The EVVYs Must Go On! Students Create Show with Help from Famous Friends
By David Ertischek ’01
Every EVVYs show is like no other. But EVVYs 39 will take the prize for being the most unique, as the event is a prerecorded virtual show with appearances by an amazing cast of famous Emerson alums.
The show is being streamed on Friday, May 29, at 8:00 pm, at www.evvyawards.org/live-stream.
Along with a packed roster of famous alumni, this yearâs show is very different than others, as it also is a fundraiser for the Emerson College Student & Family Crisis Relief Fund. The fund supports students to continue their Emerson education and provide financial relief to those impacted by COVID-19.
EVVYs advisor Diana Barton, who knows a thing or two about awards shows from working on more than 300 live and taped television events, said that she and the four student executive producers knew they had to announce the awards in some way.
âMoving to the virtual show, all of the producers had to brainstorm what shape the show would now be,â said Aesthetic Executive Producer Liz Bradford â21. âWe wanted to keep our core value of honoring students at the heart of show, so we tried to choose the best format for that. We still have every name being read with a presenter announcing the winner.â
A list of the nominees can be found on the EVVYs website.
Once it became clear that, due to COVID-19, the students could no longer produce a live show, let alone be together to create the show, Barton conceptualized ways to make the show special.
âI started thinking about our wonderful alum and wouldn’t it be cool to have Denis Leary read your winning name… or Jay Leno, Jennifer Coolidge, Henry Winkler, and so on?â said Barton. âAnd I also thought that if we all have to stay home, well, they [do] too… so let’s reach out to them. Luckily, the [four student executive producers] were on board with that and a rundown with a brand-new show was created.â
From there the executive producers, advisor and trustee Kevin Bright ’76, and Eric Fox, production manager for MTP and advisor to the EVVYs, worked with Alumni Engagement to get contact info and they went to work.
Fox said this yearâs show is âa true testament to the strength of the Emerson community. The executive producers, hosts, writers, and post-production teams have done a phenomenal job essentially rebuilding the show from scratch.â
“Everybody on the celebrity front shares my passion for Emerson. When the call went out everyone responded within a day,” said Bright, who has been an advisor to the EVVYs for more than a decade. ” This situation was unique and needed everyone to come together.”
Barton said Denis Leary â79 was first on board, signing on within about 13 minutes of receiving the email. Then Steven Wright â78 and Jay Leno â73 said yes, and it snowballed from there.
In addition to Leary, Wright, and Leno the list of alumni participating in this yearâs show includes:
Max Mutchnik â87
Maria Menounos â00
Bobbi Brown â79
Dan Finnerty â92
Henry Winkler â67
Bill Burr â93
Norman Lear â44
Justin Willman â02
Miguel Cervantes â99
Adele Lim â96
Kevin Bright â76
Vin Di Bona â66
Jennifer Coolidge â85
Trustee and EVVYs advisor Kevin Bright â76 said no one wouldâve faulted the students if they chose to walk away from doing the show. But walking away is not the spirit of Emerson.
“They could not let a year go by without acknowledging the work. There would have been no other opportunity to [do so],” said Bright.
He added that supporting the fund is extremely important.
âWhen students started Emerson a year ago, or are about to enter, they made plans about what they could afford and what their parents could afford to do,â Bright said. âThose plans have taken a real dagger to the heart, and what we have to do is respond as a community to say, âThis is the most important thing on our table, keeping our students in the college.â
âI think itâs resonant to every alum to ask what wouldâve happened if all of a sudden their education was pulled up short and they hadnât been able to finish,â he said.
Had that been the case for Bright, he never wouldâve met his mentor and professor Dan Lounsbury, who after graduation took Bright under his wing in Los Angeles and helped him get his foot in the door.
As a mentor to this yearâs EVVYs group, Bright emphasized that despite the restrictions placed on them due to the pandemic, theyâre still producing an entertainment program.
âNo one wants to hear a laundry list of awards being read. They want to be entertained,â said Bright.
That call for entertainment meant scrapping months of planning for the show. But their work will not go unnoticed. In the playbill, which will be on the EVVYs streaming page, there will be samples of work that couldnât make it into the show. Things like what the hosts were going to wear, and bits by the writers.
âChanging the format of our show so drastically just weeks before the show is a challenge we never expected to encounter,â said Logistics Executive Producer Rhegan Graham â21. âWe’ve been working hard to make sure the show adequately recognizes our incredible nominees and winners, and we hope that people see that.â
That hard work meant rebuilding the show from start to finish. Awards shows always feature a big opening performance — so whatâs in store to kick-off the show?
âThere’s not much I can say without spoiling it so tune in on the 29th! It will be a great show!â said Creative Content Executive Producer Rachel Westra â21.
The following students created this yearâs EVVY Awards:
Michael Cerullo
Liam Hutton
Joseph Davidi
Justin Schmalholz
Cassie Shelley
Davin Roberts
Isabella Varney
Madison Brooks
Thomas Coughlin
Juliet Fusco
Marlon Polycarpe
Daniel Peden
Allie Thompson
Matt Barrett-Miller
Claire Layden
Kyle Goold
Finn Wagstaff
Haley Brown
Brett Boon
Henry Johnston
Cam Carlton
Taylor Ranney
Matt Walting
Juliette Beaulieu
Noah Silverman
Arasha Lalani
Anna Lanza
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