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Alumni, Connect 
Jeffrey Lo Strives to Connect Theater with Diverse Communities

By Richard Chang Since graduating from UC Irvine in 2010, Jeffrey Lo has kept busy. He has stuffed a résumé full of accomplishments while pursuing theater in Silicon Valley — not exactly the first place you might think of when it comes to live theater. But he’s a San Jose native, so blazing...
Faculty 
UCI Drama Faculty and Students Produce Multimedia Dance Theater About Madame Marie Curie

Chancellor's and Claire Trevor Professor Bryan Reynolds in the Department of Drama leads a thrilling collaboration of theater focused on the life and work of Madame Marie Skłodowska Curie, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. The partnership is between Transversal Theater Company and Laurie...
Student 
Take it From the Class of 2022: You Got This

By Lauren Knight, B.A. ’21  There are four classes of students heading back to Claire Trevor School of the Arts this fall, but only one class has spent a full year on campus. It’s crazy to think that half of our CTSA community has never stepped foot on campus before Welcome Week! We know that it’s...
Alumni 
Kaden Kearney (M.F.A., '18) Will Star As Emma In THE PROM National Tour

The tour is set to open November 2nd in Cleveland. Casting has been announced for the upcoming National Tour of THE PROM. Kaden Kearney (they/them) will star as Emma, Kalyn West as Alyssa Greene, Courtney Balan as Dee Dee Allen, Patrick Wetzel as Barry Glickman, Emily Borromeo as Angie Dickinson,...
Student, Connect 
Chloe King and Summer Session Uplift Queer Voices

Medici Scholars Chloe King and Summer Session Uplift Queer Voices in Searching for Shelter By Lauren Knight When UCI Drama M.F.A. directing candidates Chloe King and Summer Session started collaborating last summer, they had no idea that their co-directed project on racism in childhood would...
Student, Connect 
Emerging Brighter

UCI student artists discovered and honed new skills in 2021 By Christine Byrd When UCI moved operations online a year and a half ago, everyone gained new skills: creating an at-home studio, mastering Zoom meetings and troubleshooting technology. But as artists struggled to keep their creative...
Alumni, Connect 
Donnetta Lavinia Grays Views Theater as a Place ‘Where Community Can Flourish’

By Richard Chang UC Irvine M.F.A. graduate Donnetta Lavinia Grays (acting, ’02) was already an accomplished actor and playwright when she received news this year that would change her life. In February, she was informed that she had won a prestigious Whiting Award, a $50,000 annual grant that...
Faculty, Student 
Coup de Comedy Festival brings a global community together

  By Lauren Knight When founding UCI’s student improv team, Improv Revolution (iRev), with his fellow students in 2011, Joel Veenstra had no idea that UCI’s student improv group would grow into what it is today. Now, Veenstra serves as the group’s faculty mentor, and produced an event with iRev...
Student 
UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Names Ten New Medici Scholars

UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) is pleased to announce the 2021 Medici Circle Scholars. Ten awards were given to both undergraduate and graduate students offering an opportunity to take their education beyond the classroom and collaborate with academics and artists in our community and...
Faculty, Connect 
Raising Community Voices

Director and playwright Juliette Carrillo helps bring hidden stories to the stage By Christine Byrd When Juliette Carrillo's play Plumas Negras was performed in 2013 in the East Salinas, Calif., community where it was set, some audience members were brought to tears. Not only had Carrillo written...
Connect 
Zooming to UCI

Artists from around the world paid virtual visits to UCI students, opening new windows of opportunity By Christine Byrd When music major Cassandra Leisher asked the New York Philharmonic’s Ryan Roberts, a classical French horn and oboe player, how he calms pre-audition nerves, she was surprised...
Alumni, Connect 
Alumni Darcy Prevost, M.F.A. ’09, creates things larger than life

If you’ve seen Disney+’s original TV series, Earth to Ned, you’ve seen the work of Darcy Prevost, a UCI alumnus who worked as the production designer on the show. Prevost, who has worked for several major television companies including HBO, ABC Studios and Warner Bros., completed her Bachelor of...
Student, Connect 
Letter From a Senior

I never knew my favorite college experiences would be rooted in performance By Lauren Knight As someone who joined the Department of Drama during their third year at UCI, my biggest fear was feeling like an outsider amongst a tight-knit group of drama majors who all knew and bonded with each...
Student, Connect 
Renaissance Man

Graduate student Jesús López Vargas reflects a new generation behind the scenes in theatre By Christine Byrd Director, stage manager, producer, poet, photographer, videographer, designer, and an advocate for underrepresented voices: Jesús López Vargas wears many hats. As an M.F.A. candidate in...
 
'How I Met Your Murderer': Meet Rachele Schank (UCI Drama, 2009) from Lifetime's psychological thriller

Starring in the lead role of the film is actress Rachele Schank. Schank attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and has a B.A. in Drama from UC Irvine's Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Read the MEAWW.com article by Aurelia Fernandes.
Student 
2021 Dean's Scholarship Awardees

Congratulations to the 2021 Dean’s Scholarship awardees! A very special thank you to the Giving Day donors who made these scholarship funds possible. As the leading campus in the nation providing access to all qualified students, no matter what their background, our students rely on the generous...
Student 
Rising Spirits for Latinx Students

Creative Connections creates a platform for Santa Ana High School students to tell their stories By Jezebel Ramirez-Robles   The collaborative project, “Rising Spirits: First Draft,” brings together UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Creative Connections program with student-run Brown Bag...
Faculty, Student, Connect 
Animals in My Classroom

By Marcy Froehlich, associate professor of costume design in the Department of Drama The little yellow bird was hopping across her head, which made my student’s presentation even more cheerful. The subject was hats, so was the bird itself becoming a moving, breathing hat, or perhaps instead...