Faculty Profile

Mindy Cooper
Professor of Theatre and Dance

Mindy Cooper has directed, choreographed, and performed on Broadway and Off-Broadway in Chicago - The Musical (original revival), Titanic (original cast), Dracula – The Musical, 50 Shades – The Musical Parody, Mars/Venus Live, The Eternal Space, Soul Doctor, Wrong Mountain, Five Course Love, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Song & Dance, and Tenderloin, as well as TV’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Her passion for new works has led to directing Being Seen (FringeNYC), Social Life: the Musical (industry reading), American Monkey (American premiere, industry reading), The Thing About Time (CapitolRep’s Next Act New Play Summit), The Gospel According To Tammy Faye, Mars/Venus Live (national tour), Still Will Be Heard (commissioned by Peak Performances) Deployed (NYMF), and at Town Hall NYC, Music In The Night – A Tribute to Jerome Kern, Broadway by the Year 1937, Broadway by the Year 1972 and Broadway by the Year Musicals of 1916-1940. With Steinway Recording Artist Lara Downes, she has directed/created the West Coast premiere of the opera The Magic Fish, and multimedia works including Long Time Coming. Her extensive regional work as a director has won 10 Bay Area Theater Critics Awards.  She is Founder and Co-Director of Ground and Field Theater Festival, dedicated to cultivating new theater works. groundandfield.com

Room 232, Wright Hall
Preferred Pronouns: She/her
mcoopergrenke[remove-this-and-replace-with-at]ucdavis.edu
Seasonal Event

Video Auditions for “JULIET AND ROMEO”
Extended through March 6

Mindy Cooper Lisa Quoresimo

The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance and Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank are seeking audition videos for the new musical comedy Juliet and Romeo.

A comedic spin on Shakespeare’s classic tale, Juliet and Romeo centers on a second rate author who finds himself in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and his determination to figure out how to change the ending. 

Seasonal Event

“Juliet and Romeo,” A New Musical
Spring Quarter Production/Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank

Mindy Cooper Lisa Quoresimo

A Shakespearean tragedy gets a contemporary musical comedy makeover when the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance and Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank (C3T) present “Juliet and Romeo” in a free virtual production June 3–5 at 6 p.m.

Register Now for one of the performances

“Juliet and Romeo” is developed in special collaboration with Southern Utah University’s Department of Theatre, Dance and Arts Administration with support from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

Created by Paul Gordon, a Tony Award nominee for his music for “Jane Eyre,” and Curtis Moore, an Emmy Award nominee for original song for Amazon’s ”The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” this contemporary spin on the Bard’s classic centers on a second-rate author who finds himself in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and his determination to figure out how to change the ending!

The production is co-directed Broadway veteran Mindy Cooper, UC Davis professor of theatre and dance, and alumna Lisa Quoresimo, Ph.D., performance studies, ‘18, who is assistant professor of theatre and dance at SUU. Gordon and Moore are the Granada Artists-in-Residence for spring 2021.  

The Department of Theatre and Dance is part of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science.

For details about these and other events, visit catalyst3t.com.

Seasonal Event

“Small Steps”
Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank

Mindy Cooper Lisa Quoresimo J.R. Yancher

Register here for free access.

Growing sick of the gay dating scene, a man volunteers to go to Mars in the comedy “Small Steps,” written by Davis native Briandaniel Oglesby. The play is being presented by Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank through the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance in collaboration with Bike City Theatre Company. Free virtual performances will be streamed on Jan. 21-23 at 6 p.m. (PST).

Event

Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank
New Works Theatre Festival Season 4, 2020-2021

Mindy Cooper Lisa Quoresimo

The Ground and Field Theatre Festival, the UC Davis-based forum for new stage works, will launch its fourth year in September with a new name — Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank.

Event

Deadline Extended: Online Auditions For Catalyst 2020
New Works Theatre Festival Season 4, 2020-2021

Mindy Cooper Lisa Quoresimo

GFTF is being re-branded as Catalyst: A Think Tank Theatre, a unique and powerful theater development festival introducing new plays and musicals onto the national stage. Produced on the campus of UC Davis, it is a creative space where world-class theater artists and student actors meet to create important narratives in the American Theater. 

We are excited to announce a new structure and schedule for Catalyst this year!

Seasonal Event

“Paper or Plastic” Free Reading of New Musical
Dec. 9

Mindy Cooper

Faculty, students and alumni from UC Davis’ Ground & Field Theatre Festival (GFTF) and members of Bike City Theatre Company are participating in the first developmental reading of a new Off-Broadway bound musical, Paper or Plastic. Presented in conjunction with The Jade/Anthony Company, the reading is scheduled for Dec. 9 in the Della Davidson Performance Studio, Nelson Hall at UC Davis.

Seasonal Event

“Peter and the Starcatcher”
Winter 2020 Production

Mindy Cooper Toby Sedgwick

PURCHASE TICKETS 

Peter and the Starcatcher, the award-winning stage prequel to Peter Pan, will be presented by the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance Feb. 27 through March 7.  

Event

Ground and Field Theatre Festival 2019

Mindy Cooper Tom Burmester Danika Sudik Lisa Quoresimo

Reserve Tickets

The third annual Ground and Field Theatre Festival (GFTF), ‘Play on the Brink,’ spotlights new plays and musicals written by local, national and international playwrights and composers, including Broadway veterans. The main performances take place beginning Sept. 26 on the UC Davis campus and in community venues. All are free.

Seasonal Event

Auditions for “Flora The Red Menace”

Mindy Cooper Judy Blazer Diego Martinez-Campos

Audition Sign-up list

Dec. 1 Wait List

Dec. 2 Wait List 

Audition Scenes 

Music/Lyrics from score

The Department of Theatre and Dance will be holding auditions for the musical comedy “Flora the Red Menace” on Dec.

Event

Auditions for Ground and Field Theatre Festival 2018
Della Davidson Performance Studio, Nelson Hall

Mindy Cooper Tom Burmester Danika Sudik Lisa Quoresimo

The UC Davis Theatre and Dance Department and the Theatre and Dance Ensemble are holding auditions for the second annual Ground and Field Theatre Festival. An exciting partnership formed to create and develop new plays and musicals for a sustainable future, the creative team is looking for actors and technicians to participate in the 2018 festival. 

Event

“Pippin, the Musical”
Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center

Mindy Cooper

PURCHASE TICKETS

Due to Circumstances, we will be presenting semi-staged concert version of “Pippin” for two performances only. 

The award-winning musical “Pippin” receives a semi-staged concert when presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance on Sunday, Feb. 25. The performances take place in the Ann E. Pitzer Center at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Event

Ground and Field Theatre Festival 2017
Wyatt Pavilion Theatre

Mindy Cooper Tom Burmester Danika Sudik Lisa Quoresimo

Reserve “Free” Tickets

Directors from New York and Los Angeles, playwrights from across the nation, world-class scholars and emerging theatre artists have come together for the inaugural season of the Ground & Field Theatre Festival (GFTF), an exciting partnership formed to create and develop new plays and musicals.

Post

The 39 Steps
Wyatt Pavilion Theatre

Mindy Cooper

Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with an action thriller, add a dash of Monty Python and you have “The 39 Steps,” a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre, a riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft.

The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents this acclaimed comedy in the Wyatt Pavilion Theatre May 11-13 and 18-20 at 7 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on May 13 and 20. General audience tickets are $18.50, faculty/staff tickets are $17 and students/seniors tickets are $12.

Post

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Main Theatre, Wright Hall

Mindy Cooper

“A laugh-out-loud funny production performed by a first-rate cast.” — Bev Sykes, Davis Enterprise

Press release

Mindy Cooper Appears with Chita Rivera at Broadway Fundraiser
Recreates a "CHICAGO" Show-Stopper

Mindy Cooper

The annual Broadway Backwards — featuring male singers performing songs traditionally sung by women and women singing tunes written for men — was presented Monday, March 21 at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre and was a rousing success. Among the performers was spring 2016 Granada Artist-in-Residence Mindy Cooper, who was part of a special musical number celebrating the Tony Award-winning CHICAGO The Musical.

Post

Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play
Wright Hall Main Stage Theatre

Mindy Cooper

Imagine that in the wake of a post-apocalyptic event, a group of survivors gathers together and recalls the classic “Cape Feare” episode from television’s “The Simpsons.” From their recollections, this group evolves the tale into the foundation of a new theatrical and musical artform – complete with commercials. Playwright Anne Washburn has taken this concept to hilarious heights in her wickedly funny “Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play,” billed as a dark comedy with music.

General information

2000s

Lea Anderson Jenny Killick Annabel Arden William Gaskill Kate Whoriskey Nigel Charnock Peter Lichtenfels John Burgess Celia Lowenstein Indhu Rubasingham Glen Walford Yvonne Brewster Irina Brown Mark Ravenhill Joanna Haigood Doug Varone Helena Kaut-Howson Ellen Bromberg Mindy Cooper Jules Aaron Rinde Eckert Philip Gotanda Guillermo Gómez-Peña Sara Shelton Mann John Jasperse
General information

2010s

Ellen Bromberg Juliette Carrillo Michael Barakiva Mindy Cooper Dominique Serrand Lucy Gough Anna Fenemore Ekaterina Kamotskaia Barry McGovern Qudus Onikeku Stafford Arima Miles Anderson Henry Daniel
Press release

Rock Opera The Who’s Tommy Opens at UC Davis!

Mindy Cooper

The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents The Who’s Tommy directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Mindy Cooper with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend.

Press release

Tony Award-Winning Spelling Bee Opens at UC Davis

Mindy Cooper Thomas J. Munn

UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance presents The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Beewhere six teens battle for glory with songs including “I’m Not That Smart,” “The I Love You Song,“ and “Pandemonium.”  The competition is riotously out of control with supernatural trances, magic body parts, ulterior motives, and peer and parental pressure.The 2005 Broadway production was nominated for six Tony Awards, winning two.This heartwarming musical with live orchestra captures the carefree spirit of youth while bringing out the nerd in al

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