Kevin Vavasseur

In choosing the Gallatin MA program, Kevin found a way to coalesce all of his disparate professional and personal experiences into a unified creative focus. Originally from Los Angeles, Kevin worked for entertainment companies, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Carsey-Werner Productions, Comedy Central, and Red Wagon Entertainment, before coming to Gallatin. He has served in a broad number of capacities including executive assistant, creative executive, and first assistant director. An alumnus of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, he has also written, produced, and directed for the stage and he has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award and GLAAD Media Award for acting.

Already possessing a comprehensive knowledge of many aspects of the entertainment business, Kevin used his time as an administrator with the University of Southern California's Institute for Global Health to expand his understanding of humanity to a more worldwide context. He decided to pursue a master’s degree in response to the limited view of humanity the US entertainment industry seems to advance.

Classes taught by the celebrated actress and Tisch Professor Anna Deaveare Smith as well as those led by Gallatin Professor Stephen Duncombe and Steinhardt Professor Deborah Borisoff helped to illuminate the ways human identity is created and communicated and the potential of artistic practice to help improve social interaction. The flexibility within the Gallatin program also allowed him to study at Shakespeare & Company, a world-renowned theater company in Lenox, Massachusetts, which places the inclusion of the full human experience at the forefront of their aesthetic.