LIU Brooklyn Acting for Theatre, Film and Television Program

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT✨🎓🦈

Today we honor senior Jarred Pyatt!

Favorite role: definitely playing myself in my capstone, Wendy Williams and her show are big inspirations for me and I wanted to have something similar for my capstone and having a show like the Wendy Williams show is definitely something I see having for myself.

Favorite memory at LIU: I’d say it’s everyone else’s favorite memory of me at this school: The Midnight Madness dance competition. I’ve competed in it basically every year since I started at LIU always making the final dance off, winning it twice.

What does being an artist mean to you: being artist means sharing your inner world view, presenting life experiences and putting out the art you want to share ( no matter how unique it is to you)

We are so proud to have witnessed all the amazing things you’ve accomplished and are going to accomplish in your career! Congratulations Jarred!

Follow along for his journey!-
Instagram-

INTRODUCING OUR 2026-2027 SEASON!! We are so excited to announce all these amazing MainStages and capstones full of original and published work! Here’s to an amazing year!

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT🎓✨🦈

Today we congratulate senior Gwyneth Strange!

Favorite role: Eva in Do You Feel Anger? Eva is a character I see a lot of my self in and she will always have a special place in my heart. I feel that Do You Feel Anger? allowed me to showcase how much I’ve grown in the past four years as an actor. Plus cast and crew was just the best and we had a blast doing the show!

Favorite memory: This is more a collection of memories, but Azudi’s On Camera class is a big highlight of my time at LIU Brooklyn. I have many fond memories of getting to recreate iconic scenes from film and tv with all of my friends. I learned a lot and had tons of fun while doing it!

What being an artist means to me: I believe being an artist is the truest form of human expression. The art we create can evoke so many different emotions, but the universal truth is that it all makes us feel something. Art is powerful enough to reveal both the good and bad of humanity. By being an artist, I’ve not only learned more about myself, but also more about the world around me. I wouldn’t give up being an artist for even a minute.

We are so proud of all the amazing things you’ve accomplished here and can’t wait to see what you do in the future!

Follow along with Gwyneth’s journey-
Website- https://www.gwynethstrange.com/news Instagram-

Finally, congratulations to senior Griffin Long-Sinnott on the screening of his capstone film, Peter Has Something To Say. It was a remarkable piece of art! We are so proud of you!

Next up! Our juniors had their final presentation for their stage combat class in The Kumble! Congrats to them!!!🤺

📸- .snaps

An exciting day in the BFA! We started the day at the Polk School of Communications end of year celebration. Congratulations to seniors, Katie Gleason, Valentinus Pesante, and Gwyneth Strange for being presented with the 2026 Melvin A. Pasternack Award. We are so proud of all of our seniors and are so happy we could celebrate you today!

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT🦈🎓✨

Today we celebrate senior Val Pesante!


Favorite role or artistic accomplishment from the last four years-In terms of theatre role- I love Maggie from ‘Nixon, Nixon,’ it was an awesome short play. For short film, being the lead of SURGE by Fia Perez was so fun too - I love a good sci-fi film. In regards to favorite artistic accomplishments - I have quite a few things; for one, I shamelessly and unapologetically experimented A LOT. At LIU, I was in a few shows, short films, a play festival, and a musical - on top of exploring different production roles and falling in love with playwrighting. ‘All Inclusive Love’ is truly my pride - I’m excited to collaborate with the collectives I submitted to and have plenty more readings of the script. Outside of LIU; I was in three short films, a few off-campus shows, which includes a production I originated a role - A theatrical adaptation of 500 Days of Summer, and I’m officially a drag artist!”

Favorite memory at LIU-Working with Kate Willard on ‘All Inclusive Love’ is my favorite memory. I am very proud of how she ran the rehearsal room with such integrity and warmth - which was required for such a script like ‘All Inclusive Love.’ It was touching to see our values manifest in our workspace, and watch our actors thrive. A more recent memory is working with everyone on ‘35mm: A Musical Exhibition.’ Helping Calista Garcia with make-up for the photography and being the hype-man each rehearsal was so fun! I got to work on an intimate musical with my peers, and that is the best feeling ever. I can’t wait to bring that same love and energy into every future production I’m in going forward.

What does being an artist mean to you?- An artist is someone who’s willing to try anything and fail at it with a smile on their face. No artists journey is linear and clean- perfection is a myth. Play! Fail! Make mistakes! Get up, dust yourself off, and do it again! That is the most artistically aligning thing you can do for yourself- simply existing as you are and growing from every experience.

Follow along for Val’s journey!-

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT🦈✨🎓

Today we celebrate senior Katie Gleason!

Favorite Role or artistic accomplishment over the last 4 years?- My favorite roles I played at LIU were Margaret White in Rocnation’s Carrie the Musical, and Mom in Small Jokes About Monsters. Both were the roles most different from myself, which gave me a really exciting challenge!

Favorite LIU memory- Too many to choose. Opening night of Brilliant Traces, the first show I ever directed, has to be up there. But one of my absolute core memories was after opening night of 7 years my freshman year, running out after bows and giving the cast the biggest hugs. We were cheering, so excited to have completed our first show at college.
I think of that moment a lot to remind myself how happy being in shows makes me.

What does being an artist mean to you?- Being an artist is being a part of things that make people feel the way I feel when I watch my favorite media. Whether it’s making someone happy and being an escape from reality, or helping someone feel seen and represented, I want to do for others what my favorite artists do for me.

Congratulations Katie on an amazing four years. We will miss you dearly and can’t wait to see all the amazing things you will accomplish!

Follow Katie’s journey…

Instagram- starksnova
Website- katiegleasonactor.com

Congratulations to one of our beloved teachers, Azudi Onyejekwe, for closing his production of IMPOSTERS at The Liminal Theatre Collective! Some of our students had the pleasure of witnessing his amazing work on this devised piece!

LAST SHOW! Today! Be There!