THE BOOK OF MORMON Producer Anne Garefino Set for Boston College's 16th Annual Arts Festival, 4/24-25

Campus arts in all genres will be celebrated and showcased -and the achievements of accomplished alumni arts professionals will be highlighted-at Boston College's 16th annual Arts Festival, Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26, 2014.

Returning to campus as a special guest is 1981 alumna Anne Garefino, executive producer of the long-running TV series South Park and Broadway hit The Book of Mormon , which is playing in April at the Boston Opera House. Garefino-whose production credits also include the popular movie Team America: World Police-will be honored with an alumni arts achievement award and will participate in special festival programming on April 24 and 25.

These free, public events include: a career-related interview program titled "Inside the BC Studio," modeled after Bravo's Inside the Actor's Studio (April 24, 3:30-4:15 p.m.) and participation in an "Insider Industry Panel," with Phil Gilpin (class of 2003), executive director of ITVFest (The Independent Television and Film Festival) (April 24, 4:15-5 p.m.), among other alumni. She also will be at a screening/ discussion of the 2011 South Park documentary Six Days to Air (April 25, 2-3 p.m.). A New Jersey native, Garefino graduated from BC's Carroll School of Management with a degree in finance. She then worked in public television and later studied film production at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

Garefino has been Executive Producer of more than 150 episodes of Comedy Central's South Park; now in its 17th season, the show has won numerous awards including five Emmys, a Peabody Award, and a nod from TV Guide as the tenth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time. Garefino went on to produce two feature-length films collaborators with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) and Team America: World Police (2004).

Their partnership expanded when they teamed up with Hollywood and Broadway producer Scott Rudin and composer/lyricist Robert Lopez to create The Book of Mormon, which opened on Broadway in March 2011 and continues its run. The production won nine Tony Awards--including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score--and went on to national and international tours. It will be performed at the Boston Opera House during the month of April.

Garefino will be presented with the annual Boston College Arts Council Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement- at a public arts awards presentation and reception on April 25 from 4-6 p.m. in the Art Tent located on BC's Middle Campus by Stokes Hall.