Winner of Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original
Score, The Drowsy Chaperone is a loving
send-up of the Golden Age of the Broadway musical. The
UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents the hilarious
musical in the Main Theatre, Wright Hall, with opening night set
for Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.
The Department of Theatre and Dance will present The
Odyssey in Shadow, a large-scale cinematic shadow
theater experience inspired by the ancient epic The
Odyssey. The production will perform at the end of spring
quarter 2026 in the Arena Theatre, Wright Hall.
The Department of Theatre and Dance will present Rules of
Play, the spring 2025 dance concert, May 15, 16,
22, and 23 at 7 p.m. and May 17 and 24 at 2 p.m. in the
Main Theatre, Wright Hall.
Featuring nearly 30 dancers, the program is curated by Doria E.
Charlson, visiting professor of theatre and dance, and
showcases new works developed and performed by undergraduate
students.
The Department of Theatre and Dance presents She Kills
Monsters, which explores issues of grief
and bullying through a world of fantasy role-playing games!
Alum Lucas Hatton (M.F.A., dramatic arts, ‘17) returns to direct
the production.
The production performs Nov. 21, 22, 23 and Dec. 5 and 6 at
7 p.m. and Nov. 23 and Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. in the Main Theatre,
Wright Hall.
The Department of Theatre and Dance will hold auditions for the
spring performance of (RE)Vision on Feb. 27 and 28
from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Hickey Gym.
The auditions are for new works created by student
choreographers. The auditions are open to all UC Davis
students.
Students auditioning should be prepared to perform a solo piece
of less than 3 minutes.
(Re)Vision is an invitation to dream. At this moment where
ecological, political, and systemic structures are colliding with
violent force, revisioning is needed and
necessary. Revisioning conjures new worlds through
reorientation to the spaces and relationships with which we
move. Revising requires us to experiment, take risks, and
confront the limits of what we have in front of our eyes. This
evening of movement and performance asks audiences to remain
active in the call to see, and to move towards, what can be made
anew by reframing what exists around us.
The Department of Theatre and Dance will present
[RE]Vision, the spring 2023 dance concert, May 31,
June 1 at 7 p.m. and June 2 at 2 p.m. in the Main Theatre,
Wright Hall.
Triggered by a hate crime which brought attention to
the lack of hate crime laws nationwide, The Laramie
Project is a riveting contemporary drama that
challenges the inhabitants of a rural American community.
The Department of Theatre and Dance presents the play Feb. 22,
23, 24, 29 and March 1 at 7 p.m. and March 2 at 2 p.m. in the
Main Theatre, Wright Hall.
William Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like
It gets a contemporary gender-fluid update by the UC
Davis Department of Theatre and Dance. Directed by Josy Miller
(Ph.D., performance studies, ’15), the classic opens the
department’s 2023–24 season on Nov. 16, 2023 in the Main Theatre,
Wright Hall.
Main Theatre at Wright Hall, Hutchison Drive, Davis, CA
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.
This year GFTF offers a preview of the new works and an
opportunity to meet the creative team at the Jan Shrem and Maria
Manetti Shrem Museum of Art on September 12 at 7 p.m.
Tara Brandel, theatre and dance graduate student, will share her
reworking of classic Irish theatre (with apologies) on
Wednesday, June 6. “Go and Come” will be performed in the Della
Davidson Performance Studio in Nelson Hall at 4:30 p.m. The
presentation is free.
According to Brandel, the work in progress is a social experiment
that is post Celtic Tiger, post Celtic revival, post whatever…
The one-act features undergraduate student Rose Kim,
doctoral student Jesse Stokes, and graduate student Justin
Streichman and is devised and directed by Brandel.
The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance will showcase a
series of new student-created work. “Collaborative Stages:
Student New Works Festival” will feature a series of new plays
and dances conceived, created and performed by undergraduate and
graduate students.
Presented in two different programs, “Collaborative Stages” will
feature new plays by undergraduate students Rose Kim and Jordan
Wilson and dances choreographed by undergraduate
students Pratistha Bajracharya and Olivia Schlanger, and
graduate student Lena Polzonetti.
Department of Theatre and Dance presents “WEREWIRE: A Highwire
Sound Installation,” created by doctoral student Ante Ursić. This
collaborative presentation is scheduled for Monday, April 2 at
4:30 p.m. in the Della Davidson Performance Studio in Nelson
Hall. It is free and open to the public.
To Mondavi Center: From I-80 take the UC
Davis/Mondavi Center exit and follow signs.
To Wyatt Pavilion and Nelson Hall Studio:
Proceed as above, continuing on Old Davis Road past the Mondavi
Center to Visitor Parking Lot 5.
To Main Theatre, Arena Theatre, and Laboratory Theatre
A: These three theatres are located in Wright
Hall, a short walk through the Arboretum from Visitor
Parking Lot 5.
