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Photo from HPT 133, setting up the theater

Alumni Spotlight

Will Aronson

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals proudly congratulates alum Will Aronson, who won the Tony awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical for his musical Maybe Happy Ending, alongside Hue Park. Maybe Happy Ending also won the highest honor of the evening, Best Musical, with lead actor Darren Criss winning Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. Overall, the production took home 6 wins at the 78th Tony Awards.

At the Pudding, Will composed HPT 154: Snow Place Like Home, and served as co-author and lyricist for HPT 155: It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.

Were you part of the magic—onstage, backstage, or behind the scenes? We love celebrating the incredible achievements of our alumni!

Share your latest projects, awards, and adventures with [email protected] for a chance to be featured on our website and social channels.

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Notable Alumni

- John Adams, 1775
  - Attended First Continental Congress; Signed Declaration of Independence; First US Vice President, 1789; Second US President, 1796
- John Quincy Adams, 1788
  - US Senator; Secretary of State under President James Monroe; Sixth US President, 1825-1829; US Representative
- Phillips Brooks, 1855
  - Clergyman; lyricist of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”; namesake of Phillips Brooks House Associtation
  - Performed in the Pudding; It is rumored that he was cast for his height (he was around 6 foot 3)
- Henry Hobson Richardson, 1859
  - Architect; designed Trinity Church, First Baptist Chruch, and Sever Hall amongst others; invented Richardson Romanesque style
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1861
  - Served on the US Supreme Court for 30 years; Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
  - Performed in three Pudding productions, including 1860’s Raising the Wind
- Robert Todd Lincoln, 1864
  - Two-time Secretary of War (under Presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur) and US Ambassador to the Court of St. James (under President Benjamin Harrison)
  - Vice President of HPC and Member of HPT
- Charles Follen McKim, 1867
  - Architect and Founder of McKim, Mead, and White responsible for the Boston Public Library and Penn Station amongst others
- Henry Cabot Lodge, 1872
  - Massachusetts Senator; US Senate majority leader; Best known for his battles with President Woodrow Wilson over the Treaty of Versailles; Successfully prevented the US entry to the League of Nations
  - Performed in and wrote Pudding shows
- Edmund March Wheelwright, 1876
  - City Architect of Boston; Architect of the Longfelllow Bridge and the Harvard Lampoon Castle, among other projects
  - Performed in the Pudding and was Artist
- Francis Attwood, 1880 (did not graduate)
  - Artist/cartoonist for Cosmopolitan and Life Magazine
  - Artist for the Pudding, designed sets and props
- Theodore Roosevelt, 1880
  - 26th President of the United States
  - Secretary; referred to the then-dingy theater space as “the shed”.
- Owen Wister, 1882
  - Author. Wrote The Virginian, effectively inventing the Western genre as we know it. Dedicated it to Teddy Roosevelt
  - Wrote 1882’s Dido and Aeneas, which brought the Pudding widespread acclaim and was the impetus to build 12 Holyoke St.
- William Randolph Hearst, 1885 (did not graduate)
  - Newspaper, publishing and business magnate; Publisher of The San Francisco Examiner and The New York Journal; US Representative
  - Played a character named Pretzel; was expelled from Harvard after presenting his teachers with chamber pots instead of pudding pots, was expunged from all Harvard records
- George Santayana, 1886
  - Famous man-of-letters and historian: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” and “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
  - Played Lady Elfrida in 1885’s Robin Hood
- JP Morgan, Jr., 1886
  - Helped to rescue the America economy during the Banking Panic of 1907; Prominent financier and investment banker
  - Business manager for 1889’s The Duenna; Ironically, given his later financial successes, nearly bankrupted the Pudding while he was the manager
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1904
  - 32nd President of the United States; New York State Senator; Assistant Secretary of the Navy; New York Governor
  - Played a chorus girl in HPT 59:Catnippers; Treasurer
- Harry Elkins Widener, 1907
  - Book Collector; Died on the Titanic; Mother donated Widener Library in his memory
  - Performed in HPT 63: The Lotus-Eaters
- John S. Reed, 1910
  - Journalist and prominent member of the American Communist Labor Party; Best known for his first hand account of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ten Days that Shook the World. Buried in the Kremlin Necropolis
  - Wrote the lyrics for HPT 66: Diana’s Debut
- Robert Benchley, 1912-1913
  - Columnist for The New Yorker and Vanity Fair; Algonquin Round Table member; Academy Award winner for his short film How to Sleep; appearances in many other films
  - Cast member in HPT 67: The Crystal Gazer and HPT 68: Below Zero
- Robert Sherwood, 1918
  - Playwright, editor, screenwriter; Algonquin Round Table member; Sat on the board of Vanity Fair with Robert Benchley; wrote many notable American plays, including The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946 Academy Award for Best Screenplay
  - Wrote HPT 74: Barnum Was Right
- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., 1924
  - United States Senator from Massachusetts; US Ambassador to United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See
  - Lyricist for HPT 77: Take A Brace
- Alistair Cooke, 1932
  - American and British radio and television personality; host of Masterpiece Theatre on PBS for 22 seasons; Foreign correspondent for the London Times; Hosted Letter from America on BBC for fifty five years
  - Directed HPT 88: Hades, the Ladies
- Archibald Cox, 1934
  - Law professor; Served as the US Solicitor General under President Kennedy; first special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal; Journal of Legal Studies “Most cited legal scholars of the 20th century”
  - Assistant Manager HPT 87: Step Lively
- John F. Kennedy, 1940
  - 35th US President; US Senator; US Representative
  - Active Member in the Hasty Pudding Club
- Alan Jay Lerner, 1940
  - Won three Tony Awards and three Oscars for his work as a librettist, which included writing the book for movies Gigi, My Fair Lady, and An American in Paris; With fellow Harvard grad (and honorary Krok) Leonard Bernstein, wrote Lonely Men of Harvard
  - Wrote and participated in HPT 92: So Proudly We Hail and HPT 93: Fair Enough; often played pool with JFK in Farkas Hall
- Jack Lemmon, 1947
  - Actor in more than 60 films, including Some Like It Hot and The Odd Couple; received two Academy Awards
  - First performed in drag in HPT: 97 Proof of the Pudding; President of the Pudding in 1947; Man of the Year in 1973
- George Plimpton, 1948-1950
  - Sports writer for Sports Illustrated; known for co-founding and editing The Paris Review; Author of Paper Lion, among other books; has made cameo appearances in many shows and films
  - Performed in the Pudding
- Fred Gwynne, 1951
  - Acted in sitcoms like Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters; Known for his role as Judge Chamberlain Haller in My Cousin Vinny
  - Played Pablo in HPT 101: Tomorrow is Manaña and the Sheriff in HPT 102: Heart of Gold
- Ted Kennedy, 1956
  - United States Senator from MA; Lion of the Senate
  - Active Hasty Pudding Club member
- Erich Segal, 1958
  - Wrote both novel and screenplay version of Love Story
  - Wrote HPT 110: The Big Fizz
- Stockard Channing, 1965
  - Three-time Emmy and one-time Tony award winning actress; played Betty Rizzo in Grease film and First Lady Abby Bartlet in The West Wing
  - Tech member in HPT 116: William Had The Words; got her last name from marrying Pudding Member, Walter Channing
- William Weld, 1966
  - 68th Governor of Massachusetts; Federal prosecutor in the US Justice Department
  - Performed in the cast of HPT 116, 117, and 118; Cast VP in 1966
- Doug Kenney, 1968
  - Co-founder of the National Lampoon; wrote Animal House and Caddyshack
  - Performed in HPT 118: Right Up Your Alley and HPT 119: A Hit And A Myth
- Mark O’Donnell, 1976
  - Along with Thomas Meehan, received the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Hairspray; Again with Meehan, wrote the 2007 film adaptation for Hairspray
  - Writer and librettist for three Pudding productions
- Grover Norquist, 1978
  - Founder and President of Americans for Tax Reform
  - Production Assistant for HPT 128: Tots in Tinsletown
- Deval Patrick, 1978
  - 71st Governor of Massachusetts
  - Active Member of the Hasty Pudding Club
- Charlie Baker, 1979
  - 72nd Governor of Massachusetts; CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
  - Active Member of the Hasty Pudding Club
- Paris Barclay, 1979
  - First African-American and openly gay President of the Directors Guild of America; Directed music videos for stars like Janet Jackson, LL Cool Jay, and Bob Dylan; Directed over 120 episodes for major television shows like Glee, The West Wing, and Lost; Earned two Emmy Awards for NYPD Blue; Executive producer of FX’s highest rated series ever, Sons of Anarchy
  - Wrote the music for HPT 129: Cardinal Knowledge and HPT 131: Overtures in Asia Minor
- Phil Murphy, 1979
  - 56th Governor of New Jersey; U.S. Ambassador to Germany
  - President of HPT 131: Overtures in Asia Minor; Cast VP of HPT 130: A Thousand Clones; four year cast member as Jeanette Tickdrift in HPT 128: Tots in Tinseltown, Reston Peace in HPT 129: Cardinal Knowledge, Xylo Phone in HPT 130: A Thousand Clones, and Carson O’Genick in HPT 131: Overtures in Asia Minor
- Andy Borowitz, 1980
  - Creator of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; Co-produced Pleasantville; Creator of The Borowitz Report, a satire news website; New York Times bestselling author; first recipient of the National Press Club award for humor; Contributing writer for The New Yorker, The Borowitz Report
  - Wrote HPT 130: A Thousand Clones
- Dean Norris, 1985
  - Actor with numerous roles, most notably as Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad
  - Performed in HPT 135: Of Mines and Men; video here
- Paul Felix, 1987
  - Walt Disney animator and visual development designer for Mulan, Tarzan, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Brother Bear, among others; Production designer for Lilo and Stitch; Art director for Bolt
  - Artist for the HPT 138: Between the Sheiks
- Peter Sagal, 1987
  - Playwright and host of the NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!
  - Cast member in HPT 137 and HPT 138; co-author of HPT 138: Between the Sheiks
- Larry O’Keefe, 1991
  - Composer and lyricist for Bat Boy: The Musical; Sarah, Plain and Tall; and Legally Blonde: The Musical; and Heathers: The Musical
  - Performed in HPT 140 and HPT 143 shows; Composed HPT 142 and HPT 143 (book by Mo Rocca); Co-authored HPT 145 with Nell Benjamin and Mark O’Keefe
- Mo Rocca, 1991
  - Was a regular contributor to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and NBC’s The Tonight Show and MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann; Specializes in political satire; Currently featured on CBS News Sunday Morning and My Grandmother’s Raviloli
  - President of HPT in 1990; Authored HPT 142: Suede Expectations; Performed in HPT 140, 141, 142, and 143
- Nell Benjamin, 1993
  - Co-wrote Cam Jansen; Sarah, Plain and Tall; and Legally Blonde: The Musical; wrote The Explorers Club
  - Co-wrote HPT 145: Romancing the Throne with the O’Keefe brothers; on Tech Crew for HPT 143, 144, and 145
- David Javerbaum, 1993
  - Former Executive Producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; Recipient of 11 Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and Television Critics Association Awards for Best Comedy and Best News Show; co-author/producer for America (The Book) and Earth (The Book). Last Testament of God.
  - Lyricist and co-author for HPT 144: Up Your Ante and HPT 146: A Forum Affair
- Mark O’Keefe, 1993
  - Screenwriter for Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty and Click
  - Co-authored HPT 145: Romancing the Throne with brother Larry and Nell Benjamin
- Rashida Jones, 1997
  - Actress in Boston Public, The Office, I Love You, Man, The Social Network, and Parks and Recreation, among other shows and movie
  - Co-composed the score for HPT 149: Me and My Galaxy; Businees Staff member HPT 147 and HPT 149
- BJ Novak, 2001
  - Actor and writer for The Office. Appeared in Inglorious Basterds. Author.
  - Active Member of Hasty Pudding Club
- Megan Amram, 2010
  - Author; writer for Parks and Recreation, Science…For Her.
  - Co-writer of HPT 161: Acropolis Now and HPT 162: Commie Dearest with Alexandra Petri (‘10) as part of the Pudding’s first all-female writing team
- Will Aronson,
  - 78th Tony award for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending. The musical won a total of 6 Tony’s, including Best Musical
  - Composer of HPT 154: There’s Snow Place Like Home, Co-author/Lyricist of HPT 155: It’s a Wonderful Afterlife