At the ceremony, the second of its kind since debuting last year, awards were given to honors students who’d completed a senior thesis, won prestigious fellowships, and been admitted to academic societies such as Phi Beta Kappa.

In her remarks, FCLC Dean Laura Aurrichio, Ph.D., noted that like them, she arrived in August 2019. And like them, it took her a while to get used to her new surroundings. By spring 2020, she felt truly ready to pull up her sleeves and get to work on long-term projects.

“Of course, the universe had other plans,” she said, noting that the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd made for stressful times. Nevertheless, students persevered.

“You might be too modest to celebrate yourselves, but I also know that you are all too kind, too supportive, and too community-focused not to celebrate your classmates.”

Awards were also given to students who excelled in disciplines ranging from the arts and sciences to the social sciences and the humanities–and student speakers from each field got up to speak.

‘Soul-shimmering’ clarity

Anna Nowalk, a theology/music double major who was admitted to the Phi Beta Kappa honors society, spoke about the humanities.

“Throughout my time at Fordham, I’ve brushed against potentially life-altering understandings of the Christian mission and have on occasion felt my soul shimmer as I saw with clarity for a moment how I might be called to it,” she said.

Fordham Theatre Student Honored with Alumni Chair

Amara McNeil, an acting major and a founder of the BIPOC Theatre Alliance of Fordham, was honored with the FCLC Alumni Chair Award. Aurrichio expressed personal gratitude to McNeil for joining the inaugural cohort of the FCLC Student Advisory Group.

“I really just cannot say enough about how grateful I am to her for all the work that she has done and for her work in leaving this place much better than she found it,” she said.

Trystan Edwards, a theater and African and African American studies double major, implored his fellow graduates in his keynote address to live in what he called “the gray” areas of life.

“I was ready to set my future ablaze with fiery reds and opulent oranges, and I was ready to seize every opportunity and take the city by storm,” he said of his move to Manhattan.

When the pandemic interrupted everything in 2020, the gray returned, and it was here that Edwards discovered resilience.

“As we accept our awards tonight and our diplomas tomorrow beautifully bedecked in our rosy reds, bright blues, gorgeous greens, and yappy yellows, remember to leave room for the gray,” he said.

“It is the land of all possibilities, truth, and humanity.”

Raekwon Fuller, a senior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) from Anderson, South Carolina, credits acting with giving him a community in his hometown, where he often didn’t feel welcome as a gay black man.

A’ryee McGirt, an FCLC senior from Hollis, Queens, didn’t join the theater program until her sophomore year but has since seen her love for acting grow.

And Katie Heaton, an FCLC senior and a Brooklyn native who briefly rebelled against the field her father found success in as a playwright, has since fallen in love with set design.

Each of these students has a  lead role in La Cocina, the final mainstage show of the year by Fordham Theatre. The play, which is directed by Alex Shaw and written by interim director of playwriting Tony Meneses, was inspired by Arnold Wesker’s 1957 production The Kitchen. It tells the story of the back of the house of a New York City restaurant kitchen, where cooks and waitstaff juggle orders, dishes, and their own dreams of a better life. The production opened on April 13 and runs through April 22,

Fuller, who coincidentally plays a character named Ray, said the show–his last at Fordham since he is a senior—  is the culmination of a time of real-life self-exploration for him.

“When I was in high school, I found fellow African American students in the theater program, and they really helped me cultivate my self-love,” he said.

“I’ve been trying to continue that through Fordham by exploring the depths of my sexuality, my personality, and my Blackness, and really trying to incorporate that into any artistic process that I’m in.”

In Ray, he found a character who is a leader and stands up for his community, he said. Fuller has fewer lines than in previous mainstage roles, which he actually views as an opportunity for growth.

“What makes a successful actor is no matter how big or small your line is, you’re going out there like you were given the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech by Martin Luther King,” he said.

When McGirt first enrolled at Fordham, she commuted over an hour from Queens. Unlike peers who’d auditioned for the program their senior year in high school, she spent that year as an undecided major. She successfully auditioned her sophomore year.

“Growing up, I didn’t have that much exposure to theater, so I’m very thankful I’ve been able to study a lot of classical and contemporary plays. My love for theater has just grown,” she said.

In La Cocina, McGirt has her first big role as Monique, who is a new manager of the kitchen. The job is actually a step down for Monique, which makes the character more complex, and for  McGirt, also more appealing.

“I love that Monique is a leader. No one really teaches her anything; she’s kind of just thrown into this chaos and she has to work with what she has,” she said.

Heaton, a double major in theater and visual arts, said she was drawn to La Cocina as a set designer because it’s a contemporary production that deals with today’s issues.

“There is something exciting about being able to really explore current themes with social justice,” she said.

After working on smaller shows, it’s her first opportunity to supervise a mainstage production. In this case, that meant the construction of a lifesize, industrial kitchen.

“I’m grateful for it because it’s made me feel a lot more prepared for the actual world of set design,” she said.

Meneses, the playwright, said working with students has made the play better.

“A play is such a collaborative thing, where you have this version in your head of how a line may sound or how a moment may look,” he said.

“What’s fun is when an actor or director or designer does something so unexpected and different than what you thought it was, and it’s actually better.”

La Cocina continues with shows at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 19 through Friday, April 21, and 2 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 22.

—Video by Taylor Ha