rallied support for the birds.
Pieces from Andrew Krivine’s punk-rock memorabilia collection have been shown at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, ADAM Design Museum Brussels, Cranbrook Art Museum in Michigan, the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles and other university galleries. Northwestern Magazine chats with Krivine ’82 about his favorite punk-rock relics and how he got started.
For her first feature-length film, ‘Being BeBe,’ documentary filmmaker Emily Branham ’02 spent 15 years chronicling the unconventional story of drag performer Marshall Ngwa, aka BeBe Zahara Benet, an immigrant from Cameroon and the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
