From Feb. 23 to 26, the troop staged Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar—with women in the roles of Jesus and Judas. Among those cast in it were Fordham College at Rose Hill first-year students Miranda Joyce, who played the role of Judas Iscariot, and Christina Priestner, who played Jesus Christ.

Director Coleman Ray Clark said he hadn’t intended to cast a female Jesus when he cast Priestner in the role; it was just that he knew wanted to find someone with a similar unexpected quality that Jesus possessed in first-century Israel.

“He was born to a carpenter and walked among men, nothing like what people assumed a messiah or king would look like at the time,” he said.

“In our production, I wanted the audience to confront their own expectations about Jesus and grapple with his humanity.”

The company’s last production, The Laramie Project, will run from March 30 to April 2.

But during her senior year at Fordham College at Rose Hill, she auditioned—secretly and on a whim—for an off-Broadway play. She landed the role and spent her final semester at Fordham juggling her coursework, internship, and performances, wondering which direction she would choose.

“I turned down the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and decided to pursue an acting career,” said the 2012 Fordham grad who is looking forward to attending her 10th Fordham reunion at Jubilee weekend in June. “But I made a promise to myself to find storytelling and theater work that fostered social justice and created change in the world.”

Returning to Her Roots

At first, Guerin kept that promise—a commitment she said is rooted in her experience at Fordham.

“I chose Fordham because of its focus on being men and women for others,” she said. “There was space to ask questions about the state of the world and foster a desire for justice.”

She wrote, directed, and produced social justice-oriented theater, and acted in productions spotlighting marginalized communities. Gradually, though, she said in a recent Magis Minute video, she began taking “more and more jobs that supported my ego rather than my community.” Then, in March 2020, the bottom dropped out. She was in Miami, performing in a new musical based on the 1989 movie The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, when theaters were shuttered and film productions were canceled.

With time on her hands, Guerin partnered with a friend on a community organizing campaign to address food insecurity in Miami. That campaign became a nonprofit, Buddy System MIA, which Guerin now leads as CEO. She also co-founded North Wind Collective, a storytelling and production company that aims to uplift marginalized voices, sometimes in conjunction with Buddy System.

Guerin said her experience as a member of the Fordham Experimental Theatre and Mimes and Mummers student clubs—where she learned about all aspects of storytelling, from writing to directing to acting—laid the groundwork for her new trajectory.

“There’s so much creative fulfillment and autonomy in saying, ‘This is how we want to tell a story,’” she said. “It’s something I’ve carried with me to Buddy System, where I have my hands in everything, and as a producer.”

Reliving the Magic

As an undergrad, Guerin witnessed and was a student worker at the annual Jubilee celebration at Rose Hill. She attended the Saturday evening gala at Jubilee five years ago, but this year’s festivities—to be held from June 3 to 5—will be her first chance to experience the full Jubilee weekend, and she’s looking forward to it. Guerin and her classmates have been texting for weeks, she said, looking to recreate their Campbell Hall experience from senior year.

“I’m really excited to see folks from all walks of life—where they’ve gone and who they’ve become over the last decade,” she said. “And I can’t wait to step back into the magic of Fordham for a weekend.”

Fordham Five (Plus One)

What are you most passionate about?
Creating things that foster empathy and bring about social change: art, theater, film, social programming, community organizing platforms, and now nonprofits.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Reframing my perspective to see things that scare me as challenges. I love challenges! Now, every time I have to do something that intimidates me—which is pretty much every day—I see it as an opportunity for growth rather than something to fear.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
In NYC, Marie’s Crisis in Greenwich Village. But a close second would be Yankee Stadium. In the world, Walt Disney World—of course—or sunrise on North Beach in Miami with a cafecito in hand.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you, and tell us why.
Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly started me on a deep healing journey to living a more vulnerable, open-hearted life, and I’m forever grateful.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
I’d have to go with my classmate and dear friend Stephanie Pennacchia. She’s always been one of the most capable, patient, hardworking, empathetic, and open-hearted people I know. And to watch her grow over the last 14 years to deeply honor her own experience of life has been an inspiration.

What are you optimistic about?
I’m pretty optimistic in general. I believe true change happens one step at a time and there’s always a lot of backlash as we get closer to making lasting change in the world. I actually think we’re closer than we’ve ever been to true peace and justice in our country and world.

Interview conducted, edited, and condensed by Kim Catley.

After virtual gatherings in 2020 and 2021, Jubilee 2022 will be held in person on the Rose Hill campus from June 3 to 5. The alumni relations office anticipates welcoming its largest group of Jubilarians ever. Learn more and register today.

“I said, ‘Of course you are. You’re part of the University.’ We were laughing, but it emphasized for me that perhaps there isn’t a [strong]  sense of belonging [among graduate school alumni], and we want to work on that.”

Hence her mission as the new chair of the Fordham University Alumni Association’s (FUAA) Advisory Board. Benner, who graduated from Fordham College at Rose Hill in 1984 and previously served as the board’s vice chair, will be taking over for John Pettenati, FCRH ’81, the FUAA’s founding chair, in January. And when she does, she wants to unite all University alumni, all around the world, during her four-year term.

During this year’s Homecoming celebration, members of the FUAA ­gathered for a toast to recognize the advisory board’s ongoing work and commitment to the University. During the event, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, recognized all that Benner has contributed to Fordham thus far. “You brought in grit, courage, determination, and you never lost it,” he said. “You brought it to Fordham. You endowed Fordham with your enthusiasm.”

Referencing Benner’s undergraduate involvement with Mimes and Mummers, the theater group at Rose Hill, Pettenati added, “I know how passionate she was about that organization: She’s going to bring that passion to the FUAA.”

Benner said she has been thinking about how to stay engaged with Fordham almost since she graduated, and her leadership role on the advisory board enables her to get involved on a deeper level.

A Buffalo, New York, native, Benner said that in the ’80s, she was one of relatively few students from outside the New York metropolitan area. In recent decades, Fordham has transformed itself from a strong regional institution to a prestigious national university.

As board president, Benner plans to offer FUAA programming and events designed to unite all University alumni, particularly those who tend to think only of their affiliation with a particular campus, or with an undergraduate or graduate school, or who live beyond the New York metro area. “The thing we have in common is Fordham University; that’s what’s printed on each of our degrees,” she said. “Once you’ve graduated, you are in the world, and you wear lots of hats. You’re not your major.”

Benner added that although many of us have Zoom fatigue after being in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years, online programming has afforded alumni who live outside the New York metropolitan area far more opportunities to get more involved with their alma mater. She’s optimistic that it will continue to be “a portal through which alumni can stay involved and feel that they have a role—that they can volunteer in some capacity from where they are.”

Benner’s first six months in office will put her mission to the test, with both virtual and in-person events planned for all alumni. The fifth annual FUAA Alumni Recognition Reception will be held on January 20 in the ballroom at the historic 583 Park Avenue. Created by the advisory board’s networking and engagement task force, the reception hasn’t been held in person since 2020. (Last year, it was held virtually.)

And Forever Learning Week, planned by the Forever Learning task force to offer alumni “master classes taught at Fordham,” will kick off on March 28. Last year, the programming was offered virtually throughout April. “Hundreds of alumni from around the world dialed in,” Benner said. “It was fascinating because it was the mosaic of all the parts that make up Fordham.”

In addition to uniting alumni across schools, Benner hopes that she’ll be able to unite alumni across experiences, too, recognizing that Fordham is a different university than the one she attended—but in the best possible ways.

“We’ll all have different experiences, increasingly diverse experiences, more cosmopolitan experiences,” she said. “But we are all from Fordham University, the Jesuit University of New York. We have New York in common. So, whatever our generation, whatever our school or campus, we’ve got that to open the door. That’s our calling card to have something in common.”

What are you most passionate about?
Doing all that I can to open doors to opportunity for others.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Some decisions make themselves.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
In New York, anyplace where the Chrysler Building is within view. In the world, in Paris, sitting on the Seine River’s stone embankment watching boats and people of the world glide by while imagining scenes from history play out in that setting.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (HarperTorch, 1974) by Robert M. Pirsig

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you remember most?
English professor Richard Giannone because his syllabus introduced me to the writing of the masterful author Joan Didion.

What are you optimistic about?
That whatever our troubles are in whatever our era, solutions can be forged by the handiwork of people coming together sincerely to find a common cause.

On Friday evening, when alumni would normally attend their class receptions, certified sommelier Gabriella Macari, GABELLI ’09, will lead webinar attendees through a virtual wine tasting. In the spirit of the intellectually stimulating lectures alumni have come to expect from reunion weekend, Macari, whose family owns Macari Vineyards in Mattituck, New York, also plans to share a bit about the history of viticulture and winemaking, particularly in the North Fork region of Long Island. Alumni will have the chance to order wines from Macari Vineyards with a special discount code—or follow along with their personal favorites.

On Saturday, alumni will have the opportunity to hear directly from Father McShane, who will give an update on the state of the University over coffee. Later that afternoon, members of various alumni affinity chapters, including Rainbow Rams, MOSAIC, and Mimes & Mummers, will host virtual versions of their typical Jubilee gatherings.

While many alumni are sure to miss dancing at the Jubilee Gala and the outdoor fun of the Jubilee Picnic, they will have the chance to get some exercise and wind down through a yoga and meditation session led by Carolyn Funke, GSS ’19, who will help attendees feel centered and connected.

All alumni from across Fordham’s schools and campuses are invited to join the virtual festivities and are encouraged to follow Fordham’s social media accounts for more reunion content. A special webinar with Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, is also being planned for later in the month, and the reunions team hopes to hold an in-person gathering for 2020 Jubilarians when it is safe to do so.

To see a full weekend schedule and register for events, visit fordham.edu/jubilee.