Masthead

Editor-in-Chief

Morgan Holder (Dance Editor) is a senior majoring in Dance and English with a minor in Liberal Arts through the Blount Scholars Program at the University of Alabama. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Ripple Arts Review. Holder is the recipient of the Hudson Strode Prize for best essay on Shakespeare, as well as the Edith Barnes Award for Choreography, Writing, and Dance History. A dancer and choreographer, Morgan is a member of Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre, Yonder Contemporary Dance Company, and the inaugural class of the Emerging Choreographers Showcase. Morgan has performed and presented choreography internationally, regionally, and at the University of Alabama. Holder has performed in an original work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with YCDC. She has also presented choreography in the American Dance Festival Student Concert, Dance Alabama, and Greater Giving. Term: spring 2023–present. Email.

Section & Associate Editors

Emily Adcock (Community Engagement Editor) is pursuing dual degrees, a BA in English and History, a minor in Social Innovation and Leadership through the University Fellows Experience, as well as an MBA. At the University of Alabama, she is a member of the Blackburn Institute, UA Vote Everywhere, the Honors College Ambassadors, and serves as the Content and Strategy Consultant for Crossroads Civic Engagement Center’s Civic Learning Lab. Her work in community and civic engagement, alongside a voracious appetite for coffee and art, informs her editorial work; with a beverage in hand, she looks forward to exploring and capturing the local arts scene here in Tuscaloosa and Northport. Term: fall 2023–present. Email.

Burke Codemo (Theatre Editor) is a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in English with a minor in Digital, Public, and Professional Writing at the University of Alabama. As Theatre Editor, they are interested technical and storytelling choices made within a production and how they pertain to the climate of the greater Tuscaloosa-Northport area. Burke is an active company member of the Alabama Shakespeare Project (#rollethtide) with four ASP productions under their belt. They hope to help expand the view of the Tuscaloosa-Northport theatre scene beyond campus to local companies and productions. Term: fall 2023–present. Email.

Carissa Ferguson (Dance Associate Editor) is a senior majoring in Musical Theatre and minoring in English at the University of Alabama. Hailing from Pensacola, Florida, she is a member of Crimson Stage, serves as President of Alpha Psi Omega, and is a Student Coordinator for Recruitment and Retention for the Musical Theatre Department at UA. Carissa also owns her own media business where she provides voiceovers to hundreds of clients across the globe. Passionate about both performing and writing, Carissa is excited to meld the two while working for Ripple, and looks forward to bringing more awareness to the vibrant arts community in Tuscaloosa. Term: spring 2024–present. Email.

Colby Johnson (Dance Associate Editor) Term: fall 2023–present. Email.

Olivia Lee (Music & Opera Editor) is a junior double major in Musical Theatre and English at the University of Alabama. With a background rich in music, theatre, dance, and literature of all kinds, she is most inspired by environments in which all of these spheres overlap – and what can be discovered when they do. Lee serves as the Vice President of Alpha Psi Omega Theatre Honor Society, is an active member of both Chi Omega and Crimson Stage. She has performed in several productions on campus with the UA Theatre and Dance department, Alabama Shakespeare Project, Dance Alabama!, as well as many student productions. Term: fall 2023–present. Email.

Dorian Pate (Creative Writing Editor) is a queer writer and artist from the southeast U.S., as well as an Alabama School of Fine Arts alumni. They are currently an undergraduate pursuing a BA in economics with a minor in creative writing and liberal arts with the Blount Scholars program. They have had both their poetry and nonfiction have appeared in Cadence, The Roanoke Review, The Sheepshead Review, and 805 Lit + Art. Originally rooted in Birmingham, one of the cultural hubs of Alabama, they grew to become deeply passionate about the importance of community and the versatility of artistic expression. Term: spring 2023–present. Email.

Sumlin Pate (Fine Arts Editor) is an undergraduate at the University of Alabama majoring in Spanish and Interdisciplinary Studies (New College), with a minor in the Liberal Arts through the Blount Scholars Program. Engaging with the arts has been part of Pate’s life for years. Here in Tuscaloosa, she has been part of Tuscaloosa Community Dancers, The Actors Charitable Trust, and Riverwood Classical Ballet School. Along with the performing arts, Pate has pursued the fine arts and music. She fell in love with fine arts however during her time in Spain. Pate loves sharing this joy of the arts with others and is thrilled to be part of this project. She hopes to discover the art community in West Alabama and share it with the community at large. Term: spring 2023–present. Email.

Faculty Advisory Board

Elizabeth E. Tavares (co-advisor) is a reviewer of performances of medieval, Renaissance, and contemporary theatre live and online, on stage and screen. Her reviews have appeared in scholarly and popular venues including Shakespeare Bulletin, Scene, Shakespeare Newsletter, and In the Glassy Margents. Tavares’s work has appeared in special volumes including Shakespeare 400 Chicago: Reflections on a City’s Celebration of Shakespeare, to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary, and the special issue “Shakespeare in Lockdown,” reflecting on streaming performances during the recent global pandemic. She is assistant professor of English with the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies at the University of Alabama. Term: spring 2023–present. Email.

Fen Kennedy (co-advisor) is a dancer and scholar in the Theatre and Dance department of the University of Alabama. Their research – theoretical and physical – explores how dance explores the values and norms of society, and how those norms can be challenged and changed. Their work can be read in Dance Chronicle, Dance Research Journal, and the Journal of Dance Education, as well as in the edited collections Performance as Public Art and Picture a Professor. They serve on the editorial board of the Tradition-Innovations Journal and the Activist History Review. Kennedy’s choreography has been seen most recently at the Gadsden Museum of Art as part of the Finches installation project. In 2023 Kennedy was a writer in residence at the National Humanities Center, and artist in residence at the Hambidge Center. Kennedy is a passionate advocate for equity in the arts and arts writing. Term: fall 2023–present. Email.

Brandon Colvin (board member) is an award-winning filmmaker and assistant professor in the Department of Journalism & Creative Media at the University of Alabama. As a writer/director/producer, his three feature films—Frames (2012), Sabbatical (2014), and A Dim Valley (2020)—have screened at dozens of film festivals around the world. He has also produced several celebrated short films, including Great Light (2018), Handheld (2020), and Dear Esther (2020). His upcoming feature film, The World Drops Dead, combines live-action and animation to tell two supernatural tales of familial love in the face of death. Colvin is an ardent supporter of independent filmmaking and feels that creating robust local & regional film cultures is critical for to the future of his chosen medium. Term: fall 2023–present. Email.

Matthew Minicucci (board member) is the award-winning author of four collections of poems. His poetry and essays have appeared in journals including American Poetry Review, The Believer, the Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, POETRY, and The Southern Review. His work has garnered numerous awards including the Stafford/Hall Oregon Book Award and the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, along with fellowships from organizations including the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Dartmouth College, the National Parks Service, and the James Merrill House, among others. An advisory board member for Ninth Letter, the award-winning magazine at the University of Illinois, he is currently an assistant professor in the Blount Scholars Program at the University of Alabama. Term: fall 2023–present. Email.

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