Humanitas One hundred years of theater, stained glass, and new suggestions for your bookshelf

The latest edition of Humanitas, a column focused on the arts and humanities at Yale, includes a podcast from David Geffen School of Drama, stained-glass doors for Morse College, new faculty books in philosophy, classics, and the arts, and more.

For more, please visit an archive of all arts and humanities coverage at Yale News.

Celebrating — and illuminating — a century of theatrical education at Yale

For 100 years, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale has helped bring countless stories to the stage. In a new podcast, it’s taken on yet another: its own. 

“Oh, the Drama!” — hosted by David Geffen School of Drama alum and Emmy- and Tony-winning actor Courtney B. Vance ’86 M.F.A. — celebrates the school’s centennial by exploring the extraordinary history and artistry that have shaped it. Across 10 episodes, the podcast delves into the Geffen School’s evolution from a small training program to a leading professional school and offers a deep dive into each of its eight programs, from creative disciplines like playwrighting and acting to behind-the-scenes roles like dramaturgy and stage management.

In addition to Vance, “Oh, the Drama!” boasts appearances from prominent alumni and faculty members including current dean and longtime theater professional Evan Yionoulis; James Magruder, author of “The Play’s the Thing,” a history of Yale Repertory Theatre; and Oscar-winning actor Frances McDormand ’82 M.F.A. 

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

A stained-glass entry to Morse

A brightly colored work of art now greets those entering the common room in Morse College: a pair of stained-glass panels set into the double doors, designed and fabricated by Ben Rosenthal ’26 and installed last May. 

The design, based on the Morse College crest, has blue and white panels of glass set in a decorative pattern and a diagonally laid red axe. Running down the left panel, the word “Morse” is spelled out in red in Morse code. (The use of code, said Rosenthal, allowed him to include writing that would be legible from both outside and inside the common room space.)

Rosenthal’s first consideration, he said, was the modernist style of the college itself, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1961. He was also inspired by Morse’s artistic legacy, including the Claes Oldenburg sculpture “Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks,” long installed in the college courtyard before being recently relocated to the Yale University Art Gallery, and the nine-foot-tall neon axe designed by Jacob Eldred ’24, found in the college dining hall. 

“Stained glass is often thought of as a more traditional craft and is heavily associated with early-20th century design, so I enjoyed being able to use the medium to make something more modern,” he said.

Rosenthal first began making stained glass pieces with his grandfather at age 11; this is his first piece to be exhibited publicly. His work for Morse was supported by a Creative and Performing Arts Award and, at graduation, he received the Stanton Wheeler and Marcia Chambers Award for his artistic contributions to Morse. “Ultimately,” Rosenthal said, “I just really enjoyed the chance to create art to give back to my college.”

New books by faculty authors

What do the social dynamics of patriarchy, the career of an acclaimed Broadway composer, the history of Latin poetry in colonial Central and South America, and the legacy of a Dutch Golden Age painter have in common? They’re all the subjects of recent books by members of Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). 

In “Real Men on Top: How Patriarchy Shapes our Reality” (Oxford University Press), Robin Dembroff argues for a conception of patriarchy beyond a system where men are in charge — “as a force that governs how we see the world, live in our bodies, and imagine our futures.” Dembroff is associate professor of philosophy in FAS.

“A Very Unusual Way: Maury Yeston and His Singular Path to Broadway and Beyond” (SUNY Press), by Joshua Rosenblum, is a comprehensive look at the life and career of the titular songsmith, best known for the Tony Award–winning musicals “Nine,” “Titanic,” and “Grand Hotel.” Drawing on dozens of interviews and Yeston’s own personal archive, Rosenblum weaves together musical analysis, behind-the-scenes insights, and perspectives from collaborators such as Stephen Sondheim and Barbara Streisand. Rosenblum is a lecturer in the department of music in FAS.

“Empire’s Companion: Virgilian Epics from Colonial Iberoamerica” (University of Chicago Press), by Erika Valdivieso, explores the influence of Virgil’s “Aeneid” on the way Spanish and Portuguese colonial elites perceived and shaped the New World in the 16th to 18th centuries. Valdivieso is assistant professor of classics in FAS and director of graduate studies for Yale’s Early Modern Studies program.

Marking the 350th anniversary of the death of painter Johannes Vermeer, “Vermeer’s Afterlives” (Princeton University Press), by Ruth Bernard Yeazell, traces how the 19th-century rise of art history as a discipline revived the reputation of the once-forgotten Dutch master. In doing so, Yeazell examines not only Vermeer’s legacy but shifting attitudes toward art itself. Yeazell is Sterling Professor of English in FAS.

And more to read – from summer into fall

It’s not too late to pick up one last summer read — or get your list ready for the fall. Recently, Yale faculty from across the university offered some of their selections for the long days of summer, including novels, memoirs, histories, essays, and more. Explore them all. 

‘America at 250’ in graphic art

Mia Rose Kohn was among the 800 or so Yale students and New Haven community members who attended “America at 250,” last fall’s DeVane Lecture series. Taught jointly by Yale historians David Blight, Joanne Freeman, and Beverly Gage, all in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the semester-long course examined the complicated, ever-shifting conversation across time about what America is or should be.

Kohn, now a senior in Yale College, said she was immediately inspired by “the energy and community and level-headed hope” in the lecture hall. Wanting to share that “alternative reality” more broadly, Kohn created a work of graphic journalism around one of the course’s key takeaways: rather than idealize the nation’s founders as either heroes or castigate them as villains, we might instead view them as brave but fallible people who were trying to understand the best path forward.

Titled “The founders’ humanity,” the graphic article was published in the Boston Globe in a special July 4 section focused on the nation’s semiquincentennial.

“I conceived of the article as both a piece of public history in which to share the insights of my professors and the documents we studied, and a story about the class itself enacting a third option for how to relate to our founding fathers and talk about American history at large,” Kohn said. 

Kohn writes a graphic column for the Forward, a non-profit Jewish news site. Her cartoons and illustrated articles have also appeared in the Yale Daily News.

Faculty accolades 

David Knight, assistant professor of sociology and Black studies in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), was awarded a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study for the 2026-27 academic year.

One of the foremost centers for intellectual inquiry, the institute, located in Princeton, New Jersey, promotes independent inquiry across four schools — Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Science. Visiting scholars are selected by the institute’s permanent faculty, through a highly competitive process, for their bold ideas, innovative methods, and deep research questions.

Knight is a political sociologist of the carceral state who studies how communities experience mass incarceration and mobilize in response to it. He is also part of The Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School.

Yale philosopher Luciano Floridi received the 2026 Strega International Non-Fiction Prize, the top award in Italian literature, for his recent work on artificial intelligence and ethics relating to digital information. 

Floridi, the John K. Castle Professor in the Practice of Cognitive Science in FAS and director of Yale’s Digital Ethics Center, is a pioneer in the study of the ethical and conceptual implications of the information age, producing work that has presciently addressed the world-changing benefits and potential risks of digital technology.

The award recognizes Floridi’s recent research on artificial intelligence and information ethics, including the Italian editions of his books “The Fundamental Difference, Artificial Agency: A New Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence” (translated into Italian by Massimo Durante, Mondadori, 2025) and “The Ethical Knot: Information and Values ​​in the Digital Society” (translated by Massimo Durante, Raffaello Cortina Editore, 2026).

Established in 1947, The Premio Strega is awarded annually to the best works of literature that are written in Italian. It is widely considered Italy’s most prestigious literary prize. 

Beverly Gage’s new book, “This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History” (Simon and Schuster), is featured on former president Barack Obama’s popular summer reading list. Released annually, the list for 2026 includes 11 fiction and non-fiction selections. 

Gage is the John Lewis Gaddis Professor of History in FAS. In her book, inspired by the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence, she writes about the fierce tensions throughout American history as manifested, memorialized, and sometimes distorted at some 300 historic sites, including museums, parks, battlefields, and monuments, around the country.

Lisa Prevost, Peter Cunningham, Andrea Thompson Peed, and Michael Cummings contributed to this column.