Marissa Savaris currently attends Fordham
University Law School in New York.
1. Majors: Dramatic Art & English.
2. Did you have any internships during or after
college? “No, during college I did not have the
chance to intern or work anywhere. I was President of Studio 301
Productions my senior year and a member of Tri Delta, so between
those commitments and classes I had barely any extra time.”
3. Did you travel during or after
college? “I studied abroad in Oxford, England the
summer before my Senior Year. It was the Oxford: Portal to
Fantasy program through the English Department with Amy Clarke.
We studied children’s and young adult fantasy literature that had
roots in Oxford, ranging from Harry Potter and Alice in
Wonderland to Howl’s Moving Castle. At the risk of sounding
cheesy, it was the most magical experience.”
4. Did you have any internships/apprenticeships/jobs
after you graduated from UCD? “Yes, immediately
after graduating, I moved to the east coast to work as a Company
Management Intern at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the
Berkshires. Once the summer was over, I moved to New York to be
the Company Management Intern at Manhattan Theatre Club. MTC
produces Broadway productions at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
on 47th Street and Off-Broadway productions at City Center on
55th Street. It is one of only four non-profit organizations in
NYC with a resident home on Broadway. I had the opportunity to
work on some incredible productions, including
Constellations with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson. I
worked briefly at MTC as the General Management Assistant, and
then moved to the American Associates of the National Theatre as
the Development & Special Events Assistant. The AANT is a
501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports the work of the
National Theatre in London and any productions that transfer to
New York, such as War Horse, The Curious Incident of
the Dog in the Night-Time, and Angels in America.”
6. Hometown? Where are you located now?
“Oak Park, California. “I currently reside in New York,
where I just finished my first year of law school at Fordham
University School of Law. I hope to pursue a career in
entertainment law.”
What was your major(s)? “Double majored in
English/Theatre and Dance.”
Did you do any research/projects in your time as a
Theatre major? “I wrote a one-act play for the Dead Arts
Society student theatre club with Professor Rossini advising. I
was assistant director ’Do Not Obey’ for Margaret
Laurena Kemp and Lisa Quoresimo. I performed in 6 department
shows, including ‘Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play’ and ‘Romeo and
Juliet.’”
Did you have any internships or other jobs during
college? “I had an internship through the English
department as they developed ‘Play the Knave,’ an interactive
Shakespeare-performance game.”
Did you travel while you were a student or after you
graduated? “I studied abroad in London for
two weeks over winter break.”
Have you had any internships/apprenticeships/other jobs
after graduating? “Since leaving UC Davis, I worked as
an apprentice at Capital Stage in Sacramento for a year. I now
work for a solar panel company and at Big Idea Theatre in
Sacramento.”
“In my last quarter at UC Davis, I was cast at Davis Shakespeare
Ensemble for their summer repertory. I have worked consistently
with them, and this will be my third season when I return in the
fall. During the run of those, my first season I was accepted
into the Capital Stage Apprenticeship Program and started that at
the end of August 2016.”
Where is your hometown, and where are you located
now? “I grew up in Santa Cruz, CA and now
live in Sacramento.”
Advice? “Work hard, play fair, and try to keep a
sense of humor about yourself. It’s a tough business but if you
want it, you’ll make it happen somehow.”
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Larry Bogad has created
“The
Plague,” a podcast series that not only explores the pandemic
but also our nation’s homemade plagues created by human
socioeconomic systems.
A book focusing on using theatre techniques for protest
by a UC Davis professor of theatre and an associate
professor’s collaboration about artist-made tools that
resist algorithmic racism have recently been included in the news
and social media coverage during the nation’s current period of
civil unrest.
UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance Costume Shop Director
Roxanne Femling will retire on July 1. An alumna, Femling who
received her B.A. in dramatic art (costume design and
construction) in 1983, joined the department staff in Sept. 1999.
Members across the Department of Theatre and Dance have created
and contributed to the urgent need of face masks during this
pandemic. They have taken out their sewing machines and searched
through their homes for materials in order to make masks.
UC Davis alum Dahlak Brathwaite (B.A. English and theatre and
dance, ‘08) is a spoken-word poet, musician, actor, playwright
and writer. Associate Professor Margaret Laurena Kemp is
pleased to announce that he has joined the creative
team of “Antigone NOW” as spoken-word artist.
22-year-old Matt Gumley is a musician, writer, actor, and
Broadway veteran. He first found his way into New York City’s
theater scene when he played Chip in “Disney’s Beauty and the
Beast “on Broadway at the age of seven, and now he is here with
us at Davis as an instrumental part of the hit new punk rock
musical, “Fat Kid Rules the World.”
Professor John Iacovelli shares his photographs of his set models
for the South Coast Repertory Theatre’s production of “Sweeney
Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” The production runs in
Costa Mesa Jan. 19 through Feb. 16.
John Iacovelli, professor of theatre and dance at UC Davis,
and alum Kent Nicholson are collaborating on the South Coast
Repertory Theatre’s upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim and
Hugh Wheeler’s award-winning musical “Sweeney Todd, The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Iacovelli is scenic
designer and Nicholson is the dark musical’s director.
These are the songs from the score of “Flora the Red
Menace” that will be used in the auditions. Please click the link
for a specific character’s material.
These are the scenes from the script of “Flora the Red Menace”
that will be used in the auditions. Please click the link for a
specific character’s material. Characters may have more than one
scene, so please read all of their scenes.
UC Davis alumni are working alongside each other in a bilingual
production of Dr. Seuss’s beloved classic “A Cat in the Hat/El
Gato Ensombrerado” at the Bay Area Children’s Theatre in
Berkeley.
Maria Castro serves as the show’s production manager, while
Jennifer Vega plays the role of The Fish/El Pez. Alumna and
lecturer Michele Apriña Leavy is the production’s Movement
Director (Directora de Movimiento).
UC Davis students and alumni are working alongside each other at
this summer’s Davis Shakespeare Festival.
Charlie Lavaroni, student in the Department of Theatre and Dance,
is appearing in various roles in the musical comedy “On the
20th Century” which is directed by the festival’s
co-artistic director Gia Battista, a Theatre and Dance alumna.
Broadway veteran Mindy Cooper, professor of theatre, has directed
the popular 1930s musical comedy “Me and My Girl” for San
Francisco’s 42nd Street
Moon Theatre. The production runs through May 20 at the
Gateway Theatre.
Theatre alumna Melissa Cunha, class 2017, has joined the newly
created Bike City Theatre
Company in Davis. She serves as Company Manager and will be
stage manager for their inaugural production, “Gutenberg, the
Musical.”
Department of Theatre and Dance alumna Ari Laura Kreith, MFA 1995,
has been named as artistic director of New Jersey’s Luna Stage.
As a director and artistic director, Ari Laura Kreith will join
Luna Stage with an extensive resume of creating new work
through community engagement. Her work as Artistic Director in
theaters who work with original plays will continue Luna’s
tradition of developing vital new works for the stage.
Here are publicity photographs and set model for the
upcoming production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and
Spike. The Tony Award-winning comedy plays the Main
Theatre, Wright Hall, Feb. 23-25 and Mar. 2-4, Thursday
through Saturday at 7 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on Feb. 25 and
Mar. 4.
Publicity photos by Huan Yu, copyright UC Davis, Set model
photo by John Iacovelli, copyright UC Davis
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.
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.
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.
