UB Theatre and Dance

UB Theatre and Dance is thrilled to announce that Michael Deeb Weaver will join our faculty as Assistant Clinical Professor this fall! Deeb Weaver is an accomplished dancer, actor, instructor, and choreographer based in Buffalo, NY. His experience as a performer ranges from concert dance to musical theatre to commercial work and (almost) everything in between. He holds a BFA in Dance from the University at Buffalo, and is honored to be a part of the faculty at UB, teaching ...jazz, tap, and musical theatre dance styles. Michael's performance credits have taken him all over the world, including National Tours of "A Chorus Line" (Mike), and "Young Frankenstein, The Musical" (Swing). As a member of Actors' Equity Association, he has served as Dance Captain, Assistant Choreographer, and/or Assistant Director for productions of "Kinky Boots," "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "My Fair Lady," "Gypsy," "Mame," and "Young Frankenstein, The Musical: (West Coast regional premiere). Regional theatre credits include "West Side Story," "Hello, Dolly!," "Saturday Night Fever," "Singin' in the Rain," "The Wizard of Oz," "A Chorus Line," "Joseph..." and "Beauty and the Beast." In addition to numerous industrials, Michael has performed for Celebrity Cruises and Six Flags, with Kristen Schaal at the Writers' Guild Awards, and under the direction of Baz Luhrmann for the premiere of the movie "The Great Gatsby." Michael's choreography was most recently featured on the famous Las Vegas Strip as a part of "Picturesque," a new burlesque tap revue. In 2021 he co-directed and choreographed for "The Center in Motion," a virtual dance concert at at UB Center for the Arts. He has also set choreography on Zodiaque Studio Ensemble. Michael is an adjunct faculty member at Nazareth College, and was a guest instructor at Montclair State University. Additionally, he serves as an instructor, adjudicator, and choreographer for dance conventions, competitions, and award-winning dance studios across the country. #UBuffalo #ubthd #ubcas

REVISIT VIRTUAL PERFORMANCES FROM OUR 2020-2021 SEASON! (for free) https://www.ubcfa.org//performing-ar/ub-thd-2020-2021.html

Don't miss tonight's final performance of "THE CENTER IN MOTION: A Virtual Dance Concert" at 7:30pm on the UB Center for the Arts YouTube Channel! To register to view the performance for free online visit: https://ubcas.formstack.com/forms/ubthd_thecenterinmotion Here's a final sneak peak! Featuring the talents of 60+ student choreographers, dancers, designers and technicians working in collaboration, the show is co-directed by THD clinical associate dance professor Kerry Rin...g, design technology theatre professor Lynne Koscielniak, and adjunct dance instructor and UB alumnus Michael Deeb Weaver. #UBuffalo #ubcfa #ubcas #ubthd

It's a busy final weekend of spring performances at THD. Students Mandy Mclenigan and Emma Colligan direct Senior Showcase 2021, an all-student produced dance show, which will take place Sun. May 9, 2021 at 2pm, live on Zoom. Please feel free to share the online show link with anyone you wish. https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/95799834911... Meeting ID: 957 9983 4911 Passcode: seniors21 One tap mobile: +16465588656,,95799834911#,,,,*122884702# US (New York) +13126266799,,95799834911#,,,,*122884702# US (Chicago) #UBuffalo #ubthd #ubcas

There are too many great photos to choose from, but here's a few more from the filming of "THE CENTER IN MOTION: A Virtual Dance Concert," which opens tomorrow evening. There's still time to pre-register to see the free online performances Thu May 6 & Fri May 7 at 7:30pm. All photos by Ken Smith. GO TO: ubcfa.org SELECT: Events / The Center in Motion FILL OUT The Registration Form... #UBuffalo #ubcas #ubthd #ubcfa

We warmly welcome all interested MFA applicants to join us for A Week in the Life of an MFA, a week-long series of classes beginning Monday, November 9th, culminating in an Information Session and Q&A with faculty and current MFA students that will introduce applicants to the MFA curriculum and experience at UB. You can attend as many or as few sessions as your schedule allows. Get details here: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//danc/MFALetter2020.html

Interested in learning more about the MFA in Dance at UB? Get access to a week-long series of virtual classes beginning Monday, November 9th, culminating in an information Session and Q&A on Thursday, Nov 12th with faculty and current MFA students that will introduce applicants to the MFA curriculum and experience at UB. You can attend as many or as few sessions as your schedule allows and it only takes a few minutes to register! Classes include: Ballet 3 with Kerry Ring... Dancemaking 1 with Jenna Del Monte Modern 3 with Melanie Aceto Modern 5 with Jenna Del Monte Embodied Research with Janet Schroeder Dance History with Jeanne Fornarola Jazz 5 with Tom Ralabate Laban with Anne Burnidge Register here: https://ubgradconnect.buffalo.edu/register/

Congratulations to everyone involved in "SAFER: A Virtual Music Revue," THD's first virtual performance of 2020-2021! It was a great kick off to the season. For those of you who weren’t able to join us, or have friends and family who would still like to see the show, it will be available for re-viewing through this Friday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uoI4T3R1Fg&feature=youtu.be

We're only three days away from the first virtual production of the 2020-2021 UB Theatre and Dance (THD) season! "SAFER: A Virtual Music Revue" will livestream this Friday, October 23 at 7:30pm. But you can only view it by PRE-REGISTERING on the UB Center for the Arts website. Scroll to the bottom of the linked event page for instructions! https://www.ubcfa.org/ev/100622/safer-a-virtual-music-revue... "SAFER" is directed by associate professor Nathan R. Matthews, as well as collaborators Terry Berliner and Peter Haslett Kelly. SAFER features a cast of talented UB performance students enrolled in Matthews’s creative research project course. More information is included in the link. The show is free to view, but donations are encouraged and appreciated. THD also wishes to acknowledge the generous, continued philanthropic support of Fox Run at Orchard Park, an official 2020-2021 season sponsor, especially in light of the challenges facing Buffalo's vibrant community of performing arts organizations.

Are you planning to apply to one of the programs at the Department of Theatre and Dance? Visit our Prospective Student Page, where you can explore our department, learn how to register for auditions, see a virtual tour of the Center for the Arts and find the resources you need to make the decision to Join UB Theatre and Dance! Visit us at: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//prospective-students.ht

The first Virtual BA/BFA Dance Audition is less than two weeks away! Register and submit audition materials here: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//ba-bfa-dance-audition.h Registration is required to attend the audition informational session on: Friday, October 16, 2020 ... 9:00 11:00 AM @ University at Buffalo (virtual with video submission component) UB Dance is committed to providing you with a full audition experience while keeping you safe. 2020 auditions will be held completely online and will consist of a video submission as well as a live virtual event with UB Dance Faculty. We look forward to the opportunity to get to know you and thank you in advance for considering UB Dance as your next home for your continuing dance education and training. Additional audition dates include: Friday, November 20, 2020 9:00 11:00 AM @ University at Buffalo (virtual with video submission component) Friday, February 5, 2021 9:00 11:00 PM @ University at Buffalo (TBD) October 16-18 and 23 25, 2020 (virtual) DanceWave/NYC For more information on all program auditions and interviews, visit: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//auditions-interviews.ht

How did Theatre and Dance graduate student Evan Moritz end up on Mars? Read all about it here! https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//THD_GradSpotlight_MA_Mo

We are excited and proud to announce our fall 2020 production season! In these times of uncertainty, the arts offer welcome comfort, perspective, escape, joy and intellectual stimulation. The UB Department of Theatre and Dance will adapt to a virtual format for its fall lineup of musicals, plays and dance performances. Nationally recognized directors and choreographers will work with esteemed faculty and our deeply talented students to produce innovative original productions... which both entertain and explore the human condition. The department’s live and pre-recorded segments will be filmed at the UB Center for the Arts on the UB North Campus, in order to observe all social distancing and safety protocols for the best experience for the talented study body and dedicated patrons. We also look forward to the day when we are again able to meet in shared performance spaces. https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//THD_FA2020_SeasonAnnoun

Stay tuned for THD's fall season announcement very shortly! Meanwhile, we encourage you to check out some of our talented students doing great work in the community. "Currents: 716" is a virtual theatre production created by Buffalo's Alleyway Theatre in collaboration with 50 local playwrights, actors, and musicians, including several from UB. It is a collection of solo-performances shot on location across our region. Current and former UB students involved in the production... include: Naila Ansari - Co-creator/performer with Marquis "Ten Thousand" Burton and choreographer of "Facts," featured in Currents: 716, MFA Dance Class of 2020. Robyn Horn - Associate Director of Currents: 716 and Managing Director of Alleyway Theatre - PhD Theatre and Performance Class of 2022 Bella Poynton - Playwright of "Across the River" featured in Currents: 716 - 5th Year PhD Theatre and Performance Class of 2021 Edreys Wajed - Logo design for Currents: 716 - MFA Visual Art Class of 2023. Watch the promo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQDodL6fC9o Only this weekend remaining! Thurs 9/24 & Fri. 9/25 at 7:30 pm or Sat 9/26 at 2 pm or 7:30 pm. Ticket sales close one hour prior to each show. Tickets offered on a sliding scale, starting at $5. For more information: https://www.alleyway.com

ANNOUNCING: Beckett's Breath: Anti-Theatricality and the Visual Arts Guest Lecture by Sozita Goudouna Thursday, September 24 at 1:00pm (EST)... Samuel Beckett wrote a thirty-second playlet for the stage that does not include actors, text, characters or drama but only stage directions. The lecture will examine how Breath (1969) became emblematic of the interdisciplinary exchanges that occur in Beckett's later writings, and of the cross-fertilization of the theatre with the visual arts. The lecture contextualizes Beckett's Breath within the intermedial and high-modernist discourse and juxtaposes Beckett’s Breath with breath-related artworks by visual artists who investigate the far- reaching potential of the representation of respiration by challenging modernist essentialism. Dr. Sozita Goudouna is a professor, curator and the author of "Beckett's Breath: Anti-theatricality and the Visual Arts" published by Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernism released in the US by Oxford University Press. According to William Hutchings' review, Goudouna’s book is "surely the most ever said about the least in the entire history of literary criticism." She is head of operations at Raymond Pettibon Studio and visiting professor at City University New York(CUNY), the New School and New York University. She is researcher at the Organism for Poetic Research supported by New York University and Brown University and has taught from 2015 at New York University as the inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial fellow at Performa Biennial in NYC. Sozita is the founding director of the US non-profit Greece in USA for the promotion of contemporary Greek art. Her internationally exhibited projects include participations at New Museum NYC, Performa Biennial and Institute in New York, Documenta, Onassis Foundation New York, Hunterian Museum London, EMST, Benaki Museum, Byzantine Museum among others. She served as treasurer of the board of directors of AICA Hellas International Art Critics Association and as member of the board of directors at ITI International Theatre Association, Unesco. More at: https://cuny.academia.edu/DrSozitaGoudouna Email Eero Laine ([email protected]) for location and other details.

Now accepting applications for our MFA in Dance! Teaching Assistantships and Funding Available. The priority deadline for full financial consideration is December 15, 2020. Apply at: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/theatre-//dance-mfa.html... Seeking dance artists and innovative creators with diverse interests and backgrounds to apply for our 60 credit hour, practice-based, creative research-oriented MFA program. -Focus on interdisciplinary dance making within a vibrant university community. -Craft an individualized secondary concentration. -Explore a balanced curriculum of practice and theory courses. -Engage with national and international guest artists. -Present at the world-class Center for the Arts and the intimate Katharine Cornell Theatre.

UB Theatre and Dance's International Artistic and Cultural Exchange (IACE) program and UB Arts Collaboratory are thrilled to be hosting artist Michael Mwenzo at the Theatre Performance Forum this fall! We can't wait until our first session later today! http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2020/09/022.html

Undergraduate Dance Audition registration is live now at: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//ba-bfa-dance-audition.h

UB Theatre and Dance has announced our virtual auditions for undergraduate programs! Undergraduate Programs Offered: Theatre BA (no audition required) Theatre and Performance BFA: Performance (audition required) ... Theatre and Performance BFA: Design and Technology (interview required) Music Theatre BFA (audition required) Dance BA (audition required) Dance BFA (audition required) UB Theatre and Dance is committed to providing you with a full audition and interview experience while keeping you safe. 2020 auditions and interviews will be held completely online and will consist of a digital video and material submission as well as a live virtual event with Theatre and Dance Faculty. You can find details regarding out audition and interview procedure here: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu//auditions-interviews.ht