Class Note 2011
Issue
November-December 2020
Please welcome a guest column by Nikki Del Principe.
Hello, fellow ’11s! I’m writing this from my husband’s and my new home in Memphis, Tennessee (you may have known me as Nikki Brown, but after getting married last August to Kevin Del Principe, I changed my last name). For me, these challenging times have shed light on the value of adaptability—a quality that my time at Dartmouth helped foster.
I had a career plan when I started my freshman year, but, probably like many of you, my path ultimately diverged quite a bit from my initial conception. I arrived in the fall of 2007 with the aim of studying biology to become a naturalist. In fact, my dream since third grade had been to become a sort of Jane Goodall for wild cats. As fantastical and perhaps naive as this ambition was, I was on track to realize my goal. While at Dartmouth I did an internship modeling the population dynamics of wildebeest, went on the biology study abroad program in Costa Rica and the Cayman Islands, and then did another study abroad program for aspiring animal behavioralists in Kenya through Michigan State University. Throughout this time I was also taking film classes and feeding a hunger for storytelling that I’ve had since I was a child. As much as I loved learning about the natural world, by the time spring of 2011 rolled around I realized that storytelling was my real calling.
I started the M.F.A. writing for screen and television program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles that fall. Film school was challenging in a very different way than my biology studies had been. It took me a few years to learn that writing wasn’t about getting the right answer and more about a process of discovery that never really ends. Perhaps the best part of USC was that I met my eventual husband and creative partner, Kevin Del Principe, there.
We became a couple and creative team after graduation and made two short films before embarking on our first feature, Up on the Glass (watch the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/369844065).
The story is about a wanderer named Jack DiMercurio who secretly desires the life and wife of his more affluent friend, Andy Shelton. One heinous act allows Jack to draw closer to Andy’s wife, Liz, but Jack finds living Andy’s life is a dangerous lie. Fun movie fact: The three main characters met at Dartmouth. It’s been quite the journey to work on one project for six years and finally arrive at the point where we can share it with audiences. (It’s currently available across streaming platforms and on Blu-ray and DVD in North American via our distributor, Gravitas Ventures.)
Though I did not end up researching animal behavior as I had planned, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and interests that I originally fostered at Dartmouth has been immensely helpful in independent filmmaking. It is this ability to evolve in the face of new challenges that has allowed me to continue to grow as an artist. Kevin and I created our production company, Save Them Wild Dogs, to tell the stories of the misunderstood, misrepresented, and too-often overlooked, with a focus on the Midwest and mid-South. To find out more about the film, visit upontheglass.com and our production company at savethemwilddogs.com. Feel free to reach out to me via my website, nikkidelprincipe.com. I’d love to hear from you!
—Hillary S. Cheng, 26611 La Roda, Mission Viejo, CA 92691; (603) 546-8452; hillary.s.cheng@dartmouth.edu
Hello, fellow ’11s! I’m writing this from my husband’s and my new home in Memphis, Tennessee (you may have known me as Nikki Brown, but after getting married last August to Kevin Del Principe, I changed my last name). For me, these challenging times have shed light on the value of adaptability—a quality that my time at Dartmouth helped foster.
I had a career plan when I started my freshman year, but, probably like many of you, my path ultimately diverged quite a bit from my initial conception. I arrived in the fall of 2007 with the aim of studying biology to become a naturalist. In fact, my dream since third grade had been to become a sort of Jane Goodall for wild cats. As fantastical and perhaps naive as this ambition was, I was on track to realize my goal. While at Dartmouth I did an internship modeling the population dynamics of wildebeest, went on the biology study abroad program in Costa Rica and the Cayman Islands, and then did another study abroad program for aspiring animal behavioralists in Kenya through Michigan State University. Throughout this time I was also taking film classes and feeding a hunger for storytelling that I’ve had since I was a child. As much as I loved learning about the natural world, by the time spring of 2011 rolled around I realized that storytelling was my real calling.
I started the M.F.A. writing for screen and television program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles that fall. Film school was challenging in a very different way than my biology studies had been. It took me a few years to learn that writing wasn’t about getting the right answer and more about a process of discovery that never really ends. Perhaps the best part of USC was that I met my eventual husband and creative partner, Kevin Del Principe, there.
We became a couple and creative team after graduation and made two short films before embarking on our first feature, Up on the Glass (watch the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/369844065).
The story is about a wanderer named Jack DiMercurio who secretly desires the life and wife of his more affluent friend, Andy Shelton. One heinous act allows Jack to draw closer to Andy’s wife, Liz, but Jack finds living Andy’s life is a dangerous lie. Fun movie fact: The three main characters met at Dartmouth. It’s been quite the journey to work on one project for six years and finally arrive at the point where we can share it with audiences. (It’s currently available across streaming platforms and on Blu-ray and DVD in North American via our distributor, Gravitas Ventures.)
Though I did not end up researching animal behavior as I had planned, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and interests that I originally fostered at Dartmouth has been immensely helpful in independent filmmaking. It is this ability to evolve in the face of new challenges that has allowed me to continue to grow as an artist. Kevin and I created our production company, Save Them Wild Dogs, to tell the stories of the misunderstood, misrepresented, and too-often overlooked, with a focus on the Midwest and mid-South. To find out more about the film, visit upontheglass.com and our production company at savethemwilddogs.com. Feel free to reach out to me via my website, nikkidelprincipe.com. I’d love to hear from you!
—Hillary S. Cheng, 26611 La Roda, Mission Viejo, CA 92691; (603) 546-8452; hillary.s.cheng@dartmouth.edu