In celebration of the 15th Anniversary of Morristown ONSTAGE, we want to recognize Morristown High School alumni with careers in the arts and entertainment field. The District has an abundance of programs supporting A&E - so let's look at some MHS alumni who made a career in this industry.

These individuals were either self-nominated or recognized by their fellow classmates:

Jill Abramovitz - '89, TV/Broadway Actress and Producer
Jill's body of work includes appearing in Chicago Med, Law & Order SVU and The Marvelous Ms. Maisel in addition to Beetlejuice, Fiddler on the Roof and Cinderella on Broadway, among many others.
--I can't even begin to list the accolades for Jill, but I've enjoyed watching her on TV and hope to see her on Broadway again soon!

Carmela "Candi" Parillo - '50, Actress
Known by her stage name as Candi Parsons, Candy sang and danced in operettas. She was best known for Max Liebman Spectaculars, Talent Scouts and The George Skinner Show. She was also in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wish You Were Here.

Picture of Jimmy Haake, Carmela Austin, and Clive Coutts in Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince.

James Carruthers - '49, Actor
James was President of the MHS Dramatics Club and always wanted to be an actor. He's best known for his roles in The Amateur, Family Business and Tootsie, and was in many theatrical productions in the 1960s - 1980s.

Josh Gannet - '99, Recording & Mixing Engineer
Josh has worked on projects for a variety of artists spanning the full spectrum of genres including hip hop legends Redman, Wu Tang Clan, Logic, Erick Sermon, Havoc (Mobb Deep) and Sean Price, classic rock icons Keith Richards and Steve Miller, jazz greats Bucky Pizzarelli and Jose Feliciano, as well as mixing and/or being featured on multiple Billboard charting albums. He was also a Morristown ONSTAGE judge in 2017 and 2020.

James 'Gypsy' Haake - '50, Stage, Film, TV Actor, Comedienne
Known for The Morning After, To Be or Not to Be and Clifford, James is a veteran performer with a background in theatrical productions and is self proclaimed as the "World’s Oldest Working Drag Queen". 

Douglas Maddox - '57, Retired Set & Lighting Designer & Architect
Toured the world as technical director/lighting designer for Jose Limon Dance company, taught Lighting & Scene Design as well as Technical Theatre at Brandeis University, Penn State University and Middlebury College. Douglas was also the Assistant Designer in Man of LaMancha in New York city. Played in Skin of our Teeth at Morristown High School, then designed two productions of the play at other institutions.

John Launchi - '01, Producer
John is a creative writer/producer in network television at NBC Universal and works in all aspects of film, television and digital production.

Frances Palmer - '74, Ceramicist, Photographer and Gardener
Frances is a renowned potter known for her ceramics and her photography of flower arrangements. She makes inventive, handmade ceramics that and owns her own studio in Weston, CT named Frances Palmer Pottery.

Andrew Reich - '86, Emmy Award Winning Writer/Producer
Andrew spent seven years on Friends, the final three as Executive Producer/Showrunner.  His other credits include Rules of Engagement and Worst Week.  He recently was the showrunner of the Netflix sitcom All About the Washingtons and wrote the Candice Bergen-starring pilot, Pearl, which was produced for ABC. Andrew also is the creator and co-host of the Dead Pilots Society podcast on the Maximum Fun Network. He is currently directing the documentary Born Innocent: The Red Kross Story which is in post-production. 

Bruce Revesz - '56, Trumpet Player
Bruce performed with Three Penny Opera, Camelot, New York City Opera, Liberace, Henry Mancini, Sammy Davis, George Burns and Leonard Bernstein. He was also an Adjunct teacher of Trumpet at William Paterson University, Montclair State University, Kean colleges and privately.

Ronald Ritzie - '77, Artist 
His paintings have been featured at Art in the Atrium, Nabisco, Madison Square Garden and the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May, NJ. His work was also seen throughout Morristown including at the Morristown Neighborhood House.
--Ron’s art is brilliant and thoughtful.

Mike Ryan - '01, Communications
Mike pursued his dream of working in the entertainment industry, which began with him securing internships at the Howard Stern Radio show and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. From there he went on to WKTU in New York as the Executive Producer of the afternoon show with “Goumba Johnny” Sialiano and Sean “Hollywood” Hamilton.  In 2010, after revamping their WKTU's programming,  he left to start a new, exciting Top 40 radio station at the Jersey Shore B985.  He returned to WKTU in 2011 as Executive Producer for the KTU Morning Show with Paul “Cubby” Bryant and Cindy Vero. The Jersey shore was calling his name again when in 2013 he returned as Program Director for three radio stations (Thunder 106, Fun1071 and B985) and now works as a VP of Programming. He was also a Morristown ONSTAGE judge in 2017.

Ben Sesar - '88, Musician, Author, Teacher and Speaker 
A self-taught drummer, living in Nashville, touring, recording playing drums for various artists and musicians. When Ben is not on the road drumming for Brad Paisley, he can be found teaching drums online, connecting with friends in Nashville and working on new projects. Ben returned to Morristown to serve as a judge in Morristown ONSTAGE in 2017.

Megan Smith - '98, Designer and Front of House 
Meg was involved with Primetime MHS during high school and continued working in the industry with a career in design for iheartRadio, Live Nation and Audacy. She is currently working as a designer for stations including WFAN, 1010 WINS and CBSFM. A musical theatre lover during her time at MHS, she kept it up by working in the front of house for the theatre company Jujamcyn - opening many shows on Broadway including Hadestown, Frozen: The Broadway Musical, Springsteen on Broadway and SOMETHING ROTTEN!

Tom Spain – ’51, Documentary Film Maker
A passionate Tuba player in MHS bands and orchestras, Tom continued after school and created the film, If You Know Sousa on John Phillips Sousa, who famously played the tuba. He is still tootlin’ the tuba in Marshall’s Dixieland Band.

David Swanger - '58, Poet
Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz, David is the author of seven books, two on poetics and aesthetic theory respectively, three volumes of poetry and three chapbooks. His most recent of his poetry volumes, Wayne's College of Beauty, won the John Ciardi Poetry Prize and was named one of the year's best books by Forward Magazine. Other awards include a poetry fellowship from the N. E. A., the Foley Award from America Magazine, and several fellowships from the California Arts Council. He has published more than 100 poems in literary magazines, had poems featured on Prairie Home Companion, was the editor of Quarry West, and Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County. As laureate, David taught in the County's Homeless Shelter for four years, and throughout his career has given readings in schools and at civic events. He has also lectured and read his poetry in England and Canada. Laureate and otherwise, David sees himself as an ambassador on behalf of poetry. Lastly, in addition to seminars, etc. David taught one of the largest courses offered at U.C.S.C. (300 plus students) and won awards for teaching and counselling students.

David pictured with his family, Lauren, Max, Elissa and his wife, Lynn

Aaron Velasquez - '10, Electronic Music Producer, Beatboxer and DJ
Aaron was the first-ever winner of Morristown ONSTAGE, previously known as Morristown's Got Talent, in 2009. He credits Morristown’s Got Talent with jumpstarting his professional music career. Flamingosis is the moniker of Aaron Velasquez, (the name comes from a free-style Frisbee move that his father invented) who fuses together influence from beat scene pioneers like J Dilla with a deep love of vintage funk and disco to create new takes on old styles. Since graduating from Franklin & Marshall College in 2014, Aaron has performed all over the US, Canada and on 5 continents. In 2016 he was named one of the top 10 "who to watch" artists by Nest HQ. Highlights have been playing at Low End theory in Los Angeles, opening for RJD2, the Floozies, Lettuce, and headlining a Redbull sound select show in New Zealand. Some of the 2017 highlights will be Euphoria festival in Austin, Red Rocks in Colorado and a European tour.