As Artists and Educators in Theatre, Dance, and Performance we
unequivocally condemn the historically rooted and pervasive
racist murders of African Americans and other people of color by
police in the United States and globally. We acknowledge these
most recent examples are not unique. We acknowledge this plague
is systemic and extends beyond the police. We cannot function as
a society, nor as a learning institution, in a context where
people of color cannot walk, jog, drive, talk, or even sleep in
their homes safely without fear of being murdered by the state.
We certainly cannot teach our craft, which is by its very nature
a living and breathing engagement with all people, without
denouncing this violence, and the hateful rhetoric that fuels it.
Jacqueline Goldfinger, 2017 Yale Drama Series
Prize and Barrymore Award-winning playwright, will be
the fall 2020 Granada Artist-in-Residence for the Department
of Theatre and Dance.
Noah VanderVeer-Harris was a member of the 2019 GFTF ensemble
while also serving as the publicity intern for the Department of
Theatre and Dance during the same period. He appeared in the
festival’s production of the new musical Fat Kid Rules the
World. Noah shares his insight into why you should be a
member of GFTF which has been re-branded as Catalyst: A Think
Tank Theatre.
Alumnus Joe Schupbach (MFA, dramatic art, ‘19) has recently
launched Mirepoix Podcast. The project is an
interview-based journey through food, family, and culture via the
lens of food practice and tradition. Schupbach started publishing
episodes in August and the podcast has already been streamed over
one thousand times in nine different countries.
Playwright Anthony D’Juan and actor Peter Story of “This Is How
It Happened” were featured in a live news segment on Fox 40 in
Sacramento. Reporter Sonseeahray Tonsall interviewed the two men
via Zoom and the Fox 40 team included rehearsal footage of
the performance. Special thanks to members of the UC Davis’
Dept. of Theatre and Dance’s production team Megan Kimura and
Patrick O’Reilly for providing the rehearsal footage. Free
performances are Oct. 15 and 16 at 5 p.m.
Margaret Laurena Kemp, associate professor of theatre and dance,
and Julie Wyman, associate professor of cinema and digital media,
have collaborated on a short experimental film, “She Who Is: The Adrienne
Kennedy Fugues,” which is now being presented online by
the Woman Made
Gallery.
Associate Professor Margaret Laurena Kemp was part of the
distinguished ensemble reading scenes from Tony
Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic “Angels in America”
organized to benefit amfAR’s Fund to Fight COVID-19. The
performance was broadcast on Oct. 8 and the free 60-minute
livestream is available on
Broadway.com’s YouTube channel.
The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents “CLICK,” an
innovative contemporary drama which spotlights five students who
struggle with their identity in the digital age.
Written by Jacqueline Goldfinger, Granada Artist-in-Residence,
the presentation will be performed online Dec. 3, 5, 10 and 11.
