On Wednesday night, Nov. 19, two of television's freshest faces will be on the Syracuse University campus, providing an evening of inspiration and entertainment.
Dascha Polanco [11], best known for her role as Dayanara "Daya" Diaz on Netflix's Orange Is The New Black [12], will speak in Hendricks Chapel at 7:17, presented by the Omega Phi Beta sorority. On OITNB, Polanco plays a quiet woman sent to the same prison as her mother. She deals with family loyalty and the prison's gendered power structure, and falls in love with a guard.
According to SU News, Polanco's talk will focus [13] on gender, body image, full-figured women in the media and being a role model to women of color. In a July 2014 interview [14] with Bustle, Polanco discussed the insecurities instilled in her by her upbringing; she was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Miami and Brooklyn.
"You look at novelas [Spanish soap operas] and things like that,” Polanco told Bustle. "The women are so small! Full head of hair. Fair-skinned. You get trained to think that way. My insecurity growing up [only] limited me in moving forward."
With her success on OITNB, she has gained confidence.
"I read messages from little girls telling me they think I’m beautiful,” she told Bustle. “And that validation - receiving love - means more than anything."
Admission to the Hendricks event is $3. Tickets are available at the Schine box office, which is open 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.
Also Wednesday night, at 8:00 in the Goldstein Auditorium at the Schine Student Center, comedian and Saturday Night Live writer John Mulaney [15] will perform. His appearance is a rescheduling [16] of his cancelled performance during Orange Central weekend in October.
Though Mulaney, 32, may be a fresh face to many outside the stand-up comedy community, he is well-established. He has written more than 90 episodes and sketches for SNL since 2009, including co-creating the character Stefan [17] with Bill Hader. He has an impressive [18] stand-up resume.
Mulaney's semi-autobiographical sitcom, Mulaney, premiered [19] this fall on Fox to bleak ratings and heavily negative criticism. On Monday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Mulaney talked about the sitcom experience, ratings and his mom's Google alerts.
Admission to Goldstein Auditorium is $5 for students and $7 for faculty/staff. Ticketholders for the cancelled Oct. 11 event must exchange their tickets at the Schine box office.
