Season Selection Updates & Invitations
for the 2024-25 Departmental Season
Dear Theatre & Dance students, staff and faculty,
Thanks to everyone from our Theatre & Dance community who participated in the initial season selection survey to generate ideas and suggestions for the 2025-26 Theatre & Dance season. If you’d like to see the results, you can access them at this link.
The 2025-26 season curatorial theme will dialogue with the prompt "Transform, Translate, Transcend" and the different articulations that these words invoke. This will also dovetail with the 2025-26 themes explored by the Center for Ethics.
From the interests and ideas expressed thus far, we — Leslie, Robyn and faculty reps from Acting (Holly), Directing (Leticia) and Design (You-Shin) — have identified four genres for our theatre-based slots and will now invite Working Groups of faculty, staff and students to imagine what we might produce under those four umbrellas.
We are using a Working Group Method for 2025-26 season selection to allow participants more quality time to consider plays and proposals in their primary area of interest and to invite increased participation and dialogue from our community. The Reset and In Motion dance concerts will retain their places in the production season and will be curated by the respective artistic directors in separate processes. There may also be an additional student-choreographed concert.
Season Selection Working Groups will be:
- Musical Theatre — We invite proposals for musicals that reflect the principles of anti-racism, anti-oppression, allyship, LGBTQIA+ inclusivity, and a sense of belonging for all members of our community. A preference for dance-heavy and large-cast musicals has been expressed by some members of our community.
- Contemporary Play — We invite proposals for contemporary plays, with a priority on works for larger casts. In the survey, our community expressed preference for works by female and non-binary and/or BIPOC playwrights. "Contemporary" means we will consider anything published within the last 10 years that the Department can secure the rights to.
- Comedy — We invite proposals for classic or contemporary comedy or satire from Aristophanes or Shakespeare to Branden Jacobs Jenkins or Larissa FastHorse. Preference to larger cast works and scripts that are funny, joyful and/or politically resonant.
- Multimodal — A devised creation or adaptation combining dance and theatre-led modes of working with other layers of collaboration such as composers, on-stage musicians, multilingual text and audiovisual/digital media elements. This working group will, in essence, be involved in the creative process from the ground floor, shaping its themes and modes. We anticipate that this work will be co-directed by a theatre faculty member and a dance faculty member.
Each working group will meet twice between now and Thanksgiving.
Sept. 30 – Oct. 2: The first working group meetings will produce a "long list" (up to eight works) of musicals / plays / comedies and ideas. (The multimodal group will produce a long list of concepts/themes and styles).
Nov. 17-22: After a six-week break for reading/viewing/listening to works from the long lists and/or researching ideas in the case of the multimodal group, the second round of Working Group meetings will aim to produce a "short list" (two to three works) for final consideration. To be short-listed, rights must be obtainable and a director or creative team (in the case of musicals or multimodal projects) needs to be on board.
Who can be in a working group?
Any theatre or dance major or minor, any Theatre & Dance faculty or staff member.
Click here to sign up for a Working Group.
Please note that we can't promise to offer meeting times to accommodate every member of a Working Group, but we will do the best we can. If you can't attend in person fee free to send suggestions via a peer.
Thanks again for participating, and we hope to see some of you in working groups.
—Leslie & Robyn
