CONVERSATIONS
“Turn Your Limitations Into Your Opportunities": A Conversation with Tony Award Winning Actress Ali Stroker
Wednesday, November 18 at 5:30 PM | Virtual Event
Join Ali and host Laura Waringer for a conversation about life as a musical theatre artist, breaking barriers on Broadway, and lots more! Ali will answer questions from the audience in the second part of the program.
Ali Stroker is a groundbreaking performer making made history as the first actress in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway when she originated the role of ‘Anna' in Deaf West's acclaimed 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. She went on to win the 2019 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Oklahoma! In addition to her work on and off-Broadway, she's soloed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, New York's Town Hall, and Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall. She's also the first actress in a wheelchair to graduate from the NYU Tisch drama program. A humanitarian and advocate, Stroker has been a co-chair of Women Who Care, which supports United Cerebral Palsy of New York City. She's a founding member of Be More Heroic, an anti-bullying campaign which toured the country connecting with thousands of students each year. Her devotion to educating and inspiring others brought Stroker to South Africa with ARTS InsideOut, where she held theater workshops and classes for women and children affected by HIV and AIDS. Stroker’s exceptional ability to improve the lives of others through the arts, disabled or not, is captured in her motto: “Turning Your Limitations Into Your Opportunities.”
Deaf West Theatre: Bridging Deaf and Hearing Worlds with DJ Kurs, Artistic Director of Deaf West Theatre
Thursday, April 15 at 2:30 PM | Virtual Event
Join DJ Kurs, Artistic Director of the Tony-Award nominated Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles, for a discussion about how his theatre company has been bridging the Deaf and Hearing worlds for over thirty years. Founded in Los Angeles in 1991, Deaf West Theatre engages artists and audiences in unparalleled theater experiences inspired by Deaf culture and the expressive power of sign language, weaving ASL with spoken English to create a seamless ballet of movement and voice. Don’t miss this chance to learn more about DJ and his work at Deaf West!
DJ Kurs is the Artistic Director of Deaf West Theatre, a position he has held since 2012. He shepherded the production of Spring Awakening from its beginnings in a 99-seat theatre in Los Angeles to its recent revival on Broadway. Prior to his current position, he served as an artistic associate and ASL master at Deaf West Theatre. He is also a freelance producer and filmmaker.
Deaf West Theatre’s productions include Spring Awakening, which to Broadway (three Tony Award nominations), Big River (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Tony nomination, and four Drama Desk awards on Broadway), Oliver! (Ovation Award for Best Musical) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Ovation Award for Best Play). In 2005, DWT was selected to receive the Highest Recognition Award by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for its “distinguished contributions to improve and enrich the cultural lives of deaf and hard of hearing actors and theatre patrons.”
THEATRE COMMUNITY GATHERINGS
Theatre Department Community Fall Gathering
Tuesday, September 22, at 5:30 PM | Virtual Event
At this gathering of majors, minors, faculty and staff we’ll share information about our B.A. in Theatre (including how the Concentrations work), upcoming special events (workshops, etc.), and our 2020-21 season.
Theatre Department Community Spring Gathering
Tuesday, February 3, at 5:30 PM | Virtual Event
At this gathering of majors, minors, faculty and staff we’ll share information about our upcoming Spring semester special events (workshops, master classes, etc.), our 2021-22 season, and faculty research projects.
AUDITIONS
The Corona Caesar: A Digital Production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
September 8-9, at 6 PM | Virtual Event
For more information on how to sign up and prepare check the audition page on our website: https://coaa.uncc.edu/theatre/productions/audition-information
WORKSHOPS, MASTER CLASSES, and INTERACTIVE SEMINARS
Bridging the Gap in Theatre: Working with African American Hair and Makeup for the Theatre with Jerrilyn Lanier
Friday, October 16 | Virtual Event
More information on signing up coming soon!
Workshop participants will dive into African American hair & makeup techniques: covering use of tools and products for designing hair & makeup for the stage. The issues that performers of color face in this industry will be discussed as part of the workshop process.
Jerrilyn Lanier holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master of Fine Arts in Costume Design and Production from the University of Alabama. Roll Tide! She was fortunate to train under Martha Ruskai in the makeup and hair design areas, and to help the Ben Nye company reformulate their African American stage makeup kits. She has designed costumes for theatre, dance and film and does freelance wig design work. She started Bridging the Gap in order to open up conversations in the theatre and film industries with other theatre artists on how to work with African American hair and makeup. This work is a true passion project for her.
Theatre Intimacy Education Workshop with Chelsea Pace
Friday, November 20 | Virtual Event
This workshop covers Theatrical Intimacy Education’s Best Practices, including tools for developing a consent-based process, setting boundaries, desexualizing the process, and choreographing intimacy. Workshop Leader: Chelsea Pace, Co-Founder and Head Faculty of Theatrical Intimacy Education.
Chelsea Pace is Co-Founder and Head Faculty of Theatrical Intimacy Education and works professionally as an intimacy choreographer, coordinator, and educator. Chelsea has been developing ethical, efficient, and effective systems for staging intimacy for over 10 years and she has shared her work with thousands of theatre and film artists around the world. Her book, Staging Sex: Best Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Theatrical Intimacy was released in March 2020 from Routledge Publishing. Chelsea is the current President of The Association for Theatre Movement Educators and is the Assistant Professor of Movement at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Produce Yourself: Personal Branding for Artists
Friday, February 19, 2021 | Virtual Event
A life of art is full of possibilities, but those possibilities can also feel overwhelming. Everyone has more than one talent, and there's no need to choose which ones you use, but there is a need to hone in on the one you want to be your calling card. In this workshop, students will learn how to align their personal brand with the things they enjoy most, as well as how to craft an elevator pitch that will help them present their most authentic selves to the world. Be sure to have a pen and paper handy for this interactive online workshop.
The name of the workshop is from one of my favorite quotes. Before she ran for president, author and speaker Marianne Williamson once wrote, "Maturity includes the recognition that no one is going to see anything in us that we don't see in ourselves. Stop waiting for a producer. Produce yourself."
Kelundra Smith is a theatre critic and arts journalist whose mission is to connect people to cultural experiences and each other. She likes to write stories about people with lofty ambitions and her work has been published in: The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, Bitter Southerner, TDF Stages, ArtsATL, Atlanta Magazine, and many other publications. Kelundra is the co-chair of the American Theatre Critics Association Diversity & Inclusion Committee and a member of the Executive Committee. She has been a guest critic at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Critics Institute and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Her long-term goals are to land on The New York Times bestseller list, open a late-night dessert restaurant and write a successful television series. Dozens of ink stained notebooks later, she still enjoys nothing more than a well-told story.
The Latinx Theatre in Action Workshop with Georgina Escobar and Carlos Cruz
Monday, March 22, 2021 | Virtual Event
What is the Latinx Aesthetic? What stories are relevant to communities of color? What is Latinx/Black Futurity and Black Horror and how do they resonate with our communities? To create today is to create with responsibility. Who are we now? Who are we becoming? What are the narratives that surround us, and how do we take action in the creation of new ones?
This workshop—part writing lab and part commons-based activation—encourages participants to explore, engage with, and activate their words. It will prompt participants to create a story based on personal mythos, (a set of beliefs or assumptions about something), set against a backdrop of recent natural/cultural/societal/or political events. Participants will also leave with an understanding of the tenets of creating a theatre commons and encouraged to create commitments about implementing Latinx Theatre into their communities.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Career Center Arts, Media, and Design Career Community Work
November 9 - 13, 2020
An entire week dedicated to the career development of creative students with intentional career meet ups, a Career Trek, and the week concluding with our CreativeCONNECT event. This event will be virtual and run through a platform called HopIn, so faculty and students can network in the comfort of their homes! More information about this event will be shared soon.
College of Arts + Architecture Career Expo: Creative CONNECT
Friday, November 13, 2020 at 11 AM | Virtual Event
Our 4th annual networking event for creatives and will include arts and design professionals who work in all five disciplines of the COA+A including Art, Music, Dance, Theatre, and Architecture. Students will have a valuable opportunity to mingle with these professionals and learn more about programs within these organizations where they can get more involved through volunteering, internships, part-time or full-time employment. A few of participating organizations include the Arts and Science Council, Charlotte Ballet, Little Diversified, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Opera Carolina, and many more! This year’s event will be virtual and run through a platform called HopIn, so faculty and students can network in the comfort of their homes! More information about this event will be shared soon.
National Theatre Institute Info Session with NTI’s Admissions Coordinator Charlotte Newman
Friday, February 26, 2021 at 2 PM | Virtual Event
With a singular schedule and an unmatched breadth of training, the National Theater Institute's five semester-long programs, and six week summer intensive offer students a springboard to the professional world at the two-time Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Founded in 1970, NTI's credit-earning theater intensives, taught by industry professionals and master teachers, train actors, singers, directors, dancers, designers, playwrights, and composers who are high school graduates, undergraduates, and post-graduates. If you are interested in learning more about NTI and its transformative programs, please join this virtual NTI Info session on Friday, February 26th at 2pm hosted by Charlotte Newman, NTI's Admissions Coordinator and Program Representative.
SHOWCASES & PORTFOLIO/REVIEW FORUMS
Department of Theatre Portfolio Review
Friday, December 11 at 2 PM | Virtual Event
Sign-up and preparation information TBA.
Any student who is interested in designing, assistant designing, or holding a major production role for a department production must attend in order to be considered. All students currently enrolled in a section of THEA 4610, or wishing to receive credit next spring, must present a portfolio. In addition, any student who is interested in trying to develop a design or technical portfolio is highly encouraged to attend in order to observe, ask questions, and gain valuable insight into what makes a successful theatre portfolio. Faculty and Students are welcome to observe.
Musical Theatre Workshop Showcase
This special showcase event features students in the Musical Theatre Workshop course and shows off their singing, acting and dancing skills in a range of repertoire from the Musical Theatre canon.
CELEBRATIONS
December Grads Celebration and Winter Holiday Party
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 6 PM | Virtual Event
It’s time to party! Theatre students and faculty gather to celebrate the year and to honor our graduating seniors with special commendations (delivered by the faculty) along with student-led awards and activities.
May Grads/End-of-Year Celebration Party
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 6 PM | Virtual Event
It’s time to party! Theatre students and faculty gather to celebrate the year and to honor our graduating seniors with special commendations (delivered by the faculty) along with student-led awards and activities.
THEATRE PASSPORT FREE TICKET SERIES
SPECIAL PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES
UNC Charlotte Commedia Players
Under the artistic leadership of Assistant Professor of Physical Theatre, Carlos Cruz, Theater majors have the opportunity to audition for this special traveling performance company appearing each fall at the Carolina Renaissance Festival. Over the course of eight weekend, our student commedia troupe performs for thousands of visitors to the festival. For more information on auditioning for the UNC Charlotte Commedia Players, please contact Professor Cruz at CarlosCruz@uncc.edu.