Theatre and Dance 2020/2021 Season

 

Welcome to the California State University Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV, Theatre, and Dance Department 2020-2021 Season!
We love for as many people to come and enjoy as many of our performances as possible.
In addition, we as a department believe that Theatre and Dance should be accessible to everyone!
Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV welcomes persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodation upon request.
Please call (510) 885-3868 at least two weeks in advance if accommodation is needed for the performance you wish to attend.
In addition, no one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
Come and enjoy a show!

 

 

 

Fall 2020

 

Cal State University Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV

Department of Theatre and Dance

in association with Theatre Rhinoceros

presents 

 

BLOOD AT THE ROOT

by Dominique Morisseau

Directed by Darryl V. Jones

Streamed Performance Dates: November 6th at 7:30 pm
On-Demand Streaming November 7th until November 15th
Performance Location: Online Streaming of Recorded Zoom Movie
To purchase tickets, visit: 
Check out our Blood at the Root Study Guide for more information about the play and the playwright.
BLOOD AT THE ROOT. A striking new ensemble drama based on the Jena Six; six Black students who were initially charged with attempted murder for a school fight after being provoked with nooses hanging from a tree on campus. This bold new play by Dominique Morisseau (Ain't Too Proud, Sunset Baby, Detroit '67, Skeleton Crew) examines the miscarriage of justice, racial double standards, and the crises in relations between men and women of all classes.
Moving, lyrical, and bold, Blood at the Root probes the complexities of race, individual freedoms, and what justice means when biases have been normalized. When the central character, a black female student named Raylynn, decides it's time for a change in her high school, she sits under a tree around which only white students regularly gather. In response—as was the case in Jena—nooses are subsequently hung from that tree, causing many black students to erupt in protest. Things come to a head when six black students, including Raylynn's brother, attack a white student and are brought up on trumped-up charges.
© 2020. This Audio-Visual Presentation was produced by special arrangement with Concord Theatricals Corp. All Rights Reserved. This Audio-Visual presentation is authorized for non-commercial use only. Further distribution of this presentation by download, streaming, reposting, broadcast, telecast, or in any other manner or medium, is strictly prohibited. A violation of the author(s)'s rights and actionable under applicable copyright law.
 
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MELT

Producer & Choreographer: Nina Haft & Eric Kupers
Performance Dates:
Program #1 - Friday, December 4 at 7:30 pm
Program #2 - Saturday, December 5 at 2:30 pm
Program #3 - Saturday, December 5 at 7:30 pm
Location: Virtual Viewing in Zoom

**Note: When you reserve your tickets, use the "General Public" option.**

MELT is a weekend dance showcase of
powerful performance, created and performed by
Theatre and Dance students.
Join us in the community as we give voice to our bodies, minds, and spirits!

 

US in the U.S and A. Fajilan

present

WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS...

Created by CSUEB Students

Directed by Tyler Jeffreys

Performance Dates: December 11th & 12th at 7:30pm

December 13th at 2:00pm

Performance Location: 

CSUEB Theatre and Dance YouTube Channel

&

US and the U.S. YouTube Channel

Each performance will be followed by a Community Circle hosted on Zoom.

**Note: When you reserve your tickets, use the "General Public" option.**

 "What Had Happened Was" Part One - The Past

This production will examine the oppression and destructive nature of White Supremacy. Taking a step further, we are renaming it "Supremacy Culture."  The anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia we suffer from, along with the mass incarcerations and day to day bigotry, are all symptoms of this hate-fueled culture. If we are to defeat this monster, we have to figure out what it really is and what fosters its growth. This problem is much bigger than race relations between Black and White.
US in the U.S. hopes to expose the causes of the Supremacy Culture and help us all realize that we can make changes for the better of all persons. We must learn from the mistakes of the past in order to have a better today and create an even better tomorrow for all.

 

Spring 2021

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Songs in a Time of Pandemic 

Directed by Marc Jacobs

Choreographed by Laura Elaine Ellis and Performers

Musical Direction by Sierra Dee

Production Type: Online Streaming of Recorded Zoom Movie

Streamed Peformance Dates:

Online Premiere is Friday, March 12, 2021 at 7:30 pm

On Demand Streaming Available Saturday, March 13, 2021- Sunday, March 21, 2021

Location: 

Songs in a Time of Pandemic is more than a musical revue. It is a snapshot of who and where we are after seven months of Covid-19, Social Distancing, Black Lives Matter protests and the startling changes in our government. The cast of 9 singers 6 actors and 9 dancers were put through interviews to cast a light on their own reactions to this unusual time. Out of that, has come songs, monologues and dances that tell a story that is at once personal and universal.

 

 

 

Cal State University Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV

Department of Theatre and Dance

in partnership with Dandelion Dancetheater

presents

 

Inclusive Performance Festival 

The Cal State Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV Department of Theatre and Dance is collaborating with and a wildly diverse group of artists, activists, free-thinkers, and creative rabble-rousers to launch the first annual Inclusive Performance Festival (IPF) throughout April/May 2021. The IPF is a grass-roots, DIY, radically inclusive, process-oriented festival that is experimenting with sharing performance in accessible, relevant, life-affirming, and innovative ways to meet the needs of many intersecting communities in this new era for the arts. 

 Planned collectively by a council of Queer, BIPOC, Autistic, Disabled, Jewish, Neurodivergent, Fat, Young, Elder, Outsider, and uncategorized artists, the festival will present virtual, in-person, and hybrid dance, music, theatre, drag, ritual, educational events, participatory performances, discussions, workshops, ceremonies, and more. 

IPF is directed by Eric Kupers in collaboration with a planning council of event organizers, and will feature the Wandering Ensemble, SNJV, Shapes and Shades Dance Company, Wildance, Emmaly Wiederholt & Tonya Rivera, Evangel King, Dancing Earth Creations, Us in the U.S., the CSUEB Pilipinx American Student Association, Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers, Dandelion Dancetheater, , the College Link Program, Mohini Studio, Rebekah Enderle, the Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble, and more.

 

Directed by Eric Kupers

 

Performance Dates:

Tuesday, April 6, 2021- Saturday, May 8, 2021

 

For more information and a list of festival events visit

 

 

wandering 

Wandering in the Wilderness

Directed and Choreographed by Eric Kupers with assistance by Raven Malouf-Renning and additional collaborators.
It is being created collaboratively and performed by the Wandering Ensemble (which is a collaboration between the CSU Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble (IIE) and Dandelion Dancetheater.) 
Performance Dates: 
All performance will start with a Pre-Show Labryinth Walk at 7:30 pm
Friday, April 16, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Saturday, April 17, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Friday, April 23, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Saturday, April 24, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Location: Site Specific 
Note: The show will start in front of the University Theatre Lobby, and then travel to a couple of sites on campus.
Wandering in the Wilderness - Cycle 1 is a site-specific, outdoor, physically distanced dance/music/theater ceremony. 
Wandering explores the spaces in-between, when we have moved away from the things that no longer work in our lives, but we don’t yet know what is next. The work emerges from stories in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible,) focusing on the time after the Jews were freed from slavery, but had to spend 40 years in the wilderness to prepare themselves for the Promised Land. 
We are investigating the nature of uncertainty, groundlessness, and mystery—particularly inquiring into how to leave behind situations, attitudes, relationships, governments, homes, and habits of abuse, oppression, and dysfunction. How do we create our new lives without carrying forward the suffering from our past? 
The complete work will take 40 years to create and will premiere on April 8th, 2061. In the meantime, we'll have regular work-in-progress showings, including these performances in April 2021. 
 
Wandering is directed/choreographed by Eric Kupers with assistance by Raven Malouf-Renning and additional collaborators. It is being created collaboratively and performed by the Wandering Ensemble (which is a collaboration between the CSU Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble (IIE) and Dandelion Dancetheater.) 
Music will be performed by UltraSonic Current, Bandelion, and members of the ensemble.
Cycle 1 performances in April 2021 will begin at 8pm, with a pre-show labyrinth ceremony at 7:30pm. 

 

 

 Pilipinx Consciousness Night

Produced in cooperation with PASA and Department of Theatre & Dance
Performance Dates:  TBD
Location: TBD
 

 

Ticket Prices and Box Office Information