Department of Theatre & Dance
Welcome to the Department of Theatre and Dance at Tulane
2020-21 Department of Theatre and Dance Season
October 15-18, 2020
Tulane Department of Theatre and Dance
presents REFRAMED 2020: Five Short Plays on Social Justice 7 pm CST Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 2 pm CST on Sunday
Post-show discussions will follow each show
Blood Money
Written and Directed by Lori Elizabeth Parquet
**Featuring a very special cameo appearance from Tulane alum JERRY SPRINGER**
Jordan and Meagan have signed on to a Zoom meeting with attorney Bradford Young, to hear their father's last will and testament... in the middle of a pandemic. Feelings erupt, ugly pasts get brought to the surface, and these two sisters get much more than they bargained for with their inheritance.
Of Mice and Whites
By Timothy DuWhite
Directed by Zhailon Levingston
Following reports of gentrification being the reason for the increased presence of rats in New York City comes the story of Ha’jee, who is convinced the white boy he's been dating for the last few months and recently broke it off with is actually the rat now terrorizing him in his Brooklyn apartment. What starts off as a joyful virtual reunion with his best friend Bianca becomes a horror story of trying to fight off an infestation in more ways than one.
Gratitude Assignment
Written and Directed by Jenny Mercein
Inspired by a homework assignment—and a global pandemic—Lily reaches out to James, a long ago coworker, to revisit a troubling event from the past.
Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida
Created by the cast and design team
Directed by Jessica Podewell
Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida is a devised ensemble piece about the multifaceted issue of missing and murdered women of color throughout the United States. Through spoken word, song, and scenes, a group of actors discover an overwhelming truth.
Miss Most Pressing Issue
Written by Zury Ruiz
Directed by Sylvia Cervantes Blush
Rebecca has been assigned her dream job to co-host the Miss Most Pressing Issue beauty pageant, but as historic events of a global pandemic and racial injustices across the United States unfurl, she makes a critical decision that will change the course of her identity forever.
#vote #takeitseriously
Sylvia Cervantes Blush
Sylvia Cervantes Blush is a Mexican-American artist raised in Bell Gardens, CA and a first gen Master of Fine Arts. Her artistic journey began as a dancer, doubled as an actor, and now uses those two passions to inform her creative projects. With the Oregon Shakespeare Festival she directed a staged reading of The Refugee Hotel by Carmen Aguirre and was assistant director to Marcela Lorca on The Count of Monte Cristo. As a Mellon Fellow she served her residency during the 2014 Encuentro Festival at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. She was assistant director and choreographer on El Largo Camino de Hoy/The Long Road Today: with South Coast Rep. In 2017, she spearheaded a student run organization exploring the works by classical and contemporary Latinx writers which culminated with participation in LA Escena: Los Angeles Hispanic Classical Theater Festival. Credits: Concerned Citizen, Los Angeles, Fuenteovejuna, Don Carlos: Prince of Asturias, Medea, Mala Hierba, Electricidad, The Vagina Monologues, Bill’s Shorts One and Two, Grease and Once Upon A Mattress. Currently she is working on a Zoom to video project with 36 actors ages 4-50+ across 17 households. Sylvia is an Associate Member with the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Zhailon Levingston
Zhailon Levingston is a Louisiana raised writer, director, performing artist, and activist. He co-founded #WORDSONWHITE, an arts and activism campaign based in New York from 2016-2018. He recently directed "Neptune" at Dixon Place and the Brooklyn Museum, "The Years That Went Wrong" by David Zheng at The Lark and MCC. Other credits include "The Exonerated" at Columbia Law School and "Chariot part 2" at SoHo Rep for The Movement Theatre Company. He is the associate director "Primer for a Failed Super Power" with the TEAM and "Runaways" at The Public with Sam Pinkleton. He was associate director for the Genesis plays at the 14th street Y! Most recently he directed "Mother of Pearl" at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center and "Chicken and Biscuits" at Queens Theatre. Zhailon is the resident director at Tina the Tina Turner Musical on Broadway.
Lori Elizabeth Parquet
Lori Elizabeth Parquet is an actor, director, and playwright from New Orleans, Louisiana with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Cornell University. Her New York City stage credits include Macbeth, Dispatches From (A)mended America (Off-Broadway, Epic Theatre Ensemble), The Providence of Neighboring Bodies (Dutch Kills Theater/Ars Nova), The Honeycomb Trilogy: Sovereign (Gideon Productions), Medea (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), Dog Act, Ajax in Iraq, Honey Fist, Operating Systems (Flux Theatre Ensemble), and Republic, Baal, Murder In the Cathedral (JACK/Hai Polloi). She made her international debut performing in Pillars of Society at Teater Ibsen in Skien, Norway. She also performed in The Providence of Neighboring Bodies at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018. In 2019 she was nominated for and won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for her performance in Operating Systems. As a director, Lori has directed lapdog/Underdog at Princeton Summer Theater and assistant directed The Public Theater's most recent Shakespeare in the Park productions of As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. She was also an acting coach on Disney's Hercules, a Public Works production. Lori just served as Associate Director of New York City Center's Encores: Off-center production of Maria Irene Fornes' Promenade and has directed many readings and workshops with Public Works, Flux Theatre Ensemble, The Brooklyn Generator, and other theatre companies across New York City. As a playwright, Lori was selected as one of six featured playwrights for Season Five of The Fire This Time Festival, which produced a reading of her full-length play In Communion. Her short plays Sir and Blood Money have been produced through Flux Theatre Ensemble and New York Madness respectively.
Timothy DuWhite is a writer, poet, playwright, performance artist, and activist. His work is both brave and exhilarating, and directly addresses difficult and controversial issues such as HIV, state sanctioned violence, racism, and queerness.
He has performed at the United Nations/UNICEF, Apollo Theater, Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, Bowery Poetry Club, Dixon Place, La Mama Theater, Issue Project Room, on the behalf of Adidas and many more. He has delivered keynote speeches and appeared at institutions such as San Diego State University, Indiana University, Columbia University, Oregon State University, John Hopkins University and many more.
His writing and poetry can be found in The Rumpus, The Root, Afropunk, Black Youth Project, The Grio, and elsewhere. He has work in the forthcoming anthology The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity and Radical Hope in Education co-edited by Michael Dumas, Ashley Woodson and Carl Grant.
A committed educator, he has facilitated workshops at the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, Housing Works, and Rikers Island.
Zury Margarita Ruiz is from Inglewood, California. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2010, earning a B.A. in both Theatre Arts and Feminist Studies. She received her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California in 2013. As part of her participation in the Latino Theatre Alliance/LA’s Writers Circle she wrote and developed Bottle Blonde: A Latino Tragicomedy (2015), which had a staged reading at the 1st Annual Playwrights’ Nest Festival. Along with fellow collaborators Diana Romo, Blanca Melchor and Angela Imperial, Zury launched the production team, Las Callejeras, with their inaugural project being Señorita Monthly Juice at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Zury is currently a member of EST/LA’s New West Playwrights.
Tickets are free but require audiences to pre-register
at https://forms.gle/Zjk7H6z7yLtCQGT96.
All performances will feature post-show discussions. See below for details!
Thursday, October 15th:
Acting in Cyberspace: A Discussion of the Challenges and Rewards of Performing Socially Relevant Theatre Online
Moderator: Dr. John “Ray” Proctor, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Theatre & Dance, Tulane
Panelists: Actors from Reframed 2020
Friday, October 16th:
Writing Wrongs: Engaging (In)Justice on the Virtual Stage
Moderator: Mohan Ambikaipaker, Associate Professor, Department of Communication
Affiliate faculty: Africana Studies, Asian Studies & Anthropology
Panelists: Jenny Mercein, Lori Elizabeth Parquet, Zury Ruiz
Saturday, October 17th:
Directing & Designing for Virtual Productions
Moderator: Monica Payne, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Theatre & Dance, Tulane
Panelists: Directors and Designers for Reframed 2020
Sunday, October 18th:
Using Arts to Shift the Status Quo: The Student Perspective
Moderator: Apoorva Verghese, Tulane sophomore, Intersections editor of The Hullabaloo
Panelists: Raven Ancar, Tulane student, creator of “The Veil”, Miranda Kramer, Tulane senior, actor/creator Roleplay, additional student panelists TBD.
If you have any questions, please contact Jenny Mercein: jmercein@tulane.edu
Newcomb Dance Program, Department of Theatre and Dance
presents Split/Shift
Original Dance Performances by Rebecca Allen and Kelly Bond
November 18-22, 2020, 4pm–5pm, Audubon Park, New Orleans
"Landing", conceived, choreographed, and directed by Rebecca Allen
Rebecca Allen, James Barrett, Jenna Katlin, Chloe Roberts, Hannah Sansone
"Dancing With Myself", a solo work conceived, choreographed, and performed by Kelly Bond
Reservations Required to secure 25–50 person social distancing limit: 504-865-5106.
(Masks are required. If you like, bring a chair or blanket.)
Free Admission
Directions and map coming soon!
She Kills Monsters
A comedic romp into the world of fantasy role-playing games, She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home in Ohio following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly. When Agnes finds Tilly's Dungeons & Dragons notebook, however, she stumbles into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was Tilly's refuge. In this fantasy/dramatic/comedy laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres, and 90s pop culture, acclaimed young playwright Qui Nguyen offers a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.
Auditions:
Friday, October 23, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Saturday, October 24, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Callbacks:
Sunday, October 25, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Rehearsals will begin in January, and the play will be presented in March, 2021.
For more information and to sign up for an audition slot:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040C4CAFAA2FA7F58-auditions1
Newcomb Dance Program, Tulane Department of Theatre and Dance presents Newcomb Dance Company- Spring 2021
Leslie Scott, Artistic Director
Choreography
by
Diogo DeLima and Leslie Scott
and
BFA seniors: Madyson Barbain and Abby Gluckman
McWilliams Hall Theatre 300 or the great outdoors
April 9, 10 at 6:30 PM and 8 PM
Sunday, April 11 at 2 PM.
Watch for updates soon!
Tulane University, Dept. of Theatre & Dance, 215 McWilliams Hall, New Orleans LA 70118, 504.314.7760 tutd@tulane.edu