Alumni News

Masters of Production

Meet the Creatives Behind Every Theatrical Production By Christine Byrd Behind the scenes of every musical, play, opera and dance production put on by Claire Trevor School of the Arts is a hardworking team of production professionals. They sew the costumes, build the sets, create the props,...

L.A. artist Alexis Smith, a pioneer of art fusing image and text, dies at 74

Los Angeles Times | January 3, 2024 | by Barbara Isenberg (Excerpts) Alexis Smith, the clever, much-exhibited Southern California conceptual artist who winningly combined found images and smart phrases since the 1970s, died Tuesday morning at home in Los Angeles, according to her studio...

Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood: A Masterclass in Comedy Brain Magic

  By Professor Joel Veenstra, Department of Drama   On December 1, 2023, the Irvine Barclay Theatre transformed into a hub of laughter and creativity with Colin Mochrie & Brad Sherwood’s nearly sold-out improvisational comedy show, Scared Scriptless. The duo, renowned...

Professor Molly Lynch to receive distinguished alumni award

UC Irvine Alumni Association to Honor Professor Molly Lynch B.A. ’79, M.F.A. ’81 with Distinguished Alumni Award The Claire Trevor School of the Arts and the UC Irvine Alumni Association have named Professor Molly Lynch the recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award for 2023. The...

Chantrell M. Lewis to be honored at Orange County Arts Awards

By Mia Hammett At 26, Chantrell M. Lewis (M.F.A. ’22, Drama) has built a strong arts career in service of other people. A creative polymath devoted to all things arts and education, Lewis is a multi-talented performer, author and teaching artist who treats the impact of her work with sincere...

More than Just a Phase

L.A. Gallery Helps UCI Art Students and Alumni By Richard Chang According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a phase is a temporary manner, attitude or pattern of behavior. But a temporary art space in Los Angeles founded by a UC Irvine M.F.A. graduate seems to have left a lasting impact...

2023 New Swan Shakespeare Festival Reviews

Reviews Newport Beach Independent Newspaper At New Swan, ‘Complete Works of William Shakespeare’ is Hilarious Improv Comedy By Eric Marchese | Special to the NB Indy | August 20, 2023 | Newport Beach Independent It would take months and a dedicated core of theater enthusiasts...

UCI Faculty and Alum Receive California Arts Council (CAC) Artist Fellowships

Arts Orange County (ArtsOC) recently announced the California Arts Council (CAC) grants which awarded $840,000 in Individual Artist Fellowships to 58 talented artists in Southern California. These distinguished grants are designed to recognize, uplift and honor California artists practicing diverse...

CTSA Launches Retail!

In honor of our August Alumni Appreciation Month, UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts is introducing our new e-shop! Step into a world of artistic expression and style with our carefully curated collection of apparel and branded items. Embrace your passion for the arts and proudly showcase your...

Artful Horizons

CTSA students are passionate about giving back and fostering artistic endeavors By Greg Hardesty | UCI Magazine, Spring 2023 What does it mean to be part of a community? For Claire Trevor School of the Arts students, it often means focusing on the underrepresented, social justice,...

Community Canvas

Forming connections is critical to school’s mission of forging arts students’ pathways to UCI and beyond By Greg Hardesty | UCI Magazine, Spring 2023 The four out-of-state guests sat in a classroom at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, their eyes fixed on a large monitor. The...

Arts Advocates: Goran Matijasevic

BRIDGE BUILDER Q&A with Goran Matijasevic As executive director of the UCI Chief Executive Roundtable, Goran Matijasevic, Ph.D., MBA, serves as an ambassador to the business community. He’s also one of the most avid supporters of the arts at UCI, attending nearly every performance,...

Art + Technology = Innovation

Alum Garnet Hertz’s new book chronicles 100 years of innovative DIY technology practices By Greg Hardesty As a child and teenager, Garnet Hertz lived in two worlds. He grew up in Saskatoon, a city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. In Saskatoon, snow is on the ground a third of...

Marissa Diaz Lights the Way

Alumna Marissa Diaz, M.F.A. ‘19, is the recipient of the 2022 Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Training from the University Resident Theatre Association (URTA). Since 2017, Diaz has been an assistant professor of Lighting Design and Technology at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)....

Unleashing Artists’ Creativity

By Christine Byrd Matt Bailey, MBA ’12, remembers how hard it was to be an artist on a student budget. He constantly needed film, photo paper, canvas and paints – and all of that was expensive, especially on top of tuition and living costs. Sometimes he just couldn’t afford the supplies. “It...

Kaysie José Comes Full Circle at CTSA

By Mia Hammett A once-UCI undergraduate, alumna Kaysie José (B.A. '11) is particularly qualified — and wholly committed — to bolstering the creative career pursuits of UCI’s arts students. After working in UCI’s Student Housing department, José joined the Claire Trevor School of the Arts (...

Alumni Wang Chong presents a Global Conversations event at UCI

UC Irvine will host prominent Sinophone artist and Department of Drama alum Wang Chong. Chong will present “Global Conversations | Sinophone Experimental Performance (Zoom, Online)” with his colleagues River Lin and Xiaoyi Liu. The work challenges conventional notions of political, national, ethnic...

Donovan Sherman, Ph.D. '11, gives a lecture on Shakespeare and Stoicism

UC Irvine welcomes back alumnus Donovan Sherman, who will be giving a talk on the connections between Stoicism and Shakespearean performance. Sherman, an associate professor of English and director of graduate studies at Seton Hall University, published The Philosopher’s Toothache: Embodied...