The Arts and Life section of The New York Times has featured the work of many Oberlin alumni, including Eric Bogosian ’76, Julie Taymor ’74 to James Burrows ’62, and Bill Irwin ’73, to name just a few. In recent weeks, Oberlin alumni have again caught the attention of the national arts scene with reviews in the Times: playwright Michael Hollinger ’84, musicians Karen O ’00 and Brian Chase ’00 of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and filmmakers Ry Russo-Young’03 and Lena Dunham ’08.

Michael Hollinger ’84 - Opus
In the August 8 review titled “Before the Big Night: Beethoven, Sweat, Tears,” Times critic Charles Isherwood wrote, “Sex, drugs and chamber music! Slapped on a bumper or emblazoned across a T-shirt, that phrase wouldn’t have the incendiary ring of the celebrated original, would it? Nevertheless, those are three key elements in Opus, an absorbing new play by Michael Hollinger ... about the unstrung lives of the members of a world-famous string quartet.” Introduced as “a former violist who moved on to theater after studying music at Oberlin,” the 1984 graduate recounts in a multimedia sidebar how his training as a musician inspired him to write Opus, which is his sixth play to be professionally produced.
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Karen O ’00 and Brian Chase ’00 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The July 29 Times Playlistsays the “audaciously offbeat” New York trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs, whose bandmates Karen O. and drummer Brian Chase '00 met at Oberlin, has just released a new EP, Is Is (Interscope). “So far the EP has been a potent delivery system for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,” says the Times. “The band made its name with one, self-titled, in 2001; another one, released the following year, only fueled the hype.” Their latest EP “fulfills a similar function, to get people fired up again. …Karen O seizes every chorus with her best feral yowl, while her partners…sound as tautly focused as ever.” On August 3, the Times’ pop section followed up with, “Viva Brooklyn avant-rock. This guitar-drums-squeals trio just released a new EP ‘Is Is’ and it’s pure Yeah Yeah Yeahs: swaggering, raw-throat vocals from Karen O over spare and slashing blues-punk.”|
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Ry Russo-Young ’03 - Hannah Takes the Stairs
Page One of the August 22 New York Times arts section features photos of Ry Russo-Young ’03. The award-winning independent filmmaker is an ensemble member of Hannah Takes the Stairs, “an evolutionary entry in the so-called Do It Yourself independent film movement,” says Times movie critic Matt Zoller Seitz. Working without a script, Russo-Young and five other actors improvised the story and share writing credit for the film, part of a series titled The New Talkies: Generation D.I.Y. running now through September 3 at Greenwich Village’s IFC Film Center. While a student at Oberlin, Russo-Young shot a 35mm short, Babes in Toyland, shown at the Torino Film Festival. Orphans, her feature directorial debut, premieredat SXSW 2007 in Austin, and won a special jury prize for narrative feature film. Marion, an homage to Psycho, won a Silver Hugo for best experimental short film at the 2005 Chicago International Film Festival.
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Lena Dunham ’08 - Tight Shots
In Times Screens, its online video column, commentator Virginia Heffernan says Tight Shots by Lena Dunham ’08 is “a daffy serial about kids trying to make a movie and be artsy and have tons of sex that premiered on “the sexy cool Nerve Video on July 10.” Dunham, a creative writing major, created and directed the “deadpan” web series. “Everyone in Tight Shots is annoying, hilarious, familiar,” notes Heffernan, “and also totally touching if you’ve ever had a soft spot for Oberlin/ Bennington/Vassar/ Brown people.”  She ends, “There are five short episodes, and about Tight Shots all I really can say is: JUST WATCH.” Dunham also shot a feature film this summer, a short was selected by the 2007 Slamdance film festival, and she made another short, co-written with her mother, starring Meryl Streep.
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