Encore: Winter/Spring 2025

Years after finding his purpose on the KAC stage, Jared Goldenberg ’10 is back — behind the scenes.

Many Lawrentians will recall the brass zodiac compass inlaid on the pathway that descended from Irwin Dining Hall to the front of the Semans/Lawson-Johnston Squash Courts. The compass points were properly aligned with directional geography, orienting passers-by to the direction in which they were headed.

To Jared Goldenberg ’10, however, the compass meant a little bit more. Heading home from dinner toward the townhouses on the other side of The Pond, where he lived with his family, including longtime athletics administrator and head trainer Mike “G” Goldenberg H’94 ’96 ’97 P’05 ’10, Jared would often pause at the medallion to seek direction. But not simply north or south, east or west.

“I had this little ritual where I would stand there and just reflect on something, maybe make a wish or set a goal,” he says. “I had this idea that this compass was going to guide me.”

Goldenberg eventually landed this past fall in the very place where he believes he first found himself — the Kirby Arts Center — this time, as its technical director. It was the latest beat in a story that has seen him working behind the scenes in stage and production lighting, video, and carpentry for Busch Gardens, Walt Disney World, the Blue Man Group, and Universal Orlando.

At Disney, Goldenberg realized just what a vital effect the lighting has on the way customers experience a live event.

“When you go to see a band that you love on stage in a big stadium, yes, the music is obviously why you’re there,” he says. “But, I mean, come on — the lighting! People go nuts for what it can do.”

Throughout his decade in the industry, Goldenberg always kept close the first stage he knew.

“I always thought to myself it would be really amazing to come back here and help students figure out what their passion is,” he says, “and help them find that trajectory like this school did for me.”

Goldenberg recalls struggling at Lawrenceville, mostly because he lacked a clear aim, unsure what interested him enough to pursue. Taking Foundations of Theatre with Derrick Wilder H’78 as a Third Former provided him a beacon of clarity.

“I took that class and I thought, this is what I want to do with my life,” Goldenberg recalls. “I had something to fight for, and I started committing, doing my homework, and studying, and applying myself to all of my classes because I didn’t want to lose this opportunity”

Goldenberg says performing elevated his self-confidence in a way that permeated his entire life.

“Every day I felt more and more confident in what I was doing,” he recalls. “And I think that was the boost of confidence that I needed in everything else.”

Now that he’s returned, Goldenberg wants to help connect students with their ambitions, but acknowledges that their moment of inspiration may not arrive quite as it did for him.

“Theatre is not the only place that people can find that transformation and that growth,” he says. “For some it may be a robotics class where they realize, oh my gosh, there is something exciting here I want to sink my teeth into. It could be a poetry class; it could be a certain math class. They find it just clicks for them, and that propels them even further.”

The Periwig Club’s fall musical, Into the Woods, wowed audiences in October. Director Matt Campbell’s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s 1986 musical allowed characters from ageless childhood chestnuts like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood to share one stage in a new story.

Throughout the performance, the sounds of the orchestra filled the Kirby Arts Center from the pit before the stage. Beginning in summer, the talented student musicians spend hours honing the pivotal musical accompaniment, and the experience is quite unlike anything else in their experience.

“Playing along with singers is different than just playing on our own since we have to rely heavily on visual and audio cues,” says Jane Shindnes ’26, who plays the flute and piccolo.

Another difference is that unlike a common instrumental recital, their music must be played in tandem with the action on the stage.

“The music accompanies the scene and plot instead of the music itself being the main character,” violinist Arisa Okamura ’25 says. “It’s very different because for this music, the key, tempo, and time signature changes a lot more frequently than the classical music pieces I usually play.”

— Sophie Liu ’27/The Lawrence