Dear Theatre + Dance Community,

Join Us For Our 2025/26 Season!

UCSD's Theatre + Dance Department invites you to enjoy our upcoming season of live performances at The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District!

Fall Productions

One Flea Spare

November 14-22

Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre

Written by Naomi Wallace

Directed by Shyama Nithiananda (MFA 2)

Set at the height of the plague in London in 1665, One Flea Spare follows a mysterious orphaned girl and a runaway sailor who sneak into the home of a wealthy couple. Forced to quarantine together for 28 days - under threat of death by the swindling, opportunistic guard outside of the window - the home's inhabitants test the limits of authority, the power of alliances, and the sexual implications of fruit. As confinement grows untenable, a single question lingers: Who will make it out alive?

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People, Places & Things

November 19 - December 6

Sheila & Hughes Potiker Theatre

Written by Duncan Macmillan

Directed by Kieran Beccia (MFA 2)

Emma is an actress and Emma is an addict. When those two things become incompatible and Emma is no longer allowed to work, she ends up in rehab struggling to play the most difficult role she has ever taken on: herself.

Centering a captivating, but unreliable protagonist, this vivid and vulnerable drama asks us to question the buffers that we place around ourselves to get through each day despite the myriad of horrors that make up our modern world.

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Fall Events

Dance Film

December 2 | 4:30 - 5:30pm

The Price Center Theater

Featuring Student Works

Directed by Marcos Duran

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MFA 1 Acting Project

Galbraith Hall, Rm 145,

The Perry Light Lab

Directed by Aysan Celik

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Chicanx Teatro Ensemble & Center For Global Justice & Casa Familiar

Directed by Robert Castro

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DIY Dance Lab

December 4 - 6 | 6 - 7:30pm

Molli and Arthur Wagner

Dance Studio 3

Directed by Kara Mack

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Wagner Labs

Arthur Wagner Theatre

A Student Run Fall Season!

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Department + Alumni News

Theatre + Dance Ranks

Top 10 in The Hollywood Reporter's Best Drama Schools of 2025

UCSD's Theatre + Dance MFA Program ranks Top 10 in The Hollywood Reporter's 25 Best Drama Schools of 2025!

Broadway Visionary Des McAnuff Joins UC San Diego in Fall 2025

Director of Jersey Boys, The Who’s Tommy and Big River, Des McAnuff will serve as the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Professor of Practice in Theatre and Dance

'Working Girl' Features MFA Acting Students At La Jolla Playhouse

The world premiere of Working Girl The Musical, set to music by Cyndi Lauper, features MFA 3 Acting students Bailey Lee and Elliot Sagay.

MFA Acting Alum Featured In 'Vanity Fair'

Acting Alum Junior Nyong'o (MFA '23) is featured in Vanity Fair alongside sister Lupita Nyong'o, Peter Dinklage, Sandra Oh, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as they prepare to present Twelfth Night at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater.

MFA Acting Alum Colby Muhammad Lands Starring Role On CBS's 'Beyond the Gates'

Soap Opera Star Colby Muhammad (MFA '24) takes UC San Diego behind the scenes of CBS’s Beyond the Gates.

Recent MFA Playwriting Alum Featured In 'The New York Times'

Playwriting Alum Phanésia Pharel (MFA '25) is featured in The New York Times as one of the newest members of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Playwriting Faculty Deborah Stein's 'Delphine' Accepted Into Portland Film Festival

Playwriting Faculty Deborah Stein's short film Delphine, has been accepted into the Portland Film Festival. The film was produced by Tesiana Elie (MFA '14) and features a bevy of alumni actors: Ellen Nikbakht (MFA '24), Caroline Siewart (MFA '18), Alexa Maris (BA '22), Keith Wallace (MFA '16), Matt MacNelly (MFA '10), and Gerard Joseph (MFA '12)

Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 90th Season Featured T+D Faculty & Alumni

Faculty Ursula Meyer - Voice & Speech Coach for the 2025 Season, Faculty & MFA Directing Alum '92 Lisa Portes - Director, Quixote Nuevo, MFA Acting '23 Kat Peña - Quixote Nuevo & As You Like It, BA Alum '01 Raúl Cardona - Quixote Nuevo, MFA Alum Ellen Nikbakht '23 - Merry Wives of Windor & Into The Woods, MFA Acting Chris Butler - Jitney & Shane, MFA Acting '15 William Hodgson - Merry Wives of Windor & Shane, BA Alum '00 Erica Sullivan - Julius Caesar

Directing Faculty Lamar Perry Joins GLAAD's 2025 Black Queer Creative Summit

Directing Faculty Lamar Perry was named a fellow at GLAAD's Black Queer Creative Summit. Lamar has also served as dramaturge recently for two plays for Donja R Love's organization, Write It Out and Little Boy/Little Man by Rudi Goblen at the Geffen Playhouse.

Alum Milo Cramer's 'No Singing in the Navy' to premiere at Playwrights Horizons

MFA Playwriting '24 Alum Milo Cramer's musical, No Singing in the Navy, featured in the 2024 Wagner New Play Festival, will receive its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons. The premiere will feature actors Ellen Nikbakht (MFA Acting '24), Bailey Lee (MFA Acting '26), Elliot Sagay (MFA Acting '26) and director Aysan Celik (Acting Faculty)

Acting Faculty Andrea Caban Served As Voice/Dialect Coach For 3 Recent Productions

Acting Faculty Andrea Caban served as Voice and/or Dialect coach on Deceived at The Old Globe (which featured Kennedy Tolson, MFA Acting '26), The Heart at the La Jolla Playhouse, and Dangerous Games to Play, Badlands Productions (on wide release in theaters next year). Andrea also recently completed the 2d edition of Experiencing Speech: A Skill-based, Panligual Approach to Actor Training which featured Julietta Ceballos (BA), George Nassar (BA) and MFA 3 actors Bailey Lee, Ricardo Lozano, Torkan Omari, Kenneth Ray and Kennedy Tolson.

La Jolla Playhouse's 'The Heart' Featured Work By T+D Faculty, Students, and Alumni

This summer, the La Jolla Playhouse premiered The Heart, a world-premiere musical directed by Christopher Ashley, featuring scenic design by Theatre & Dance faculty member and alum Robert Brill.

The production also showcased the talents of multiple T&D alumni across disciplines, including Assistant Scenic Design by MFA Designers Muting Fan and alum Tzu Yu Su ('25), Joel Britt (MFA ’18) as Associate Lighting Designer, Elizabeth Barrett (MFA ’22) as Associate Projection Designer, and Arlene Banuelos (BA ’20) as Props Runner.

Dance Faculty's Bernard Brown Resident Artist at Dance Box Theater in Kobe, Japan

Assistant Teaching Professor Bernard Brown choreographed and directed as a Resident Artist at Dance Box Theater in Kobe, Japan. He also taught and choreographed for the Seoul International Dance Festival in Korea. Bernard was also recently commissioned by the City of Los Angeles to represent LA at the Western Arts Alliance Conference

T+D Faculty and MFA Alum Robert Brill Helps To Revive Sergio Trujillo's 'Damn Yankees'

Theatre & Dance faculty member and alum Robert Brill's work took him to Washington, D.C., for the pre-Broadway revival of Damn Yankees at Arena Stage. Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo, the revival offers a bold new vision of the American classic and runs through November 9!

MFA Directing Alum Emily Molar Named Drama League Next Stage Director In Residence

Emily Molar (MFA Directing '22) was named the Drama League Next Stage Director in Residence. She will complete a residency at New York Stage & Film. Emily is also set to direct the world premiere of Wad by Keiko Green (MFA '22) at Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center.

MFA Acting Alum Featured In 'The Queen Of Versailles' On Broadway

Melody Butiu (MFA Acting '99) featured in the new musical, The Queen of Versailles on Broadway starring Kristin Chenoweth.

MFA Acting Alum Featured In 'The Queen Of Versailles' On Broadway

Written and directed by MFA Acting '17 Alum Zora Howard, Hang Time, is currently at Apollo Theater in Harlem.

MFA Playwriting Alum Beth Hyland's 'Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia' Set To Premiere at The Geffen Playhouse

MFA Playwriting Alum '25 Beth Hyland's play Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia will receive its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse featuring Noah Keyishian (MFA Acting '23)

Playwriting Faculty and Alum Naomi Iizuka's new musical 'Okuni' Workshopped At Theatre Latte Da

Theatre + Dance Faculty and Alum Naomi Iizuka (MFA Playwriting, '92) workshopped her new musical, Okuni, at Theatre Latte Da with fellow alums Lisa Portes (Chair, MFA Directing '92) and Elissa Adams (MFA Dramaturgy, '92)

T+D Faculty and MFA Alum Robert Brill Launches The North American Tour of Alicia Key's 'Hell's Kitchen'

Theatre & Dance faculty member and alum Robert Brill is currently launching the North American Tour of Alicia Key's hit Broadway musical Hell's Kitchen. The musical, which has played more than 600 performances at The Shubert Theatre on Broadway, begins performances at Cleveland's Keybank State Theatre on October 10, with international productions set to begin in summer 2026. San Diego audiences can look forward to the show’s arrival at the Civic Theatre in August 2026.

In Memoriam of David Wilson Barnes (BA '95)

Theatre + Dance is deeply saddened to hear of the loss of alumnus David Wilson Barnes this past July.

David Wilson Barnes graduated from the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance in 1995. He went on to receive his MFA from Columbia University and had a prolific professional career including the American premiere of Jez Butterworth’s The Hills of California, Sam Gold’s New York Theatre Workshop revival of Othello, led by Daniel Craig, Dan LeFranc’s The Big Meal at Playwrights Horizons; Deirdre O’Connell’s Jailbait; and, perhaps most notably, Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw, for which he received a Drama League nomination. He was married for twenty-eight years to UCSD Theatre + Dance distinguished dance alum, choreographer Monica Bill Barnes.